We don’t know what Manafort knows, and Mueller may not need him to build a case against Trump. But Mueller’s charge isn’t to take down Trump. He’s tasked with investigating wrongdoing surrounding the election. To that end I’d have to believe he would still see a lot of value in Manafort’s cooperation.

Republicans love Manafort. Remember how ecstatic they were when he took over the campaign from Lewandowski? He’s very well connected within the Republican establishment. They might pay lip service to the fact that pardoning him stinks to high hell, but it’s laughable to think that would be anyone’s breaking point.

Hopefully he eventually ends up in state court, where Trump can’t save him. His next trial is also in federal court. It will require delicate timing by Trump, but Manafort seems to act like he knows he’s ok. Republicans won’t care, because Manafort is one of their own.

That’s great. After his appeals fail, and he’s convicted on more federal charges, Trump will pardon him. And the Republicans in Congress will continue to protect him.

It’s not a simple question to answer, so I’ll just state some high level basics. He positions himself as a legal expert when commenting on the Muller investigation and Trump’s alleged crimes, when he was a pretty small time defense lawyer who doesn’t have any experience with these kinds of cases. He also claims to be…

If you listen to the entire conversation, he was talking about Acuna crowding the plate, and hitting him or knocking him down to either back him up a bit or at least make him a little less comfortable standing right on top of the plate. When Keith played, pitchers owned the inside of the plate. Today guys stand as…

Sounds like the jury just didn’t buy all the emotional stress claims as actual damages. But if punitive damages are still on the table, and the jury has already determined he unlawfully recorded them, it sounds like he’s eventually going to have to pay for this.  

The Al.com source article said all but 11 of the county’s 1500 students last school year were black. I assume they are referring to the students enrolled at public schools in the county, because earlier in the article they say the county is 76% black and 24% white. Obviously white kids would be allowed to go to the…

I used to go through the replies in some of his conspiracy threads, just to see what kind of effect he was having on people.  It’s extraordinarily sad.  He generated so much false hope for people who want so badly to believe that every scandal will be the one that finally brings the entire administration crashing…

Not in the least.

...but I’m gonna bet that Old Baseball Man in the booth sees a double as getting people fired up, and hammering a dong just gets people worked up for a little bit then they’re exhausted from the celebration and they just can’t keep performing at the same level.

I hope it turns out not to be true, but I’m inclined to believe she and her son are telling the truth. While the texts don’t constitute a smoking gun, they read more like tacit acknowledgement to me.

On a sliding scale he’s certainly not at the worst end. But he's definitely still on the wrong half. 

Omarosa is an opportunist. When it was good for her career, she was cool with Trump. Now that she’s been fired and out of the news for a while, and coincidentally has a book to sell, Trump was a virulent racist.

Taiwan is out, has he checked with Thai-LAND?

Nobody comes to Splinter for nuance. But you’re absolutely right. An experienced, knowledgeable reporter like Noel King can critically expose someone like this without letting it turn into an advertisement. They do this all the time with prominent figures on the right.

Roth, you magnificent bastard, you’ve done it again. Fucking brilliant. 

I remember when Putt Putt tournaments used to show up on ESPN from time to time. You either made your first shot or you didn’t, and most of them did most of the time. Grantland and ESPN did a fantastic oral history of a guy shooting an 18 on tour several years ago.

Brian eagled 16?  If not for the doubles on 3 and 13, he would have smoked you.

Heard you discussing this with Marketplace on NPR this morning.  Well done.