All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Rosa Luxemburg]

Do you have a source on...any of the stuff you said about the situation because I'm reading a very different story.

A source on what?

Are you expecting the CIA to come out and admit they're involved in a military coup in Latin America?

A Socialist leader in Latin America has been ousted by the country's right-wing and you don't think the CIA is involved? Are we going to pretend Operation Condor never happened?

[Gray Lensman]

A source on what?

Are you expecting the CIA to come out and admit they're involved in a military coup in Latin America?

A Socialist leader in Latin America has been ousted by the country's right-wing and you don't think the CIA is involved? Are we going to pretend Operation Condor never happened?

I think there might be some ground between head in the sand claims that nothing was ever a CIA op and Chicken Little claims that everything must be.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

I think there might be some ground between head in the sand claims that nothing was ever a CIA op and Chicken Little claims that everything must be.

Not claiming everything is a CIA op.

Haiti, Ecuador, and Chile obviously aren't.

The US has backed four coups in Bolivia already. Why would you think this time is different?

They decided to just sit this one out?

[Gray Lensman]

Not claiming everything is a CIA op.

Haiti, Ecuador, and Chile obviously aren't.

The US has backed four coups in Bolivia already. Why would you think this time is different?

The mess we helped contribute to down there is nasty enough to create unrest for decades to come without any additional helping hand. It's kind of self-perpetuating now.

[numberthirty]

The mess we helped contribute to down there is nasty enough to create unrest for decades to come without any additional helping hand. It's kind of self-perpetuating now.

Which means the CIA was involved, no?

It's not exactly "Chicken Little..." to suspect/buy into that there is probably some involvement here.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

The mess we helped contribute to down there is nasty enough to create unrest for decades to come without any additional helping hand. It's kind of self-perpetuating now.

Sure, but you could have said the same thing about the second coup, or the third.

We probably won't get documented confirmation till decades from now, but the history of the CIA tells us they are involved.

[numberthirty]

Sure, but you could have said the same thing about the second coup, or the third.

We probably won't get documented confirmation till decades from now, but the history of the CIA tells us they are involved.

If anything, the idea that this was the one that the CIA somehow had zero role in feels like the stretch.

Could it be the case? Sure, anything is possible.

That said, it's anything but some outlandish scenario for them to be involved somehow.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

A good twitter thread on what's going on.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1...624108544.html

The President and Vice President of the Election Court have been imprisoned.

https://twitter.com/J_LIVRES/status/1193678735360303105

[Rosa Luxemburg]

The Trump Administration Is Undercutting Democracy in Bolivia

Will the US and the Organization of American States once again be able to overturn election results?

Multilateral organizations like the Organization of American States (OAS) have a certain perceived impartiality because they are, in theory, controlled by a diverse group of nations. But sometimes a great power can wield a disproportionate influence. It could theoretically be a coincidence that both the Trump administration and the OAS have tried—without offering any evidence—to discredit Bolivia’s national election in the past couple of weeks. But it’s more likely that this dangerous, ugly, and destabilizing operation is being pushed by Washington.

This was written before Morales was ousted.

[numberthirty]

An interesting piece in terms of how far and wide a particular infrastructure failing could wind up being an issue.

- https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...on/4163049002/

Lead in some Canadian water worse than Flint, investigation finds

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Giuliani Associate Says He Told Ukraine That Aid Was Contingent On Biden Probe: Report

The New York Times report is one of the first signs that Lev Parnas has flipped on Trump and his personal attorney in the impeachment investigation. Well now, that's sure intriguing.

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Anthony Scaramucci Says There’s ‘No Question’ About Trump’s ‘Traitorous’ Behavior

The short-lived White House communications director said the president had betrayed the Constitution and become a “traitor to the laws of the United States.” What a world we live in where Scary Tony is seen as a voice of truth in turbulent waters.

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Cindy McCain: John McCain ‘Would Be Disgusted’ By The State Of Politics

The late Arizona senator’s wife said that without her husband, Republicans are less likely to stand against Trump. For damn sure McCain's "buddy" Lindsey Graham hasn't, hell, he's made a cottage industry out of kissing Trump's ass 24/7. Speaking of which....

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CNN’s Jake Tapper Skewers Lindsey Graham Over Impeachment Hypocrisy

The Republican senator declined to appear on “State of the Union,” the host said. Gee whiz! What a shock! Never would've thought something like would happen (said with tongue in cheek).

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Legendary Journalist Bill Moyers Says He Fears For The Nation For The First Time In His Life

“Society, a democracy, can die of too many lies — and we’re getting close to that terminal moment,” he warns.

[Tami]

Donald Trump Jr walks out of Triggered book launch after heckling – from supporters

Donald Trump Jr ventured on to the University of California’s overwhelmingly liberal Los Angeles campus on Sunday, hoping to prove what he had just argued in his book – that a hate-filled American left was hell-bent on silencing him and anyone else who supported the Trump presidency.

But the appearance backfired when his own supporters, diehard Make America Great Again conservatives, raised their voices most loudly in protest and ended up drowning him out barely 20 minutes into an event scheduled to last two hours.

The audience was angry that Trump Jr and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, would not take questions. The loud shouts of “USA! USA!” that greeted Trump when he first appeared on the stage of a university lecture hall to promote his book Triggered: How The Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us quickly morphed into even louder, openly hostile chants of “Q and A! Q and A!”

The 450-strong audience had just been told they would not be allowed to ask questions, “due to time constraints”.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Donald Trump Jr walks out of Triggered book launch after heckling – from supporters

To quote the immortal Ted Kord: "BWA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Sounds like Junior was only interested in hearing the sound of his own voice for two hours, but his lemming followers were having none of it. Hilarious!

[Tami]

Talk about denial

Iowa senator Joni Ernst put on the spot by impeachment process

A man took the mic at his local town hall and shared his concern with the Iowa Republican senator Joni Ernst: that Donald Trump had lied about a phone call with the Ukrainian president and pressured the country to investigate one of his political rivals, former vice-president Joe Biden.

He wanted to know what Ernst would do about it.

Addressing 60 or so constituents gathered in the middle school auditorium in Muscatine, Ernst responded by sharing her low opinion of the impeachment inquiry on Trump, launched by the Democrat-controlled House.

Ernst disputed her constituent’s claim that Trump had lied, arguing the White House memo on the Ukraine call showed no evidence of a quid pro quo and criticizing House Democrats for holding “secret meetings” with key witnesses in the investigation. (The memo shows Trump asking the Ukrainian president for “a favor”.)

Ernst may have considered the matter settled after answering that question, but then another constituent asked her about Trump’s impeachment. And then another.

In an interview with the Guardian after her Muscatine town hall, Ernst dismissed the impeachment inquiry as a “political exercise” and insisted Democratic opposition to Trump had “jaded” the investigation.

“They didn’t care what it was,” Ernst said of the Democrats launching the inquiry. “They were just trying to find anything that would give them traction to impeach Trump.”

The Republican senator also argued impeachment was not top of Iowa voters’ minds and said that many of her constituents have called for an end to the investigation. “What I do hear from a lot of folks is: stop this,” Ernst said. “There’s so many things that we have to get done and yet all of the effort is going towards impeachment.”

There is evidence to suggest Iowa voters are prioritizing other issues. According to a poll released last month, only 6% of Iowa voters consider impeachment to be the most important issue when deciding which presidential candidate to back.

But Ernst has repeatedly faced questions about the inquiry in recent weeks, from both the national media and her own constituents.

[InformationGeek]

Talk about denial

Iowa senator Joni Ernst put on the spot by impeachment process

It would bring me so much joy to see her booted next election and forced to go back to cut hogs' junk off.