Today starts the public hearings. Apparently Ambassador Taylor is naming names and exposing the conspiracy to commit bribery. Here we go down the hole.
"An elderly man has died in the worst floods to hit Venice in more than 50 years, as local authorities in the Italian lagoon city called for a state of emergency to be imposed."
Curiouser and curiouser. "NASA’s Curiosity rover sniffed out an unexpected seasonal variation to the oxygen on Mars, according to new research."
"The maker of the assault-style rifle used in the 2012 mass shooting at a Newtown, Connecticut, school asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to overturn a court ruling that allowed families of the victims to sue the company over its marketing practices." SCOTUS said, "No." (Grokked from Joy Reid)
"One of the central mysteries around Epstein is how he got rich in the first place. Born in Brooklyn to a homemaker and a gardener for the New York City Parks Department, Epstein dropped out of college in the 1970s but soon became a teacher at Manhattan’s prestigious Dalton School. He left — reportedly due to poor performance — but then joined the investment bank Bear Stearns, where he made partner in just four years, according to New York Magazine." Then he left. Supposedly he was a "money manager", but except for Leslie Wexner, owner of L-Brands, nobody seems to have had him manage their money.
Conservatives believe government shouldn't get between you and your doctor… unless it has to do with something something Right-to-life and then they're all for government interference. "A Texas law that gives families 10 days to find a new hospital if they disagree with doctors who decide to take a patient off life support is once again under the spotlight after a judge halted a Fort Worth hospital's plan to remove a 9-month-old girl from a ventilator against her family's wishes. Doctors at Cook Children's Medical Center planned to stop treatment Sunday for Tinslee Lewis after invoking the state's '10-day rule.'" The RTL groups are all "10 days is too short" (mostly because the Lewis family can't find a hospital that disagrees with the Cook's diagnosis), but you'll notice none of them are coming forward to pay for Tinslee's care (but guess who is).
"The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority signaled Tuesday that it may let the Trump administration shut down the Obama-era program that granted temporary protection from deportation to roughly 700,000 young people, commonly known as DREAMers."
"While the number of reported hate crimes dipped slightly in 2018, violence against individuals rose to a 16-year high, according to numbers released Tuesday by the FBI… The FBI's annual tally counted 7,120 hate crimes reported last year, 55 fewer than the year before. The main concern for extremism trackers, however, is the rising level of violence — the report showed an increase in the number of "crimes against persons," such as intimidation, assault and homicide."
There's an app for that. "'Some billionaires seem confused about how much they would pay under my #TwoCentWealthTax,' Warren tweeted after billionaires Bill Gates and Leon Cooperman expressed concern about how much they’d pay under her plan. 'Don’t worry, we’ve got a calculator for that, too.'" Note billionaires would still be billionaires, with just a few billion less. Billions is a hard number to grasp, so here's a good primer: 1 million seconds is a little over 12 days, 1 billion seconds is 37 years. $1B (which I'm not sure if you could set that amount) invested in US treasuries at 2% (it's slightly below that right now) would net you (after Federal income taxes) about $35,600 per day for the duration. Stocks should yield a 5% return (historically).
"The Labor Department said on Wednesday its consumer price index increased 0.4% last month, the largest gain in the CPI since March and followed an unchanged reading in September." Hmmm.
How go the Trade Wars? "President Trump says the U.S. and China are close to striking a mini trade agreement. But he offered no guarantees." You spin me right around, baby, right around.
"Venezuela's former military intelligence chief Hugo Carvajal has gone missing in Spain days after local media reported a Spanish court had agreed to extradite him to the United States on drug trafficking charges." Have you looked behind the potted plants?
Why did Turkey use "proxies" and "militias" ("The 'Syrian National Army' is the name Ankara has given its Syrian proxy force") when they advanced into Northern Syria? "As President Donald Trump prepares to welcome Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the White House on Wednesday, two US defense officials tell CNN that the US military is in possession of at least one drone surveillance video which the US believes captured a possible war crime being perpetrated by Turkish-commanded fighters in Syria." That gives them cover for potential war crimes infractions.
"As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan prepares for Wednesday's White House meeting with President Donald Trump, he's threatening to further inflame tensions between Washington and Ankara by purchasing Russian military fighter jets, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions." In the face of disruption and weakness in the West, Russia is pushing to change Turkey's alignment.
"President Donald Trump’s nominee for a federal appeals court is in jeopardy following a conservative revolt from two Republican senators who have said publicly they won’t support him." Because he dismissed a lawsuit challenging Obamacare. Purity to the ideology among the appointees is vastly important.
"A prominent GOP redistricting strategist had direct communication with an adviser to the Trump administration concerning the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census, newly released emails show." So much for the "no roll" defense.
"A senior Trump administration official has embellished her résumé with misleading claims about her professional background — even creating a fake Time magazine cover with her face on it — raising questions about her qualifications to hold a top position at the State Department." Public office is a spotlight, while that light might not go deep, it does illuminate a lot. (Grokked from John)
"Former Pennsylvania Congressman, current CNN commentator and a former member of the House Ethics Committee from 2015 to 2016, John Dent told CNN that he feels that the president's behavior has eroded his base in the suburban climes of America in an op ed published Tuesday." Yeah, not so much. But he is correct in one thing, the demographics are changing.
"With the House set to begin public hearings Wednesday for the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, the man leading the Democrats' investigation says he already sees several potential impeachable offenses Trump has committed, including bribery."
"Fact-checking Trump's barrage of anti-impeachment tweets." Man, once the president is gone there's gonna be a lot of fact checkers out of a job. But until then, it's big game season!
"In his testimony last month, Taylor—America’s top diplomat in Kyiv—implied that two Zelensky aides blamed Ukraine, rather than Russia, for the long-running, bloody war in the eastern part of the country. Taylor’s words weren’t crystal-clear, but the comment set off a political firestorm in Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatist fighters have killed thousands of Ukrainians. Critics of the country’s newly elected president, Volodymyr Zelensky, seized on Taylor’s testimony as evidence that Zelensky’s team is running interference for Russia." Collateral damages.
"Republican senators are split on whether they will watch Wednesday's first public hearing in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump." Dear Senators, it's called "streaming" and having your staff watch and keep up. But this is a solid way of being able to avoid questions. This is the same as, "I haven't read the transcripts."
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/12/senate-republicans-ignore-impeachment-hearings-070347"It’s a continuation of a strategy Republicans latched on to last week as the House began releasing transcripts of its impeachment interviews and most GOP senators shrugged off a series of would-be bombshells. Many in the party now think there’s no point in even trying to keep up… 'It’s a political sideshow and I’ve got more important things to do,' said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). 'The House has its job to do. And then when it comes to us, that’s when our job kicks in.'" This is why we can't have nice things. So let me translate conservative positioning here, "I don't have time to learn about what I may have to decide on until the point I have to decide." This is a losing way to do business. Also, "I'm not interested in what is actually happening, I have my ideology to push."
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