The best part would be if anyone but Biden clinches the ticket, and Trump/Giuliani's efforts are in vain. Yet another reason for the DNC to not run ol' "SLeEpY jOe!!". So I watched about an hour of the Lewandowski hearing before beginning work (and working started to sound appealing in comparison after 5 minutes of watching), and I caught the part where one of the GOPbois got the mic and launched into a very poorly executed sarcastic rant along the lines of "...so which of the" airquotes "'impeachable offenses' are we gonna try to go after this president with?!", and then proceeded to list what I would consider about 6 impeachable offenses, and that's with packaging the multiple obstruction of justice attempts as a single offense. I was like "No, no, go on!", and started miming taking notes, but neither of my cats laughed.
You know that E̶l̶a̶i̶n̶e̶ ̶C̶h̶a̶o̶ Mitch McConnel's wife is under investigation, right? I bet he's feelin' a little bit of heat. Poor guy.
Everybody should listen to this series and spit on his name. I'm not one to wish ill on anybody, but I hope he chokes on a sharp chicken bone.
So here's a thought. The gist of the Mueller report: it's unclear whether or not Trump obstructed justice; since he ordered his administration to obstruct, but they didn't, the case for obstruction isn't as cut and dry. Now there is, absurdly, new dirt. How did we get here oh my god. The acting director of National Intelligence presumably has the dirt. The acting director of National Intelligence has been asked by Congress to deliver the dirt: the acting director of National Intelligence refuses to give the dirt, citing orders from on high. -NYT Is the director of National Intelligence then actually protecting Trump? Or, by following orders not to comply, actually providing grounds for unequivocal obstruction of justice charges? BONUS QUESTION: does any of this matter, or will status quo be upheld no matter what this guy does? haha JK rhetorical bonus question BONUS BONUS QUESTION: remember when a bunch of people decided they were gonna sit the last election out because Trump and Clinton were equally unpalatable and Bernie was the only reasonable choice and since it wasn't Bernie it didn't really make a difference? Remember that guys haha remember hahaha I'm drunk but waaaaay not drunk enough. For the last three years and probably the next fiveMr. Schiff told CBS that Mr. Maguire had told him he was not providing the complaint “because he is being instructed not to, that this involved a higher authority, someone above” the director of national intelligence, a cabinet position.
Hey man, you ever had such a bad day that you needed to announce you're deploying troops to Saudi Arabia to help distribute U.S. military weaponry? Because today, someone has. Currently the top article on bbc.com and many other outlets. I don't wanna get your hopes up, but this feels different. This is all coming out FAST. It'll take time to filter into society. Not me, because I'm a loser, and trying to figure this out is most of my Friday night. It's been months since I first heard about Giuliani's (ultimately canceled) plans to visit Ukraine, but in two days, we've gone from "the president said something to a foreign leader that triggered a whistleblowing complaint" to one step away from RECORDED EVIDENCE of quid pro quo. One end of the deal being the aid of a foreign government to influence the next U.S. presidential election (deja vu, anyone?), which is more or less confirmed, and the other end possibly being attempted extortion of Ukraine by withholding already-promised U.S. military aid that would help keep Russia out of Ukraine (LOL, of course). Seems like a great deal for Ukraine, right (surely they've read Art of the Deal)? Sorry, 'fuffle, I'm condensing it all into a paragraph at least partly for my own benefit. Speaking of Giuliani, did you see him yesterday? That's dementia trying to calculate on-the-fly how to most effectively inoculate the public from what's about to go down. Classic. And here is John Solomon, one of my favorite pro-Trump "investigative journalists", claiming that it's totally normal for Trump's State Department to send Trump's personal lawyer to Ukraine, where Rudy will meet with the Ukrainian president's personal lawyer to discuss opening an investigation into the son of (arguably) Trump's foremost political opponent facing him for re-election. That's how the #1 public servant of the United States of America should communicate on behalf of U.S. citizens, right guys? Through Rudy Giuliani?? Yeah, someone at the state department would've been donezo, if John Solomon hadn't changed my mind. The fact that a minority of America is still anti-impeachment absolutely blows my mind. I've read so. many. articles warning about outrage fatigue, and how Trump would either consciously or subconsciously grind the pillars of democracy away slowly. That we needed to be reticent and vigilant (I do not claim to have always exercised reticence well). But if this reporting is true, we're wayyyyy beyond the threshold of "what the fucking fuck shitball tits". If the audio recording exists, it's going to leak, and people might spend some time in jail for the leaking before the jailers replace them. My god, would I celebrate the leakers. "Lordy, I hope there are tapes". Edit: BONUS BONUS BONUS QUESTION: What're the odds that Trump et al.'s Ukrainian schemes have been pushed along by Russian intelligence? Like over 9000:1 odds? Putin just wants to watch the U.S. burn, and I think orchestrating a constitutional crisis and violent impeachment fits that to a "T". This could have been in the works for years.BONUS QUESTION: does any of this matter, or will status quo be upheld no matter what this guy does?
Yeah man. But, like, stocks are up and racism and nationalism are being fueled so it’s all good, right? At least those libs and intellectuals are being told to shove it!
But more than that, the point they make is that the Soviets never faced any blowback because the Soviets never face any blowback and really, the American intelligence community is its own worst enemy because whenever shit like this happens the primary result is intramural warfare and finger-pointing. Haseltine makes the point that if the Russians didn’t want us to know they’d hacked the election, we wouldn’t know they hacked the election. That if they didn’t want us to know it was them poisoning Sergei Skripal, they wouldn’t have used an agent so readily traceable to them. And that really, the best thing we as a country can do is band the fuck together and recognize that the outer enemy is always worse than the inner enemy.
Traitor Trump sells out the American people again!!! SAD!! Really, this guy is beyond the pale. Interesting to watch the amoral/unethical/anti-intellectual selection process that has resulted in the cast of toadies that remain around him. If we survive this, we should really make some changes regarding how a President can cycle through appointees. Perhaps the President can make appointments, but to then remove them, he/she needs to get congressional approval.
Trump pressed Ukraine's prez to investigate Hunter Biden eight times in a single phone call. I wonder if details are being strategically leaked to Trump-friendly news outlets in an effort to get out in front of the story and muddy the waters? If the phone call was recorded and contains Trump withholding military funding until Ukraine opens an investigation, he could be impeached for this. And he should be. Yes, we will need to rein in the executive branch after this is all over. This should be a bipartisan effort, and we might actually have the opportunity to get it done starting in 2021 if the next president is a dem. It's hard to imagine a party getting someone elected into the presidency and then trying to weaken the office, but that's what I want to see. I think the House and Senate are going to stay blue and red, respectively.
It hurts my liberal heart to say so but the WSJ does damn fine investigative journalism. They tore down Theranos and they have a real axe to grind against Goldman Sachs. I haven't seen them being particularly friendly to Trump.