May 2, 2019

I've been avoiding talking about William Barr, but I'm going to link to National Review because the headline sums up what I've been thinking.

"The Incredibly Dumb Bill Barr Scandal."

I haven't read the article. Must I?

Okay, I skimmed it. I have nothing to add except that last night — and not by my own choice — I overheard a lot of what was on CNN and MSNBC. Awful stuff. Some people find it... I don't know... entertaining. I heard one commentator — I wish I could find this now — ranting about how Trump has caused everyone's brains to rot. I thought I could find that clip by searching the last 24 hours of news for "Barr" and "brain," but I only came up with this clip of Hillary Clinton on Rachel Maddow's show:



That Hillary interview was part of the horror show inflicted on me last night. I'm not in the mood to examing the details of why it's a horror show or even why I am avoiding it. The media and the politicians want to set the narrative, but I am the pilot of my own narrative, and I am avoiding it.

ADDED: From that Clinton clip: She says this story is "far from over," and she says it laughing. What about the part of "far from over" that has to do with her role in getting the Russia hoax started? Maybe being out in the spotlight laughing is the best way to hide.

AND: Searching for brain rot, I came up with 2 old stories in Salon, both by Sophia A. McClennen. First, from February 2017, "Beware the Trump brain rot: The cognitive effects of this administration's actions could be disastrous/Democracy isn't all that's at risk under Trump's agenda. There's a 5-point attack happening on our nation's minds."
Stop for a moment, if you will, and attempt to take stock of the various phrases that you and your friends have been throwing out to describe our collective mental state in the Trump era.... ... I asked more than 1,200 people via Facebook and email and received the following list: "wearing me out," "burning me out," "frying my brains," "beyond belief," "turning my mind into mush," "brain overload," "mental meltdown," “crippling depression,” “constant low level dread,” "making me numb," “stressing me out,” “abject horror,” “disoriented and scared” and "scaring me to death." Others offered descriptions such as "nonstop," "overwhelming," "relentless," "mind-blowing," “devastating,” “exasperating” and "surreal." One friend wrote, “I often wake up in the middle of the night thinking about Trump and unable to get back to sleep from anxiety.“ Another simply posted this Nicolas Cage gif.

And from March 2017, "The resistance is all in your head: 6 ways to fight Trump brain rot/Political opposition to Trumpism requires us to be at our cognitive best. Here are 6 ways to prepare your mind." Let me highlight #5:
Experts on keeping your mind strong and sharp... agree that we all need to be good at resting. Stress, depression and insomnia are some of the biggest threats to cognitive health. There is already significant proof that Trump is increasing our nation’s anxiety and depression.... One of Banksy’s famous images is of a girl looking at a bluebird...

MORE: I think what I remembered as "rots your brain" was really "eats your soul," and people were saying that on TV as a result of the James Comey op-ed that had run in the NYT that morning:
[P]roximity to an amoral leader reveals something depressing. I think that’s at least part of what we’ve seen with Bill Barr and Rod Rosenstein. Accomplished people lacking inner strength can’t resist the compromises necessary to survive Mr. Trump and that adds up to something they will never recover from. It takes character like Mr. Mattis’s to avoid the damage, because Mr. Trump eats your soul in small bites.

It starts with your sitting silent while he lies, both in public and private, making you complicit by your silence. In meetings with him, his assertions about what “everyone thinks” and what is “obviously true” wash over you, unchallenged, as they did at our private dinner on Jan. 27, 2017, because he’s the president and he rarely stops talking. As a result, Mr. Trump pulls all of those present into a silent circle of assent.

Speaking rapid-fire with no spot for others to jump into the conversation, Mr. Trump makes everyone a co-conspirator to his preferred set of facts, or delusions. I have felt it — this president building with his words a web of alternative reality and busily wrapping it around all of us in the room.

153 comments:

Wilbur said...

"I am the pilot of my own narrative."

Damn right, AA.

Big Mike said...

I saw a clip on YouTube. Dianne Feinstein was complaining about something or another Trump is alleged to have done, and Barr looked at her and said “There’s nothing illegal about that.” Crazy Dianne was speechless, just speechless.

peacelovewoodstock said...

"Invictus" updated!

rhhardin said...

Women and butterflies compete for the same mental space.

tim in vermont said...

Most successful SWATting ever.

You have to hand that to her. The supposed quote from her, “If that fucker wins, we’ll all hang from nooses!” Reported by an “NBC employee” after the Mat Laur interview looks more and more like it is probably accurate.

Professional lady said...

Hillary is in deep shit and she knows it.

wendybar said...

It was as bad as you imagine it was. The left was busy accusing Barr and Trump of everything wrong in America, and the rest of us are gagging on all the Popcorn we are gorging ourselves on.

JackWayne said...

Isn’t a laugh like that considered a sign of guilt? I have always thought so.

David Begley said...

Yes, Hillary it is far from over. And you are going to jail.

If the Russians have copies of Bill and Monica having phone sex, some foreign country has those 30,000 deleted emails.

And what’s up with the matching black outfits?

This Barr thing isn’t just dumb, it is totally ridiculous.

Those CNN and MSNBC people are insane. Turn on Morning Joe to see two of the biggest loons.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Hillary is whistling past the graveyard.

tim in vermont said...

Note to trolls, if you want to discuss some aspect of the Mueller Report that you believe shows criminal wrongdoing by Trump or his family, you are free to do so at any time. I am sure that if you bring up specific points, there are plenty of people here who will be more than happy to discuss them. I just don’t get the insistence, when you have an open platform here, the insistence that Althouse sift though it line by line and do your job for you.

All we really seem to see are ominous “Winter is Coming” type post that vaguely hint at the existence of lead pipe proof of criminality and corruption, but for some reason, maybe your computer or your phone runs out of pixels? You can never actually slam the “proof” down on the bench, gutted and filleted and clear for all to see. It’s almost as if all you have is vague inuendo.

rhhardin said...

Somebody is the audience for this stuff and it's enough people to pay the bills.

Susan said...

Hillary can't run and it's too late to hide so she is rushing the shooter.

Laughing bravely.

tim in vermont said...

How many people who are horrified at the redactions in the Mueller Report and who are insisting that Congress should arrest Barr for resisting a Subpoena gave a flying fuck as Hillary deleted 30K emails that were under subpoena? Zero. How many Democrats gave a flying fuck that Hillary and her hubby made 50 million dollars in speaking fees, etc, while she was Secretary of State had any “emoluments” problems with her.

BTW, the two are related, the emails she deleted came from the time when she was collecting all of those millions, much of it from foreign powers with business in front of the State Department.

We had a binary choice in 2016. Democrats’ candidate was worse on every count.

gilbar said...

i just watched Kamela Harris' interrogation of Barr, and i think i might have to review my prediction that the dem's will pick her and booker to lose to Trump in 2020.
Wow! she does Not film well.

Kevin said...

I heard one commentator — I wish I could find this now — ranting about how Trump has caused everyone's brains to rot.

They were discussing, James Comey: How Trump Co-opts Leaders Like Bill Barr (NYT)

MadisonMan said...

I could not watch Hillary. I tried.

tim in vermont said...

rhhardin said...
Somebody is the audience for this stuff and it's enough people to pay the bills


I know you say that, but there are lots of ways to make money off of a news network that have nothing to do with ratings and advertisements, which are just there to defray the costs. For instance, you could be GE and have a huge interest in getting Democrats elected so that your huge investments in “climate friendly” technology pay off. Fracking is competition to solar and wind, devastating competition, and if you bet the farm on those techs, you want fracking ended. You want oil and gas prices to rise so that your alternatives become competitive. BTW, Putin also wants oil and gas prices to rise, since his economy is based on them.

Kevin said...

i just watched Kamela Harris' interrogation of Barr, and i think i might have to review my prediction that the dem's will pick her and booker to lose to Trump in 2020.

Would love for Althouse to give her perspective on the questioning by Harris, Klobuchar, and Booker yesterday.

Not the whole circus, just those three.

Mike Sylwester said...

This is the funniest Presidency ever. I laugh every day about something.

I also enjoy thinking about how William Barr's investigation of the RussiaGate hoax will develop.

* What will be exposed?

* Who will be charged?

* Who will rat on other conspirators?

* Who will be convicted?

There is much food for thought in this fascinating situation.

Tom T. said...

As others have observed, we've gone from allegations of treason down to complaints about the tone of a summary of the exoneration.

Kevin said...

i just watched Kamela Harris' interrogation of Barr,

She has a way of speaking that makes it seem she’s always about to break out in tears.

tim in vermont said...

The thing that is hardest to swallow for me in the whole thing is the absolute refusal to consider reasons why Putin wouldn’t want Hillary, for sale to the highest bidder, and friendly to the policies that mean more to his economy than sanctions, oil prices, over “Drill baby, drill!” Donald Trump.

Mueller just takes Clapper and Brennen’s word for it.

Matt Sablan said...

I expect sexual harassment accusations against Barr to surface in the next few weeks. I don't know if that is a statement born from cynicism or pattern recognition.

Xmas said...

I like Barr's arguments about the obstruction charges, which basically boil down to "Trump was sure he was innocent of the underlying crime and wanting to govern without an investigation hanging over his head is not a corrupt motive. Without an underlying crime we will have a very poor case that we would likely lose."

Humperdink said...

Brain rot? Just watch Morning Joe and Mika at 6AM for a few minutes. Sadly, the affliction is not covered by Obamacare.

wendybar said...

Oh yes. Morning Joke is hilarious today. Did you see the story where Mika filmed Joe putting up a Mueller painting in their house?? Raise your hand if you have pictures of political people in your house and they don’t relate to an event you attended, a selfie you took with them or a collectible item

Kevin said...

* What will be exposed?

* Who will be charged?

* Who will rat on other conspirators?

* Who will be convicted?


Didn’t those questions make up the bulk of Inga’s comments over the last three years? Isn’t that what many of us hoped to find in the investigation of Hillary?

Perhaps we can restrain ourselves this time.

tim in vermont said...

News gathering has been a money loser for decades, so they had to find other ways to make it pay than advertising. Basically they put their networks up for sale to the person who had the most use for the ability to do favors for powerful politicians. Which is what news gathering operations are now. They certainly are not interested in looking at the news in any objective sense of the term, or we would be treated to constant updates on this whole spying on Republicans story every day.

Susan said...

Wonder if Mika and Joe are using Mueller's picture for a dartboard now that he has let them down?

Kevin said...

Those CNN and MSNBC people are insane. Turn on Morning Joe to see two of the biggest loons.

Adam Schiff is on now. Kamala Harris up next.

Matt Sablan said...

"Raise your hand if you have pictures of political people in your house and they don’t relate to an event you attended, a selfie you took with them or a collectible item"

-- In several years I hope to buy an original Dewey beats Truman paper to hang next to my Madam President Newsweek.

Xmas said...

Fyi, Nellie Ohr's emails to her husband and other DOJ lawyers and investigators were dumped yesterday. She was sending a stream of oppo research into Trump to the DOJ.

tim in vermont said...

I love thinking about the moron who tattooed Mueller’s picture on his back in a response to Roger Stone’s Nixon Tattoo. Which I love, BTW.

“Only 19 and 1/2 minutes of recordings deleted Dick?” said Hillary, coquettishly, “Hold my gin and tonic!"

Tank said...

The phrases Tank has been using are FUN and ENTERTAINMENT.

Trump is fun. The effect he has on the opposition is fun and entertaining.

Matt Sablan said...

Didn't we know she was doing that the question just is will she face any consequences?

Spoilers: She probably won't.

Kevin said...

Schiff is now moving on to “whether the President and those around him were compromised by the Russians in ways that could steer the country in a pro-Russia direction”.

Collusion - no.
Coordination - no.
Obstruction - no.

On to “compromised”. Certainly that will require an investigation of Trump’s tax records.

wildswan said...

A Senator accused the Attorney General of lying and then cut off his attempts to answer. She posed hypotheticals "Do you think it's OK to [whatever]. When he asked what she was referring to she said "I think you know?" even though she had been mixing hypothetical situations with other situations-as-reported-by-the-media such as what Robert Mueller meant when he said that Barr said that he (Mueller) said that Trump did not obstruct when he said that Sessions should not have said what he said but not referring to what the media said at the time Trump was reported to have said by anonymous sources but referring to what Mueller witnesses said to Mueller which Barr summarized accurately but Mueller feels that that made it seem to the American public that Mueller and CNN alike wasted a lot of time and money and made a lot of people look and feel like gullibles in a bubble which look like goldfish swimming in a circle with the gullibles opening and closing their minds like said goldfish opening and closing their mouths for whatever comes raining down from the top of the aquarium, the same is how the gullibles look vis-a-vis the media and they don't like being made fools of and Mueller doesn't like the blowback from them and the media are still pretending and the more stupid of the Senators and Representatives are also still pretending because they want to be on television and who wants to follow the latest plot twists in the charade of obvious TV wannabes like Nadler the frog and Hirono the nasty Mom and work it out?

Matt Sablan said...

Besides entertaining the idea of removing sanctions and not calling Putin the devil, what pro Russia actions has Trump taken?

David Begley said...

Matt Sablan is correct. Sexual harassment allegations against Barr. He organized rape parties in high school. Maybe he went to GT Prep.

tim in vermont said...

Well, he is starving Putin’s military by keeping the price of oil down, and also introducing a long term threat to Putin’s economy by getting Keystone XL built. Maybe Putin is relieved not to have so much filthy lucre pouring in?

Fernandinande said...

The melodrama, it burns!

One weird trick to fight brain-rot: avoid Salon.

tim in vermont said...

Somebody should ask Mueller at the hearing why Hillary’s campaign manager was given millions of dollars worth of Gazprom stock that inexplicably became worthless two days after Hillary lost.

MayBee said...

Even if you hate Trump, you should be upset we had someone who acts like Brennnan and Comey in charge of our intelligence apparatus. The people that can ruin anyone in the world act like children.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

Trump Derangement doesn't get better, it gets worse. Maybe the current madness that is most similar is Climate Change, with at least one prophet who is literally a mentally ill teenager. I like to go to the jokes (one way of relaxing), so here is Sybil's mother in Fawlty Towers:

"Old people are wonderful when they have so much life, aren't they? Gives us all hope, doesn't it? My mother on the other hand is a little bit of a trial, really. You know, it's alright when they have the lifeforce but Mother - well she's got more of the deathforce really. She's a worrier. She has these, well, morbid fears they are, really. Vans is one. Rats. Doorknobs. Birds. Heights. Open spaces. Confined spaces. It's very difficult getting the space right for her really, you know. Footballs. Bicycles. Cows. And she's always on about men following her, I don't know what she thinks they're going to do to her. Vomit on her, Basil says."

Bay Area Guy said...

Then: President Trump is a Russian asset, conspiring to attack our democracy! We must impeach Trump!

Now: Attorney General Barr has mischaracterized the memo exonerating Trump! We must impeach Bsrr, too!

The Dems are delusional wackos.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

"I know you say that, but there are lots of ways to make money off of a news network that have nothing to do with ratings and advertisements"

Or the owners may not care about making profit, they just want to be able to influence public opinion. A Mexican billionaire, Carlos Slim, owns the NYT. Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post, a paper particularly influential in DC.

Amadeus 48 said...

These are mentally disturbed and emotionally fragile people recommending ways to become sane. But none of them is recommending retaining perspective and toting up benefits and detriments, and if anyone did, it would be completely ironic. When the inmates are running the institution, you end up with Marat/Sade.

I stopped watching cable news last year. I dislike Trump, and his critics are worse. At least Trump is sane. His critics are paranoid, mendacious, envious, stupid, and vane.

I don't want to hear any of it. And yet I read Althouse...

Michael K said...

In the movie "Dead Again," a favorite, the character says, as he goes to the gas chamber, "This is far from over."

Hillary got away with crimes in the 1990s, like the cattle futures and the FBI files on Republicans.

Her time may be coming.

I agree that Barr's high school yearbooks are under intense review.

Kevin said...

Mika: “...Trump’s so-called innocence or whatever..”

Apparently people are now so-called innocent or whatever until proven guilty.

narciso said...

Shes like the zampolit in her fathers native Poland and her mother's native czechoslovakia.

WisRich said...

Big Mike said...
I saw a clip on YouTube. Dianne Feinstein was complaining about something or another Trump is alleged to have done, and Barr looked at her and said “There’s nothing illegal about that.” Crazy Dianne was speechless, just speechless.

5/2/19, 6:17 AM
--------

Yes, I saw that. It was epic. Barr had quite a few "truth bombs" during his testimony. There's a reckoning coming.

buwaya said...

Ahem...

These are all wonderful examples of one of my pet theories.

Consider all the coverage yesterday, by the MSM. All of the broadcast media, the networks plus of course CNN and MSNBC. And the newspapers and online "news" and opinion. Of the well-funded variety of course.

Consider the uniformity of the narrative and the tone.

How can anyone deny that the whole of it is not coordinated, centrally directed?

This is a fact, right before your eyes.

Gojuplyr831@gmail.com said...

The dems are just laying the groundwork for claiming victimhood status when the criminal charges get filed against their entire leadership. They will claim the charges are Trump covering up the Russian collusion and they are martyrs.

MBunge said...

If you want to get rid of Trump, the key would be getting normal Republicans and conservatives to turn on him. The Trump-haters are actually doing the exact opposite and pushing normal Republicans and conservatives CLOSER to Trump. It's bizarre.

Mike

Sebastian said...

"Awful stuff"

Yeah, yeah. It's so sad, and isn't it terrible. Anyway, the awful stuff is just a weapon in the culture war, to devastate the public sphere. It serves to legitimate pros' abuse of the system to try and stop Trump. The it's-so-sad reaction plays into their hands.

Until "moderates" decide, once and for all, that the purveyors of the awful stuff are evil, that they should not be trusted with any power in any form, that they are malicious destroyers not of brains but of whole social systems, this will continue. Of course, we deplorables recognized things for what they were long ago. It's what made us deplorable. The next move is up to the Althouses of America. I am encouraged by Althouse's disgust.

iowan2 said...

The media are lying shills. They give the talking points to the Democrats. Pound away on a story. Ignore simple facts. Take the Mueller Report. I have yet to hear one person quote from the statute that creates the Special Counsel. Barr is following the law. Harris, a person that has education and experience, claims Barr is compromised and acting in bad faith, she never veers into the law that directs the Attorney General, and explain the errors of his ways. For the obvious reason

Barr needs to sit with an interview with Maddow. (He takes his own camera man of course)NO. Lawrence O'Donnell. Take all his questions. I would call about noon and say he will sit for an interview at 5pm Take all his questions. Let them get it out of their system. He can use his answers to explain the law. Since they refuse to talk about the underlying statutes. Give their small audience a little education, at the same time showcasing one of their fire breathers, as a clueless teleprompter robot.


buwaya said...

These are not fragile or insane people.
They are well-paid professionals, with enormous resources behind them.
What they say and do may seem absurd, but you aren't their audience.

These narratives are meant for a purpose. They are tools. Complaining that they are lies is pointless.

This is a propaganda system in action. There is no arguing with it.

narciso said...



https://mobile.twitter.com/ProfMJCleveland/status/1123779898294845441

Hagar said...

Progressives think that, if it is not illegal to oppose them, it ought to be.

iowan2 said...

As others have observed, we've gone from allegations of treason down to complaints about the tone of a summary of the exoneration.

As an example, the Charlottesville hoax. It has morphed from "President Trump is a skin head". To, " Nobody is claiming President Trump sympathetic to Nazis but he is a lousy speaker, and incompetent."

Rory said...



Haven't the Clintons lived rent-free everywhere for 40 years?

Dave Begley said...

Barr strikes me as THAT lawyer. Every state has some. The one guy you don't want on the opposite side of your case. Fearless, aggressive, bold, smart, experienced and prepared. He's going to jail lots of people and they all deserve it. Trump has hired lots of lawyers over the years. That's why he hired Barr.

stlcdr said...

Blogger MayBee said...
Even if you hate Trump, you should be upset we had someone who acts like Brennnan and Comey in charge of our intelligence apparatus. The people that can ruin anyone in the world act like children.

5/2/19, 7:06 AM


Side note, talking about childish, when the steel and aluminum tariffs went in place, the EU decided to throw tariffs on Bourbon (among other things) - just out of spite, and not because of any economic issues.

These are so called adults and 'leaders'. It's pathetic. There's no such thing as doing the right thing in these peoples minds.

roesch/voltaire said...

David Leonhardt sums up the problem nicely:"Mueller naively trusted that William Barr, the attorney general, would act honorably and patriotically, as well, and let Barr decide how to handle the initial release of Mueller’s report. Barr, of course, wrote a letter that misled the public about what was in the report, creating a perception that the investigation cleared President Trump."

stevew said...

"Stop for a moment, if you will, and attempt to take stock of the various phrases that you and your friends have been throwing out to describe our collective mental state in the Trump era.... "

These people are not well. Probably weren't before Trump was elected, and likely won't recover after he leaves office.

The professional folks, Democrat Party operatives, elected Democrats, and folks running for office in opposition to Trump, exploit the unwell mental state of these other people to advance their political position. Evil is a good word to describe what they are doing.

narciso said...

Look across the pond in the UK, where a penetration by Chinese intelligence in the network isnt the problem the leak is.

Amadeus 48 said...

Just to be clear, the special counsel statute expired years ago. We are operating under DOJ regulations adopted after the Special Counsel Act died. Part of the problem here is that Mueller was appointed without an alleged criminal act to investigate. This was a fishing expedition from the beginning.

Michael K said...

Barr, of course, wrote a letter that misled the public about what was in the report, creating a perception that the investigation cleared President Trump."

Be specific or is this more of your bullshit ?

James K said...

"Mueller naively trusted that William Barr, the attorney general, would act honorably and patriotically, as well, and let Barr decide how to handle the initial release of Mueller’s report...."

Mueller didn't "let Barr decide" anything. The law dictated that he turn the report over to the AG, and that the AG decides what to do with it. Barr could have filed it away or tossed it into a fire, but instead he released it to the public in its entirety, except for required redactions. No good deed goes unpunished.

Michael K said...

How can anyone deny that the whole of it is not coordinated, centrally directed?

This is a fact, right before your eyes.


It may be but I consider the analogy of a school of fish. They all turn in an instant. No thought required.

Somewhere, there is a direction being set, probably on the basis of money being made, like environmentalism.

Bruce Hayden said...

“David Leonhardt sums up the problem nicely:"Mueller naively trusted that William Barr, the attorney general, would act honorably and patriotically, as well, and let Barr decide how to handle the initial release of Mueller’s report. Barr, of course, wrote a letter that misled the public about what was in the report, creating a perception that the investigation cleared President Trump."”

Idiotic. First, there was no legal requirement that the AG disclose anything. DoJ rules would require the opposite. The rules say: no indictments means no disclosure. But Barr released a summary first, that Mueller didn't object to on a factual basis, then released the entire report, with minor redactions that the AG couldn’t waive the law that required them. And made the entire document, without redactions, available to all of Congress in their SCIF. So, RV complains about the summary, when everyone in the country, in the world, has almost the entirety of the Mueller Report easily available to them. No one was misled by the summary, and if they had been, it would have only been for a week or two.

Wince said...

Susan said...
Hillary can't run and it's too late to hide so she is rushing the shooter.

Well done, well done.

Hagar said...

"House panel will face, not Barr, but an empty chair."

But can Jerry Nadler top Clint Eastwood?

Bruce Hayden said...

Let me iterate my last point. Mueller didn’t allow AG Barr to do anything. That isn’t the way the law there works. The law requires that the special counsel gives his findings to the AG. The law forbids the special counsel from giving his report direct to Congress or the public. It is then up to the AG to decide how and how much to release to Congress and the public. His decision and his decision alone. The special counsel has absolutely no say in the matter, which is obvious that Mueller and his entire team of prosecutors knew this, by what they put in their report. RV is suggesting that AG Barr did something illegal, but, instead, the illegality would have been if Mueller had done anything different.

tim in vermont said...

This song keeps coming to mind when I hear from the Russian conspiracy people:

I pushed my soul into a deep, dark hole and then I followed it in
I saw myself crawl out, as I was crawling in.
I got up so tight that I couldn’t unwind, I saw so much that it broke my mind,

I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in.


Typed from memory after having memorized the lyrics using the technique Althouse blogged about memorizing the Gettysburg Address.

tim in vermont said...

Funny how R/V feels that the job of the AG and the Special Prosecutor is about pro-Democrat political spin and not fact finding. I guess he learned that at his book club of super intelligent men who read philosophy.

CWJ said...

R/V,

You're correct. The Leonhardt quote doesn't sum up the problem nicely. No, it illustrates the problem nicely. In short, he and you are upset that Barr got to get his opinion out before the Dems and media could.

I really hope both he and you are just trolling, Wrapping this spin in patriotism and honesty is just embarrassing.

tim in vermont said...

Even if you hate Trump, you should be upset we had someone who acts like Brennnan and Comey in charge of our intelligence apparatus.

Oh come on. The end of Trump justifies the means.

tim in vermont said...

Wrapping this spin in patriotism...

Last refuge of scoundrels.

Clyde said...

I was told that Hawaii has no native snakes, but after watching Sen. Hirono yesterday, I think they were wrong.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

"There was nothing there to bite!!"--- DJ Trump, when accused of
eating Hillary's soul "in small bites"

iowan2 said...

Bruce H and James K , both smother the lie RV quoted from. It is a perfect example of the successful propaganda surrounding news events like this. This is the 'Two movies' standard Scott Adams presents. The media offers the propaganda of movie 1, sans facts.
One movie is the one that says Barr has violated some laws, or rules, or standards, or norms, or souls. Lays out the supposed infractions, and then finishes with some flourish.

The other movie is the facts. Barr followed the letter of the law, in fact went much further than he had to. Released the report in its entirety with redactions required by law. The entire report, no redactions, available to select members of Congress, of which, at last reporting, only 2 members have done
Movie 1. Barr a slimy toad
Movie 2. Barr follows the letter and intent of the law.

rcocean said...

I'm beginning to think James Comey is delusional or brain damaged. He's STILL talking about "My Dinner with Trump" from 2 years ago, and projecting his own dishonesty on Trump. Amazing. Has the FBI ever had such an arrogant, cowardly, self-righteous, incompetent Director?

rcocean said...

I half-listened to some of the Democrat speech making/questioning of Barr. Basically, its just Kavanaugh all over again, with the D's asserting over and over again that Barr and Trump are liars and crooks, but never providing any proof or asking intelligent questions. Hirano set a new low in stupidity and crassness. K. Harris tried to play the Tough DA without successs. Da Nang Bob lied as usual.

God help us when these clowns become the Senate Majority.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The new narrative is that Barr is hiding the whole report. Not true. No one single democrat has taken the opportunity to read the whole thing.

daskol said...

Buwaya, that's precisely why Trump's most significant, beneficial impact to our political discourse is his disintermediation of the mainstream media. He's done much to reduce their influence, and he's provoked behavior that is further undermining their credibility and authority. There are fewer people listening and fewer still who take as authoritative the output of these media organs. They're increasingly bad at propaganda: they are eroding their broad-based, broadcast abilities even as they demonstrate their ability to increasingly wind up a core group of people. That's dangerous, winding people up like that, but it's less malevolent than the subtler propaganda power they used to wield, which affected a far broader set of people and conversations. The masks are off, for more and more people to see.

Amadeus 48 said...

Comey’s day of reckoning is coming. He’ll never acknowledge his mistakes. He’ll assert his rectitude when the demons cart him off to hell.
I guess that’s one way to play it.

rcocean said...

One curious thing about Comey is he constantly brings up the fact that Trump dominates the conversation and doesn't let him talk. If there's one thing an egoistical talker hates, its another egotistical talker! If fact, if you read his memos, his big moment with Trump came when he broke in and disagreed with him. He writes quite a bit about that. It was obviously the highlight of their relationship - for Comey.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

For much of her professional life, Hillary Clinton had acted above and beyond the law on the assumption that as the wife of a governor, as first lady of the United States, as a senator from New York, as secretary of state and as a two-time candidate for the presidency, she could ignore the law without worry over the consequences.

For Clinton now to project that the president should be indicted suggests she is worried about her own potential indictment. And she is rightly concerned that for the first time in 40 years, neither she nor her husband is serving in government or running for some office, and therefore could be held accountable.


VDH - Clinton Projection Syndrome

Re-open the Private Server Case. And shove it up her corrupt a$$. (Sorry Maddow - we know how much you worship dear leader Hillary)

rcocean said...

"The new narrative is that Barr is hiding the whole report."

I can't understand this. The whole report is available to Congress - un-redacted. Obviously, there's nothing in the redactions, otherwise some D would've leaked it. That's why we knew Mueller wasn't finding anything, because if he had it would've leaked before he issued the report.

rcocean said...

Liar, Fraud, Mistress of the Bimbo Eruptions, security risk, failed Candidate. Any Republican with that pedigree would've been mocked and driven from public life. But Hillary just soldiers on, like nothing happened in the last 25 years.

Anonymous said...

"Soul" is one word that, whether used by a cable pooftificator, bureaucrat, or elected official, makes me immediately disregard anything else they say.

Narr
I got yer soul right here!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Hillary Clinton called all the women who were sexually assaulted, harassed, &/or raped by her husband - she called them bimbos.

This is what passes for sisterhood on the left.

Right Rachel?

tim in vermont said...

And not only that, China, if you're listening, why don't you get Trump's tax returns?" I'm sure our media would richly reward you." - HRC

LOL. This is like the old joke about why Hillary doesn’t wear miniskirts, “because her balls would show.” is the answer. Any of you young people should just google Clinton Fundraising China 1996.

Bay Area Guy said...

Impeach Trump!

Impeach Barr!

"Yeah? Ya got any evidence?"

Impeach YOU!

For some reason, (well, we know the reason), there's a large segment of American society that cannot comprehend that Special Prosecutor Mueller investigated thoroughly, but declined to prosecute Trump for collusion or obstruction.

Let me repeat that, some people are slow: The SPECIAL PROSECUTOR DECLINED TO PROSECUTE TRUMP.

So, you can read, re-read, scrutinize, summarize, parse, fisk, collate, re-collate the 448-page Mueller Report until the cows come home. It won't change the decision.

Have a nice day!

tim in vermont said...

That's why we knew Mueller wasn't finding anything, because if he had it would've leaked before he issued the report.

I know, he basically leaked everything he had, and *everybody* knew what Mueller knew.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

When the media(D) mock and laugh at "hahahaha her e-mail, old news hahahahaha" just remember they are purposefully covering for HER-> PRIVATE SERVER.

buwaya said...

The school of fish theory about the MSM has a serious problem, in that we know that it is not controlled like a school of fish.
We know a lot about how it works, up to a point. It is a hierarchical system with close editorial and management control of even small details.
Coordination, as we normally observe, so well timed and specific in detail, therefore cannot be an emergent phenomenon, but must be ordered and organized from high within the hierarchy.

Now, one can assume that each networks/publishers upper management are, between them all, a rather small school of fish, but that I doubt very much, even if they intend to act that way. All such desiderata in intra-upper management, and cross-enterprise, cooperation breaks down in dick-swinging and lots of meetings. It is implausible.

If someone above these eminent gentlemen were simply feeding instructions to the system, and the gentlemen in question have issued instructions to the effect that these external directives are to be complied with, that works.

JZ said...

I spent three hours or so yesterday morning and afternoon watching the senate hearing with William Barr. It was not a horror show, in my opinion. The Democrats talked and questioned and I thought they were not convincing. I'm being kind. Barr was nice enough to let them have their say and Sen. Graham was forceful when the woman senator from Hawaii got out of line. Sen Cruz seemed to me to do the best job of proving that the Democrats are just blowing smoke. Anyway, I was satisfied after watching the hearing. I didn't watch any of the stuff on cable afterward, but I can believe that it was a horror show.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Re-open the Private Server Case. And shove it up her corrupt a$$. (Sorry Maddow - we know how much you worship dear leader Hillary)”

Legally there are problems, since the statute of limitations has run on some of her original email offense, some going back over a decade now. I do wonder if prosecutors could argue tolling of the statute of limitations by her hiding her lawbreaking. Sometimes works. Right now though I think that her biggest vulnerabilities in regards to her emails is in its destruction. Letting the 30,000 “personal” emails, if any were work related would be a crime. Of course, bleach bitting her server, under subpoena was, coincidentally, Obstruction of Justice. More recently, if it would have been a crime for Trump to accept help from Russians, that rule applies as well to her, who used a former British spy to purportedly accept dirt on her political opponent from the Russian Govt and relay it to the FBI with the intent of harming her political opponent. A bunch of crimes in there, for sure. And then there was the almost $90 million documented in illegal campaign contributions, due to the coordination between her campaign, the DNC, and 43 different state Dem parties. Their bundling would have been legal, if the 46 parties had all acted independently. They didn’t. The Clinton campaign had operational control over the DNC by control over its finances, and it very much appears that the same actual person would often execute almost a hundred banking transactions the same day, moving money around between up to 46 accounts in the same bank, that that person was a signatory to. With the documentation they already have, showing lack of independence would be fairly easy in court. And that puts Crooked Hillary personally criminally and financially liable for the actions of her campaign.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

JFC she is completely despicable. The disgusting old cunt needs to be arrested, tried, convicted and executed for the good of our nation. Then millions of her followers should be gassed.

readering said...

Hothouse promoter the hoax theory based on the initial letter from Barr. It unraveled so soon.

Chuck said...

“Russia ‘hoax’”?

Althouse you seemingly jumped fully into the Scott Adams-invented “Charlottesville Hoax” Hoax.

That’s your problem. You went full Scott Adams. Never go full Scott Adams.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Susan@6:31AM LMFAO Susan! ... dying here! ... still...ROTF...

rcocean said...

"Barr was nice enough to let them have their say and Sen. Graham was forceful when the woman senator from Hawaii got out of line"

I'm glad Barr cancelled the House Dog and Pony show. There's no reason for the AG to show up just so the Democrats can spout their talking points and slander him. I was impressed by Barr's self control, and sometimes wished he'd crushed them with a witty reply. But no doubt the best strategy is simply to sit there, and think about what's for dinner, while the D Senator's blather away.

AZ Bob said...

Mueller: Mr. Barr, you only talked about the legal conclusions of my report and you ignored my 10 areas of investigation.

Barr: Prosecutors don’t proceed on a theory of “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”

Marc in Eugene said...

"Hillary can't run and it's too late to hide so she is rushing the shooter. Laughing bravely."

Thank you, Susan!

Michael K said...

Coordination, as we normally observe, so well timed and specific in detail, therefore cannot be an emergent phenomenon, but must be ordered and organized from high within the hierarchy.

I'm willing to concede that the theme is set by someone, or several someones, at the top. The people we see on TV are the fish.

Watch a school of herring if a shark appears. Swish! They vanish.

People ask why Shell is spending money on global warming. I assume they have investments and are tending the crop. Why do big energy companies build fields of solar panels?

If they say it's not about the money, it's about the money. It's always about the money.

Swede said...

They were supposed to win the election.

They were supposed to show Trump colluded with the Russians to cheat his way to victory.

They were supposed to impeach Trump.

So they tried to take down Barr, their consolation prize, because they failed at the first 3.

Why is it that liberals, who just KNOW they're the smartest people in the room, keep fucking up and losing?

Ray - SoCal said...

Why is Hillary still in the news?

Everything the Clintons do has a reason.

I just don’t see it.

Anonymous said...

Deranged Donald and his Demented Deplorables.

Ray - SoCal said...

Scott Adams has an excellent post on what he labels the Fine People Hoax Tunnel.

https://blog.dilbert.com/2019/04/30/the-fine-people-hoax-funnel/

Which links to this funny video montage of Biden on the Hoax:
https://twitter.com/CarpeDonktum/status/1121506814057754624




Amadeus 48 said...

It's time to re-run my October 2017 opus, "Mueller on the Hunt":

Mueller on the Hunt

Mueller and a pack of Dems
Set off to snare a Trump.
Instead, Bob tripped on Manafort
And fell upon his rump.
“He's laundered money shamelessly
And lived a hog on high!”
Trump zoomed by in motorcade
And twittered on the fly:
“Don’t be downcast, dear Bob,
There’s other prey out there.
Hillary deserves a look.
She’s played footsie with the Bear.”

Mueller and his pack of Dems
Set off cross bog and fen.
“There’s criminals in that there swamp.
We’ll catch ‘em if we can.
Anyone know that Hillary?
He sounds a nasty bloke.
Keep your eyes and noses clear
Cuz where there’s fire there’s smoke!”

So off went Mueller fearlessly
Seeking out a crime.
He’s got guns and men enough
Bought with the public’s dime.
He’ll huff and puff most mightily
Until he claims a prize.
The rest of us get on with life
And try to hide our eyes.

Bay Area Guy said...

@Amadeus 48 - Bravo, Sir!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The collective left are melting down into desperate totalitarian clowns.

Michael K said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Deranged Donald and his Demented Deplorables.


Hi, Inga. You can come out now. The bad orange man is gone now.

Karen said...

That last quote perfectly exemplifies the two movies on one screen of Scott Adams’ fame.

Amadeus 48 said...

"Mueller naively trusted Barr."

And Barr outsmarted Mueller. This whole kerfuffle is Mueller being huffy (or "snitty" if you will) because Team Mueller didn't get to set the tone of the media discussion of the report, particularly Part II. The media lynch mob didn't get time to form up properly. And now the damned report is released, and anyone can see that there is nothing there. It wasn't supposed to work this way!

I have two comments for Team Mueller:
1. Heh.
2. Boo-hoo. Poor little you.

Big Mike said...

-- In several years I hope to buy an original Dewey beats Truman paper to hang next to my Madam President Newsweek.

@Matt, my parents had a copy of that paper in the attic, along with a bunch of other newspapers from the War (D-Day, VE Day) but Dad downsized after Mom died, and when he died unexpectedly my crazy stepsister disposed of a lot of his stuff before my sisters could get over to sort through anything. It’s probably in the bottom of a landfill somewhere.

hombre said...

The “brain rot” crap is just unimaginative, sort of plagiarized pushback by the mediaswine against Glenn Greenwald’s correct assertion that “Trump broke the brains of a lot of people.”

Lewis Carroll was obviously gifted with premonitions about today’s Democrats/leftmedia.

Kevin said...

Please direct us to the parts of Barr’s memo that mislead the American public.

Or shut up about it entirely.

We’ve had enough baseless claims masquerading as truth to last us several generations.

Skippy Tisdale said...

Shorter Sophia A. McClennen:

Look at me smear shit all over myself!

Big Mike said...

Barr, of course, wrote a letter that misled the public about what was in the report, creating a perception that the investigation cleared President Trump.

Except that when Barr asked Mueller directly, on the record and in front of witnesses, whether Mueller's report had been mischaracterized, Mueller admitted that Barr's summary was correct.

If someone with impeccable progressive credentials insisted that the sun rose in the north, not the east, roesch would be first in line to tell us that we're all wrong about the rotation of the earth.

Nichevo said...

wildswan said...


Damn, swan, here's a quarter, buy yourself a carriage return!

Browndog said...

Democrats are panicked by the notion Barr may uncover their crimes.

I don't think there's a limit to how far they'll go.

Rick said...

buy yourself a carriage return!

She's not taking any chance Althouse will delete her for having too many blank lines.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Exactly. Barr must be dis-credited because he knows their crimes. The Clinton-Obama (mostly Clinton) nexus of institutionalized corruption.

Lock her up.

Chuck said...

LMFAO at Scott Adams still pushing his “Charlottesville Hoax” Hoax.

He can’t bring himself to even mention, much less come to grips with, Robert Tracinski’s devastating analysis of Adams’ Hoax, found here:

https://thebulwark.com/the-charlottesville-hoax-hoax/

Instead of taking on real and serious critics like Tracinski, Adams invents his own category of hypothetical critics “who say things like...”. Scott Adams isn’t just a kook and a crank; he’s also a remarkably dishonest debater.

jaydub said...

Chuck, you're so incredibly full of shit. fod.

Chris Lopes said...

"Has the FBI ever had such an arrogant, cowardly, self-righteous, incompetent Director?"

J. Edgar Hoover could not be reached for comment.

Ray - SoCal said...

Finally back off a mobile device so I can do linking properly...

Funny and Excellent Fisking of the Biden comment...
Carp Donktum on Biden Fine People

Scott Adams has an excellent post on what he labels the Fine People Hoax Tunnel:
Fine People Hoax Tunnel Analysis

Big Mike said...

“... a remarkably dishonest debater.”

Anybody besides me think our old friend and moby Chuck is being self-descriptive?

Rory said...

"Why is Hillary still in the news?...Everything the Clintons do has a reason....I just don’t see it."

Even if you're just flinging poop, you have to keep flinging. If you don't, the monkeys currently flinging with you will stop, and perhaps think things over and start flinging at you.

bagoh20 said...

Chuck, On the Charlottesville thing: Apparently you do not accept that Trump denounced the Nazis, despite his recorded words doing just that, so do you believe:

1) Trump is an actual White Supremacist, or
2) He wants to supports Nazi types whenever he can, or
3) He he thought it was a good political move to speak supportive of them after Charlottesville, or
4) He misspoke when he said there were good people on both sides, or
5) He was just trolling the entire nation pretending to be pro-nazi?

Jim at said...

R/V sums up the problem nicely: He's either too lazy and/or too stupid to read the report himself and come to his own conclusions.

Michael K said...

Is anyone still asking Chuck to explain anything ? Even Ricochet has lost allcnut one NeverTrumper.

I'm coming to the conclusion that Chuck is as crazy as Freder is stupid.

Yancey Ward said...

I personally doubt that Barr does anything about the criminality that led to the Mueller probe, but it is clear to me that the Democrats fear it greatly. Barr is definitely over the target, the question is will he bomb away.

narciso said...



What the times thinks we dont know:

https://mobile.twitter.com/pspoole

Bruce Hayden said...


"Why is Hillary still in the news?...Everything the Clintons do has a reason....I just don’t see it."

Part of it may be opportunistic. But I think some, probably a lot of it is defensive. The last year and a half have been the first time in better than a quarter century that the Clintons haven’t been in high public office, or running for such. Normally, there is a tacit understanding that allows losing candidates to fade into the background, with their crimes left mostly unexamined. The problem here is that much of the Trump collusion narrative and hoax was funded by Clinton, as well as other even richer Democrats, in order to hobble Trump’s ability to govern. If she had said (honestly) the night that she conceded the election to Trump that it was over, and she wouldn’t fight Trump, then she would probably be safe from finishing her days in prison. Instead, she and her staff concocted the Russian hoax about that time, and continue to push it to this day. They claim that Trump conspired with the Russian government, using information to harm Trump that supposedly that same Russian government had given to people who had been paid by Clinton (and DNC). Mueller could better have investigated Crooked Hillary than Trump for Russian collusion, because the Steele Dossier that she had paid for said that the Russians were its original source, according to the scope letter given him by DAG Rosenstein, but, of course, didn’t. She didn’t abide by the unspoken agreement to accept defeat gracefully, and her victorious opponent wouldn’t go after for her crimes. And instead, she tried to destroy his Presidency. For that, she deserves to be completely panicked.

Milwaukie guy said...

Barr better drop the bombs on the target.

Spying on the opposition party is an extremely serious thing. All true liberals are outraged at the possibility that this was a coordinated assault.

The Republic depends on it.

Fen said...

Chuck: "LMFAO at Scott Adams"

No. You really aren't. And you are trying to hard.

All just to pimp a link to your cuckshed at the "Bulwark". Fucking traitor.

Michael K said...

If she had said (honestly) the night that she conceded the election to Trump that it was over, and she wouldn’t fight Trump, then she would probably be safe from finishing her days in prison.

Good point. Instead they are choosing the Maduro option.

furious_a said...

The brain rots from the head.

Wait, what?

furious_a said...

-- In several years I hope to buy an original Dewey beats Truman paper to hang next to my Madam President Newsweek

Don't forget the "19-0!" Boston Globe.

furious_a said...

Honey Barrger don't give a sh*t.

Original Mike said...

Well, I did it. I actually watched the Hillary clip. Gawd, she's smug.

I don't know if it was mentioned upthread (I almost always read the comments before commenting but not this time) but her constant head nodding was weird. Maybe she was just signaling agreement but it made me wonder if something's wrong.

Original Mike said...

"She didn’t abide by the unspoken agreement to accept defeat gracefully, and her victorious opponent wouldn’t go after for her crimes. And instead, she tried to destroy his Presidency. For that, she deserves to be completely panicked."

I agree with this 100%. It makes me uncomfortable to be calling for her head, but what she has done is beyond the pale.

Bruce Hayden said...

“I don't know if it was mentioned upthread (I almost always read the comments before commenting but not this time) but her constant head nodding was weird. Maybe she was just signaling agreement but it made me wonder if something's wrong.”

The head nodding tends to mostly be a female think. In my experience. It mostly seems be used by people to gain agreement with what they are saying. Seems to work better with women over men. From a guy’s point of view, it seems to indicate mostly insecurity or deceit. If we didn’t know her history, we might be excused for believing that it is the former. But there is a good reason that “Crooked Hillary” stuck with her, which means it likely indicates the latter - deception.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Chuck - give us the exact - IN CONTEXT quote by Trump where Trump says he supports White supremacists and or nazis.

Put up or shut up.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

On the P-mall again and I witnessed another crazy old man yammering on about how horrible the Jews are.

That's 3. Out loud losers expressing their hatred of "the Jews' in leftwing B-town.

McCackie said...

Can't but feel that Lefties are increasingly circling the plughole. They keep doing the same tactics faster and faster to an increasingly less effect.
Each exposé leads not to interest or even ennui, but the wondering just how febrile a mind must be to mouth such self evident insanities.

Rusty said...


Blogger BleachBit-and-Hammers said...
"Chuck - give us the exact - IN CONTEXT quote by Trump where Trump says he supports White supremacists and or nazis.

Put up or shut up."
Crickets. Honest to god. I think, he thinks we're just a dumb as he is. Chuck. Envy is a waste of emotion and time. Find a hobby.