Today is a day for more debate. The wrongly-named Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana is now speaking.
Sorry I’m late with this.
This post is in: Impeachment, Live Blogging, Trump Crime Cartel
Today is a day for more debate. The wrongly-named Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana is now speaking.
Sorry I’m late with this.
This post is in: Impeachment, Live Blogging, Trump Crime Cartel
Closing arguments today. Ken Starr is speaking of Martin Luther King.
This post is in: Impeachment, Live Blogging, Trump Crime Cartel
Separate rumors are floating that Democrats and Republicans want to delay the vote to enthrone Donald Trump I until next week. I can see why Democrats might want to do this, but not Republicans. The State of the Union is scheduled for next Tuesday, February 4, and I would think they would want King Donald I to take a victory lap. I see Mistermix has already speculated on this.
This post is in: Impeachment, Live Blogging, Trump Crime Cartel
More questions today.
This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Foreign Affairs, Israel, Open Threads, Trump Crime Cartel, All Too Normal
Is there a better expression of Israel-America relations than an ultra right wing pseudo peace plan being released to distract from the Israeli Prime Minister getting indicted while the American President is mid impeachment
— Canadian Bread Price Fixing (@MenshevikM) January 28, 2020
When he puts the idiot son-in-law in charge, you know the boss has no interest in a workable solution…
They get to ‘earn their way to dignity’, which for everyone else is inherent because they are human beings. https://t.co/irlFPUiYSD
— Soledad O’Brien (@soledadobrien) January 29, 2020
Good thing Jared spent all those years working on a peace plan. https://t.co/vTiCRQiudK
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) January 28, 2020
JERUSALEM — The only immediate consequence of the Trump peace plan — and possibly all that will ever come of it — was the green light President Trump gave to Israel Tuesday to expand its territory by effectively annexing vast stretches of land it has long coveted on the West Bank.
On paper, the plan offers the Palestinians a state, at last, as well as a partial four-year settlement freeze while they mull it over.
But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not wait, saying that he would move Sunday to apply sovereignty over the strategically vital Jordan Valley and to all Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
The move would take in up to 30 percent of the occupied West Bank, and for the first time establish what Israeli leaders have coveted since capturing the territory in the 1967 Six Day War: a permanent eastern border for Israel along the Jordan River, recognized by the United States…
The green light from the White House outraged Israeli supporters of a more generous accommodation with the Palestinians and alarmed those who have warned that any annexation could set off renewed violence.
“It’s worse than any of us could anticipate,” said Nimrod Novik, a longtime peace negotiator and former aide to the Israeli leader Shimon Peres.
The Palestinians had no hand in the plan’s drafting, having cut all ties with the Trump administration after it recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. But while they reacted with predictable anger, there was no threat of specific action and little to suggest that their relationship with Israel would fundamentally change…
Much more detail at the link.
well it got some people to stop fighting… https://t.co/0vOEyN7KZX
— YYZedd (@Zeddary) January 28, 2020
Jared Kushner to @camanpour: “It’s a big opportunity for the Palestinians. They have a perfect track record of blowing every opportunity they’ve had in their past, but perhaps maybe their leadership will..do what’s best to try to make the Palestinian people’s lives better”
— Sarah Boxer (@Sarah_Boxer) January 28, 2020
Don’t laugh. Kushner was a slumlord, and that expertise is clearly evident in this plan. https://t.co/TWmGNVvWSC
— Ben Silverstein (@bensilverstein) January 29, 2020
Trump’s doomed Middle East peace plan has a proposal for resort development, because of course it does pic.twitter.com/Q2Q8ZPoSfq
— Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp) January 28, 2020
This administration is such a disaster that he goes unnoticed sometimes, but Jared Kushner is highly underrated as a total dipshit https://t.co/3EdAd2XUk7
— Quintus Haterius (@QuintusHaterius) January 28, 2020
One shocking feature of Trump’s “American” plan is that Israel would carve out Israeli-Arab towns in the “Triangle” region, strip them of Israeli citizenship, and place them under Palestinian jurisdiction — something majorities oppose. Un-American Plan. https://t.co/eQNFzRLvdG pic.twitter.com/bn143hVSRr
— Shibley Telhami (@ShibleyTelhami) January 28, 2020
Unlike other portions of the plan, which are unilateral diktats, this one says “subject to the agreement of the parties,” and since both sides will not agree to this, it’s pretty much a dead letter.
— (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) January 29, 2020
There are forces in Israel that want immediate annexation, but Netanyahu has been pretty clear about wanting to keep it at the level of occupation so that “apartheid” doesn’t stick. It’s a policy of deniability and blame shifting, and this is like an account renewal
— Canadian Bread Price Fixing (@MenshevikM) January 28, 2020
Destined for Failure Open Thread: No Peace in the Middle East *This* Year…Post + Comments (27)
This post is in: Impeachment, Live Blogging, Trump Crime Cartel
Today is the first of two question days. The Democrats are said to have been collecting questions to eliminate duplicates and organize them into topics. What’s your question? Will it be asked?
This post is in: Impeach the Motherfucker!, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality, Trump Crime Cartel, Trump-Russia, Trumpery
In the “Lumpy rug” thread below, valued commenter Sab pointed out that one reason GOP senators are so reluctant to hear from John Bolton and other witnesses in Trump’s impeachment trial is that they’ve got their own dirt to conceal. Right on cue, The Tampa Bay Times published a story about a conversation Trump had with Lev Parnas about Florida Senator Rick Scott.
The story is based on the 80-plus minute recording where Trump was heard making a thuggish-sounding order to “take out” a U.S. ambassador. At the same event, Trump also talked to Parnas about then-Governor Rick Scott, who was running against a long-time incumbent Democrat for the senate seat:
About halfway through the recording, Parnas mentioned he lived in Florida, prompting Trump to ask how Scott, then Florida’s governor, was faring in his U.S. Senate campaign.
“Rick Scott’s good,” said Parnas, who was indicted in October on charges that he and his business partner, Igor Fruman, steered hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions from foreign donors. Both are now key figures in Trump’s impeachment proceedings.
“Is he going to win?” Trump asks.
Parnas responded: “It’s going to be close, but I think we’re going to pull it out.”
He repeatedly referred to Scott’s election effort as “we,” suggesting an intimacy or involvement with the campaign. Parnas also told Trump: “We’re doing a fundraiser” for Scott in May and mentioned having lunch with former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, now one of Trump’s impeachment defense lawyers.
The article reviews the federal indictment of Parnas and fellow Giuliani-adjacent goon Fruman for illegally dropping hundreds of thousands of foreign-sourced dollars on Republican candidates. It recounts how the pair also contributed heavily as individuals and through their company to Scott and the current GOP governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis.
Coincidentally, DeSantis also had “no recollection” of meeting Parnas when the feds scooped Rudy’s pals up. DeSantis donated the funds he received from the pair to charity, as did Scott in the wake of the indictment. The article notes recent WSJ reporting that indicates Parnas turned over texts between himself and DeSantis to the House Democrats. I mean, who among us hasn’t carried on text conversations with complete strangers, right?
Meanwhile, Parnas’s attorney, Joseph Bondy, is tweeting out photos of his client with various GOP bigwigs and encouraging Republican senators to vote for witnesses and a fair trial. Here’s one from this morning:
This @PamBondi, with Lev Parnas? https://t.co/OXj9J9012H pic.twitter.com/Wuqfmlomsk
— Joseph A. Bondy (@josephabondy) January 28, 2020
Parnas, the Forrest Gump of Republican corruption, seems to have a lot of receipts. So yeah, good point, Sab. Any guesses on which Republican will get the next attack of amnesia?