snafu

Barr is actually in a rough spot. He’s defending the report’s conclusions of no coordination and by doing that, it looks like he’s defending the President. And Mueller left him hanging out to dry on obstruction. The case FOR obstruction is just flimsy enough that Barr has to explain his position, and again it looks like he’s defending the President.

I guess we can't call them freshwater shrimp anymore.

Hockey isn't complex.

Did the Scandinavian countries nationalize private industry, or were they always organized that way? Do the Scandinavian countries have confiscatory taxes so that a centralized government can redistrubute wealth as they see fit, whether the recipients have done anything to earn it, or were they always run that way? Do the Scandinavian countries practice price controls? Do they ration resources? Have they ever done those things? If these things weren't in place, and then were all of a sudden imposed, you will have pulled the rug out from under the citizenry. Those government actions go against human nature. Maybe these things are good for groups of people who want to live together communally, but the ideas can't be scaled up and placed upon the unwilling. And as long as people are resentful of confiscation, they will be unsettled. Eventually, the only way to keep order is to (a) have a strong police force, cowed citizens, and informants, then (b) bend the country's constitution (or laws) to rig the system to keep those running the show in power, and when that fails (c) enforce order.

There was no dictatorship in Venezuela before socialism was implemented.

This is untrue. You're saying that only fans of teams in baseball playoffs watch the games -- as well as fans of baseball who don't live in a city with a ream? What makes pro playoffs different from NCAA tournament or Football championship/bowl games? Only alumna watch?

(A) Mueller was a DOJ appointment -- Executive Branch. (B) Mueller's investigation was not a criminal investigation. Technically, it was a counterintelligence matter, and those reports are part and parcel made for the President. This is obviously an odd case, and it would have been political suicide but the President could have bounced Mueller at any time.

Right after the 2016 election, he had a town hall debate vs. Bernie Sanders (I think it was on CNN). It was no contest whatsoever. Not remotely close. Ted Cruz is no fool. People don't like him because he's slick and squirrely.

I saw my first Harris bumper sticker today in Brooklyn. You may have already seen it in California. It says "Kamala Harris -- For the People".

Yeah, and for 2.5 years, people have been looking for something Trump did without knowing what it was. That's ass-backwards.

Blumenthal uses someone else's arm as his spine while they move his puppet-mouth.

I've been trying to ignore you, but this post is so mind-numbingly stupid and ill-informed. Here are the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Only ONE is NOT an attorney: no - Dianne Feinstein yes - Dick Durbin yes - Kamala D. Harris yes - Cory Booker yes - Mazie K. Hirono yes - Richard Blumenthal yes - Chris ***** yes - Amy Klobuchar yes - Sheldon Whitehouse yes - Patrick Leahy

Me. It's fantastic hockey to watch. I have it on (muted) while I listen to a podcast.

Yes, but it is a defense from attacks coming from the south, not the north. It might come into play in the next coming episodes, especially to bring Howland Reed into the story to verify Jon's claim.

The Bolivians were the last straw. That Figuera move put Maduro on the plane, and the Russians talked him off? “But, But BOLIVIA is gone!” ? The real issue are the Cubans. It seems that they’re so integrated into the military and security apparatus that most of the generals won’t make the leap to Guaidó. It can’t be both? Maduro is trying to preserve his form of government.

My wife's favorite character was Theon. She feels bad that he got completely bamboozled by both Balon and then the psychopath Bolton kid -- and he suffered mightily for his bad life choices. I say don't make bad life choices.

I hope this doesn't stop him.

Arya almost forgot to show up at the Godswood. Melisandre had to remind her what her purpose was. And Theon's slo-mo run at the Night King from 30 yards away was not the best plan of attack.

Fun-sucker! There don't seem to be too many hard and fast rules about this.

I count SEVEN beers. Thank you Trump!!!

Was there no one here who wanted to see Sansa kill reanimated, headless Ned Stark (or Rob even) when they were down in the crypts? Edit: Better yet -- Tyrion kills reanimated Ned. Keeps the Lannister/Stark wheel rolling.

So it's a snow clearing operation? Break out the dragon!

Thats what books are for, though it looks like we shall never see them. I hold out small hope that perhaps Martin will announce the next book release soon after this season ends. As for a TV soap opera with magic, dragons and zombies, the producers and network tend not to dig so deep. It seems to me that a lot of what characters and plot they focus on is driven by fan reactions, popularity, and budget. Last night was like watching a natural disaster. After awhile it became numbing and all I wanted to do by the end was take a head count. What’s going to be really annoying to me is that it appears from the previews that they will make a quick pivot from one plotloine to another. There are mounds of corpses in Winterfell.

I miss the halcyon days of the guy at the exit ramp who’d wipe a greasy rag all over my windshield, making it completely opaque, and then clean it off with a squeege. All for one dollar. All in the cycle of a red light changing to green.

If the dossier is really a Russian disinformation op, then whomever accepted the “help” they got from it and then tried to use it against a political rival would be guilty of collusion/conspiracy. People who are still pushing collusion/conspiracy can’t have it both ways. I wouldn’t want Ignatius as my lawyer if my real goal was the downfall of Trump and his orbit. Using that as an escape hatch means either Trump is let off the hook (vis a vis the Trump Tower meeting — since that seems to remain as the only conspiracy nugget left that people point to in order to prove guilt) or it means that everyone else on the other side is going down with him.