I found this great summary of what is going on on Reddit (link) and am sharing it with you here because it is so much better than anything I could write:
The Reds spent tons of time, money, and political capital getting Hilary’s emails, and they sold their souls getting in bed with Russia. That’s why they are so pissed that they got caught and that she was never indicted. They bet everything on it and won’t shutup about it as a result. It’s kinda like an idiot who blows their life savings on a sports car and can’t stop complaining that it never got him laid.
This is all happening again. After they lost big in 2018, they realized that they would have to play dirty to win again. The Reds, once again, spent all their time, money, and political capital trying to get investigations into Joe and Hunter and Burisma, and they sold their souls getting in bed with a corrupt Ukranian administration - one that was in cahoots with Russia.
Their plan imploded when Zelensky got elected. They were caught off guard and misread the complicated machinations of politics in another country and culture. Zelensky was elected on an anti-corruption campaign, and his first move was to get rid of the corrupt officials from the previous administration, which included the corrupt Ukranian prosecutor who had already agreed to play along a whole year ago in these meetings with Nunes. When Zelensky dragged his feet, their last desperate ploy was to use the Congressionally approved aid and WH meeting as a bargaining chip to force his hand in time to tank Biden before the election.
THIS is why they won’t shutup about Joe and Hunter Biden and Burisma. They bet the farm and their careers, possibly their freedom on this and they were caught by some lowly government employees. It ended up going nowhere and blowing up in their faces. This is fucking huge. Beyond huge, and Schiff set Nunes up for this beautifully.
It looks like they are all either on this, covering up for this, or too cowardly to do anything about it. Honestly, I have had it with every single (EVERY SINGLE) Republican elected to the House and the Senate. EVERY SINGLE ONE. They know.
You don’t have to believe me:
and this:
For Republicans, there is no bottom.
and this:
Republicans Are Excusing a Criminal Conspiracy
They know. THEY KNOW. And they are covering up for him and covering their own asses rather than caring about our constitution, our democracy, and our nation.
So what do we do?
We keep putting the truth out there.
We keep standing up for the right things.
And we VOTE. THEIR. ASSES. OUT. IN. 2020.
Fuck all of them
Before I get to the news, let’s laugh at those assholes a little:
JIM JORDAN TRIPS OVER HIS ASSHOLE TRYING TO MALIGN LT. COLONEL VINDMAN
Resident angry man Jim Jordan, who read from the deposition of National Security Council adviser Tim Morrison, who, according to Jordan, expressed “concerns” about Vindman’s judgment. “So your boss had concerns about your judgment,” Jordan said. “Your former boss, Dr. [Fiona] Hill, had concerns about your judgment. Your colleagues had concerns about your judgment. And your colleagues felt that there were times when you leaked information. Any idea why they have those impressions, Colonel Vindman?” Jordan asked, clearly thinking he’d nailed the guy. To which Vindman, perhaps expecting the attempted smear, responded by reading a performance evaluation written by Hill earlier this year
“Alex is a top 1% military officer and the best Army officer I have worked with in my 15 years of government service,” Vindman said, quoting Hill. “He is brilliant, unflappable, and exercises excellent judgment...Exemplary during numerous visits...I think you get the idea.”
and he looked like a pathetic asshole here as well:
oh and this one!
and this jackass:
I don’t know how to feel about this asshole, but I do think this picture is funny:
Before we move on to some actual news, let’s watch these assholes again from another angle:
This Isn’t Over Yet
Read This
i’m a former federal corruption AUSA and also a former DOJ attorney. Let me tell you why I think the House isn’t going to court over the failure of Bolton, Pompeo, etc. to appear for testimony.
If the House were to go to the District Court, any ruling would eventually be appealed to the Supreme Court. The earliest any decision would come is next spring or early summer.
If the House impeaches the president, the impeachment will be conducted no later than January, and occur under the Senate’s impeachment rules.
The rules provide that the House managers can issue subpoenas to anyone, presumably including Bolton and Mulvaney. A senator could object that the testimony is irrelevant or covered by privilege. Rule VII provides that a ruling on such questions will usually be made by the Presiding Officer – the Chief Justice, unless he refers the decision to the full Senate.
I think it is likely that testimony from Mulvaney would be compelled – at least as far as his public statements, and that Bolton and others would be ordered to testify – at least as to some matters. Additional documentary evidence would likely be compelled, as well.
While a majority of the Senate could vote to overturn the Chief Justice’s ruling, any evidentiary/privilege ruling by him would have a presumption that it was correct. As a political matter, it would be difficult for many Republican senators to vote to overturn an evidentiary ruling by the Chief that is based on the law.
I don’t think this relies on any great civic virtue on Justice Roberts’ part.
Thus, by moving directly to impeachment, the House gets its best chance of winning the testimony of Bolton, Mulvaney, and others, and doing so in a timely fashion.
My guess is Speaker Pelosi is aware of this approach, based on her comments today at her presser that the House won’t go to court now to obtain testimony of Pompeo, Maloney, and Bolton. She noted, however, that the information may be available to the Senate.
Schiff isn’t ruling out more impeachment hearings
The House Intelligence Committee has begun work on its report in the impeachment inquiry against President Trump, Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) said in an interview Friday.
The committee, which on Thursday wrapped up public testimony with a dozen current and former administration officials, will continue working on its investigation while compiling the report, Schiff said in his Capitol Hill office. The report will signify a handoff in the impeachment inquiry from the Intelligence Committee to the House Judiciary Committee, which would write articles of impeachment.
“We’re not foreclosing the possibility of additional depositions or hearings, but we’re also not willing to wait months and months and let them play rope-a-dope with us in the courts,” Schiff said, referring to ongoing legal battles over the refusal of some witnesses to testify or provide documents.
Schiff said the committee will work on “both tracks” of continuing to investigate while “beginning to put our report together.” He refused to say when the report may come out or whether he believes articles of impeachment are warranted.
maybe this guy???
looks like he wants to talk:
Giuliani associate willing to tell Congress Nunes met with ex-Ukrainian official to get dirt on Biden
A lawyer for an indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani tells CNN that his client is willing to tell Congress about meetings the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee had in Vienna last year with a former Ukrainian prosecutor to discuss digging up dirt on Joe Biden.
The attorney, Joseph A. Bondy, represents Lev Parnas, the recently indicted Soviet-born American who worked with Giuliani to push claims of Democratic corruption in Ukraine. Bondy said that Parnas was told directly by the former Ukrainian official that he met last year in Vienna with Rep. Devin Nunes.
"Mr. Parnas learned from former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Victor Shokin that Nunes had met with Shokin in Vienna last December," said Bondy.
Bondy tells CNN that his client and Nunes began communicating around the time of the Vienna trip. Parnas says he worked to put Nunes in touch with Ukrainians who could help Nunes dig up dirt on Biden and Democrats in Ukraine, according to Bondy.
That information would likely be of great interest to House Democrats given its overlap with the current impeachment inquiry into President Trump, and could put Nunes in a difficult spot.
and there is this:
Last week, CNN
reported that Parnas had claimed to have had a private meeting with Trump in which the President tasked him with a "secret mission" to uncover dirt on Democrats in Ukraine.
"He believes he has put himself out there for the President and now he's been completely hung out to dry," a person close to Parnas told CNN
He is pretty scummy, so who knows what will come of it.
Overall, this is the best advice I have seen for our side:
Trump isn’t helping them at all
Trump's smearing of ex-Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch echoes Christine Blasey Ford
in the same way that Ford came to symbolize a certain kind of strength, Yovanovitch symbolizes any woman who’s ever had a man try to undermine her, demote her or push her out.
this was about power. Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it best. “Well, he made a mistake,” she told "Face the Nation," “and he knows her strength. And he was trying to undermine it.”
A mistake indeed.
Because women, it turns out, take this quite personally. They get inspired and wear pink hats and take to the streets. They go out and vote in record numbers in wave elections. They may even topple presidencies.
“Are you sure?” Trump’s Ukraine conspiracy theory was a bit much even for Fox & Friends
“A lot of it had to do, they say, with Ukraine,” Trump said. “They have the server, right? From the DNC ... they gave the server to CrowdStrike — or whatever it’s called — which is a company owned by a very wealthy Ukrainian, and I still want to see that server. You know, the FBI has never gotten that server. That’s a big part of this whole thing. Why did they give it to a Ukrainian company?”
Even host Steve Doocy seemed somewhat taken aback by Trump’s claims and responded by asking him, “Are you sure they did that? Are you sure they gave it to Ukraine?”
How Trump keeps making it tougher for his GOP impeachment defenders
Trump went after Yovanovitch again Friday, saying on Fox News that she “hated me so much” and falsely calling her “an Obama person” while complaining that because “she’s a woman, you have to be nice.”
“We Republicans were going to say, ‘She’s had an excellent career, but she wasn’t there in the decisive moments, so thank you for testifying, have a nice day,’ ” King recalled. “Then he attacked her, and that set a tone. It makes it more uncomfortable for people.”
Similarly, White House statements criticizing the judgment of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who coordinates Ukraine policy for the National Security Council, and declaring Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Pence, as a “Never Trumper” left some Republicans looking for ways to get Trump to ease off on the accelerator.
And Impeachment isn’t the only arrow we have for Trump
IRS whistleblower case advances as Senate staff looks at whether political appointee meddled with audit of Trump or Pence
Two senators are looking into a whistleblower’s allegations that at least one political appointee at the Treasury Department may have tried to interfere with an audit of President Trump or Vice President Pence, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, a sign that lawmakers are moving to investigate the complaint lodged by a senior staffer at the Internal Revenue Service.
Staff members for Sens. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden (Ore.), the chairman and ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, met with the IRS whistleblower earlier this month, those people said. Follow-up interviews are expected to further explore the whistleblower’s allegations.
House investigating whether Trump lied to Mueller
The House of Representatives is investigating whether President Donald Trump lied to special counsel Robert Mueller in written answers he provided in the Russia investigation, the House's general counsel said in federal court Monday.
"Did the President lie? Was the President not truthful in his responses to the Mueller investigation?" House general counsel Douglas Letter told the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit about why the House now needs access to grand jury material Mueller collected in his investigation.
The CEO of Ukraine’s state gas company, Naftogaz, is ready to give evidence in a U.S. federal investigation that is reportedly probing the business dealings of Rudy Giuliani, the CEO said in an exclusive interview on Friday.
“I will with a high likelihood be invited to testify in this case,” Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev told TIME, citing his lawyers and contacts in the U.S. “If I am called, I would be willing to come and testify,” Kobolyev added.
Federal prosecutors are investigating Giuliani for possible campaign finance violations and illegal lobbying, according to reports published in the past week by Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal, both of which cited unnamed U.S. officials and sources familiar with the matter.
2020 2020 2020 2020
Back-to-back losses in key governors’ races send additional warning to Trump and GOP ahead of 2020
When Kentucky’s Republican governor lost his bid for reelection two weeks ago despite President Trump’s active endorsement, the president and his allies brushed it off by declaring that Trump had nearly dragged an unpopular incumbent across the finish line.
On Sunday, a day after another Trump-backed GOP gubernatorial candidate fell in Louisiana, the president and his surrogates barely mounted a defense.
For Trump, however, the back-to-back losses of GOP gubernatorial candidates in red Southern states is more than just a bad look. It’s a warning sign that the president’s strategy of focusing strictly on maintaining the strong support of his conservative base might not be enough to help fellow Republicans or even himself in 2020 amid the House Democrats’ impeachment probe, which has imperiled his presidency.
Bloomberg spending $15M-$20M to register half million voters
As he moves toward a presidential announcement, New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg is rolling out plans to spend an estimated $15 million to $20 million on a voter registration drive designed to weaken President Donald Trump’s reelection chances in five battleground states.
News of the large investment, confirmed by Bloomberg’s team on Wednesday, comes less than a week after the former New York City mayor unveiled a $100 million online advertising campaign attacking Trump in four general election swing states as well.
Other Great News
Secretive energy startup backed by Bill Gates achieves solar breakthrough
A secretive startup backed by Bill Gates has achieved a solar breakthrough aimed at saving the planet.
Heliogen, a clean energy company that emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday, said it has discovered a way to use artificial intelligence and a field of mirrors to reflect so much sunlight that it generates extreme heat above 1,000 degrees Celsius.
Essentially, Heliogen created a solar oven — one capable of reaching temperatures that are roughly a quarter of what you'd find on the surface of the sun.
The breakthrough means that, for the first time, concentrated solar energy can be used to create the extreme heat required to make cement, steel, glass and other industrial processes. In other words, carbon-free sunlight can replace fossil fuels in a heavy carbon-emitting corner of the economy that has been untouched by the clean energy revolution.
"We are rolling out technology that can beat the price of fossil fuels and also not make the CO2 emissions," Bill Gross, Heliogen's founder and CEO, told CNN Business. "And that's really the holy grail."
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is back on the bench
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was back on the bench Monday after missing one day of courtroom arguments last week.
Donald Trump’s Crazy Handwriting Is Now A Free Font Called Tiny Hand
For a recent satirical article, which purported itself to be Trump’s own handwritten notes from the second debate, BuzzFeed decided to go the extra yard and task Mark Davis, a graphic designer at BuzzFeed and Font Bureau, to recreate The Donald’s handwriting as a custom font, which it’s calling Tiny Hand. Even better? It’s now available for free download here.
and since I didn’t provide my usual cheerleading, lets end with some cheerleading from Gloria Steinem (does this make anyone else wonder if she reads the GNR occasionally???!)
Love to all of you. I am so glad and lucky to be in this with you ❤️ ✊ ❤️