Don and Vlad

No less a Trump Whisperer than Sara Sanders said today that, in a phone call this morning with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump discussed the Mueller Report.  But wait - there's more.

Members of the White House press pool d'jour asked Mr. Trump about his conversation with his BFF.  Trump responded with what appeared to be agreement with Vlad's opinion - that the Mueller Report was, not a mountain, but a mouse.  He then suggested that simply asking whether he (Trump) had inquired of Vladimir Vladimirovich  if Russia (and by extension Vladimirovich himself) had intervened or planned to intervene in our elections was out of line.

To quote CNN:

Which brings us to Friday and Trump's decision not to raise the issue of election interference with Putin. Before he offered up the fact hat he hadn't brought up future election meddling in the call, Trump bristled at attempts by reporters to get him to answer the question. "Excuse me," he told NBC's Kristen Welker. "I'm talking. I'm answering this question. You are very rude."

A. G. Barr and the Ex Lax Paradigm

I mentioned yesterday that my reaction to William Barr bore strong similarities to one I'd had several years ago, when faced with a smug, recalcitrant co-worker.

That reaction remains.  Here's a complete description of it.

In that same vein and in affirmation of my wanting always to offer positive alternatives, here's another older piece of mine.  It's based on my belief that promoting acceptance is far more beneficial than selling hate and fear.

L'foutaise!

I'd considered using the Bengali phrase for bull---t in the title of this post, but I may have misunderstood the translation.  So I invite you t go to this site, and, in the upper area on the left, select French as the source language.  Then, on the right of that same area, choose English as the language into which you want foutaise to be translated.

That one word sums up my opinion of Attorney General William Barr's testimony today before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and of the dog-whistle support given him by mot of the Republican members of the group.

I'm also reminded of my reaction to a male colleague at an engineering firm where I worked several years ago.  The gentleman in question criticized work I'd done to document aspects of the UNIX operating system.  He nearly convinced me I'd made a mistake.

Except I hadn't.  He and his criticisms were wrong.  For those of you aspiring to geekdom, he maintained that in almost all instances the operators  >  and  >> are interchangeable.  They're not.  Which, when I realized that, evoked a response in me similar to that I experienced today in listening to Mr. Barr.

You Can't Tell the Litigants Without a Scorecard

Donal Trump loves to sue folks.  One might almost say he knows lawsuits - even that he has the best lawsuits.

But Trump and his coterie can still surprise.  Today, we learned that Monday April 29th , Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization filed lawsuits against Deutsche Bank and Capital One.  The suits seek to prevent those entities from responding to Congressional subpoenas for Trump-related financial records.

Can you say obstructing justice, boys and girls?

Pot, Remember Kettle?

Attorney General William Barr made news today, insisting that the method of testimony proposed for Barr this coming Thursday by House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler is unacceptable.  Barr stated further that Nadler was carrying out a power-grab (my words, not Barr's) by extending (again, my words) the parameters upon which the Committee's questioning would be based.  Barr labelled Nadler's parameters partisan.

That's yet another example of the pot calling the kettle black.  Nadler's proposed interview and testimony techniques are virtually identical to those used by Senate Republicans during the Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation hearings.

Odds Are Even

Friday, the Justice Department announced that Attorney General William Barr will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, May 1st, and before the House Judiciary Committee the next day.

Today, Barr stated the would not show up to the House Committee on Thursday, citing what he called changes in the ground rules for his testimony.

Place your bet on any of, or as many of, the following as you care to.

1. Donald Trump, either implicitly or explicitly, leaned on Mr. Barr to demur.
2. Both Trump and Barr see the refusal as a means of delaying further accountability for either of them.
3. Both Trump and Barr also see the demurring as a possible means of gi8ving subpoenas, and in particular the subpoena House Judiciary Committee chair Jerry Nadler may issue to force Barr to testify, as beyond the pale, both politically and legally.

My money's on Nadler.