Witty Snitty

The New York Times quotes last night’s late night sages on Attorney General William Barr testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee:

“Mueller wrote Barr a letter complaining that Barr ‘did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance’ of Mueller’s work. ‘Context, nature, and substance.’ That is, uh — that is everything. That’s like saying, ‘I really like what you did with this, you know, car, except the wheels, the engine and the car.” — STEPHEN COLBERT
“Going from Barr’s summary to the actual Mueller report is like being told how the stork brought your baby brother and watching the video of the actual childbirth — very different experiences.” — TREVOR NOAH
“You can’t boil a report that long down to four pages, and you shouldn’t try. That’s like saying the battle of Winterfell was about a dude who smoked too much weed and thought he was a bird.” — SETH MEYERS
But Barr didn’t back down, testifying that he’d found Mueller’s letter to be “a bit snitty.” Stephen Colbert’s reaction was, “I can imagine Mueller was a bit snitty because your four-page summary was a steaming pile of snit.”
“William Barr’s testimony today could really hurt him. Yes. In fact, it was so bad he might even have to stay in the Trump administration.” — CONAN O’BRIEN
“Now people are accusing Barr of covering up for Trump. Yeah, when Trump heard, he immediately asked him to resign as attorney general and be his new vice president.” — JIMMY FALLON

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27 thoughts on “Witty Snitty”

  1. Jamie, Omaha Beach scratched

    BTW, did you get my trifecta pick yesterday – roadster, maximum security and game winner?

  2. Louisville courier journal:

    Omaha Beach is out of the 2019 Kentucky Derby. The morning-line favorite was scratched with an entrapped epiglottis. While that is bad news for the colt and his connections, it could be good news for everyone else, particularly the new favorite, Game Winner (9/2).

    But this does raise questions about what’s next.

    Odds: Game Winner becomes the new Kentucky Derby 2019 morning-line favorite

    What happens to money bet on Omaha Beach?

    Good news, bettors. It is refunded. If you’ve placed a bet on Omaha Beach (or any horse), they can cancel it before the race starts.

    Who replaces Omaha Beach?

    Bodexpress is the first also eligible this year.

    The bay colt is 0-3-0 in five career starts with a pair of seconds in three races in 2019. His sire is Bodemeister, who finished second in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in 2012. His dam is Pied a Terre, by City Zip. Bodexpress is trained by Gustavo Delgado.

    But he doesn’t truly “replace” Omaha Beach.

    What post position does Bodexpress get?

    With the scratch in the No. 12 post, horses in posts 13-20 will move over one, and Bodexpress takes the No. 20 post, previously occupied by Country House. Chris Landeros will pick up the mount with 30-1 odds. Horses 13-20 will retain their program number despite moving in one in the starting gate, and Bodexpress will wear No. 21.

    What happens if another horse scratches?

    If another horse scratches, there will be 19 horses in the field as Bodexpress was the only also eligible this year. Say the No. 3 horse scratches (no, By My Standards has not scratched and, as far as I know, is not planning to), then horses in posts 4-20 move in one post. In that situation, Code of Honor would start in the No. 11 post but wear No. 13 as that is his program number. There would be no 3 or 12 horse in this hypothetical.

    [continues]

  3. ironic that the twit is about to go to war in support of someone authorized by a legislative body to supersede  someone else declared president by means of a fraudulent election.   

  5. Patd

    Thanks for getting the article up.  This is going to play havoc with the odds.  I’ll get them all later after things settle down.  Yes I did get your Trifecta.  Flatus and Blue Bronc will need a new horse.

    Kentucky Derby

     

     1 – War of Will 20-1  RR & Whiskey Jack

     2 – Tax 20-1    XR

     3 – By My Standards 20-1

     4 – Gray Magician 50 – 1

     5 – Improbable 6 – 1     Pogo & Lani

     6 – Vekoma 20-1

     7 – Maximum Security 10 – 1

     8 -Tacitus 10-1     Sturgeone

     9 – Plus Que Parfait 30-1

    10 – Cutting Humor 30-1

    11 – Haikal 30-1

    12 – Omaha Beach 4-1 /SCRATCHED   Flatus Blue Bronc

    13 – Code of Honor 15-1

    14 – Win Win Win 15-1

    15 – Master Fencer 15-1

    16 – Game Winner 5-1

    17 – Roadster 6-1     Patd & Jamie

    18 – Long Range Toddy 30-1

    19 – Spinoff 30-1

    20 – Country House 30-1

    21 – Bodexpress

     

     

    Patd Trifecta – Roadster, Maximum Security, and game winner.

     

     

  6. From the NY Times’ Peter Baker about the witty snitty hearing.

    WASHINGTON — Attorney General William P. Barr defended himself on Wednesday against withering criticism of his handling of the special counsel investigation as Democrats accused of him of deceiving Congress and acting as a personal agent for President Trump rather than a steward of justice.
     
    At a contentious hearing marked by a deep partisan divide, Mr. Barr denied misrepresenting the investigation’s conclusions despite a newly revealed letter by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, protesting the initial summary of its findings. Mr. Barr dismissed the letter as “a bit snitty” and the controversy over it as “mind-bendingly bizarre.”
     
    But in a series of aggressive interrogations, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee expressed indignation and asserted that the attorney general had been “purposely misleading,” engaged in “masterful hairsplitting” and even “lied to Congress.” Several Democrats on the committee, elsewhere in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail called for Mr. Barr’s resignation or even impeachment.
     
    The conflict escalated afterward when Mr. Barr announced that he would not show up for a parallel hearing on Thursday before the Democrat-controlled House Judiciary Committee. Mr. Barr objected to the format of questioning, which would have included questioning by staff lawyers, not just lawmakers. Democrats may now opt to subpoena him, setting up a possible showdown in court.
     
    “He is terrified of having to face a skilled attorney,” said Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, the committee’s chairman.
     
    In just 11 weeks in office, Mr. Barr has become a lightning rod for criticism for minimizing the findings of Mr. Mueller’s report and publicly embracing the president’s explanations of his actions. Senate Democrats took the opportunity on Wednesday to excoriate him before a national television audience.
     
    “Mr. Barr, now the American people know that you are no different from Rudy Giuliani or Kellyanne Conway or any of the other people who sacrifice their once decent reputation for the grifter and liar who sits in the Oval Office,” Senator Mazie K. Hirono, Democrat of Hawaii, told him, likening the attorney general to the president’s personal lawyer and White House counselor.
     
    “You put the power and authority of the office of the attorney general and the Department of Justice behind a public relations effort to help Donald Trump protect himself,” she added. “Finally, you lied to Congress.”
     
    Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and the committee chairman, scolded Ms. Hirono for being unfair. “You slandered this man from top to bottom,” he said.

    Ummm, Squeaky,, no.  Sen. Hirono was simply pointing out the truth about Barr. She is to be commended.

    slan·der
    /ˈslandər/

    noun
    LAW
    1.
    the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person’s reputation.
    “he is suing the TV network for slander”

    synonyms:
    defamation, defamation of character, character assassination, misrepresentation of character, calumny, libel; More

     verb
     
    1.
    make false and damaging statements about (someone).
    “they were accused of slandering the head of state”

    synonyms:
    defame, defame someone’s character, blacken someone’s name, give someone a bad name, tell lies about, speak ill/evil of, drag through the mud/mire, throw/sling/fling mud at, sully someone’s reputation, libel, smear, run a smear campaign against, cast aspersions on, spread scandal about, besmirch, tarnish, taint, misrepresent; 

  7. and if it’s Thursday, it’s “thurby” in

     LOUISVILLE, KY – A generation ago, the day before the Kentucky Derby was regarded as “Louisville’s day at the track,” ahead of the onslaught of revelers from across the world who descended upon Churchill Downs each first Saturday in May.
    Yet with the race card on Kentucky Oaks day now attracting Derby-like crowds, the locals have adopted the Thursday before Derby as the day for the hometown audience.
    And the racetrack has obliged. …the organic “Thurby” is now an official date on the Derby week calendar, with local music, Kentucky bourbon, and world-class horse racing.
     
    and proclaimed in today’s announcement at kyderby site :

    New This Year: Thurby Goes Gonzo! Join us as we celebrate Louisville native Hunter S. Thompson- and Groundbreaking Illustrator Ralph Steadman [continues listing the day’s activities and entertainments]

    Steadman’s poster pictured above

     

  8. about Steadman from the courier journal:

    Arriving at the Churchill Downs press room the first weekend in May 1970, Welsh-born artist Ralph Steadman was on the hunt for press credentials so he could draw cartoons during the 96th Kentucky Derby. 

    As the 33-year-old walked through the gates into the iconic racetrack, he had no idea that after this weekend he would be forever linked with maverick Louisville journalist Hunter S. Thompson. 

    “Of all the people I could meet in America, I think the key person was Hunter S. Thompson,” Steadman recalls of his collaboration with the journalist on his now infamous essay, “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved.” “If I met others, and I did, they usually were friends of his. So it was easy to become included in their adventures since I was ‘the innocent abroad’ on my first visit to America.”

    Steadman returns to Churchill Downs on May 2 — 49 years to the day after his first raucous alcohol-soaked Kentucky Derby experience with Thompson. Now 82, Steadman has created an original piece of artwork in partnership with Churchill Downs and the Speed Art Museum specifically for Thurby, known as the locals day at the track. 

    He’ll sign the poster for fans who may have gotten their first taste of the lifelong collaboration between the artist and Thompson with the “decadent and depraved” essay. 

    In 1970, Steadman and Thompson had never met, but Scanlan’s Monthly, a short-lived monthly publication, teamed the writer and illustrator for an article about Kentucky Derby weekend in Louisville.

    Their unconventional first-person account of the races and events of that Kentucky Derby weekend would launch a new type of journalism. “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved” is often cited as the first piece of published “gonzo” journalism in which writers do not simply cover the story but become the story.

    Their inebriated Derby weekend also launched a lifelong collaboration between Steadman and Thompson. The duo would go on to work together many times for Rolling Stone magazine and on Thompson’s 1971 novel “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” 

    [continues]

  9. The official drink for Thurby is certainly packing a “kick”

    “Old Thaimer” Recipe
    2.5 oz Old Forester Mint Julep
    0.5 oz Ginger Liqueur
    0.5 oz Lime Juice (store bought)
    ½ dropper Habanero Shrub

  10. Oooh, baby, That would be a helluva drink.  The lime and habanero combination makes for a great drink (I had a habanero margarita that was just that and it was wonderful) – and added to a mint julep – damn, I’m going to have to try that.

  11. that must be what Steadman’s poster pony just drank.  note the crazed look and smoking snout.

  12. nbc via msn:

    […]

    Appearing on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” Clinton discussed the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report that the president had pressed his then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to investigate Clinton.

    “I’m living rent free inside of Donald Trump’s brain, and it’s not a very nice place to be, I can tell you that,” the former Secretary of State told Maddow in her first television interview this year, calling the president’s ongoing fixation on her a “diversion attack.”

    “I guess it is one of their tools to fire up their hard-core base,” Clinton said.

    “When in doubt, go after me … They know better. But this is part of their whole technique to divert attention from what the real story is. The real story is the Russians interfered in our election. And Trump committed obstruction of justice. That’s the real story.”

    On Attorney General William Barr’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Clinton said calling for his resignation “makes perfect sense,” although she did not explicitly do so herself, as some Democrats have, and she cautioned that his conduct should not draw attention away from the Mueller report’s findings.

    [continues]

  13. And for those that didn’t see Rachel last night…  paraphrasing…    Hillary then went on to talk about trump’s calling on Russia to find her emails and likened it to the Democrats playing the same game and calling on China to find trump’s tax returns.
     
    It was really good to see Hillary at her best again.

  17. the hill:

    Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday said Attorney General William Barr committed a crime by lying to lawmakers during his testimony on Capitol Hill.

    “What is deadly serious about it is the attorney general of the United States of America was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States. That’s a crime,” Pelosi said during a press conference in the Capitol.

    […]

    Pelosi said she “lost sleep” Wednesday night watching replays of Barr’s testimony.

    “How sad it is for us to see the top law enforcement officer in our country misrepresenting — withholding — the truth from the Congress of the United States,” she said.

    Asked directly whether Barr committed a crime, Pelosi didn’t hesitate.

    “He lied to Congress; he lied to Congress. And if anybody else did that, it would be considered a crime,” Pelosi said.

    “Nobody is above the law; not the president of the United States, and not the attorney general.”

  18. renee, NYTimes seems to agree with you about the power of that part of the interview:

    Mrs. Clinton then laid out a hypothetical to Ms. Maddow asking her to imagine a Democratic candidate for president coming on her show and saying: “China, if you’re listening, why don’t you get Trump’s tax returns. I’m sure our media would richly reward you.”

    “Now, according to the Mueller report, that is not conspiracy because it’s done right out in the open,” Mrs. Clinton said. The remark echoed one made by Mr. Trump about Mrs. Clinton’s private emails during the 2016 campaign: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Mr. Trump had said.

    “If you’re going to let Russia get away with what they did and are still doing,” Mrs. Clinton continued sarcastically, why not “have a great power contest and let’s get the Chinese in on the side of somebody else.”

    “Just saying that shows how absurd the situation we find ourselves in,” she said.

  19. also powerful was this in yesterday’s NYTimes

     

    James Comey: How Trump Co-opts Leaders Like Bill Barr

    Accomplished people lacking inner strength can’t resist the compromises necessary to survive this president.

     

    [it provided the talking heads with a great sound bite:  “Mr. Trump eats your soul in small bites.”]

  20. The Ms Clinton who showed up on Maddow last night, without her campaign, was fresh, spontaneous, affable, human, smart, and sassy. This was a Clinton who could have won in 2016 despite the russian attacks. She didn’t come off as speechie or processed.

  22. XR

    That was the way she was in the smaller venues, but the media wanted the Arena style garbage of the Trump campaign for dollars and eyeballs.  They would show his empty podium rather than her quieter voter interactions.  It was infuriating.  

     

  26. So things are heating up quickly. Somebody better start polling the public to see where it stands on Congress saying to SFB and his merry band of criminals, “No, fuck you.”

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