Josh Marshall was pretty persuasive putting it that the Giuliani thing was premeditated and coordinated with Trump, not just him doltishly blurting something out, but it was based on his own discussion with Trump and probably nobody else, a half-baked legal ploy with no assistance from anyone with topical legal expertise. ("Can't be a campaign finance violation if Trump was the one who paid for it!") His emergency extra podcast title was "Two Old Guys Brainstorming a Legal Strategy".
Curious if anyone could speak to whether yesterday's three-part tweet full of stilted nested clauses looked like something Giuliani might write on his own.
Not to act like the OP tweet is asserting anything in particular!
What Trump did with the Daniels payoff was pretty unambiguously illegal. Giuliani came up with a cover story that does about as well as one could do, at this stage, to square Trump's known behavior with the law. But it's really too late.
The American public learned its president, once described by a doctor as "the healthiest individual ever elected," actually wrote that description himself, leaving his health ranking among those who held the office before him a mystery.
My personal WTFuckery: people who use colored fonts, strikethrough formatting, and similar things to simulate the Microsoft Word Track Changes option. Animals.
3: I'm not even sure he moved in that direction! He shifted the potential bad actor from being Cohen (illegally unreported independent expenditure) to Trump (illegally unreported candidate).
Which I guess could be a cack-handed way of trying to keep Cohen on side.
At this point, pretty much all commentary and discussion regarding Trump and those around him boils down to some variation of this.
Huh, 7 really unusually nails it. You should take that act to social media!
3
What Trump did with the Daniels payoff was pretty unambiguously illegal.
I didn't realize this. I guess you mean that it was a campaign expense and not reported as such to the FEC? I'm a tiny bit surprised that campaign finance laws cover stuff like that.
It's probably less of a gray area when you go on the TV and say that you paid her the money because you needed her to be quiet for the election.
Campaign Finance laws are pretty broad by design, right? Whether something is campaign spending has to be determined by the nature of the spending, not the account or committee or how someone labels it, otherwise huge loopholes immediately open up.
5: IANAL, but I think, in addition to hypothetically taking some of the heat off of Cohen, the Giuliani narrative (which Trump already retracted with no substitute story) describes behavior that is somewhat less illegal. Trump can donate unlimited amounts to his own campaign, so that bit of illegality hypothetically disappears,* and the remainder -- the reporting requirement -- can be plausibly argued to be a technicality. As all good Christians understand, if you pay hush money to a porn actor to cover up an affair that took place just after your wife gave birth, you're going to want to cover that up. It's only natural.
*but not really. A "loan" from Cohen is still an unreported campaign contribution.
14: If Donald Trump can be president, I can be a lawyer.
You can graduate with a JD from the Electoral College, right?
11: That makes sense. In hindsight I'm not surprised the laws cover this. I'm just having a very hard time imagining it getting prosecuted if any details at all were even a tiny bit different, but because of these particular details, it's unambiguous.
Unambiguous on the facts, but will anything happen? Reading the FEC's Wikipedia page, everyone on it was appointed by Bush. Seems like multiple Merrick Garland situations at once, but maybe I'm missing something.
More interesting at this point is that they've revealed the mechanics of how Cohen acted as bagman for probably lots more dubious to illegal acts we don't even know about, and the DOJ has all his files.
I don't know why, but every time I look at the tweet in the OP it makes me laugh all over again.
My favorite thing was the Michael Cohen video set to the Soprano's music.
7 really is the One True Link to explain everything.
I had some relatives who lived into their 90s, and while they were mentally sharp, they clearly found the news incomprehensible because the world had changed so much. I feel that way all the time now. Someday when they make the list of the 20 Biggest Scandals in American History, 19 of them will be from 2017 to 2020. I would have thought that "Paid off a porn star, and illegally covered it up" would be fatal to a President, but apparently now you can just brazen through anything.
21.last was the key insight that made Trump president. Particularly in the media, only serious people are taken seriously. Folks like Gingrich, George W or Palin can pretty much do whatever the fuck they want.
20 - literally the only good thing about the Trump administration is that these outer-borough NYC area assholes are like 5x funnier than your standard-issue Republican asshole. The Mooch, Cohen, Giuliani etc are just way funnier than your average cornpone goober or steel-jawed Aryan Republican asshole.
Italians and Jews don't exist for your entertainment.
17: unambiguous in the streets, irriguous between the sheets!
|| My apologies if this is too early in the thread, but is there any interest in a London meetup Monday May 14 (or possibly the 12th or 13th if they're much better). |>
23: Don't knock cornpone goobers. Have you seen the Don Blankenship campaign ad? It's beautiful.
It's not as funny with the people who are going to vote for him live so close to you.
Seriously, though, there's a logic to shifting as much illegality to Trump and away from Cohen as possible, especially if it's technical stuff. Trump isn't going to get indicted for any of what's on record so far, or impeached. Exonerating Cohen lessens the chances that he'll walk the SC trough to money laundering trail.
Trump can't stand it though, so he'll blow hot and cold throughout.
I'm sure everyone in DC is asking themselves what Flood is thinking. Would you take that job for anything less than a guaranteed Supreme Court nomination? The idea that he's angling to be WH counsel sounds like he angling to order a shit sandwich,
I'm calling it now: Blankenship is going to be the Republican nominee for President in 2024.
26: I am working in kings cross both 13 and 14, and so available in the evenings.
Why not just get together and run at the wall between platforms 9 and 10.
Apparently butterbeer actually tastes like crap.
"Arsed" is a very useful word. It's too bad America hasn't imported it.
I'm tired of having to say, "I can be bothered to get up off of my ass" when I want to be lazy. That's too many words for lazy.
OT: Apparently, Spanish for "face plant" is "face plant" with a Spanish accent. The more you know....
It isn't appropriation if the subaltern does it.
If the subaltern does it, it's looting. If the sergeant does it, it's "proactive resupply" .
OT: Hi, folks. I hope I'm not interrupting, but this is a health-related bleg:
Has anyone ever pulled a calf muscle? Y'know, muscle on the back of the lower leg. I seem to have done this about 2 weeks ago. I don't *think* it's actually a torn muscle ... but it's taking a while to correct itself.
The problem chiefly is the damn swelling in the lower leg. The pain in the calf has more or less subsided, but the lower leg is swollen, man, I have to say, with particular swelling welling up around the ankle and down onto the foot. THAT is causing more discomfort than anything else (can barely fit my foot into the loosest shoe I have, can't flex the ankle/foot very much).
I am of course elevating and icing as much as possible, but this is getting really, really tedious. I can't do stairs. Honestly, I feel like I'm lugging around a log of dead meat on my lower leg here, lovely image, I know.
The question: is this normal? Googling says yes, pretty much. Any experiences?
I had something similar, with some swelling, though less than it sounds like you are having. It was one of the starting points for the PT/chiropractor stuff I do now and wasn't a tear. But this feels like something you should def get checked out as soon as you can.
After two weeks, you really need to go to the doctor.
Okay - everyone seems to say that. But honestly, most websites (e.g. webmd seem to say that a Grade II muscle strain/pull (which is most common) can take 3-6 weeks for recovery. Scans are not likely to be fruitful. I'm thinking mostly of this line:
Medical treatment is similar to the treatment at home.
But yes, I have a doctor appointment in another 10 days. Of course, all she's going to do is refer me to someone else.
I've had a verifiably sprained ankle, and it wasn't nearly as bad as what you are describing. I would hie thee to a chirurgeon, forthwith.
Yes. Even if they can't fix it completely, they can make a hole so the evil spirits can get out.
Okey-dokey. Meanwhile, I'm icing the leg, elevating, which helps a lot. So okay.
I would call and ask for a quicker appointment based on those symptoms.
Stop freaking out! Just google "pulled calf muscle swelling" and you'll see that a Grade II level (most common) strain is likely to take 3-6 weeks for recovery. I am not going to freak out. It's been 2 weeks.
This here basically says to use the RICE prescription (rest, ice, compression, elevation). After only 2 weeks thus far I am not going to freak out.
I may not be linking to the right sites there - I've read a lot about this by now - and I just don't think it's an emergency. I know exactly when it happened, I knew it at the time, I knew I hurt my leg just then, yep. Forgive me, but I'm going to go ice my leg now. I'm just sick of having to lie down all the time with the ice.
Well, try icing a bro instead, then.
I'd try to get some vicodin out of it.
Parsi, that's great. I feel like "eh, I'll be fine. YOU CANT MAKE ME go to the doctor" should be its own category of imternet fun. I totally get the sentiment and it's awesome
"hey guys my arm is turning green red pustules anyone know whats up w that or what"
"uhhhhhhhhh get to a doctor maybe yesterday sounds like"
"Stop freaking out, losers! I'm gonna wait this out and see what happens just wanted to see who here is a pussy."
You sound like somebody who could use some vicodin to take the edge off.
I tore my calf once and except for not being able to walk there wasn't really any visible injury. If I'd just not moved that leg at all for months no one would have been the wiser and certainly it wouldn't have been anything to bother a doctor about.
I've had very poor luck with medical care helping my ankle, but I've never been immobilized to that degree.
If you can't even walk enough to hatch a 5k egg every day, you've got a significant limitation in functioning.
I wasn't either, exactly. I wore a boot-based brace that immobilized the lower leg and prevented any pushing off with my foot, but used crutches and my good leg to get around. I wore the brace to sleep too, but could take it off to shower.
I still kept going to work, with a little extra working from home. Since it was my left leg and my car is an automatic, I could still drive.
On topic: On topic. I don't think it ever occurs to some of Trump's people that anybody does anything except as the result of a bribe.
||
I'm at the state Democratic Party convention. Democracy sure is messy. We did manage to switch from a caucus to a primary system for president, so that was good.
|>
Yes. I don't know if you've noticed yet, but the last time we elected a president, we really fucked up.
How is that good, exactly? (Honest question.)
Admitting we have a problem is the first step.
Caucuses are a horrible way-station between having back-room party officials nominate a party's candidates* and having primaries. A primary has the legitimacy of a popular vote for the nomination. A back-room deal has the simplicity of party elders picking someone. Caucuses claim the legitimacy of a primary but in fact are just a bunch of activists getting together in a weird, burdensome non-election format, but then caucus results are reported as having the legitimacy of a primary election. So goodbye and good riddance, thanks Alaska.
*this is my preferred method but AFAICT nobody at all agrees with me and that battle was lost long ago.
Yes, 65 is correct. Caucuses are a weird system that doesn't really make any sense. Our primary is actually going to be primarily vote-by-mail, so in theory it should have even better participation than traditional primaries. There are a lot of details that have to be worked out, of course, so we'll see how it goes in practice.
I ask because primaries appear to me not to generate any kind of legitimacy but rather to magnify the power of the lunatic fringe.
When did these primaries start appearing to you?
Usually on weekends? Early mornings?
Please point to the spot on the map where you first saw a "primary".
67: That is indeed a problem with primaries, but in that respect caucuses are worse.
Halford's smoke-filled room system would address that problem, but good luck selling it these days.
If you had a smoking area on the balcony?
I'm sure gentlemen will be able to work out their differences.
Sadly, there are no gentlemen left in America these days, and hardly anyone smokes.
If you have the time, teo, further comment on the Mortality thread would be appreciated.
On any particular subject? It looks like there were several comments about various Alaska-related things.
Alaska compared to Native areas in the continental US, mostly. The former appeared to improve a lot where the latter didn't.
79: On which causes of death specifically? That didn't seem like an obvious pattern in the few that I looked at.
81: CVD, IIRC. I'll take a look.
To the extent it is, though, one reason could be that the tribal health system in Alaska is very different from the one in the lower 48, and it's quite plausible that it's just better at treating certain things.
CVD, Cirrhosis. I'm just going by eye, and it could really small numbers in AK producing swings.
Could you elaborate on 83?
For CVD it looks like the Alaska trend isn't very different from most other tribal areas, and that it's just a few of the Sioux reservations in the Dakotas that are outliers in not showing comparable improvements. The Cirrhosis map does seem to show the pattern you mention, though, which is interesting.
To elaborate on 83, most tribal health care in the US is provided by the federal government directly through the Indian Health Service. The quality of IHS care is not generally considered very good, though I don't know if this is just a popular perception or whether it shows up in the statistics too.
In Alaska, tribal health care is still funded through the IHS, but the actual care is provided by a network of tribally operated health care entities, including a statewide consortium that runs the main Native hospital in Anchorage along with various other services and a set of regional health corporations that run hospitals in different parts of the state. It seems like the care provided through this system is perceived as better than IHS care, but again I don't know if that is backed up by anything beyond perception.
Diabetes. Interpersonal violence looks much the same as the Conus.
Further to that, Giuliani and others -- I guess also John Bolton? -- are apparently linked to the so-called MEK, an exiled Iranian group seeking to overthrow the Iranian government.* Sounds familiar ...
* Deliberately linking to a conservative site there - it's not just the liberal left that's noticing this stuff.
I'm surprised they haven't found some descendant the Shah, ideally a 25 year-old Duke marketing graduate named Michael Jackson Pahlavi, and gotten Trump to insist anything less than putting him on the throne with absolute power is a threat to the U.S. Constitution.
Doesn't the next-in-line for the Shah live in New York?
Next-in-line is not outside the box enough.
I can't for the life of me remember the name of that guy in the run-up to the Iraq war/invasion who was whispering in the ear of U.S. neo-cons at the time. He was an an Iraqi exile who presented himself as a plausible candidate to lead the country after regime change - you know who I mean?
94 Ahmed Chalabi. I knew his nephew.
95 But not in a biblical sense, in case anyone was wondering.
Amed Chumbly or something. That was the tragedy preceding the Trumpian farce, which will be more tragic.
parsimon, I'm gonna be the asshole who escalates and tells you to go to a doctor, now. Deep vein thrombosis regularly manifests as calf-pain plus single-leg swelling, and that's not something you want to fuck around with. I wouldn't rely on a self-diagnosis of a muscle strain, based on the symptoms you describe. I am most definitely not a doctor, but I do have loads of experience with sports-related leg injuries. (Apologies in advance for the hit-and-run comment, but I'm also not going to be around the computer for the next few hours.)
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/deep-vein-thrombosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20352557
Okay, Stranded. I obviously can't do that at this very moment, it being Sunday afternoon, but thank you for the additional information. It's what I was looking for.
Just read this thread and as someone who walked (limped, actually) around with a DVT for nearly a week thinking it was a Calf muscle pull I second SiT in 100. If there was a specific "pull" that seemed to instigate it that might lessen the odds, but mine happened (or more likely I first really noticed it) while playing racquetball so that can be deceptive as well. I was so convinced that it was a pull that I nearly convinced my doctor who fortunately sent me to get an ultrasound "just in case." Positive result (and evidence of pulmonary embolism) led to a hospital stay.
If there was a specific "pull" that seemed to instigate it
There was. As I mentioned upthread - I knew exactly when it happened, when I did it. I knew I had hurt the leg. Still I am taking this under advisement (leg swelling is actually doing better today, for what that's worth, as I am being much more aggressive about ice treatments and compression on the calf muscle that feels like the clear point of injury).
I am not being cavalier about this, but rather trying as best I can to be patient. I know from experience that healing leg/foot/ankle injuries takes time.
Yikes, missed the connection-- I had DVT also, swelling and localized intense pain in one calf, pain faded some, walked with a limp but also led to pulmonary embolism. I was sure that the problem was a minor injury, didn't get care, that was a mistake.
Consider going to an urgent care place today and get at least an ultrasound of the affected leg, especially if either heart rate or breathing are elevated. If the clot's moving, you're probably going to be admitted for a few days.
Minor injuries leading to bruises are definitely a preciptating event for DVT. Please check your heart rate and evaluate whether you're having any difficulty breathing.
Treatment's effective safe, usually noninvasive, diagnosis unambiguous if that's the problem.
Thanks, guys. No bruising here, at all, at any point in this. No elevated heart rate or breathing issues. I will evaluate again tomorrow. I very much appreciate this additional info!
I'm off to elevate and ice the leg again.
Pray pursue the pulmonary probing, Parsi! We're passionately partial to your parsing of passing portents!
So, when I read TPM, I get attack ads against one of the two non-felon people competing for the Republican nomination for West Virginia from West Virginia. A quick google reveals they're paid for by the Democrats.
" Michael Jackson Pahlavi"
Not so much the King of Pop as the Shah of Sha'mone.
In a better world, "Roy Clark Pahlavi".
It makes sense that experience with gun smuggling is a good background to run the NRA.
In retrospect, 111 is kind of cryptic for somebody who can't see inside my head.
Welp, Blankenship is getting his butt kicked. That was fun while it lasted. We will always have #CocaineMitch.
