Here’s the updated impeachment inquiry schedule for the rest of the week: pic.twitter.com/rXgeMnjBvk
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) October 15, 2019
New talking points for House Dems from Pelosi’s office > pic.twitter.com/qFiBQc2IKv
— Jacqueline Alemany (@JaxAlemany) October 15, 2019
Per the Washington Post:
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton have emerged as key targets for House Democrats in their impeachment investigation of President Trump after explosive testimony about the president’s pressure on a foreign leader to investigate a political rival.
House Democrats on Tuesday began discussing the possibility of summoning both men — who would be the highest-ranking individuals to testify — as the investigation has accelerated in recent days with the cooperation of several current and former administration officials.
The actions of Mulvaney and Bolton attracted considerable attention after two witnesses testified that the acting White House chief of staff was involved in setting up a separate channel to handle diplomacy with Ukraine, which angered Bolton…
“Mulvaney has the inside understanding of why the money was withheld on the security assistance,” said Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, who said the two men should testify.
“They’re going to be good witnesses,” quipped Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.). “I suspect we will [need to hear from them]; we need to get the facts.”…
NEW: Dem leaders — led by Clyburn's office — are reaching out to vulnerable Dems to size up support for a floor vote to formalize the impeachment inquiry.
w/ @BresPolitico @heatherscopehttps://t.co/oBmq5sJ896
— Sarah Ferris (@sarahnferris) October 15, 2019
Seems to me they’re in to week two of that strategy. I don’t think it’s going to hold much longer. https://t.co/utRzI4j562
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) October 15, 2019
One thing impeachment does is creates a central narrative for all these major Trump scandals to stick to. Before they seemed scattershot, & the public/press appeared to lose interest within days. Now they're all part of a bigger story, magnifying scandals & extending news cycles
— Blickstein's Monster (@AdamBlickstein) October 14, 2019
This is correct, and should be coupled with the observation that if the Dems give in on this made-up procedural point, the White House and its defenders will just make up a new one. https://t.co/SWBFPApOZK
— Josh Chafetz (@joshchafetz) October 15, 2019
I don't entirely understand why this is such an emergency when his approval is stable, polling on impeachment is rapidly trending D's direction, and there's tons and tons of coverage of the scandal https://t.co/v153ia2tqx
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) October 15, 2019
Perhaps they should cooperate with the investigation? https://t.co/noDq1jF2SL
— Matthew "Scary Halloween Themed Pun" Yglesias (@mattyglesias) October 16, 2019
OzarkHillbilly
Blech.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
Rusty
I trust Nancy’s timing on this, let a lot of negative testimony get out there and then make Republicans vote no. It ties Trump around their neck for the election next year.
rikyrah
Rudy is messed up with Turkey too.
Let’s get the transcripts of those phone calls??
Bobby Thomson
Trump can’t handle a drawn out process. He has always been his own worst enemy and this magnifies his weaknesses.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: ? yep
@rikyrah: Good morning ?
Sounds like not watching the debates was a good decision. All the candidates should refuse to do any more of these dog and pony shows until the DNC gets rid of the media personalities and has debate questions written by subject matter experts in the topics. Krugman on the economy, maybe the Guardian reporters doing the climate in crisis series, a constitutional law professor on governmental questions, and a unicorn because none of the previous is ever going to happen.
Mike E
@satby:
You’d bring back Marianne Williamson?
germy
https://www.vulture.com/2019/10/netflix-and-ava-duvernay-sued-over-when-they-see-us-scene.html#_ga=2.18603897.1537917525.1571222326-1397027536.1571222326
I wonder how this will end.
debbie
@Rusty:
Why shouldn’t she be able to wait until she knows she has the votes? Moscow Mitch does that all the time.
debbie
@germy:
Couldn’t get more frivolous, bastards.
Immanentize
@germy:
The Reid method has been widely condemned and has proven to be a factor in numerous false confessions — especially of juveniles. Sadly, not universally condemned, but I dont think that is defamatory…. Sue away.
Cheryl Rofer
I love it that both sides are publishing their talking points now.
Immanentize
@Cheryl Rofer: I think the Republicans are being leaked and the Democrats are just publishing theirs to get them into the news cycle again?
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: @Immanentize: Panama Papers law firm Mossack Fonseca sues Netflix over The Laundromat
Immanentize
Reading an actual article on AOC and Sanders, two things stood out:
First the Sanders people are going to token the hell out of that endorsement:
And that “The Squad” as generally understood, is not fully backing Sanders as Pressley is not endorsing him.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: The Republicans are kind enough to send them to the DEMs so the DEMs can strategize against them.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: See, bipartisanship efforts!
Betty Cracker
@Immanentize: Interesting that Pressley isn’t endorsing Sanders. Do you think it’s because she’s from MA?
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly:
OMG these privileged jerks who are about to go on trial are suing a fictionalized account of their efforts? In Panama? That lawsuit is certainly being paid for by the Laundromat movie producers as Oscar hype, no?
Immanentize
@Betty Cracker: That is probably part of it, but if you’ve noticed, she is way more quiet and measured than the other three. She is in this for the long game. I really can’t see her as a big Sanders person, her district isn’t.
Betty Cracker
Regarding the House impeachment vote, Pelosi is asserting that she runs the show because the Constitution says so, and good for her.
randy khan
Given the trajectory of the polling, it seems to me that Pelosi may well be waiting to hold a formal vote to authorize an impeachment inquiry so that when it happens it puts maximum pressure on the Republicans to vote for it or look like they’re acting in bad faith. If so, I definitely approve of the strategy.
OzarkHillbilly
Wildlife photographer of the year 2019 winners – in pictures
The Horror
Wow. Just Wow.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: If they aren’t, it’s malpractice.
JMG
@Betty Cracker: Pressley is from Mass. and that’s a big part of it, but she also plays a much more inside game than the rest of the Squad. She’s a former Boston City Councilor, hardly indicative of a natural born rebel.
Matt McIrvin
@Immanentize: oh… when I heard they were endorsing Sanders the idea that Pressley was on board was what kind of impressed me.
Immanentize
@Matt McIrvin:
Undoubtedly as it was meant to….
Chyron HR
@Immanentize:
Well, as the Bros told us in 2016, African-Americans are too stupid to support Bernie.
Kay
It isn’t just that Trump isn’t a good dealmaker. He’s a very bad dealmaker.
Gin & Tonic
@Matt McIrvin: As I said last night, if the 2020 Presidential election is between two Russian assets I’ll sit this one out.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: I’m not sure about that Kay, Putin has come out of trump’s Kurds deal looking pretty good.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay: Casinos are well known as a license to print money, Trump has managed to bankrupt several.
Ken
@OzarkHillbilly: In the overall winner picture, the marmot looks a lot like the stuffed one used in The Lost Boys. Now that I look, the fox also has a hint of the taxidermist’s art.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Kay: Is Erdogan still scheduled to come to the White House?
Trump is so bad at everything and, finally, it feels like it’s bouncing back on him.
OzarkHillbilly
Well, now we’re gonna get to the bottom of this.
trumpthump…. trumpthump….
I hear a new House subpeona being issued.
Uh huh. I’ll just bet he does.
The rat’s are finally starting to get a clue.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Ken: I smelled a whiff of Photoshop in a few of those pics.
Ken
@OzarkHillbilly:
OK, I can definitely see Trump thinking that they could claim some low-level intern had been entirely responsible for the decision to hide all those call records in the secure system, and had managed to do so completely without authority and without anyone else being aware it was happening. But how could they think any sane person would believe it?
Kay
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I don’t know, but it’s a good question.
It is gratifying, but probably inevitable. Trump is a fraud. We only focus on the Trump side of his dealings with other leaders, the “take” inside the US, but they’re dealing with him. There’s the other side of the interaction. The issues with Turkey and Ukraine were “revealed” to the public inside in the US, but these people he’s dealing with already know everything we’re finding out, and have known for years. They’re way ahead of us as far as real information on Donald Trump. They know he’s weak and they know exactly what he wants and why he wants it. He told them.
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic:
I really don’t think Bernie is going to make it past 2019. He may stay in, but one make up artist appearance after a heart attack does not equal recovery. People know that.
Immanentize
Off to the train — class topic today?
Murder, vile and cruel….
OzarkHillbilly
@Ken: I foresee a flood of witnesses queuing up to testify for the House impeachment inquiry, probably stretching around the block..
hueyplong
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Anything other than doubling down on criminality would be so out of character as to be disbelieved as a possible explanation.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: So you’re talking about the reputations of trump admin people in class now?
Kay
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
It’s reassuring to me because it’s kind of a truth touchstone. In spite of all the bullshit, lies and outright propaganda these are real people and they know a lot about Donald Trump, because they deal directly with him. If they’re treating him as if he has no credibility and is weak then that’s a result of their direct experience. They operate on real information, not his claims about “deals”. They would behave differently if the alleged deal-making prowess existed.
OzarkHillbilly
Hmmmmm….. Both Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman were GHWBush’s funeral.
Jeb says they weren’t invited.
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
The ??? is coming ???
cliosfanboy
@Rusty: the key phrase there being “next year”
Ken
@OzarkHillbilly: There were a number of people at that funeral who weren’t invited by the family. IIRC, Lindsay Graham asked some people (Trump spawn, maybe?) who had been specifically dis-invited by the family. It would be interesting to know who invited Parnas and Fruman.
Ken
@Ken: Now that I think of it, I may be mixing up the GHWBush and McCain funerals, at least for Sen. Graham’s role. But I’d still like to know who invited Parnas and Fruman.
(Typing their names repeatedly makes them sound like Muppet characters.)
Kay
Ugh, I’m on a school committee and we have a real winger new member. The sister of the city prosecutor. I know the prosecutor quite well but I had never met the sister. She’s just the whole package. She arrived pre-offended. The sense of aggrieved entitlement just comes off these people in waves. This is a fucking 70% Trump county. Yet. Still. That’s not enough deference to conservatism. The teachers are unhappy, many of their complaints are valid IMO, but rather than having a real conversation about that I have to listen to her fucking Right wing CODE on labor unions. I get it. I know the language they speak. But I’m not engaging on that level. I don’t want to talk about her “beliefs” and it’s not my job to validate them to make her feel good.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ken: According to TPM Parnas was the “guest” of Ghouliani. No word on how Fruman got in. These days, when it comes to GOP selling govt influence, I don’t believe any of them.
Ken
@OzarkHillbilly: Such a bigly number of witnesses that the fire department told some of them they couldn’t come in! No one has ever had as many witnesses as I, Trump!
JPL
@Immanentize: Wouldn’t it depend on the who the victim was?
Betty Cracker
@Immanentize: Maybe it’s a psychological effect of pity, but I thought Sanders had a decent night. He seemed less grouchy and more sincerely animated by the usual talking points. I don’t think he’ll go the distance either, and for the sake of his health, he shouldn’t try! But a lot of people around him are invested in it, and they’ll keep pushing him. I even wonder if his hangers-on convinced The Squad minus Pressley to come out with their endorsement now to keep him in the fight, maybe because he was wavering?
hueyplong
@Ken: Their names give me a Jabberwocky vibe, as in Frumian Parnasnatch.
Matt McIrvin
@Gin & Tonic: Sanders is vastly preferable to Trump in every way and I personally think the “Bernie, Russian asset” talk here is dumb. The one who’s a useful idiot for the Russians is Tulsi Gabbard; you can see the difference. She has the obsessive, BiP-style foreign-policy contrarianism of an RT/Sputnik fan; Bernie doesn’t though some of his fans might.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly:
Words to live by, and “Blech”, of course.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Ugh, I’m sorry. It’s the entitlement that gets to me too. God forbid these precious snowflakes should actually have to persuade other people!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Betty Cracker: I agree, I though Bernie had a good night, I disagree with the polling that Warren had a good night.
Betty Cracker
@Matt McIrvin: Agreed.
Immanentize
@JPL:
There is a funny story about that — Supposedly, a while back in Texas, the punishment for stealing cattle was death by hanging. But for murder, the punishment, then as now, was probation to the death penalty. Story goes someone asked a judge why the difference in range of punishments? Judge replied, because there never has been a cow that needed stealing.
Gin & Tonic
@?BillinGlendaleCA: This book (which I own) was published 27 (!!) years ago.
Searcher
@Gin & Tonic: I’d vote for Bernie in the general. It’s pretty clear that the next President is replacing RBG, if she can hold on that long.
Just One More Canuck
@Immanentize: discovery could be interesting
satby
@Immanentize: @Betty Cracker: I don’t doubt that people around Bernie are encouraging him to stay in but anyone who has ever dealt with a stubborn elderly relative in complete denial of their diminished abilities can recognize that his own ego is the primary driver. I would bet real $$ that he had symptoms way before he went into the hospital but didn’t tell anyone.
Betty Cracker
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Haven’t seen any polling, but I’ll be surprised if the debate moves the needle at all for anyone. Warren did okay, but she came across as evasive on the tax vs costs thing. I get why she’s doing it — to deny the media a soundbite — but they know that too, so the question isn’t going to go away. I suspect she’ll stick to her formula. Having Sanders around to do the shouty parts probably helps a little, but then his admission that taxes will go up is a contrast that isn’t helpful.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Gin & Tonic: Interesting, even pre-Photoshop.
Amir Khalid
@Matt McIrvin:
In every way? Sanders would certainly be less embarrassing to the US abroad, would not engage in openly criminal conduct, and would not pose a clear and present danger to national security. But given his laziness at learning about real-world policy and his not-stellar record at working with American politicians, I’m not convinced that he would be a much better executive or diplomat than Trump.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Betty Cracker: I just saw an alert on my watch from WaPo about snap impressions. I agree with your take. On that note, I’m going to get some shuteye.
Gin & Tonic
@Searcher: Sanders vs Trump in the general would be a blowout victory for Trump.
Betty Cracker
@Gin & Tonic: I disagree — Sanders would probably win. But I’m afraid he’d be so inept in office that he’d discredit progressive politics for a generation.
guachi
Since Warren will likely be the nominee I’ll probably be saying this from now until the election – I have no idea why she didn’t just say she wanted to expand and fix the already popular Obamacare.
Democrats spent enormous political capital passing health care in 2010. Upending it isn’t politically wise. You could get near 100% of Democrats on board for “improving Obamacare” and it’s an easy sell. “What you have now… but better”
Trump’s lowest poll numbers were around the health care debate. Yes, Medicare for All is better than the Republicans’ awful plan but a big reason his polls dropped was how radical of a change it was.
Dorothy A. Winsor
The Daily Beast reports that Trump tried to surprise the parents of the teen killed by US diplomat’s wife in a car accident by having her in the next room when he met with them in the WH. They refused. Apparently they wanted to convince him to send her back to the UK. He thought he could make them all play nice. This man is an idiot.
Kay
@Gin & Tonic:
I feel really out of step because I think Biden is an objectively weak candidate. It may not matter, but for me had to increase his lead not barely hang onto it and he hasn’t. I think Trump is going to use him as a punching bag and he is not prepared for it and won’t handle it well. He terrifies me. I think the risk is so obvious that I’m more comfortable backing Warren than I would be with a stronger presumptive front runner. The whole “safe” thing has been turned its head for me- I’m taking a risk because to me Biden is a known quantity and that’s not a plus.
Immanentize
@JPL: Exactly the judge’s point.
Immanentize
@JPL: Exactly the judge’s point. “Some folks just need killin'”
Leto
@Dorothy A. Winsor: They’ve already stated that they won’t meet with her unless she’s back in the UK. As an aside, the fact that both the U.K. and American media keep misstating what happens at the base (“intelligence gathering”) is pissing me off to no end.
Gin & Tonic
@Betty Cracker: Which of these red states does Bernie flip?
Cacti
@Gin & Tonic:
Sanders v. Trump in the general and the Dems lose 40 states.
And the stress of dealing with the oppo research dump the Rs have been sitting on since 2016 might literally kill him.
Immanentize
@Betty Cracker: I agree he had a good night. But people are not going to think, oh, he’s a 60 year old fighter anymore. People who want to support Bernie will see it as proof of his immortality. People who never liked him don’t like him now although, as you say, they may feel more pity for him than anger. And those who haven’t tuned in (50% in the last poll I saw!) will think more about his age and heart attack than about his effort last night. Or his batting practice.
trnc
@OzarkHillbilly:
Totally makes sense to investigate if we all ignore the fact that they already gave us an official explanation – that they were trying to prevent more call leaks because previous calls turned out to be highly embarrassing for the mango moron.
trnc
@Betty Cracker:
Yup. He’s an empty suit.
Kay
@Gin & Tonic:
Buttigieg sees it too, and now so does Bloomberg. I think there are more centrist Democrats than there are liberal Democrats so someone further to the center makes sense, but IMO the center failed to produce a strong candidate as their frontrunner, and their argument is they will be easier to get elected. “Center” isn’t enough.
waratah
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I agree with you on this. Biden had a better night but he still had problems.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Ken: It works all the time in corporate America.
Leto
@Dorothy A. Winsor: This is the type of relationship we have with the locals: A BICESTER mother whose career with the American military spanned almost four decades has been awarded the Imperial Service Medal. The Americans rotate out every 4 years, but the Brits are our legacy knowledge base. Just like everything else with the Trumpov era, this will take a long time to forget.
Betty Cracker
@Gin & Tonic: Polling in MI, PA and WI right now show Sanders beating Trump, so there’s that. I don’t put much stock in polling this far out, but it’s not crazy to think Sanders would beat Trump, and there’s also the looming impeachment and disastrous fallout from Trump’s flailing policies, which could weaken Trump even more.
Betty Cracker
@guachi: If Warren is the nominee, she’ll probably talk about healthcare in terms of evolving the present system, including Obamacare, into a Medicare for All scheme eventually. It’s a matter of framing.
Cacti
@Kay:
I’ve been amazed that several months into the campaign, all of the other high profile candidates seem to have been fighting over the left wing, while basically ceding the rest of the field to Biden.
Some of them finally seem to be making a play for Biden’s supporters, not by going after him, but by going after Warren as too far left to win nationally. I’m curious to see whether that moves the needle for anyone else.
Leto
@Dorothy A. Winsor: @Leto: and to just add on to the “special relationship we have with the U.K.: A British family on vacation say they accidentally drove into the U.S. They’ve spent days detained with their 3-month-old baby.
Trumpov and Republicans are destroying all our alliances, as well as our credibility and trust.
Kay
Part of how we got here is a refusal or inability to prosecute white collar crime. It’s one more privilege they enjoy- they aren’t prosecuted when they break the law. This “justice system” will not stand. It will fail. There’s even a very good markets-based argument for enforcement- the fraudsters and cheats enjoy a competitive advantage over well- run businesses, leaving us with lower quality entities.
They cannot continue to reward cheating. Free markets won’t work with this incentive structure. They’re not working and this is part of why.
We need a white collar crime focus- a special effort where they staff up and clear some of the shitty actors out of markets. Raise the quality. Take out the bottom rung.
Kay
@Cacti:
Me too. I don’t get it. The middle lane was wide open. I think Klobachur is a better general election candidate than Biden so I was hedging my bets- she’s tough as nails- hoping she’d take off, because Harris doesn’t self-define as “centrist” so I’m assuming she’s not. If she did I would think she’d be the strongest in that lane.
You can look at the rise of the liberal wing two ways and I don’t think it’s accurate to look at their PUSH without admitting the “centrist” effort is just really fucking weak. Bernie remains in the race despite his further Left views, because Bernie Sanders is a strong political candidate.
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
he is a ghoul
Uncle Cosmo
@Betty Cracker:
Redacted to hedge the bets. IMO, Wilmer’s “nach Trump, uns” staffers couldn’t be trusted not to fuck up a campaign for Homecoming Queen, but it is barely conceivable that the House investigations will have damaged Hair Furor badly enough by then that whoever the Democrats nominate would win. (Which hope helps explain why so many obviously flawed people are running for the nomination.)
But once in office, the BS “brains” trust would make the Carter Administration look in retrospect like the height of political savvy. Even with both houses of Congress, they’d flail around for a couple of years without passing any meaningful legislation, crumple under full assault by the packed courts & the RWNJ-enabling media, preside over an epic disaster in the 2022 midterms, & get crushed in 2024 by some follow-on fascist cleverer & even less principled than Twitler (e.g., Tom Cottonmouth, the Arakansas swamp snake). At which point “government of the people, by the people & for the people” will have drunk its polonium tea & be laid to rest in a lead-lined coffin: Nach BS, Faschismus – ewiger Faschismus. :^( That’s why I say Hell no! to Wilmer & his crowd.
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker: Nancy SMASH: I run the show because the Constitution says I do.
Russthuglicans: Nuhuh!
lumpkin
@Immanentize:
The Reid Technique seems to boil down to asking a lot of “Have you stopped beating your wife?” type questions. Kinda simple but I can see how it could eventually overwhelm some people, particularly young people.