….Well, that was a week wasn’t it?
Welcome to my first Good News Roundup of the year. Not counting the impromptu 2020 survival guide that I posted on Friday (Which I will be linking too because I feel like its going to remain relevant all year).
It figures that I got out of my way to write something to help people keep their heads and make people feel better, and ol Donny T decides to start the year by taking a crap in Iran’s cornflakes. The orange bastard waited three years for a 9/11 style disaster to help propel his numbers up, and it never happened, and so now in desperation he’s trying to make one.
Well its like I said in my article: The GOP are desperate and they are sore losers; they’ll do anything to win, and they’re capable of anything when they lose. We just gotta take it in stride and power on through.
One final bit of info before we move on to the news, you may notice I updated the flowers I am using for the GNR. A very good reason for this: I don’t really truck with the whole New Year Resolution thing, but I have decided to make one resolution, and that is to show a bit more pride in my sexuality, or rather lack thereof. I am Asexual. This basically means I feel no real sexual attraction to anyone. I have no desire for sex, I am 36 years old and still a virgin, and the whole prospect never held much interest for me. And to celebrate this fact, I have found a picture of flowers which share the colors of the Asexual Pride flag.
Pretty isn’t it? I like the purple especially.
Well, that’s enough of old business. Now its time for new business.
ZAGREB, Croatia — A leftist challenger won Croatia’s highly contested presidential election on Sunday, beating a conservative incumbent — a rare victory by a liberal in recent votes in Central Europe.
With 99% of the vote counted, Zoran Milanovic, a former Croatian prime minister, had 53% while Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, the country’s first female head of state when she won five years ago, had 47%.
The result is a blow for the ruling conservatives while Croatia holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, and before a parliamentary election later this year.
Yeah, you think I’m going to talk about Donny with the first story? I’m not giving him the satisfaction. Oh now, today we are celebrating Croatia taking a big step to the left. Democracy prevails, maybe not all the time, but when it does it should be celebrated. Hopefully this will be a sign of things to come for the US and now the recent UK election.
resident Donald Trump sent a volatile notice into the Twittersphere Sunday afternoon, giving the 535 members of Congress a heads up that the United States military will "quickly & fully strike back" if Iran attacks the United States.
Legal experts quickly responded to the absurdities and inaccuracies of Trump's tweet, mostly about a violation of the nearly 50-year-old War Powers Act. This law, among other matters, "requires the President to consult with Congress before introducing U.S. armed forces into hostilities or situations where hostilities are imminent, and to continue such consultations as long as U.S. armed forces remain in such situations," according to the Library of Congress.
But as Oona Hathaway, a professor of international law at Yale Law School, pointed out, the president's tweet violates the War Powers Act in a number of ways.
I feel like I should queue up the clip from Jim Carrey’s liar liar where he screams to a client on the phone “STOP BREAKING THE LAW ASSHOLE!!!!” Because yeah, Trump done did it again. But to be more serious, Trump is threatening to commit acts of terrorism against Iran, and someone needs to remind him he’s not allowed to actually do that.
More than a year after his death, a cache of computer files saved on the hard drives of Thomas Hofeller, a prominent Republican redistricting strategist, is becoming public.
Republican state lawmakers in North Carolina fought in court to keep copies of these maps, spreadsheets and other documents from entering the public record. But some files have already come to light in recent months through court filings and news reports.
They have been cited as evidence of gerrymandering that got political maps thrown out in North Carolina, and they have raised questions about Hofeller's role in the Trump administration's failed push for a census citizenship question.
Now more of the files are available online through a website called The Hofeller Files, where Hofeller's daughter, Stephanie Hofeller, published a link to her copy of the files on Sunday after first announcing her plans in a tweet last month.
Oh ho ho! A look into the GOP’s playbook? yes please. Could be enlightening and entertaining. Thank you Ms. Hofeller.
Doug Letter, the lead counsel representing the House in a pair of cases seeking to compel information and testimony relating to former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, told a federal appeals court on Friday that the House is seriously considering impeaching President Donald Trump again, according to Business Insider.
“That is on the table. There’s no doubt,” Letter reportedly told a three-judge appellate panel. He also added that his comments had been approved beforehand by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
According to Business Insider, one of the cases is seeking grand jury material from Mueller’s investigation, and the other is seeking a court order for former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify before the House Judiciary Committee to answer questions about whether Trump obstructed the Russia probe.
Well I mean, he did just carry out an assassination of a foreign general without first consulting or even telling Congress. If you’re looking for things to impeach him again over its right there.
But small cracks in GOP unity have appeared, with two Republican senators criticizing McConnell’s pledge of “total coordination” with the White House during the impeachment trial.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she was “disturbed” by the GOP leader’s comments, adding that there should be distance between the White House and the Senate on how the trial is conducted. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, meanwhile, called the pledge by McConnell, R-Ky., inappropriate and said she is open to seeking testimony.
I mean, its not much but its something, Pelosi is not going to send impeachment to the Senate until something changes the algebra to make sure doing so is a winning play or until she has no choice. I’m backing her play on this one personally.
And that’s it for this week. Here are some links to consider:
My 2020 Survival guide. A few tips and tricks for surviving the upcoming year.
And for your listening pleasure, the GNR Spotify list.
And that does it from me. Have a great week everyone.