The Barr Translation Of The Mueller Report Open Thread

Filed in National by on April 18, 2019

Venting is not only permitted, it’s encouraged. Thankfully, I will be at work.  C’mon everybody, let it all out.

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  1. donviti says:
    April 18, 2019 at 10:07 am

    Pretty sure after it’s released it’s going to change literally everything we know about the President. I mean the shit is going to hit the fan and everyone, I mean everyone is going to go apeshit and probably march in the streets, given it’s a weekend and not raining.

    or they wont, and none of this matters just like it hasn’t for every other fucking thing that has happened and hasn’t changed a god damned single fucking thing.

  2. jason330 says:
    April 18, 2019 at 10:21 am

    I think the latter.

    I’m offical in a news black out. Starting….now.

    See all y’all mother fuckers on the other side.

    • donviti says:
      April 18, 2019 at 11:02 am

      algorithms man, fuck fucking the system, you have to fuck with the algorithms. They control the system!

  3. RSE says:
    April 18, 2019 at 10:29 am

    If this “Collusion” investigation was a larvae we would now be in the pupa stage waiting for the final transformation into the mature, “Spygate” and “who knew, and when did they know it?”

  4. bamboozer says:
    April 18, 2019 at 11:01 am

    It will be a prequel to the real battle which could start with Mueller testifying in the house, a lawsuit ( a real one, not a Devin Nunes type ) or just outrage at what Barr is trying to get away with.

    • ben says:
      April 18, 2019 at 11:15 am

      no dude. This is the end. Putin’s wet-wipe won this round.
      I am outraged that the curent president go this job by committing treason. Im outraged the GOP protects him and im outraged that his hand picked AG is acting like his personal defense attorney.
      but right now, the whole thing it being turned into a liability for the dems. They wont be able to nail him. They can only look like failures.

      If they plan to rid the world of trump in anyway involves “finally getting him” with te Mueller report, might as well surrender now and get to work on a bunker.

  5. Alby says:
    April 18, 2019 at 12:31 pm

    “right now, the whole thing it being turned into a liability for the dems. They wont be able to nail him. They can only look like failures.”

    Curious take.

  6. Dave says:
    April 18, 2019 at 1:15 pm

    Sometimes life involves managing expectations. It’s not wrong to want or dream about great things. Dreaming is useful in setting a high bar. But, it is not just pointless, but discouraging to have great expectations. The report was never going to be a smoking gun.

    You are going to have to beat Trump the old fashion way – at the ballot box. And you will have overcome all the miniTrumpers, who voted for him because he is just like they are. He talks like they do. He acts like they do and he thinks like they do. That’s why they love him. Throw away the purity meter and find someone you can live with. If your passion causes you to practice electoral cannibalization (love that phrase) take a Xanax. In fact take the whole damn bottle.

  7. Alby says:
    April 18, 2019 at 1:26 pm

    It’s not about purity. It’s about corporate influence. If the choice is between a Democratic Party corporatist or Trump, enough people will stay home to give Trump a second term.

    It’s that simple.

    • RE Vanella says:
      April 18, 2019 at 1:39 pm

      bullseye!

    • Dave says:
      April 18, 2019 at 5:14 pm

      Okay. Then they reap what they sow. It’s also that simple. As we know, elections have consequences. We are in the midst of such a consequence. If you are right, it would effectively saying there could be a Democratic Party candidate that the people consider worst than Trump.

      I have no words.

      • jason330 says:
        April 18, 2019 at 5:42 pm

        Your logic is lacking, Dave.

        “If you are right, it would effectively saying there could be a Democratic Party candidate that the people consider worst than Trump.”

        No, Dave.

        It would mean that there is a Democratic Party candidate that the people consider not a significant enough change from Trump to bother voting, Dave.

        Happens all the time, Dave.

        Every election since I’ve been paying attention, Dave. .

      • Alby says:
        April 18, 2019 at 6:18 pm

        Karl Rove proved a long time ago that it’s easier to find votes by getting people who sit on the sidelines into the voting booth than by changing the voting patterns of consistent voters, 90% of whom are unshakeable in their loyalties.

        What centrists are saying is that they are the ones who would vote for Trump if a progressive gets the nomination. Progressives are the ones who won’t bother to vote for Tweedledum just because Tweedledee wears a red shirt. Studies have shown that, of the 40% who don’t bother to vote, 3/4s of them are liberal.

        The way to win elections is to get those people enthused. And every time they get enthused by a faux progressive like Clinton or Obama, it makes them less likely to vote for the next centrist.

  8. Alby says:
    April 18, 2019 at 6:24 pm

    Useless shitbag Steny Hoyer says no impeachment. That is why Democrats will lose. Nobody will vote for a bunch of calculating cowards.

  9. Jason330 says:
    April 18, 2019 at 9:18 pm

    What Is an opposition party that doesn’t oppose?

  10. Dave says:
    April 18, 2019 at 10:30 pm

    “worst than Trump”
    “not a significant enough change from Trump”

    A distinction without much of a difference.
    And the outcome is the same.

    Sadly, I’m still predicting another four years.

    You are supposed to stick them with the pointy end, not yourselves.

    • Alby says:
      April 18, 2019 at 10:41 pm

      “A distinction without much of a difference.”

      True. But you don’t seem to understand that electing a corporate Democrat as president also won’t make much difference. What needs to be changed will not be changed by the timid, which is what corporate Democrats are by their very nature.

      I am under no obligation to help corporate Democrats further their goals, and I won’t.

      • Dave says:
        April 20, 2019 at 8:12 am

        “electing a corporate Democrat as president also won’t make much difference”

        In terms of policies I would say you are more accurate than not. Of course, Trump has no actual policies. People around him have policies (Miller), but not Trump.

        I would expect a less progressive democrat would still strive to improve ACA; exhibit a modicum of decency and compassion; act as if they were the President of the United States rather than one of the boys of Duck Dynasty and show some respect for the institutions of office and government, including working with Congress and proposing critical legislation, such as comprehensive immigration reform. Honestly, that’s not nothing.

        I think you and I differ in relation to expectations. Electing a change agent, a champion, only works if you can get people to accept change. That has always been the greatest hurdle. Most of my career has been involved with managing change, which was always easy peasy, except for the people who who are mostly wedded to the status quo, because even as crappy as things were, the unknown might be worse.

        My go to example are folks like the coal miners, who knowing full well that the mines aren’t going to reopen, that their entire life as they know it has forever changed, sit frozen in time and space, with no hope of change. They are the left behinds and they know it, but they just sit.

        You and others probably think I’m a centrist/moderate/whatever. But I’m not. I’m a realist. I analyze the probable efficacy of a program or policy and set realistic goals. Maybe most people don’t do those things. We would be better off if they did. Stretch goals are great, but they still have to be executable or it’s just throwing crap against the wall hoping something sticks.

    • jason330 says:
      April 18, 2019 at 10:54 pm

      Your problem is that you want voters to be as smart as you. Whereas, I know that voters are as dumb as me.

      Read the post about feckless centrism. Read it, bathe in it. Allow it to sink in.

      • Dave says:
        April 20, 2019 at 8:22 am

        First, I think you are very smart. Self deprecating, but smart. But yeah voters seem to vote against their own best interests. All my life, I’ve wondered why. My only conclusion thus far is that people have not learned critical thinking skills, instead they are governed by their emotions, whipsawed from one extreme to the other by preachers, posers, politicians, and pundits. The result is that manipulators spend their time creating triggers, the great battle cries around which everyone can rally (MAGA, MFA).

        But those cries are “a tale. Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.”

  11. jason330 says:
    April 18, 2019 at 10:58 pm

    “…People are perfectly rational animals driven by an innate desire for compromise. It’s why sports fans cheer for good, clean play and games that end in ties. It’s why cereal commercials always have nutritional data front and center, while a voiceover calmly explains the cereal’s pros and cons. Voters don’t want someone championing radical policies that would directly improve their lives. They want a feckless centrist who’s only willing to sputter out vague platitudes for fear of alienating oil executives and white supremacists. That’s the feckless centrism that contributes to the proud American tradition of having one of the lowest voter turnouts among developed democracies!”

  12. nathan arizona says:
    April 19, 2019 at 3:53 pm

    So leftists?/extreme progressives? are gonna change everything with this one election? Maybe, but maybe not. But you’d rather sit out the election than vote for the wrong kind of Trump opponent? Or at least you think other leftists would be justified in doing so. Or (most likely) you actually think a lot of other leftists are just stupidly self-destructive. Also, do you consider everybody but Bernie or Warren to be a corporatist? Do degrees of corporatism matter? I would prefer a move away from corporatism myself, but I want to stop Trump even more. First things first. And by the way (I don’t know who Jason is quoting), centrists are not likely to be afraid of alienating white supremacists. (Unfortunately that’s not always true for oil executives.) All that said, I’d prefer some kind of move away from corporatism myself; I just prefer to stop Trump even more. And Coons does sometimes drive me crazy.

    • jason330 says:
      April 19, 2019 at 10:40 pm

      “But you’d rather sit out the election than vote for the wrong kind of Trump opponent? Or at least you think other leftists would be justified in doing so. Or (most likely) you actually think a lot of other leftists are just stupidly self-destructive.”

      Jus shut up, you idiot.

  13. nathan arizona says:
    April 20, 2019 at 9:20 am

    Nice comeback. Does it mean you think I’m wrong, or just that you don’t like to hear it?

    • jason330 says:
      April 20, 2019 at 9:27 am

      It means I have no time for idiots, who don’t get context. And who have only one or two boring programmed reactions to everything.

  14. REVanella says:
    April 21, 2019 at 9:43 am

    I, personally, love all the hypothetical questions and scenarios and worrying about what “Ieftists” are going to do if this or that goes down.

    Are there degrees of corporatism? Hahaha. Fuck you. I can hardly imagine a more irrelevant question.

    How about this? Sort yourself out. Decide what you think you should do and do that. So much time is wasted worrying about made up constituencies and cohorts of this or that type.

  15. nathan arizona says:
    April 21, 2019 at 10:10 am

    Since you say the same thing all the time, the responses are going to sound similar too. You’d rather not hear what goes against your political purity, but if people like you don’t get some pushback you’re going to fuck things up for sensible people who are left of center. You respond by calling names. I had thought better of you with your post about tolerating whatever democratic candidate survived to face Trump (however ironic you were trying to be), but then you go back to your self-defeating crap. I enjoy your stuff when you’re mainly trying to be funny, or when your political stuff is thoughtful.

  16. nathan arizona says:
    April 21, 2019 at 10:22 am

    Just saw REV’s post. He’s even worse.

    Re: degrees of corporatism. It matters whether your type will reject any degree of corporatism or if your purity would allow something less than what you consider perfect. It’s about getting the right candidate and winning elections. And I already know what I’m going do, depending on what happens. But I think you’re funny too, and sometimes even interesting. I never said this blog wasn’t worth reading. Are you going to the NOLA jazz festival?

  17. REVanella says:
    April 21, 2019 at 11:19 am

    Like I said, while I’m flattered you’re so concerned about what I’m/we’re thinking and doing, you can neither control it nor predict it. It’s not even clear who “the left” is.

    The entire cottage industry of centrists and Dem party folks trying to determine what the left is going to do is fucking delicious.

    Notice how I don’t give a shit what you do and never ask you stupid questions? Notice how I hardly ever mention Trump?

    If you’re fretting about it don’t nominate a fucking corporatist, centrist, ex-troop, ex-cop, prosecutor.
    …..

    I touch down in New Orleans Wednesday afternoon!

  18. nathan arizona says:
    April 21, 2019 at 1:14 pm

    If you don’t want to talk about it, why are you on a blog, except for letting off steam? But I do admit I enjoy trying (and often failing) to figure out the big picture and others don’t. Also I could easily dump on conservatives all the time, but you guys have that pretty well covered. Besides, fish in a barrel.
    Have a good time.

  19. REVanella says:
    April 21, 2019 at 1:53 pm

    Talking about it is one thing. Hand-wringing and nervously trying to parse the different degrees of corporatism is another.

    Every possible non-Bernie nomination scenario is worried over like a teenage pregnancy test. Challenges are made. Promises are demanded.

    Don’t pretend you don’t understand what I’m saying. Bernie haters and Hillary dead-endeds aren’t confronted in this way.

    Why don’t you focus on these people?

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/16/us/politics/bernie-sanders-democratic-party.html

    “The matter of What To Do About Bernie and the larger imperative of party unity has, for example, hovered over a series of previously undisclosed Democratic dinners in New York and Washington organized by the longtime party financier Bernard Schwartz. The gatherings have included scores from the moderate or center-left wing of the party, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California; Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader; former Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia; Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., himself a presidential candidate; and the president of the Center for American Progress, Neera Tanden.”

  20. REVanella says:
    April 22, 2019 at 8:52 am

    Hahahaha! Mayor Pete must have taken all those meeting to heart and really gotten the message. Hahahaha!

    I wonder how much of Schwartz’s money this was worth.*

    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/buttigieg-compares-trump-bernie-supporters

    “I think the sense of anger and disaffection that comes from seeing that the numbers are fine, like unemployment’s low, like all that, like you said GDP is growing and yet a lot of neighborhoods and families are living like this recovery never even happened. They’re stuck,” Buttigieg told high school students in Nashua, according to the Washington Examiner. “It just kind of turns you against the system in general and then you’re more likely to want to vote to blow up the system, which could lead you to somebody like Bernie and it could lead you to somebody like Trump. That’s how we got where we are.”

    …………

    *not an anti-Semitic trope

    • Alby says:
      April 22, 2019 at 10:17 am

      “I wonder how much of Schwartz’s money this was worth”

      When corporations and billionaires spend money on politics, they can expect a ROI of at least 100-1. When banks wanted a new bankruptcy law, they spent a few tens of millions and got a windfall of tens of billions, so 1,000-1 ROI isn’t out of the ordinary.

      Or was that a rhetorical question?

    • jason330 says:
      April 22, 2019 at 11:03 am

      It isn’t a disparagement of Bernie supporters. Putin wants you to think it was though, so congrats, Comrade.

  21. REVanella says:
    April 22, 2019 at 12:50 pm

    I should have never let Sergei tickle my balls.

  22. jason330 says:
    April 22, 2019 at 1:24 pm

    You are the sum of your choices.

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