Free-flowing White House Verse

Sure, there's lots of construction noise, and construction lawsuit noise, and some destruction of construction that was underway but didn't meet the Builder-in-Chief's vision, but even with all of that,  there was still plenty of arguing and yelling and ketchup-squishing noise that made it out into the public realm. 

I won't reveal my sources for this; let's just say they're very well-placed, like a good microphone or something. I might write a book, but first I'd probably need to officially be a reporter for the Fake News, to bump up my viewership.

The (alleged) words of the FOTUS are easily identifiable. Others (allegedly) involved? Secretaries Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, and Scott Bessent; Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg; and yours truly. Let the free verse fly, like the American Flag over Greenland!

Talk Like Nobody's Listening (or yell, if you want)

We need more munitions! The Biden and Obama administrations depleted our reserves!

We need more munitions! The Biden administration gave all our weapons to Ukraine! I will end the war in Ukraine on Day One! I will win the Nobel Prize – maybe two, and Obama only has one!

We're fighting Iran because Israel said they were going in, and if we didn’t go with them, we’d look weak, and the world would be a more dangerous place!

We’re fighting Iran because it is TWO WEEKS AWAY from having ‘the nuclear’ and we can’t let that happen! We are winning the war! We have won the war! We will win the war!  We are winning the war! We are playing 5-D chess; they are playing ‘Fast and Furious’ with the ENTIRE MIDDLE EAST, and we won’t let that happen! The Bored of Peace will act swiftly, on my order to Jared, to end all the hostilities and develop plans for MULTIPLE Gold Coast Rivieras on the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, the Gulf of America, and the Gulf Station in Winthrop, MA – they are ALL ripe for development!

We need more money from Congress because we are almost out of munitions!

We’re out of munitions because I’ve been ending wars around the globe, including in Gaza, Venezuela, Ukraine, Russia, Lebanon, the FIFA Soccer War, the Mulch War - that was BRUTAL but my Skid Steer of Peace has fixed that – we BURIED the opponent and Four Seasons Total Landscaping was declared the victor, by a pile! – and PakIndiaStan, where my tariffs stopped that war cold! NOBEL! NOBEL! NOBEL!

Holy crap, we have fewer munitions in the stockpile than we have barrels of oil in the strategic reserve – the Biden and Obama administrations were completely irresponsible!

Munitions are flowing in from all over the place to the US, where we do NOT have a munitions shortage!

Hi, Congress? It’s me, Pete - the Secretary of War, Tattoos, and Testosterone... we need way more manly dollars to make way more manly munitions. I'm in trouble here; can you help a guy out?

WE ARE NOT ALMOST OUT OF MUNITIONS – WE HAVE MANY MORE MUNITIONS THAN ANYONE ELSE, MORE MUNITIONS THAN ANY COUNTRY IN HISTORY! ANYONE SAYING WE ARE OUT OF MUNITIONS IS A COMMUNIST TRAITOR WHO DESERVES THE ULTIMATE PENALTY! KASH PATEL IS OFFERING A $50,000 REWARD FOR INFORMATION ON THE WHEREABOUTS OF THESE EVIL AMERICA-HATING DUMOCRATS!

We have directed munitions companies to tell us, within 21 days, how the hell they’re going to start delivering way more munitions way more faster than they ever dreamed they could, and how the hell they’re going to expand manufacturing facilities here in the US and hire American workers to make them, and oh, by the way, you can undocumented workers who will work for way less and save us money so we can afford to pay you for the munitions; we’ll tax the crap out of them, not fine you for hiring them, and deport them after we have the munitions we need to solve the shortage we don't have.

WE DO NOT HAVE A MUNITIONS SHORTAGE! THE REFLECTION POND WAS VANDALIZED! JEANNINE PIRRO FOLDED LIKE A COCKTAIL UMBRELLA! I HAVE ORDERED KASH PATEL TO OFFER A $50,000 REWARD FOR INFORMATION PROVING JEANNINE PIRRO IS A LYING, TRAITOROUS DUMOCRAT!!

We expect the Strait of Hormuz to be fully open by Tuesday or Wednesday of last week, maybe by Friday. I’ll have a market-roiling update for you on the status by yesterday, in time for tomorrow’s market opening. And just like K-cars, the K-shaped economy is over – that should help manipulate things nicely, don’t you think?

FAKE NEWS!!! HER EMAILS!!! RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA!!! IT’S ALL FAKE NEWS! COMEY AND MARK KELLY ARE TRAITORS!!! SLEEPY JOE IS A TRAITOR!!! I WANT MY BALLROOM AND I WANT IT NOW!!!

Breaking Fake News Update (v1)

Fake News broke on August 7, 2025!

This news came shortly after Comer subpoenaed Bill and Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland, Robert Mueller, William Barr, Jeff Sessions, and Alberto Gonzales in his "investigation" of the Epstein files. 

We will continue to share fake news as it breaks. 

In Case You Missed it (v51)

It was VERY busy around here last week, so go grab your cuppa whatever and dive in!

Sunday School brought us interviews with Currently Acting and Maybe Soon Confirmed DHS head Chad Wolf, who was in the CNN SOTU classroom with Jake Tapper, and former FBI Director James Comey, who was in the Face the Nation classroom with Margaret Brennan.  Among other things, Wolf said that he's not authorized to send DHS law enforcement officers to police polling places, which was a good thing as far as Comey was concerned, as we learned in his 'speed round' answers.

• He trusts "state, local and federal law enforcement to honor their oath to the rule of law and to not be part of suppressing votes." so thinks LEOS and US attorneys and the like will not be present suppressing votes in November.

• He "can't imagine" that he's a target of US Attorney John Durham's investigation and he's "not worried at all about that investigation of the investigation. Next, I'm sure will be an investigation of the investigation of the investigation..."

My classroom visits sparked a Sidebar highlighting Jake Tapper's commentary at the end of his show on Sunday. He said, in part 

Now, empathy and decency are of course not the only measures by which one makes a decision about an election. There is policy and acuity, feelings of safety and security, a host of other factors. But it is pretty clear there's a profound empathy and decency gap between President Trump and Joe Biden.

And what's important to keep in mind at this point in our nation's history, a politician bereft of empathy and decency, that's someone by definition who is willing to literally do anything, to sink to any depth to win.

I also sat down at the Update Desk, after more news came out about Rev. Franklin Graham's intentions, which I discussed in an Irony Board post from the week before,

And, there is, of course, the well-known history of Biden's personal life, losing his wife and daughter in a car accident, losing his son to brain cancer, and how it was his faith that got him through those tragedies. Ignoring all of that smacks of a person who has a specific message he wants to deliver, but won't come right out and say it.

Yet. I'm sure he's saving it for next week.

Well, it seems that I was right. Rev. Graham has been announced as one of the speakers for the Republican National Convention. 

After those couple of twists and turns,  finally got to the David Muir/Robin Roberts interviews with the Democratic ticket, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for your Sunday School Extra Credit. Much of the conversation centered on the pandemic, and on the debates and comments made then, and how she was eventually picked and how she felt about being the choice.

Harris was comfortable signing on as  VP choice, pointing to a number of policies that are "about translating the pain we collectively should feel as a country" and turning that pain into action on multiple fronts, including the Green New Deal - and that setting goals and timelines would be priorities there, along with a million new jobs.

And then, it was time for the convention, and the speeches, in all of their insufferable glory. And the president, who, you know, did presidential stuff as part of the convention, because just as he can't separate his presidency from his business interests, he can't separate his candidacy from the presidency.  Raise your hand if you're shocked about that...

• From the opening night, which included a call for no birth control (Charlie Kirk), a blatant misunderstanding of our country and immigration (Most Favored Son's Girlfriend and $180,000/year campaign shill Kimberly Guilfoyle), and a complete lack of understanding of how the Republicans are not the party of free speech (Guilfoyle's boyfriend) and how they don't think cancel culture is "dangerous and wrong (Nikki Haley, who's in the battle against Ivanka to be the first woman president, it would seem). And there Sen. Tim Scott, the only black Republican in the Senate, who at least was honest.

Trust me though, after seven years in the Senate, I know I’m not the only one in Congress who failed civics.

• From the second night, which brought us libertarian/Republicans Rand Paul, who at one point was honest about Trump and now is somehow one of the biggest fans of the self-aggrandizing fake conservative; the 'it takes one to know one' view of criminals from Pam Bondi, registered foreign lobbyist and former FL AG; the least son, who pleaded for attention from his daddy, and the ever pompous, unethical, afraid-of-strong-women SecState, speaking to us from a direct violation of his own State Department policy just issued in July; and the empathetic other daughter, who knows how it feels to not have a job, and about mental manipulation by the media.

This manipulation of what information we receive impedes our freedoms, rather than allowing Americans the right to form our own beliefs, this misinformation system keeps people mentally enslaved to the ideas they deem correct.

• From the third night, which brought us politicians, first responders, people with pre-existing conditions, political candidates, sports heroes, and more - including someone accused of insider trading, 

which I thought was pretty cool for the 'Law and Order' party, although I'm sure the arrest of the speaker earlier this month was all part of the grand deep-state hoaxspiracy to bring down the Chosen One, or something. What is it they say, W1GOTDEWAGOTDE (When One Goes Off the Deep End, We All Go Off the Deep End)?

• And then, it was Thursday, the final night. (The emphasis here is mine.) Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell spoke (those were fun), as did Ja'Ron Smith, who incomprehensibly managed to bucket together Ahmaud Arbery, (murdered for jogging while black), George Floyd (murdered while being arrested while black) and LeGend Taliferro (a four-year old child senselessly murdered in a non-racially-motivated beef between LeGend's family and a man with whom his aunt had a relationship); and of course, the penultimate speaker (who if everything she said is true, might actually be the first woman president), the first daughter. Among the things she told us about her daddy in her introduction? 

He’s so unapologetic about his beliefs that he has caused me and countless Americans to take a hard look at our own convictions and ask ourselves, (How the hell did we elect a celebrity conman as president of the greatest country in the history of the world?)  What kind of America do we want to leave for our children, (one championed by a bully who lies through his teeth on a daily basis, brings out the worst in the worst of us, and has so lowered the bar that underground limbo is now a thing)?

I must say, it was all so bigly huge and patriotic, I took an extra day to get the TGIF post out, which included word-for-word the Pence and Trump acceptance speeches, without comment.

It was a historic and truly veritable pastiche last week, I've got to say. 

I'll be back later with today's Sunday School. 

Sunday School 8/23/20

I'm only visiting two classrooms today -- Jake Tapper's CNN State of the Union, and Margaret Brennan's Face the Nation on CBS.

I'm trying to save some appetite for the Biden/Harris interview later tonight on ABC, which will be the subject of your Extra Credit this week.

Let's get started with Tapper and Chad Wolf, the perhaps not legally acting head of the Department of Homeland Security. Here are the highlights:

The president "absolutely has not" discussed deploying any DHS folks as part of the team of law enforcement officers he threatened to send to be poll watchers.

We have law enforcement authorities and law enforcement officers at the department. We have express authorities given to us by Congress. And this is not one of them.

Wolf has no intelligence that supports the presidents claim that other countries - Russia, China, Iran, North Korea among them - might forge ballots and send them in, or that they are "attacking election infrastructure."

And we want to make sure, at the end of the day, that voters, American voters, are deciding American elections. And we will continue to do that to make sure, again, that secretaries of state -- again, states run elections -- that they have all the information, that they have the intelligence, and they have a number of no-cost services that the department provides to them to make sure that their election systems are safe and secure.

On comments from Miles Taylor, former DHS Chief of Staff, Wolf said

...while Mr. Taylor was at the department, he was a fierce advocate for the policies that we pursued at DHS every day, left there 14 months ago, and decided 75, 80 days before an election to start speaking out. So, I think most reasonable Americans understand what that is. It's politics, and nothing more.

They batted around some of Taylor's comments, including that Trump told top DHS officials to "listen to Lou Dobbs" and "what Lou says is what I want to do."

... no, I have never been told to watch Lou Dobbs or any other news show, even yours, to get what we want to do at the Department of Homeland Security. 

And on Tapper's noting that Taylor is not the first former DHS person to question Trump's judgment and ability to lead the country? 

...All of the individuals that you just discussed were strong proponents of what the department's doing, and the president, while in office. A number of them have left, some on their own, some not on their own... So, again, I think people understand what this is about. This is about politics, first and foremost. And it's unfortunate.

Speed round stuff: 

• He believes the GAO used the wrong policy to come up with its assertion that he's not legally qualified to hold his position, and that DHS "vehemently disagree" with the finding.
• Yes, he did visit the part of the border wall built by the charity at the heart of the Bannon arrest;  he said then, and still, that "he welcomes all that want to be part of the solution," but was not an endorsement of 'We Build the Wall'  and statements to the contrary are false.
• He doesn't have "any reason to believe anything different from the FBI" on QAnon being a domestic terror threat - but it's not a significant threat. And, he absolutely condemns any illegal activity associated with the group.
• He believes that some local officials, a governor, and others are "fostering an environment in Portland, 90 days straight of violent clashes with law enforcement, assaults, arrests, and injuries. And it's got to stop."

In Case You Missed it (v15)

It was an interesting week, for sure - so much so that by the time we got to Friday, I was so thankful I didn't even do a TGIF post, setting that aside so that I could comfortably take time to enjoy the holiday season with friends.

But we did hit the ground running, with my visit to the Sunday School classrooms focusing on both sides of the impeachment question.  Not surprisingly, the Democrats spoke from their side of the aisle, and the Republicans did the same, I did manage to find someone talking about both parties - and it was Illinois Senator Dick Durbin.

For the longest time, many of us said which Republican is going to defy the wishes of their political base and come forward and do the right thing for the country? Same thing applies to Democrats. Will we ignore our political base and look at our Constitution? That's what should guide us.

There was the Extra Credit-worthy, and truly cringeworthy interview Chris Wallace did with former FBI Director James Comey. Seriously, it was almost as if Comey was floating around an alternate universe rather than the one that Wallace and the rest of us live in. Here's just one example:

The FBI is an honest, apolitical organization. Remember the treason; remember the spying; remember all of us going to jail. That was false information that your viewers and millions of others were given. My own mother-in-law was worried I was going to jail. I kept telling her, “Look, it’s all made up, it’s all made up. Don’t worry about it.” But I couldn’t say that publicly for two years. Well, now I’m saying it on behalf of the FBI. It was all made up, and I hope people will stare at that and learn about what the FBI is like, human and flawed, but deeply committed to trying to do the right thing.

He may still go to jail, given there's still a criminal investigation going on here - he may want to give his mother-in-law a heads up.

In a week that include many bizarre moments, there was perhaps nothing more bizarre than the six page letter the president sent to the Speaker of the House, full of bluster and falsehoods and braggadocio and other things Trump, including his continued lie on how many Electoral College votes he got. Here's a snippet of the love letter.

Everyone, you included, knows what is really happening. Your chosen candidate lost the election in 2016, in an Electoral College landslide (306-227), and you and your party have never recovered from this defeat. You have developed a full-fledged case of what many in the media call Trump Derangement Syndrome and sadly, you will never get over it! You are unwilling and unable to accept the verdict issued at the ballot box during the great Election of 2016. So you have spent three straight years attempting to overturn the will of the American people and nullify their votes. You view democracy as your enemy!

While the president was attacking the Speaker, I was on Poll Watch, checking to see where public sentiment stood on the impeachment inquiry, including one from Fox News and a second, from The Washington Post and ABC News.  Both polls show that Americans are not happy with the president as far as this issue goes, with Fox respondents showing, among other things,

• 53% believe he has abused the powers of his office; 50% believe he has obstructed justice;  48% believe he has obstructed Congress, and 45% believe he has committed bribery;

The WaPo-ABC poll had similar results, including that

• regardless of how respondents feel about impeachment, 51% say that Congress should censure him, while 42% say no. 

On the day that saw only the third impeachment of an American president, I was doing some Wondering on Wednesday about this whole mess, from a variety of angles, including one that I don't hear a lot of people talk about.

For example, wouldn't it be sad if we were to forget how we got here, and that it would have been impossible for president Trump to be in a position to demand an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden had Hunter Biden not been given a job, for which he was completely unqualified, by a foreign company located in a country in his father's vice-presidential portfolio?

On Thursday, I found, among the 100 or so messages from the 2020 Dems, a note from Elizabeth Warren, which earned the coveted Email of the Week award. Here's a portion of it.

I took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and so did my colleagues in the Senate and in the House. And we owe it to the American people to do our jobs and get to the bottom of this.

Come the new year, I will be a juror in Donald Trump's Senate trial, and I'll uphold my oath. Because nobody is above the law — not even the president of the United States.

But it's important to remember that Trump is just the worst symptom — not the cause — of a rigged, corrupt system. A system that rewards the rich and powerful and leaves working people behind.

So, there you have it - this week in review. Check back next week to see what's going on, as we get ready to close out the year.

Sunday School Extra Credit 12/15/19

I want to spend some time with Chris Wallace and former FBI Director James Comey, who chatted in yesterday's Fox News Sunday classroom.

Not surprisingly, much of the conversation related to Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report, which didn't find any political bias in the investigation, but did find that there were a whole mess of errors and mistakes by folks involved in it. What was surprising to me was how Comey reacted to the IG's report. For example, here's what Comey said about the report and 'vindication.'

It is. I mean, the FBI's had to wait two years while the president and his followers lied about the institution. Finally the truth gets told.

And here's Horowitz on whether his report vindicated Comey.

It doesn't vindicate anyone at the FBI who touched this, including the leadership.

Comey suggested the difference between the two takes on vindication drive from how the word is being understood; he's interpreting it as clearing his FBI from the 'nonsense' that was the many accusations from the president and his minions.

What I mean is that the FBI was accused of treason, of illegal spying, of tapping Mr. Trump's wires illegally, of opening an investigation without justification, of being a criminal conspiracy to unseat -- defeat and then unseat a president. All of that was nonsense. I think it's really important that the inspector general looked at that and that the American people, your viewers and all viewers, understand that's true. But he also found things that we were never accused of, which is real sloppiness, and that's concerning. As I've said all along, has to be focused on. If I were director I'd be very concerned about it and diving into it.

Regarding the FISA applications and the resulting warrants - about which Comey had previously expressed "total confidence" both in the process being followed and the case being handled in a "thoughtful, responsible way" by the FBI and DOJ, Horowitz had a different opinion.

We identified significant inaccuracies and omissions in each of the four applications, seven in the first application and a total of 17 by the final renewal application.

Comey expressed some contrition, saying

I was overconfident in the procedures that the FBI and Justice had built over 20 years. I thought they were robust enough. It's incredibly hard to get a FISA. I was overconfident in those. Because he's right. There was real sloppiness, 17 things that either should've been in the applications or at least discussed and characterized differently. It was not acceptable and so he's right. I was wrong. 

Wallace suggested that Comey sounded like a "bystander, an eyewitness" but in fact Comey was in charge of the FBI. I felt the same way as Wallace did about Comey here.

Sure. I'm responsible for it. That's why I'm telling you I was wrong. I was overconfident as director in our procedures and it's important that a leader be accountable and transparent. If I were still director, I'd be saying exactly the same thing that Chris Wray is saying, which is we are going to get to the bottom of this. Because the most important question is, is it systemic? Are there problems in other cases?

Comey and Horowitz also disagreed on the importance of the notorious Steele dossier; while Comey maintained it was "part of a broader mosaic," while Horowitz declared it "played an essential role in establishing probable cause." Wallace talks about the report saying that, if the Steele dossier had not been received, the FBI might never have even submitted a FISA application, but that when they did review the dossier, they did in fact submit the application.  

Comey suggested that he and Horowitz were not far apart on that issue,

What his report says is that the FBI thought it was a close call until they got the Steele report, put that additional information in, and that tipped it over to be probable cause. It's a long FISA application. It includes Steele material and lots of other material. I don't think we're saying different things.

Wallace disagreed. 

Well, I think you are, sir, because he's saying -- you're saying it's part of a broader mosaic; it's just one element. He's saying it was the tipping point. It's what brought it over. That doesn't make it part of a broader mosaic; it makes it the centerpiece of the whole FISA application and the ability to surveil Carter Page.

They had some further back and forth on that, with Comey holding his ground that

It was one of a bunch of different facts that were assembled to apply to the court. It was the one that convinced the lawyers that they had enough now, with that added to the pile, to go forward.

Wallace was disbelieving of that, saying that he appeared to be "minimizing the role of the Steele dossier" while Horowitz was "saying it's a lot more important than you let on."

Okay. If I was, then I'm sorry that I did that. But I meant it was one part of the presentation to the court. It was not a huge part of the presentation to the court, but it was the fact, according to his report, that convinced the lawyers to go forward.

After achieving no real agreement there, Wallace moved on to the IG's issues with whether a source (sub-source?) referenced in the dossier had his statements misinterpreted or exaggerated, but still used to get renewals on the FISA applicant and continued surveillance. Here again, there was little agreement between the two men, with Wallace accusing Comey of mischaracterizing the information in the dossier, and Comey accusing Wallace of mischaracterizing the Horowitz report. 

And they disagreed about how much knowledge Comey should have had about the investigation. Here's Wallace.

You're the FBI Director... This isn't "some investigation," sir. This is an investigation of the campaign of the man who is the president of the United States. You had just been through a firestorm investigating Hillary Clinton. I would think, if I were in your position, I would have been on that, you know, like a junkyard dog. I would have wanted to know everything they were doing investigating the Trump campaign. 

Comey tried to set him straight on how things work, but again, I share Wallace's disbelief on this.

Yeah, that's not the way it works, though. As a director sitting on top of an organization of 38,000 people, you can't run an investigation that's seven layers below you. You have to leave it to the career professionals to do, to the special agents who do this for their lives. And if a director tries to run an investigation, it'll get mucked up in all different kinds of ways, given his or her responsibilities and the impossibility of reaching the work that's being done at the lower level.

On it went, with Comey minimizing or disagreeing with what Horowitz found, including that there was a criminal referral made regarding an attorney who apparently altered emails. Comey seemed to minimize it, saying that there's been no resolution on the referral. Wallace was incredulous.

I mean, you make it sound like it's not much... It's quite a lot. I mean, not a source - 'a source' to 'not a source' is a big deal.

Comey agreed, but added

But remember how we got here. The FBI was accused of criminal misconduct. Remember, I was going to jail, and lots of other people were going to jail. People on this network said it over, and over, and over again. The Inspector General did not find misconduct by FBI personnel, did not find political bias, did not find illegal conduct. The Inspector General found significant mistakes, and that is not something to sneeze at; that's really important. But the American people -- especially your viewers -- need to realize, they were given false information about the FBI. It's honest. It is not political. It is flawed.

In return,  Wallace asked if Comey would "agree that the FISA court was also given false information by the FBI?" Comey agreed. 

I think that's fair. The FBI should have included -- or at least pushed to the lawyers, so they could make a decision -- information that you just said, things like that, that another agency -- not a source relationship, but some kind of contact relationship --.

Blissfully, we are nearing the end of this train wreck of an interview. Wallace played another clip of Horowitz answering a question about how he explains what happened, the significant errors on "one of the FBI's most significant cases..." Wallace said  Horowitz said "it's one of two things, and he can't decide: gross negligence or it was intentional misconduct." Comey claims that in the report Horowitz says

He says, "I -- we are not concluding that there was intentional misconduct by FBI officials."

Seriously?  Wallace tried again, pointing out that Horowitz was asked "How do you explain it?" And he said, "Gross negligence or intentionality." And again, here's Comey tap-dancing.

Yeah. Well, I'm sorry. He doesn't find intentionality, but that doesn't make it any less important. As director, you are responsible for this. I was responsible for this. And if I were still there, I'd be doing what Chris Wray is doing -- is figuring out, "So, how did this happen? And is it systemic?" Because that's the scariest thought, is that --

Wallace interrupted to ask Comey whether he would resign, if he "were still there, and all of this came out, and it turned out it happened on your watch..."

I don't think so. There are mistakes I consider more consequential than this during my tenure, and the important thing is to be transparent about it and then look to fix it, and explain to the American people how you fixed it.

Wallace asked about Snitty Snitty Bill Barr, how he's been "harshly critical" of the FBI, and shared his reaction to the Horowitz report, in which he said the issues "leaves open the possibility to infer bad faith" and Wallace wondered if Barr had a point.

No. He does not have a factual basis as the attorney general of the United States to be speculating that agents acted in bad faith. The facts just aren’t there, full stop. That doesn’t make it any less consequential, any less important, but that’s an irresponsible statement.

And, to rub salt in Comey's wide open wounds, Wallace then shared a clip of the president's reaction.

They’ve destroyed the lives of people that were great people, that are still great people. Their lives have been destroyed by scum, okay? By scum.

Here's his question, after the clip.

I’d like your response to that, and I’d like you specifically -- because you said the other day, “Where does former FBI lawyer Lisa Page go to get her reputation back?” where does Carter Page go -- the target of these FISA warrants and surveillance -- where does he go to get his reputation back?

And, the response from Comey.

It’s a great question. Carter Page was treated unfairly, most significantly by his name being made public. He’s a United States citizen, and it never should have been made public, and that’s an outrage. But that statement is just a continuation of the lies about the FBI. The FBI is an honest, apolitical organization. Remember the treason; remember the spying; remember all of us going to jail. That was false information that your viewers and millions of others were given. My own mother-in-law was worried I was going to jail. I kept telling her, “Look, it’s all made up, it’s all made up. Don’t worry about it.” But I couldn’t say that publicly for two years. Well, now I’m saying it on behalf of the FBI. It was all made up, and I hope people will stare at that and learn about what the FBI is like, human and flawed, but deeply committed to trying to do the right thing.

I'm surprised that Comey went to Fox News for this interview - and I have no idea if he got out the message it seemed he wanted to, that the FBI was deserving of people's respect, even if they've been blasted by the president for the past two years and even if they made some pretty bad mistakes on this investigation.

I hope he did, because it might be his last chance to do so, particularly given the statement by US Attorney John Durham, who was handpicked by Trump's AG to investigate the investigation:

I have the utmost respect for the mission of the Office of Inspector General and the comprehensive work that went into the report prepared by Mr. Horowitz and his staff.  However, our investigation is not limited to developing information from within component parts of the Justice Department. Our investigation has included developing information from other persons and entities, both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S.  Based on the evidence collected to date, and while our investigation is ongoing, last month we advised the Inspector General that we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened. 

As Comey himself said, "Sure. I'm responsible for it."

See you around campus. 

TGIF 9/6/19

Time for our weekly look at the good week/bad week ledger.

Let's start with Debra Messing, who had a bad week, if you ask me. Aside from her retweeting a racist post, something she clearly should have known better than to do, there was the whole kerfuffle about political donors.

Messing suggested (with others piling on in agreement) that the list of donors to the president's upcoming Hollywood fundraiser should be made public. But here's the thing: when she called for a list of Trump's donors, she didn't simultaneously release a list of the political contributions that she's made, nor did she demand that Democratic donors are similarly publicized. Shame on her - let's be all about transparency and equality and publish all of them. Or conversely.

Moving on to the great state of Alabama, rarely have so many been talking about a state - people who have about as much intention of visiting Alabama as, well, as Dorian did. I'd guess that more folks can now find Alabama on a map than at any other time in recent memory, maybe no.

The president is making a bad week worse by doubling down, having his Cabinet members double down, and literally making an ass of himself. He's acting like the proverbial four-year-old who picks up his toys and goes home when he doesn't get his way.  On the plus side, though, his Sharpie-doctored map has spawned a whole lot of creativity in the Twitterverse, with loads of drawings of all kinds of Trump-related stuff being hilariously marked up. Search the #SharpiePresident hash tag for some fun. FYI, there's some NSFW content there, so be careful.

We also learned which projects the Pentagon was going to ignore, instead misappropriating the money for Trump's Mexican-funded border wall, leading all of us to try once again to understand exactly how Mexico is paying for the darn thing. We're paying for it, of course - the military, and FEMA, so far, are having a bad week as money is pulled to help make sure that Trump gets 500 miles of wall built by the 2020 election. Because a political promise is more important than our three branches of government, dontcha know. Mexico is having a good week, I think.

James Comey had a mixed week. On the one hand, he's not being charged with any crimes, but on the other, he violated FBI policies in a couple of ways, we were told, including sharing his memos with a friend who shared them with the press. Rabid Trump fans are demanding he be jailed for life or longer, maybe jailed for life AND stoned in the public square and stuff, as if any company would to that to an employee. Heck, in some circles, he'd be considered a protected whistle blower.

Boris Johnson had a bad week, suffering embarrassing losses in his first couple of votes as the UK's Prime Minister. Worse than that, though, the 'British Donald Trump' lost the confidence of his little brother Jo, who resigned as a member of parliament and as a minister in his brother's government. In a tweet, he pointed to an "unresolvable tension" between loyalty to the family and the national interest.  Which leads me to declare that Ivanka Trump also had a bad week. Now that she knows it can be done, she can stop being complicit in her father's nonsense, and the longer it takes for her to do it, the worse her weeks become.

And finally, on a sadder note, the number of people suffering from serious lung illnesses stemming, it seems, from their vaping habits continues to grow, as does the number of deaths, with five reported. Some are calling for Ned Sharpless, the acting head of the FDA, to do something or resign.

I'm not sure there's anything he can do - or should do - to solve this problem, other than offer thoughts and prayers. You know, like we do with mass shootings. Good for the goose, and all.

Noodling Around: Reactions to Barr's Memo

I've got me a bowl of piping hot ramen here, so let's do some noodling around, shall we?

I'm reminded immediately of the quote that's often attributed to Richard Nixon,"I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."

It comes to mind because it seems that many people are misstating what AG William Barr's letter to Congress said, or didn't say, and what it meant, or didn't mean, either on purpose or because they really don't know what it said because they just read the headlines, not the articles.  It's a hot mess, just like my noodles.

So, what do I know, after 22 months of Mueller's investigation, the hundreds of search warrants and subpoenas and interviews and the 30-some-odd indictments?

The president has egg on his face and poop on his shoes. Donald Trump, who spent two years blasting the FBI, the Justice Department, and just about everyone involved in the investigation as partisan hacks, clueless witch-hunters, angry Democrats and more - now finds himself having to say what a great job they did, whether he wants to say that or not, because those are the very people who found (to the best of our knowledge, anyway) that he did not and his family did not and his administration did not formally collude or conspire with the Russian government.

At the same time as he's now touting his (ahem) total exoneration, he's suggesting that there are many people who have committed treason against our country via their participation in the investigation. He's claimed that no one's mentioning their names, but he's mentioned their names, but he didn't mention their names when he called them out namelessly.  Like I said, poop on his shoes. Treason is a serious allegation, even when it's uttered by a complete charlatan.

Adam Schiff, put up or shut up. Schiff, the California Democrat who is now chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (some might say that's an oxymoron but that's a tale for another day), has said that his Committee has tangible proof, ample evidence, of collusion; he's said that for about a year now. Just like Trump and his treason claims, Schiff has to come clean with his evidence, sooner than later. Like now.

Mitch McConnell is the worst thing to come out of Kentucky ever, except maybe Reba McIntyre as Colonel Sanders.  The latest example? He refused to allow a vote on the non-binding resolution asking for release of the full Mueller Report, which passed the House by a 420 - 0 vote. He can go pound salt with his iron fist, or something. I mean, even Trump, even today, said he would have no problem with the full report being released. Even today, after his attorneys said that his written answers to Mueller's questions shouldn't be released, Trump said that the whole darn thing should be made public. What the heck is wrong with McConnell?

Congress is already investigating, and they want more. After weeks of complaining about how much money the Mueller investigation has cost the taxpayers (and completely ignoring that it might end up making money, after all is said and done) now the R's want to investigate the investigators who, you'll recall, found no collusion. I mean, I can see them investigating if there was a finding of collusion, but since their reality TV star president is now safe from that particular allegation, you'd think they would not want to spend a whole lot more time talking about this stuff.

Lindsey Graham basically promised James Comey a turn in the Senate Intelligence Committee's hot seat (yes, another oxymoron, I know) which won't go well for Graham, if Comey's previous testimony is any indication. Comey doesn't break under pressure, while the senators who will be questioning him will be so busy trying to make a fundraising video that they'll look ridiculous by comparison. And let me just confess that Peter Strzok was my favorite Congressional witness ever, with the exception of Matt Damon doing Brett Kavanaugh on SNL.

And the Dems are no better on this, believe me. I swear they'd investigate their own mama if they could find a reason or make one up. And yes, the fundraising video making is a driver here, as well.

Impeachment must be off the table. It simply must be off the table, I don't care how badly people want it, I don't care how many House members want it, it can't happen. First of all, it won't be successful - the House probably wouldn't go for it and there's not a snowball's chance in Death Valley that there'd be a positive vote in the Senate.  The timing will be horrible -- we're already knee deep in the 2020 race, and trying to impeach him during the election campaign almost guarantees another four years of Trump lying and Pence staring. Please -- don't blow the chance to get him out of the White House, It's going to be hard enough without forcing the Dems to hop around on their self-inflicted foot wounds Don't do it.

Governing. They're supposed to be governing. Enough said? Enough said.

Sunday School Extra - The Mueller Report, Concluded

Attorney General Bill Barr sent a short and sweet summary of the Mueller Report to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R- WH), Rep. Jerry Nadler (D- NY), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Rep Doug Collins (R-GA) letting them know the principal conclusions in the report.

First, some background: The investigation was exhaustive, involving 19 lawyer (including the 13 or 17 Angry Democrats, I would guess), 40 FBI agents, analysts, accountants, and staffers. In all, there were over 2800 subpoenas, some 500 or so search warrants, interviews with around 500 witnesses, and more.  No further recommendations for indictment were issued, and there are no sealed indictments waiting to be unfurled.

As to Barr's reading of the principle conclusions of the report (we leaned in advance what Rep. Nadler thinks of those):

1. The report outlines how Russia tried to influence the 2016 presidential election; documents crimes committed by people "associated with the Russian government" in the influence effort; explains that a "primary consideration" of the investigation was to determine whether any Americans "joined the Russian conspiracies to influence the election" and noted that would be a federal crime had it occurred. And, "the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities."
2. Mueller's investigation found there were two main efforts by the Russians to mess with the election. First, the Internet Research Agency's social media disinformation campaign "designed to so social discord, eventually with the aim of interfering with the election." Even though there was no involvement of Americans in that efforts, there were criminal charges against Russian people and companies. 
3. Second, there was the hacking stuff, with Russians successfully hacking Clinton campaign and DNC emails and then sharing the info (remember Podesta's recipes?) through "intermediaries, including Wiki Leaks." This led to additional indictments against Russian military guys, but that no one from the Trump campaign fell for multiple overtures of assistance. 
4. The part of the report that addressed obstruction of justice by the president spoke of a "thorough factual investigation" which did not lead to "a conclusion - one way or the other - as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction." Rather, Mueller and his team maid the case both for prosecution on the obstruction charges, and for not prosecuting on them, "leaving unresolved what the Special Counsel views as 'difficult issues' of law and fact." Importantly, and contrary to what the president and his minions are saying,  the report "does not conclude that the president committed a crime, (and) it also does not exonerate him." 
5. Barr and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein (another target of the president) determined that Mueller's evidence is "not sufficient to establish" that the president committed a crime, and noted that they didn't take into consideration the constitutional issues around indicting and prosecuting a sitting president. Instead, they relied on Mueller's own information, including that "the evidence does not establish" that Trump was involved in any underlying crime tied to Russian interference, which makes proving obstruction much harder.  So, basically, Barr and Rosenstein did the same thing that James Comey did when he determined that not prosecutor would charge anyone who did what Hillary Clinton did.

Barr had said, in the hearing on his nomination that it was his intention all along to release as much information as he could of Mueller's report, within the confines of the law and Justice Department policies. That's going to take some time, as there's a lot of stuff that needs to be reviewed so as not to violate the confidentiality of grand jury matters, for example, or anything related to the spin-off investigations in New York and Virginia. Mueller is going to assist to make that happen as soon as possible.

In the meantime, we wait, and watch as the House and Senate majorities go their different different ways on all of this. The one thing we know for sure is that there will be investigations, with different targets, unless the leadership in both the House and the Senate can wrangle their respective folks in.

The larger issue, for me at least, is this: at what point do the majority Dems in the House turn their attention to governing, to legislating, to working on the things that have a direct impact on us? You know, taxes and social security and Medicare and voting rights and redistricting and not completely crashing the US and global economies with their Green New Deal, or wiping out the sixth of the economy that is health care and health insurance, and so on.

Those are things that we are just as entitled to as we are the Mueller report. 

TGIF 6/15/18

Thank freaking goodness it's Friday!  Have you had enough of this week yet? I sure have - let me count the ways.

First, we had the painful G7 meeting in Canada, in which, we're told, president Trump said that he could send 25 million Mexicans to Japan and Prime Minister Abe would be out of office in no time; that all the terrorists are in Paris, and of course, all the nonsense about Canada, and attacking our other allies, and suggesting that Russia get back in, and that Obama is to blame for, well, pretty much everything.

Net neutrality officially ended, leaving it open for service providers to slow down traffic for people who don't want to pay more for faster moving bits and bytes; block or otherwise demote content from competitors, and so on -- all things the Trump administration argued were ridiculous and would not hurt consumers because they probably wouldn't even happen so we need to just let net neutrality die.

Then we had the highfalutin' rootin-tootin' holy salutin' summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un, of whom the president said, he's a great negotiator. Coming from the Artist of The Deal, them's some pretty strong words of praise. And it must be true, because it doesn't appear Kim gave up anything in return for a lifetime of handshakes  - and that salute - and a movie trailer. Don't forget the movie trailer. Now, the fact that North Korea has previously promised some level of the 'denuke' process that Trump says we will get. And there was that whole war games comment. All I could think of was Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy and that computer...

We had the pro-net neutrality administration all up in arms when a federal judge decided that an AT&T-Time Warner merger was just fine (even with Fake News CNN in the mix) and it wouldn't hurt consumers in the least, honest.

We've got all those kids in detention along the border, because the Bible tells us it's OK or something like that. Or maybe it's because it's the Democrats' fault, not the Bible's. The story changes so many times in a day or two, it's hard to keep track. But as long as we fully fund the border wall that Mexico's going to pay for, it's all good.

And the IG report - the one that proves that there was "no collusion" even though the report had nothing whatsoever to do with determining whether or not there was collusion? Yeah, that happened too.

Finally, I think every single media outlet said something along the lines of 'Trump said numerous things that were misleading' or 'not totally accurate'  or 'maybe incomplete', with only people on Twitter calling out the lies - repeated lies - about North Korea, kids ripped out of the arms of their parents, and the IG report, among other topics.

And only people on Twitter were calling out the media's complicity in allowing Trump to lie with impunity each and every day. Today was just like the first 500 or so days of this administration, after all.

I don't know about you, but I could really use a drink. Or, whatever it is that Rudy Giuliani's having.

TGIF.

Sunday School 4/22/18

One classroom today, CNN's State of the Union, since I haven't spent a lot of time there lately -- and, mostly, because Presidential Counselor Kellyanne Conway was making an appearance.

First up? Guest host Dana Bash, sitting in for Jake Tapper, asked Conway about the president's tweet disagreeing with a report in the NY Times that Cohen would 'flip' against his boss, and why he'd be concerned about it if he (Trump) had done nothing wrong. Conway suggested that the one tweet Bash mentioned was part of a continuum.

You have to look at everything the president said... he is defending someone who he has worked with and known for a dozen-plus years, Dana, who he things is being treated unfairly.... Also the methods really have disserved the president... 

Conway concluded that section by hitting the FBI about the DNC Server, after which Bash tried again to get her to say whether the president "has anything to hide" and if he "unequivocally" did nothing wrong that he had to worry about Cohen flipping. Conway wasn't having it.

I'm telling you that the president's concern has been for Michael Cohen and the way he has been treated... He stands up for people in his inner circle and people he knows when he thinks they are being treated unfairly... .

I sort of hoped that Bash would ask about Trump's loyalties to his own appointees, including Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, but that might have been a little out there since Conway was on a mission.  The mission? To slam "that guy," James Comey.

He can't even keep his story straight when he's out there among what he thinks is going to be hero's welcome with the mainstream media. And fortunately, many people including your own Jake Tapper, pushed back on him, really filleted him last week...

She was all over Comey, and Andrew McCabe. And, Conway repeatedly and effectively, I think, attacked CNN, the compliment to Jake Tapper notwithstanding, for their attention to tweets instead of to what Trump is focused on. But by far the best part of the interview came when Bash tried to ask about Conway's husband, who has receiving some attention for his own tweets, which are not always kind to the president.

In a nutshell, Bash wanted to know about Conway's husband's negative tweets about Trump and the Administration. The conversation got heated, and there was a lot of crosstalk but here's how things played out..

KC: He writes about a lot of things that are also supportive, and he writes a lot of things about corgis and the Philadelphia Eagles and sports too... But the fact is that -- well, two things I will say to you. Number one, that again, that woman who lost the election whose name I never see on TV anymore is wrong that women -- I think she said white women have to listen to their - the men in their life to -- to form their own political opinions. Wrong again, lady. Number two, it's fascinating to me that CNN would go there, But it's very good for the whole world to have just witnessed that it's now fair... 

Excuse me -- that it's now fair game what people's - how people's spouses and significant others may differ with them. I'm really surprised, but very, in some ways, relieved and gratified to see that. 

DB: And it's not about that (gender). It's about -- It's about -- It's about questioning, publicly questioning what you are doing for a living and with regard to your boss. And it has nothing to do with gender

KC: No, and it has nothing to do with my spouse?  You just brought him - you just brought him into this, so this ought to be fun moving forward, Dana.  We're now going to talk about other people's  -- people's spouses and significant others, just because they either work in the White House or at CNN? Are we going to do that? Because you just -- no, you just went there... CNN just went there. Look, differences of opinions...

DB:By the way, this wasn't critical. I'm just asking about...

KC: Oh, of course it was. It was meant to harass and embarrass. But let me just tell you something... Let me just tell you something. By definition, spouses have a difference of opinion when adultery is happening... By definition, spouses have a difference of opinion when one is, I don't know, draining the joint bank account to support things that maybe the other disagrees with. So this is a fascinating 'cross the Rubicon' moment. And I will leave it at that. 

And of course, they didn't just leave it there. It kept going. Bash was relentless in trying to defend the question, saying it was "actually intended to be somewhat lighthearted about the fact that we are all grownups who have different opinions.

DB: Kellyanne, Kellyanne, here was my whole point in this... is that you are a professional working for the president of the United States and your husband is a very well-respected lawyer. Any my point is that we don't often see - in fact I don't remember the last time we saw somebody working for the president in a high-profile position when their spouse is saying critical things about them. That is all... That is all.

Conway mentioned other people's family members who don't support the president privately and publicly, who worked for or gave money to Dems, but that the whole conversation

is meant to divert attention from, again, the big issues that America cares about. But, like I said CNN chose to go there. I think that's going to be fascinating moving forward... 

Bash reminded Conway about Trump, and Andrew McCabe.

DB: The president went after Andrew McCabe for something that his wife did, ran as a Democrat. And that had nothing to do with the president, so.

KC:  No, no, no, no. The president knew something early that everybody else is now finding out. The president has excellent instincts. And he knew Jim Comey and Andrew Mccabe...

And there: we have circled back around to the Kellyanne Conway we're so familiar with. In a nutshell, the credibility she gained by attacking CNN for being more interested in trivial stuff than in actual stuff -- something all of the networks were guilty of during Trump's campaign, and since --  was lost.

See you around campus.

TGIF 4/20/18

It's been an interesting week, don't you think?

We've got Comey, Comey popping up everywhere, saying all kinds of stuff...

He's tweeted at me probably 50 times. I've been gone for a year. I'm like the breakup he can't get over. I'm out there living my best life. He wakes up in the morning and tweets at me, 

We've got a criminal referral against Hillary Clinton and others regarding the Steele dossier...

We write to refer the following individuals for investigation of potential violation(s) of federal statutes. In doing so, we are especially mindful of the dissimilar degrees of zealousness that has marked the investigations into Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the president campaign of Donald Trump, respectively. Because we believe that those in positions of high authority should be treated the same as every other American, we want to be sure that the potential violations of law outlined below are vetted appropriately.

North Korea suggested they might be getting out of the nuclear weapons business...

From April 21, North Korea will stop nuclear tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles... (and) shut down a nuclear test site in the country's northern side to guarantee transparency in suspending nuclear tests.

The president had fun with the Japanese Prime Minister, and the facts, at Mar-a-Lago...

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III may have drawn a line in the sand, and the line's name is Rod Rosenstein.. And, some 800 or so DOJ alumni issued an open letter which noted

...it is up to the rest of us, and especially our elected representatives, to come to their defence and oppose any attempt by the president or others to improperly interfere in the Department's work, including by firing either Mr. Mueller, Mr. Rosenstein or other Department leadership or officials for the purpose of interfering in their investigations.

The Democratic National Committee sued Russia, and Trump's campaign, and more...

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Russia launched an all-out assault on our democracy, and it found a willing and active partner in Donald Trump's campaign. This constituted an act of unprecedented treachery: the campaign of a nominee for President of the United States is in league with a hostile foreign power to bolster it's own chance to win the presidency...

Yep -- one heck of an interesting week... 

TGIF, everyone.

Wondering on Wednesday (v130)

Of course I am wondering, this Wednesday, as usual. Aren't you?

I wonder why why James Comey thought it necessary to come out with a book so soon? I asked the same question, perhaps not out loud, about Hillary Clinton. I'm not sure either of them gave themselves, or particularly in Hillary's case, gave us, enough time for introspection, for reflection, and contemplation. Not only that, but they both provided a ton of cannon fodder for their detractors, between the hasty publications and the book tours and the public comments which are still salt in the wounds.

Time heals all wounds, they say - and some other 'they say' said that time wounds all heels. I hope that's not the case for Comey. I think his story is important, but I'm not sure whether taking a very short 10 months to go from the frying pan into the fire is helpful.

Anyone else been wondering about Jared and Ivanka?  Where they heck are they, anyway?

Remember Kansan Kris Kobach, the guy who's been feeding Trump's voter fraud addiction all this time? The guy who get the president to start a voter protection commission and who was the cause of that group shutting down after he asked for information that many states cannot legally provide about their voters?  Yeah, that guy, he was just found in contempt of court by a federal judge.

Why, you ask? For enforcing a restrictive voter registration law while there's an injunction to determine whether the law is even legal. For disregarding the court's order not to do that. For failing to notify voters of upcoming changes. For failing to properly train election inspectors. And he wants to be governor.  And he's considered a front runner. And I wonder, how does none of this matter?

I wonder how it is that Kendrick Lamar has won a Pulitzer Prize for his rap lyrics, but the president has not won for his OrangeVerse? Now, don't jump all over me -- I know nothing about rap, and I'm not a fan to be honest, but I am certainly not gong to second-guess the Pulitzer judges, who noted this about Lamar's work:

Damn. is complex, rich, full of surprise and invention. Sonically it's highly sophisticated and original. It brings together melody, harmony, counterpoint, texture - all those elements, in a fresh way. And lyrically, it's very powerful.

Couldn't, I wonder, the president's own words be so richly complemented?

And finally, speaking of the president's words, I offer this wonder-full addition to Trump catalogue: that, without him, the Seoul Olympics would have been a failure.

Is that because he stayed home, making sure that he would not be booed on the international stage? Or was it sending Mike Pence, he of the steely gaze, or Ivanka, she of the multiple parkas, that made the Games a success? 

I wonder.  

Wondering on Wednesday (v123)

Well, well, well. It's Wednesday again - let the wondering begin.

I've been disconnected from news and stuff most of the day, so I have to wonder whether anyone else did a 'Hope and change' comment about poor Hope Hicks, the president's other daughter, resigning from her position as White House communications director?  That was one headline I saw as soon as I got back home. Hicks, who admitted to telling 'white (house) lies' in her role as Communications Director, was the one who wrote the press release praising alleged domestic abuser Rob Porter who, it seems, was her boyfriend at the time.  She's apparently been planning this for a while, and it's not related to her testimony before the House Intelligence Committee where the lying was admitted. 

While Hicks was fairly under the radar - didn't handle press briefings or do interviews or any of the traditional CommsDir roles -- she apparently made her mark on folks, like Trump's General Kelly.

I quickly realized what so many had learned about Hope: she is strategic, poised and wise beyond her years. She became a trusted adviser and counselor, and did a tremendous job overseeing the communications for the president's agenda including the passage of historic tax reform. She has served her country with great distinction. To say that she will be missed is an understatement.

Of course, this is the same General Kelly who spoke so highly of Porter in that lovingly crafted press release.

Rob Porter is a man of true integrity and honor, and I can't say enough good things about him. He is a friend, a confidante, and a trusted professional. I am proud to serve alongside him.

I wonder, is there some compromised judgment here on the part of the General? Or compromised sense of duty?

Speaking of compromised judgment, the president managed to blow yet another tweet gasket about his Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III.

Why is AG Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn't the IG an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!

This time, instead of rolling over and playing dead, Sessions fought back.

We have initiated the appropriate process that will ensure complaints against this Department will be fully and fairly acted upon if necessary. As long as I am the Attorney General, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this Department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution.

I have wondered, for a while, why it is that Sessions stays and puts up with Trump's bullying, public thrashing, and general abuse. I still wonder about that, but at least he took a step today and fought back, something that DOJ employees have long wanted, since Trump also attacks them with impunity and with regularity.

One more before we go: remember the "Hispanic, we believe" judge who was involved in the Trump University case? The one who would not be able to be fair to Trump because of his heritage, and because Trump was building a wall, and therefore it was impossible for the judge to rule on anything in Trump's favor?

Yeah, that Judge handed down a very beneficial ruling on the border wall.

US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel has cleared on potential obstacle to president Donald Trump's long-promised border wall, ruling Tuesday that the administration has the authority to waive a host of environmental laws and other regulations to begin construction.

I wonder, how long will it take for Trump to apologize for his extremely racist comments about the judge?

TGIF 12/22/17

It's the Friday before Christmas, and that for sure is a perfect reason for some TGIF wishes, don't you think?

We do have other reasons to raise a TGIF glass to this week, though. We've got the beautiful massive tax cut bill signed, sealed and delivered.

If all goes according to plan, we'll start seeing changes on February 1st, according to the president. And then on April 17th we'll start getting giddy about what we won't have to go through in 2019 when we'll be able to file our taxes on a postcard. Or something.

I don't know for sure what it will mean to our taxes -- I can't tell for sure, because the different calculators I've seen are all giving different results. But, boy, some folks must know EXACTLY what it means for them, because Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas has done the math.

Under #TaxCutsandJobsAct a married couple earning $100,000 per year ($60,000 from wages, $25,000 from their non-corporate business, and $15,000 in business income) will receive a tax cut of $2,603.50, a reduction of nearly 24 percent.

Right down to the half dollar, by jeepers! That's some pretty darn good  number-crunching. Think he was using a Texas Instruments calculator?

We also had some testimony from Andrew McCabe, the Deputy Director of the FBI, before Congress this week. Seems he pissed off a lot of people by telling them James Comey let him know the gist of Trump's 'loyalty pledge' nonsense. That shouldn't sit well with Congress, nor with the president.

We had 'taking names' at the UN, and then we invited the countries that didn't vote against us to a party. In case you're wondering, the countries joining us and Israel were Guatemala, Honduras, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau and Togo.

But perhaps the most important thing that happened this week was the giant GOPgasm that happened at the White House. Fair warning - this picture may be disturbing. The faint of heart may want to avert their eyes.

There was dancing on the White House lawn, I tell ya! Giddy like children given too much candy by Grandma or something. To their credit, they waited until they actually had passed the darn thing, instead of that mess that happened the last time they tried this, remember the ill-fated health care 'repeal and replace' bill back in the spring?

Do you think next time they pass something, they'll bring in athletes to show them how to celebrate right?

TGIF, and Merry Christmas. Your postcard's in the mail.

Quick Takes (v20): Protecting Mueller

Quick Takes

Word broke at some point today, can't remember if it was before or after my day job, that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has gotten himself a grand jury and is beginning to issue subpoenas in the Trump investigations.

According to the article linked above, Cornell law professor Jens David Ohlin noted that

While grand juries hear evidence and sometimes decline to hand up indictments, it now looks unlikely that Mueller will "simply submit a report to Congress and allow the political process to digest his findings. This is a criminal investigation in the fullest sense of the term."

We've heard a number of stories that Trump and his team are looking to discredit Mueller; and they've supposedly been looking into pardon rules. The thinking was that Trump maybe proactively pardon certain close associates (Jared, Donny and who knows who else) or maybe even pardon himself.

The president is having a "love me" fest in West byGod Virginia tonight, so we may not hear his take on the subpoenas until early tomorrow morning. But we did hear from Senate Republicans today, in a way I'm sure will antagonize Trump.

Two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee - Republican Thom Tillis and Democrat Chris Coons - are introducing a bill to protect the Mueller investigation from interference.  Their bill, which would be effective retroactively to the date Mueller was appointed,

would take the decision to fire a special counsel out of the hands of the president, granting authority only to the most senior Department of Justice official heading the investigation...it would allow a fired special counsel to challenge their removal in front of a panel of federal judges - with a guarantee that the case would be heard within two weeks. 

Separately, another group of senators including Republican Lindsey Graham and Dems Cory Booker, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Trump punching bag Richard Blumenthal, put up a bill that would allow for judicial review if a special counsel was fired by the President, protect a special counsel from "intimidation" and ensure any special counsel can only be removed for "legitimate reasons instead of political motivations" after petitioning a federal court to establish the reasons (misconduct, dereliction of duty, conflict of interest or other good cause).

Lest there were any remaining concerns that a Republican House and Republican Senate would coalesce around this Republican president, after Comey, and after health care, and after Russia sanctions, and now this -  I think we can put those to rest.

For Senators to work across the aisle to protect Mueller, when their leadership won't allow them to work across the aisle to protect, you know, millions of Americans, I think what we have here is a golden opportunity.

I hope I'm not disappointed.