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Courtesy of the Daily Beast
Twitter can truly be amazing. After Rep. Elise Stefanik’s shameful display at the impeachment hearings last week, #theResistance went into action to follow and donate to her opponent, @TedraCobbforCongress.
The Democratic hopeful started the day on Nov. 15 with 6,200 followers. #TheResistance heavy hitter @AdamParkhomenko tweeted this to start the Blue Tsunami.
On November 17, @TedraCobbforCongress had raised over $1M. And as of November 18, she has reached 252,000 followers.
This is the REAL power of grassroots. We can keep the House and take back the Senate and White House, if we just take the time to give a little. Make some calls, write some postcards, follow a promising Dem candidate on social media, and/or donate $5 or so.
Every small act of Resistance counts.
Hang on for an exceptionally crazy week, Widdershins. We’ve got major witnesses like Sondland, Vinland and Holmes testifying in the impeachment hearings today through Thursday, the Democratic Debate, the continuing mystery of Don’s visit to Walter Reed (and where the h*ll is he?), the new investigation into whether or not the Mango Moron lied to Mueller (spoiler alert – he did!), and I’m quite sure 97 other things that cannot be predicted. This truly could be the week the illegitimate Drumpf regime begins to fall apart.
This is an open thread.
Congratulations, Rep. Peter King! You finally realized your district was tired of sending a racist to Congress and are taking your exit, stage (very) right.
Here are some highlights from the 75-year old Republican’s long career, which has had a number of shocking moments.
King is an ally of President Donald Trump with his own history of controversial stances, from his support for the Irish Republican Army, to his claim that “80 to 85 percent of mosques in this country are controlled by Islamic fundamentalists,” to blaming Eric Garner rather than the New York City police officer who killed him for his death: “If he had not had asthma, and a heart condition, and was so obese, he would not have died from this.”
In late 2018, when many were condemning immigration officials for the deaths of two children in their custody, King offered praise while also insulting the country’s poor.
”These are the only two children that have died, certainly in recent memory,” he said. “Considering what does happen in housing projects … I think ICE has an excellent record.”
King is the 20th House Republican to retire prior to the 2020 elections. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy! I sure hope more of his colleagues also decide to “spend time with their families” (yes, he said that!).
And meanwhile…public impeachment hearings start on Wednesday. These hearings will be carried by every major network, and are very likely to move public opinion even further in favor of impeachment and removal. So of course, the Liar-In-Chief wants to use his bully pulpit to try to put out some “alternate facts” before the hearings happen.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has announced plans to “probably” release a transcript of an earlier conversation with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as soon as Tuesday.
I’m going to guess this ‘transcript’ is going to go a little something like this:
TRUMP: Vlod baby! How are you?
ZELENSKIY: Not so good, Mr. President. We would really love to get to a better partnership with yourself and the United States.
TRUMP: What do you mean, myself AND the United States?! I AM the United States! L’etat, c’est moi!
ZELENSKIY: Uhhhh, so sorry Mr. President. (changing tactics) I have to say, I didn’t know you spoke French so beautifully!
TRUMP: Yes, many people – SO many people – have told me I have the best French accent. SO much better than Obama’s!
ZELENSKIY: Absolutely! So, can we look forward to our mutually beneficial relationship being renewed? I truly want our two countries to be friends.
TRUMP: Well, I don’t think you’ve been a very good friend to me. Why haven’t you looked into Joe Biden and the DNC server yet? God D*mn It! Absolutely. You can have the aid tomorrow. See, this is totally cool and totally legal! Demoncraps can suck it!
Let’s see what this week brings, Widdershins. I have a feeling the ride is only going to get wilder from here.
This is an open thread.
Activist Tuesday: Go and Vote!
Posted on: November 5, 2019
Yes, folks, it’s Election Day today. It’s not the day we simultaneously fear and anticipate in 2020, but it’s an important set of elections nonetheless.
Here’s where all the elections are being held.
In previous years, elections like these didn’t garner much attention from the Democratic Party. This is because there are a lot of state and local races that are not marquee events, ballot initiatives, etc. – and most are not taking place in blue states. For example, North Carolina holds a majority of their elections – like mayoral and BOE elections – in odd years on the first Tuesday in November.
But this is the new reality, in which Drumpf has so united the nation against Republicans that no state is safe for the Grifting Old Perverts any more. It’s the time of #theResistance, the time of Onwardtogether.org, the time of liking Bill Kristol and David Frum on Twitter. (Saints preserve us.) So it’s no surprise that Democrats are no longer skipping these elections. In fact, there are some pretty interesting things happening. Let’s take a look at some of them.
In Mississippi and Kentucky, voters will weigh in on gubernatorial races, while in Virginia, people will have an opportunity to choose members of their state legislature. Across all three states, the implications of the elections could be huge: In both Mississippi and Kentucky, Democrats have the potential to retake the governor’s seats, and in Virginia, the party could flip the House and Senate.
Additionally, several places will be weighing ballot initiatives on a slew of issues such as ranked-choice voting in New York City and affirmative action in Washington state. Cities including Philadelphia, San Francisco, and South Bend, Indiana, will hold mayoral elections as well. (Mayor Pete Buttigieg has opted not to run for reelection in light of his presidential bid.)
I love the parentheses about Mayor Pete, don’t you? I predict he will regret his decision come March 2020.
But I digress. Let’s talk about the gubernatorial races in those two red states, and then, the exciting Virginia elections.
First, in Mississippi, we have a surprisingly close race. Drumpf won this state by 17 points in 2016, but the Democratic Attorney General (Jim Hood) has never lost a race. He calls himself the “last Democrat in Dixie.” Of course, to be elected in this very red state he has taken bad positions on abortion and LGBTQ adoption. (He’s against both.) But if he could become governor, he could be in a position to start changing the existing Jim Crow laws that suppress the Black vote. And if that happened, maybe we could get some real Democrats in that state.
Second, in Kentucky, there is another very close race between uber-unpopular Republican incumbent Governor Matt Bevin, and Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear. In any other era but the one we’re in, this would not be a close race. Thanks to the Mango Moron, though, Kentucky is more than competitive – it’s a toss-up. Although said Moron tried to do a rousing rally last night in Lexington to push Bevin over the line, the stadium, which has a capacity of 23,000, was less than half full.
Look at these stats, folks. The people of Mississippi and Kentucky sure do deserve better, as do the people of all the other Southern states listed in the graphic below. I hope they vote for change today.
And now, let’s talk about Virginia. Democrats came extremely close to flipping the legislature blue in 2017- remember that one woman who lost by one vote drawn from a hat after a recount was too close to call?! – but this year, it could happen for real, if the turnout and enthusiasm stays high. Our Girl even tweeted about it yesterday.
Depending on what happens today, this could be Drumpf’s worst week ever as “President.”
This is an open thread.
- In: 2016 Election | 2020 Election | Breaking News | Christmas | Congress | Current Events | Donald Trump | Iraq | Kremlin Klan | Open Thread
- 29 Comments
Today, an ear witness to the infamous “I need you to do me a favor, though” Mango Moronic phone call with the Ukrainian President will testify in the House impeachment inquiry. His name is Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman, and he is a career public servant who was awarded the Purple Heart in Iraq. Unlike every “best people” Drumpf has surrounded himself with, Lt. Col. Vindman’s integrity is unquestioned. His public opening statement is here.
A few highlights:
When I joined the NSC in July 2018, I began implementing the administration’s policy on Ukraine. In the Spring of 2019, I became aware of outside influencers promoting a false narrative of Ukraine inconsistent with the consensus views of the interagency. This narrative was harmful to U.S. government policy. While my interagency colleagues and I were becoming increasingly optimistic on Ukraine’s prospects, this alternative narrative undermined U.S. government efforts to expand cooperation with Ukraine.
[snip]
On July 25, 2019, the call occurred. I listened in on the call in the Situation Room with colleagues from the NSC and the office of the Vice President. As the transcript is in the public record, we are all aware of what was said.
I was concerned by the call. I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the U.S. government’s support of Ukraine. I realized that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the Bidens and Burisma, it would likely be interpreted as a partisan play which would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing the bipartisan support it has thus far maintained. This would all undermine U.S. national security. Following the call, I again reported my concerns to NSC’s lead counsel.
Since this is the era of the 24-second news cycle, this incredibly explosive testimony is not actually the most important thing happening tomorrow. Tomorrow, the House is taking the next step in the impeachment process.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Monday the House would vote on Thursday to formalize the procedures of the impeachment inquiry into Trump and Ukraine, in what will be the first time the House will go on the record on the proceedings.
The vote signals a move into the next stage of the investigation following several weeks of closed-door depositions, as Democrats said the resolution would establish rules for public hearings, provide due process rights for the White House and allow information to be transferred to the committee that would ultimately consider the articles of impeachment.
House Democrats are discussing a time frame that would include public impeachment hearings before Thanksgiving and votes on whether to impeach Trump by Christmas, according to multiple Democratic sources. But Pelosi did not put a time frame on it at a closed-door leadership meeting on Monday to discuss the resolution and she has been hesitant to do so, as the timing is subject to change depending on how witnesses cooperate or if additional leads come up, according to multiple Democrats.
The impeachment inquiry has only been going on for about a month, and it has already uncovered widespread conspiracy and corruption, leading inexorably towards Putin and his Ukrainian and Turkish allies. It has done real damage to a “President” whose popularity was already low with everyone but the most die-hard deplorables.
In the two polls taken on the subject since the House’s impeachment inquiry began, a plurality of Americans have said they wanted to impeach and remove Trump. In no poll taken before then was this the case.
Here are a few other takeaways from the poll:
- Our poll is not an outlier and is fairly close to the average spread in October of 48% who want to impeach and remove Trump from office and 44% who don’t.
- Mike Pence’s net favorability rating (-7 points) is 7 points higher than Trump’s (-14 points).
- More Americans want to impeach and remove Trump from office now than Americans did at this point of the impeachment sagas of Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon.
- The percentage of Americans who feel strongly about Trump not being impeached and removed has dropped from 45% in the spring of this year to 37% now, which suggests Trump has room to lose more ground going forward.
- Rudy Giuliani’s favorable rating is lower than ever, while Nancy Pelosi’s is the highest in over a decade.
Imagine what will happen by Christmas. I can’t wait to do my happy dance!
This is an open thread.
- In: 2020 Election | Human Rights | Open Thread | Politicians | Politics | Womens' Rights
- 98 Comments
Photo courtesy of The New York Times.
And now, it’s time for another episode of: As the Democrats Turn! So, so many questions…
- Who will Tulsi attack on behalf of Russia now? (Yes, she’s coming, of course. Such a drama queen!)
- Will Joe Biden offend women and/or POC?
- Will Yang continue to promise free money?
- Will Harris go back on the offensive?
- Will Warren sing a song about yellow children? (I wish I was kidding.)
- Will any of the others have a standout moment?
- And, most importantly: Will the moderators ask a single question about women’s rights? Cuz so far, nada mucho.
This is an open thread.
There are so many ways to look at Drumpf’s lack of fitness for the job of POTUS. To name a few:
- His abuse of the office of President for his and his cabal’s personal gain, for which the Democrats have opened an impeachment investigation.
- His indebtedness to hostile foreign countries like Russia, China, North Korea and Saudi Arabia.
- His well-documented history of sexual assault and rape, including a long-time association with pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
- His corruption of the Senate, the Justice Department and the Supreme Court.
- His racism, which infects and contaminates all his foreign and domestic policy decisions.
These are all ample reasons to declare that gob of orange goo unfit for office. But there’s one reason I don’t notice a lot of punditry talking about: he’s too emotional to be President.
It often strikes me how the language used to describe the Mango Moron is so very different from the language used to describe any other President. Here are just a few examples from the past few days.
“Panic”
“Erratic, abnormal, bizarre, unhinged, off the rails”
“Crazy”
This is not how any leader should act, much less the leader of the free world. Yet where are the judgments being passed on his lack of fitness for being President because of his overabundance of emotion? Where are covers like this?
Where’s all the condemnation of his endless tweeting about his own imaginary genius and “great and unmatched wisdom?” Why has the media ignored his acting like an insane person every day, in public? Why aren’t they constantly demanding his resignation?
My theory is that Drumpf is allowed to be emotionally unfit for office because the media doesn’t take him seriously as President. They think of him as a clown and an entertainer, so they just give him a pass on everything.
As we’ve seen, however, IQ45 is more than happy to exercise the powers, real and imagined, of the President of the United States. As unfit and clownish as he is, he really in charge of the military. He really has the nuclear codes. He really can make horrible deals with foreign countries that deeply damage our economy. He really can lift sanctions on Russia and expose allies, like Ukraine and Syrian Kurds, to death at the hands of his foreign masters.
The media had better get its sh*t together, and soon. I don’t think we’re going to make it past 2020 with this lunatic at the helm.
He’s just too emotional.
This is an open thread.
There’s only one story these days, and you know I’m going to talk about it. My angle was to be, “Let’s not forget WHY this is all happening – it’s all to benefit Russia!”; but the brilliant Rachel Maddow did it so beautifully last night, I won’t attempt to improve on perfection. Check out the first segment of her show if you haven’t seen it.
Instead, I will merely pose the question: Who comes up with this ****?
Who says to himself, “Hey, I’m the attorney general of the United States. Why don’t I just mosey over to Europe and try to blackmail our allies into saying it wasn’t Russia who interfered in our 2016 election?” Where does an idea like that come from? How devoid of any conscience or common sense do you have to be to first think this, then do this IN THE MIDDLE OF YOUR BOSS’ IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY FOR DOING THE SAME F’ING THING?!!!!!!!!!
Ahem. Sorry for yelling, but I can’t seem to stop. I came home from work yelling. I will probably go to sleep yelling.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?
I honestly think the inability of normal people to understand the convoluted thought processes of these hideous, sick, corrupt Republicans is one of the barriers Democrats have had to overcome when getting the message of Drumpf’s impeachable offenses out to the public. We just can’t imagine that our electoral system is so broken, it would allow transparently, cartoonishly evil idiots to take everything over. The Senate, the Presidency, the Supreme Court; all are completely awash in a sea of Russian money, self-dealing and child sex trafficking. (No, we haven’t forgotten about Jeffrey Epstein.) And it’s all one single Party, which seems to have become a cesspool sucking in the worst effluence unimaginable.
I think we are also all stunned by Republicans’ inaction in the face of all these institutions’ obvious implosion. In reality, Democrats shouldn’t have to do a single thing more. After a bit more than a week of the official inquiry, there is enough out there for a clean sweep of the entire disgusting Administration. The Senate should be marching into the Mango Moron’s office and telling him he’s over and to take Pence with him. How can anyone think this is survivable? The American people are 55% in favor of the impeachment inquiry already – and that was before yesterday.
I will say it again…I don’t know what fevered dreams these Republicans are having that are causing them to think so far outside the bounds of reality. I don’t know how they think up new and horrible ways to destroy our country. I honestly don’t care much; I just hope we, as a country, can kick them out of power very soon.
This is an open thread.
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