Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Jeff Buchanan]

They are not wasting time, they are getting depositions from the people involved. You have to gather the evidence for a trial.

Correct ..... it's happening.

What will slow it down is the DEMs arguing how the articles are framed and how many of them should there be.

I think Trump is the classic "dead man walking."

[froot loops]

I'm not sure about the dead man walking, he may survive and squeak out an election victory. His support is still sturdy, he becomes a dead man if the approval rating dips down to something like 38 percent. If it gets there, there's hardly any permutations of an election where he could still win. In my mind the 42 percent he is sits at is the bare minimum you can have and still run his electoral strategy. As long as Rupert Murdoch is alive and doesn't pull the plug on Trump, he has a chance to survive.

A second term Trump would be a zombie administration of rampant corruption.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Point taken .... especially the one about the "zombie administration ....."

[Dr. Strangelove]

A group of Republican representatives charged into the hearing room. Another stunt being led by Gaetz. Standoff going on right now. A bunch of them brought cell phones into the room too which is a major violation of the classified area and has prevented today's testimony from even starting. Dems trying to decide whether to have the police remove them or cancel the hearing and reschedule.

[Dr. Strangelove]

NY Times has documents showing Ukraine knew of the military aid freeze in early August, long before it became public and weeks earlier than previously thought, further undermining Trump's claim of no quid pro quo.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/23/us/politics/ukraine-aid-freeze-impeachment.html

[Ghengis Jon]

A group of Republican representatives charged into the hearing room. Another stunt being led by Gaetz. Standoff going on right now. A bunch of them brought cell phones into the room too which is a major violation of the classified area and has prevented today's testimony from even starting. Dems trying to decide whether to have the police remove them or cancel the hearing and reschedule.

They're rescheduling.

I am stunned at the number of Repubs involved in this stunt. Seems to be an escalation of the GOP policy "You don't like the message, shoot the messenger". Now it's "You don't like facts, prevent them from coming out."

House rules state only committee members get to sit in committee closed door sessions (unless approved by committee chair). To pull a stunt like that is ass licking of epic proportion, even by Trumpanzee standards.

[Dr. Strangelove]

They're rescheduling.

I am stunned at the number of Repubs involved in this stunt. Seems to be an escalation of the GOP policy "You don't like the message, shoot the messenger". Now it's "You don't like facts, prevent them from coming out."

House rules state only committee members get to sit in committee closed door sessions (unless approved by committee chair). To pull a stunt like that is ass licking of epic proportion, even by Trumpanzee standards.

Yesterday's testimony feels like a turning point. It has them and the WH shaken up. Time to start doing anything to turn the depositions and hearings into a total circus.

Funny how these guys demanding "total transparency" have nothing to say when Trump, Pompeo, Mulvaney, the OMB, Esper, and others refuse to comply with congressional subpoenas.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Ok then

[Dr. Strangelove]

Trump makes clear he is attacking Ambassador Bill Taylor, and his lawyer, as "human scum". Taylor still works in the State Department and was hand-picked by Pompeo to replace Marie Yovanovitch. Will Pompeo defend his subordinate? Or will he continue sending the message that he will throw anyone at the State Dept under the bus to advance his personal political career?

[froot loops]

[Dr. Strangelove]

As if that weren't an expansive enough view of the President's immunity, Trump's lawyers went even further. They insisted that because the Trump Org is fully owned by Trump, it was an extension of his person, and therefore the entire Trump Org is completely immune from any investigations as well. Neither her or his businesses can be investigated by anyone, at any level of government or law enforcement, so long as he is President.

[Dr. Strangelove]

[Dr. Strangelove]

[Ghengis Jon]

The hand wringing, the swooning, the fake outrage......are the repubs really closet hard-lefties?

[Dr. Strangelove]

The hand wringing, the swooning, the fake outrage......are the repubs really closet hard-lefties?

About a dozen of the Republican 'protesters' yesterday sit on the very Committees that are allowed into the room. Something like 48 Republicans sit on those 3 Committees. That's a quarter of the total number of Republicans in the House.

And the rules that Schiff is using to conduct the depositions this way were written by John Boehner and the Republicans just a few years ago.

Hearings in private? WHAT ARE THE DEMS HIDING?!? Hearings in public? THE DEMS JUST WANT TO GRANDSTAND FOR THE CAMERAS!!! They're going to be bashed for how they're running things no matter what they do, because bashing the process itself is Team Trump's primary strategy, so they might as well do it the more professional way. Public hearings get you results like that Zuckerberg cluster yesterday