News Dump

YEP: In fiery memo, Dem lawmaker urges Congress to include Trump’s 'racism' in articles of impeachment
https://news.yahoo.com/al-green-trump-racism-impeachment-memo-174745983.html

629 Pakistani girls sold as brides to China
https://apnews.com/c586d0f73fe249718ec06f6867b0244e

Israel's election commission begins preparations for 3rd national vote....

U.S. House, in 417-3 vote, passed bill that seeks to curb illegal robocalls. It's an agreement between House and Senate negotiators. House and Senate overwhelmingly passed their own versions earlier this year.
https://twitter.com/greggiroux/status/1202307768134373377

Breast Cancer Linked to Permanent Hair Dye and Chemical Hair Straighteners in Study of Almost 50,000 Women
https://www.newsweek.com/breast-cancer-linked-permanent-hair-dye-chemical-hair-straighteners-study-almost-50000-women-1475328

Germany suspects killing of Vladimir Putin opponent in Berlin was 'Skripal-style Russian assassination'
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/03/germany-suspects-killing-vladimir-putin-opponent-berlin-skripal/

Republicans illegally formalized illegal work requirements for recipients of food stamps, a move that will cause nearly 700,000 people to lose access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nearly-700-000-will-lose-food-stamps-usda-work-requirement-n1095726?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

Reminder:  "When I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I’m basically the same. The temperament is not that different."
https://theweek.com/speedreads/575962/donald-trump-tells-biographer-hes-same-now-first-grade

Asked by @HowardStern if she's "upset" with @BernieSanders for taking his time endorsing her in 2016, @HillaryClinton replies, "No, disappointed. And I hope he doesn't do it again to whoever gets the nomination. Once is enough."
https://www.twitter.com/judykurtz/status/1202253352379330560?s=21

Despite losing by 4 million, Bernie didn't endorse Clinton until the convention, in which his delegates booed speakers like John Lewis and Stacy Abrams. Clinton endorsed Obama the day after the CA primary, that she won.
https://twitter.com/johnsmithchgo/status/1202290801004490752?s=21

Officials in the Florida Keys announced what many coastal governments nationwide have long feared, but few have been willing to admit: As seas rise and flooding gets worse, not everyone can be saved. And in some places, it doesn’t even make sense to try. On Wednesday morning, Rhonda Haag, the county’s sustainability director, released the first results of the county’s yearslong effort to calculate how high its 300 miles of roads must be elevated to stay dry, and at what cost. Those costs were far higher than her team expected — and those numbers, she said, show that some places can’t be protected, at least at a price that taxpayers can be expected to pay. “I never would have dreamed we would say ‘no,’” Ms. Haag said in an interview. “But now, with the real estimates coming in, it’s a different story. And it’s not all doable.” The results released Wednesday focus on a single three-mile stretch of road at the southern tip of Sugarloaf Key, a small island 15 miles up Highway 1 from Key West. To keep those three miles of road dry year-round in 2025 would require raising it by 1.3 feet, at a cost of $75 million, or $25 million per mile. Keeping the road dry in 2045 would mean elevating it 2.2 feet, at a cost of $128 million. To protect against expected flooding levels in 2060, the cost would jump to $181 million. And all that to protect about two dozen homes. “I can’t see staff recommending to raise this road,” Ms. Haag said. “Those are taxpayer dollars, and as much as we love the Keys, there’s going to be a time when it’s going to be less population.” The people who live on that three-mile stretch of road were less understanding. If the county feels that other parts of the Keys ought to be saved, said Leon Mense, a 63-year-old office manager at a medical clinic, then at least don’t make him pay for it. | At a climate change conference in Key West on Wednesday, Roman Gastesi, the Monroe County manager, said elected leaders will have to figure out how to make those difficult calls. “How do you tell somebody, ‘We’re not going to build the road to get to your home’? And what do we do?” Mr. Gastesi asked. “Do we buy them out? And how do we buy them out — is it voluntary? Is it eminent domain? How do we do that?” Administrators and elected officials are going to have to start to rely on a “word nobody likes to use,” Mr. Gastesi said, “and that’s ‘retreat.’” The county’s elected officials must now decide whether to accept that recommendation. The mayor of Monroe County, Heather Carruthers, said she hopes the cost of raising the roads turns out to be lower than what her staff have found, as the need for adaptation leads to better technology. Still, Mayor Carruthers said, “We can’t protect every single house.” Asked how she expected residents would respond, Mayor Carruthers said she expects pushback. “I’m sure that some of them will be very irate, and we’ll probably face some lawsuits,” she said. “But we can’t completely keep the water away.” The odds of the county winning future possible lawsuits over the policy are unclear. The novelty of what the Keys’ officials are proposing is perhaps best demonstrated by the fact that nobody can say for certain whether it’s legally defensible. The law generally requires local governments to maintain roads and other infrastructure, because failure to do so will reduce the property value of surrounding homes, according to Erin Deady, a lawyer who specializes in climate and land-use law and is a consultant to the county on adapting to rising seas. But local officials retain the right to decide whether or not to upgrade or enhance that infrastructure. What’s unclear, Ms. Deady said, is whether raising a road to prevent it from going underwater is more akin to maintaining or upgrading. That’s because no court has yet ruled on the issue. “The law hasn’t caught up with that,” Ms. Deady said. | Mr. Mense, who lives in the last house on the road, suggested that officials focus instead on slowing global warming, without which no amount of adaptation will be enough for these islands.

“Maybe we should think about stopping, or trying to stop, the cause of the water rising,” Mr. Mense said. “At what point will the road be high enough?”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/climate/florida-keys-climate-change.html

Candid video appears to show Trudeau, Macron and Johnson joking about Trump
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/12/04/trump-macron-trudeau-johnson-video-candid-joking-nato/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-nato-world-leaders_n_5de78afae4b0913e6f881556

Devin Nunes Busted by House Intelligence Committee Phone Records
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/devin-nunes-busted-house-intelligence-phone-records-ukraine-impeachment.html

A former senior intelligence official said Trump would often refuse to believe what he was told during intel briefings
https://www.businessinsider.com/ex-official-reveals-trump-would-refuse-to-believe-intel-briefings-2019-12

Right-wing group must stop building private border wall in South Texas, judge says in temporary order
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/12/04/brian-kolfage-we-build-wall-temporary-order-butterfly-center-texas/

Trump caught on microphone congratulating himself about his Trudeau attack: 'That was funny when I said the guy's two-faced'
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-trudeau-hot-mic-cancel-press-conference-leave-nato-macron-laugh-a9232761.html

'What Cruelty Looks Like': Trump Finalizes Plan to Strip Food Aid From 750,000 Low-Income People by 2020
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/04/what-cruelty-looks-trump-finalizes-plan-strip-food-aid-750000-low-income-people-2020

Trump Campaign Liaison George Nader Charged With Funneling Illegal Campaign Contributions
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/george-nader-indictment-illegal-campaign-contributions_n_5de73e11e4b00149f737f2a0

A career diplomat with nearly three decades of service under his belt said a Trump appointee canned him for a simple sin: He talked about Obama. Lewis Lukens, the former deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in London, recounted his October 2018 firing a GQ magazine article published Tuesday. It was an unceremonious end to nearly 30 years in the foreign service, including stints as the U.S. ambassador to Senegal and Guinea-Bissau and the acting ambassador to the United Kingdom. Lukens said that a quick anecdote in a speech — he told U.K. students about former President Barack Obama deftly handling a tough media question about LGBT rights in Senegal — was all it took to derail his career. President Donald Trump had recently attacked prominent British leaders — chiefly the then-Prime Minister Theresa May and London Mayor Sadiq Khan — and in his story, Lukens emphasized that civil disagreement between leaders was possible. Just a week later, he says, he was fired by U.S. ambassador to the U.K. Woody Johnson, the heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune and the owner of the New York Jets NFL team. Johnson was a major Trump donor and was appointed by the president.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8xwzzk/the-owner-of-the-new-york-jets-fired-a-career-diplomat-for-daring-to-mention-obama
https://www.gq.com/story/trump-is-waging-war-on-american-diplomats
https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/1201900732213006337

Florida GOP Candidate Sends Out Email Saying Rep. Ilhan Omar Should Be Hanged
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/florida-gop-candidate-sends-out-email-saying-rep-ilhan-omar-should-be-hanged

Florida Republican condemned for suggesting Ilhan Omar be executed for treason -- George Buck, who is running for Congress, is the second Republican to reference the hanging of the congresswoman
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/04/ilhan-omar-republican-treason-attack-condemnation

He wanted to ban feeding homeless people. Now he’s about to lead a federal homeless agency | A consultant known for urging cities to stop “enabling” homeless people, in part by blocking charities from handing out food, has been tapped to lead the agency that coordinates the federal government’s response to homelessness. Robert Marbut, who has worked with several cities, including Fresno and several other California cities and counties, would succeed Matthew Doherty as executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-04/homeless-robert-marbut-interagency-council-executive-director-trump
https://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/to-control-homelessness-consultant-suggests-clearwater-change-rules/1230918/

Australia has repealed law which allowed sick refugees held offshore to be treated in the country. Since 2013, the nation has sent asylum seekers arriving by boat to detention centres on Nauru and Papua New Guinea. At least 12 people have died. Reports of children as young as 11 attempting suicide.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50653195

The European Court of Justice upholds tightened firearms ban — The EU measures against use of semi-automatic rifles for private use are intended to curb gun violence and prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons on black market. The EU's firearms policy reform toughens gun control across the bloc.
https://www.dw.com/en/gun-control-eu-court-upholds-tightened-firearms-ban/a-51508658

Astronomers just found a giant planet orbiting a tiny white dwarf for the very first time, providing a glimpse into the ultimate fate of the solar system.
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/12/first-giant-planet-discovered-around-a-tiny-white-dwarf-star

Swastikas sprayed on more than 100 graves in Jewish cemetery in France
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/04/europe/france-jewish-cemetery-swastikas-intl/index.html

Angry Mob Storms Newspaper's Office for Terming London Bridge Attacker 'Man of Pakistani Origin'
https://www.news18.com/news/world/angry-mob-storms-dawn-newspapers-offices-for-terming-london-bridge-attacker-man-of-pakistani-origin-2409889.html

CIP: Complete 5 minutes of time for @repmattgaetz at #ImpeachmentHearing. Full video here: https://cs.pn/2ru4pCO
https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1202339454050017280
https://www.c-span.org/video/?466833-1/judiciary-hearing-constitutional-framework-impeachment

The Trump administration is considering a significant expansion of the U.S. military footprint in the Middle East, including dozens more ships, hardware and as many as 14,000 additional troops to counter Iran.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-administration-considers-14-000-more-troops-for-mideast-11575494228

Senate GOPers voted to confirm Sarah Pitlyk to a lifetime federal court seat, despite her extreme views on fertility treatments and unanimous 'not qualified' ABA rating. Every Republican present but Collins voted for Pitlyk. Every Dem present opposed her.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sarah-pitlyk-trump-judge-fertility-treatment_n_5de7fd1ee4b0913e6f89d850

Nunes can’t “recall” talking to indicted Giuliani pal Lev Parnas despite multiple call logs: Fox News' legal analyst attempted to defend Nunes by claiming "somebody else" used his phone to make multiple calls
https://www.salon.com/2019/12/04/nunes-cant-recall-talking-to-indicted-giuliani-pal-lev-parnas-despite-multiple-call-logs/

But they caught me calling Mr. Mayor
- It wasn't me
Making deals about Ukraine
- It wasn't me
Calling me Democracy slayer
- It wasn't me
They probably have me on camera
- It wasn't me

Nunes phone, who dis?

 "Persons unknown borrowed my phone and used it to concoct an international criminal conspiracy with people who know me. They couldn't recognize it wasn't me. And I didn't notice my phone was missing."

Melo on Player of the Week criticism: ‘I’ve come too far to start listening to that bull----'
https://au.sports.yahoo.com/melo-on-player-of-the-week-criticism-ive-come-too-far-to-start-listening-to-that-bull-202526603.html

GOP keeps asking for more evidence but won't allow people who have it to testify

WH special assistant to POTUS Kash Patel tells CBS News that he was “Never a back channel to President Trump on Ukraine matters” but refuses to testify under oath
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kash-patel-white-house-staffer-denies-he-was-back-channel-to-trump-on-ukraine/

"I don't know Prince Andrew," President Trump says of the British prince who he has met multiple times. In 2000, he told People Magazine that the prince is "not pretentious" and "a lot of fun to be with."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-claims-he-doesn-t-know-prince-andrew-once-called-n1096081?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_np

Duncan Hunter refuses to resign despite felony guilty plea
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/04/duncan-hunter-house-guilty-felony-075476

Starr's role was independent counsel, Schiff is a House rep who heads the House Intelligence Committee. Repubs keep pushing this bizarre demand that Schiff testifies "just like Starr did" even though they're two different roles with different obligations, processes, and purposes.

The cancelled nyt subscriptions do not appear to have stuck:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1202377854652043264

Tonight a white man stole the microphone from a black woman who was speaking in support of @PeteButtigieg’s record in South Bend. He said that he wanted to hear from a “real black woman.”
https://twitter.com/jacobonpurpose/status/1202395356916572160

(2/3) This same white man sat in my office earlier this year waxing about his excitement to start a small business to get involved in South Bend’s comeback story. Not a joke.
https://twitter.com/jacobonpurpose/status/1202395359949053952

(3/3) So he is free to enjoy and profit off South Bend’s growth, the moment a black woman begins to tell her story, he grabs the mic and calls her “fake.” This is privilege and hypocrisy.
https://twitter.com/jacobonpurpose/status/1202395361127649281

A black woman who happens to be a councilmember who was elected with over 75% of the vote in her district.
https://twitter.com/JosephRMolnar/status/1202396099056734209
_________________


If the GOP wants fact witnesses, why not allow the President to take the stand? Seems obvious to me.

Not to mention withholding the money without notifying Congress is a crime in itself. This keeps getting overlooked.
https://budget.house.gov/publications/report/impoundment-control-act-1974-what-it-why-does-it-matter

GOP - "We need actual fact witnesses!!!"
Dems - "OK how about people directly involved and implicated like Trump, Pompeo, Mulvaney, Nunes, Giuliani, Pence, etc..?"
GOP - "Nah I was thinking more like Chalupa, Hillary Clinton, Hunter Bidebn, and the Wet Bandits."

I like that the Republicans seem to harp on Democrats for wanting to impeach from Day 1 as some sort of proof it's all partisan, but Trump was literally committing crimes for decades all the way up to election day.

"This is all happening behind closed doors" - person who called in after watching the hearings on live tv

And complaining about transparency when Trump blocks it at every turn

The whole "Trump was worried about corruption" stuff is completely null because in order to receive that aid, Ukraine had to meet anti-corruption standards that Trump's own state department came up with. Ukraine met them, THEN Trump asked for his "favor", on TOP of that. He also didn't care about an actual investigation. He just wanted them to announce publicly that they were investigating Biden. That tells you everything you need to know about his motives. Didn't give AF about investigating corruption, only smearing his opponent.

Jonathan Turley 1998 testimony in SUPPORT of impeaching Bill Clinton: "Crime is contagious. If the Government becomes a lawbreaker; it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy." Here's Turley arguing for a broad definition of "high crimes and misdemeanors" (Today, Turley is arguing the opposite of this):  "First, “other high crimes and misdemeanors” obviously refers to conduct other than treason and bribery. Second, it is generally accepted that “misdemeanors” encompasses non-criminal conduct in the sense of “misdeeds.”"   "The accusatory function of the House is essential to maintain a certain deterrence on presidential misconduct. Assuming the impeachment process is a check and balance, any limiting threshold test must not be endorsed without considerable care and caution. Narrowing the scope of impeachable offenses can correspondingly expand the scope of permissible presidential conduct."   "When Congress decides that certain criminal conduct does not rise to the level of impeachable offenses, it is defining a permissible parameter for future presidential conduct. Executive power will fill the space created by any decision of this body."
https://jonathanturley.org/2007/08/20/clinton-impeachment-testimony-house-judiciary-committee/

Fox News' Judge Napolitano crushes Turley: "The House has sole power of impeachment. It does not need to go to a court... When the president receives a subpoena, Mick Mulvaney, Mike Pompeo receive a subpoena and they throw it in a drawer... that is the act of obstruction."
https://twitter.com/JesseCharlesLee/status/1202302861637496833

"An impeachment of a president is the undoing of an election": Republicans didn’t say that when Clinton was impeached

Republicans cry about not being given reading material. When given the material, they don't read 'em.
Republicans cry about not being included. Turns out a whole bunch of the ones crying were included.
Republicans cry about closed-door hearings (of which they are part of), then cry when they're made public.
Republicans cry about the rules they, themselves, put in place.

The leader of the Republican party cries about not being offered due process. When offered an opportunity to defend himself, Trump lies, says he'll strongly consider it (voiceover: "He didn't consider it.") and then pussies out.

I love that Collins keeps casually calling Americans idiots....Doug Collins: "American People are stupid and just don't understand all of this complicated stuff."

Democrats bring in fact witnesses
GOP: "This isn't impeachable!"
Democrats bring in legal experts explaining why it's impeachable
GOP: "Where are the fact witnesses!"

Doug Collins went to a private for-profit law school that is currently on probation for issues related to its standards for admissions
http://johnmarshal-atl.lawschoolnumbers.com/

Conservatives: We (claim to) LOVE the Constitution.
Good. Here are Constitutional scholars.
They don't count!

In February 2019, Jonathan Turley wrote an op-ed for The Hill asking: "Is Mueller Uncovering Ukrainian Rather Than Russian Collusion?" (He was not.)
https://jonathanturley.org/2019/02/24/is-mueller-uncovering-ukrainian-rather-the-russian-collusion/


It's bribery even under the more stringent statutory definition. 18 U.S.C. § 201(b)(2)(A) states, in the relevant part, that:
    (b) Whoever—
    (2) [1] being a public official or person selected to be a public official, directly or indirectly, [2] corruptly demands, seeks, receives, accepts, or agrees to receive or accept [3] anything of value personally or for any other person or entity, in return for:
    (A) [4] being influenced in the performance of any official act...
    shall be fined under this title or not more than three times the monetary equivalent of the thing of value, whichever is greater, or imprisoned for not more than fifteen years, or both, and may be disqualified from holding any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/201

I FORCE myself to pay attention to both sides of questioning, but G/d do I hate Republicans. They’ve all sold their soul.

"I've been friends with Bill Barr for a long time." Ok, I think we've heard enough.

"Ladies and gentleme-"
"CHAIRMAN I OBJECT!"

Republican Impeachment Hearing Bingo:
*Where is the Whistleblower?
*Schiff should testify
*Russian collusion hoax
*Presidential Harassment!
*Left-wing Coup
*DNC Operative, Alexandra Chalupa
*Crowdstrike/Ukraine Server
*Ukrainian Election Interference
*Hurting the country
*Investigate corruption
Thanks for playing!