All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Tami]

Chuck Todd to GOP Senator: You’re Selling the Same Argument as Putin!

A week after claiming that he didn’t know whether Russia or Ukraine was responsible for hacking the DNC server during the 2016 election, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) left Meet the Press anchor Chuck Todd astounded when he accused the former president of Ukraine of working for Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

At the top of their interview on Sunday, Todd brought up Kennedy’s eventual walk-back of his DNC remarks, asking the Louisiana lawmaker why he backtracked.

A week after claiming that he didn’t know whether Russia or Ukraine was responsible for hacking the DNC server during the 2016 election, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) left Meet the Press anchor Chuck Todd astounded when he accused the former president of Ukraine of working for Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

At the top of their interview on Sunday, Todd brought up Kennedy’s eventual walk-back of his DNC remarks, asking the Louisiana lawmaker why he backtracked.

Kennedy, meanwhile, insisted that there was sufficient evidence that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election on behalf of Clinton, citing a handful of articles to claim that a number of Ukrainian officials “meddled in the election on social media and otherwise.”

“In fact, in December of 2018, a Ukrainian court ruled that Ukrainian officials had violated Ukrainian law by meddling in our election and that was reported in The New York Times,” Kennedy added, referencing a court ruling that the leaking of the so-called “black ledger” on ex-Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort was against the law. (The court has since canceled that ruling.)

Todd would eventually confront Kennedy on the U.S. intelligence community recently briefing lawmakers that attempts to frame Ukraine for Russian election meddling was actually “a Russian intelligence propaganda campaign in order to get people like you to say these things about Ukraine," a briefing Kennedy claimed he didn't attend.

“When does opinion become fact?” Todd wondered aloud. “Does 17 intelligence services saying it, does every western intelligence ally saying Russia did this—I get sort of confused at what point is it no longer an opinion for you?”

[Tami]

Republicans to mount aggressive campaign against impeachment as spotlight turns to Judiciary panel

On Sunday, Democrats called on the White House to cooperate, suggesting that an innocent person would have no problem testifying.

“We’re certainly hoping that the president, his counsel, will take advantage of that opportunity if he has not done anything wrong,” Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) said on ABC News’s “This Week.” “We’re certainly anxious to hear his explanation of that.”

But there is a conflict inside the GOP over the extent to which Trump and his congressional defenders ought to engage, even as Republicans signaled they will continue their aggressive campaign to delegitimize the process as corrupt and unfair.

Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Rep. Douglas A. Collins (Ga.), the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said he understood why the White House might want to skip the Wednesday hearing, calling it “just another rerun” covering ground already surveyed in previous Judiciary Committee hearings.

“This is a complete American waste of time right here,” he said.

But he added that Republicans would be more keen to participate in future hearings — particularly one examining the findings of the House Intelligence Committee as prepared by its chairman, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.). The committee is scheduled to meet to approve the report’s release Tuesday.

[jetengine]

The stupidest thing about blaming Ukraine is that it literally makes no fucking sense on any level.

A. Their a fucking vassal for Russia by 2016....so its probably still Russia.
B. What do Ukraine get out of it ? Nothing really, that fubding they were going to get anyway. What does Russia get ? A hell of a lot.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The stupidest thing about blaming Ukraine is that it literally makes no fucking sense on any level.

A. Their a fucking vassal for Russia by 2016....so its probably still Russia.
B. What do Ukraine get out of it ? Nothing really, that fubding they were going to get anyway. What does Russia get ? A hell of a lot.

Well, that shoddy as hell defense is all the GOP has, so, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead, they're going to die on that hill, and nothing will stop them.

====================

White House Won’t Participate In Judiciary Committee’s First Impeachment Hearing

“Under the current circumstances, we do not intend to participate,” White House Counsel Pat Cipollone wrote on Sunday. Hardly an unexpected response, all things considered.

**********

Trump Tweets Support For World AIDS Day. His Budget Would Slash Critical Funding.

“This president is no ally of people living with HIV, who are disproportionately LGBTQ and people of color,” the Democratic National Committee said. No ****, Sherlock!

**********

Fmr. Trump Official Says Gallagher Decision Shows ‘Little To No Understanding’ Of Military

Col. David Lapan, who worked in the Department of Homeland Security under Trump, called the president’s meddling “unprecedented.” Of course Trump is ignorant about the military, he dodged the Draft after all.

**********

Top House Judiciary Republican Says He Will Call Adam Schiff To Testify First

Rep. Doug Collins said the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee “needs” to testify as part of the impeachment inquiry. To what end? To please Dolt45, plain and simple.

**********

Trump Jr. Rips Brits For Freeing Terrorist; Critics Say His Dad Enabled 100s More To Escape

After Trump allowed Turkey to invade Syria, ISIS captives were able to escape from their detention in Kurdish-held areas. Research before you open your yap, Junior.

[jetengine]

The thing about the London Bridge terrorist is two fold.

1. The guy who was killed couldn't get the correct de-radicalisation therapy he needed because of Conservative government austerity cuts.
2. He was actually at a prisoner rehabilitation meeting at that day when he attacked, one of the three people who stopped him was actually at the same meeting having served his time for murder.

Also to be frank the US government still has a guy locked up from the early 2000s for....sending cheques to an organisation linked to terrorists. So I'd rather try to rehabilitate rather then just keep people in prison forever

[Billy Batson]

[Tami]

The stupidest thing about blaming Ukraine is that it literally makes no fucking sense on any level.

A. Their a fucking vassal for Russia by 2016....so its probably still Russia.
B. What do Ukraine get out of it ? Nothing really, that fubding they were going to get anyway. What does Russia get ? A hell of a lot.

Let's imagine that every country in the world decided to 'get involved' in the 2016 US Elections. Ukraine would be out dwarfed by most of the EU, Canada, Australia, and probably Mexico (in fact most of NATO) all trying to get Clinton Elected. Other countries have a far more vested interest in who becomes President in the US than Ukraine does.

The whole idea is crazy, the only one crazy enough to try is Putin.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Let's imagine that every country in the world decided to 'get involved' in the 2016 US Elections. Ukraine would be out dwarfed by most of the EU, Canada, Australia, and probably Mexico (in fact most of NATO) all trying to get Clinton Elected. Other countries have a far more vested interest in who becomes President in the US than Ukraine does.

The whole idea is crazy, the only one crazy enough to try is Putin.

And Putin was the only one determined enough to try because he didn't want Clinton in the White House where she'd be a roadblock to whatever schemes he had up his sleeve to make trouble for NATO, the EU or the U.S. On the other hand, Trump, in hock up to his eyeballs to Russian oligarchs made for the perfect useful idiot (heavy emphasis on idiot) Putin could use as president. Bottom line, Russia had every reason in the world to screw around with the 2016 elections, for Republicans to continue floating the bullshit theory that Ukraine was the villain of the piece is an insult to the intelligence of anyone not brainwashed by the GOP or Faux News.

[Tami]

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock drops out of presidential race

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who pitched himself to Democratic voters as a campaign finance reformer who could win in red states, is ending his bid for the party’s presidential nomination.

“While there were many obstacles we could not have anticipated when entering this race, it has become clear that in this moment, I won’t be able to break through to the top tier of this still-crowded field,” Bullock said in a statement. “I leave this race filled with gratitude and optimism, inspired and energized by the good people I’ve had the privilege of meeting over the course of the campaign.”

Bullock, 53, entered the race in May, arguing that a group heavy on Washington experience needed an outsider from a “Trump state.” He rejected entreaties from national Democrats to run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Republican Steve Daines, telling reporters that he had no interest in the job.

[Tami]

How Black Voters Could Help Biden Win the Democratic Nomination

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. may lose the Iowa caucuses. But he is betting on strong support from black voters in Southern states and urban areas to help him accrue the 1,990 delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

It might work. That’s because an overwhelming majority of delegates are awarded from areas more racially diverse than Iowa and New Hampshire. If Mr. Biden retains his strength with black voters, he’d have a structural advantage in the nomination race that is greater than his uneven lead in national polls suggests.

Think of it this way: Candidates gain delegates based on voting in both states and districts, which are Congressional districts in all but a few places. While Iowa and New Hampshire may generate political momentum for a winner because they vote first, the two states award very few delegates. By contrast, a candidate who is popular in California, Texas and predominantly black districts in the South could pick up big shares of delegates.

[Tami]

300+ Trump ads taken down by Google, YouTube

How to handle political ads on social media has become a growing concern as the 2020 U.S. presidential election approaches.

Facebook has taken most of the heat, after refusing to remove an ad for President Trump's reelection featuring false information about his opponent Joe Biden.

While political ads on social media do not adhere to different rules than political ads on TV, they have come under specific scrutiny because of their unique ability to disseminate – broadly and rapidly -- bad information, and the platforms' inability to properly police them.

Compared to TV, online ads can spread lies at an alarming rate -- bolstered by machine-learning algorithms that can identify target audiences at enormous speed and scale.

[Tami]

Will John Roberts Constrain Trump?

The final weeks of November may be remembered as the moment when Donald Trump crushed the last vestiges of resistance to him in the Republican Party. The sole remaining question is whether that conquest extends to the Republican-appointed justices on the Supreme Court—especially the chief justice, John Roberts.

A stark confluence of events these past few weeks, from the House of Representatives to the Pentagon, has underscored how thoroughly Trump has broken almost all meaningful opposition within the GOP ranks. “There never was that much resistance, but I do think there has been some final capitulation of some of the semi-holdouts, or at least the ones who were keeping their distance,” says the longtime conservative strategist Bill Kristol, a leader of the Never Trump movement. “No one would have predicted the Republican Party would have been in this position” when Trump was initially elected.

The practical impact of this deference is to loosen constraints on Trump as he implements his virtually unlimited view of unilateral presidential power. One lesson of the Trump presidency is that one party alone, even if it controls a chamber of Congress, does not have enough leverage to stymie such a vision. Though the Democratic majority in the House eliminates Trump’s capacity to advance legislative goals, the past year has demonstrated that without support from the Republican Senate, the chamber has very limited ability to overturn Trump’s unilateral actions. Even the impact of a potential House vote to impeach would be blunted if few or no Republicans vote for it, and if GOP senators oppose removing Trump with comparable uniformity.

Such an outcome might actually embolden Trump to push further against the boundaries of law and convention, especially if he’s reelected in 2020. If Republicans will not vote to sanction him for his coercion of Ukraine—which has been painstakingly detailed in public testimony—many observers believe that he would justifiably question whether there is anything he could do that they would rebel against.

“If he gets reelected, all bets are off,” Kristol says. “Everything he’s done is legitimized. Pardoning war criminals, flouting congressional oversight—why would he just not assume he can get away with all of that, especially if Republicans continue to hold the Senate, which they would if he won. The second term is all this on steroids, and I think it’s a genuine crisis at that point.”

[Tami]

Rick Perry is officially out the door, and he left a cringe worthy video behind.

[Malvolio]

Well, that shoddy as hell defense is all the GOP has, so, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead, they're going to die on that hill, and nothing will stop them.

====================

White House Won’t Participate In Judiciary Committee’s First Impeachment Hearing

“Under the current circumstances, we do not intend to participate,” White House Counsel Pat Cipollone wrote on Sunday. Hardly an unexpected response, all things considered.

**********

Trump Tweets Support For World AIDS Day. His Budget Would Slash Critical Funding.

“This president is no ally of people living with HIV, who are disproportionately LGBTQ and people of color,” the Democratic National Committee said. No ****, Sherlock!

**********

Fmr. Trump Official Says Gallagher Decision Shows ‘Little To No Understanding’ Of Military

Col. David Lapan, who worked in the Department of Homeland Security under Trump, called the president’s meddling “unprecedented.” Of course Trump is ignorant about the military, he dodged the Draft after all.

**********

Top House Judiciary Republican Says He Will Call Adam Schiff To Testify First

Rep. Doug Collins said the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee “needs” to testify as part of the impeachment inquiry. To what end? To please Dolt45, plain and simple.

**********

Trump Jr. Rips Brits For Freeing Terrorist; Critics Say His Dad Enabled 100s More To Escape

After Trump allowed Turkey to invade Syria, ISIS captives were able to escape from their detention in Kurdish-held areas. Research before you open your yap, Junior.

1. Trump supports World AIDS Day the same way he supports his wife's anti-bullying campaign, which is to say, not at all.

2. The member of the impeachment committee who should testify is not Adam Schiff, but rather Devin Nunes.

[Malvolio]

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock drops out of presidential race

Anyone who contributed a donation to his campaign should demand their money back, just on principle.