Comments

1

American adaptations of British TV dramas generally speaking have more episodes, better special effects, are less well acted, rely more on zingers and less on situational comedy, and the acting is usually not as good.

Here, we see the US adaptation of the hit BBC series Brexit, which is now on its third season. As is usual for the Americans, the focus is almost entirely on the lead character, with very little character development for any of the other roles. The British like complicated plot lines and a colorful supporting cast, but you’ll see no John Bercow or Jezza here. It’s just the Orange Blister and one nation’s attempt to lance the boil. It will run for an insane number of seasons, and each season will have far too many episodes and a very weak plot. But, this will be compensated for with big budget visuals and a sweeping soundtrack.

2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdfp5Za0XVg

3

'' "Mr. Ranking Member, ''

I love the formalism disguising such a beautiful and apropos double-entendre: "Ranking" also means "stinking", ad "member" also means...

For serious guys, Devin Nunes IS a Ranking Member, and should always be addressed as such! It's only proper.

5

"In fact we're not going to talk about Judy at all!' David Lynch predicted this in 1992, in Fire Walk With Me.

6

You guys rubbed yourselves raw for months thinking about getting a nude video of Trump, and now you attack the one man trying to make it happen for you at these hearings?

Circular firing squad indeed.

7

@1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0onquIv89g

8

Nude photos of Trump?
Yeech! I'm trying to keep lunch down.

@1
Today's hearings are brought to you by;
"Who's your Vladdy?" t-shirts and novelty items, and Tiki Torches (TM)
and Adderall

9

The republicans only like veterans when they're lying under tidy little rows of crosses in scenic locations. That's a great place to make a speech, and they know they can't talk back.

11

@10 yes, that's a form of parliamentary privilege, which we inherited from the British.

12

@6- yeah Ted, well that was when we thought that maybe just maybe photographic evidence of what vile human scum Trump is would have some effect on you & your brethrens high esteem for the man.
Now we know better.

14

Recently my uncle asked me if I would serve my country if called upon. I considered it at the time, but after witnessing half our country turn on our veterans - the very people they've used for their political objectives - in defense of corrupt scumbag, I can wholeheartedly say "no." I salute our vets, but I could never defend a country that would betray me for defending it. Col. Vindman, I hope you are kept safe. Thank you for your service.

15

The GOP really has no low, no line they won't cross. Their smearing of this man who has served this country in the name of protecting a traitor, a totally useless feces filled skin bag who has done NOTHING for this country but lie and commit crimes and stir up shit that he can smear wherever he goes is so fucking over the top they REALLY all need to go. Every last one of them.

16

Christopher, you should not characterize invoking the 5th amendment as an admission of guilt. https://youtu.be/-FENubmZGj8

16

@14 And let's not forget the veterans deported this administration led by a liar who used daddy's wealth and influence to get out of serving his country and all of the Americans who have served the country as well, but are treated as sub human (all who are not white and male), including all those who have been kicked out of the military for being gay or being trans.

17

PS and Trump pardoning war criminals. Let's not forget that either.

18

I'm not buying the Democrats newfound admiration for the military. I don't remember the same sensitivities to service, honor and valour when Oliver North was the National Security Council staff member in the witness seat. Rings hollow today.

19

@16
"including all those who have been kicked out of the military for being gay or being trans"
You mean under Bill Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy?

20

@18 Because Oliver North was a lying sack of shit and the Democrats questioning him weren't trying to get him to break the law, they were trying to get him to tell the truth about the shit show he was personally involved in and OH YEAH please tell me when Democrats have openly smeared the reputations of military personnel (and I'm not talking about anti-war protesters, I'm talking about sitting members of Congress), vilified and denigrated veterans, stolen billions from projects meant to help military families to build a wall between Mexico and the United States, made fun of Senator John McCain for being a POW, said repugnant and vile things about Gold Star families, deported veterans, held non-white military personnel in detention (despite having U.S. passports), tried to privatize the VA, pardoned war criminals, or steadfastly stood behind and aided and abetted a traitor? I'll wait...

21

@18 Whataboutawhataboutawhataboutawhataboutawhatabouta false equivalency and ignoring all history prior to a single person during the Finkle is Einhorn Einhorn is Finkle I kissed a man!! view of military policy as all based on Clinton himself.

Dude stop posting and go drink half a handle of gin and maybe you might have a chance of forming a word salad that actually means something substantial instead of total shit pouring out of your mouth.

22

@19 Yes and my question to you is what was the makeup of Congress when DADT was created by Congress and would it have been passed anyway if Clinton had vetoed it? Again, I'll wait...

That law was repealed by the Obama administration in 2011, so it's a surprise that Trump hasn't had it reinstated.

23

@19 Congress rushed to enact the existing gay ban policy into federal law, outflanking Clinton's planned repeal effort. Clinton called for legislation to overturn the ban, but encountered intense opposition from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, members of Congress, and portions of the public. DADT emerged as a compromise policy.

24

@xina I agree with everything you've said in the comments thread, but keep in mind that he's only here to troll.

25

Oh andw hile we know Trump simply wants to undo everything President Obama did just because, even before Trump...

Several candidates for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination called for the restoration of DADT, including Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum.

On September 22, 2011, the audience at a Republican candidates' debate booed a U.S. soldier posted in Iraq who asked a question via video about the repeal of DADT. None of the candidates responded to the crowd's behavior.

Two days later, Obama commented on the incident while addressing a dinner of the Human Rights Campaign: "You want to be commander in chief? You can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it's not politically convenient".

26

@24 I know, you're right.

28

No surprise that the elites of all stripes abuse veterans, Oliver North? A total war criminal.

30

@ 22 & 23

DADT Wasn't "created by Congress"... It was a Department of Defense Directive (No. 1304.26) issued on December 21, 1993 by the Department of Defense and instituted by the Clinton Administration on February 28, 1994.

31

Oliver North was a whore. You can dress him up in outfits and take him places, but a whore is still a whore.

32

The difficult part about debating guys like YGBKM is, they do correctly point out the flaws in the Democratic Party. However, political debate has never been a frank and honest assessment of our mutual strengths and weaknesses. It’s much more tribal, you pick a team and extol only it’s virtues while the other side points out only it’s flaws, and vide versa. Further, Americans are used to seeing only two sides of any debate. If you critique the Democrats from the Left, most Democrats think that any criticism at all must mean you’re from the Right. It’s not so much that they attack Socialism as they try their hardest to pretend it doesn’t exist.

To most Americans there are only Ds and Rs. If you show up and announce yourself as an S, they have no idea what that means. To give you an idea, I think Bill Clinton was a bad President. I say that because DADT and DOMA are measures he supported and should not have. I also think gutting AFDC and replacing it with TANFF was a bad idea, and so was signing NAFTA and GATT. They’re all four letter words, as far as I am concerned.

So was repealing Glass-Steagall. I also think Monica Lewinsky was a nice young intern who got her life destroyed by an aging sexual predator who did what all sexual predators do, blame the victim.

Now, if YGBKM says these things, it’s obvious that he wants to throw shade at someone related to Trump’s opponent in 2016. If I say these things, the Ds will confuse me with YGBKM, when in fact the two of us would probably tear each other apart if locked in a room with no cameras. I have even less love for Trump than I do for Clinton.

33

@22
"That law was repealed by the Obama administration in 2011, so it's a surprise that Trump hasn't had it reinstated."

You believe that the Obama administration had the power to "repeal laws"? (No administration does). DADT was a policy (not a congressional act) set by the Clinton administration. Theoretically, Obama's administration could have issued a new Defense Directive replacing it or repealing it, but it didn't. Instead Congress passed an Act amending the Defense Authorization Act to repeal the Directive. All “I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian — for me — for me as a Christian, it is also a sacred union. God’s in the mix,” Obama did was sign the Act into law.

34

"Mr. Trump did not directly tell me to lie to Congress. That's not how he operates.

In conversations we had during the campaign, at the same time I was actively negotiating in Russia for him, he would look me in the eye and say, "There's no Russian business," and then go on to lie to the American people by saying the same thing. In his way, he was telling me to lie."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kedGsT3iim8

35

During the Iran Contra affair, North was a crack whore who got himself fucked to safe Reagan’s CIA from being exposed as drug runners who gave Ricky Ross everything he needed to destroy LA

36

@31,

Given that he's a few months removed from serving as President of the NRA, I'd say it's pretty safe to say he still IS a whore.

37

@33 DADT was put in place by Congress. Congress creates the laws in this country, including military directives. Stating otherwise is flat out false. And yes the Obama administration repealed the law (again, WITH Congress). Your own arguments prove you don't know what you are talking about. You claim Clinton enacted DADT and then you claim Obama could not repeal it.

Basic understanding of how legislation works in this country is that Congress writes the laws and the Presidents and their administrations (including military personnel when the legislation specifically applies to the military) put them into place or repeal them (or veto them outright and then if Congress has enough votes that veto can be overturned).

Easiest recaps to find online regarding DADT:
Congress rushed to enact the existing gay ban policy into federal law, outflanking Clinton's planned repeal effort. Clinton called for legislation to overturn the ban, but encountered intense opposition from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, members of Congress, and portions of the public.

DADT emerged as a compromise policy. Congress included text in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 (passed in 1993) requiring the military to abide by regulations essentially identical to the 1982 absolute ban policy. The Clinton Administration on December 21, 1993 issued Defense Directive 1304.26, which directed that military applicants were not to be asked about their sexual orientation.

President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen provided the certification required by the Act to Congress on July 22, 2011. Implementation of repeal was completed 60 days later, so that DADT was no longer policy as of September 20, 2011.

38

Oh and when Trump had both houses with GOP majorities, Congress could have passed a reinstatement of DADT and Trump could have signed it and so the Obama administration's work would have been undone. Trump's sole purpose as resident in the WH is to undo Obama's entire presidency and Mitch McConnell declared tha his sole purpose was to make Obama a one term president (he failed spectacularly).

39

@16 -- Fair enough. I changed the wording.

40

tmplknight @ 14 indirectly brings up another piece of military etiquette. When addressing someone in the military, you don't say "The point I would like you to clarify, Lieutenant Colonel Miller, is...." Just like you don't say,
"Very glad to meet you, Brigadier General Jones." You say "Very glad to meet you, General Jones." or "The point I would like you to clarify, Colonel Miller, is...." When talking with someone, you use the modifier in front of the main rank only when you are trying to be deliberately discourteous, to put someone in their place: "Remember who is in charge here, Lieutenant Colonel Miller!" So, the standard way that exchange would have gone would have been "It's Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, please." "Oh yes, of course, Colonel Vindman." Republicans used to know this, and they used to delight in making fun of Democrats when they got these minor points of etiquette wrong, or when Democrats confused a brigade with a battalion. These days republican politicians are almost without exception chicken hawks. They do like to play with their guns, and like to make fun of Democrats when Democrats confuse a magazine with a clip. But Republican politicians now spend their early years handling guns but never in situations where other people might be firing guns at them. So they don't know the etiquette niceties anymore.

41

@37
I’ve read the same Wiki.

Technically, Defense Directive 1304.26 was issued to comply with the Defense Authorization Act. The Defense Authorization Act was the “law,” the Defense Directive (which actually defined and implemented DADT) was a Directive. Not an Act or a law.

Regardless, Clinton is the rat bastard who signed it. A principled person would have vetoed it (and DOMA) and compelled Congress to override him.

But, instead, Clinton determined it was politically expedient to deny gay people their basic human rights and signed both DADT and DOMA.

42

Nunes has naked pictures of Trump but he's not going to share them.

Like any of us would care to see them.

43

Great comments, xina, Catalina, esp @9, Wanders...

44

"He pointed out that if he lived in a place like Russia,
he would be murdered for testifying in a hearing like this."

trump's attempted outing of the whistleblower -- whom he described as a Traitor, "and you know what we usta do with Traitors, don'tchya, base?" "String 'em up!" -- does that apply to Anyone with the temerity to Oppose the son of a bitch, yet? What's Cadet Bone Spurs got up his sleeve? Who will he have taken out first (Epstein doesn't count)? Uppity Lieutenant Colonels? Watch your butt. Sir.


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