Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[froot loops]

They're rushing thing to get it out of the House before 2020. The Senate could potentially call Bolton or Mulvaney or Pompeo

I mean, at this point Mulvaney, Pompeo, and Bolton could ALL testify against Trump and I'm not sure Republicans would break from him. They are terrified of him, or at least his ability to control their base, even if his influence on independents is shitty.

It could be the whole GOP is as corrupt and as criminal as Donald Trump is.

[Dr. Strangelove]

SECNAV is out. I will guarantee you there is way more to this story than the WAPO has been told by DOD. My guess is that SECNAV's resignation at the request of Esper was arranged by Trump and his lackeys/ass kissers who care more about keeping their jobs that acting with integrity. IMO SECNAV was absolutely correct in telling Trump to butt out .... this is a Navy Matter of ethics, not one of operational control.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...vy-seals-case/

Holy shit...this is a fucking disgrace

[Dr. Strangelove]

Judge Jeanine says that Gordon Sondand is a deep state bureaucrat dedicated to destroying Trump

Sondland donated over a million bucks to Trump's campaign (willing to bet that's far more than Judge Jeanine donated) and ran a hotel chain for most of his life

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/jeanine-...the-president/

[Dr. Strangelove]

Side note: Jeff, I'm glad that you are waking up to the reality that Trump and the sycophants around him are utter slimeballs

Join the Biden train, my brother

[Dr. Strangelove]

Esper confirms today that Trump directly ordered him to ensure that Gallagher remains a SEAL

[lineygoblue]

I don't see what the big deal is about letting Gallagher keep his trident. He's leaving the Navy anyway. The worst thing he was convicted of was posing with an enemy corpse. I don't think that rises to the level of taking away a military retiree's designation. Oh, how far we've come since "Full Metal Jacket"...

Now, if he bargained with the Russians to have them influence the Ukrainians to give Gallagher a job as an oil executive, in exchange for his Trident ... THEN we'd have a problem ....

[Dr. Strangelove]

Judge orders the Pentagon and the OMB to comply with a FOIA request and release all records related to Trump's Ukraine aid freeze

https://www.axios.com/judge-orders-ukraine-aid-records-released-trump-impeachment-991bd47b-2f8a-43bf-bf41-3aee3eb0a546.html

[Da Geezer]

I haven't been at this site in about a month. What happened? It seems to have degenerated into a prog echo chamber with the crazies feeding off each other. I hope it is just because the middle-of-the-road guys like myself are at their jobs.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Trump with a temporary win in the Financial Records case. Supreme Court grants him a temporary stay and sets a very aggressive expedited briefing schedule. If they agree to accept the case (and there's no guarantee of that still) it'll almost certainly be decided this term.

In the Don McGahn case the DOJ gets hit with a predictable loss and immediately appeals. Enough to provide cover for Bolton, Kupperman, others to testify? Maybe not. Judge Jackson's rulling is pretty scorching and blasts the concept of presidential aides having "absolute immunity" even after they're out of office. "Presidents are not kings" and all that.

[Ghengis Jon]

....middle-of-the-road guys like myself.....

Glad to see you've kept your sense of humor.

[Dr. Strangelove]

This is a pretty good response to Graham and any other Republican who suddenly wants an investigation of the Bidens. The Hunter Biden stuff is five years old. Lindsey's known about it all this time. Why did he only decide something smelled rotten when Biden chose to run against Trump? Republicans could have easily launched an investigation at any time in 2017-2018.

[froot loops]

Judge Jackson has it right. Trump, his followers and the GOP are arguing Trump is a monarch.

[Ghengis Jon]

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[iam416]

Read an interesting article yesterday (from NBC of all places) pondering why support for impeachment is plummeting. One thought is that the Ds have intentionally moved from quid pro quo to "bribery" -- very deliberately. MSNBC started pimping "bribery", the Ds focus grouped it and now, lo and behold, that's the message. But it's not bribery. And it's easy for the Rs to defend it as not bribery because, well, it's not --- and anyone with two eyes can see it. If that's what you're trying to prove to convince the American public you want him out then you're going to lose.

It is, of course, an abuse of power (separation of powers) in an attempt to further PDJT's political objectives. It was a quid pro quo, which, at the time, felt like more the enough to proceed. I guess not. Maybe because there was no actual quo? I dunno.

Anyway, the pundits are desperately trying to figure out why support is dropping when there has been no defense, at all, mounted by the Rs and the facts bear out exactly what happened. Something that is impeachable, but obviously not a bribe.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I wouldn't say it's "plummeting", but it has plateaued and retreated among Independents.

Honestly, I believe the "Trump being Trump" effect is real. There's a genuine long-term impact on people when you behave outrageously day after day. It desensitizes them. So even when assuming all the worst things about this case: Trump used congressionally-appropriated foreign aid to try and compel a foreign govt to give him dirt on a political opponent. Meh, "Trump's done worse" is what a lot of people are thinking in the back of their minds.