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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
The delay is not a good move. It shows reluctance to enforce the law against Trump's Cabinet.
Trump's shooting for Refuge in Audacity, being so outrageously criminal in his actions now that the necessary counter-moves themselves threaten the stability of our government. He's counting on the fact that Congress will ultimately back down, choosing the stability of appeasement over the uncharted territory of an out-and-out war between the Legislative and Executive branches.
By refusing to take immediate action to follow through on yesterday's threat to Barr, the House is signaling that Trump is right. It tells him that they're afraid to actually step up to that plate and match him.
Which means that even if they do ultimately follow through on Monday, Trump will still know that he pushed hard enough to make the House blink. His takeaway from this will be that all he needs is to push a little bit harder and they'll cave.
This is a show of weakness in the face of an aspiring dictator by the only people who have the ability to put him in check. That's a bad sign for the nation as a whole.
Edited by TobiasDrake on May 2nd 2019 at 8:45:47 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.In 2016, the DNC was flooded with donations and letters as well as appeals to them that they wanted Trump to be fought on every single level. The general reaction was amusement and, "Hehe. They really are enthusiastic about resistance." I.e. It wasn't taken seriously and they assumed it would be business as usual. It has not been business as usual for 3 years.
I have no doubt the Democratic Congress wants desperately Barr to show up so they can look tough while not doing anything but Barr is refusing to play that game.
Because why would he?
The DNC needs to understand there's no point to conciliation. It's like Obama and his attempts to work with the Republicans in his first time. It's a waste of time and weakens democracy as a whole. Mind you, the biggest issue is that they don't WANT to fight and it's getting very frustrating.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on May 2nd 2019 at 7:54:13 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.Oh, Sarah Sanders has taken to shit-talking Nadler about his cowardice.
The irony.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Sanders suggested House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) should consider resigning his post for demanding staff attorneys be allowed to question Barr.
"It’s surprising to find out he has actually lost confidence in himself and his capability to do his job,” Sanders said of Nadler. “If he can’t, and he’s not capable of asking the attorney general questions, maybe he should step down and resign and allow someone else to.”
Barr was scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee at 9 a.m. on Thursday, but he did not appear. Instead, Nadler conducted proceedings with a placard bearing Barr's name resting in front of an empty chair.
Asked on Fox News why Barr wouldn't just appear before the committee and "get it over with," Sanders again blamed Democrats for changing "the rules middle of the game."
"The attorney general sat for five hours yesterday, Bill, and he answered every question put in front of him," she told Bill Hemmer on "America's Newsroom." "He was willing to sit down and do that again with the House. But naturally the Democrats have changed rules middle of the game."
Barr's appearance was up in the air in recent days as Democrats had insisted that committee counsels be able to question the attorney general. After Barr indicated he may not show up if that was the format, Democrats argued witnesses should not dictate proceedings.
On Wednesday, the Judiciary panel voted along party lines to approve a measure allowing committee staffers to question Barr for an additional hour, despite fierce objections from Republicans.
The Department of Justice said Wednesday evening that Barr would not sit for questioning, saying Nadler had placed "unprecedented and unnecessary" conditions on the hearing.
Sanders called it "pretty pathetic" that Democrats sought to allow staffers to pose questions.
"If he and his committee aren’t capable of … asking questions themselves and need to staff it out, then it seems like a pretty pathetic moment for the chairman of that committee,” she said.
Barr's no-show further escalates tensions between House Democrats and the Trump administration, which has sought to slow-walk oversight investigations and subpoenas in recent weeks.
The attorney general endured a grilling Wednesday from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee who accused him of bungling the handling of special counsel Robert Mueller's report and spinning a favorable narrative for the president.
Several Democrats have called on Barr to resign after it was revealed that Mueller criticized the attorney general’s four-page memo summarizing the report’s findings.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on May 2nd 2019 at 7:57:45 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.![]()
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I think this would be a lot easier if it were just the executive branch vs the legislative branch. Right now, half the executive branch is under the direct control of the executive branch, when if that weren’t the case, a series of impeachments would be the direct solution. It’s because of the senate that the president, et al. are basically above the law.
Pelosi is outright calling Barr out for lying to Congress.
Maybe the Dems are about to force a standoff after all?
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
x3 Again: wake me up when the "OPPOSITION" actually does something besides call people out.
“He’s here,” Cohen said, pointing to the chicken and referring to AG Barr who is not attending after a grilling in the Senate.
Actually no. There has been a sitting Attorney General arrested and convicted of crimes before.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Kleindienst
Convicted of obstruction, given one month in jail.
It's contempt of congress that's at stake right now, which he's absolutely shown.
It's enough to send Manning to jail for.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on May 2nd 2019 at 8:46:37 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.A crazy idea would be to have Barr and Muller appear at the same time. Just force that disagreement into the open, and let the public make that real time comparison between the straight as an arrow Muller and the shifty and suspicious Barr.
I don't think it would work, because I don't think Muller would play along and it would be a bit contrived overall. But hey, something for the eventual movie to do instead.

One of three things will happen:
- Barr will show up at a hearing and make a bunch of empty platitudes that will do nothing.
- Barr won't show up and the Democrats will arrest him.
- Barr won't show up and the Democrats will let it go, rendering them impotent when Trump is continually attacking them on the basis of being spineless.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.