If he decides to cooperate more fully, I’m okay with not pressing the perjury.
I’m only okay with it if it gets Trump.
But too many of these fucks are slithering away with just a slap on the wrist, we don’t need another Ollie North type coming back in five years to run the NRA or what have you and keep contributing to this like a bullshit recycling center from hell.
Battlenet ID: MildC#11186 - If I'm in the game, send me an invite at anytime and I'll play.
Wouldn't he have already been executed in Soviet style impeachment?
Not neccesarily; he might have meant that he and his family will be shipped off to a Siberian work camp.
Also, given how intimate trump's relationship with Putin is, is it really a good idea to refer to this as a "soviet" impeachment?
Its the constant projection and muddying of terms. "I'm not the russian, you're the russian" has been seeing play for a bit now by conservative media. It's also an incredibly effective way to try and get people more apathetic by trying to (in bad faith) complicate the issue.
What's so bizarre, is that this is the same right wing apparatus who has been praising Russia (and Putin, who is a direct descendant of the Soviet era) since the Obama administration. To now start calling things "Soviet style" proceedings is fucking infuriating.
In my head cannon congress had Tommy Lee Jones call ambassador Sondland up and ask him if he wanted to revise his statement.
Though really this is the exact reason the hearings were closed, so the liars could more easily be caught and ye gods these are hands in the cookie jar catches.
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
I don't understand how Sondland thought he was going to get away with it.
Unless he really is just fantastically forgetful he has to remember multiple different people complaining to him that what he said was wrong. He must also know that there are records of who was listening in on the call.
Did he just expect everyone - the people who weren't willing to just go along with what Trump wanted included - to just say, "Nothing to see here, move along"? How did he not realize someone would contradict his testimony, like, immediately?
I don't understand how Sondland thought he was going to get away with it.
Unless he really is just fantastically forgetful he has to remember multiple different people complaining to him that what he said was wrong. He must also know that there are records of who was listening in on the call.
Did he just expect everyone - the people who weren't willing to just go along with what Trump wanted included - to just say, "Nothing to see here, move along"? How did he not realize someone would contradict his testimony, like, immediately?
He probably thought like all the previous Trump admin inquiries that people would stay quiet/claim privilege and his lies wouldn't come to light. Except woops turns out all those people the admin routinely shit on weren't really appreciative of it.
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
Wouldn't he have already been executed in Soviet style impeachment?
Not neccesarily; he might have meant that he and his family will be shipped off to a Siberian work camp.
Also, given how intimate trump's relationship with Putin is, is it really a good idea to refer to this as a "soviet" impeachment?
Its the constant projection and muddying of terms. "I'm not the russian, you're the russian" has been seeing play for a bit now by conservative media. It's also an incredibly effective way to try and get people more apathetic by trying to (in bad faith) complicate the issue.
What's so bizarre, is that this is the same right wing apparatus who has been praising Russia (and Putin, who is a direct descendant of the Soviet era) since the Obama administration. To now start calling things "Soviet style" proceedings is fucking infuriating.
It's an old and infuriating habit. 'Alt-right' and 'fake news' got reappropriated nearly as soon as they were coined and relevant in the national dialogue.
It's also infuriating to see the evangelical vote becoming increasingly Russian in character. From what I understand, Russians generally despise liberalism with a hot fiery passion. Those t-shirts that Trumpsters wear about how they'd rather be Russian than Democrat hit a little too close to home.
I don't understand how Sondland thought he was going to get away with it.
Unless he really is just fantastically forgetful he has to remember multiple different people complaining to him that what he said was wrong. He must also know that there are records of who was listening in on the call.
Did he just expect everyone - the people who weren't willing to just go along with what Trump wanted included - to just say, "Nothing to see here, move along"? How did he not realize someone would contradict his testimony, like, immediately?
Prior to this gig he had never worked in government before and ran a hotel company. He probably isn't used to the idea of literally everything you do being documented in real time from multiple sources.
Wouldn't he have already been executed in Soviet style impeachment?
Not neccesarily; he might have meant that he and his family will be shipped off to a Siberian work camp.
Also, given how intimate trump's relationship with Putin is, is it really a good idea to refer to this as a "soviet" impeachment?
Its the constant projection and muddying of terms. "I'm not the russian, you're the russian" has been seeing play for a bit now by conservative media. It's also an incredibly effective way to try and get people more apathetic by trying to (in bad faith) complicate the issue.
What's so bizarre, is that this is the same right wing apparatus who has been praising Russia (and Putin, who is a direct descendant of the Soviet era) since the Obama administration. To now start calling things "Soviet style" proceedings is fucking infuriating.
It's an old and infuriating habit. 'Alt-right' and 'fake news' got reappropriated nearly as soon as they were coined and relevant in the national dialogue.
It's also infuriating to see the evangelical vote becoming increasingly Russian in character. From what I understand, Russians generally despise liberalism with a hot fiery passion. Those t-shirts that Trumpsters wear about how they'd rather be Russian than Democrat hit a little too close to home.
Russia is their ideal state, except swap the Russian Orthodox church for the evangelical church.
I guess its like the way liberals admire Scandinavia.
+2
Options
EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
Or how Floridians admire ourselves.
+20
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ButtersA glass of some milksRegistered Userregular
I don't understand how Sondland thought he was going to get away with it.
Unless he really is just fantastically forgetful he has to remember multiple different people complaining to him that what he said was wrong. He must also know that there are records of who was listening in on the call.
Did he just expect everyone - the people who weren't willing to just go along with what Trump wanted included - to just say, "Nothing to see here, move along"? How did he not realize someone would contradict his testimony, like, immediately?
He probably thought like all the previous Trump admin inquiries that people would stay quiet/claim privilege and his lies wouldn't come to light. Except woops turns out all those people the admin routinely shit on weren't really appreciative of it.
He's also a fucking amateur ambassador that has probably never once had his bullshit called into question his entire previous career.
Wouldn't he have already been executed in Soviet style impeachment?
Hey, hey now. Let's give Scalise the benefit of the doubt here. I mean, if anybody would know how the Soviets might behave in a given situation, it's our current President.
I just want to register how disgusted I am about how the right is treating Lt. Col. Vindman. He is not a traitor for reporting on illegal and immoral activities of the President. In fact he is doing exactly what he is suppose to do. It is illegal for a military member to perform an illegal order or commit an action against the law. Their oaths are to the Constitution and the country not to the President.
It is just frustrating as hell for me to watch.
This is excluding the underlying issues on how the attacks are framed.
I don't understand how Sondland thought he was going to get away with it.
Unless he really is just fantastically forgetful he has to remember multiple different people complaining to him that what he said was wrong. He must also know that there are records of who was listening in on the call.
Did he just expect everyone - the people who weren't willing to just go along with what Trump wanted included - to just say, "Nothing to see here, move along"? How did he not realize someone would contradict his testimony, like, immediately?
He's a rich white dude with immense privilege that attaches thereto. That's it.
I don't understand how Sondland thought he was going to get away with it.
Unless he really is just fantastically forgetful he has to remember multiple different people complaining to him that what he said was wrong. He must also know that there are records of who was listening in on the call.
Did he just expect everyone - the people who weren't willing to just go along with what Trump wanted included - to just say, "Nothing to see here, move along"? How did he not realize someone would contradict his testimony, like, immediately?
He's a rich white dude with immense privilege that attaches thereto. That's it.
It is sometimes difficult to imagine the power and privilege these men possess. Collectively they are so far above the masses that they create their own system of morality. That those same masses can and will hold them accountable is as much a foreign idea to them as a kindergartener class holding the teachers accountable is to you and me.
+6
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Doctor DetroitNot a doctorTree townRegistered Userregular
I just want to register how disgusted I am about how the right is treating Lt. Col. Vindman. He is not a traitor for reporting on illegal and immoral activities of the President. In fact he is doing exactly what he is suppose to do. It is illegal for a military member to perform an illegal order or commit an action against the law. Their oaths are to the Constitution and the country not to the President.
It is just frustrating as hell for me to watch.
This is excluding the underlying issues on how the attacks are framed.
Republicans have been party over country for a while. But now it’s Trump über alles.
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ButtersA glass of some milksRegistered Userregular
Judging from the "when a businessman cuts a check" spiel with Taylor, Sondland is either an idiot or very much used to working with idiots. I'm leaning towards the former because Sondland expected a fully functional adult person to take that argument seriously.
"I knew people were listening in on the call (why would I say something inappropriate?)"
I would not do something wrong while people were listening. Therefore, whatever I did cannot be wrong.
It's like a six-year-old trying to gaslight you.
The fact that we can't throw in the fact that Trump is simultaneously mad that these people were listening to the phone call (labels of traitors and spies) and also talks about how he was super smart and knew people were listening so obviously didn't say anything bad (even though his own fucking memo spells it out for everyone) is maddening.
It's one thing to have a horrible opinion or stance, it's another thing when you can't even stick by one explanation and are forced to quantum explain everything with two excuses that are mutually exclusive.
Trump can't admit he looked at the wrong weather map
he'll never admit fault, ever
Remember when he came out during the campaign and "apologized," but never actually said what he was specifically apologizing for, because ultimately he wasn't actually sorry for anything? God that feels simultaneously like a century ago and like last week.
Judging from the "when a businessman cuts a check" spiel with Taylor, Sondland is either an idiot or very much used to working with idiots. I'm leaning towards the former because Sondland expected a fully functional adult person to take that argument seriously.
Some people go through life (in its entirety or merely large chunks of it) without ever being told No, or at least, not in a manner by someone who holds the power or authority to back that up.
To that end, I think repeatedly framing these people as 'idiots' is less than helpful. Products of their environment, where they were unlikely to face even the mildest of critiques, rebukes, or consequences? Sure!
But calling him and many others idiots is to denigrate their intelligence in unhelpful ways. Many of these people are wealthy, powerful, with immense resources and likely expertise in other aspects of business and politics. One can say or do something ill advised or counterproductive while still being canny, savvy, cunning, among a lengthy list of other traits.
Yeah yeah, I get that it's a shorthand. We call Giuliani an idiot for butt dialing and going on TV to admit to crimes, and yet it still seems to be working out for him pretty well. Trump says a dozen idiotic things per day (and tweets twice as many, minimum) and yet the long slow crawl to wake the impeachment dragon continues. McConnell, Ryan, Graham, Gaetz, and copious others have been called idiots for countless reasons, be they hypocrisy, blatant lies, shitweaselry, and more. Yes, some have seen a slap on the wrist, or meager consequences, hell a few more than many of us anticipated have actually seen the inside of a jail cell.
Ugh. Maybe I'm being 'that guy', but as we limp our way to the next chance for the American electorate to maybe buck the trend and show an incumbent president the door (let's gloss over all the innate doomsaying and despair this entails), I feel like writing some of these guys off is a low level oversight.
Sorry if that got a little ranty, but it's a shorthand I see getting thrown out a lot. Hell, I am quick to throw out the sarcastic "the BEST people" myself, but until this waking nightmare at least has some reins put onto it, I'm reluctant to assume idiocy.
And even if present, an unfortunate portion of the electorate actively cheers on such willful ignorance, intentional or otherwise.
Even if I'm wrong, let's not overlook that for some, being an idiot isn't just "not a dealbreaker", it's an actively attractive characteristic. Which is a damning indictment of more Americans than I want to think about, but that's just another log on the bonfire of bigotries, sexism, racism, and more that show up relentlessly.
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
The sad thing is that they really are not very clever people, but their birth into the upper classes means that they have a lot of power. There are a lot of clever folks here who could do much better with their position, but the lottery of life has made them wage slaves instead.
The sad thing is that they really are not very clever people, but their birth into the upper classes means that they have a lot of power. There are a lot of clever folks here who could do much better with their position, but the lottery of life has made them wage slaves instead.
The entire Trump administration is an abject lesson in white, male privilege. If someone ever says they don't believe in white or male privilege, just pull up a picture of the Trump administration and *gesture vaguely*
Directing certain committees to continue their ongoing investigations as part of the existing House of Representatives
inquiry into whether sufficient grounds exist for the
House of Representatives to exercise its Constitutional
power to impeach Donald John Trump, President of
the United States of America, and for other purposes.
Directing certain committees to continue their ongoing investigations as part of the existing House of Representatives
inquiry into whether sufficient grounds exist for the
House of Representatives to exercise its Constitutional
power to impeach Donald John Trump, President of
the United States of America, and for other purposes.
Hearings (may) start with 90 minutes of being grilled by lawyers before members get their normal 5 minutes. That's perfect. The Lewandowski hearing would have gone very differently if they let that attorney tear him apart for 90 minutes before letting everyone else have a go.
Hopefully it will also look more transparently disingenuous when the GOP has to recycle their idiotic talking points over and over again for 90 minutes straight.
Ouf! Those 90 minutes are going to be hard to watch sometimes (so much squirming) but it should get to the point instead of getting asked questions about Hillary in 5 minutes increment.
The sad thing is that they really are not very clever people, but their birth into the upper classes means that they have a lot of power. There are a lot of clever folks here who could do much better with their position, but the lottery of life has made them wage slaves instead.
The entire Trump administration is an abject lesson in white, male privilege. If someone ever says they don't believe in white or male privilege, just pull up a picture of the Trump administration and *gesture vaguely*
Directing certain committees to continue their ongoing investigations as part of the existing House of Representatives
inquiry into whether sufficient grounds exist for the
House of Representatives to exercise its Constitutional
power to impeach Donald John Trump, President of
the United States of America, and for other purposes.
I don't have time to read all of this at work, but quick ctrl+f did not show any explanation of how subpoenas will be enforced if they are ignored.
That seems like a pretty damn important thing to lay down the ground rules for in the official documentation.
CommunistCow on
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
+4
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ButtersA glass of some milksRegistered Userregular
Judging from the "when a businessman cuts a check" spiel with Taylor, Sondland is either an idiot or very much used to working with idiots. I'm leaning towards the former because Sondland expected a fully functional adult person to take that argument seriously.
Some people go through life (in its entirety or merely large chunks of it) without ever being told No, or at least, not in a manner by someone who holds the power or authority to back that up.
To that end, I think repeatedly framing these people as 'idiots' is less than helpful. Products of their environment, where they were unlikely to face even the mildest of critiques, rebukes, or consequences? Sure!
But calling him and many others idiots is to denigrate their intelligence in unhelpful ways. Many of these people are wealthy, powerful, with immense resources and likely expertise in other aspects of business and politics. One can say or do something ill advised or counterproductive while still being canny, savvy, cunning, among a lengthy list of other traits.
Yeah yeah, I get that it's a shorthand. We call Giuliani an idiot for butt dialing and going on TV to admit to crimes, and yet it still seems to be working out for him pretty well. Trump says a dozen idiotic things per day (and tweets twice as many, minimum) and yet the long slow crawl to wake the impeachment dragon continues. McConnell, Ryan, Graham, Gaetz, and copious others have been called idiots for countless reasons, be they hypocrisy, blatant lies, shitweaselry, and more. Yes, some have seen a slap on the wrist, or meager consequences, hell a few more than many of us anticipated have actually seen the inside of a jail cell.
Ugh. Maybe I'm being 'that guy', but as we limp our way to the next chance for the American electorate to maybe buck the trend and show an incumbent president the door (let's gloss over all the innate doomsaying and despair this entails), I feel like writing some of these guys off is a low level oversight.
Sorry if that got a little ranty, but it's a shorthand I see getting thrown out a lot. Hell, I am quick to throw out the sarcastic "the BEST people" myself, but until this waking nightmare at least has some reins put onto it, I'm reluctant to assume idiocy.
And even if present, an unfortunate portion of the electorate actively cheers on such willful ignorance, intentional or otherwise.
Even if I'm wrong, let's not overlook that for some, being an idiot isn't just "not a dealbreaker", it's an actively attractive characteristic. Which is a damning indictment of more Americans than I want to think about, but that's just another log on the bonfire of bigotries, sexism, racism, and more that show up relentlessly.
I understand where you are coming from but
A) I'm not exactly interacting with a community that is terribly representative of the overall electorate when on these boards
I am not reluctant for a second to assume idiocy when it comes to Trump as there is simply far too many examples proving my suspicion and smart people generally don't like working for an utter buffoon like the president.
Directing certain committees to continue their ongoing investigations as part of the existing House of Representatives
inquiry into whether sufficient grounds exist for the
House of Representatives to exercise its Constitutional
power to impeach Donald John Trump, President of
the United States of America, and for other purposes.
I don't have time to read all of this at work, but quick ctrl+f did not show any explanation of how subpoenas will be enforced if they are ignored.
That seems like a pretty damn important thing to lay down the ground rules for in the official documentation.
Why should they lock themselves into a particular process of subpoena enforcement in this document? I don't see the point. They have the same enforcement powers they do right now, how they choose to use them is going to continue to be situational.
+13
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Doctor DetroitNot a doctorTree townRegistered Userregular
We need to stop being so concerned with the subpoenas.
Enough people are showing up and providing damning testimony. I’m okay with throwing noncompliance onto the Obstruction pile, for now.
Also, as long as no one is flaunting that they're in defiance and/or the media isn’t making a big deal about it, I don’t see why we should.
Ouf! Those 90 minutes are going to be hard to watch sometimes (so much squirming) but it should get to the point instead of getting asked questions about Hillary in 5 minutes increment.
The best part is I think it prevents Republicans from doing their Denounce and Dash. Where they'd go through the opening statement, get their 5 minutes, spend it denouncing the current testifier as a liar (or 5 minutes of "You're so awesome, isn't the President awesome?") and then fucking off out of there.
I really wish C-Span and other outlets would show the empty seats of Congresspeople that show up, grandstand, and leave. If you're on the Committee, you should be there for the duration. Do your fucking jobs.
EDIT: I mean, they can still do that, but it's gone from the opening statement, plus the preceding questioners, to opening statement, plus the preceding questioners, plus 90 minutes.
In Never-Trumper news, here's a tweet from someone giving details on the people currently being attacked for being Never-Trumpers that have given testimony against Trump.
"Lt. Col. Vindman – war hero, WH aide
Taylor – Vietnam vet, 50 year public servant
Yovanovitch – FSO since 1986, MS from Nat'l War College
Fiona Hill – Trump appointee, served Bush + Obama
Volker – Trump appointee, Amb. to NATO under Bush
Laura Cooper – 2 decades at Pentagon"
- Jesse Lehrich is a Democratic Strategist, and former Hilary Foreign Policy Spokesperson.
It just boggles my mind that the GOP are fine with tarnishing these people, undermining the institutions they represent, all for someone who will throw them under the bus the moment they step out of line. Fucking cowards.
On the other side, people testifying that Trump did nothing wrong...
Gordon Sondland - Trump Donor, and completely unqualified Ambassador to the EU, currently rushing to retract perjured testimony.
And we're supposed to believe the latter, over the six former? Fuck that narrative.
Posts
I’m only okay with it if it gets Trump.
But too many of these fucks are slithering away with just a slap on the wrist, we don’t need another Ollie North type coming back in five years to run the NRA or what have you and keep contributing to this like a bullshit recycling center from hell.
Battlenet ID: MildC#11186 - If I'm in the game, send me an invite at anytime and I'll play.
I would agree, he’s now admitting that there was quid-pro-quo and now we have other people who were actually on the call testifying to the same.
If this keeps up things could become untenable for Republicans.
What's so bizarre, is that this is the same right wing apparatus who has been praising Russia (and Putin, who is a direct descendant of the Soviet era) since the Obama administration. To now start calling things "Soviet style" proceedings is fucking infuriating.
I'm ok with it as long as he cuts the shit and is completely honest with investigators.
Might be hard to prove he didn't 'forget' getting lectured by Vindman and Hill on this point.
He and his brother were also interviewed by Ken Burns at age 10 for his "America" Docu-series.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/ntNMdtApSSxgbbHzA6ZrN-3NuxM=/150x0/smart/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/DBDULFUGV5DONH4XIYINRZAJL4.gif
I think he might be able to legit fall back on just being really really shitty at the job.
Though really this is the exact reason the hearings were closed, so the liars could more easily be caught and ye gods these are hands in the cookie jar catches.
pleasepaypreacher.net
Unless he really is just fantastically forgetful he has to remember multiple different people complaining to him that what he said was wrong. He must also know that there are records of who was listening in on the call.
Did he just expect everyone - the people who weren't willing to just go along with what Trump wanted included - to just say, "Nothing to see here, move along"? How did he not realize someone would contradict his testimony, like, immediately?
He probably thought like all the previous Trump admin inquiries that people would stay quiet/claim privilege and his lies wouldn't come to light. Except woops turns out all those people the admin routinely shit on weren't really appreciative of it.
pleasepaypreacher.net
It's an old and infuriating habit. 'Alt-right' and 'fake news' got reappropriated nearly as soon as they were coined and relevant in the national dialogue.
It's also infuriating to see the evangelical vote becoming increasingly Russian in character. From what I understand, Russians generally despise liberalism with a hot fiery passion. Those t-shirts that Trumpsters wear about how they'd rather be Russian than Democrat hit a little too close to home.
Prior to this gig he had never worked in government before and ran a hotel company. He probably isn't used to the idea of literally everything you do being documented in real time from multiple sources.
Russia is their ideal state, except swap the Russian Orthodox church for the evangelical church.
I guess its like the way liberals admire Scandinavia.
He's also a fucking amateur ambassador that has probably never once had his bullshit called into question his entire previous career.
Hey, hey now. Let's give Scalise the benefit of the doubt here. I mean, if anybody would know how the Soviets might behave in a given situation, it's our current President.
It is just frustrating as hell for me to watch.
This is excluding the underlying issues on how the attacks are framed.
He's a rich white dude with immense privilege that attaches thereto. That's it.
It is sometimes difficult to imagine the power and privilege these men possess. Collectively they are so far above the masses that they create their own system of morality. That those same masses can and will hold them accountable is as much a foreign idea to them as a kindergartener class holding the teachers accountable is to you and me.
Republicans have been party over country for a while. But now it’s Trump über alles.
The fact that we can't throw in the fact that Trump is simultaneously mad that these people were listening to the phone call (labels of traitors and spies) and also talks about how he was super smart and knew people were listening so obviously didn't say anything bad (even though his own fucking memo spells it out for everyone) is maddening.
It's one thing to have a horrible opinion or stance, it's another thing when you can't even stick by one explanation and are forced to quantum explain everything with two excuses that are mutually exclusive.
Remember when he came out during the campaign and "apologized," but never actually said what he was specifically apologizing for, because ultimately he wasn't actually sorry for anything? God that feels simultaneously like a century ago and like last week.
Some people go through life (in its entirety or merely large chunks of it) without ever being told No, or at least, not in a manner by someone who holds the power or authority to back that up.
To that end, I think repeatedly framing these people as 'idiots' is less than helpful. Products of their environment, where they were unlikely to face even the mildest of critiques, rebukes, or consequences? Sure!
But calling him and many others idiots is to denigrate their intelligence in unhelpful ways. Many of these people are wealthy, powerful, with immense resources and likely expertise in other aspects of business and politics. One can say or do something ill advised or counterproductive while still being canny, savvy, cunning, among a lengthy list of other traits.
Yeah yeah, I get that it's a shorthand. We call Giuliani an idiot for butt dialing and going on TV to admit to crimes, and yet it still seems to be working out for him pretty well. Trump says a dozen idiotic things per day (and tweets twice as many, minimum) and yet the long slow crawl to wake the impeachment dragon continues. McConnell, Ryan, Graham, Gaetz, and copious others have been called idiots for countless reasons, be they hypocrisy, blatant lies, shitweaselry, and more. Yes, some have seen a slap on the wrist, or meager consequences, hell a few more than many of us anticipated have actually seen the inside of a jail cell.
Ugh. Maybe I'm being 'that guy', but as we limp our way to the next chance for the American electorate to maybe buck the trend and show an incumbent president the door (let's gloss over all the innate doomsaying and despair this entails), I feel like writing some of these guys off is a low level oversight.
Sorry if that got a little ranty, but it's a shorthand I see getting thrown out a lot. Hell, I am quick to throw out the sarcastic "the BEST people" myself, but until this waking nightmare at least has some reins put onto it, I'm reluctant to assume idiocy.
And even if present, an unfortunate portion of the electorate actively cheers on such willful ignorance, intentional or otherwise.
Even if I'm wrong, let's not overlook that for some, being an idiot isn't just "not a dealbreaker", it's an actively attractive characteristic. Which is a damning indictment of more Americans than I want to think about, but that's just another log on the bonfire of bigotries, sexism, racism, and more that show up relentlessly.
I'm sure Trump told him he would block anybody else from testifying and contradicting him
The entire Trump administration is an abject lesson in white, male privilege. If someone ever says they don't believe in white or male privilege, just pull up a picture of the Trump administration and *gesture vaguely*
PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20191028/BILLS-116-HRes660.pdf
Hearings (may) start with 90 minutes of being grilled by lawyers before members get their normal 5 minutes. That's perfect. The Lewandowski hearing would have gone very differently if they let that attorney tear him apart for 90 minutes before letting everyone else have a go.
Hopefully it will also look more transparently disingenuous when the GOP has to recycle their idiotic talking points over and over again for 90 minutes straight.
A classic example of failing upwards.
I don't have time to read all of this at work, but quick ctrl+f did not show any explanation of how subpoenas will be enforced if they are ignored.
That seems like a pretty damn important thing to lay down the ground rules for in the official documentation.
I understand where you are coming from but
A) I'm not exactly interacting with a community that is terribly representative of the overall electorate when on these boards
Why should they lock themselves into a particular process of subpoena enforcement in this document? I don't see the point. They have the same enforcement powers they do right now, how they choose to use them is going to continue to be situational.
Enough people are showing up and providing damning testimony. I’m okay with throwing noncompliance onto the Obstruction pile, for now.
Also, as long as no one is flaunting that they're in defiance and/or the media isn’t making a big deal about it, I don’t see why we should.
The best part is I think it prevents Republicans from doing their Denounce and Dash. Where they'd go through the opening statement, get their 5 minutes, spend it denouncing the current testifier as a liar (or 5 minutes of "You're so awesome, isn't the President awesome?") and then fucking off out of there.
I really wish C-Span and other outlets would show the empty seats of Congresspeople that show up, grandstand, and leave. If you're on the Committee, you should be there for the duration. Do your fucking jobs.
EDIT: I mean, they can still do that, but it's gone from the opening statement, plus the preceding questioners, to opening statement, plus the preceding questioners, plus 90 minutes.
"Lt. Col. Vindman – war hero, WH aide
Taylor – Vietnam vet, 50 year public servant
Yovanovitch – FSO since 1986, MS from Nat'l War College
Fiona Hill – Trump appointee, served Bush + Obama
Volker – Trump appointee, Amb. to NATO under Bush
Laura Cooper – 2 decades at Pentagon"
- Jesse Lehrich is a Democratic Strategist, and former Hilary Foreign Policy Spokesperson.
It just boggles my mind that the GOP are fine with tarnishing these people, undermining the institutions they represent, all for someone who will throw them under the bus the moment they step out of line. Fucking cowards.
On the other side, people testifying that Trump did nothing wrong...
Gordon Sondland - Trump Donor, and completely unqualified Ambassador to the EU, currently rushing to retract perjured testimony.
And we're supposed to believe the latter, over the six former? Fuck that narrative.