In theory, though in practice those laws have serious issues. Even under the Obama administration there were some really troubling trends on whistleblowers, and even at their worst there was nowhere near the level of malice and vindictiveness in that administration.

Trump is too dumb to know this, but this is going to hurt him. The whistleblower followed the rules exactly. Even when the acting DNI was illegally withholding the complaint. Trump’s relationship with the IC is already poor, but this will make it worse, and that will make at least a few Republicans uncomfortable.…

1. Many of those other offenses have been effectively ignored by right-wing media and most of the public.

It’s a human psychological weakness. The way the right-wing media/activism echo chamber works tends to fuel it on the right, so it’s not equally pervasive on the left, but that’s a structural thing. All of us are prone to it. We remember headlines more than articles. We remember dishonest statements. Our memory is…

This is the issue that has led a large number of center-right figures to jump fully behind impeachment. I’m skeptical of Never Trump figures, many of them are still conservatives with atrocious ideological positions, but the Ukraine issue, more so than any other, has clearly been a Rubicon for them. There’s even been…

I think this is defensible strategy. The public is stupid. Call me condescending all you want, but I read the polling data. I know precisely how vapid the American public can be, and just how irrational and ignorant their engagement with politics can be. People have short attention spans, are easily misled, push…

The actual brawls were pretty rare by the early and mid 2000s. Happened occasionally, I threw a few punches when someone came into one of the dingy little clubs in Baltimore to start trouble, but it wasn’t anything like in the ‘80s.

The symbol has been current in a lot of counter-culture subcultures for ages. It’s big in the punk scene, and has been since long before Trump. My guess is it came from those circles in places like Portland. Anti-fascist groups have long been part of the punk scene, they used to pass out zines at shows I went to in…

The important point, and I saw Pelosi herself made it clear on Twitter, is you don’t need a legally defined quid pro quo to justify impeachment. I was impressed by her stating that so clearly.

They’ve got an outlet prior to that, and according to reports today it’s being considered. The whistleblower does have a right to go to Congress directly. In theory the acting DNI can’t stop that, though it will force them to expose their identity and could have severe professional consequences. My understanding from…

The White House has released doctored transcripts before. It’s also easy for a transcript to be misleading with no context. That’s precisely why the actual complaint is necessary, because someone in the IC would have access to the context and other incidents that may be necessary to understand the transcript.

At least 3 of the holds called in that atrocious game were incorrectly called, along with a number of the other penalties. So not only is the rulebook an incomprehensible mess, but the refs keep failing to call them correctly, and rather than anything trying to fix the system the NFL just chases the winds at any given…

Quite a lot of his support on social media looks inauthentic. I’m not convinced his “just above the threshold” polling numbers are sustainable. 

There’s a solid bit of Nazi fetishism in the ideological history of the RSS, which is the parent group of the BJP.

The Daily Wire has become increasingly rabid. It always employed a bunch of racists and promoted racist narratives and ideologies, it’s the personal ego-fluffer of Ben Shapiro and that’s pretty much his brand, but lately I’ve noticed a lot more “Daily Wire writer does/says horrific thing” stories. It really needs to…

Please dismiss your Hindutva troll. 

That and in most socialized medical systems people who want to drop extra money for more “elite” care usually can. No one is going to stop you from bankrupting yourself because you fell for the shiny marketing materials of some small private healthcare group. 

Bonding between racist far-right nationalists with an unhealthy fetish for assaulting Muslims. I’m sure it warms the molding decayed shreds of some Twitter neo-Nazi’s heart.

Stop spamming this. You’ve made this comment a dozen times. I’m pulling this out of the greys in hopes that you’ll stop now that you’ve made you point. 

He might be able to, now, but buying habits like that are generally formed earlier in life. People who grew up without healthcare are less likely to see the doctor for minor issues, sometimes to their detriment. These things have subconscious influences as well.