Sounds like Trump will not allow jack squat to be done on infrastructure because he will not work with Democrats while there are open investigations. It's a shame as our country could really benefit from this.

sycasey said:

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Another Bear said:

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ABC News is reporting Nancy Pelosi is calling an emergency, closed-door meeting tomorrow morning to discuss impeachment with Democrats. I think she stalls the process until, a) they get a break on leverage, or b) someone spills the beans on something that can't be refuted or is too corrupt, Yet the tide may have turned.

My take on Pelosi's leadership style is she is shrewd and can count votes. She isn't going in unless she has plenty of ammo or Trump can be slammed into submission.

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I think Pelosi's philosophy on something like this is: "Make me do it." She wants to see the groundswell of public pressure, particularly among her own party base, to demonstrate that it's worth the effort politically. IMO a lot of people mistake this pragmatism for an unwillingness to pursue progressive priorities. No, she just knows she needs to hold her caucus together while doing it, and not everyone is reading lefty Twitter.

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I agree in a sense or perhaps it semantics. Pelosi is waiting for critical mass or a groundswell of public pressure as you say. Same thing or close enough. If she says yes, she wants to bury Trump, not just nick him. She doesn't want to risk failure but at a certain point it won't be her...something will break and momentum will shift.

In any case, things took a measured step forward. Pelosi announced Trump is engaged in a cover up, and of course Trump went mental...again. Saying this was to show she knows what's going on...but no pulling the trigger until you see the whites of their eyes.

bearister said:

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can anyone explain what in God's green acre happened to Ben Carson? His Wikipedia page is extremely impressive. When did he take the wrong exit? He appears classically overmedicated, which, if true, it go a long way towards answering my question.

I just found this after posting the above:

What the Hell Is Going on With Ben Carson?

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/what-the-hell-is-going-on-with-ben-carson-53153/




"Even his speaking demeanor drips with disregard: the total unconcern with being audible, as if anyone who has trouble hearing needs to lean closer; the endless dilations delivered with eyes almost fully closed, as if eye contact or even the presence of others is immaterial; the answers that engage topics of interest to him at a plodding pace regardless of your available time, ending at a terminus of his choosing, the journey intelligible only to himself. More pointedly, almost the only time Carson raises his voice, opens his eyes and looks directly at someone for a response is when he's angered. Like Jabba the Hutt, he only stops nap-talking and stares when he's surprised or denied his expectations."

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Ben fell on his sword and didn't bone up on how to make it look dignified or pretend it was anything else. OR he just didn't care...or gave himself a lobotomy.

B.A. Bearacus said:

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They are also using that title for an upcoming film about the life of Robert Kraft's masseuse. Beaver Cleaver's brother, Tony Dow, will play the role of Robert Kraft.

The guy is unhinged, mentioned "the I word". More proof Nancy Pelosi owns him.

While Pelosi might be playing it safe on impeachment, clearly she can rattle the lardass fart can...so she should.

Another Bear said:

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The guy is unhinged, mentioned "the I word". More proof Nancy Pelosi owns him.

While Pelosi might be playing it safe on impeachment, clearly she can rattle the lardass fart can...so she should.

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tRump finally went FULL CAPTAIN QUEEG ON US

Da full queeg...that sound nasty or illegal.

I forgot how good an actor Bogart was.

Another Bear said:

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Da full queeg...that sound nasty or illegal.

I forgot how good an actor Bogart was.

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...and Frank Sinatra was doing Bogart's wife as he lay dying of lung cancer.

One of the things I love about the tax return disclosure controversy is that Trump repeatedly has said if he wasn't under audit he would release his returns but he has at most like 6 years under audit and hasn't released a single one of his older returns. I'm not quite sure why the media hasn't asked him about it because it's the first thing I think of every time he says he will release returns when they aren't under audit.

Oh my!

44 Fake Presidents From Worst to Best


https://graphics.wsj.com/image-grid/44-fake-presidents/

I think tRump, the current fake POTUS, is closest to # 26, Jack Nicholson In Mars Attacks!

I, too, pray for the president.
I pray that the president drop dead.

Cal Junkie said:

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bearister said:

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"i don't do cover-ups just nobody can see my grades, my taxes, the full unredacted Mueller report, none of my staff is allowed to testify in front of congress, no one can know what I discuss with Putin, everyone who works in govt signs an NDA, and oh, by the way, all those subpoenas? Yeah, the House can ***k right off on all of them. But definitely no cover-ups!"

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We need a new class of law regarding overt and repeated lying.
Hang him from the gallows immediately!

Yup, Speaker Pelosi owns Trump. When you're told someone is praying for you, that's both a sign of concern and a frank warning that you're headed to hell. As stupid as Trump is, he got that message.

The latest however is a master stroke. Speaker Pelosi has suggested the Trump family or the GOP stage an intervention. Grandma Nancy knows how to twist the knife. One can only hope the Speaker continues this...along with all the congressional investigations.

Link updated so you can watch video without a commercial:

Congratulations are in order for B. A. Bearacus. His artistic work, "Twin Hairless tRumps Love Mollusk" will be on display at the WEAM Museum in Miami Beach, FL, from June 1 through September 1. Tickets are available on a first come, first serve basis through the BI website.

This makes you pine for the days. Pine for the days. When tRump has been out of office for 2 years the best we are going to get is a surveillance video catching him in the act at a rub and tug down the street from Mar a Lago.

B.A. Bearacus said:

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FREE THE tRUMPELSTILTSKINS!

Comey CALLED it!



COOPER: I want to follow up on that, because you wrote something that I found really interesting. You wrote an op-ed in the New York Times last week. It's called "How Trump Coopts Leaders like Big Barr."

And in it, you said, part of it, you said, quote, "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', to avoid the damage because Mr. Trump eats your soul in small bites."

I mean, explain how you believe the president of the United States is eating peoples' souls and how that process takes place

COMEY: Yeah. And it doesn't make me happy to write that, but it's what I believe. This president, because he's an amoral leader, shapes those around him. And that shaping sometimes pushes out someone who is a strong person of integrity who stands up and says, "Not going to have it," but far more often, it shapes and bends and pulls in weaker souls.

And he does it. I've seen him -- it's happened to me. The man lies constantly. In public, you've seen it. In private, the same thing happened. And he talks constantly. And so I sat there at dinner with him and he went on about how he had the biggest inauguration crowd in history, he didn't make fun of a disabled reporter, and all of these lies are coming at you. And you're sitting there over your salad, thinking, "That's not true, that's not true, that's not true."

But you don't interrupt the president of the United States and say, "Mr. President, I saw the tape, you made fun of a disabled reporter." Instead, it washes over you. And all of a sudden, you finish the dinner or the meeting and you realize, "Oh, my god, I'm part of a silent circle of assent. Did I just agree that that's true because I didn't speak?" And then there are ritual -- these rituals of praise of the leader. And pretty soon you're wrapped so tightly in this web that there's no way out for you.

COOPER: So, I mean, it's -- so you said it starts with silence. It's then the president seeking praise -- making everybody around him praise him, which we've seen actually in cabinet meetings, where he has people go around. But why do so many people want to stay? I mean, you look at Rod Rosenstein. I mean, the White House tried to -- according to Mueller -- tried to get him to lie, the president tried to get him to lie, and say that he was the one who was wanting you fired and is the one who brought it up. He refused to do that. But then in his speech, as he's leaving, he praises the president for respecting the rule of law.

COMEY: I think people like that, like Rod Rosenstein, who are people of accomplishment but not real sterling character, strong character, find themselves trapped. And then they start telling themselves a story to justify their being trapped, which is, yeah, he's awful, but the country needs me.

The Republicans are doing this in Congress now. Yeah, it's awful, but if I speak I'll get defeated, and this nation needs me here right now, and so they start to make little compromises to stay on the team, echo his words, use the term "spying," talk about collusion, or just be silent, thinking that's what I need to do to survive, and in the process, he has eaten their soul. They're lost.

And so that's what explains what happens to so many of these people. They become trapped. They're not strong enough to push out of it. And they end up making compromises that they lose everything.

Another Bear said:

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Yup, Speaker Pelosi owns Trump. When you're told someone is praying for you, that's both a sign of concern and a frank warning that you're headed to hell. As stupid as Trump is, he got that message.

The latest however is a master stroke. Speaker Pelosi has suggested the Trump family or the GOP stage an intervention. Grandma Nancy knows how to twist the knife. One can only hope the Speaker continues this...along with all the congressional investigations.

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Trump doesn't need an intervention.
He needs a poison pill, and he needs to swallow it.

Better take the whole bottle, Don.

Bottom of the barrel among all living primates. It appears that this special ape-human connection is over.

B.A. Bearacus said:

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Bottom of the barrel among all living primates. It appears that this special ape-human connection is over.

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Her back channel reply to tRump:

And you know that atrump wants some of that!