Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

Republicans do not trust women.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

This really is a full service blog.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Proud to Be A Democrat

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Proud to Be A Democrat

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Per the Washington Post:

Former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch began her testimony in the House impeachment hearing Friday with praise for Ukrainians who took a stand against corruption in their country in a 2014 movement called the Revolution of Dignity.

The reference doubled as a call to action that she directed at U.S. leaders — a pointed reminder of their obligation to defend the dignity of civilian career diplomats around the world.

Yovanovitch — who was abruptly yanked from her post in Kyiv after being targeted in a smear campaign that reached President Trump — warned that the State Department was “being hollowed out” and in “crisis.” She called on its leadership “to stand up for the institution and the individuals who make that institution the most effective diplomatic force in the world.”

The testimony of the former ambassador put a compelling human face on a complex international scandal that has involved a cast of unfamiliar Ukrainian characters, descriptions of shadowy back-channels and constitutional debates.

In resolute, clear tones, the veteran diplomat described how she came to learn of the plot against her — and how shaken she was to read the president’s menacing comments about her in a call to his Ukrainian counterpart…

But over and over again, Yovanovitch sought to turn the focus away from her personally and back on the larger implications of her ouster.

“Our Ukraine policy has been thrown into disarray, and shady interests the world over have learned how little it takes to remove an American ambassador who does not give them what they want,” she said. “After these events, what foreign official, corrupt or not, could be blamed for wondering whether the ambassador represents the president’s views? And what U.S. ambassador could be blamed for harboring the fear that they cannot count on our government to support them?”…

When asked by Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) why she didn’t defend herself more openly to the attacks against her, she added: “I think it was for others to stand up for me.”

However, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo never made a statement in her defense because he was worried Trump would undermine it in a tweet, Yovanovitch testified that she was told…

But throughout the hearing, Yovanovitch was steely in her defense of the diplomats and institutions that promote U.S. policy abroad without weapons. She invoked the memory of everyone from the hostages in Iran to the felled in Benghazi in her appeal to respect and defend the Foreign Service against those who would undermine it — including the Trump administration…

 

***********

[NB: The tweets below are extraneous to this topic… but once the new Clippy system helpfully ‘frames’ a tweet-link for me,  I can’t remove that frame or its contents without scrapping the whole post & starting over.  Since it’s too late and I’m too tired to spend another hour-plus playing mother-may-I with the good content, just pretend they’re not here, okay?]

Reader Interactions

159Comments

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    Just pretend they’re not here

    S.O.P. when it comes to tweets.

    ;)

    Clippy evolved into Cortana, which is arguably worse.

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    But far from acknowledging that he had simply made misleading remarks, Giuliani offered the Guardian a seemingly bizarre explanation for why he had used the words “current” and “active agents”.

    In short, he suggested that when he used the word “current” agent he meant that the FBI agents were retired but still in the broader US workforce, and that when he said they were “active” agents, he meant they were retired but still physically youthful and able-bodied.

    “Sometimes I described them as active agents, and I probably misled people when I said active agents, because what I meant by that one… was that they were people that I work with. I didn’t mean people that were ‘on duty’. I know agents that are 85 years old, and I know agents that are 60 years old, and I consider the 60-years-olds to be active agents,” he said.

    Giuliani’s comments to the FBI were not considered “sworn testimony”, his attorney, Robert Costello said. However, Costello acknowledged that false statements to the FBI are punishable by perjury charge.

    “I did concede to the FBI that the statements that I made to the press were confusing,” he said. “I use the word ‘active’ and ‘current’ … I mean they are not old men, they can still do things.”

    Pressed by the Guardian about the fact that the common understanding of the term “active agent” would mean that an individual was still working for the FBI, Giuliani said his use of the words “current” and “active” were understood by people who work in the security business, though perhaps not be laymen.

    “I didn’t want to speak to ‘on-duty’ agents because I knew it would be a problem for them, not for me … it could be a crime or a violation for [an on-duty agent] to do that,” he said.

    Giuliani added that he had welcomed the chance to clarify his remarks, because he did not want the inspector general’s office to be “running around” searching for “some poor person that didn’t exist”.

    “I have no reason not to tell you if I spoke to an FBI agent. He’s the one who would get in trouble, not me,” he said.

    Sure Rudy, you keep choking that chicken.

  8. 8.

    David ??Booooooo?? Koch

    It’s not so much that Chuck Toad is an ass, it’s more that the Village is corrupt.   Tom Brokaw was on Rachel saying there’s not enough evidence showing Dump’s hand was “in the cookie jar”.

    For fucks sakes.

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Disturbing video footage of a 15-year-old quadruple amputee being tackled, pinned to the ground and verbally abused by a sheriff’s deputy is now the focus of an internal investigation by Arizona’s Pima county sheriff’s department.

    The footage shows the shirtless boy, who cannot move, screaming as a sheriff’s deputy pins him to the ground while yelling at the teen to stop resisting.

    The boy is a ward of the state and resides in a group home in Tucson because he was abandoned by his parents, according to local media.

    ……………………………………..

    Joel Feinman, a Pima county public defender, said the deputy’s compassion-less, aggressive behavior speaks to larger failures in the US justice system.

    “I’d like to see this country treat 15-year-old boys with no limbs living in group homes like human beings, and I’d like to see this country have compassion for the most vulnerable among us, and I’d like to see this country and its legal system recognise that troubled children are not criminals,” Feinman told the Guardian.

    Feinman, whose office is representing both boys, notes that a parent acting in the same way could be charged with child abuse. The criminal charges against the first teen have now been dropped, but it is up to civil lawyers to talk to the boys to see if they want to bring a lawsuit against the officer and the sheriff’s department.

    “The boy needed to be treated with love and compassion, and not assault and arrest,” Feinman said.

    There is video, if one has the stomach for it. I don’t.

  19. 19.

    Baud

    Trump had claimed in August that his Trump National Doral had emerged as a top contender for the Group of Seven summit after Secret Service and other officials visited various locations. But an internal Secret Service email obtained and released Friday by the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington shows otherwise.

  24. 24.

    JPL

    Why oh why does the smoke alarm beep at four in the morning to remind you that you forgot to change the battery.

  25. 25.

    SFAW

    @Amir Khalid:

    For a moment there, I imagined being Samuel L. Jackson’s Pulp Fiction character, asking Rudy Giuliani if he speaks English.

    “Is Donald Trump Putin’s bitch?”

    “What??”

    “English, motherfucker — do you speak it?”

    “What???”

  27. 27.

    SFAW

    Note to WaterGirl and Elves:

    Although you probably already know this, the “Edit clock” goes to zero whenever you refresh a page.

  28. 28.

    SFAW

    @SFAW:

    Update to the “edit clock” comment: After refreshing a second time, edit clocks returned. However, the editing I did was not saved.

    Win XP, Chrome

     

  29. 29.

    SFAW

    @SFAW:

     

    OK, after refreshing multiple times, the edited version magically appeared. Seems to be on-again, off-again, sort of.

     

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SFAW:

    “Blech” would come out of my SSDD face, unfortunately I am not fluent in emoji. The best I can do is pigemoji.

  37. 37.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SFAW:

    I had a real problem with copy/pasting from an article to a new comment. It just wouldn’t let me do it… as long as the comment box was empty. If I type some nonsense in first, I can then paste.

     

    Unfortunately, I now get confused as to which nonsense I need to paste over/delete and accidentally remove what I actually meant to say.

  41. 41.

    Baud

    @germy: From what I’m reading, the situation in Bolivia is more complicated than that. I’m not sure there are any good guys, so it’s just a matter of picking which bad guys you want to support.

     

  42. 42.

    WereBear

    The humiliating part of that fascism didn’t come “wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”

     

    It sat on a golden toilet and carried a cell phone.

  48. 48.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @David ??Booooooo?? Koch: I lost respect for Brokaw after he became a 24/7 ad for his book The Greatest Generation.

     

    And weren’t they ‘the greatest’ because they saw and fought the danger that was–and IS–the Nazis?

     

  49. 49.

    JMG

    @Ladyraxterinok: You are better off thinking of Brokaw and Chuck Todd not as commentators, but as unregistered lobbyists for Comcast Corp., for whom ANY Republican administration is a priority.

     

  52. 52.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Unfortunately, I now get confused as to which nonsense I need to paste over/delete and accidentally remove what I actually meant to say.

    I get confused just by … just by … just … um, what was I talking about?

     

     

  54. 54.

    germy

    "We have a field of very accomplished, very serious and passionate and smart people who have a history of public service," Pres. Obama said. "And whoever emerges from the primary process, I will work my tail off to make sure they are the next president." https://t.co/cwjprN1BHc— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 16, 2019

  55. 55.

    Betty Cracker

    Pelosi: “I think part of it is his own insecurity as an impostor…he knows full well he’s in that office way over his head. And so he has to diminish everyone else.”

    Nancy sure has Trump’s number. I also find the framing of CNN’s top story unexpectedly on point:

    Trump revealed to be at the center of the swamp 

     

    (CNN) A fateful convergence of events Friday reflected a culture of corruption and intimidation endemic to the circle of a President who vowed to drain the swamp but instead became its incarnation.

     

    First, a US ambassador told how her reputation was shredded and she was hounded out of her job by President Donald Trump’s rogue associates after a faultless 30-year career advancing America’s interests…
    Incredibly, her testimony was interrupted by a Trump attack tweet that visibly exacerbated her anguish over his bullying tactics, lent credibility to her testimony and could now be folded into articles of impeachment.
    As she spoke, and less than a mile away across Washington’s mall, Roger Stone became the latest associate who will pay for his loyalty to the President.
    Uh huh. Charlie Pierce says Stone has fucked his last rat. I hope that’s right, but it will only be true if the cartoon villain dies in jail, which I sincerely hope is his fate.
  56. 56.

    Baud

    @germy:

     

    • “We have a field of very accomplished, very serious and passionate and smart people who have a history of public service,” Pres. Obama said. “And then there’s Baud!”

     

  59. 59.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Spanky: Didn’t read the article but googled “sourtoe”. Ew. It’s a tradition of one bar in Dawson City. All I can say is that there’s probably not a lot to do in Dawson City except drink and think of bad ideas to do when you’re drunk.

     

    When I read a lot of Jack London as a kid I learned that winters in the Yukon usually lead to an ax murder out of sheer claustrophobia and boredom.

     

  60. 60.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I think you have to make sure you’re in the text box rather than the visual box. For me, visual seems to be the default, but clicking over doesn’t disappear anything already there (like the person you’re replying to).

    ETA: Also, if you’re in the text box, your comment will show up right away, with no refreshing needed.

  65. 65.

    debbie

    @Betty Cracker:

     

    I thought it was interesting that Trump demanded Zelensky announce his Biden investigation on CNN; I’d have thought he’d pick Fox, his fluffing tool. I wonder if this is an unspoken acknowledgement that he realizes Fox really isn’t helping him with a larger national audience.

  69. 69.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie: Testing

     

    Two Namibian government ministers have resigned and the boss of Iceland’s biggest fishing company has stepped aside amid a spiralling scandal over alleged bribes paid to officials in the southern African country in exchange for trawling rights.

    Þorsteinn Már Baldvinsson, the CEO of the Icelandic fishing firm Samherji, and Namibia’s fisheries and justice ministers, Bernhard Esau and Sacky Shanghala, are the first heads to roll following revelations this week of a vast corruption case.

    …………………..

    ohannes Stefansson, a former company employee turned whistleblower, told Icelandic media he had approved the kickbacks with Samherji’s backing. The company habitually “does whatever it takes to get its hands on the natural resources of other nations”, Stefansson said.

    Iceland’s prime minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, said if the allegations against Samherji were true, there was “cause for great concern for Icelandic industrial activity”, adding that the revelations “could affect the nation as a whole”.

    As global fish stocks decline, Africa’s coastal waters are becoming more and more sought after by international trawler fleets, with Namibia’s resource-rich fisheries particularly prized. It emerged last year that a fifth of the country’s MPs hold shares in fishing companies.

    ………………………

    The ruling Independence party, however, blamed a culture of corruption in Namibia for the scandal. “That’s perhaps the root of the problem in this case,” said the finance minister, Bjarni Benediktsson. “A weak government, a corrupt government in this country. That seems to be the underlying problem that we’re seeing now.”

    I wasn’t corrupt until I met those guys!

     

  77. 77.

    Baud

    @debbie: There may be many ways to do it, but for that comment, I typed the text in the text box and then to the visual box, highlighted the text, and applied the color.  And then hit post.

  78. 78.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: The pop up window of the reply button kinda drives me nuts more. Of course that problem is easy enough to solve by clicking on the ‘close box X’ and finishing the comment in the regular comment box.

  84. 84.

    Betty Cracker

    @debbie: Trump seems to understand everything in terms of television, and he believes his sycophants watch Fox News, his enemies watch MSNBC and the mushy middle watches CNN. He’s probably not far off as far as TV viewing audiences go, but he makes the mistake of thinking since Fox has the highest cable “news” share, the majority of Americans support Trump. The truth, of course, is that most people don’t watch cable news at all.

     

  85. 85.

    Kayla Rudbek

    On the phone with my mother last night, and she tells me  that the airport has a therapy cat: https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2019/11/15/msp-airports-therapy-cat-stitches-is-the-internets-new-favorite-feline/Therapy cat MSP airport

    personally, I think that two therapy cats per TSA checkpoint should be the minimum (one for before the checkpoint, one after the checkpoint)

  86. 86.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Betty Cracker: most people don’t watch cable news at all.

    Offering a sample of one, I haven’t watched television news in years. I sometimes catch a snippet in public places where they think it’s necessary to have the infernal tv machines on non-stop (airports being prime offenders), and am reminded why I stopped. Most of my news comes from online sources, including – true confession – this here almost top 10,000 blog.

     

     

  91. 91.

    Wapiti

    @debbie: I think that might tell us that smearing Biden was not about informing Trump’s base, but about pushing the lie to Biden’s base.

     

  95. 95.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @chris: Great. Now I have a new twitter hole to fall into and not be able to come up for air for hours at a time. Thanx a heap.

     

  100. 100.

    Elizabelle

    @chris:  Love those seals.  Gives me a chance to tell you all about the Marine Mammal Care Center of Los Angeles — rescues and rehabilitates seals and sea lions, 70 miles of coast from Malibu to top of Orange County (community of Seal Beach!).  Located in San Pedro, CA (in hills above the Port of Los Angeles) — free to visit and just wonderful.  They could take some jackal cash, if anyone is so inspired.

    They have a lot of young/baby animals at any given time, because the moms leave the babies on the beach to head out in search of food — which is farther and farther out in the ocean.  Their young become emaciated while awaiting mom’s return.

  102. 102.

    p.a.

    Obviously drumphists have ready oppo research on other Dem contenders, but wonder if he and they have descended to treason in those cases too, and how that will be exposed.

  103. 103.

    Mary Ellen Sandahl

    @debbie:

     I agree and think it,s kind of important to the way things went down in yesterday’s hearing that Amb Y is both super professional – calm, collected and well-versed in every showy ploy the REpubs might trot out – but.that she is also small,.attractive in an understated, real-person way, and soft-spoken. Even Gym J knew he’d look like disgusting jackass if he went with his usual ravening attack after her honest,pained recital

  104. 104.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Mary Ellen Sandahl: Agreed. It’s also possible that Trump’s witness-intimidation tweet during the hearings forced the Republicans to change their strategy midstream and be nice to her.

     

  105. 105.

    WereBear

    @Mary Ellen Sandahl:Even Gym J knew he’d look like disgusting jackass if he went with his usual ravening attack after her honest,pained recital

    I am already incandescent with so much rage that I think he was afraid some woman in the room would run up and kick him in the crotch.

    Which is why I’m not in the room.

  107. 107.

    Matt McIrvin

    Did Elizabeth Warren do some kind of walkback on “Medicare for All”? Left Twitter now declaring her a garbage person.

     

  108. 108.

    O. Felix Culpa

    In addition to Nancy Smash, Adam Schiff is another American hero. It’s so nice to see smart, competent people in Congress. Schiff is doing a fantastic job managing the hearings and the Democrats have maintained decorum while methodically laying out the facts of the case. They care about the Constitution and American values and it shows. As the header says, proud to be a Democrat.

  110. 110.

    germy

    I decided to see what one of the dumbest people on the internet has to say about Day 2 of the impeachment hearings:

     

    I have absolutely no idea why it’s necessary to expose the whole country to petty resentments of an employee who’s “devastated” that her boss said something mean about her. It’s petty, ridiculous, internal squabbling that nobody can possibly care about. We’ve all squabbled with people at work.
    It’s also bad for feminism to parade around a woman who is pretending to be a fainting damsel in distress who’s falling apart because somebody has been mean to her. I don’t know how she ever worked in Ukraine where people aren’t known for being sensitive wilting flowers. There’s no equivalent to “this made me feel” in Ukrainian or Russian.

    https://clarissasblog.com/2019/11/15/yovanovitch/

  111. 111.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @germy: I decided to see what one of the dumbest people on the internet has to say about Day 2 of the impeachment hearings

    Why?

  114. 114.

    Gin & Tonic

    @germy:  

    There’s no equivalent to “this made me feel” in Ukrainian or Russian.

    Wow. Truly could only have been written by someone who knows not a word of either.

  123. 123.

    zhena gogolia

    @Gin & Tonic:

     

    Did you not know that Ukrainians and Russians do not feel human emotions?

     

    What a despicable piece of sophistry that is, the whole thing.

     

  127. 127.

    frosty

    @O. Felix Culpa: Offering a sample of one, I haven’t watched television news in years. … Most of my news comes from online sources, including – true confession – this here almost top 10,000 blog.

    Same story here. My main straight news source is the Grauniad. Otherwise it’s this here almost top 10,000 blog, including all you jackal commenters, and a few others. I haven’t deserted blogs for Twitter, which seems to me to be an enormous time sink of not very much content.

    PS visual comments work for me, I haven’t seen any need for the text yet but it’s nice to have both options.

    PPS the site rebuild is SUCH a relief after dealing with the baling wire and spit old site for so long. And Recent Comments are back!

     

  128. 128.

    kindness

    I remember when ‘real’ progressives questioned Nancy’s being given the Speakership again.  Ours is a more diverse party and the ‘moderates’ won and Nancy got the post.  Please forgive my use of ‘real’ & ‘moderates’ as they don’t really properly describe both groups but you know…..

     

    Love me some Nancy shade.  Trump is going to go nuts.  There isn’t enough popcorn.  Sadly though the reactionary actions from Trump are already starting.  His pardoning those military guys was to try to reclaim the narrative.  It’s only going to get even more reactionary as I don’t think Trump is going to control the news cycle for a while.  Buckle up.  Stay safe.

  130. 130.

    PPCLI

    @zhena gogolia: It’s well known that part of Dostoevski’s genius was that he could write Crime and Punishment, Karamazov, The Idiot, The Insulted and the Injured, Dream of a Ridiculous Man,  etc. in a language with no words referring to despair, suffering, or indeed any human emotion beyond anger and aggression.

     

  131. 131.

    the Conster

    I was on a conference call with Nancy Pelosi on Thursday night, because I’m on #TeamPelosi. I don’t think anyone fully understands what she’s done, and what she’s doing. Her topline message was about supporting the DREAMERS, but she ran the meeting as various heads of activist groups updated her on what they were doing and planning, and her grasp of all their work, their names, her legislative agenda, her deep faith and her determination to save this country and its democracy. She’s a historic figure, and I couldn’t be more grateful for her. All of the IMPEACHMENTNOW screamers who insisted she didn’t know what she was doing, or were in a plot with Trump (looking at you, weirdo creep Sarah Kendzior) need to apologize to her, and never opine again.

  134. 134.

    debbie

    @germy:

    It’s also bad for feminism to parade around a woman who is pretending to be a fainting damsel in distress who’s falling apart because somebody has been mean to her.

    Really, Kellyanne Clone? Bitch.

    ETA: Who is this person?

  135. 135.

    Jinchi

    @OzarkHillbilly: “I have no reason not to tell you if I spoke to an FBI agent. He’s the one who would get in trouble, not me,” he said.

    Who cares if somebody else gets in trouble, right Rudy?

    Is there any Republican left who isn’t a self-centered ass?

     

  136. 136.

    debbie

    @zhena gogolia:

    I had to go back and look. I don’t follow fashion anymore, but it was a nice touch. Certainly better than the Trump mens’/boys’ crappily constructed suits.

  137. 137.

    PPCLI

    @zhena gogolia:

    @germy:

     

    “because her boss was mean to her”.

    She was living and working in a world where people who were obstacles regularly were killed. Openly and with apparent impunity. Often horrifically. For example, by being doused with sulfuric acid. Or poisoned with plutonium. At the hands of Putin agents, or sociopathic thugs in the Russian mob, not that there is much difference between the two. And when Deadbeat Donald was asked about this, his response was just to say that the US did the same thing, so it was no big deal.s

    When a Putin-worshiping president who is up to his ears in connections to Russian + Ukrainian mobsters and amoral oligarchs marks you out openly as an obstacle to his corrupt intentions, as “bad news”, as someone to whom “bad things” are soon “going to happen”. That is not a human resources issue. Anyone who knows what is going on will regard that as a threat.

     

  138. 138.

    Kay

    Josh Gerstein
    @joshgerstein
    ·11h
    It’s the U.S. Attorneys’ scandal again, no? Bush had every right to replace any US attorney, but when people asked why, false answers were given, smearing reputations and whipping up the storm

    The Politico legal affairs reporter has apparently missed the central point of two days of testimony.

    They’re not listening to the witnesses. The public would really be better off if they just printed the testimony in the newspaper. They’re not adding value- they’re subtracting it.

  139. 139.

    zhena gogolia

    @debbie:

     

    She had to have felt some fear, given the tactics of Trump’s buddy Vladimir Vladimirovich. Feeling fear doesn’t mean you aren’t a badass.

     

  141. 141.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Just Chuck: Yeah, but the implication seemed to be that it was something specific she said about MfA. I know there’s been a lot of angst here about her choosing to die on that hill; was wondering if she’d changed her position. (Or if she’s going to end up getting heat for being for it and against it at the same time, or being a flip-flopper, or or or…)

     

  142. 142.

    Jinchi

    @Just Chuck:

    Half the lefty world hates EW because she was once a Republican

    Not sure I agree with your math there.

     

    A new Quinnipiac University poll out this week finds Sen. Elizabeth Warren with a 74% favorable rating and a 10% unfavorable rating among potential Democratic primary voters. Her favorable rating is up significantly from 61% in May, while her unfavorable rating is down from 16%.

    https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/28/politics/elizabeth-warren-democrats-popularity/index.html

     

  143. 143.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Kay: Sadly, they seem vested in not listening to the witnesses, in order to create their own false equivalencies and narrative. Assuming these are reasonably intelligent, educated people who could do better, the question is why were they choosing not to?

     

  144. 144.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @O. Felix Culpa: Tense correction since edit function disappeared on my comment: The question is why are they choosing not to.

    ETA: Curious, the edit function has reappeared. Time delay? Several refreshes required? Android, Chrome.

  145. 145.

    japa21

    @Kay: Not sure what your complaint here is.  The guy is saying exactly what Schiff said yesterday.  Yes, the President has the right, but the motive and ways it is handled are very important, which is similar to the U.S. Attorneys matter.

     

    He is not minimizing it.  Could have been said better, but that, I think, is the gist.

     

  146. 146.

    Kay

    In a trial, you have to listen to the witnesses. That is why they’re there. We could craft a narrative that makes this the US attorney scandal without any witnesses appearing at all.

     

    In court hearings, a fair amount of time, you’ll listen to the testimony of a witness and then counsel starts questioning that witness and you realize counsel didn’t listen to anything the witness said. That’s because counsel prepared to hear one thing and then heard another-  but didn’t adjust at all because it’s important to counsel’s case that witness say X so counsel can say Y. If witness doesn’t say X counsel just plows ahead as if witness did.

    That’s the media coverage of this hearing. That’s what is sounds like.

     

  147. 147.

    Elizabelle

    @Kay:   Just plowing ahead is Andrea Mitchell Greenspan’s style too. Used to be amazed at her takeaway of an Obama speech that, apparently, only one of us watched.

     

    They should not be able to get away with that.

     

  148. 148.

    Kay

    @japa21:

     

    She’s not objecting to the fact that she got fired. Her testimony was about WHY she got fired. She’s not there to comment on Donald Trump’s management skills, or the proper way to fire a diplomat. She’s telling the story of what happened in Ukraine and the Trump Administration during this period and relating facts about the Trump Administration’s subversion of US foreign policy to benefit their own political careers and money making schemes.

     

    I’m glad the witnesses put so much work into preparing their testimony. Reading the coverage of their testimony no one in the public will know what happened in Ukraine, but at least we have the witness account.  We can just read that.

     

  150. 150.

    Kay

    @Elizabelle:

     

    The best trial judges aren’t great talkers or writers- it’s nice if they are but it’s not what makes them good. What makes them the best among others is that they’re good listeners. Open. Treat testimony as if there may be something to be learned. It’s really hard work.

  151. 151.

    Miss Bianca

    @JPL: better than having it go off at 4 in the morning because spiders have built a nest in it, ASK ME HOW I KNOW!

    Blech!

     

  152. 152.

    Miss Bianca

    @lamh36: Ha ha!

     

    Man, I hope Kamala catches some fire. I am starting to think she’s exactly what we need after this white trash dumpster fire of an administration.

     

  153. 153.

    Suzanne

    @the Conster: or were in a plot with Trump (looking at you, weirdo creep Sarah Kendzior)

    For reals? I never heard this….

    Of course, I have been completely tied up with baby stuff, job search stuff, deadlines, etc. for the last few weeks.

    I actually caught some of the impeachment hearing yesterday while I was working. I found Yovanovitch very compelling, so I went over to BrightFart to see how she was received by the lunatics. As you would expect. It was ever thus.

  154. 154.

    Immanentize

    @Miss Bianca: What the fuck does this horseshit even mean??

    It means Rude-Ee! lied like roadkill to the FBI and he is trying to lie again to get out of the charge of lying to the FBI.

  157. 157.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Suzanne: Yeah, right before the Ukraine story broke, Sarah Kendzior started saying that impeachment hadn’t happened because Pelosi was actively trying to protect Trump, and implying it had something to do with campaign contributions from Russian oligarchs.

     

  158. 158.

    Mnemosyne

    @Matt McIrvin: 

    Warren recently released a plan explaining what the interim steps of getting to MfA would be, which is of course THE WORST BETRAYAL OF ALL TIME!!!1!

    She didn’t declare that she would implement MfA by fiat on day one of her presidency, so she’s a crook and a liar just like every other Democrat, QED.

  159. 159.

    Mary Ellen Sandahl

    Gym Jordan can spend a lot of time loving the President’s ass

    I feel that some variation on “Der Fuhrer’s Face” is not only possible, but obligatory. We can’t have Spike Jones himself, but… c’mon, folks.

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