Greetings and Good Day, Newsies! I hope everyone had a nice weekend. It was a long weekend where I am and Thanksgiving to boot. It was lovely and I let the cares of the world slip away for a couple of days.
But now I am back and even more angry. I can’t bear to write about a few things which upset me more than most of the outrageous shit Dumpy and the Rs have done and are doing, but the border crisis and mistreatment of immigrants is one and now the horrific turn of events in Syria is another.
We have GOT to defeat this evil cabal, Newsies. It’s not just Dumpy — he is merely the face of the rotten, festering evil that has been bubbling under the surface for decades. The reactionary right has been playing a long game, and a vicious, hateful, despicable long game it is. They have nearly succeeded in achieving total domination, but thankfully the majority has woken up in the nick of time. These MFers are going down to defeat. We’re going to vote, we are going to march, we are going to knock on doors, register voters, write letters and postcards and do everything we can to vote them out while our current blue wave in the House conducts an Impeachment Inquiry which will hopefully also net a few other GOPers in the process.
Here’s some inspiration to get you started this Tuesday:
R’s in congress may be finally turning on Dumpy
It’s long overdue, but maybe some Rs in Congress are ready to join Democrats in performing oversight and constraining the Executive branch’s abuse of power:
Congress Prepares to Unload on Trump’s Disastrous Syria Policy, Dan Spinelli, Mother Jones, October 14, 2019.
When President Donald Trump announced his decision to permit a Turkish invasion of northeastern Syria last week, outraged lawmakers were on recess and left with little recourse to register their concerns about the fate of the Kurds outside of Twitter and the Sunday news shows. Now they are assembling back in Washington for a week where Syria is expected to be top of mind through the corridors of the Capitol—above, perhaps, even impeachment. At center stage is a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing Thursday with two State Department officials and a rash of unhappy members from both parties eager for answers. In a break from the normally staid titles of congressional hearings, this one is titled “The Betrayal of our Syrian Kurdish Partners: How Will American Foreign Policy and Leadership Recover?”, a sign that it could be far more explosive than a normal House oversight meeting, with representatives from both parties likely to ask tough questions of the Trump officials.
The session will focus on Trump’s decision to abandon the Kurds, who have become targets of the Turkish military after fighting Islamic State terrorists alongside the United States for the past five years. Later that morning, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley are scheduled to privately brief Senate Armed Services Committee members on “the situation in Syria and the wider region.”
In the Senate—an institution that hasn’t seen much cooperation between Republicans and Democrats in recent times—Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) plan to introduce sanctions against Turkey week with bipartisan support.
Even Moscow Mitch may have concluded that his chances of continuing his crime spree are better without DUmpy
Moscow Mitch is admitting publicly what awful consequences could result from the terrible decision to retreat from Syria and abandon our Kurd allies, so he won’t be able to pretend to be surprised later. Hopefully this is a signal to Dumpy that his firewall of protection in the Senate is finally at risk:
McConnell 'gravely concerned' about U.S. response to Syrian conflict, Marianne Devine, Politico, October 14, 2019.
In a statement, McConnell pledged to work toward avoiding “a strategic calamity” when the Senate returns this week and warned that Turkey’s latest attacks on Kurdish allies in Syria was hurting progress in the fight against the Islamic State.
McConnell’s remarks come after President Donald Trump decided to withdraw U.S. forces from northern Syria — a move that has prompted bipartisan backlash.
“Abandoning this fight now and withdrawing U.S. forces from Syria would re-create the very conditions that we have worked hard to destroy and invite the resurgence of ISIS,” McConnell said. “And such a withdrawal would also create a broader power vacuum in Syria that will be exploited by Iran and Russia, a catastrophic outcome for the United States’ strategic interests.”
Democrats are great and will save the country with our help
R’s who still have a modicum of patriotism and humanity had better be ready to join their Democratic colleagues in the fight to save our country, because the “pResident” whom they have supported could do a lot of damage before he is finally removed. His panic is dangerous to the country, but it is also a sign of just how precarious he knows his position is:
Trump Is Going Ballistic Because the Walls Are Closing In, Monika Bauerlein, Mother Jones, October 14, 2019.
Trump is going ballistic because the walls are closing in. Even Fox News’ polling finds that more than half of voters support the impeachment inquiry—and a Washington Post poll finds a quarter of Republicans and right-leaning independents back it too. A growing number of people trust the media to tell the truth more so than they do Donald Trump. In court, some of his claims that he is above the law are getting pulverized. And the revelations have only just begun. (One of the things you learn as an investigative reporter is that where there is one whistleblower, there are always more.)
For the facts to come out, journalism must remain steadfast and keep digging. Trump knows his biggest enemy is not the media: It’s the truth. We’re seeing that when his misdeeds are revealed, he is forced to increase his lying, spinning, and gaslighting—to the point where it may no longer work even for him.
🍑 Impeachment Inquiry 🍑
Trump's Former Russia Adviser Testifies As Part Of Impeachment Inquiry, Bobby Allyn, NPR News, October 14, 2019.
Hill, who declined to elaborate on her planned testimony, is expected to discuss concerns she raised over the ouster of longtime diplomat Marie Yovanovitch, whose removal as the ambassador of Ukraine has become a key topic in the impeachment inquiry. She is also likely to speak about how, in her view, Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, and Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, were operating a Ukraine policy outside of the National Security Council. ✂️
When Hill took the White House job, it shocked national security insiders, since she was considered far from a Trump lackey, according to a profile of Hill in Politico last month.
"Hill's departure has left a gaping hole in expertise at the White House, at a moment when Russia's ongoing efforts to interfere in the 2020 election require a whole-of-government response," Politico reported, citing current and former intelligence officials and other experts.
And Chairman Schiff Isn’t putting up with any more of your nonsense, Gopers
A little schadenfreude moment for Matt Gaetz: Rep. Adam Schiff exercised his power as chairman of the House Intelligence committee to prevent MAGA drunkard Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) from attending the hearing at which the former Ukraine/Russia advisor (Fiona Hill) to Dumpy is giving testimony. It’s really good news to read about how Democrats are not playing the Rs game anymore.
‘Trump’s eyes and ears’: Matt Gaetz blocked from closed-door hearing with Russia aide, Travis Gettys, Raw Story, October 14, 2019.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was prevented from entering the closed-door hearing where former Russia adviser Fiona Hill was testifying.
The former foreign policy adviser to President Donald Trump was subpoenaed by the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees for closed door depositions — which Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) blocked Gaetz from entering.
Gaetz does not sit on any of those committees, and the House parliamentarian agreed with House Intelligence committee chairman Schiff that the Trump ally could not attend the hearing.
“It’s not like I’m on the agriculture committee,” Gaetz complained afterward. (LOL!! ← laughter ALL nifty’s! 😀)
Oh, and speaking of Fiona Hill’s testimony…
Here’s the story and Rudy is implicated: Trump’s ex-Russia adviser told impeachment investigators of Giuliani’s efforts in Ukraine, Karoun Demirjian, Shane Harris and Rachael Bade, Washington Post, October 14, 2019.
Fiona Hill, the White House’s former top Russia adviser, told impeachment investigators on Monday that Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, ran a shadow foreign policy in Ukraine that circumvented U.S. officials and career diplomats in order to personally benefit President Trump, according to a person familiar with her testimony.
In a closed-door session that lasted roughly 10 hours, Hill told lawmakers that she confronted Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, about Giuliani’s activities which, she testified, were not coordinated with the officials responsible for carrying out U.S. foreign policy, this person said on the condition of anonymity to disclose details of her deposition.
“Rudy Giuliani has clearly been a leading force for the administration in defining a shadow foreign policy in Ukraine,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told reporters after emerging from Hill’s testimony, though he declined to say whether Hill testified to that effect. “There was an official foreign policy, which was attempting to counter corruption in Ukraine, and then there was Rudy Giuliani and the gang that couldn’t shoot straight who worked for him, who were involved precisely [in] connecting with corruption in Ukraine and promoting corruption in Ukraine.”
And from the same article, this tidbit (paging John Bolton!): “And in a sign the impeachment inquiry is widening, investigators were discussing whether to question John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, according to people familiar with the matter. Bolton was Hill’s direct superior at the NSC.”
Also...
Wall Street Journal: Federal prosecutors examining Rudy Giuliani's business dealings in Ukraine, Paul LeBlanc, CNN, October 14, 2019.
Late breaking addition! Hill’s testimony seems to have implicated a whole cast of characters — Rudy, Bolton, Sondland, Pompeo, WH counsel, and on and on — and this may bring the dominoes more quickly crashing down. Story link in tweet:
Of course it’s always projection
Trump's focus on Biden also highlights his own questionable business arrangements, Marshall Cohen, CNN, October 14, 2019.
President Donald Trump has spent the last few weeks holding up former Vice President Joe Biden as the poster child of political corruption, relentlessly harping on discredited allegations that Biden abused his powers to protect his son's business interests.
The accusations against Biden rely heavily on right-wing conspiracies and have been largely debunked. While Biden was in office, his son made $50,000 a month serving on the board of a Ukrainian energy firm. He later invested in and sat on the board of a Chinese-backed company.
But by highlighting the dangers of blending business opportunities with political power, Trump has resurrected an issue that has dogged his own family from the start of his campaign.
It looks like Trump's family has done some of the same things that he now says create a conflict of interest for Biden, primarily making money oversees with a parent in the White House.
The President's sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, have continued to run the Trump Organization, including work on overseas deals. Trump never divested his stake of the company, so he stands to benefit financially from any foreign projects his sons are handling.
Watergate prosecutor nixes special pleading as a defense for Dumpy
On CNN Monday, Philip Allen Lacovara (Watergate prosecutor) told Erin Burnett that Dumpy “doesn’t have a leg to stand on” re impeachment:
Ex-Watergate prosecutor: Trump’s complaints about impeachment are ‘constitutionally unsound’, Matthew Chapman, Raw Story, October 14, 2019.
“Look, it’s the House. It’s more of a grand jury investigation is how it’s been described, right?” said Burnett. “This isn’t about, you get to have a lawyer and counsel present and all of those things. But this is how they’re going to play the game. They’re going to say it’s unconstitutional, a miscarriage of justice. Is there any truth to it?”
“No, there is no truth to it. It’s a constitutionally unsound argument,” said Lacovara. “One of the things I learned in law school is if you don’t have the facts on your side, argue the law. If you don’t have the law, argue the facts. If you don’t have the facts or the law, you appeal to fairness or equity or something. That’s basically where they are. They are complaining about process even though it’s clear the House does not have any constitutional obligation to use any particular process.”
“The other point one might make is that there is plenty of process going on,” added Lacovara. “These are hearings where people are testifying under oath and as was said by the congressman in your prior segment, the minority party, the Republicans have equal time. So the president’s defenders are having ample opportunity to probe any of the evidence that’s being developed.”
Time for a little autumn humor. What are you — a fall lover or a fall hater? I’m a lover! 🎃😍🍁
☭ Russher Russher Russher ☭
The good guys intend to keep on speaking out, investigating and prosecuting these criminals, even when they’ve had roadblocks thrown in their path:
Power Up: 'Just the tip of the iceberg.' FEC chair warns charges against Giuliani associates highlight big dark money problems, Jacqueline Alemany, Washington Post, October 14, 2019.
FEC Chair Ellen Weintraub warns that the charges brought against two associates of President Trump's personal lawyer highlight the flow of dark money in the U.S. political system -- which she says is just the "tip of the iceberg."
- “There may well be a lot of money that is slipping into our system that we
just don’t know about,” Weintraub said in a Friday interview, a day after prosecutors accused Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman of scheming to funnel foreign money to U.S. politicians.
And the question of whether Trump acted inappropriately by pressuring the Ukrainian government to investigate 2020 political rival Joe Biden is at the core of the House's impeachment inquiry. ✂️
Weintraub warned that the FEC will eventually be back in action — and no politicians or would-be campaign violators should feel secure in the lull of enforcement power: “There is a five year statute of limitations so people should not think they can get away with everything,” Weintraub said.
Intel Democrat says Trump’s Russia adviser’s testimony was ‘incredibly helpful’ for impeachment, Matthew Chapman, Raw Story, October 14, 2019.
“You were in the room for Fiona Hill’s closed-door deposition today,” said Blitzer. “How helpful do you believe her testimony to your investigation will be?”
“Incredibly helpful, Wolf,” said Swalwell, who serves on the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees. “Also helpful that she showed up, and, like some others, has chosen to defy orders from the president and the State Department to not show up. And when witnesses actually just show up, it advances our investigation.”
“We’ll wait until she’s done, and I’m going to head back there before we characterize what she said,” continued Swalwell. “But the arrows continue to point in just one direction, which is that a crime was committed — extortion, bribery, soliciting campaign help,” said Swalwell. “It was confessed to by the president, and there’s an active coverup going on right now.”
AND…
A top aide to Mike Pompeo resigned as the Ukraine crisis unraveled — now he’ll speak to Congress: report, Cody Fenwick, Alternet, october 14, 2019.
Michael McKinley, a top aide to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a career diplomat, resigned abruptly last week as the Ukraine scandal spiraled beyond the administration’s control. And now, according to Andrew Desiderio of Politico, McKinley plans to testify behind closed doors as a part of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.
It’s not clear what McKinley may have to tell the impeachment inquiry, but the Post report suggests he may not be interested in protecting Pompeo. Much of the Democrats’ questions thus far have involved the State Department’s role in supporting Trump’s demands that Ukraine launch an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden, and McKinley may have insight into these events. There have also been troubling questions raised about why Marie Yovanovitch was ousted early from her role as ambassador to Ukraine, apparently under pressure from Rudy Giuliani and his allies.
🇺🇸 Election News 🇺🇸
It may feel like these crooks and fraudsters are all -powerful at times, but they are not. We have the power to remove them from positions of power and we must organize, unite and use our power. In upcoming elections, our fellow citizens in other states and districts are going to the polls to let politicians know what they (and we) really think. Let’s encourage them to vote Democrat! We’ve got lots of impressive candidates.
Even William Barr, benighted “AG”, religious extremist and radical conservative is NOT all-powerful. And maybe his own neighbors will send him a pointed message on November 5. Steve Descano, a progressive Democrat, is running on a promise of criminal justice reform. Barr has warned that social justice candidates are “dangerous” (I mean — wtf?) but Descano says it would be a badge of honor if the likes of Barr came after him. This guy is no wilting flower:
William Barr Attacked Progressive Prosecutors. His Virginia Neighbors May Just Elect One.Ryan J. Reilly, HuffPost, October 14, 2019.
“A West Point grad, Army officer, federal prosecutor doesn’t necessarily scream ‘reform,’ right?” Descano joked. But his evolution, Descano said, hasn’t been as sweeping as it might seem, pointing to his roots in South Philadelphia, where he was raised in a row home by parents who didn’t attend college.
“I got to grow up not wealthy, not privileged, at the whims of my dad’s plant being closed down,” he said. “I came from a working-class background. I got to know people who were affected by a criminal justice system.”
So when he was recruited to be part of the prestigious Attorney General’s Honors Program after he got his law degree from Temple University, he says he felt drawn to consumer protection cases.
“I had my choice of what I wanted to do ... and the work that appealed to me was the work where the rich and powerful were taking advantage of the poor and vulnerable,” Descano said.
📰 In Other Good News 📰
Nobel in Economics Is Awarded for Work Toward Alleviating Poverty, Jeanna Smialek, New York Times, October 14, 2019.
Economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, both of M.I.T., and Harvard’s Michael Kremer have spent more than 20 years helping to start a movement in global poverty research.
On Monday, their experimental approach toward poverty alleviation won them the 2019 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences — making Ms. Duflo, 46, the youngest laureate ever and the second woman to win the distinction. ✂️
“In just two decades, their new experiment-based approach has transformed development economics, which is now a flourishing field of research,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement.
More than 5 million Indian children have benefited from effective remedial tutoring thanks to one of their studies, the release noted, while other work of theirs has inspired public investment in preventive health care.
As previously reported in Good News Roundup (and explained nicely by mokurai — I apologise for no link to the GNR comments mentioned, tried but couldn’t find quickly and had to move on as time is short!), the Nobel peace prize has also been awarded to someone who actually deserves it (sorry, not sorry, Dumpy):
Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopian Prime Minister, Matina Stevis-Gridneff, new York Times, October 11, 2019.
Mr. Abiy, 43, broke through two decades of frozen conflict between his vast country, Africa’s second most populous, and Eritrea, its small and isolated neighbor. When he became prime minister of Ethiopia in 2018, he threw himself at a breakneck pace into reforms at home, and peace negotiations with the rebel-turned-dictator Isaias Afwerki, president of Eritrea.
The two nations share deep ethnic and cultural ties, but until July last year they had been locked into a state of neither peace nor war, a conflict that had separated families, complicated geopolitics and cost the lives of more than 80,000 people during two years of border violence.
In its official announcement, the Nobel Committee detailed a litany of accomplishments for Mr. Abiy in his first 100 days as prime minister: lifting the country’s state of emergency, granting amnesty to thousands of political prisoners, discontinuing media censorship, legalizing outlawed opposition groups, dismissing military and civilian leaders suspected of corruption, and increasing the influence of women in political and community life.
📉 Polling News 📉
Bad news for Dumpy and Republicans, and good news for patriotic, progressive Americans. Click on the link for many more interesting polls (these are “what are people thinking about all of this? not election horserace polls):
🌍 Our Planet Earth 🌎
Young Greta Thunberg had it exactly right when she walked with indigenous teens in Montreal and South Dakota. Our indigenous brothers and sisters have much to contribute in the effort to increase sustainability in the environment, in resource management and in evolving coping strategies for climate change. A recent UN report confirmed what many scientists have been seeing:
Indigenous Knowledge Can Help Solve the Biodiversity Crisis, Hannah Rundle, Scientific American, October 12, 2019.
The United Nations recently released a preliminary report warning that global biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate, with approximately one million species currently at risk of extinction. However, the report noted biodiversity is declining at a significantly slower rate on lands governed by indigenous peoples, demonstrating their success as stewards of their natural environment. Biodiversity describes genetic diversity within and between species and is integral to the health and resiliency of ecosystems. ✂️
Indigenous peoples across the globe have lived in harmony with their traditional lands for generations, living off the land and its resources while maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem itself. For indigenous peoples, sustainability is a necessity, for without it their own livelihoods are at risk. Traditional ecological knowledge and practices have been so successful that, although indigenous lands account for less than 22 percent of the world’s land area, their traditional territories are home to approximately 80 percent of the world’s biodiversity. This has led to a growing appreciation for the value of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in promoting sustainable land management and scientific discovery and in providing environmental data to support climate adaptation strategies. ✂️
Given the emerging biodiversity crisis, the development of effective strategies for managing and conserving natural ecosystems is becoming increasingly important. On a national and global scale, environmental conservation efforts and action against climate change have largely fallen short. On August 7, 2019, the United Nations released an additional report detailing the climate-induced land degradation and food security challenges that are expected to arise as the planet continues to warm. Importantly, the report emphasized the importance of engaging indigenous groups in land management and agricultural practices, noting that indigenous knowledge can help overcome climate-induced changes.
The inclusion of indigenous peoples in environmental management presents an important opportunity to learn from generations of careful observation while simultaneously reinforcing the right of indigenous peoples to use, access and act as stewards of their traditional lands. Environmental governance is strengthened by a growing number of collaborative initiatives aiming to include the perspectives and knowledge of indigenous peoples to improve environmental conservation and management.
⚡️ Lightning RoundUp ⚡️
⚡️ May justice be done: Texas Cop Who Fatally Shot Black Woman Charged With Murder, Pilar Melendez, Daily Beast, October 14, 2019.
⚡️ More justice news: Mississippi Takes Steps to End Damning Delays in Evaluating Criminal Defendants, Sarah Smith, ProPublica, October 14, 2019.
⚡️ Democratic debate tonight at Otterbein College in OH: ‘Advantage Warren’ as Dems ready for pivotal debate, David Siders, Politico, October 14, 2019.
⚡️ NPR clear that dumpy’s Hunter Biden slander is false: Biden Takes On Trump With A Sweeping Ethics Plan, Amid Push Back Over Ukraine, Asma Khalid, NPR News, October 14, 2019.
⚡️ Only “good news” in that WAPO editorial board speaking up: Trump’s blunder in Syria is irreparable, WAPO Editorial Board, October 14, 2019.
⚡️ It’s time we hear the unvarnished truth from Jim Mattis, Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post.October 14, 2019.
⚡️Spoiler: it’s 90%: Today’s Impeach-O-Meter: OK, It Was a Quid Pro Quo, but We Didn’t Say the Words “Illegal Quid Pro Quo” Out Loud, Ben Mathis- Lilley, SLate, October 14, 2019.
⚡️ Get Yer Showercap here! Just Another Totally Normal Week of Totally Normal News, Here in Normaltown, USA! Showercap’s Blog, October 11, 2019.
⚡️ And your Wonkette: Hero Local Reporter Kicks Mike Pompeo In The Nards, Evan Hurst, Wonkette, October 14, 2019.
💙 RoundUp WindDown 💙
I’ve got a lot more I wanted to post but I’ve run out of steam. Sorry, I’m still working on gaining back my old stamina. I’m pretty sure y’all can and will take up my slack — post your local good news please! — I will rely on the herd to provide links to action ideas and more good news.
As always, take good care of yourself and your loved ones.
Happy Tuesday, Newsies!
(edited to add:
For a super ACTION resource, follow Yosef 52! Lots and lots of action suggestions and helpful LINKS as well as pure bracing words of truth, righteous anger and encouragement. Here is his latest post:
Do You Want This G-d Damned Sh*t Show to Stop? READ THIS!!)