October 4, 2019

If anyone you know is still convinced Biden needs to be investigated

I suggest you show them Shokin’s Wikipedia page...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Shokin

Since 2012, the Ukrainian prosecutor general had been investigating oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky, owner of the oil and natural gas company Burisma Holdings, over allegations of money laundering, tax evasion, and corruption. In 2014, then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, joined the board of directors of Burisma Holdings. In 2015, Shokin became the prosecutor general, inheriting the investigation. The Obama administration and other governments and non-governmental organizations soon became concerned that Shokin was not adequately pursuing corruption in Ukraine, was protecting the political elite, and was regarded as "an obstacle to anti-corruption efforts". Among other issues, he was slow-walking the investigation into Zlochevsky and Burisma – to the extent that Obama officials were considering launching their own criminal investigation into the company for possible money laundering.

While visiting Kiev in December 2015, Joe Biden threatened Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that if he did not fire Shokin, that the US would hold back its $1 billion in loan guarantees. "I looked at them and said, 'I'm leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you're not getting the money.' [...] He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time." Shokin was dismissed by Parliament in late March 2016.

In a sworn notarized affidavit dated September 4, 2019, for a European court, Shokin testified that "On several occasions President Poroshenko asked me to have a look at the [criminal] case against Burisma and consider the possibility of winding down the investigative actions in respect of this company[,] but I refused to close this investigation."

Shokin claimed in May 2019 that he had been investigating Burisma Holdings. However, Vitaliy Kasko, who had been Shokin's deputy overseeing international cooperation before resigning in February 2016 citing corruption in the office, provided documents to Bloomberg News indicating that under Shokin, the investigation into Burisma had been dormant. Also, the investigation into Burisma only pertained to events happening before Hunter Biden joined the company.

So, to summarize...

The issues with Burisma happened before Hunter Biden joined the company.

The concerns with Shokin came from many countries, not just the US, and it concerned the fact that Shokin wasn’t prosecuting corruption. Trump’s assertion that he was doing too good a job is a flat-out lie.

Biden wasn’t trying to prevent an investigation, he was trying to encourage an investigation.

The subsequent investigation only happened after Shokin was removed, and no wrongdoing by either of the Bidens was found.

September 28, 2019

Trump's road from wishing for impeachment to dreading it

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/09/27/trump-impeachment-whistleblower-ukraine-004984

I found this particularly interesting...

Trump critics say the president’s habit of firing aides so habitually may hurt him as Congress looks for witnesses and the president tries to stay on message.

“The president’s HR practices are going to come back to haunt him here because he is uncomfortable apparently with truth-tellers in his inner circle,” said Timothy Naftali, a professor of public service at NYU and a co-author of “Impeachment: An American History.”

“He is likely to not get good advice from the acolytes who are left,” Naftali said. “He does not have Don McGahn anymore to tell him not to cross a trip cord.”

September 25, 2019

Happy National One-Hit Wonder Day! Post your favorite!

Here are a few of mine.

September 13, 2019

Americans increasingly see climate change as a crisis, poll shows

And they’re blaming Trump for not doing enough about it. This could become the key issue in the election.

https://beta.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/americans-increasingly-see-climate-change-as-a-crisis-poll-shows/2019/09/12/74234db0-cd2a-11e9-87fa-8501a456c003_story.html

September 13, 2019

The Johnson Mountain Boys - Orange Blossom Special

Bluegrass doesn’t get much better than this. I don’t know how that fiddle doesn’t catch fire.

September 9, 2019

The Shocking Paper Predicting the End of Democracy

Is the paper really shocking? Or just something we really hope we can avoid? You tell me.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/09/08/shawn-rosenberg-democracy-228045

September 5, 2019

13 Funny Sharpie Memes People Made After Trump Showed A Fake Hurricane Forecast Map

These are hilarious.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/jonmichaelpoff/trump-hurricane-dorian-map-sharpie-meme

July 19, 2019

My Chemical Romance - Desolation Row

I think some songs were always meant to be punk rock songs...it just took the right band to recognize that. Anyhow, enjoy.

July 19, 2019

By the way, this is still the greatest thing in the history of the internet

Just something that a guy named Steve Ibsen did with his cat back in 2004. The lounge seems to love cat videos, so I thought I’d bring back the ultimate classic. Enjoy.

July 17, 2019

How Pepsi briefly became the 6th largest military in the world

I thought this was interesting...

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-pepsi-briefly-became-the-6th-largest-military-in-the-world-2018-7?op=1