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babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
November 8, 2019
Friday, November 08, 2019
by Salon
Looks Like GOP Might Run With the "Moron Defense" for Trump
Exhausted Republicans have given up on the claim that Trump did nothing wrong. All they've got left is "he's dumb."
by Heather Digby Parton
snip//
More than half a dozen witnesses have now testified that the quid pro quo was discussed constantly and caused a full-blown uproar among the Foreign Service professionals. Graham remained the good soldier, parroting Trump's language but not sounding terribly convincing. On Oct. 25, he said: "He's telling me that the phone call was perfect. I'm saying the phone call was OK with me."
On Tuesday of this week, Graham finally threw up his hands, saying, "I've written the whole process off. I think this is a bunch of BS," telling reporters he won't even read any of the transcripts — the same ones he had previously clamored for Democrats to release. But by Wednesday, he was taking yet another tack:
This has become known as the "moron defense," which holds that the president is too dumb to commit all the crimes it appears he has committed. So far, Graham's the only one I've heard articulate that defense in this case and I would guess that's because it's bound to make Trump livid. You may have noticed that he sees himself as a "very stable genius" and he'd probably rather be impeached than hear Republicans say that he was too stupid to have committed a crime. Which really is stupid, but there we are.
snip//
Finally, we have the working White House impeachment war room that will almost certainly handle Trump's defense on an official basis. Its two arms would be Fox News and the Twitter feed of Donald Trump Jr. The New York Times did a deep dive into the swift-boat campaign against Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who testified in the impeachment inquiry last week. Trump Jr and Fox News host Pete Hegseth played a big part in spreading an easily rebutted smear that bubbled up through the right-wing fever swamp. Don Jr. has also tweeted out the name of the purported CIA whistleblower, whom Trump and his henchmen have been trashing nonstop. Whatever happens going forward, we can be sure that Trump family Twitter feeds will play a big part in defending the president throughout the impeachment process.
Lindsey Graham says Trump's Ukraine policy was incoherent. It wasn't. He knew what he wanted. But the strategy to defend the president in this impeachment proceeding is certainly incoherent at this point. He will probably survive a trial in the Senate, but none of his defenders are going to come out looking any better than he does. The central fact they can't accept is that his behavior was indefensible.
digby: Looks Like GOP Might Run With the "Moron Defense" for Trump
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/11/08/looks-gop-might-run-moron-defense-trump?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3cHCauq6QowpeA4PRrjW9_6Wb7i-cYhNJbNgt5fDQ9A9FU9kVNaHdPj4cFriday, November 08, 2019
by Salon
Looks Like GOP Might Run With the "Moron Defense" for Trump
Exhausted Republicans have given up on the claim that Trump did nothing wrong. All they've got left is "he's dumb."
by Heather Digby Parton
snip//
More than half a dozen witnesses have now testified that the quid pro quo was discussed constantly and caused a full-blown uproar among the Foreign Service professionals. Graham remained the good soldier, parroting Trump's language but not sounding terribly convincing. On Oct. 25, he said: "He's telling me that the phone call was perfect. I'm saying the phone call was OK with me."
On Tuesday of this week, Graham finally threw up his hands, saying, "I've written the whole process off. I think this is a bunch of BS," telling reporters he won't even read any of the transcripts — the same ones he had previously clamored for Democrats to release. But by Wednesday, he was taking yet another tack:
This has become known as the "moron defense," which holds that the president is too dumb to commit all the crimes it appears he has committed. So far, Graham's the only one I've heard articulate that defense in this case and I would guess that's because it's bound to make Trump livid. You may have noticed that he sees himself as a "very stable genius" and he'd probably rather be impeached than hear Republicans say that he was too stupid to have committed a crime. Which really is stupid, but there we are.
snip//
Finally, we have the working White House impeachment war room that will almost certainly handle Trump's defense on an official basis. Its two arms would be Fox News and the Twitter feed of Donald Trump Jr. The New York Times did a deep dive into the swift-boat campaign against Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who testified in the impeachment inquiry last week. Trump Jr and Fox News host Pete Hegseth played a big part in spreading an easily rebutted smear that bubbled up through the right-wing fever swamp. Don Jr. has also tweeted out the name of the purported CIA whistleblower, whom Trump and his henchmen have been trashing nonstop. Whatever happens going forward, we can be sure that Trump family Twitter feeds will play a big part in defending the president throughout the impeachment process.
Lindsey Graham says Trump's Ukraine policy was incoherent. It wasn't. He knew what he wanted. But the strategy to defend the president in this impeachment proceeding is certainly incoherent at this point. He will probably survive a trial in the Senate, but none of his defenders are going to come out looking any better than he does. The central fact they can't accept is that his behavior was indefensible.
November 8, 2019
https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/pbs-going-gavel-to-gavel-with-trump-impeachment-hearings
PBS Providing Multiplatform Coverage of Trump Impeachment Hearings
Coverage of Watergate hearings made star of Ervin
John Eggerton
3 hours ago
PBS, whose coverage of the Watergate hearings riveted the nation and made beetle-browed inquisitor Sen. Sam Ervin into a folk hero, has announced its coverage plans for the Donald Trump public impeachment hearings starting next week and it is going to provide televised coverage this time as well, with the addition of digital coverage on all its platforms.
Presiding over the hearings next week will be House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff.
“How high did the scandals reach and was President Nixon himself involved?” That was how then NewsHour co-anchor Robert MacNeil opened the Nixon hearings in May 17, 1973.
PBS will broadcast the Trump hearings live starting Nov. 13, with analysis from its new NewsHour team. As always stations make their own programming decisions, but the coverage will be available to affiliates.
The hearings will then be available on demand on all PBS digital platforms including pbs.org and the PBS video app, which is available on Apple TV, Roku and smart TVs.
The hearings will also air in prime time on WORLD, the digital channel carried by 157 public television stations (covering 64.4% of US TV households). A
PBS NewsHour and Amanpour & Company will also have "extensive coverage" of the hearings.
PBS Providing Multiplatform Coverage of Trump Impeachment Hearings
https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/pbs-going-gavel-to-gavel-with-trump-impeachment-hearings
PBS Providing Multiplatform Coverage of Trump Impeachment Hearings
Coverage of Watergate hearings made star of Ervin
John Eggerton
3 hours ago
PBS, whose coverage of the Watergate hearings riveted the nation and made beetle-browed inquisitor Sen. Sam Ervin into a folk hero, has announced its coverage plans for the Donald Trump public impeachment hearings starting next week and it is going to provide televised coverage this time as well, with the addition of digital coverage on all its platforms.
Presiding over the hearings next week will be House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff.
“How high did the scandals reach and was President Nixon himself involved?” That was how then NewsHour co-anchor Robert MacNeil opened the Nixon hearings in May 17, 1973.
PBS will broadcast the Trump hearings live starting Nov. 13, with analysis from its new NewsHour team. As always stations make their own programming decisions, but the coverage will be available to affiliates.
The hearings will then be available on demand on all PBS digital platforms including pbs.org and the PBS video app, which is available on Apple TV, Roku and smart TVs.
The hearings will also air in prime time on WORLD, the digital channel carried by 157 public television stations (covering 64.4% of US TV households). A
PBS NewsHour and Amanpour & Company will also have "extensive coverage" of the hearings.
November 8, 2019
Published on Friday, November 08, 2019
by Common Dreams
As PBS Did With Nixon, Bill Moyers Calls for Primetime Airing of Trump Impeachment Hearings
With the House set to hold its first public impeachment hearings next week as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, renowned public broadcast journalist Bill Moyers took out a full-page ad in the Friday print edition of the New York Times calling on PBS to carry the hearings live on television and re-air them in primetime every night, just as it did during the Nixon impeachment proceedings.
Read the full ad (pdf) @ link:
more...
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/08/pbs-did-nixon-bill-moyers-calls-primetime-airing-trump-impeachment-hearings?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2wHEjRv19Bz50L3iUgCumEOsBgF34WOrJwBhx-H2Mmzz2kYC1trcu8u3A
As PBS Did With Nixon, Bill Moyers Calls for Primetime Airing of Trump Impeachment Hearings
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/08/pbs-did-nixon-bill-moyers-calls-primetime-airing-trump-impeachment-hearings?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2wHEjRv19Bz50L3iUgCumEOsBgF34WOrJwBhx-H2Mmzz2kYC1trcu8u3APublished on Friday, November 08, 2019
by Common Dreams
As PBS Did With Nixon, Bill Moyers Calls for Primetime Airing of Trump Impeachment Hearings
"Pull out the stops once again, and for the sake of the nation, throw away the schedule," writes luminary of public broadcast journalism in full-page ad. "Who wins? Democracy—and viewers like you."
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
With the House set to hold its first public impeachment hearings next week as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, renowned public broadcast journalist Bill Moyers took out a full-page ad in the Friday print edition of the New York Times calling on PBS to carry the hearings live on television and re-air them in primetime every night, just as it did during the Nixon impeachment proceedings.
"Now, during yet another great Constitutional crisis, it's time for PBS to stand up again—to air the Trump impeachment hearings live during the day and repeat them in the evening primetime hours," reads the ad (pdf), which Moyers co-authored with longtime collaborator and Common Dreams senior writing fellow Michael Winship.
"Plenty of Americans still rely on good old broadcast TV to get the word," the ad—which appears on page 5—continues. "Hearken, PBS: Pull out the stops once again, and for the sake of the nation, throw away the schedule and air the Trump impeachment hearings in prime-time. Who wins? Democracy—and viewers like you."
"Plenty of Americans still rely on good old broadcast TV to get the word," the ad—which appears on page 5—continues. "Hearken, PBS: Pull out the stops once again, and for the sake of the nation, throw away the schedule and air the Trump impeachment hearings in prime-time. Who wins? Democracy—and viewers like you."
Read the full ad (pdf) @ link:
more...
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/08/pbs-did-nixon-bill-moyers-calls-primetime-airing-trump-impeachment-hearings?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2wHEjRv19Bz50L3iUgCumEOsBgF34WOrJwBhx-H2Mmzz2kYC1trcu8u3A
November 8, 2019
Russia Laughs: Is He “Their” President Or Ours?
Joe Conason November 7, 2019
Instead of watching Fox News, which manufactures heroic propaganda about President Donald Trump, Republican voters could learn much more from seeing a few hours of Russian television. It is on shows broadcast from Moscow and St. Petersburg where the truth about the Trump administration can be heard.
The message is emphatically not “Make America Great Again.”
No, the Russian outlook articulated by Russian commentators — who faithfully reflect Kremlin policy — is that Trump’s incompetence and incoherence greatly benefit the motherland by weakening its rival America. This mocking theme has aired consistently on the top Russian TV channels for years now and has only intensified as “their” president is threatened by impeachment and electoral defeat.
Indeed, the Kremlin’s broadcasters deride Trump not only for his crude style and obvious ignorance but also for his pathetic sycophancy toward their boss, President Vladimir Putin. In August, the top Moscow news program, called 60 Minutes, featured a video mashup with clips of Trump’s speeches to depict him warbling a pop song as Putin played the piano. The meaning was clear, especially to the snickering studio audience: The American president sings and dances to the Russian president’s tune.
But that disrespectful attitude toward Trump only strengthens their determination to protect and promote him, which is why the Russian media — and their friends in the United States, from far left to far right — so staunchly oppose impeachment.
more...
https://www.nationalmemo.com/russia-laughs-is-he-their-president-or-ours/?fbclid=IwAR0HH9FBuxv2dtDduI-I-iyGy47EUSV6PbeoYGy0jM23z5J6-nCIQfNKmWQ
Joe Conason: Russia Laughs: Is He "Their" President Or Ours?
Russia Laughs: Is He “Their” President Or Ours?
Joe Conason November 7, 2019
Instead of watching Fox News, which manufactures heroic propaganda about President Donald Trump, Republican voters could learn much more from seeing a few hours of Russian television. It is on shows broadcast from Moscow and St. Petersburg where the truth about the Trump administration can be heard.
The message is emphatically not “Make America Great Again.”
No, the Russian outlook articulated by Russian commentators — who faithfully reflect Kremlin policy — is that Trump’s incompetence and incoherence greatly benefit the motherland by weakening its rival America. This mocking theme has aired consistently on the top Russian TV channels for years now and has only intensified as “their” president is threatened by impeachment and electoral defeat.
Indeed, the Kremlin’s broadcasters deride Trump not only for his crude style and obvious ignorance but also for his pathetic sycophancy toward their boss, President Vladimir Putin. In August, the top Moscow news program, called 60 Minutes, featured a video mashup with clips of Trump’s speeches to depict him warbling a pop song as Putin played the piano. The meaning was clear, especially to the snickering studio audience: The American president sings and dances to the Russian president’s tune.
But that disrespectful attitude toward Trump only strengthens their determination to protect and promote him, which is why the Russian media — and their friends in the United States, from far left to far right — so staunchly oppose impeachment.
“Have you lost your minds that you want to remove our Donald Ivanovych?” asked popular talk show host Vladimir Soloviev. Figures like Soloviev frequently apply that possessive (and protective) adjective to Trump, whom they discuss as if he were literally owned by a foreign state.
more...
https://www.nationalmemo.com/russia-laughs-is-he-their-president-or-ours/?fbclid=IwAR0HH9FBuxv2dtDduI-I-iyGy47EUSV6PbeoYGy0jM23z5J6-nCIQfNKmWQ
November 8, 2019
November 8, 2019 / 10:21 AM / Updated 25 minutes ago
Trump says he might attend Russia Victory Day events in May
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he was considering attending Russia’s May 9 Victory Day commemorative events after President Vladimir Putin extended an invitation.
Putin presides over an annual parade to commemorate the Soviet Union’s World War Two victory over Nazi Germany, but the Kremlin has said next year’s 75th anniversary would be marked with great pomp.
Trump called it “a very big deal celebrating the end of the war.”
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was cited by RIA news agency as saying on Thursday that Putin’s invitation to his U.S. counterpart to attend Victory Day in Moscow had been “received with interest,” but there had not yet been any reply from the White House.
While U.S.-Russia relations have hit a low point after American intelligence agencies concluded that Moscow interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help Trump, the two leaders have maintained what appears to be a good relationship.
Trump says he might attend Russia Victory Day events in May
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia/trump-says-thinking-about-attending-russias-may-day-parade-idUSKBN1XI1UG?fbclid=IwAR2OXVUE9RqnZRio1yT4nfMS4PsS-uEIBeiWpa08XeAEGM59mMBjpZxD80kNovember 8, 2019 / 10:21 AM / Updated 25 minutes ago
Trump says he might attend Russia Victory Day events in May
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he was considering attending Russia’s May 9 Victory Day commemorative events after President Vladimir Putin extended an invitation.
“I appreciate the invitation. It is right in the middle of political season, so I’ll see if I can do it, but I would love to go if I could,” Trump told reporters before departing the White House for campaign-related events.
Putin presides over an annual parade to commemorate the Soviet Union’s World War Two victory over Nazi Germany, but the Kremlin has said next year’s 75th anniversary would be marked with great pomp.
Trump called it “a very big deal celebrating the end of the war.”
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was cited by RIA news agency as saying on Thursday that Putin’s invitation to his U.S. counterpart to attend Victory Day in Moscow had been “received with interest,” but there had not yet been any reply from the White House.
While U.S.-Russia relations have hit a low point after American intelligence agencies concluded that Moscow interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help Trump, the two leaders have maintained what appears to be a good relationship.
November 8, 2019
Mike Bloomberg Will Never Become President
Yes, from October.
https://prospect.org/power/mike-bloomberg-will-never-become-president/
Mike Bloomberg Will Never Become President
But his fifth flirtation with a run may be the most offensive yet.
by David Dayen
October 15, 2019
Michael Bloomberg has had the functionaries on his payroll not-so-discreetly float his candidacy for president for 11 years now. It began in 2008, when he attended a meeting in January of that year that I called Wankstock, a gathering of old white male politicians-turned-lobbyists for three days of peace, love, and bipartisanship. Touting an agenda of deficit reduction and “renouncing partisan bickering”— something for everyone from random senior fellows in Washington think tanks to people on his own payroll—Bloomberg soon realized that he failed to gain any traction and almost immediately declared he wouldn’t run.
Bloomberg also flirted with running in 2012, and 2016, and earlier in this 2020 cycle, after changing his registration from independent to Democrat. Each time he declined, after realizing that the appeal for a socially liberal, fiscally conservative billionaire doesn’t exist outside of Tom Friedman columns.
But now he’s back for the fifth time, as moderates see their dream of a do-nothing presidency slipping away from them. On Monday, friends of Bloomberg leaked to reporters that Joe Biden’s inability to lock down the Democratic primary has the multi-billionaire rethinking his decision to bow out of the race. If Biden drops out, he’s dropping in, according to unnamed sources.
That Bloomberg, solely by virtue of his indescribably obscene store of wealth, can generate this kind of publicity for his Hamlet act insults our collective intelligence. “I think it’s something he wants,” said one of his staff members paid to float this nonsense to CNBC. Notice that the wants of the public never show up in this analysis.
snip//
There’s a certain arrogance in anyone who sees a president staring back at them in the mirror. But Bloomberg’s decade-plus dalliance with an impossible candidacy is downright offensive. We are barely getting through someone with serious rich-guy syndrome in the Oval Office. We don’t need someone else mistaking the ability to make a bunch of money with the ability to lead.
November 8, 2019
The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
11/07/2019
In the Trump Foundation Lawsuit, Donald Trump Admitted He Broke the Law
snip//
Today, in the New York State Supreme Court, Justice Saliann Scarpulla agreed to a settlement on a case involving Donald Trump, his three terrible older crotch spawn, and his disgraced charitable foundation. The settlement had the president of the United States admitting to breaking the law and being forced to pay a $2 million penalty. Those laws include "breach of fiduciary duty and waste under New York’s Not-for-Profit Corporation Law" and "failure properly to administer Foundation assets and waste under New York’s Estates, Powers, and Trusts Law."
The decision goes on, "A review of the record, including the factual admissions in the Final
Stipulation, establishes that Mr. Trump breached his fiduciary duty to the Foundation and
that waste occurred to the Foundation." I'm no fancy lawyer, just a big city blogger, but that seems to me that Trump is admitting he broke the law. A "factual admission" here means that the defendant, Trump, agrees with the court.
Scarpulla gutted Trump's big 2016 show where he was going to raise and give a bunch of money to veterans: "Mr. Trump’s fiduciary duty breaches included allowing his campaign to orchestrate the Fundraiser, allowing his campaign, instead of the Foundation, to direct distribution of the Funds, and using the Fundraiser and distribution of the Funds to further Mr. Trump’s political campaign." Trump has to pay $2 million that will be distributed to charities like the United Negro College Fund and, in an in-yer-stupid-face to Trump's Nazi supporters, the U.S. Holocaust Museum.
snip//
Donald Trump is guilty of bilking people out of money, lying that it was going to help veterans' organizations and instead using charity to further his campaign. It seems like it ought to be a really big deal.
And somehow that's just supposed to be okay now and it's just another log tossed on the scandal bonfire, ready to burn into ash and blown away, forgotten, like the Trump University lawsuit, in the smoke that engulfs and chokes the whole goddamn country now.
The Rude Pundit: In the Trump Foundation Lawsuit, Donald Trump Admitted He Broke the Law
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2019/11/in-trump-foundation-lawsuit-donald.htmlThe Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
11/07/2019
In the Trump Foundation Lawsuit, Donald Trump Admitted He Broke the Law
snip//
Today, in the New York State Supreme Court, Justice Saliann Scarpulla agreed to a settlement on a case involving Donald Trump, his three terrible older crotch spawn, and his disgraced charitable foundation. The settlement had the president of the United States admitting to breaking the law and being forced to pay a $2 million penalty. Those laws include "breach of fiduciary duty and waste under New York’s Not-for-Profit Corporation Law" and "failure properly to administer Foundation assets and waste under New York’s Estates, Powers, and Trusts Law."
The decision goes on, "A review of the record, including the factual admissions in the Final
Stipulation, establishes that Mr. Trump breached his fiduciary duty to the Foundation and
that waste occurred to the Foundation." I'm no fancy lawyer, just a big city blogger, but that seems to me that Trump is admitting he broke the law. A "factual admission" here means that the defendant, Trump, agrees with the court.
Scarpulla gutted Trump's big 2016 show where he was going to raise and give a bunch of money to veterans: "Mr. Trump’s fiduciary duty breaches included allowing his campaign to orchestrate the Fundraiser, allowing his campaign, instead of the Foundation, to direct distribution of the Funds, and using the Fundraiser and distribution of the Funds to further Mr. Trump’s political campaign." Trump has to pay $2 million that will be distributed to charities like the United Negro College Fund and, in an in-yer-stupid-face to Trump's Nazi supporters, the U.S. Holocaust Museum.
snip//
Donald Trump is guilty of bilking people out of money, lying that it was going to help veterans' organizations and instead using charity to further his campaign. It seems like it ought to be a really big deal.
And somehow that's just supposed to be okay now and it's just another log tossed on the scandal bonfire, ready to burn into ash and blown away, forgotten, like the Trump University lawsuit, in the smoke that engulfs and chokes the whole goddamn country now.
November 8, 2019
Iraq veteran: We defended American democracy. Now we're asking Congress to do the same.
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and I took the same oath to serve America and the Constitution. And in Iraq, in October 2004, we bled on the same sand.
Alan Pitts
Opinion contributor
snip//
Our president attempted to use his office to coerce a foreign government for help in his political campaign, and put our national security at risk by withholding nearly $400 million in military aid that Congress, a coequal branch of government, had already approved on a broad, bipartisan basis. Now, the same members of Congress who approved that funding say it’s OK for President Donald Trump to make that aid contingent on help for his campaign. How is that loyalty to your country?
Unacceptable:Questioning Lt. Col. Vindman's loyalty to this country is un-American.
Last time I checked, “liberty and justice for all” meant no one is above the law. Last time I checked, “for the people, by the people” meant that our democracy was not for sale. The accusations against President Trump are gravely serious, and it’s high time everyone in our country found the courage to start treating them as such.
Don't tear us down for political games
Veterans have frequently been the ones speaking out about this administration’s abuses of power — from former special counsel Robert Mueller to acting acting Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor, and now Alexander Vindman. If we sink to the level of attacking the intentions of those who served our country and put themselves in harm’s way for our democracy, then I don’t know where we go next. Everyone I served with had our country’s best interests at heart and they are to be respected, not torn down for political games. The stakes are too high, and no one knows that better than us.
That’s why I and dozens of other veterans are launching the nonpartisan Defend American Democracy project. From Washington state to Washington, D.C., men and women who put themselves in harm’s way to stand up for our democracy are standing up again to call on Congress to do its constitutional duty — to protect the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Our members of Congress swore the same oath we did, and have the same duty to protect what our veterans have put their lives on the line to protect for 243 years: our Constitution and our democracy, not politics. We’ve done our part, now it’s time that our elected representatives find the courage to do theirs.
Alan Pitts, a retired Army sergeant, served from 2001 to 2006. Follow him on Twitter: @A_Pitts515
Iraq veteran: We defended American democracy. Now we're asking Congress to do the same.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2019/11/07/veterans-defended-american-democracy-now-congress-must-step-up-column/4169710002/?fbclid=IwAR0jpy6a6ABNKziPfUZCQzV2c7m50uTd8vXSlLWCVeGPuykipOzhf5Iv1coIraq veteran: We defended American democracy. Now we're asking Congress to do the same.
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and I took the same oath to serve America and the Constitution. And in Iraq, in October 2004, we bled on the same sand.
Alan Pitts
Opinion contributor
snip//
Our president attempted to use his office to coerce a foreign government for help in his political campaign, and put our national security at risk by withholding nearly $400 million in military aid that Congress, a coequal branch of government, had already approved on a broad, bipartisan basis. Now, the same members of Congress who approved that funding say it’s OK for President Donald Trump to make that aid contingent on help for his campaign. How is that loyalty to your country?
Unacceptable:Questioning Lt. Col. Vindman's loyalty to this country is un-American.
Last time I checked, “liberty and justice for all” meant no one is above the law. Last time I checked, “for the people, by the people” meant that our democracy was not for sale. The accusations against President Trump are gravely serious, and it’s high time everyone in our country found the courage to start treating them as such.
Don't tear us down for political games
Veterans have frequently been the ones speaking out about this administration’s abuses of power — from former special counsel Robert Mueller to acting acting Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor, and now Alexander Vindman. If we sink to the level of attacking the intentions of those who served our country and put themselves in harm’s way for our democracy, then I don’t know where we go next. Everyone I served with had our country’s best interests at heart and they are to be respected, not torn down for political games. The stakes are too high, and no one knows that better than us.
That’s why I and dozens of other veterans are launching the nonpartisan Defend American Democracy project. From Washington state to Washington, D.C., men and women who put themselves in harm’s way to stand up for our democracy are standing up again to call on Congress to do its constitutional duty — to protect the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Our members of Congress swore the same oath we did, and have the same duty to protect what our veterans have put their lives on the line to protect for 243 years: our Constitution and our democracy, not politics. We’ve done our part, now it’s time that our elected representatives find the courage to do theirs.
Alan Pitts, a retired Army sergeant, served from 2001 to 2006. Follow him on Twitter: @A_Pitts515
November 8, 2019
Trump has repeatedly attacked the whistleblower and tried to discredit the individual, saying he, Trump, deserves to "meet his accuser" and has demanded the whistleblower's identity be revealed. The President has also accused the whistleblower of partisanship though Trump said he had no personal knowledge of the person's identity.
more...
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/07/politics/ukraine-whistleblower-trump-cease-and-desist/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0Yb2XNa8XyA1i2gvhXfnKit_iOxouQ-3m1qbdN6a9_XNOgbhL9gT7HxnY
Lawyer for Ukraine whistleblower sends White House cease and desist letter to stop Trump's attacks
Lawyer for Ukraine whistleblower sends White House cease and desist letter to stop Trump's attacks
By Paul LeBlanc, CNN
Updated 9:40 PM ET, Thu November 7, 2019
(CNN)A lawyer for the Ukraine whistleblower, whose complaint document triggered the House impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, has sent a letter to the White House warning the President to "cease and desist" attacking his client.
"I am writing out of deep concern that your client, the President of the United States, is engaging in rhetoric and activity that places my client, the Intelligence Community Whistleblower, and their family in physical danger," Andrew Bakaj wrote to White House counsel Pat Cipollone in a Wednesday letter obtained by CNN's Anderson Cooper.
"I am writing to respectfully request that you counsel your client on the legal and ethical peril in which he is placing himself should anyone be physically harmed as a result of his, or his surrogates', behavior," he said.
"I am writing to respectfully request that you counsel your client on the legal and ethical peril in which he is placing himself should anyone be physically harmed as a result of his, or his surrogates', behavior," he said.
Trump has repeatedly attacked the whistleblower and tried to discredit the individual, saying he, Trump, deserves to "meet his accuser" and has demanded the whistleblower's identity be revealed. The President has also accused the whistleblower of partisanship though Trump said he had no personal knowledge of the person's identity.
more...
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/07/politics/ukraine-whistleblower-trump-cease-and-desist/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0Yb2XNa8XyA1i2gvhXfnKit_iOxouQ-3m1qbdN6a9_XNOgbhL9gT7HxnY
November 8, 2019
Do you think there is a lot of interest out there
for public impeachment hearings next week?
Edit to add: iirc 'everyone' tuned in to Watergate. Has our attention span diminished? Not mine 
https://www.npr.org/2019/11/06/776968157/impeachment-inquiry-to-move-into-public-hearings-phase
Impeachment Inquiry To Move Into Public Hearings Phase
November 6, 20194:21 PM ET
Heard on All Things Considered
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