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The House Oversight Committee 2019


Hugo Stiglitz

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6 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

And....you get it.  The dreams of 'the GOP will abandon Trump when the facts get bad enough" are less attainable and realistic than my dream of a weekend of exotic delights on a private island with Sela Ward and Scarlett Johansson.  They are never leaving him.  They are all-in on Trumpism, which now makes their continued support necessary for their ongoing survival.  They have sailed out to sea in the shittacular boat that is the SS Trump.  Staying in the boat is likely death when it sinks.  Abandoning ship in the middle of the sea is certain death.  They put themselves in a position where they only have shitty choices.  They are choosing the least-shitty path....presuming that their priority is solely to win elections (and, of course, it is).  They are never deviating from that path.

Again, wishing and hoping for the GOP to become a decent and sane political party is a complete waste of time.

But what happens when Trump is out of the picture?   Back to Paul Ryans and Ben Sasses? Or do they prop up Ivanka and Don Jr?

Trump cant live forever.

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Just now, Hugo Stiglitz said:

But what happens when Trump is out of the picture?   Back to Paul Ryans and Ben Sasses? Or do they prop up Ivanka and Don Jr?

Trump cant live forever.

Well he can't live forever, but the thing is that he's mainlined some of the most outlandish features of electoral politics that we've ever seen. "Alternative facts" and "fake news" won't just go away with Trump. They'll still be around.

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2 minutes ago, hpslugga said:

Well he can't live forever, but the thing is that he's mainlined some of the most outlandish features of electoral politics that we've ever seen. "Alternative facts" and "fake news" won't just go away with Trump. They'll still be around.

Yeah, the weapons will be there but who will wield them?  The GOP is nothing without Trump. The Republicans have gone all in on a cult leader.   

Where does the party leadership come from without their TrumpGod.

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Just now, Hugo Stiglitz said:

Yeah, the weapons will be there but who will wield them?  The GOP is nothing without Trump. The Republicans have gone all in on a cult leader.   

Where does the party leadership come from without their TrumpGod.

You see idoits like Gaetz yesterday intimidating a witness on twitter and in person. It's like the Rs in DC have just discovered a secret power. They can do anything and there are no consequences. They dip their toe in the water a little more each time. Who know who will take Trump's place? Maybe the Rs can find someone equally awful to take his place.

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10 minutes ago, hpslugga said:

Among others, yes. 

I'll offer some others

Reagan: Circumvented the Boland Amendment to aid a terrorist group with money they acquired from dealing weapons to a country against which we had an arms embargo.
Bush Jr: Violated the Leahy Law numerous times
Obama: see Bush Jr.
Trump: see Obama and Bush Jr., plus whatever else he's guilty of regarding all these shenanigans that were discussed yesterday w/Cohen.

And I'd even put Clinton in that group of Leahy Law violators since that was enacted during his second term, but lying about a blowjob in a deposition is hardly something an intelligent person gets upset about.

The Leahy Law has waiver provisions.

Just sayin'.

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3 minutes ago, retread said:

You see idoits like Gaetz yesterday intimidating a witness on twitter and in person. It's like the Rs in DC have just discovered a secret power. They can do anything and there are no consequences. They dip their toe in the water a little more each time. Who know who will take Trump's place? Maybe the Rs can find someone equally awful to take his place.

My worry is the Republicans will find someone far worse than Trump to wear the crown.  Someone smart and far more destructive. 

Like a young Mitch McConnell.

Edited by Hugo Stiglitz
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27 minutes ago, housious said:

So is Cohen going to be in any hot water over statements he made yesterday? I couldn't help but cringe watching him testify under oath voluntarily. I still can't believe there is any attorney in the world that would allow him to do this (if they are looking out for his best interests). I mean, I'm not an attorney or anything so maybe I'm wrong, but I'm still just dumbfounded. 

Like what? He is already going to jail. Part of his plea deal related to cooperation. 

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1 minute ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

My worry is the Republicans will find someone far worse than Trump to wear the crown.  Someone smart and far more destructive. 

Like a young Mitch McConnell.

Very possible. Someone who's less abrasive and less of a sociopath couldn't pull of what DOTUS is doing. It will take someone with the same lack of conscience.

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21 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

But what happens when Trump is out of the picture?   Back to Paul Ryans and Ben Sasses? Or do they prop up Ivanka and Don Jr?

Trump cant live forever.

This guy says if Trump cuts back on the McDonald's he could live to be 200 years old. It's genetics...some people have great genes.

 

ronnyjackson-1200x800.jpg

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10 minutes ago, housious said:

Part of the republican strategy yesterday was to clearly trap him into lying again. That’s the reason I asked.

Do you really think he was lying about anything yesterday? Perjury is really hard to prove in general. There isn't much chance of mistakenly being convicted of perjury. You'd have to not only lie, but there would also need to be very solid evidence that you knew it was a lie. 

Edited by Dahobbs
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20 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

My worry is the Republicans will find someone far worse than Trump to wear the crown.  Someone smart and far more destructive. 

Like a young Mitch McConnell.

not only is this possible, it is highly likely.  there simply is no low to which the Republican party will not stoop.

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55 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

But what happens when Trump is out of the picture?   Back to Paul Ryans and Ben Sasses? Or do they prop up Ivanka and Don Jr?

Trump cant live forever.

Republicans will just start cruising the reality show scene again to look for a crooked racist they can all get behind. 

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45 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

The Leahy Law has waiver provisions.

Just sayin'.

It’s beyond insane to assume that each of those violations met those conditions. I’ll admit the law is vague and enforcement has been weak, but the point is those guys violated the living shit out of it as a matter of course, not just occasional mishaps.

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4 minutes ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

Republicans will just start cruising the reality show scene again to look for a crooked racist they can all get behind. 

The thing that makes Trump unique is the Republicans in power weren’t really looking for him.  He just showed up and took the Republican Party.   I guess that speaks to how weak the GOP really was. They will likely be weaker after Trump for the next demagogue to subvert them.

Edited by Hugo Stiglitz
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4 hours ago, HenryJames said:

 

Just based on appearance, there's the picture for why we white men ought to sit out running government for ten years.

Does that threesome look like they would waste a ton of money getting our soldiers killed as they slaughter people in another country?  Do they look like they'd back down from a real threat?  Do they look like they'd grope a handsome man on a whim? Do they seem the type to give legislation a name that is actually the opposite of its intent?

Do they look like they'd be inclined to hire only people that look like they do? (We white men tend to do that even if we're not racist. It's sometimes just a bad habit, sometimes a bad soul.)

I'll refer to Henry Rollins. This man's world has been a poorly run carnage fest for centuries. Maybe we  should step aside.

Women could run things, men could reflect. What do we have to lose?

Oh, yea, too many men would go berserk and resort to violence.

Return to top of post.

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3 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

The thing that makes Trump unique is the Republicans in power weren’t really looking for him.  He just showed up and took the Republican Party.   I guess that speaks to how weak the GOP really was. They will likely be weaker after Trump for the next demagogue to subvert them.

Pretty good synopsis.  But I'd add that Trump is nothing more than a party crasher.  And the hosts were just a bunch of spineless pussies propped up by a willing and friendly media base, evangelicals, olds, racists, and mega-millionaire and billionaires who want to fuck the rest of the world,  because they got theirs.

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4 hours ago, Teddy KGB said:

 

Cohen and Donny Deutsch, who both personally know Trump, say he is capable of this.  The GOP has shown 0 willingness to stand up to him.  You're a fucking fool if you don't think this is a possibility, but yeah roll your eyes.

Trump's testing the national emergency waters right now.  The wall: national emergency. Rigged Election: National Emergency.

I don't think he'll get anywhere with it, but if he's looking at walking out of the White House and into handcuffs, why not give it a shot. It will set off the bomb of those followers of his who aren't cowardly like he is.

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9 minutes ago, RomaVicta said:

Just based on appearance, there's the picture for why we white men ought to sit out running government for ten years.

Does that threesome look like they would waste a ton of money getting our soldiers killed as they slaughter people in another country?  Do they look like they'd back down from a real threat?  Do they look like they'd grope a handsome man on a whim? Do they seem the type to give legislation a name that is actually the opposite of its intent?

Do they look like they'd be inclined to hire only people that look like they do? (We white men tend to do that even if we're not racist. It's sometimes just a bad habit, sometimes a bad soul.)

I'll refer to Henry Rollins. This man's world has been a poorly run carnage fest for centuries. Maybe we  should step aside.

Women could run things, men could reflect. What do we have to lose?

Oh, yea, too many men would go berserk and resort to violence.

Return to top of post.

One can hope, right?  Except for the Rook from Michigan, she has a bad case of man hands, would make my junk look small. 

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4 hours ago, bad_teammate said:

If by "not peaceful" you mean "tanks in the streets", then I'm with Anastasis.

If by "not peaceful" you mean "howling at the media, rancorous nonsense, burning everything on the way out, casting accusations and demanding investigations", then I'm not.

I see zero possibility that Trump leaves office in a way that befits the normal, publicly amicable, transition of power in the US. And that's not for nothing. I'm not a huge ~decorum~ guy in politics, but in the elite halls of power those little niceties are what keep people from dying later on.

In Garry Wills' Cincinnatus, a nice book about George Washington, he writes of how Washington was maybe the most popular man in the Western World. The statues memorializing him almost always show him extending a rolled up scroll.

Washington+Resigning+Commission+web.jpg

As with Cincinnatus of Ancient Rome, after saving the nation and being offered permanent dictatorship, he returned power to the state and returned to his farm. Washington was admired greatly for his humility and dedication to the principles of democracy.

He, to me, remains the greatest American. It's a shame that he has been turned into an unreachable grim marble statue of a man. 

 

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jordan and meadows decide they want to REALLY go after cohen:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/28/politics/house-criminal-referral-michael-cohen/index.html

Quote

CNN)Two of President Donald Trump's closest allies on the House Judiciary Committee referred Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to the Justice Department Thursday for possible criminal prosecution, claiming to have evidence that Cohen "committed perjury and knowingly made false statements" to lawmakers during his day-long testimony Wednesday.

The criminal referral -- sent by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the Oversight Committee, and North Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Meadows -- outlined several areas of testimony they urged the Justice Department to investigate, including Cohen's claims Wednesday that he did not seek a job in the Trump White House, his denial of committing bank fraud, as well as his assertion that the did not have any reportable contracts with foreign entities.


CNN is reaching out to Cohen's attorneys and the Justice Department for comment.


"I was extremely proud to be the personal attorney for the President of the United States of America," Cohen told lawmakers Wednesday. "I did not want to go to the White House."
Yet Republicans have pointed to court filings from prosecutors in the Southern District of New York that stated Cohen "privately told friends and colleagues, including in seized text messages, that he expected to be given a prominent role and title in the new administration" -- an assertion Cohen said Wednesday was "not inaccurate."

is this REALLY what they want to try to catch him out on? these are the guys who were bemoaning the committee hearing being a waste of time, but here they want to spend resources and time on  catching cohen out on whether or not he wanted a white house position?

jesus herbert christ

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3 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

jordan and meadows decide they want to REALLY go after cohen:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/28/politics/house-criminal-referral-michael-cohen/index.html

is this REALLY what they want to try to catch him out on? these are the guys who were bemoaning the committee hearing being a waste of time, but here they want to spend resources and time on  catching cohen out on whether or not he wanted a white house position?

jesus herbert christ

It’s an intimidation tactic to prevent testimony from anyone else that might think about speaking out against dear leader in a public congressional hearing. 

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2 minutes ago, Texas73 said:

Do you think that deserves prison time?

No, but the question was asked what he may have lied about. All of the hangers-on wanted a job when trump was inaugurated. I'm sure he did as well. 

It's not a devastating or meaningful lie, particularly when you compare it to the whoppers we've been exposed to since Jan 20, 2017, but it does give ammo to Jordans and the Meadows of the world. 

 

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1 minute ago, Jograves said:

No, but the question was asked what he may have lied about. All of the hangers-on wanted a job when trump was inaugurated. I'm sure he did as well. 

It's not a devastating or meaningful lie, particularly when you compare it to the whoppers we've been exposed to since Jan 20, 2017, but it does give ammo to Jordans and the Meadows of the world. 

 

I think it would be extremely hard to prove that Cohen "wanted" a job in the WH.  He can just say that he changed his mind after initially pursuing a position.

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1 hour ago, Jograves said:

I think he lied about wanting a job in the WH. 

That’s almost impossible to prove unless he wrote it in his diary (won’t put it past him).  If Republicans are going to use a fucking Tweet from a WH staffer saying he wanted a job then they damn sure better take everything thing Cohen said as gospel. 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Bottom line, the GOP is doing more to destroy the institution that is the Office of President of the United States than they ever imagined/accused Obama of doing -- and many, they imagined a LOT back then.

Trump is a deranged narcissist shitbag.  Okay.  But he is an isolated, limited shitbag if Congress will do its job.  Mitch McConnel and the GOP are not only NOT doing their job as a representative body....they are doing everything they can to run INTERFERENCE for Trump.  Their complicity will go down as one of the more shameful episodes in our political history.

The nicest possible way to look at this is that they are trying to give Trump enough rope to hang himself. I think someone could potentially argue, with a straight face, that this is what MM is doing.

Gaetz and Jordan, on the other hand, are looking to join Trump as inmates.

2 hours ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

You have to kinda admit now the Clinton impeachment was ridiculous.

No, I won't. The only thing that was ridiculous was that he committed felony perjury over something that he himself could have easily handled: "I had a moment of weakness, and it was wrong, and I didn't enjoy it, and I didn't finish in her mouth." Clinton was so popular at the time that the population would've shrugged and moved on. But he didn't.

Clinton handled the situation stupidly and still got off scot-free.

2 hours ago, hpslugga said:

So let me ask you this:

Did any President other than Clinton (and obviously other than Andrew Johnson) deserve impeachment?

Please note, if you do say yes, you're basically proving my point: that whole thing was nothing more than romanticized political theater in its absolute worst form.

That's an absolute non sequitur. Saying that presidents other than Clinton deserve impeachment does not at all demonstrate that the "whole thing was nothing more than romanticized political..." whatever. You're going to need to show your work on this.

Narrator: He can't.

1 hour ago, hpslugga said:

Well he can't live forever, but the thing is that he's mainlined some of the most outlandish features of electoral politics that we've ever seen. "Alternative facts" and "fake news" won't just go away with Trump. They'll still be around.

They were around long before then, because they're what enabled him to do this in the first place. It started when Conservatives started to reject scientific fact. It started when Young Earth Creationism got new life, and a new generation of idiots was raised learning "alternative facts" like that in schools. It started when climate change denial stopped being wacky conspiracy theories and started being a political movement. And it continues today with the anti-vaccination movement.

49 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

The thing that makes Trump unique is the Republicans in power weren’t really looking for him.  He just showed up and took the Republican Party.   I guess that speaks to how weak the GOP really was. They will likely be weaker after Trump for the next demagogue to subvert them.

The issue here is that the very same thing that allowed the Democrats to nominate as terrible of a candidate as HRC over the much more popular (and more likely to defeat Trump) Bernie -- control over the nomination process by elites -- is the same thing that's absent in the GOP. You got to see, in one election cycle, both structures demonstrate their worst possible failure modes.

Edited by Rimbo
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6 minutes ago, Brian Fantana said:

Why the hell would he want a job at the WH as opposed to being Trump's personal attorney? So he could get paid peanuts compared to what he was already making? Makes sense.

It had nothing to do with making money. It was about making a brand. Plus, he was running scams with trump for almost 10 years. You don't think he would've wanted to run those scams from the highest office in the land? Of course he would. He's a grifter.

Yes, it's hard to prove unless he was talking to other members of the transition team. 

Edited by Jograves
can't spell for shit
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25 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

jordan and meadows decide they want to REALLY go after cohen:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/28/politics/house-criminal-referral-michael-cohen/index.html

is this REALLY what they want to try to catch him out on? these are the guys who were bemoaning the committee hearing being a waste of time, but here they want to spend resources and time on  catching cohen out on whether or not he wanted a white house position?

jesus herbert christ

There is no contradiction in the text of this story. It says that yesterday Cohen said he didn't want a job in the White House. But it says in earlier testimony that Cohen expected he would have a job in the White House.

I expect lots of things to happen in my life that I don't want to happen.

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3 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

There is no contradiction in the text of this story. It says that yesterday Cohen said he didn't want a job in the White House. But it says in earlier testimony that Cohen expected he would have a job in the White House.

I expect lots of things to happen in my life that I don't want to happen.

reminds me of the moment yesterday when either meadows or jordan tried to catch cohen out on his disclosure form as it relates to contracts with international governments. they need to get ANYTHING on him. 

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