US Politics, January 2020. Because we hate ourselves.

good morning!

mcconnell has told gop senators to expect a trial next week, apparently

'How has your life improved since you intentionally decimated your genital region with a disc sander?'
'Mm...eh, y'know...mmmrrmmmm ehhh huhhhhhnnnnnnggggggh GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHI don't know, it just has. It just has.'

Quite the nugget in this WSJ story --->

"Mr. Trump, after the strike, told associates he was under pressure to deal with Gen. Soleimani from GOP senators he views as important supporters in his coming impeachment trial in the Senate, associates said" https://t.co/3xxLFJ6XTk

— Dave Brown (@dave_brown24) January 10, 2020

hmm, wonder if this could possibly related to known warmonger lindsey graham somehow hearing about the plan to assassinate soleimani days before the strike, on a golf course, despite none of the democrats being briefed about it

so at least sticking with Obama on this amirite

#US to #Iraq: We’re staying. pic.twitter.com/bnliyZY9O1

— Matt Lee (@APDiploWriter) January 10, 2020

Narrator: He was not a force for good in the Middle East.

YES WE ARE. and we will stay until everyone sees that. they will thank us in the end!! after they pay back the trillions they owe us for the forcing of good that we did

and we take their oil

the dinosaurs were Americans

*** MISSION ACCOMPLISHED ***

democratic congressman from ISIS

our right, appropriate force posture

the plan to assassinate soleimani days before the strike, on a golf course

I totally know what you meant but the wording allows several amusing misreadings

https://twitter.com/search?q=%22Hose%20Republicans%22

this is such a funny thing to lie about pic.twitter.com/TwZcTPQtJQ

— Dr. Smallpenis (@CNNRGLDN) January 13, 2020

good afternoon!

this seems like a bad thing for the President of the United States to retweet

The corrupted Dems trying their best to come to the Ayatollah's rescue.#NancyPelosiFakeNews pic.twitter.com/a0ksPHeXCy

— داون آندر (@D0wn_Under) January 13, 2020

OIC u have not been informed that we've dispensed with norms, no worries, it's a common misapprehension

Washington — The White House is preparing for some Republican senators to join Democrats in voting to call witnesses in President Trump's impeachment trial, which could get underway in the coming days.

Senior White House officials tell CBS News they increasingly believe that at least four Republicans, and likely more, will vote to call witnesses. In addition to Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah and possibly Cory Gardner of Colorado, the White House also views Rand Paul of Kentucky as a "wild card" and Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee as an "institutionalist" who might vote to call witnesses, as one official put it.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/impeachment-trial-white-house-expects-republican-defections-on-calling-new-witnesses-in-the-senate/

important background for those not aware:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the question of whether to call new witnesses in the trial would be decided by the full Senate after the trial gets underway. A simple majority of 51 votes will be needed to approve motions to call witnesses, meaning Democrats would need to convince four out of the 53 Republicans in the Senate to vote with them to compel testimony.

whose brows can we furrow up in here

the only good thing about mcconnell being an utterly amoral scoundrel who enjoys the suffering of his opposition of any party, providing he has cover, is that no at risk gop sen has one iota of confidence in him to meet a supportive agreement in their own positions or at home. he better be paying straight cash homey, by which i mean my sen.

Lotsa Parnas stuff dropped

House Intel is releasing some of the documents from Lev Parnas - including this scrawled note: "get Zalensky to Annonce that the Biden case will Be Investigated" pic.twitter.com/m3slygGDOj

— Elizabeth Landers (@ElizLanders) January 14, 2020

Um holy sh*t. This certainly makes it sound like Parnas and co. were actively tracking Yovanovitch's movements. This could explain why Yovanovitch was moved out of Ukraine so quickly. https://t.co/4rBRB06ZGN pic.twitter.com/5Gc8WcGPih

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) January 14, 2020

why were they tracking her movements (and security detail!)

were they thinking of killing her? does that make sense given the case?

that's too speculative. i withdraw the post. but so odd

One of those guys tracking her is now running for Congress.

maybe they just wanted to give her a hug

i guess they were planning to intimidate her in some way--so she wouldn't say anything about the "investigations"

there will be no withdrawing of posts!

on the one hand this is really serious.

on the other hand, I’m dying: “what’s the word bro? any good stuff?”

BREAKING: Michael Avenatti was taken into custody by federal agents during a disciplinary hearing at California’s State Bar Court https://t.co/aKwub5VclW

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) January 15, 2020

#basta

New Pew polling:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ENyHh_mXkAMfwSD?format=jpg

India and the Philippines fall into line with Modi and Duterte, but interestingly Brazil demurs.

Interesting discussion further down about how confidence in Trump has up among members of populist far right parties over, been flat to down among the rest of foreign citizens.

Merkel still wins in a plurality vote for world leader:

Merkel: Sweden, Netherlands, France, Germany, Canada, UK, Spain, South Korea, Australia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Japan, Tunisia, Italy, Brazil
Putin: Russia, Bulgaria, Greece, Slovakia, Indonesia, Turkey, Czech Rep
Trump: Phillipines, Israel, Kenya, India, Poland, Hungary
Xi: Nigeria, South Africa, Argentina, Mexico
Macron: Lebanon

surprised by the high ratings in kenya and nigeria

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/14/michael-flynn-seeks-to-withdraw-guilty-plea-trump#_=_

8/89 in Mexico, lol

dunno so much about kenya but it's utterly unsurprising why nigeria would be in favour - i know several nigerian families professionally and they all have in common a strong patriarchal culture where the dads are larger-than-life domestic tyrants (even in the nicest possible way!) and success in business is seen as next to godliness

(and these aren't all wealthy families either)

LOL Lebanon.

Impeachment managers revealed:

As expected, the most prominent leaders of the impeachment investigation, Representatives Adam B. Schiff of California, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, and Jerrold Nadler of New York, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, will be part of the group.

Ms. Pelosi also named Representatives Zoe Lofgren of California, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Val B. Demings of Florida, Jason Crow of Colorado and Sylvia R. Garcia of Texas. Mr. Crow and Ms. Garcia are both first-term members.

Just announced on @MSNBC: @maddow will be interviewing Lev Parnas tonight at 9pm ET.

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 15, 2020

Lofgren and Jeffries both killed it in the House hearings, seem like wise choices

Weird that a smoking gun seems to have appeared last night with these Parnas revelations but I guess just throw in the huge pile of smoking guns, nbd

you mean smocking

yes how rediculous of me

it's only a matter of time before they turn up a literal smoking gun.

I'm not really following this story but is the gist of it that the Trump admin were seriously considering murdering Yovanovitch?