All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Tami]

READ IT: Veteran diplomat Bill Taylor’s damning opening statement about Trump and Ukraine

Looks like someone took pictures of it with a cell phone camera. Which means it probably wasn't officially released. It might have to be after this.

[BeastieRunner]

READ IT: Veteran diplomat Bill Taylor’s damning opening statement about Trump and Ukraine

Looks like someone took pictures of it with a cell phone camera. Which means it probably wasn't officially released. It might have to be after this.

1. That's a lot of work to go to if it's fake.
2. It's got the security watermarks on every page.
3. It's got the shade watermarks on every page.
4. Somebody will go to jail if this is true because they're going to nail the leaker because it makes the POTUS look bad ... so they better hope this turns the tide towards conviction.
5. The evidence presented is not "this for that" but blackmail and extortion.
6. Rudy is going to go to prison for A LONG TIME if what is contained in the document is truthful.

:O

[WestPhillyPunisher]

So how are Republicans beyond Graham reacting to the lynching comment.... well...







More with Graham...



And for WPP, here's Tim Scott.

Predictably, those fearless Republicans danced around Trump’s loathsome comments like Fred Astaire on bennies. As for Scott, his nose is so far up Trump’s ass, you can see it a block away at night.

[Tami]

1. That's a lot of work to go to if it's fake.
2. It's got the security watermarks on every page.
3. It's got the shade watermarks on every page.
4. Somebody will go to jail if this is true because they're going to nail the leaker because it makes the POTUS look bad ... so they better hope this turns the tide towards conviction.
5. The evidence presented is not "this for that" but blackmail and extortion.
6. Rudy is going to go to prison for A LONG TIME if what is contained in the document is truthful.

:O

The Washington Post has a copy, so I think it's public now.

[worstblogever]

Bill Taylor's testimony today was so damning that even F***ing Jim Jordan wouldn't speak to the press afterwards to try and defend Trump.

[Tami]

New Evidence Hints at Another Justice Department Coverup

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) released evidence on Tuesday that the Justice Department buried the whistleblower complaint about President Donald Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president by failing to refer the matter to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC). Klobuchar suggested the Justice Department violated a longstanding agreement between the agencies to share information about possible campaign finance violations for potential enforcement action.

To recap: The whistleblower complaint at the heart of the impeachment inquiry didn’t just contain evidence that the president pressured a foreign government to help him win reelection. It also contained evidence of a potential campaign finance violation. When President Trump asked for dirt on his political opponent, he likely illegally solicited a “thing of value” from a foreign national.

Earlier this month, Klobuchar set out to uncover whether the Justice Department had honored this agreement, sending two letters to the FEC inquiring whether it had received any such referral. On October 18, the commission’s Democratic chair, Ellen Weintraub, confirmed to Klobuchar that the FEC had not been notified. “The refusal to inform the FEC and refer the matter regarding the President’s call to the FEC as required to do, as the Justice Department is required, undermines our campaign finance system and is unacceptable in a democracy,” Klobuchar said in Tuesday statement.

What’s unclear so far is why no such referral was made. Either the Justice Department dropped the ball, or Klobuchar has helped discover another avenue in the administration’s sprawling coverup.

[Tami]

Local news that bothers me. It's as if they enjoy seeing children go hungry.

Cherry Hill school district rejects a Philly businessman’s offer to wipe out students’ lunch debts

A retired Philadelphia businessman offered to help Cherry Hill solve its school-lunch debt problem, but the school district said it will not accept donations to wipe out thousands of dollars in unpaid meal fees.

Steve Ravitz stepped in after the district made national news in August because of its policy to give students with outstanding fees tuna fish sandwiches for lunch instead of the regular hot meals served daily. In a Facebook post in September, Ravitz wrote: “I would be happy to solve this issue.”

In a statement Thursday, school district spokesperson Barbara Wilson said: “We are not accepting donations toward the debt.”

The district has previously said it believes some parents who have outstanding lunch bills have the ability to pay. About 20 percent of Cherry Hill’s 11,000 students are eligible for reduced-price or free meals.

On Wednesday, two state lawmakers announced plans to introduce legislation that would require the state to pick up the cost of reduced-price breakfast or lunch for public school students, roughly $4.5 million annually.

“It’s critically important that children have access to regular and nutritious meals while at school, but … for many families the financial burden is too great,” Assembly Speaker Craig Couglin (D., Middlesex) said in a statement.

[zinderel]

So, what is the punishment for treason in America? Is it still firing squad...?

Or is it just a cushy job with a lobbying firm, right-wing think tank, or media outlet?

[InformationGeek]

My god, GET OVER HER!

.@HillaryClinton, your foreign policy was a disaster for our country and the world. It’s time for you to acknowledge the damage you have caused and step down from your throne. https://t.co/2cWI54lf6Y https://t.co/h2fl7ox0Rv

[heretic]

Local news that bothers me. It's as if they enjoy seeing children go hungry.

Cherry Hill school district rejects a Philly businessman’s offer to wipe out students’ lunch debts

That's... depraved.

If it is simply a matter of costs, the school district should be leaping at this chance. They are standing on the principle that kids need to go hungry if the parents do not have cash on hand.

[heretic]

My god, GET OVER HER!

Ah, the Anyone But Hillary wing of the Democratic Party.

And step down from where? Has she been in the public sector at all since 2016? Will ritual suicide on her part do, or must be go full Damnatio memoriae before 'Not Clinton' drops below the top 5 factors in any political consideration?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

My god, GET OVER HER!

I know, right? Hell, not even Trump bothers with Hillary these days. Next thing you know, Gabbard will be chanting “Lock her up!” at the next debate.

[Robotman]

My god, GET OVER HER!

You can pretty much bet that Tulsi will run as an Independent. This Hillary thing will be the basis of her campaign. She’ll use the “Hillary is the boogeyman” bit to try and siphon off voters from the Democratic candidate. This could be problematic especially if Biden the moderate gets the nod.

[worstblogever]

You can pretty much bet that Tulsi will run as an Independent. This Hillary thing will be the basis of her campaign. She’ll use the “Hillary is the boogeyman” bit to try and siphon off voters from the Democratic candidate. This could be problematic especially if Biden the moderate gets the nod.

Tulsi might pull more votes away from conservatives who hate Hillary, but won't support Trump's corruption and misogyny than Democratic voters away from the nominee with this "BOO HILLARY" strategy, arguably.

[worstblogever]

I just had the realization that today was a day that Trump's "outrage of the day" strategy to bury scandals with something new and shocking failed.

He hoped to bury the lede with his "lynching" remark, and the testimony from Taylor blew that out of the water. Worse, because he LED the day with it prior to Taylor's testimony before Congress, as a result, Republicans were the ones distracted and were playing defense on the "lynching" Twitter post, and were unable to provide any coordinated defense, or any defense of Taylor confirming a Quid Pro Quo with Ukraine, and that Mike Pompeo and Mike Mulvaney were in on it with Trump and Guiliani (confirmed from earlier testimony) as well. Sen. Klobuchar dropping the evidence that Barr knew about the whistleblower and actively was trying to cover it up was also damning.

So while Democrats had a focused, coordinated impeachment inquiry, the GOP was flailing in every direction.

A hallmark of the Trump Era Republican Party. Flailing and/or pathetic conspiracy theories are all they have left.