Wednesday Open Thread

12 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread”

1. WOTD from Vox: "Zoning for Lane-way Houses in Vancouver"

   Laneway means alley, I guess. Vancouver, Canada zoning permits higher density in the suburbs. The city proper has many close-in suburbs that were originally built to be served by street cars.  Highways were excluded to the outer metro area.

   So our minimum density allows three units on a lot: the primary house, the secondary suite [known in America as an “accessory dwelling unit,” or ADU], and a detached laneway house in the back yard, where the parking pad or garage would normally be.

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   1. (Tangential . . .)

      America, we have a problem . . . 

      There are appoximately 33M self-storage units in America.  

      https://www.statisticbrain.com/self-storage-industry-statistics/

      At the same time, there are 500,000 homeless, one-quarter of whom are children.

      https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN0T908720151120

      . . .

      . . .

      Someday, when Americans begin to care more for this country’s children, than we do for boxes of old cheerleader uniforms, old furniture, and out-of-date college papers, we might be able to get roofs over these kids heads?? . . . 

      . . . and still have 32.5M units left to store grandma’s christmas decorations??

      (And, no I’m not advocating stuffing the homeless into unheated, unplumbed, unsafe storage units — I’m just pointing out that this country’s priorities are all too obvious!!?)

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      1. Well put, Dio.

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2. Stinks.

   Trump does!

   Stay upwind, America.

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3. A bit of Schadenfreude, anyone?

   The embattled political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica announced on Wednesday that it would cease most operations and file for bankruptcy amid growing legal and political scrutiny of its business practices and work for President Trump.

   The company, founded by Stephen K. Bannon and Robert Mercer, a wealthy Republican donor who has put at least $15 million into it, offered tools that it claimed could identify the personalities of American voters and influence their behavior. Its so-called psychographic modeling techniques, which were built in part with the data harvested from Facebook, underpinned Cambridge Analytica’s work for the Trump campaign in 2016.

   https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/us/politics/cambridge-analytica-shut-down.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

   Of course, as Trump demonstrated, bankruptcies for the wealthy are little more painful than a snake shedding their skin.

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4. Is it:

   a).  Collusion?

   b).  Obstruction of Justice?

   c).  Yammy sewer & swamp business as usual?

   d)  all of the above?

    

   Ukraine, Seeking U.S. Missiles, Halted Cooperation With Mueller Investigation

    https://nyti.ms/2KwaP9p

    

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   1. He is not going to give missiles to Ukraine which will point them at his BFF Vlad. Even to frustrate Mueller's investigation.

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      1. Actually, the missiles arrived April 30th.  Maybe that's why the attorney that met at Trump Tower with Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner is now admitting she's a long time informant for the Kremlin.  Surely on Putin's command, to get Trump back in line.

         "I am a lawyer, and I am an informant," Veselnitskaya said in an interview with NBC correspondent Richard Engel that aired Friday. "Since 2013, I have been actively communicating with the office of the Russian prosecutor general."

         That choker chain around Trump’s neck is getting very tight these last few days.

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5. Looks like Trump is about to test if the pillars of the American Justice System can withstand his frontal assault.  I believe he is ready to fire Assistant AG Rosenstein and/or Mueller.

   Rosenstein has been cooperating with committee chairman Trey Gowdy, but two of the committee members, Freedumb Caucus members naturally, are the ones that drew up the articles of impeachment for Rosenstein because he won’t give them the sensitive documents that would tell Trump exactly what evidence Mueller has on him.

   But when he stated yesterday that the DOJ won't be extorted, those are fighting words to Trump. 

   “At some point I will have no choice but to use the powers granted to the Presidency and get involved!” Mr. Trump wrote. It was not immediately clear which presidential powers Mr. Trump was referring to, but he has been critical of Mr. Rosenstein, who is overseeing the special counsel investigation and, by law, is the only one who can shut down the inquiry or fire the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.

   It is well within Mr. Trump’s presidential powers to fire Mr. Rosenstein, as he has fired other senior Justice Department officials whom he blames for the sprawling inquiry into Russia’s election interference and whether Mr. Trump obstructed the investigation itself.

   Trump attorney Ty Cobb's imminent departure was foreshadowed by his confiding to friends:

   He said publicly that the White House had no interest in firing Mr. Mueller, and told friends privately that he would not remain in the administration if Mr. Trump moved to fire the special counsel.

   The president’s threats, though vague, come at a time when he has been on the defensive after the disclosure of more than 40 questions that the special counsel would like him to answer. The questions touch on a variety of topics, including coordination with the Russians during the presidential campaign and actions Mr. Trump has taken as president and whether they were intended to derail the inquiry, undercutting the president’s repeated claims that the investigation is a “hoax.”

   Oh, and since the questions were actually written by Trump’s own attorneys based on the teleconference with Mueller’s team, the only possible source of the leak is on Trump’s own team.

   The test will be to see if Congressional Republicans and the Supreme Court will allow Trump to successfully obstruct the investigation into his obstruction of justice.

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6. I mean, so this fucking guy…

   Giuliani says Trump reimbursed Cohen for Stormy Daniels payment

   The payment is going to turn out to be "perfectly legal," Giuliani said in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity.

   "That money was not campaign money, sorry," Giuliani said. "I'm giving you a fact now that you don't know. It's not campaign money. No campaign finance violation."

   Hannity replied: "Because they funneled it through the law firm?"

   To which Giuliani said: "Funneled it through the law firm, and the President repaid him."

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   1. Well, we already know that Giuliani is a media whore, and thrice-married creep, with a mean streak a mile wide.  Remember his creepy speech at the 2008 GOP convention?

      Giuliani gave a prime-time speech that praised McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, while criticizing Democratic nominee Barack Obama. He cited Palin's executive experience as a mayor and governor and belittled Obama's lack of same, and his remarks were met with wild applause from the delegates

      So much for his ability to assess character…  Nonetheless, he said this about James Comey:

      In the same interview, Giuliani also called ex-FBI Director James Comey a "disgraceful liar," and said he thinks Comey should be prosecuted.

      "I know James Comey. I know the President. Sorry Jim, you're a liar — a disgraceful liar," Giuliani said.

      It would be sweet justice if after Trump is held to account for his many crimes, he winds up stiffing Giuliani on his final bill.

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   2. With lawyers like these…

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