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babylonsister

babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
January 31, 2020

The Rude Pundit: No, Republicans, You're Fucking Lying About Biden and the Ukrainian Prosecutor

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2020/01/no-republicans-youre-fucking-lying.html

The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
1/30/2020
No, Republicans, You're Fucking Lying About Biden and the Ukrainian Prosecutor

snip//

You know who else didn't give damn about Hunter Biden or Burisma? The fuckin' Congress. Yeah, in the Congressional Record for the 114th and 115th Congress (which covers 2015-2018), neither "Burisma" nor "Hunter Biden" are brought up. Not once. And Republicans were running the joint the entire time. Both houses. Why the fuck didn't they care? Why the fuck didn't Trump's Justice Department care starting in 2017?

You know what Republicans talked about in 2018? How fuckin' much they wanted the United States to continue to help Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. Here's what Iliena Ros-Lentinin of Florida said on December 18: "We must demonstrate by our words and actions that we remain fully committed to assisting the people of Ukraine to defend their country." Indeed, before any of this shit, support for Ukraine was bipartisan and no one fucking talked about holding up money because of corruption once Shokin, the guy who didn't fight corruption, was gone.

The defense of Donald Trump in his impeachment trial has been a lesson in how emphatically you can lie and not pay any goddamn price. Every time one of the lawyers on Trump's team opens their filthy whore mouths, they lie. Every time they try to justify Trump's actions. they lie. And every time they mention Joe and Hunter Biden, they lie so extravagantly and so excessively that a righteous God would pop their heads like bloody zits. That'd be some motherfuckin' fact-checking.

You can say that it's shitty that the children of political leaders are given sweet jobs. But you sure as hell better say that about every child of every politician who gets that deal. Or about the children of a certain president who get trademarks and access to people that they never would have been able to get without Dad in the White House.

It's fucking amazing how degraded and devolved Republicans continue to be. They have decided to shitcan any law, all ethics, and any fact that threatens the power of their idiot king. They've decided that democracy is for pussies. And rules are for suckers. And go fuck yourself if you dare call them on it. Now, let's get this dictatorship in gear before 2020 fucks it up.

(By the way, you know that George W. Bush appointed Hunter Biden to the board of Amtrak? He wasn't a fucking locomotive engineer either. That's how this shit goes. Oh, and he was approved unanimously by a Republican Senate in 2006. Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham and the rest of the current cocks who were there in '06 didn't fucking care that Biden didn't know how a train works.)
January 31, 2020

White House National Security Council to reduce staffing by a third

White House National Security Council to reduce staffing by a third
By Bryce Klehm
January 30, 2020 / 1:32 PM / CBS News


By February, the White House National Security Council (NSC), which is the executive branch office forum for national security, military and foreign policy issues, will be reduced to its lowest staffing levels in nearly twenty years.

President Trump's national security adviser, Robert O'Brien recently told NPR, "We'll probably have about 60 to 70 staffers who've gone back to their home agencies." That will effectively downsize the NSC by nearly a third from the staffing levels when O'Brien took the helm in September, bringing the total to just over 100 people.

The council is composed of employees on rotation from various national security agencies such as the State Department, Central Intelligence Agency, and Defense Department. Since its establishment in 1947, the NSC has helped presidents coordinate White House policy and responses to the nation's most pressing international issues, ranging from the Cuban Missile Crisis, the 9/11 terror attacks and issues of war.

O'Brien is Mr. Trump's fourth national security adviser, succeeding John Bolton. This administration has had no shortage of foreign policy challenges: the nuclear aspirations of North Korea and Iran, the decisions to kill ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani, the navigation of the trade dispute with China, and determining troop levels in Afghanistan.

Despite these challenges, the staff reductions are intentional. When O'Brien was taking over the NSC, he penned a Washington Post op-ed in which he committed to reduce the NSC by 174 policy positions, arguing that the council's objective is to "coordinate policy rather than run it." He said that the agency had "ballooned" under President Obama, when George W. Bush had half as many on staff, even with the prosecution of two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But the executive council has also been in the spotlight recently because of the impeachment inquiry of President Trump. Current and former staffers, such as Ukraine expert Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman and Fiona Hill, the former top adviser on Russia and European affairs, have offered testimony that was critical of the president. Vindman, who still works at the National Security Council, even drew the ire of the White House Twitter account.

more...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-national-security-council-to-reduce-staffing-by-a-third/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab6a&linkId=81488332&fbclid=IwAR2ODLKWatJeto8_vr3q0raf3DnfA-5Z8zF-auubloeAZ-XICk0GYJHHM-8

January 30, 2020

Leading Iowa Newspaper Demands Iowa's 2 GOP Senators Call Witnesses



Leading Iowa Newspaper Demands Iowa’s 2 GOP Senators Call Witnesses
JakeThomas


The Des Moines Register editorial board on Wednesday called upon Iowa Senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley to support additional witnesses in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial — even going so far as to say it would be reasonable for people to question Ernst’s loyalty to the U.S. Constitution.

“It is hard to imagine anyone questioning Sen. Joni Ernst’s allegiance to President Donald Trump,” the editorial began. “She has been among his most unwavering supporters.”

But as Trump’s impeachment trial continues, the newspaper wrote, some Iowans “may question her allegiance to the U.S. Constitution and the integrity of the U.S. Senate.”

All of the senators “would benefit from hearing from witnesses to have as much information as possible before” deciding whether Trump should be removed from office, but Republicans appear to have no interest in uncovering new information.

Ernst and Grassley “should step up and publicly support hearing from witnesses,” “vote ‘yes’ if the Senate takes up the question of whether to issue subpoenas — and insist that any issued subpoenas are enforced,” the editorial advised.


more...

https://mavenroundtable.io/theintellectualist/news/leading-iowa-newspaper-demands-iowa-s-2-gop-senators-call-witnesses-qjrjGSK6gkipceqnh2Di4w?fbclid=IwAR0dZleORqj4bmld3dZuBcpfx2T-gt_mYPHetbU8_Qw_u_2I9ZCcC9kSJxw
January 30, 2020

CDC confirms first U.S. person-to-person coronavirus transmission

https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-person-to-person-transmission-united-states-8229c7f1-0b11-405a-80e6-e9451411cca3.html

2 hours ago
CDC confirms first U.S. person-to-person coronavirus transmission
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Thursday the first person-to-person transmission of the coronavirus in the U.S., CNBC reports.

The state of play: The disease has already killed at least 171 people in China and infected over 8,000. However, CDC Director Robert Redfield told reporters that the agency's "assessment remains that the immediate risk to the American public is low."

Officials said that a Chicago woman who traveled to Wuhan, China, the center of the outbreak, spread it to her husband. He is in good condition.

They are monitoring 21 other individuals in Illinois for possible infection.
January 30, 2020

WHO declares China coronavirus that's killed 171 a global health emergency

Health and Science
WHO declares China coronavirus that’s killed 171 a global health emergency
Published Thu, Jan 30 20202:43 PM ESTUpdated Moments Ago
Berkeley Lovelace Jr.
@BerkeleyJr
William Feuer
@WillFOIA



Key Points

The World Health Organization said the fast-spreading coronavirus that’s infected more than 8,200 across the world is a global health emergency.

The rare designation will help the international agency mobilize financial and political support to contain the outbreak.



The World Health Organization said the fast-spreading coronavirus that’s infected more than 8,200 across the world is a global health emergency — a rare designation that helps the international agency mobilize financial and political support to contain the outbreak.

The announcement comes just hours after the U.S. confirmed its first human-to-human transmission of the virus, which has killed at least 171 people in China and has now spread to at least 18 other countries.

Since emerging less than a month ago in Wuhan, China, the coronavirus has infected more people than the 2003 SARS epidemic, which sickened roughly 8,100 people across the globe over nine months. As of Thursday, there are at least eight cases in four countries, outside of China, of human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus.

“Over the past few weeks we have witnessed the emergence of a previously unknown pathogen that has escalated into an unprecedented outbreak,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press conference at the organization’s Geneva headquarters on Thursday. “We must act together now to limit the spread.”


WHO defines a global health emergency, also known as a “public health emergency of international concern,” as an “extraordinary event” that is “serious, unusual or unexpected.”

more...

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/30/who-declares-china-coronavirus-a-global-health-emergency.html
January 30, 2020

Trump's Lawyers Are Threatening Republican Senators On Witnesses

https://www.politicususa.com/2020/01/30/trump-lawyers-gop-senators.html

Posted on Thu, Jan 30th, 2020 by Jason Easley
Trump’s Lawyers Are Threatening Republican Senators On Witnesses


Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that Trump’s lawyers are threatening Republican Senators on the witness vote.

Leader Schumer said:

I believe Senate Republicans and the president’s team are worried about the vote. Yesterday Mr. Sekulow said that if the senate elects to subpoena witnesses and documents, the president’s team will force all sorts of manner of delay, to take the managers to court, assert privilege, drag it on forever. It was a shocking admission from Mr. Sekulow, revealing how concerned the president’s team are, how afraid they are. Of course, his argument isn’t true.

There’s no reason for endless delays. The documents are compiled. One key witness has already said he’d testify. We’d expect the others to comply if subpoenaed and questions of privilege can be sorted out right here in the senate. Mr. Sekulow’s argument was nothing more than a threat, a shakedown. He told Senators to their faces that the president’s team will do whatever it possibly can to prevent them from seeing the truth. It reminds you of something the president would do or say, and it should offend my Republican colleagues just as much as it offends us Democrats.


https://twitter.com/i/status/1222924026139594753

The Threat To Delay The Trial Is A Bluff

Sekulow’s threat was a sign of a legal team with no defense strategy. Trump’s lawyers have been threatening Senators with the prospect of a long impeachment trial, but the threat is a bluff because it is Trump who is being harmed by this trial. Trump’s reelection has been derailed by impeachment. It’s Trump who is worried about a long trial.

The vulnerable Republican Senators who buy into this threat can kiss their seats goodbye in the fall. The best chance that endangered Republican incumbents have is to allow witnesses, and then vote for acquittal.

Republicans in tight reelection races who vote to block witnesses are potentially voting themselves out of the Senate in November.
January 30, 2020

Wilbur Ross: Coronavirus will "help" bring jobs back to the U.S. from China



https://www.axios.com/wilbur-ross-coronavirus-jobs-us-china-384f6752-38fe-4a16-aa35-77edd0fa274c.html

Lisa Fernandez
3 hours ago
Wilbur Ross: Coronavirus will "help" bring jobs back to the U.S. from China


Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Thursday on Fox Business' "Mornings with Maria" that the spread of coronavirus in China will "help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America."

Why it matters: The virus has killed 170 people in China and infected more than 7,700 people. Worries about the virus rattled U.S. markets this week as the Federal Reserve and other financial entities debated if they should weigh in on its potential impact.

The exchange:

WILBUR ROSS: "Well, first of all, every American's heart has to go out to the victims of the coronavirus. So I don't want to talk about a victory lap over a very unfortunate, very malignant disease. But the fact is, it does give businesses yet another thing to consider when they go through their review of their supply chain. And top of all the other things, because you had SARS, you have the African swine virus there, now you have this. It's another risk factor that people need to take into account. So I think it will help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America, some to U.S., probably some to Mexico as well."

MARIA BARTIROMO: "Oh, that's a good point, actually. Yeah, because these companies have to do something. They're going to have to have an alternative once they shut down things in China is what you're saying."

ROSS: "Absolutely. And you've already heard Apple talking about figuring out how to replace some of the Chinese production. You had others also doing the same thing. And so I think there's a confluence of factors that will make it very, very likely more re-shoring to the U.S., and some re-shoring to Mexico."
January 30, 2020

New York Times: Trump administration to 'weaken' protections for migratory birds

Evil.


New York Times: Trump administration to 'weaken' protections for migratory birds
By Devan Cole, CNN
Updated 10:40 AM ET, Thu January 30, 2020


Washington (CNN)A more than 100-year-old law protecting migratory birds from unintentional deaths by oil and gas companies and construction crews could be weakened by the Trump administration "as early as Thursday," The New York Times reported Thursday.

The Times said the administration is planning to eliminate the "threat of punishment" provided by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 to companies and organizations that unintentionally kill birds while performing their work. The new rule would solidify a legal opinion the Interior Department released in 2017, the paper said, which argued "only actions explicitly intended to kill birds should be forbidden under the federal law."

The new rule would mean that deaths of birds from an oil slick or by the distribution of illegal pesticides would not lead to financial penalties, according to the Times.

The paper said it will be "difficult" for the administration to complete the new rule by the November presidential election, but that the department "has indicated it will push aggressively to do so."

more...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/30/politics/migratory-birds-protections-trump-administration/index.html
January 30, 2020

Kellyanne Conway: Trump and Melania deserve credit for people living longer



https://americanindependent.com/kellyanne-conway-life-expectancy-donald-trump-melania-white-house/?fbclid=IwAR1wJykIfWHUtgL9jHhan4TLf0V7Wudcy3uvMMnOcAOI9CbJr35yDX12h-A


Washington, D.C.
Thursday, January 30, 2020

Kellyanne Conway: Trump and Melania deserve credit for people living longer
By Oliver Willis -
January 30, 2020 11:14 AM


Kellyanne Conway claimed an increase in life expectancy in the U.S. 'happened through causation,' owing to Trump and his wife.

From a White House press briefing on Thursday:

KELLYANNE CONWAY: We come before you bearing good news. For the first time in four years, life expectancy in the United States of America has increased. And for the first time in 29 years, the number of drug overdose deaths has decreased. This has not happened through coincidence, it's happened through causation. It's owing in large part to a whole-of-government approach to treat the whole person led by President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and really the entire administration.
January 30, 2020

Ex-DOJ Official's Chilling Warning: Donald Trump Will Do 'Far Far Worse' If Acquitted


POLITICS 01/30/2020 04:08 am ET Updated 21 minutes ago
Ex-DOJ Official’s Chilling Warning: Donald Trump Will Do ‘Far Far Worse’ If Acquitted
Former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal cautioned the Ukraine scandal could only be the start.
By Lee Moran


Former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal on Wednesday warned that President Donald Trump will be emboldened to do “far far worse” if he is acquitted in his Senate impeachment trial.

Neal Katyal, who served in the Justice Department role under former President Barack Obama, made the prediction on Twitter after Trump’s defense lawyer Alan Dershowitz argued during impeachment proceedings that “if a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.”

“The fact a President would send his lawyer out to say such grossly unconstitutional things highlights the need for impeachment,” Katyal tweeted in response. “If he believes he can do anything, so long as 1 of his motives is to win reelection, he won’t just do Ukraine leverage again, he’ll do far far worse.”


more...

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/neal-katyal-donald-trump-warning-impeachment_n_5e3292acc5b611ac94cfa71c?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003&fbclid=IwAR3Wt3EPrpapZIP2KVbvnHj_sm7YlgKIdjgi2QWptdwI_t-6gnNhMRVbets

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