Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[WingsFan]

[Dr. Strangelove]

Republicans go all in on Louisiana as signs of panic begin to emerge. They're spending a huge amount of money and effort (comparatively). Trump's made multiple visits. Done at least three rallies for Rispone. Mike Pence is doing interviews with swamp-ass little radio stations across the state. They want the win bad but it might not be enough.

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/1...edwards-070838

[Jeff Buchanan]

Wow. After being summoned to the White House and forced to meet with Erdogan, Lindsey Graham just single-handedly blocked recognition of the Armenian Genocide on the Senate floor

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/...rdogan-meeting

In case this isn't clear, the implications are staggering .......... Turkey, strongly aligned with Moscow, is dictating what the US does and doesn't do through a compliant president. I have no idea what the upside is to this. Sounds to me like Erdogan has maneuvered himself into a position where he is holding a US president hostage to something strategically important to American national interests, like US forces basing.

Trump has repeatedly failed to understand that international politics and strategy is not a reality show where the producers dictate the story line. He's been outmaneuvered or mated by almost every foreign power, friend and foe, since he took office. A low point in American history on the global stage.

...... and that's only half of it. The representatives of the American people overwhelmingly passed the resolution to condemn the Turkish genocide of the Armenians. Then it gets blocked by the lacky of what amounts to a US president acting like a third world despot.

[froot loops]

When you disregard the blob and pillory career civil servants as the Deep State you are bound to get outmaneuvered by foreign governments. Its even worse when you are so weak electorally that you ask foreign countries for help to win.

[froot loops]

Good article on bad weighting in state polling.

[Ghengis Jon]

Follow the money. Expect a wave of building permits and subsidies from Turkey when Dear Leader is gone from office. National interest doesn't enter his equations....it's all about personal gain.

[Dr. Strangelove]

In case this isn't clear, the implications are staggering .......... Turkey, strongly aligned with Moscow, is dictating what the US does and doesn't do through a compliant president. I have no idea what the upside is to this. Sounds to me like Erdogan has maneuvered himself into a position where he is holding a US president hostage to something strategically important to American national interests, like US forces basing.

Trump has repeatedly failed to understand that international politics and strategy is not a reality show where the producers dictate the story line. He's been outmaneuvered or mated by almost every foreign power, friend and foe, since he took office. A low point in American history on the global stage.

...... and that's only half of it. The representatives of the American people overwhelmingly passed the resolution to condemn the Turkish genocide of the Armenians. Then it gets blocked by the lacky of what amounts to a US president acting like a third world despot.

I don't know if you saw the article I posted a day or two ago (I post a lot of crap, I know) but John Bolton (reportedly) in a private speech accused Trump's Turkey policy of being guided more by his personal financial interests than anything else.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Also, keep your eyes peeled for any action taken in the DOJ case against the Turkish bank Halkbank.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/prosecutors-raise-pressure-turkish-bank-erdogan-likely-ask-trump-go-n1080991

[Jeff Buchanan]

I don't know if you saw the article I posted a day or two ago (I post a lot of crap, I know) but John Bolton (reportedly) in a private speech accused Trump's Turkey policy of being guided more by his personal financial interests than anything else.

I did. It was in my Google News feed. Despite the dislike of John Bolton by a lot liberal Ds, mostly on the basis of his personality and hawkishness, he's going to be courted and treated like royalty by folks doing the inquiry. He does have cred in Washington and I suspect that he didn't take his firing, or whatever he wants to call it, by Trump in stride. IOW, he's going to move the articles forward more than a step or two IF he agrees to testify and take a lot of pleasure in doing so.

So far, he has said he will do that only if a court clears him to do so despite instructions from the White House for him not to do so. Technically, he has a point: Executive privileges do exist and, while not properly as protective as the Trump White House claims, they still are at their strongest in the realm of direct conversations with the president and especially when involving diplomacy.

That's a quote from an article I just read linked to below. Worth a read to see how all the legal maneuvering about refusal of key advisers to testify in the Nixon impeachment inquiry involving the Watergate Scandal. Nixon finally waived his right to executive privilege and that was key in gaining his resignation.

One other key thing to note. I read an article yesterday that suggested there is a simple way to make an impeachment vote at trial that is likely to have R's - enough to get a conviction - vote to impeach as long as they can do so privately. That way they avoid any adverse political fall out that a public vote might subject them to. The article went on to suggest that this move, if it were to pass, would be likely to bring about Trump's resignation to avoid trial and gain a Pence Pardon for federal crimes. Keep in mind, such a pardon would not bar him from being tried for the other shit he's gotten on the wrong side of the law at the state level.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/john-bolton-has-patriotic-duty-to-testify-to-the-house

[Dr. Strangelove]

Now not one but two witnesses say they overheard Sondland's call with Trump in the Kyiv restaurant

https://apnews.com/6d318542e50b45dc9e1d4d829ad36c96

[Dr. Strangelove]

One OMB employee has broken ranks, will be giving closed deposition on Saturday. Up till now the OMB had successfully been able to keep all its employees from testifying.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2019/11/14/career-white-house-budget-official-expected-break-ranks-testify-impeachment-inquiry/

[Dr. Strangelove]

Rudy is under investigation for what you'd expect: unregistered lobbying for a foreign government, campaign finance violations, etc. BUT also bribery charges...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-15/giuliani-faces-u-s-probe-on-campaign-finance-lobbying-breaches

[Dr. Strangelove]

Louisiana Senator John Kennedy tells the Trump crowd that he's a proud deplorable. He ain't no "cultured, cosmopolitan, goat's milk latte-drinkin, avocado toast-eating, insider elite".

This dude went to Vanderbilt, UVA Law school, and Oxford and he's talking like he's Gomer Pyle and came straight to the rally after sloppin' the pigs.

[lineygoblue]

Slopping the pigs is an honorable profession.

Without someone doing it nobody gets bacon.

[iam416]

Myles Garrett, DSL? What in THE fuck? Even when the Clowns win, they lose.