https://nypost.com/2020/01/27/espn-moving-jessica-mendoza-out-of-sunday-night-booth-with-more-changes-possible/
What an ironic twist of fate that Ken Starr is now in front of the Senate basically giving Trump a blowjob.
https://twitter.com/Pappiness/status/1221868202256408578
Mr. Bolton also described other key moments in the pressure campaign, including Mr. Pompeo’s private acknowledgment to him last spring that Mr. Giuliani’s claims about Ms. Yovanovitch had no basis and that Mr. Giuliani may have wanted her removed because she might have been targeting his clients who had dealings in Ukraine as she sought to fight corruption.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/26/us/politics/trump-bolton-book-ukraine.html
Worth nothing that Bolton does not say anything about the NYT's characterization of his book is off base, just that no one coordinated to create buzz -- taking on what's already become a GOP talking point.
https://twitter.com/EliStokols/status/1221871527047680004
You can’t fight corruption without pissing off corrupt people.
- George Kent
"The Sanders campaign is a bet that the 2020 campaign can be won by mobilizing the Americans least committed to the political process while alienating and even offending the Americans most committed to it."
https://twitter.com/KennethBaer/status/1221849668407255040
Mulvaney said quid pro quo happened 'all the time' (and "get over it!") at a press conference: Chief of Staff Mulvaney on quid pro quo for the aid: “We do that all the time”
https://twitter.com/houseintel/status/1221095396581289986
GOP Sen. Mike Crapo told me when asked if he wants to hear from Bolton: “I don’t think we need to,” adding he wants to hear from the defense team first. Asked why he didn’t want to, Crapo said: “I didn’t say that” before walking off
https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1221846740422287360
If Republicans thought they actually legit had something on Biden, they’d be formally investigating the living shit out of him right now. But everyone with more than two brain cells knows there’s nothing there, and Trump only wanted the announcement of an investigation for publicity.
RNC sends out email attacking John Bolton, a person who dedicated 37 YEARS OF HIS LIFE TO SERVING REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS (Reagan, GHWB, GWB, Shitstain Trump).
https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1221857779096440834
Schiff on John Bolton: "He ought to come in testify under oath. Senators should not wait until March 17 when the book comes out. They should demand this information while it would still be pertinent to their decision."
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1221856684727001088
Pelosi should suggest an impeachment inquiry into Barr, Pompeo and Mulvaney because of Bolton's revelations.
Pelosi says House will vote on bill to repeal new travel ban
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/480070-pelosi-says-house-will-vote-on-bill-to-repeal-travel-ban
On 5-4 vote, Supreme Court lets Trump administration to begin implementing new rules making it easier to deny immigrants residency or admission to the country because they have or might use public-assistance programs. All four of the court’s Democrat justices disagreed with the action. Legal immigrants who have ever used public benefits will be immediately deported. Legal immigrants who are not working, not fluent in English, and/or not in school or college, and who never received any public aid, must be immediately deported because they could conceivable seek public aid. This ruling is IRREVERSIBLE. It also allows for the immediate deportation of all low-income and no-income and even a fair amount of middle-income and possibly upper-income legal immigrants. It allows Republicans to all but ban the entirety of legal immigration.
https://twitter.com/GregStohr/status/1221861932929601536
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-allows-trump-administration-to-proceed-with-immigration-rules/2020/01/27/6adb9688-412c-11ea-aa6a-083d01b3ed18_story.html
Ken Starr opens by arguing impeachment has become too common in the modern era. I rarely use caps but that is BEYOND RICH coming from him.
https://twitter.com/AriMelber/status/1221860945808580611
Ken Starr, who pushed impeachment for Bill Clinton for lying about sex, now says impeachment is being used too often as Donald Trump is impeached for asking a foreign power to investigate a political rival.
https://twitter.com/ChrisMegerian/status/1221861483539238912
Biden's stump today offered something of a new closing argument centered around four points -- - Healthcare is on the ballot
- Gun control is on the ballot
- America's standing in the world is on the ballo
- Character is on the ballot
Ken Starr, who led the charge to impeach Bill Clinton, declares we're now living in the "age of impeachment," and asks, "How did we get here?"
https://twitter.com/thegregwalters/status/1221861368938336256
Fox News has stopped using picture-in-picture with no audio to broadcast the hearings now that republicans are talking.
Ken Starr, who impeached a President over an extra-marital affair, is now wondering how we got to the "age of impeachment" and warns that impeachment is inherently destabilizing.
Impeachment isn’t being normalized. Impeachable offenses are being normalized by Republicans
“Instead of a once in a century phenomenon,” Ken Starr laments, #impeachment has become weaponized, apparently arguing that the Bill Clinton episode should have meant no more #impeachmenttrial until 2098.
https://twitter.com/toddgillman/status/1221863655173652487
Ken Starr about Trump, Sept 2018: “You’re not above the law. You think you’ve got a timeout based upon your service as president. We respect you, you are occupying the presidency, you have a very important job,” Starr said. “But there’s no timeout. You have to respond when you’re summoned to the bar of justice. That’s the way I respond to all this. You have to be a rule of law person if you’re going to occupy a position of trust.”
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/09/25/ken-starr-trump-defense-team-220619
Starr in 1998: "The referral is instead about obstruction of justice, lying under oath, tampering with witnesses and misuse of power."
https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/19/us/testing-president-excerpts-starr-s-prepared-remarks-judiciary-committee.html
45 of 55 Republicans Senators voted to remove Clinton for lying about consensual sex act between two adults in an intimate relationship
50 of 55 Republicans Senators voted to remove him for having others lie about the affair
The line of questioning was not germane to Paula Jones which was not germane to Whitewater
Because, make no mistake, that's what Democratic voters want. In a CNN national poll released earlier this month, almost 6 in 10 (58%) Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters said they would rather a presidential nominee "advocate for policies that have a good chance of becoming law, even if the changes they make aren't as big," while just 36% said they would opt for a nominee who would "advocate for policies that would result in big changes, even if they have a lower chance of becoming law."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/27/politics/bernie-sanders-des-moines-register/index.html
Confidential doc from Parnas and Fruman's company GEP: “GEP is also proud to announce that it has partnered with [energy billionaire] Mr. Harry Sargeant III, via his company, Global Oil Management Group, LLC (GOMG)." Sargeant's denial inside: https://www.courthousenews.com/lev-parnas-company-document-touted-partnership-with-oil-billionaire/
https://twitter.com/KlasfeldReports/status/1221874698188922882
It will be said of House Republicans,
When they found they lacked the courage to confront the most dangerous and unethical president in American history,
They consoled themselves by attacking those who did.
-Adam Schiff
https://twitter.com/repadamschiff/status/1186417580652814337
Just a reminder: No matter what happens, John Bolton is not now nor ever has been a hero
Jerry Nadler's wife is combating cancer, so he is in New York today with her and will not be at today's Senate Trial. I wish their family the best and hope she defeats it
Ken's arguments so far:
The senate doesn't need to be impartial its a tribunal!
Impeachment has been weaponized!
Impeachment requires crimes!
Common law of impeachment!
You can't impeach a president in an election year!
Impeachment is too partisan!
Nixon had more articles of impeachment!
We couldn't remove Clinton for lying about a blowjob, so we can't remove Trump now!
The President can do what he wants on foreign policy!
The president has executive privilege!
Go to court!
Things Ken doesn't argue:
The facts.
A Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation (TELCON) is not a verbatim transcript of a discussion.
"Transcript, Transcript, Transcript..." CAUTION: A Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation.· (TELCON) is not a verbatim transcript of a discussion. The text in this document records the notes and recollections of Situation Room Duty "Officers and-NSC policy staff assigned to listen and memorialize the conversation in written form as the conversation takes place.
Party over nation. That's it. That's it in a nutshell. Don't pay attention to the facts or the law or that Trump tramples over everything in his path for personal benefit. No one in Trumpworld wants to do the right thing. That much has always been clear: Bolton's former chief fo staff Fred Fleitz calls on Bolton not to publish his book until after the 2020 election:
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/ambassador-bolton-withdraw-your-book-fred-fleitz
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, tells @NPRKelly he expects five to 10 Republican senators to vote in favor of hearing from witnesses like former national security adviser John Bolton in the impeachment trial.
https://twitter.com/npratc/status/1221867149444206594
A Chinese health official said this weekend that the new coronavirus can spread before symptoms appear, but RERPUBLICAN-CONTROLLED CDC says they have no proof of that
https://www.thedailybeast.com/potential-coronavirus-cases-reach-110-in-26-states-as-cdc-splits-with-china/
Some progressive activists who declined to back Sanders have begun traveling w/ private security after incurring online harassment. Several well-known feminist writers said they had received death threats. A state party chairwoman changed her phone number.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/27/us/politics/bernie-sanders-internet-supporters-2020.html
In Lev Parnas news earlier today, US District Court Judge Paul Oetken ordered the indicted Rudy Giuliani defendant and the others charged in the case to appear for the Feb. 3 pre-trial hearing in NY. Everyone "shall be prepared" to talk about possible trial dates.
https://twitter.com/dsamuelsohn/status/1221881866837512194
Starr's argument has shifted as follows:
- A president cannot be impeached absent an article of impeachment which details an actual crime.
- A president cannot be impeached unless there are several crimes alleged.
- A president cannot be impeached unless broad bipartisanship, Constitution be damned.
- A president cannot be impeached at all, because impeachment is for judges, not presidents.
Ken Starr is basically arguing that this impeachment hurts the fiber of this country. He is in no way refuting Trump being guilty thus far.
Ken Starr said, "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi." "And if the lorem ipsum dolor sit... YOU MUST ACQUIT!"
What Ken Starr neglects to tell you: Andrew Johnson was acquitted by a margin of a single vote. Today, there is reason to believe that he bribed Senators to acquit him. So much for the nostalgic look back that we're witnessing right now.
"Trump was not guilty because the aid was released" - A horrifically flawed logic. It's actually a demonstrable LIE.
- The aid was released because the whistleblower complaint became knowledge to the administration.
- The call happened on 7/25 - OMB starts conversation immediately after the call about holding the aid.
- The whistleblower complaint was filed on 8/12/19.
- It was released because Trump got caught. This is why Trump had his cover up call with Sondland on 9/9/19.
- This was literally the same day the DNI TOLD Congress about the complaint (9/9).
- The aid was released on 9/11 (while the attention was on 9/11 memorial conversation).
- Any Federal prosecutor would have an easy case prosecuting this on just these facts alone.
Indian Catholic Nun who exposed sexual abuse at her Church is being systematically starved by church authorities
https://m.hindustantimes.com/south/i-am-being-starved-by-the-church-says-expelled-kerala-nun/story-rtV6UiB6iVRokSnsW7XGvO.html
It's ironic to see the candidate who voted against CHIP (which is the Children's Health Insurance Program that AOC relied on as a child) attacking Biden over Social Security
https://www.npr.org/2019/10/19/771596733/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-says-bernie-sanders-heart-attack-was-a-gut-check-moment
Remember when Bernie called Planned Parenthood "part of the establishment"? CHIP was created as part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 which Bernie voted against.
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1997/roll241.xml
BlackWomanViews: Calling Bernie out for his bros & broettes is long overdue (thanks Hillary); but it's not JUST his bros. The toxicity starts from the top with his staff. Pro-Bernie outlets also spread bile to his benefit. It's time to say the bullying/harrassment/threats won't work & fight back!
https://www.twitter.com/blackwomenviews/status/1221859090428846085
New for the 2020 MLB season: Much like NFL referees have done for years, umpires will be mic’d up and tell fans in attendance and those watching on television and listening on radio if reviewed calls are upheld or overturned. They may also explain rules, if necessary.
https://twitter.com/pedrogomezespn/status/1221835170006716416?s=21
Seized pork dumplings from China test positive for African swine fever
http://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/1/25/african-swine-fever-pork-dumplings-manila-china.html
We had content planned for you today, but it just doesn’t feel right to post. Instead, we encourage you to embrace your loved ones. Life is too short and precious. Tag someone who you love and remind them why they are important to you. 🧡💙
https://twitter.com/mets/status/1221835416623570947?s=21
Clayton Kershaw, at the Justin Turner Foundation’s annual golf event, on the #Astros’ illegal sign-stealing: “It is a little bit interesting that the Astros players haven’t said sorry or meant it or anything like that. Not a whole lot of remorse.” #Dodgers
https://twitter.com/jorgecastillo/status/1221855322685337601
China allots nearly US$9 billion to contain spread of virus
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-spending/china-allots-nearly-9-billion-to-contain-spread-of-virus-idUSKBN1ZQ0IY
If you're convinced deep in your guts that Bernie would be bad for America, it's ok to speak out against him. Unity comes after we have a nominee, not before. Keep vetting Bernie like Jesse does here.
https://twitter.com/HRCpersists/status/1221605508273950720?s=09
The Taliban says it shot down a US military plane over eastern Afghanistan, killing all onboard
https://www.businessinsider.com/afghanistan-passenger-plane-crash-boeing-2020-1
A British Man Has Become The Fifth Immigrant To Die In ICE Custody Since October
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hamedaleaziz/british-immigrant-dies-ice-custody
Home-made bomb explodes in Hong Kong at Caritas Medical Centre’s emergency department, temporarily limiting services
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-protests-hospital/small-suspected-homemade-bomb-explodes-at-hong-kong-hospital-no-injuries-idUSKBN1ZQ0EH
“Some racism is totally fine if we can get socialism” <— How do you expect Black people to turn out for that? And if you’re offering racist-lite, why wouldn’t the white voters you’re desperately after just vote for the real thing? Feels like a lot of parallels to Corbyn here
https://twitter.com/marcushjohnson/status/1221842370087530496
This Art Was Looted 123 Years Ago. Will It Ever Be Returned? | The Benin Bronzes, some of Africa’s greatest treasures, were looted in 1897. After a chance encounter, two men made it their mission to return them.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/23/arts/design/benin-bronzes.html
110 people in U.S. under investigation for Wuhan coronavirus
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/27/coronavirus-cdc-us-cases-106410
Trump says Bolton is a disgruntled liar. Let him testify under oath so we can find out
Due Process is for criminal proceedings. Are you saying this involves a crime or not? Can you make arguments consistent?
They keep taking about witnesses, but won't allow them
E.P.A. Is Letting Cities Dump More Raw Sewage Into Rivers for Years to Come
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/24/climate/epa-sewage-rivers.html
Well, as Mrs. Krabappel already mentioned, the name of the book that I read was Treasure Island. It's about these pirates, (Looks at the illustrated cover of the book.) pirates with patches over their eyes, (Looks at cover.) and shiny gold teeth, (Looks at cover.) and green birds on their shoulders. Did I mention this book was written (Looks at cover.) by a guy named Robert Louis Stevenson? (Looks at cover.) And published by the good people at McGraw-Hill. So, in conclusion, on the Simpson scale of one to ten--ten being the highest, one being the lowest and five being average--I give this book a nine. (Clears throat) Any questions?
“I object! The witnesses, evidence, and trial would be detrimental to my client!” - Trump Legal Team
Philbin just accused House Managers of selectively leaking closed hearing testimony. Since, the only documents which were leaked were the ones supplied to Republican congress members, I hope Philbin has some evidence of this criminal accusation. Otherwise, he just slandered Congress members on the Senate floor.
“The man who was my National Security Advisor for a year and a half is a disgruntled liar, which is why he was my National Security Advisor for a year and a half.” -- Trump, probably
It’s quite telling that Trump says Adam Schiff must release the IG report “without changes or tampering.” It’s almost as if Trump released the memo of the transcript with a bunch of changes and tampering so he knows how this game is played. Just like Nixon did with his tapes. Also, Shitstain is President. He can release the IG report at anytime. Adam Schiff does not control the Justice Department or classification. Shitstain Trump does.
The Republican arguments against having witnesses are so nakedly incriminating toward the president it would be laughable except it seems like they are actually going to get away with it.
"George Washington, the first president".....Oh that George Washington. I was confused for a moment.
Leaked Documents Expose the Secretive Market for Your Web Browsing Data: An Avast antivirus subsidiary sells 'Every search. Every click. Every buy. On every site.'
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qjdkq7/avast-antivirus-sells-user-browsing-data-investigation
Greta Thunberg says her 'demands' to Davos billionaires on climate change 'have been completely ignored' but admits she 'expected nothing less'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7924739/Greta-Thunberg-says-demands-Davos-billionaires-completely-ignored.html
The Post’s misguided suspension of @feliciasonmez over Kobe Bryant tweets, by @ErikWemple | The Post’s misguided suspension of Felicia Sonmez over Kobe Bryant tweets | An immediate and overwhelming expression of anger piled on Sonmez from Twitter users. Sonmez had directed her followers to this April 2016 story in the Daily Beast by Marlow Stern. Written at the time of Bryant’s farewell tour through NBA cities, the story takes a deep look at the sexual-assault allegation against Bryant stemming from his 2003 visit to Colorado’s Lodge & Spa at Cordillera. The case never made it to trial because the 19-year-old accuser — “who had been dragged through the mud for months by the media and Bryant’s defense team,” wrote Stern — declined to testify. She did, however, file a separate civil complaint, which Bryant settled. Bryant issued an extensive apology to the accuser and others in securing dismissal of the criminal case. “Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did,” it reads, in part. | In an interview with the Erik Wemple Blog, Sonmez says that on Sunday afternoon, she emailed Grant and her editor, Peter Wallsten, to alert them to the threats she’d received. “Just so they’d be aware that things were getting a little out of hand, I sent them links to my tweets,” she says. “Tracy wrote back a couple of hours later asking me to take down those tweets.” Sonmez reports that she was a “little delayed” in taking down the tweets, in part because she was concerned about the threats: Someone, she says, had posted her address. Management continued to worry about the tweets, says Sonmez, noting that Grant sent her another message saying that if she didn’t delete them, she’d be “in violation of a directive from a managing editor.” She deleted the tweets, providing a victory for all those who’d attacked her for posting a perfectly fine news story. Fearing for her safety at home, Sonmez checked into a hotel on Sunday night. In a phone call with Grant, she learned that she was being placed on administrative leave effective immediately. The Post’s concerns with the tweets, Grant had indicated in an email to Sonmez, were that they didn’t “pertain” to the reporter’s “coverage area” and that “your behavior on social media is making it harder for others to do their work as Washington Post journalists.” | A couple of thoughts about those objections: One, if journalists at The Post are prone to suspension for tweeting stories off their beats, the entire newsroom should be on administrative leave. Two, the contention that sharing a link to a news article complicates the work of others requires supporting evidence. “I would argue that not ignoring a matter of public record is the way to go and making survivors feel seen and heard helps Washington Post journalists rather than making our jobs harder. We are more able to do our jobs because we’ve demonstrated to those survivors that we’re worthy of their trust,” says Sonmez. “I’m a little confused. If The Post is arguing that letting those survivors feel seen makes other colleagues jobs harder, I’d appreciate an explanation.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/01/27/posts-misguided-suspension-felicia-sonmez-over-kobe-bryant-tweets/
https://www.thedailybeast.com/kobe-bryants-disturbing-rape-case-the-dna-evidence-the-accusers-story-and-the-half-confession
When people are mythologizing him, calling him a hero, etc, it's a very valid thing to bring up the sexual assault/rape case. Putting a ball in a hoop DOES NOT MATTER MORE THAN SEXUAL ASSAULT. Like it or not, it is a part of his legacy. Bringing it up yesterday wasn't in the best taste (and I'm a person who calls Rapist Kobe "Rapist Kobe") but being suspended over reminding people of it is absurd. HE. ADMITTED. THAT. EVERYTHING. SHE. ACCUSED. HIM. OF. HE. DID. It’s a totally valid thing to bring up. You can’t just ignore certain parts of his life and his legacy because they don’t fit the comfortable narrative of him as a hero. He leaves a very complicated legacy. She didn’t say anything disrespectful. It was totally valid to talk about the bad parts of Kobe’s life. Every obituary of him today brings it up, which is totally fair to do. A suspension for it was beyond the pale and an outright endorsement of rape.
Trump's repeated threats have 'irritated' the UK and it plans to defy him and strike a deal with Huawei
https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-huawei-boris-johnson-threats-security-5g-deal-2020-1
This is a quarantine and that is how quarantines work. It might be too late, but that's another story: China Blocks All Countries From Airlifting Citizens Trapped in Coronavirus -Plagued Wuhan
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10825868/china-blocks-uk-from-airlifting-brits/amp/
Dozens dead as heavy rains bring landslides and evacuations in Brazil. Storms have submerged entire neighborhoods and sent homes tumbling down hillsides, causing more than 30,000 to flee
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/27/heavy-rain-landslides-flooding-mass-evacuations-brazil
More than 150 Washington Post reporters sign a union letter in support of Felicia Sonmez, the reporter suspended after tweeting a story detailing rape charges against Kobe Bryant (which he admitted to)
https://twitter.com/ByronTau/status/1221921850462261248
"I got 3 small kids and am trying to figure out how to navigate life with 3 kids and no mom ... She was beautiful, smart, funny." Husband of Christina Mauser, who died in Kobe Bryant helicopter crash, says there are "no words" to describe the tragedy.
https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1221914286454398976
This morning, POLITICO founder and publisher Robert Allbritton announced the launch of AgencyIQ, a new division and business line aimed at providing deeper coverage of the ever-changing regulatory landscape | AgencyIQ will initially launch with a focus on the Food and Drug Administration, the body responsible for regulating vital businesses like the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, and will be anchored by a 20-person-plus team that includes regulatory policy analysts, technologists, product experts, and reporters.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/27/agencyiq-politico-regulatory-annoucement-103915
This Pam Bondi presentation about Hunter Biden is the Trump team achieving in a Senate trial what Trump couldn’t get Ukraine to do: publicly smear the Bidens.
https://twitter.com/GeoffRBennett/status/1221912655792877570
"The Starling Marte trade makes sense for the Diamondbacks"????? He was suspended half a season for using PEDs. Good for the Pirates for dumping his ass.
On the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a story about the very first transport of Jews to be sent there: 997 teenage Jewish girls.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/01/27/first-transport-jews-auschwitz-was-997-teenage-girls-few-survived/
Days after resigning, Jack Evans has filed to run for his old seat in the Democratic primary AND the special election to fill the seat he vacated
https://twitter.com/FenitN/status/1221924135380623360
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/jack-evans-to-run-for-dc-council-after-resigning-seat-amid-ethics-scandal/2020/01/27/fdd6cdfc-4138-11ea-b503-2b077c436617_story.html
Just in from the State Department Correspondents' Association: The group "protests the decision to remove NPR correspondent Michele Kelemen from Crybaby Pompeo's plane on his upcoming trip to Europe and Central Asia." Kelemen "was in rotation as the radio pool reporter."
https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/1221932045779329029
https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1221935892614524930
Hunter Biden is like a lot of unimpressive people in public life, including the Trumps—trading on his name for power. But if Trump believed an illegality occurred, then why didn’t the administration open a proper DoJ investigation instead of pushing Ukraine for an announcement?
https://twitter.com/justinamash/status/1221930050846711809
Sometimes monsters look like monsters.....: Lake County, Florida, police just arrested a notorious tormentor of the parents of Sandy Hook School shooting victims. He appeared many times on Infowars, which gave him a platform to raise tens of thousands of dollars to fund his harassment. | Wolfgang Halbig, a former contributor to Infowars, the online and radio show hosted by the far-right provocateur Alex Jones, has spread false claims for years that the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting of 20 first graders and six educators in Newtown, Conn., was an elaborate government hoax aimed at confiscating Americans’ firearms. When challenged or confronted by Sandy Hook families, Mr. Halbig has released their personal information, taunted them or emailed them photographs of what he claimed were their dead children “all grown up.” Mr. Halbig, of Sorrento, Fla., was arrested after a complaint filed by Leonard Pozner, whose son Noah, 6, died in the shooting. The arrest affidavit said that Mr. Halbig repeatedly emailed Mr. Pozner’s Social Security number, date of birth and other information to a long list of recipients, including “multiple different law enforcement agencies and news stations.” Mr. Pozner has tried since 2014 to stop Mr. Halbig from targeting Sandy Hook families and other victims of tragedy. In response, Mr. Halbig posted online a 100-page TransUnion background report on Mr. Pozner, which included his address and delicate personal information. Mr. Pozner lives in hiding.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/27/us/politics/sandy-hook-hoaxer-arrest.html
https://www.honrnetwork.org/
Senators overseeing impeachment trial received campaign cash from Trump legal team members
https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2020/01/senators-overseeing-impeachment-got-campaign-cash-from-trump-team/
Arizona Republicans discriminated against minority voters, court rules - Ruling says Republican effort to restrict third-party ballot collection appeared to be part of effort to suppress black, Hispanic and Native American votes
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/27/arizona-republicans-intentionally-discriminated-against-minority-voters-court-rules
Impeachment shouldn't be a political tool of retribution, said by the man who used impeachment as a political tool of retribution.
The chief executive law enforcement officer of the U.S. didn't know the law, so therefore he couldn't have broken it.
Here are the first five questions I'd like the Democrats to ask the Republicans during questioning:
- You held the Senate in 2014 when Hunter was on the board of Burisma, why did you not open an investigation into it then?
- You held the Senate in 2015 when Hunter was on the board of Burisma, why did you not open an investigation into it then?
- You held the Senate in 2016 when Hunter was on the board of Burisma, why did you not open an investigation into it then?
- You held the Senate in 2017 when Hunter was on the board of Burisma, why did you not open an investigation into it then?
- You held the Senate in 2018 when Hunter was on the board of Burisma, why did you not open an investigation into it then?
My take on today so far:
•Ken Starr, complaining impeachment is bad.
•Pam Bondi, complaining about the appearance of a conflict of interest.
•Trump lawyers, complaining about apparent nepotism.
As hypocritical as it is irrelevant to the serious evidence before the Senate.
https://twitter.com/SenatorLeahy/status/1221932286490312707?s=20
Ernst showing Republican hands. Literally saying that Republicans are doing this to influence the Iowa caucuses against Biden. She literally admitted this whole fiasco was intended to damage Biden's chances in the elections.
Funny Pam Bondi not mentioning she was making twice as much per month as Hunter from Qatar for no apparent reason. "Bondi registered in July under FARA — Foreign Agents Registration Act — as a part-time, $115,000-per-month lobbyist for Qatar."
https://twitter.com/craig_crawford/status/1221916361649283074
Jeez, $115k a month for part time work? More hypocrisy
Here are four key facts Bondi omitted:
1. Shokin’s former deputy, Vitaliy Kasko, said the investigation into Burisma and company owner Mykola Zlochevsky was inactive at the time of Joe Biden’s pressure in late 2015 and early 2016. A leading Ukrainian anti-corruption activist said the same.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-07/timeline-in-ukraine-probe-casts-doubt-on-giuliani-s-biden-claim
"Shokin was not investigating. He didn't want to investigate Burisma," Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of Ukraine's Anti-Corruption Action Center, told the Washington Post for a July article. "And Shokin was fired not because he wanted to do that investigation, but quite to the contrary, because he failed that investigation."
2. Shokin was widely seen — by Ukrainian activists, US diplomats, European governments and the International Monetary Fund — as ineffective or corrupt. In a speech in 2015, Geoffrey Pyatt, then the US ambassador to Ukraine, castigated Shokin’s office for impeding the investigation of Burisma’s owner Zlochevsky. Pyatt called for people in Shokin’s office to be fired, “at minimum.”
https://www.ft.com/content/e1454ace-e61b-11e9-9743-db5a370481bc
https://voxukraine.org/en/remarks-by-us-ambassador-geoffrey-pyatt-at-the-odesa-financial-forum/
“Rather than supporting Ukraine’s reforms and working to root out corruption, corrupt actors within the prosecutor general’s office are making things worse by openly and aggressively undermining reform,” Pyatt said.
3. Biden was acting in accordance with official US policy. Because of Shokin’s reputation, the US and its allies believed that removing him would increase, not decrease, the chances of people like Zlochevsky being pursued.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/23/politics/fact-check-trump-ukraine-hunter-biden-joe-biden/index.html
"What former Vice President Biden requested of former president of Ukraine, (Petro) Poroshenko, was the removal of a corrupt prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin,” George Kent, deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, testified in the impeachment inquiry. Kent went on to say Shokin had “undermined” a US-funded program to try to investigate corrupt Ukrainian prosecutors.
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2019/nov/12/who-george-kent/
4. Some Republican senators had also demanded changes to the prosecutor general’s office Shokin led.
In a bipartisan 2016 letter, Republican senators Rob Portman, Mark Kirk and Ron Johnson joined Democratic colleagues in calling on then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to "press ahead with urgent reforms to the Prosecutor General's office and judiciary."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/politics/gop-senators-echoed-biden-on-ukraine-reforms-kfile/index.html
Alan Dershowitz’s defense of Trump appears to be largely about Alan Dershowitz.
The overwhelming weight of evidence makes clear the 2016 Democratic nomination process was not rigged in favor of Hillary Clinton. | The Democratic Party rules and state election laws actually hurt Clinton and benefited Sanders
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3443916
John Bolton privately told Attorney General Barr last year that he had concerns that Trump was effectively granting personal favors to the autocratic leaders of Turkey and China, according to an unpublished manuscript by Bolton.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/27/us/politics/john-bolton-trump-book-barr.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
^This seems like a bad thing to drop while the president’s lawyer, who also argues against the age of consent and got a massage at a child rapist’s Florida mansion, is defending him.
Dershowitz becomes the first to reference it hours later. "Nothing in the Bolton revelations, even if true, would rise to the level of an abuse of power or an impeachable offense," he argues.
And Biden spox @AndrewBatesNC just responded to this https://twitter.com/alanhe/status/1221948034004799488
https://twitter.com/Bencjacobs/status/1221971268548861952
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