Spraying some Raid into a hornet nest

[Cyborg Girl]

Maaaaaybe the wasps will all croak before they can mob Mueller and sting him to death. Good luck.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... -documents

I'm pretty sure that, whatever this turns up, Congressional Republicans will block any action on it. They're drunk on power now.

[SciFiFisher]

I don't think they will work too hard to save Cohn. They and the current resident in the WH have proven amazingly adept at throwing flunkies under the bus.

[Cyborg Girl]

Fair, fair.

I'm kind of surprised they're showing any interest in the dealings of Facebook TBH, the 2016 election cycle left me wondering if federal Republicans had all sold their souls or something. Seriously wondering what the catch is that's making them actually care about this, instead of just doing more of their Lex Luthor grin-and-hand-rub shit.

[SciFiFisher]

Fair, fair.

I'm kind of surprised they're showing any interest in the dealings of Facebook TBH, the 2016 election cycle left me wondering if federal Republicans had all sold their souls or something. Seriously wondering what the catch is that's making them actually care about this, instead of just doing more of their Lex Luthor grin-and-hand-rub shit.

Congressional hearings are more about show and public spectacle than anything else. There rarely is any significant legislation or legal action that results from them. So, hauling Zuckerberg in front of a bunch of cameras and raking him over the coals plays well to the voters but won't actually result in the Republicans doing anything about it. And for the record when the Democrats are in power that dynamic doesn't change.

Secretly, the Republicans are so freaking happy with the results that they wish they could give the Russians a medal. Publically, they insist that the Russians had no impact on the actual outcome. Trump would have won even if the Russians did not interfere. The more cynical and paranoid among them are praying the Democrats don't make a deal with the Chinese to rig the 2020 elections.

[Rommie]

Yes. Plus TBH it sounds like the Congress-critters don't really get how FB works. But also, I think anyone who's in politics would be slightly nervous enough to check and make sure it won't be used against them in a future cycle.

I personally found the raid kind of amazing in a historic kind of sense- I just can't imagine anyone ever looking at that and not seeing it as a big deal. Like, even if nothing comes of it, in history class it'd be the sort of detail you'd mention when finishing the sentence with "and still nothing happened!"

I do find it very telling though that the speaker of the House announces he's not running for re-election just two days later. Good riddance and all that, but in the context of this week holy hell it feels like rats fleeing the ship. The fact that Paul Ryan doesn't even feel obliged to put on a public face even if he's stepping down goes to show how little he thinks of Trump's chances are of doing something for his agenda over just being a headache of impeachment proportions, and what he thinks of their chances for the House this fall.

[SciFiFisher]

I do find it very telling though that the speaker of the House announces he's not running for re-election just two days later. Good riddance and all that, but in the context of this week holy hell it feels like rats fleeing the ship. The fact that Paul Ryan doesn't even feel obliged to put on a public face even if he's stepping down goes to show how little he thinks of Trump's chances are of doing something for his agenda over just being a headache of impeachment proportions, and what he thinks of their chances for the House this fall.

Historically, the party who does not have a president in the WH typically takes control of the House and/or the Senate in the off-year elections. This year, if the pundits, the early elections, and the polls, are even close to right the House is going to flip very strongly to the Democrats. The Senate is not quite as endangered depending on who you ask. But, we do know that many Republicans are facing real challengers in districts that in many instances didn't even bother to field a democratic competitor in past elections.. The early elections seems to be showing that if the incumbent is facing a decent challenger they are in trouble. And a lot of people are starting to notice that.

A lot of Republicans are retiring last year and this one.

[Rommie]

Ok did anyone else burst out laughing when they heard Sean Hannity was Cohen’s third client? Cause I did, in that “if the writers did this the producer would say the script is unrealistic” kind of way.

Best line in the NYT about releasing Hannitys name: lawyer interrupted the proceedings to argue that embarrassment was not a sufficient legal argument to keep a clients name secret, and the judge agreed.

“But your honor, I object- my client would be the butt of late night comedians everywhere!”

[Thumper]

Yes, I did love that.
Cohen's people: This is a clear case of breach of atty.-client privilege.
Judge: Okay I need to look at that. Who are the clients?
Cohen's people: We'd rather not say.
Judge: Look, if I'm going to make a ruling on whether the information seized is subject to atty.-client privilege, I need to know the information, and I need to know the clients.
Cohen's people: Ummm, okay, it's Sean Hannity.
Judge: (to himself) This cannot get any stupider....
Hannity: No! I've never hired this clown! I've only met in passing. Umm I asked him once at a party about something....

[SciFiFisher]

I admit I was wondering who the hell was scripting this reality TV show. Then I remembered that the old adage of "Truth is Stranger Than Fiction" might apply.

[Thumper]

Steven Colbert and Trevor Noah sure had fun with the new revelation.