Light News

Rohrabacher confirms he offered Trump pardon to Assange for proof Russia didn’t hack DNC email
https://news.yahoo.com/rohrabacher-confirms-he-offered-trump-pardon-to-assange-for-proof-russia-didnt-hack-dnc-email-131438007.html

Roger Stone was convicted to 40 months in jail for covering up for Donald Trump. This was also the case for Michael Cohen who was sentenced to 3 years for also covering up for Donald Trump. If you think that Donald Trump is innocent then you are a fucking idiot.

He's admitted so many scandalous things publicly BEFORE HE RAN and post-winning that haven't moved the needle that I don't know why people still believe in some "massive public fallout". People have dug in. There are no lengths he can go to that will disaffect his cult. They will believe whatever he says so your best bet is to spend less time being outraged by trump and spend more time getting out the vote to remove him.

Donald Trump’s:
Campaign chair: felon
Deputy campaign chair: felon
Foreign policy adviser: felon
Personal lawyer: felon
National security adviser: felon
Longtime political adviser: felon

Germany mass shooting: Man who shot nine dead at Hanau shisha bars was far-right, confession letter reveals. The rampage late on Wednesday in Hanau, a town close to Frankfurt in the western state of Hesse, ended with the suspect killing himself. German daily Bild said the man had left a written confession and a video claiming responsibilty for the attack.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germany-shooting-hanau-dead-shooter-latest-far-right-shisha-bars-letter-a9345561.html

It is a huge Advantage knowing what pitch is coming if I had a choice between using Peds and knowing was Pitch was coming I would pick knowing what Pitch was coming
https://twitter.com/JoseCanseco/status/1230304301869744129

Draymond on Wiggins: “We want to help him reach his promise. Whatever that is ... it’s not like we got to take his hand and walk him through. That guy’s averaged 20 points in this league for 3 or 4 years — this is not a fu***** bum we’re talking about.”
https://twitter.com/NickFriedell/status/1230260247400345601

Timberwolves' Karl-Anthony Towns out indefinitely due to injury

The Hawks say newly acquired C Clint Capela (plantar fasciitis) will be re-evaluated in two weeks

No, Bernie supporters, it isn't Russians or Republicans in sheeps clothing... it's you, and it always was.

Joe Biden: The only companies you can’t sue are gun manufacturers because of a law Bernie Sanders voted for.

Astros’ Name Barred By Little Leagues In Pennsylvania
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/02/19/astros-name-barred-by-little-leagues-near-williamsport/

Trump Administration Admits Trump Trade Stance Slowed Job Growth And Wage Growth And Accelerated Consumuer Price Growth And National Debt Growth
https://www.bloomberg.com//news/articles/2020-02-20/white-house-admits-that-trump-trade-stance-did-depress-economy
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PAYEMS
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIAUCSL
https://treasurydirect.gov/NP/debt/current

Mick Mulvaney said the deep state is 100% true and government officials should obey Trump or quit
https://www.businessinsider.com/mulvaney-says-deep-state-is-real-and-govt-officials-should-obey-trump-2020-2

Should have said this more during debate. His whole appeal is that he can do things dems are not now doing to beat trump: Mike Bloomberg Tell Rally-Goers 'Real Winner' of the Democratic Debate Was Donald Trump
https://twitter.com/ChrisCuomo/status/1230536988845056000
https://twitter.com/Mediaite/status/1230536755432099840

Some morning thoughts on the state of the Democratic Primary. What worries me most is the struggle whomever the nominee is will have in bringing the party together, uniting Democrats to go into battle this fall.

Bloomberg ran not to become President but because running gave him immediate inside access to COMMERCIAL ADVERTISING SPOTS RESERVED FOR CANDIDATES ONLY. He's running to spam everybody's commercials with anti-Trump pro-Democrat commercials. He's trying to Make America Blue Again.

We need Bloomberg and his war chest. If you don't think so, wait to see Trump getting reelected and nominating another justice to SCOTUS or acting even crazier than ever. He may even prop one of his children for president in 2024.

I seriously think a Bernie/Bloomberg or Bloomberg/Bernie ticket is the only winning ticket. Anything else means Trump easily wins. In this election we need someone who can beat Trump down and has the money to do it and has the support of the actual electorate (Bernie doesn't, the electorate are moderates-leaning-conservative and conservative and alt-right libertarian trash)

I think if Bernie becomes the nominee he's going to have a very hard time leading the Party. He isn't now and hasn't been a Democrat in his decades long career. He's contemptuous of the achievements of recent Democratic Presidents. He's contemptuous of the entirety of achievements of the entire history of the Democratic Party. He has almost no support from leaders he's served with. Bernie still feels very much like an insurgent, a factional leader, and not one who has the skill, staff, experience to bring together a factious and diverse party. Sure he can grow but that he's put Jill Stein supporters in prominent leadership positions is a really bad sign. As a native New Yorker, I've admired Bloomberg from afar: self-made businessman, extremely academic and intelligent, important leadership on climate/gun safety/teen smoking/philanthropy/pro-Israelism. But I do have reservations about all the negative things he's being attacked about, and the fact that he's shifted between R and I and D when needed. Like Bernie, Bloomberg's years outside the party makes it hard to now be trusted to lead it. How can he explain not endorsing Obama/Biden in 2008, working to elect terrorists like George W. Bush, Pat Toomey and Lindsay Graham, etc. I also think his forcing changes in NYC law to allow him to run for a third mayoral term feels a bit too Trumpian to me right now. It's an ugly story. See the nyt piece on Bloomberg's $100m campaign in 2009, narrow win over an African-American Democratic candidate, low turnout, broad dis-satisfaction, anger over him changing NYC laws to allow him a third term. As someone who has fought hard to help Democrats constantly build new coalitions around a changing electorate, I want a candidate who is part of that, and Bloomberg's not. And all the issues Warren brought up last night are major issues, issues he couldn't muster even a crappy response to, should disqualify him with Democrats but clearly aren't because 1) he's outpolling almost all the Democrats and 2) he already spent double-digit millions in 2018 helping Democratic grassroots groups promote policies and candidates that would help flip seats blue (and they did flip blue, his money helped flip the House blue and flipped governships and state legislatures and judgeships blue) and double-digit millions in 2019 flipping the Virginia state legislature blue and flipping seats all over Pennsylvania blue and 3) people with brains full understand he's spending $400+ million dollars not to win but to take America back for Democrats, to make the entire government and nation blue again, to help Democrats win the Presidency AND flip as much of America to blue as possible. Regardless of their merits, it will be very hard for Bernie or Bloomberg to lead a party they've chosen not to be part of, the doubts Democrats will have about either of them could easily exploited. The problem is we've already said the same things about Trump and Trump fucking won and won easily, blowing Democrats off the map.
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/nyregion/04mayor.html

Michael Bloomberg’s soon to be released FEC report will show that the former New York mayor spent $409 million between launching his campaign in November and the end of January.
https://twitter.com/merica/status/1230556189336850432

Piece of shit "judge" Jackson as she sentences Stone: "He was not prosecuted, as some have complained, for standing up for the president. He was prosecuted for covering up for the president.” Yet she gave him the lightest sentence possible, commuting two years of the sentence. Fucking shitstain. All the time he's been under house arrest will be deducted from the 40 month sentence. This judge seems to reprimand him severely, but let’s him get away with a lot in the end. When he violated the gag orders...reprimand. Based on that I’m not surprised. But disappointed nonetheless. Especially for all the people serving more time for lesser crimes. For fucks sake he tweeted a picture of the judge with crosshairs over her head, she attacks the Attorney General and President in her idiotic speech, then proceeds to apply BARR'S SENTENCING MEMO. Am I living in the fucking Twilight Zone? Her sentence was 1/3 of the minimum the prosecutors were originally asking for. If they count good behavior he could potentially be out in 20 months. Less if Trump pardons him and commutes his sentence. Only 1 3/4 - 3 years in prison for betraying all of us and selling the white house to Russia.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/trump-associate-roger-stone-sentenced-3-years-4-months-prison-n1138516
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/roger-stone-sentence-due-thursday-in-federal-court/2020/02/19/2e01bfc8-4c38-11ea-9b5c-eac5b16dafaa_story.html

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear Makes History By Attending LGBTQ Rally At Capitol
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kentucky-governor-andy-beshear-lgbtq-rights-rally_n_5e4e905dc5b6a7bfb4c1e34f

A woman get five years for voting when she didn't know she couldn't
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/03/30/texas-woman-sentenced-to-5-years-in-prison-for-voting-while-on-probation/

Roger Stone was found guilty of lying to Congress and threatening a witness.
He did it to cover up for Trump. His sentence is justified.
It should go without saying, but to pardon Stone when his crimes were committed to protect Trump would be a breathtaking act of corruption.
https://twitter.com/RepAdamSchiff/status/1230550196590796800?s=20

"We’ve never seen Bernie in any mode other than self-righteous anger. That’s why his followers include an unusually high % of angry, intolerant folks who display no patience with those who don’t fully agree with them and their candidate. That’s an alarming sign for taking on Trump"
https://twitter.com/tribelaw/status/1230489201294135300

Players union is shielding arrogant, cheating Astros — not Rob Manfred
https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/joe-starkey/2020/02/20/Players-union-not-Rob-Manfred-is-shielding-arrogant-cheating-Astros-players-Joe-Starkey/stories/202002200086

Greg Robinson has 157 pounds of marijuana in car. Could face 20 years in prison. BP says they also found 23 mason jars, a can sealing machine, an electronic scale, and $3,100 in cash in Bray's jeans.
https://amp.tmz.com/2020/02/19/cleveland-browns-greg-robinson-arrested-marijuana-border-patrol/

Kentucky breaks record for total number of registered voters
https://www.wlwt.com/article/kentucky-breaks-record-for-total-number-of-registered-voters/30986888

"I don't think he was coached hard enough," CNN commentator Andrew Yang says about Michael Bloomberg's first #DemDebate. "The fact that he did not have those answers at his fingertips lets me know categorically he was not properly prepared for this debate" https://cnn.it/2SG0VZ8
https://twitter.com/CuomoPrimeTime/status/1230376693162008576

Reagan's daughter tears into Trump: He may be "destroying more than we can ever rebuild"
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/483629-reagans-daughter-slams-trump-we-risk-forgetting-what-the-presidency-is

Trump replaced Acting DNI Maguire because he learned that ODNI's top election security official had briefed HPSCI on 2020 preparations and wrongly believed she'd given exclusive info to Schiff.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/after-a-congressional-briefing-on-election-threats-trump-soured-on-acting-spy-chief/2020/02/20/1ed2b4ec-53f1-11ea-b119-4faabac6674f_story.html …

According to the NYT, Pierson and her colleagues told HPSCI that Russia was interfering in the 2020 election to help re-elect Trump. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/us/politics/russian-interference-trump-democrats.html

Trump "complained that Democrats would use [the finding] against him." The president apparently fired someone because their subordinate revealed to lawmakers that a foreign power was once again aiding his campaign and he worried that this revelation would hurt him. So is the House going to look into this (and the circumstances of Maguire's firing) or...?

This puts the Grenell appointment — and the timing of it — into perspective: Trump lashes out at Maguire after finding out about this briefing (which took place last week), and installs a loyalist as acting DNI less than a week later.
https://twitter.com/AndrewDesiderio/status/1230617309540159488

Oh my. And now the Times follows up: during the briefing, intel officials told lawmakers that “Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get President Trump re-elected,” per the Times.
https://twitter.com/AndrewDesiderio/status/1230613507374243841

Intelligence officials warned House lawmakers last week that Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get President Trump re-elected, five people familiar with the matter said, in a disclosure that angered Mr. Trump, who complained that Democrats would use it against him. The day after the Feb. 13 briefing to lawmakers, Mr. Trump berated Joseph Maguire, the outgoing acting director of national intelligence, for allowing it to take place, people familiar with the exchange said. Mr. Trump cited the presence in the briefing of Representative Adam B. Schiff, the California Democrat who led the impeachment proceedings against him, as a particular irritant. | That intelligence official, Shelby Pierson, is an aide to Mr. Maguire who has a reputation of delivering intelligence in somewhat blunt terms. The president announced on Wednesday that he was replacing Mr. Maguire with Richard Grenell, the ambassador to Germany and long an aggressively vocal Trump supporter.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/us/politics/russian-interference-trump-democrats.html

The NYT articles said REPUBLICANS (not just Trump) were angered and wanted the intelligence official fired.

Victoria Coates, who was the subject of a whisper campaign that she is the anonymous author of a tell-all book about the Trump administration, is moving from the National Security Council to the Energy Department.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/20/top-national-security-aide-anonymous-book-116325

1. DNI gets intel that Russia is interfering again in the election
2. Acting DNI briefs lawmakers about the threat.
3. Trump finds out
4. Trump berates acting DNI
5. Trump replaces acting DNI with political stooge/ally

Running Bernie Sanders Against Trump Would Be an Act of Insanity: Sanders Endorsements FAILED. Obama and Hillary endorsements almost all won: "Our Revolution went 0–22, Justice Democrats went 0–16, and Brand New Congress went 0–6."
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/01/bernie-sanders-electable-trump-2020-nomination-popular-socialism.html

Biden: "The only person in here that has a worse record on immigration is Bernie, because Bernie voted against the 2007 bill … had, in fact, that immigration bill passed, there would be, 6 million members would be now American citizens.”
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/nidhiprakash/nevada-caucus-democratic-debate-latino-immigration

Rachel Maddow to Bernie Sanders in March 2016: "Should the person who is behind in pledged delegates concede to the person who is ahead in pledged delegates in Philadelphia?":
MADDOW: I’m just going to push you and ask you one more time. I’ll actually ask you from the other direction. If one of you – presumably, there won’t be a tie – one of you presumably will be behind in pledged delegates heading into that convention. Should the person who is behind in pledged delegates concede to the person who is ahead in pledged delegates in Philadelphia?
SANDERS: Well, I – you know, I don’t want to speculate about the future and I think there are other factors involved. I think it is probably the case that the candidate who has the most pledged delegates is going to be the candidate, but there are other factors.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/sanders-surprises-controversial-superdelegate-strategy?cid=sm_fb_maddow

Florida Republican Party Facebook Pages Managed From Turkmenistan
https://forensicnews.net/2020/02/20/florida-republican-party-facebook-pages-managed-from-turkmenistan/

Nets star Kyrie Irving is likely to undergo procedure on his right shoulder and miss extended period of time, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
http://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1230582079299125249

Joe Biden voting “no” on the Iraq war wouldn’t have prevented it. Bernie Sanders voting "yes" on the Kennedy-McCain immigration bill would have passed it.

Coronavirus has temporarily reduced China’s CO2 emissions by a quarter
https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-coronavirus-has-temporarily-reduced-chinas-co2-emissions-by-a-quarter

"Nehra denied that the building of the wall in front of the slum was connected to Trump’s visit."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/as-trump-prepares-to-visit-a-wall-rises-in-india/2020/02/20/b2fb6d0c-5357-11ea-80ce-37a8d4266c09_story.html 

Some intelligence officials viewed the briefing as a tactical error, saying that had the official who delivered the conclusion spoken less pointedly or left it out, they would have avoided angering the Republicans.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/us/politics/russian-interference-trump-democrats.html

It's our national fucking security. We shouldn't have to fucking tip toe around Republicans because they'll get upset. Fucking traitors.