crickets
crickets's JournalBingo. The media is just as criminal as Trump and his cronies.
The only reason he is still in office (a big reason he's in office at all) is because the media coverage is slanted to keep him there. An even halfway honest media would have been all over Trump's vulgarity and corruption and would never have wasted everyone's time screeching about "her emails!" 24/7 to sink Hillary Clinton's campaign. An even halfway honest media would have been all over Mitch McConnell's obstructionist BS years ago, would never let him get to the point of holding Supreme Court justice appointments hostage and blocking the business of the people by holding hundreds of pieces of legislation hostage for months on end. A halfway honest media would never let Trump get comfortable enough to claim he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it, would never let McConnell get comfortable enough to claim he can't be bothered with upholding his oath to the Constitution during an impeachment trial.
With a few exceptions, I think the majority of media consistently has let the country down. But oh! the ratings! 
Self preservation, avoiding being the scapegoat, and getting a little payback
for the "I don't know this man" BS from Trump.
I still don't like the man, but I am glad he's turned on everybody and decided to sing, sing, sing. 
Harry Sargeant III wanted in on the Naftogaz action
Team Trump screams about Ukrainian corruption while shaking down Ukrainian officials for profitDale Perry, a former business partner of Favorov’s, “told AP in an interview that Favorov described the meeting to him soon after it happened and that Favorov perceived it to be a shakedown.” Perry and a second source say that “Favorov said Parnas told him Trump planned to remove U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and replace her with someone more open to aiding their business interests.” On Friday, Giuliani took credit for having Yovanovitch fired.
Crooks get used to doing the crooked things.
It doesn't occur to them to do it any other way.
Yep. Naftogaz. Please forgive me linking to my own post. I plead laziness- it was easiest to find offhand.
The attrition rate in the State Dept. is deliberate.
Trump Is Waging War on America’s DiplomatsWhat’s more, the attrition continues unabated. Career foreign service officers work long hours in difficult conditions, making less money than they would in the private sector. Often, they are driven by their sense of mission—say, promoting American values abroad—but when President Trump began attacking the pillars of American national security and smearing diplomats by name on Twitter, “suddenly,” says one senior foreign service officer who was pushed out on a scheduling technicality, “the equation didn’t make sense anymore.” What had started as a trickle of people leaving at the highest levels—often, people who were close to retirement—has turned into a flood of mid-career and junior officers heading for the door. The departure of top talent, people who had decades’ worth of wisdom that could have passed on to people below them, as well as the exodus of mid-level officers who had years to go before their retirements, will continue to resonate for quite a while, says Nicholas Burns, a retired career foreign service officer who is now at the Harvard Kennedy School. “That gap will show up years later,” he told me.
It's not a case of political blunder. The attack on our national security is deliberate, is taking place at all levels of government, and is intended to have long term consequences.
Reasonable and practical.
Operating and safety lessons and the ability to pass a test for a license is required for automobiles because of the level of danger autos can pose to the public at large, so why not require the same for guns? Accidents happen. Because of this, insurance is required before the legal ability to drive an automobile, so why not have the same for guns?
None of your ideas involve taking guns away from responsible gun owners. Regulations and safety requirements like this would make it harder for irresponsible and unqualified people to own or misuse firearms, which is good for everyone, including responsible, qualified gun owners.
An automobile license and insurance won't stop a driver from deliberately plowing into people with a car, true, but no ever uses that as an argument against requiring a driver's license, do they?
To appear in the Senate. If subpoenaed. Supposedly.
Bolton has been way too coy about all of this.
John Bolton would testify in Trump impeachment probe under certain legal conditions, report says
Bolton’s former deputy, Charles Kupperman, had been told by the Trump administration not to cooperate with the probe. But he was also subpoenaed by House Democrats to appear for a deposition. While other witnesses had chosen to defy the White House’s admonitions, Kupperman filed a lawsuit asking a judge to rule on which party has more authority.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., had warned that Kupperman may be held in contempt for defying the congressional subpoena for his testimony.
Bolton had reportedly been willing to testify in public under subpoena if Kupperman is directed by the courts to comply with the House, according to NBC News, citing a source familiar with Bolton’s situation.
But a House Intelligence Committee official said Thursday that Bolton’s lawyer would take the House panels conducting the probe to court if his client was subpoenaed.
John Bolton failed to appear at impeachment deposition
Last week, Bolton — who was fired by Trump in September — was formally invited to testify before the three congressional committees leading the inquiry, but his lawyer, Charles Cooper, quickly made clear that his client was unwilling to appear voluntarily.
This man had the hubris to state his conditions for being willing to serve his country by testifying in the House impeachment hearings. Subpoena, no subpoena - it's all a disgraceful publicity tap dance. I would love to be wrong about this. We'll see.
So, when is Bolton's book coming out?
I have grown to despise this man. Nothing he does has anything to do with the good of the country. Make no mistake, he is in it only for himself and his own interests. Vile.
Once again standing up as the adult in the room, thank all the gods great and small.
I honestly think if we make it through this as a country, Nancy Pelosi's name will be at the top of the list of people who need to be credited and thanked in every history book published hereafter.
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