Good Wednesday Good Gnusies! I do think the whole of the rethug party are about to lose their urinary contents any minute now.
The noose is tightening around the mango maniacs neck and I have to say I could not be happier. Let us face facts, dear leader may never be impeached or he will, either way he is damaged goods at this point. His always tRumpers in the House and the Senate, his base be damned. The Generals are speaking out, some Rebups are speaking out, heck faux news even allowed a Democrat to post an oped against him on their website.
This is in no way to say that we can be complacent. We still must fight at the ballot box, nationally, state wide and locally to take back what belongs to the people and to undo what these cruel, greedy, power hungry arses have instilled upon our country.
Onward!
You know I love Wonkette and although I am sure most of you know about this tidbit of “holy cow the walls are coming down around the dumpster fire”, I still had to share:
Bill Taylor's Testimony Is HOLY SH*T WOW And Trump Is F*CKED
We had a feeling when acting ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor sat down with Congress today that shit was gonna be lit as a motherfucker, and as usual, our feeling was right.
We got a clue when we saw this tweet:
Sighs and gasps, oh my!
Desiderio followed up to say that another source he talked to said all the gasping and sighing was in response to Taylor describing "how pervasive the efforts were to tie an investigation of Burisma and 2016 election 'interference' to a White House meeting and aid being released."
We also saw a thing about how when GOP Rep. Jim Jordan came out of the room for lunch, he didn't have a word to say. If Jim Jordan is STFU, you know it's bad.
Spoiler, it is bad, and Donald Trump is fucked.
Speaking of things Taylor did very studiously and just to have a record, it turns out his 15-page opening statement is backed up by copious notes, like Taylor is a career official or something. (Know who hates note-takers? Donald Trump, as we learned in the Mueller Report when he got mad at then-White House counsel Don McGahn for taking notes all the time. Know whose perky white ass still needs to sit the fuck down in Congress and talk? Don McGahn.)
By the way, we now know that the State Department tried to block Taylor's testimony, but Congress sent him a friendly subpoena, and he was like "Cool, see you there!"
Read Taylor's opening statement, by the way. This is a guy who has served Republican and Democratic presidents, who's been working with Ukraine for years, who went to West Point, who was nominated ambassador to Ukraine by George W. Bush. Are congressional Republicans going to add this dude to their conspiracy theory list of Deep Staters who are doing Witch Hunt Conspiracies to Donald Trump?
Or are they going to pull their heads out of their fucking asses and choose country over party for the first time in their sad shithole lives?
That was a question for you, Jim Jordan.
You should read the whole article and here is the full 15 pages in case you have not seen it:
Bill Taylor Opening Statement
Now things are going to slow down a bit this week as Rep. Cummings is laid to rest. BTW did you sign the card?
How about NDP makes an easy explainer for everyone:
'Do Us a Favor': 4-Page Pelosi Fact Sheet Uses Trump's Own Words to Make Case for Impeachment
As House Democrats work to make the case for impeachment to the U.S. public, Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday released a four-page fact sheet outlining how President Donald Trump "betrayed his oath of office" for personal gain by pressuring Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.
The document's three sections—titled "The Shakedown," "The Pressure Campaign," and "The Cover Up"—use the words of Trump and members of his administration to build a cumulative case that the president has abused his power and should be impeached.
"In recent weeks, the nation has learned more about how President Trump abused the power of the presidency by using multiple levers of government—from Vice President Pence to the State Department, including Secretary Mike Pompeo, Ambassador Gordon Sondland, and Ambassador Kurt Volker—to advance a scheme to undermine our 2020 elections for his political gain, and then to obstruct the congressional inquiry into that scheme," the document states.
The fact sheet opens with a now-infamous line from Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which sparked the whistleblower complaint that ultimately led Pelosi to announce a formal impeachment probe last month.
"I would like you to do us a favor, though," Trump said before asking Zelensky to open a probe into Biden and his son Hunter.
Truth Exposed
The marmalade manglomaniac is exposed. His little tit for tat world is falling apart and he can scream his horrific twitter rants as loud as he wants but this rhetoric is not helping in any shape or form:
CNN Poll: 50% support impeaching Trump and removing him from office
Half of Americans say President Donald Trump should be impeached and removed from office, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, a new high in CNN polling on the topic and the first time that support for impeachment and removal has significantly outpaced opposition.
I really do not know what happened to Lindsey Graham’s brain after John McCain passed but whatever is eating it must be Russian or he is just a, well I will let Susan Rice explain it for you:
Susan Rice: Lindsey Graham is 'a piece of s—t'
Susan Rice, who served as national security adviser during the Obama administration, referred to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) as a "piece of shit" during the taping of an episode of the "Pod Save the World" podcast this week.
She made the remark after Tommy Vietor, another former Obama adviser, first used the term to refer to Graham during a discussion about the 2012 Benghazi attack in Libya.
"You have to understand Benghazi to understand [President] Trump," said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser during the Obama administration who is a host of the podcast.
"Right, because Lindsey Graham isn't just a piece of shit now," Vietor said before Rice interrupted.
"He's been a piece of shit," she said. "He's a piece of shit."
I sooo wish this had been her statement after the graham cracker made his comments following the ugly comments of the unholy occupant of the White House but heck it still works.
The G7 may be old news but the Dem;s are not going to let it go:
Democrats call Trump 'increasingly brazen' in emoluments court filing, citing Doral G7 proposal
Donald Trump continues to show disdain for the Constitution by his suggestion to hold the G7 summit at his Doral golf resort, lawyers for more than 200 Democrats in Congress told a federal appeals court Tuesday in an emoluments lawsuit.
"Increasingly brazen, President Trump just last week announced that he was awarding the next G7 summit to his resort in Doral, Florida, only to reverse course after a public outcry -- in the aftermath, disparaging 'you people with this phony Emoluments Clause,'" a court filing states.
The lawsuit is one of several aiming to access the President's financial records, as Democrats say Trump is violating the Constitution by doing business with foreign governments without first seeking congressional approval.
The article has President in front of he shall not be named, but I just could not include it, yuck.
Let us take a musical break. But I want to give you some background to read.
Here's Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash being pals and singing an early demo of "Wanted Man"
At his San Quentin live show in 1969 (as immortalized on the appropriately named At San Quentin live album), Johnny Cash debuted a new song that Bob Dylan wrote for him called “Wanted Man,” and now Bob Dylan has released the original demo version of that song that he and Cash recorded together just a week before Cash performed the song for prisoners.
The real star, though, is Cash’s noble attempt to stumble through some lyrics that he absolutely has not memorized, offering up a three-syllable city or state to fit the meter even if it’s not the correct three-syllable city or state that Dylan is singing. Apparently this Johnny Cash fellow is some kind of relatable man-of-the-people type. Who knew?
Let us move on to some climate related news.
USDA inspector general launches climate change investigation
An internal government watchdog is starting an investigation into the USDA’s handling of climate science and communication after a series of POLITICO reports found that the department has been routinely burying its work on climate change, even as farmers and ranchers are increasingly dealing with its harmful effects.
The USDA’s Office of the Inspector General told lawmakers on Monday that it has already begun a formal inquiry into these concerns.
The investigation will examine whether any changes in policy or processes affected the publication of science or the communication of any research results. It will also look at changes in resources and staffing levels, suggesting that the probe could be quite broad.
In a letter to Pingree on Monday, Phyllis Fong, USDA's IG, noted that there are broader concerns that USDA's recent relocation of the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to Kansas City were "used as a means to suppress research on controversial topics such as climate change," a situation that POLITICO also reported on last spring.
"Across the government, inspectors general are playing a crucial role in holding this administration accountable, and I want to thank Inspector General Fong for initiating this important investigation," Hirono said in a statement to POLITICO.
ExxonMobil faces trial over allegations of misleading investors on climate crisis
ExxonMobil is to face trial in New York City on Tuesday, accused of misleading investors over the business risks caused by regulations aimed at addressing the climate crisis.
The oil and gas giant has been taken to court by New York’s attorney general for allegedly covering up the costs it will incur from government rules designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The lawsuit, now led by the New York attorney general, Leticia James, alleges Exxon ran a “longstanding fraudulent scheme”.
“Exxon in effect erected a Potemkin village to create the illusion that it had fully considered the risks of future climate change regulation and had factored those risks into its business operations,” the lawsuit states.
“I do think this is an extremely important case in that it focuses on the climate risks posed to Exxon through its own accounting processes,” said Michael Burger, a climate law expert at Columbia University. “The lawsuit is seeking to ensure this company and others are on notice that climate change matters materially for business purposes, as it should.”
Danish lighthouse wheeled away from eroding coastline
A 120-year-old lighthouse in Denmark, at risk from North Sea erosion of the country’s north-west coastline, was on Tuesday wheeled back from the cliff edge.
When the 23-metre (75ft) Rubjerg Knude lighthouse was first lit in 1900, it was roughly 200 metres from the coast; that distance shrank to six metres.
Arne Boelt, the local mayor, said many things could go wrong when moving the defunct building, which weighs about 1,000 tons and sits on a cliff. “But it’s worth the risk ... the alternative would be to dismantle the lighthouse.”
'This Is How We Change the World': To Address Climate Crisis, Video Explains, Democracy Movements Must Rise
A new campaign from advocacy organization The Leap is calling on progressives around the world to organize to take over federal governments and wield their power to address the climate crisis and other pressing global issues.
"Thanks to grassroots organizing, radical ideas like the Green New Deal have already gone mainstream," Rajiv Sicora, senior manager of research and U.S. programming at The Leap, said in an email. "Now, to get these sweeping policies enacted, our movements have started taking the next step: winning elections and entering government."
More miscellaneous good news!
Legendary Journalist Gwen Ifill To Be Honored With A Forever Stamp
The late journalist Gwen Ifill will be memorialized with a Forever stamp next year, the U.S. Postal Service announced on Tuesday.
The stamp will feature a 2008 photo of Ifill with her name at the bottom and the words “Black Heritage” at the top, as part of the Postal Service’s Black Heritage series.
“Among the first African Americans to hold prominent positions in both broadcast and print journalism, Ifill was a trailblazer in the profession,” the Postal Service said in a release.
‘What a day to be gay in Northern Ireland’: marriage equality becomes law at last
Same-sex couples across Northern Ireland erupted in jubilation at the stroke of midnight on Monday when a law extending marriage equality took effect.
It was the culmination of a rollercoaster campaign to align Northern Ireland with the rest of the UK in the face of opposition from the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) and other social conservatives.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she never stopped her famous workout despite latest cancer bout
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg never stopped her famous workout amid her most recent bout with cancer, she told an audience in California on Monday.
Ginsburg, 86, was speaking at the University of California-Berkeley School of Law as part of a lecture honoring Herma Hill Kay, the school's first female dean, when she said she felt "very well" in comparison with how she was six months ago.
And when asked if she had been able to return to the gym since receiving radiation treatment for a
pancreatic tumor in August, Ginsburg said, "I never left it."
"Even in my lowest periods I couldn't do very much, but I did what I can," she said.
Her exercise routine, which she said includes push-ups, planking and weights, has been widely celebrated. Her personal trainer, Bryant Johnson, wrote a book about it in 2017, "The RBG Workout: How She Stays Strong ... And You Can Too!"
I am sure I could in no way keep up with her and hey that is a okay with me, as long as she stays strong!
I am well aware of how many amazing candidates we elected in 2018. On the other hand keeping up with everything all of them do is a challenge in this chaotic time. Apparently Rep. Katie Porter has been kicking some serious butt while I was not looking:
Rep Katie Porter: an Elizabeth Warren protege and single mom who destroys bumbling, mediocre rich guys in Congressional hearings
In 2018, Katie Porter flipped a Republican safe seat -- it had literally never been held by a Democrat-- in California's 45th District, and since then, she has been a delightful, brilliant terror of a lawmaker, using her deep background in finance law (she's a tenured finance law prof at UC Irvine who literally wrote the textbook on consumer finance law in the wake of Dodd-Frank and Elizabeth Warren's establishment of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau).
Porter's got an amazing background: she went magna cum laude at Harvard Law (Elizabeth Warren was one of her profs), and she's also a single mom of 3 and domestic abuse survivor. She's got an amazing, prosecutorial questioning style that is an absolute breath of fresh air in Congressional hearings, where the median lawmaker is barely capable of asking a coherent question.
In her short time in Congress, Porter has blazed through a series of hearings in which she systematically exposed the dire incompetence of both Trump appointees and the captains of industry they serve, pursuing them relentlessly.
Of the many videos of her “interrogating” the corrupt officials in this admin, it was hard to pick a fave, but I will post this one and encourage you to watch them all as your time allows:
Burn…
Well this is hysterical:
'Grandma Winnie' trends on Twitter after video shows woman call for Trump's impeachment for her birthday
Critics of President Trump drove “Grandma Winnie” into Twitter’s list of trending items on Tuesday after a video went viral showing a woman saying she wanted President Trump to be impeached for her birthday.
In the clip making the rounds online, the woman, who identifies herself as “Grandma Winnie,” says she’s 100 years old and that “all I want for my birthday is for someone to impeach this sucker.”
At the end of the short video, the woman tosses a “Make America Great Again” cap she was holding throughout the clip off to the side.
Are we not all Grandma Winnie?
Let’s get to work:
Your 5 weekly to-dos
- Sign up to make some calls connecting voters to Senators to demand a complete and fair impeachment trial. We've identified 13 Senators who our political and policy experts believe we can sway -- and now we're asking you to call voters in their states and ask those voters to turn up the pressure on their elected officials. It’s a simple four-part process:
- You sign up for a shift for Hubdialer and use our super-easy-to-use-platform to call a voter in one of our target states. These folks are your friends -- they fight for progressive causes.
- You explain they have power now and what's at stake in the impeachment fight. And you explain why it's so important that they talk to their senator.
- You ask them to use their power by calling their members of Congress. You can tell them a little about why calls matter.
- When they agree, you hit a button and patch them through to their senator's office. Then, you make more calls to more voters -- and these Senate Republicans really get an earful.
- Tell your member of Congress to support improvements to the Democrats’ prescription drug price bill. H.R.3 is headed to the Ways and Means committee this week, and probably to a floor vote not to long after that. We’re running out of time to make this bill better. There’s so much more we can do to benefit the average American family and the daily battles with prescription coverage. We need Congress to put a face to this fight. And maybe that face is yours. So be sure to tell your Member of Congress just how important expanding H.R.3 is to you and your family.
- Join us on a special Facebook Live on tomorrow, October 21 at 8pm with Leah and Ezra. We’ll be talking shop about what went into the upcoming book, We Are Indivisible: A Blueprint for Democracy After Trump, and answering all your questions!
- Don't wait! Pre-order your copy of the book. By pre-ordering your book, you’re eligible to join the Indivisible Book Contest! All you have to do is pre-order, tag a picture of the receipt, and tag us on Twitter or Instagram. The winner will receive a free swag bag and a 30-minute chat with Leah or Ezra!
- Register for the National Activist Call on Nov 7 at 8 PM ET. We’re going to cover the latest updates on the impeachment inquiry in the House, recap the Defund Hate we of action from September, and give you the latest on the Indivisible book -- so make sure to tune in!
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Peace!