Not sure I agree with everything written here, but there is a warning for Democrats that they would be wise to heed.
26 thoughts on “Who’s Making Sense?”
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User-Supported News Commentary Hosted by Craig Crawford
Not sure I agree with everything written here, but there is a warning for Democrats that they would be wise to heed.
Comments are closed.
jace, glad to see you up and about.
this morning’s puzzlement over humankind — something straight from the scene of Lennie crushing a little animal with his big oafish but loving hands in “of mice and men”
from the guardian:
As thousands of sightseers descend on southern California parks for a springtime “super bloom”, officials reported on Wednesday that a couple in a helicopter landed in the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, crushing the delicate plants. They proceeded to walk around, further inflicting harm. As soon as they were approached by law enforcement officers, they scurried back into their aircraft and zoomed away.
“We never thought it would be explicitly necessary to state that it is illegal to land a helicopter in the middle of the fields and begin hiking off trail in the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve,” officials wrote on Facebook, in a post that has since been removed. “We were wrong.”
as to that op ed in the guardian that jace linked, Nancy seems to have already moved on. for example from wapo:
Amid the liberal clamor for the Green New Deal, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday unveiled her response to combat climate change, a limited bill to keep the United States in the Paris accord while forcing President Trump to take steps to reduce pollution.
A day earlier, as some Democrats have embraced Medicare-for-all, Pelosi (D-Calif.) rolled out legislation to shore up the Affordable Care Act, which she muscled through the House nine years ago.
Pelosi this week sought to refocus her party after months of intensive attention — and Republican attacks — on ambitious and costly policy initiatives from her party’s left. In both cases, the bills are much more in line with the centrist platforms of freshman lawmakers who unseated Republicans in dozens of suburban and rural districts that will be crucial to the party holding its majority in 2020.
Pelosi has been careful not to openly disparage the left-wing proposals on health care and climate change, lest she open a fissure inside her caucus. At a closed-door meeting Tuesday, for instance, she said she was not ruling out broader legislation: “This is no substitute to anything else — this is a path to everything else,” she said, according to notes taken by an individual in the room who described the meeting on the condition of anonymity.
“Let’s use the word ‘LOVE,’ ” she added. “It means, ‘Let Other Versions Exist.’ ”
[continues]
Stop Giving Trump A Pass On His Ignorance
I read the first 2 paragraphs… it seems the Guardian has bought the 4 page Barr report hook, line, and sinker. No wonder I don’t bother to read that paper.
There’s still 18 months before the next presidential election… debates have not begun… not a single vote cast in any primary or caucus. The Democratic candidates are talking the issues.
ps… Democrats… keep pressing to see the full Mueller report… just do it!
“He has been rope-a-dopin’ this Mueller thing, O.K., for two years — and now he finally has a chance to get on America’s good side. Step 1: Take away everyone’s health care.” — STEPHEN COLBERT
“Mr. Trump! You’ve just been cleared of collusion. What are you going to do now? [impersonating Trump] ‘I’m gonna roll a diabetic off a cliff. C’mon sweetness, let’s go.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT
it’s not over til it’s over
Darren Samuelsohn, senior reporter at Politico, talks with Rachel Maddow about the revelation in court that the Mueller grand jury is still active, at least in the case of one company that had been resisting a Mueller subpoena and continues to ask that it not be identified in public.
in case you don’t like Rachel and didn’t want to watch the above vid but still want to know the details, here’s the politico story by samuelsohn:
The special counsel grand jury that investigated Russian collusion into the 2016 presidential election is “continuing robustly” despite the end of Robert Mueller’s probe, a federal prosecutor said in court Wednesday.
The revelation — while laced with uncertainty — indicates that the ongoing cases Mueller handed off after concluding his probe could still feature significant developments, legal experts said.
David Goodhand, an assistant U.S. attorney, acknowledged the grand jury’s active status during a hearing in U.S. District Court over a push to unveil the identity of a foreign state-owned firm that has been held in contempt for defying a Mueller subpoena.
The mystery company’s case was denied a hearing before the Supreme Court earlier this week, and in the meantime, the open government group Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press has sought access to all materials in the clandestine litigation, including the company’s identity.
During a brief open hearing Wednesday, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for D.C., Beryl Howell, pressed Goodhand to say whether the grand jury Mueller had been using in the case remained active.
“It is continuing,” the prosecutor replied. “It’s continuing robustly.”
The fact the grand jury is continuing its work adds a new wrinkle to the Mueller probe, which Attorney General William Barr announced on Friday was finished.
Barr released a four-page summary saying the special counsel had not found a conspiracy between Trump’s campaign and Russia to sway the 2016presidential election. Barr also noted that Mueller had not reached a conclusion on whether the president had obstructed justice. The attorney general then made a separate judgment that the obstruction evidence did not prove a crime.
Additionally, the attorney general said Mueller had no more indictments — either to be released or under seal — in the case.
Mueller’s office in recent days has been handing off a series of its cases to federal prosecutors across the government as it closes up shop. That includes the mystery subpoena fight that’s been ongoing since last year.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., where Goodhand works, is now leading the subpoena fight, as well as Mueller’s upcoming trial in November against longtime Trump associate Roger Stone and the eventual sentencing for former Trump campaign deputy Rick Gates.
Mueller spokesman Peter Carr declined to comment on the federal prosecutor’s statement in court about the active grand jury.
[…]
As she weighed the request to lift the curtain on the company’s identity Wednesday, Howell made it a point to ascertain whether the grand jury that’s been meeting since mid-2017 still has work to do.
“Transparency … when it comes to the judicial process is very important,” she said. “There should be no secret law.”
The mystery firm’s lawyers have argued the company should not be subject to a subpoena because it’s entirely foreign government-owned and complying with the subpoena would break the foreign country’s laws.
On Monday, the Supreme Court turned down the firm’s appeal, leaving a pair of lower court decisions in place. The company is also currently subject to a $50,000-a-day legal fine as long as it refuses to turn over requested information. So far, it has racked up more than $2 million in penalties.
In court Wednesday, Goodhand said the government still opposes the release of the foreign company’s name.
So did Brian Boone, a partner at Alston & Bird who is representing the firm. “My client would prefer to not have his identity be disclosed to the public,” Boone said.
Howell asked Boone to explain why there’s still a need for secrecy.
“I’d prefer not to in a public a hearing,” Boone replied.
The company’s lawyers then left from the courtroom before the hearing ended, skipping the arguments from the Reporters Committee and the federal government.
this 2 million
“The company is also currently subject to a $50,000-a-day legal fine as long as it refuses to turn over requested information. So far, it has racked up more than $2 million in penalties.”
plus the millions garnered by mueller in Manafort case sure show crime does pay
at least it does when the gov’t wins like that
Rahm Emmanual has clearly lost his mind – first of all he called the Smollet case a “whitewash” — then he said he was going to bill Smollett for the costs of the investigation WTF
So following the brilliant stewardship of Devin Nunes the repugnicans on the intelligence committee are calling for Schiff to step down and SFB is calling for him to resign. Nancy responded by characterizing those requests as absolutely ridiculous.” Schiff’s response should be something like “Go…yourself and the horse you rode in on.” (You may insert the sexual verb if you like).
Link to Nancy’s response was defective. Here it is.
wapo”s fahrenthold again does a number on you know who in an exclusive story today:
How Donald Trump inflated his
net worth to lenders and investors
[…]
Now, investigators on Capitol Hill and in New York are homing in on these unusual documents in an apparent attempt to determine whether Trump’s familiar habit of bragging about his wealth ever crossed a line into fraud.
The statements are at the center of at least two of the inquiries that continue to follow Trump, unaffected by the end of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation. On Wednesday, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform said it had requested 10 years of these statements from Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA.
And earlier this month, the New York state Department of Financial Services subpoenaed records from Trump’s longtime insurer, Aon. A person familiar with that subpoena, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe an ongoing investigation, said “a key component” was questions about whether Trump had given Aon these documents in an effort to lower his insurance premiums.
[long article continues]
Dear Nancy, you can go ahead and say that SFB and his bunch are chickenshits – scaredy-cats sounds so grade school.
David Fahrenthold is certainly not likely on SFB’s Christmas card list.
why aren’t there more stories, alarm bells ringing and bills to protect the 2020 elections being introduced? forget the argument over did Donald or didn’t Donald. vlad did and there’s not much time between now and 11/20 to see that he doesn’t do it again.
newsweek:
[…]
Experts, however, argued that Barr’s letter should not distract from the fact that Russia has interfered in not only the U.S. democratic process but also elections around the world. They warned that Russia may attempt to twist Barr’s conclusions to fit its own agenda. What’s more, they said, Moscow may be emboldened if it sees that its efforts to sew discord paid off.
“The Russians are obviously using it not only to say that there was no collusion, which is what the letter says, but also that Mueller didn’t find any evidence that Russia interfered, which [is] a lie, obviously. This is how they are spinning the report,” Jakub Kalenský, an expert on Russia and disinformation at the Washington D.C.-based Atlantic Council, told Newsweek.
“So I think it’s likely that they might think that there is no price for them to pay [for interference],” Kalenský added. “If the Russians see that there was no price, and the only results is an even more polarized American society, they will see that they achieved exactly the result they were aiming for.”
[…]
But while Congress is fighting to obtain a complete version of Mueller’s conclusions, analysts note that Russian media is celebrating Barr’s letter.
[continues]
XR, if you are able to receive today’s opener and have interest in it, could you let those of us (me) who are deprived how things look on this important day. Thx, Flatus, stuck in SC
Campaign Idea #1
Hire Stormy Daniels & Karren McDougal to follow trump around the country, to all his speaking venues, starting this summer, well before the IA Straw Poll. Make tv ads with the 20 female accusers, and run them all over IA, plus on IA billboards.
#Campaign Idea #2
Give money to the William Weld for President Campaign for use in his IA Straw Poll effort.
Mr Flatus,
Am working on it, sir.
Twins 2 – Indians 0
10th
R
H
E
2
4
0
0
2
0
B
S
O
At Bat
S. Greene (0.00) pitching to K. Pillar (.000, 0-3)
Last Play
Gurriel fouled out to catcher
HR: DET – C. Stewart (1)
Gametracker
9th
R
H
E
5
10
1
1
4
0
B
S
O
At Bat
J. Beeks (0.00) pitching to G. Springer (.250, 1-4)
Last Play
Marisnick struck out on foul tip
HR: HOU – M. Brantley (1), J. Altuve (1), G. Springer (1)
TB – A. Meadows (1)
Gametracker
7th
R
H
E
10
9
0
2
4
0
B
S
O
At Bat
R. Rosario (0.00) pitching to K. Schwarber (.000, 0-2)
Last Play
Schwarber grounded out to second
HR: CHC – J. Baez 2 (2)
TEX – E. Andrus (1)
Gametracker
Final
R
H
E
0
3
0
4
7
1
W: M. Fiers (1-1)
L: T. Cahill (0-1)
HR: OAK – K. Davis (2), M. Semien (1)
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
M. Fiers OAK P6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 SO, 3 BB
K. Davis OAK DH1-4, R, HR, RBI
Box Score
8th
R
H
E
3
5
1
5
7
0
B
S
O
At Bat
R. Iglesias (13.50) pitching to J. Kang (.500, 1-2)
Last Play
Cervelli grounded out to third
HR: PIT – C. Dickerson (1)
CIN – J. Peraza (1), D. Dietrich (1)
Gametracker
Around the League
Voit has huge Opening Day in Yankees win
McCutchen homers in first Philly at-bat
Red Sox vs. Mariners preview, prediction
More MLB News
Final
R
H
E
0
5
0
2
6
0
HR: SD – W. Myers (1)
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
M. Bumgarner SF P7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 9 SO, 1 BB
E. Lauer SD P6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 SO, 1 BB
Box Score
7th
R
H
E
6
9
1
1
2
2
B
S
O
At Bat
K. Freeland (1.35) pitching to R. Herrera (.000, 0-2)
Last Play
Rojas reached on fielder’s choice to third, Cooper out at third, Alfaro to second
HR: COL – T. Story (1)
MIA – J. Riddle (1)
Gametracker
7th
ESPN
R
H
E
2
5
0
11
10
0
B
S
O
At Bat
M. Koch (12.00) pitching to E. Hernandez (.500, 1-2)
Last Play
Bellinger homered to center
HR: ARI – A. Jones (1), C. Walker (1)
LAD – E. Hernandez (1), J. Pederson 2 (2), C. Seager (1), A. Barnes (1), M. Muncy (1), C. Bellinger (1)
Gametracker
9th
R
H
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0
2
0
2
4
0
B
S
O
At Bat
T. Rogers (0.00) pitching to L. Martin (.250, 1-4)
Last Play
Martin struck out swinging
Gametracker
3rd
R
H
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0
0
0
0
0
0
B
S
O
At Bat
B. Keller (0.00) pitching to L. Garcia (.000, 0-1)
Last Play
Sanchez grounded out to second
Gametracker
Final
R
H
E
2
5
0
0
5
0
Opening Day Highlights: Mets at Nationals
1:58
W: J. deGrom (1-0)
L: M. Scherzer (0-1)
S: E. Diaz (1)
HR: NYM – R. Cano (1)
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
M. Scherzer WAS P7.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 12 SO, 3 BB
J. deGrom NYM P6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 10 SO, 1 BB
Box Score
Recap
Final
R
H
E
2
8
0
7
9
1
Opening Day Highlights: Orioles at Yankees
1:41
W: M. Tanaka (1-0)
L: A. Cashner (0-1)
HR: NYY – G. Bird (1), L. Voit (1)
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
M. Tanaka NYY P5.2 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 5 SO, 0 BB
L. Voit NYY DH1-1, R, HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB
Box Score
Recap
Final
R
H
E
4
5
0
5
7
0
Opening Day Highlights: Cardinals at Brewers
1:54
W: J. Chacin (1-0)
L: M. Mikolas (0-1)
S: J. Hader (1)
HR: STL – K. Wong 2 (2), H. Bader (1)
MIL – M. Moustakas (1), J. Chacin (1), C. Yelich (1)
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
J. Chacin MIL P5.1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 7 SO, 2 BB
J. Hader MIL P2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 4 SO, 0 BB
Box Score
Recap
Final
R
H
E
4
7
2
10
7
0
W: A. Nola (1-0)
L: J. Teheran (0-1)
HR: ATL – M. Joyce (1)
PHI – A. McCutchen (1), M. Franco (1), R. Hoskins (1)
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
A. Nola PHI P6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 8 SO, 5 BB
R. Hoskins PHI 1B1-3, 2 R, HR, 4 RBI, BB
Box Score
6:08pm
ESPN
o7
+177
PROBABLE PITCHERS
C. Sale BOS 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP
M. Gonzales SEA P 1-0, 4.50 ERA, 1.33 WHIP
Preview
Game Picks
StubHub
Sorry, Mr Flatus,
That didn’t work so well. However, you can scroll down to the Gametrackers (small blue lettering) & those should fill you in on all the games.
You did good, Sir, as did your Twins; it was a deserved victory. I’m not yet ready to concede the season.
Hey but the Royals won!
Some days YouTube has still got it, if you are lucky.
Jack
Hey pat and Jace thanks for keeping this place going.
Sorry I haven’t been able to help but the world has got busy maybe later.
Haven’t seen Craig in a while it may be time to send some good thoughts his way.
Jack
As to the topic of the day, aint nothing making sense right now
YAY, Indians, Royals, Tigers, and Minnesota’s beloved Washington Senators !
Any & alluvem except Chicago’s beloved St Paul Saints.
Campaign Judo Move #1
rippers can’t debate actual issues. It’s time we made the non-issues poison for them too.
The trump Wall Will Keep America Protestant !
Imagine a sea of red caps, and each one reads KAP
Put repubs in a position where they have to explain why only Catholics are being kept out of the US. Why are nielssen/trump only kidnapping Catholic children ?
Mr Flatus,
We’ll see if the Twins can win another game this year. Rather, you’ll see. They’ll never sucker me into watching another game.