Light News Dump

More than 700 historians sign letter calling for House to impeach Trump
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/474838-more-than-700-historians-sign-letter-calling-for-house-to-impeach-trump

The tactic of some to denigrate the ACA in order to support Medicare for All is simply cutting off your noise to spite your face. To the rest of the country outside the bubble, if the ACA doesn’t work, they aren’t going to think a larger government role on health care will.
https://twitter.com/neeratanden/status/1206905675009400832?s=20

Indicted Giulani associate Lev Parnas can stay free on bail after prosecutors argue he hid money
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/indicted-giulani-associate-lev-parnas-can-stay-free-bail-after-n1103261

Democratic-controlled House passes bipartison sprawling $1.4 trillion spending deal, sends to Senate ahead of Friday shutdown deadline
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2019/12/17/house-passes-sprawling-trillion-spending-deal-sends-senate-ahead-friday-shutdown-deadline/

U.S. lab chimps were dumped on Liberia’s Monkey Island and left to starve. He saved them.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/us-lab-chimps-were-dumped-on-liberias-monkey-island-and-left-to-starve-he-saved-them/2019/12/11/5bb35924-14f5-11ea-bf81-ebe89f477d1e_story.html

Trump and Republican keep screaming the "process" is unfair and lacks due process. Trump and his counsel literally declined the offer to participate in the Judiciary Committee hearings. It's kind of hard to complain about lack of due process when you refuse to even participate. TRUMP REFUSES TO TESTIFY TO CLEAR HIS NAME. BOLTON AND MULVANEY AND POMPEO REFUSE TO TESTIFT TO CLEAR TRUMP'S NAME. REPUBLICANS ARE TERRORISTS.

This headline from the New Yorker's daily email. Blame the victim much? If only those Hasidic Jews had stayed where they belonged, I guess? Has @NewYorker issued an apology (I know that at least my spouse sent an upset email; I would hope she was not the only one)?
https://twitter.com/rosenfish/status/1206471828434276352

Drew Brees is now the all time passing touchdown leader with this touchdown
https://streamable.com/qz7cl

Brees is done for the night. 29/30, 307, 4 TDs. All-time TD leader. Best completion percentage in a game ever.

The Tax Break for Children, Except the Ones Who Need It Most | The child tax credit, begun in 1997 as a tax cut, has become an anti-poverty program. But more than a third of children don’t receive it because their parents earn too little.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/16/us/politics/child-tax-credit.html

Rep. Jeff Van Drew Was ‘Almost Obsessively Anti-Trump’ Before He Considered Joining His Party. Democrats heard the New Jersey freshman call President Trump crazy and unfit to be commander-in-chief.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/rep-jeff-van-drew-was-almost-obsessively-anti-trump-before-he-considered-joining-his-party

Army Facebook post featuring Nazi war criminal sparks pushback | "I am dumbfounded by the decision to prominently display a Nazi on military social media on the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge," an observer said
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/army-facebook-post-featuring-nazi-war-criminal-sparks-pushback-n1103041

Trump Moves to Strip Hundreds of Thousands of Social Security Benefits
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/trump-moves-to-strip-hundreds-of-thousands-of-social-security-benefits/

Rick Gates, key witness in Russia investigation, sentenced to 45 days in jail | U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said the jail sentence would be intermittent, with Gates spending weekends behind bars. Gates will be on probation for three years, must pay $20,000 in fines and must do 300 hours of community service.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/12/17/former-trump-aide-and-key-russia-probe-witness-rick-gates-sentenced-45-days-jail/2636735001/

Democratic Debate to Go Forward After 2020 Candidates Help Push for Labor Deal for Union Workers at Loyola Marymount
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/17/democratic-debate-go-forward-after-2020-candidates-help-push-labor-deal-union

One storyline of 2019 is creeping authoritarianism. Another is people power. Major protests this year in Hong Kong, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Algeria, Sudan, Chile, Bolivia, Russia, France — and now India.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/17/world/asia/india-protests-citizenship-muslims.html

CNN stopped the coverage to cover the sharpie-signed letter Trump just sent to Pelosi. It's like every lie he's ever tweeted all rolled up into a single document. He knows Republicans are going to quickly acquit in the Senate, so why all the rage, why does he care so much about the House vote? Something isn't adding up. Why the show when he knows Senate Republicans are publically promising a fast acquital? Because history will still have him labeled as only the third US president to be impeached behind Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton? Still doesn't add up.

Drew Brees has thrown his record 541 pass TD to 69 different receivers. Here's the TD distribution for those curious. The birth dates of these Brees TD recipients range from January 6, 1970 (Keenan McCardell) to January 7, 1996 (Tre'Quan Smith).
https://twitter.com/espnstatsinfo/status/1206933313098829826

Gen Z is more anti-Trump than shitstain racist antisemitic drug-addicted millennials, polling shows
http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/gen-z-is-more-anti-trump-than-millennials-polling-shows-75217989704

Don’t Make Impeachment Partisan, Warns Party That Impeached Clinton Over Sex
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/impeachment-trump-partisan-clinton-monica-ukraine-republicans.html

Trump sided with Turkey and blocked Congress' bipartisan effort to recognize the Armenian genocide
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-sides-with-turkey-blocks-congress-recognizing-armenian-genocide-2019-12

Manafort hospitalized after heart problems:
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/474930-manafort-hospitalized-after-heart-problems-report

Trump refuses to back recognition of Armenian genocide after Erdogan threat
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-armenian-genocide-erdogan-turkey-native-americans-a9250281.html

Almost half of the 49 journalists murdered this year were killed in three countries
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/almost-half-of-the-49-journalists-murdered-this-year-were-killed-in-three-countries

Instead of disavowing the vile threats to Pete Buttigieg and his campaign, the Sanders campaign doubles down.
https://twitter.com/adamkelsey/status/1206745142775947265

Video footage of a group of women forming a human shield around a man who was being beaten by police in India has gone viral on social media: The students were protesting against India's new Citizenship Amendment Act.
https://www.businessinsider.com/video-new-delhi-jamia-india-human-shield-protester-citizenship-act-2019-12

‘Like a furnace’: Australia to see hottest day ever - with 50C forecast - as devastating bushfires rage | Prime minister Scott Morrison accused of ‘deafening silence’ over climate crisis as dangerous temperatures affect almost entire continent
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/australia-heatwave-weather-forecast-warnings-climate-crisis-scott-morrison-a9248376.html

Canadian duo invent a toothpaste tablet to eliminate plastic tubes: ...traditional toothpaste tubes made with several layers of plastics, polymers, and resins take over half a millennium to break down.
https://newatlas.com/around-the-home/change-toothpaste-tablets/

Maria Butina, convicted in U.S. of being Russian agent, gets job as state TV host
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-butina/maria-butina-convicted-in-u-s-of-being-russian-agent-gets-job-as-state-tv-host-idUSKBN1YL1D4

Pope Francis has issued an order removing the highest level of secrecy covering child sex abuse cases involving the clergy, a move demanded by campaigners as part of sweeping changes to the way the Catholic church deals with such allegations.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-sex-abuse-church-testimony-secret-child-pornography-a9250061.html

Ukrainian Gas Company Files Lawsuit After Rick Perry Allies Awarded Lucrative Government Contract | A Ukrainian state-owned oil and gas company has filed a lawsuit accusing the Ukraine government of illegally favoring a longtime GOP donor and close ally of former U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry by awarding his newly-formed company a lucrative government contract despite bidding significantly less for the project, according to a Monday report from Time. Naftogaz of Ukraine reportedly filed the lawsuit Friday afternoon in the District Administrative Court of Kyiv against the Ukrainian government actors who awarded the lucrative exploratory license to Ukrainian-born energy investor Michael Bleyzer of Texas and his company “Ukrainian Energy.” It was the largest contract of its kind auctioned by the government in 2019.
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/ukrainian-gas-company-files-lawsuit-after-rick-perry-allies-awarded-lucrative-government-contract/
https://time.com/5750669/exclusive-lawsuit-raises-questions-about-rick-perrys-role-in-ukraine-energy-sector/

Bill Taylor To Step Down As Acting Ukraine Ambassador At The End Of The Year
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/report-bill-taylor-to-step-down-as-acting-ukraine-ambassador-at-the-end-of-the-year

Jeff Van Drew is a Republican who ran Democrat because he thought it would be easier to win as a Democrat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Van_Drew

Speaking of Manafort, Ukraine stopped investigations into him back in April 2018 to avoid Trump's wrath:    But in Ukraine, where officials are wary of offending President Trump, four meandering cases that involve Mr. Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman, have been effectively frozen by Ukraine’s chief prosecutor.   The cases are just too sensitive for a government deeply reliant on United States financial and military aid, and keenly aware of Mr. Trump’s distaste for the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, into possible collusion between Russia and his campaign, some lawmakers say.    The decision to halt the investigations by an anticorruption prosecutor was handed down at a delicate moment for Ukraine, as the Trump administration was finalizing plans to sell the country sophisticated anti-tank missiles, Javelins.   The State Department issued an export license for the missiles on Dec. 22, and on March 2 the Pentagon announced final approval for the sale of 210 Javelins and 35 launching units. The order to halt investigations into Mr. Manafort came in early April.   Volodymyr Ariev, a member of Parliament who is an ally of President Petro O. Poroshenko, readily acknowledged that the intention in Kiev was to put investigations into Mr. Manafort’s activities “in the long-term box.”   “In every possible way, we will avoid irritating the top American officials,” Mr. Ariev said in an interview. “We shouldn’t spoil relations with the administration.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/world/europe/ukraine-mueller-manafort-missiles.html

Last remaining glaciers in Pacific ‘will melt away in less than a decade,’ study says | The world’s last remaining tropical glaciers, which exist high in mountain ranges between the Andes and the Himalayas, are on course to melt completely in less than a decade due to the climate crisis
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-pacific-glaciers-indonesia-melt-sea-level-global-warming-a9240666.html

So Trump was keenly aware that Ukraine would do his bidding to get the Javelins. When Zelensky became president, he took the opportunity to try and get something else from the country. An investigation into the Bidens.

This delay in releasing the assistance had significant real-world consequences. By the time the President ordered the release of security assistance to Ukraine, the Department of Defense was unable to spend approximately 14 percent of the funds appropriated by Congress for Fiscal Year 2019; as a result, Congress had to pass a new law to extend the funding in order to ensure the full amount could be used by Ukraine to defend itself. ...    As Ambassador Taylor testified, President Vladimir Putin of Russia would “love to see the humiliation of President Zelensky at the hands of the Americans,” which “would give the Russians a freer hand.”
https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20191216/CRPT-116hrpt346.pdf

Turkey is allowing senior Hamas operatives to plot attacks against Israel from Istanbul, The Telegraph can disclose, as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan plays host to the terrorist group’s leaders. Transcripts of Israeli police interrogations with suspects show that senior Hamas operatives are using Turkey’s largest city to direct operations in Jerusalem and the West Bank, including an assassination attempt earlier this year on the mayor of Jerusalem.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/17/hamas-plots-attacks-israel-turkey-erdogan-turns-blind-eye/

Sens. Feinstein, Wyden, and Peters asked Sens. Grassley, Graham, and Johnson in a letter today for "any evidence" they have that supports an investigation into Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election, an allegation that they note is part of a Russian disinformation campaign
https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/1207069924339986433

Secretive court rebukes FBI over errors in Russia probe | Without complete and accurate information, wrote Judge Rosemary Collyer, the court “cannot properly ensure that the government conducts electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes only when there is a sufficient factual basis.”
https://apnews.com/bf5b3cfee4930501ca86242f446f353e

This woman believes that a group of rabbis sold body parts. She is a member of the Board of Education in Jersey City.
https://www.insidernj.com/jersey-citys-dirty-little-secret/
https://nypost.com/2019/12/17/education-official-tweets-anti-semitic-rant-about-jersey-city-shooting-rampage/
https://hudsoncountyview.com/jersey-boe-trustee-refers-to-greenvilles-jewish-community-as-brutes-in-deleted-fb-post/

Joan Terrell is an elected member of the Jersey City Board of Education, she says that the murders of the Jews in Jersey City may be justified.
https://twitter.com/ReaganBattalion/status/1206940237555027973

Hundreds of thousands of dollars went to groups that try to spread doubt about climate science, a bankruptcy filing reveals.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/17/climate/murray-energy-climate-denial-coal.html

Israeli student attacked at Paris metro for speaking Hebrew
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-student-in-paris-says-beaten-unconscious-for-speaking-hebrew/

I don't get the mental-gymnastics of there being many Muslim countries (many of which are militantly violent) but somehow people can't even tolerate there being 1 Jewish state. There are more than a billion Muslims in the world but at most only 20+ million Jews. Anyone who is anti-Israel is antisemitic. There are no other excuses or explanations for this.

Amazing that Ron Johnson, who made the same calls for changes in the prosecutors office as Biden now is doing this. (accusing Ukraine of election interference)
https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/1207071066042126337
https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/1207069924339986433

Republicans love to abuse the classification system for political purposes: The Defense Department is seeking to stamp out leaks and limit media coverage of military operations at the U.S.-Mexico border by making what historically have been unclassified orders and daily briefings classified, Newsweek has learned. Last week, military officials released operation orders for 2020 which form a new request for assistance, or RFA, from the Department of Homeland Security for continued Pentagon support on the southwest border. While previous requests have been unclassified since U.S. forces first deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border in October 2018, the latest set of orders was disseminated over a secret network called SIPR. The policy shift to classify border documents came from Lieutenant General Laura J. Richardson of the U.S. Army in response to negative news coverage and leaks of border documents under U.S. Army North's previous commander, Lieutenant General Jeffrey S. Buchanan, who retired back in July, according to three Pentagon sources with direct knowledge of the matter. The sources said that verbal commands—versus orders with a paper trail—are more commonplace under Richardson than under Buchanan's tenure.
https://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-military-documents-about-us-mexico-border-are-now-classified-prevent-leaks-limit-media-1477803

Less than a day later, this statement has now been signed by 1500+ historians: More than 750 historians (including me) have signed a statement calling on the House to impeach Donald Trump: "It is our considered judgment that if President Trump’s misconduct does not rise to the level of impeachment, then virtually nothing does."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/more-than-700-scholars-pen-letter-urging-house-to-impeach-trump/2019/12/16/575d980a-2060-11ea-86f3-3b5019d451db_story.html

Fighting Corruption Is The Most Electable Thing A Democrat Can Do In 2020
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fighting-corruption-democrats-message-elizabeth-warren_n_5df8545ee4b047e888a30c68

CREW Sues Government to Enforce Hatch Act Against Kellyanne Conway
https://www.citizensforethics.org/press-release/crew-sues-osc-hatch-act-kellyanne-conway/

Boris Johnson has issued a “declaration of war” on rail workers by calling for an effective ban on all-out rail strikes, trade unionists warned today
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/h-lead-boris-johnson-has-issued-declaration-war-railway-workers-unions-warn

No-deal Brexit back on the table as Johnson plans to outlaw delays to transition period beyond 2020 - The 2020 Brexit date will be enshrined in law - with or without a trade deal - in the EU Withdrawal Bill.
https://news.sky.com/story/no-deal-brexit-back-on-the-table-as-johnson-plans-to-outlaw-delays-to-transition-period-beyond-2020-11888618

Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has been sentenced to death for high treason by a Pakistani court. Without Musharraf there never would have been any US-Pakistan partnership post 9/11. Pakistan had a significant role in the war on terror, freeing the US to conduct anti-terrorism operations, use of air bases and drone strikes within the territory of Pakistan itself. Much of that would never have been possible without Musharraf, and not having Pakistan as an ally during the decade post-2001 would have resulted in a Taliban and AQ very different from what we see today. You have to wonder if that knowledge played a part in his sentencing. Eight years after then-Army chief General Pervez Musharraf seized power in 1999 and declared himself the country's chief executive, a new crisis erupted in 2007 when he imposed emergency in the country once more. In a brief but dark period that followed, the Constitution remained suspended from November 3 to December 15 and several judges, including the chief justice, were detained. In the proclamation order for the emergency, Musharraf, who had become a self-appointed president in June 2001, cited members of the superior judiciary "working at cross purposes with the executive and legislature in the fight against terrorism and extremism" as grounds for calling an emergency. Now their current Islamist court has sentenced him to die. The Republican-controlled US government shrugs.
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/pervez-musharraf-sentenced-to-death-in-high-treason-case-news-agency-ani-quoting-pakistan-media-2150081

Chinese utility buys 49% of Oman power grid
https://apnews.com/31ebf1e434777216a342aa331821b071

France on strike: Power cuts, schools shut, no Eiffel Tower | French union activists cut electricity to nearly 100,000 homes or offices. Eiffel Tower staff walked off the job. Even Paris opera workers joined in Tuesday’s nationwide protests across France, singing an aria of anger as workers rallied against the government’s plan to raise the retirement age to 64.
https://apnews.com/6e8881cfd9882fdfe90e50999c4bb342

Canada is clearcutting its rainforests faster than the Amazon
https://thenarwhal.ca/canadas-forgotten-rainforest/

Canadians Are Suing Gunmaker Smith & Wesson for $150M Because Americans Can’
https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/n7jwnb/canadians-are-suing-gunmaker-smith-and-wesson-for-dollar150m-because-americans-cant

Hong Kong - Amid Ongoing Protests,7,000 retail locations out of 64,000 registered would be shuttered. Heavy layoffs are also expected
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/amid-ongoing-protests-7-000-171628760.html

Half of active-duty service members are unhappy with Trump, new Military Times poll shows
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/12/17/half-of-active-duty-service-members-are-unhappy-with-trump-new-military-times-poll-shows/

Trump’s Insane Letter To Pelosi Shows He’s Unfit For Office
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/trump-letter-pelosi-impeachment-crazy-rant.html

_______________________________________

This morning The House Rules Committee debates the rules that will govern the House of Representatives’ vote on the articles of impeachment against Trump. The full House plans to vote Wednesday on both articles, which are expected to pass along party lines. The Senate will then hold a trial to decide whether to convict or acquit Trump on the charges in the articles of impeachment.

I'm loving this but we're all going to be depressed and angry once this moves onto the Senate unfortunately.

Democrats: Here's a set of well drawn out rules that have precedent in other impeachments.
Republicans: Why are we even here, this is a sham.

How the fuck is Moscow Mitch crying about Schumer's letter when Mitch literally went on Fox News and said the fix was in

Twas the day before impeachment when all through the house
Not a conservative was stirring, except for Amash
The Democrats presenting their evidence with care
In hope that the Republicans' brains are still there.
We take to the streets with a feeling of dread,
While visions of a conviction dance in our head.
And Trump on his Twitter, spews a whole bunch of crap
As we settle our brains for his supporters' pushback,
When over in the Senate there arose such a clatter,
I sprang to Reddit to see what was the matter.
Protests happening tonight - I know it's cold in the North East, but I promise you this is important.
We have the numbers on our side, let's show them that.
Gym Jordan was screaming like a lunatic louse
The liquor was drank by Gaetz without care,
Nunes was exposed, caught up in the affair
"POINT OF ORDER" yelled Biggs as loud as he could
As Collins slammed his fists down hard on the wood
"Hearsay! Conjecture! We NEED the wistleblower!"
“The Democrats want an election do o’er!”

Pour one out for our homie, Rep. Cummings.
Even signed subpoenas from hospice care.

Raskin destroyed Collins' arguments so smoothly
Republicans: "There's no evidence!"
*Receive 8,000 pages of evidence*
Republicans: "There's too much evidence!"
Also republicans: They gave us 8000 pages with no time to read them!
Also republicans: We won't give you a single page you requested
Half the public: makes sense.

Collins should be embarrassed that he needs impeachment explained to him at this stage in the game

Raskin sporting that Founding Fathers hairdo

Raskin pointing out that anything Biden may have done has zero to do with what Trump did

Tomorrow is the first day of either the return of Democracy or the end of the Republic. History is happening right now, kids are going to read about this in their textbooks in twenty years.

The Evidence: 1) The call summary, 2) trump's on-camera confession on the Whitehouse lawn that he wanted Ukraine to investigate the Bidens, 3) Mick Mulvaney's on-camera confession that there was in fact a quid pro quo, 4) text messages corroborating that aid was being withheld until the investigation was announced, 5) testimony from career diplomats corroborating that aid was being withheld until the investigation was announced.

The Defense: 1) the process is unfair, 2) no fact witnesses (blocked by trump/republicans), 3) no evidence (blocked by trump/republicans subpoenas blocked by trump), 4) Democrats wanting to impeach since day one.

Just watching Collins move around while Raskins completely dismantles Collins statements is amazing. His fiddling with his phone, his feet keep moving, he’s fumbling with his papers, hand on his chin, this mans jimmies have been rustled.

How to placate the Republican base when the facts are not in your favor:
-Talk fast
-Talk loud
-Keywords keywords keywords
-Folksy accent
-Whataboutism

You'll notice Republicans never offer any facts to dispute the events, they just attack the process.

Great job to explain exculpatory and incuplatory evidence and state that common sense shows that blocking evidence can show guilt, or that the evidence is against you.

GOP: We're the majority so we make the rules!
Also GOP: We're the minority so we make the rules!

Sondland was a GOP witness. They want you to forget that.

Since they're still hammering this "minority hearing day" rule. Here's an article about what it really is
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2019/12/12/the-minority-witness-rule-explained-and-why-it-might-be-irrelevant-for-impeachment/

The spirit of the rule - as explained during judiciary hearings to vote on the articles - was meant to ensure that the minority was allowed to call some witnesses for every hearing; if for some reason witnesses were not present for the minority during a hearing, they should be entitled to a minority hearing day. Republicans had at least one witness present at every hearing, so the call for a minority day was more a delay tactic and misdirection.

Follow-up question: has anyone who worked on Trump’s campaign in 2016 been convicted of a crime?

Follow-up to the follow-up: is anyone who is currently working for the president in an unofficial capacity under federal investigation?

It is not the president's call to withhold aid
https://www.justsecurity.org/67489/trumps-hold-on-ukrainian-military-aid-was-illegal/

It really upsets me this man makes six figures, constantly parades his ignorance of the law as a positive and can just get up there to lie to these committees, the American people and completely misrepresent all evidence about this with absolutely no repercussions.

Does Collins acknowledge that if Biden merited investigation, then the correct channel was the FBI/DOJ? Not Giuliani and his two lackeys?

Republicans: "This impeachment should have bipartisan support before we go forward with it"
Democrats: "So what can Trump do that would convince you to impeach him?"
Republicans: "Literally nothing"
This implication that Trump has no influence on Republicans, and that their re-electability isn't tied to how much they support him, is being willfully ignorant about why they're being so partisan.

Is it unusual for foreign aid to be paused by the president WITHOUT TELLING ANYONE?

The GOP wants you to believe the FBI acted improperly by investigating Trump and his campaign associates because investigating a candidate would be a gross abuse of power. But Trump had to investigate Biden, a candidate, because you aren't shielded from a crininal investigation just because you're a candidate. Republican hypocrisy full display.

So in case you missed it, Collins just said we shouldn't call foreign leaders "battered wives." Meanwhile he's defending Trump, who has repeatedly insulted Trudeau, Merkel, Theresa May, Macron, Assad, Maduro, etc.

Collins can't even complete a sentence

Mr. Goldman? Who handed your asses to you.

They really are complaining that the White House hasn't received documents LOL The White House and Rep. Collins didn't receive the documents they requested.... Ironic

Apparently they do not recall the Democrats on the Intelligence Committee literally saying Trump is welcome to come and defend himself.

This is not a criminal proceeding. This is more akin to a civil proceeding. In a civil proceeding, if you do not show up you can be presumed guilty and found guilty by default. You also have a negative inference that can be used in civil proceedings. That means that if a person doesn't show up or testify then the court can infer the worst. Also, if Trump wanted to be involved in this then maybe he shouldn't have blocked subpoenas.

Trump's not letting this get challenged this in court as some theoretical legal exercise on Presidential power. He's making the Dems go through the courts as a means to slow down their investigation, hence obstruction. Logically we can infer that either the courts will conclude that the President is immune from oversight (which would be terrifying) or that the President isn't immune from oversight which means we'd get the estimony. So yes it's going through the proper channels and it is taking too long. That's accurate. The problem is Trump is doing this because it takes too long. The stall is the purpose, which is why it's obstruction.

All this Biden info was public before Trump even took office yet only during the 2020 election does Trump get interested in it.

The idea that Trump was an anti-corruption crusader is so ridiculous that it boggles the mind.

So if the corruption was so rampant why was the aid approved by both the Republicans and the Democrats?
Such a bad faith argument, you literally approved the aid Collins, did you forget?

Senate Republicans: We don't need any witnesses or any more evidence. We refuse to call anybody.
Doug Collins: I never got my super extra day for multiple extra witnesses who are absolutely essential to a fair process so the entire process is illegitimate!

Trevor Jones - Excalibur (1981)

- "The White House has not received all the documents they are supposed to have"
- "You didn't give us time to allow the White House Witnesses!"
-Doug Collins
---Mike Pompeo - 79 Days Late on response to Subpoena
---Rudy Giuliani - 62 Days Late on response to Subpoena
---Mick Mulvaney - 59 Days Late on response to Subpoena
---Mark Esper - 62 days
---Russell Vought - 62 days
---Gordan Sondland - 63 days. He responded, but has failed to supply documents.
---Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman - 61 Days
---Rick Perry - 59 Days

When Collins was asked a direct question “is it ok for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political rival” Collins couldn’t scramble away from that fast enough!

GOP wants the world to know the whistleblower's home address, but they throw a hissy when someone catches Devon Nunez conspiring with Rudy on Ukraine...

83-year old Hastings going to town on Collins

And people were worried today would be boring...

Hastings turned this into a roast session

This is such an educated point - why target Ukraine, when the rest of the world , the big players have been drowning in corruption. Only one answer - RUSSIA.

"Let me turn to corruption... Mm..."

So the argument now is: "Look, that's not a verbatim transcript, we don't know what was actually said."

If the White House hadn’t blocked subpoenas for over 70 documents and numerous key witnesses, we’d have a much clearer picture of what went on.

The single most read transcript in American history? Lmao this clown Woodall...
Martin Luther King Jr
JFK Speech
RFK Speech
Abraham Lincoln Speech
Just to name a few from non American that I can guarantee have been read more...

Collins:
"We didn't have witnesses in Judiciary."
The fuck?

Destroying process is a Republican strategy. Whether it's forcing Obama to govern through executive orders because of congressional obstruction, or forcing house democrats to destroy procedures through ongoing election interference. Then, they take hold of the openings they've caused, and abuse the hell out of them once they take power.