January 16, 2020

Collins rejects new evidence in Trump trial after saying she'd welcome it

Source: American Independent

By Emily Singer -January 15, 2020 5:00 PM

Collins said in December that seeing the evidence in the case was necessary to determine whether Trump should be removed from office.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said on Wednesday she doesn't think newly released evidence, which happens to show Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump were deeply involved in the effort to force Ukraine to investigate the Bidens, should be allowed at the Senate impeachment trial.

"I wonder why the House did not put that into the record and it's only now being revealed," Collins said, referring to documents Democrats released on Tuesday from Lev Parnas, the indicted Giuliani aide who turned over his notes and text messages with Giuliani and other Ukrainian officials as part of the impeachment investigation.

Parnas only just released the documents to the House Intelligence Committee because federal authorities had seized them as part of its investigation into Parnas' political activity. Parnas was ultimately indicted for breaking federal campaign finance law.

When reporters reminded Collins of that fact that Parnas just released documents to House investigators yesterday, she replied, "Well, doesn't that suggest that the House did an incomplete job then?"

Read more: https://americanindependent.com/susan-collins-impeachment-trial-donald-trump-new-evidence-lev-parnas-rudy-giuliani-senate/

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If anyone had any doubts on which side of the fence this elected senator is on, then the fucking media needs to examine themselves for saying to the public that she would help and be fair and open and that she is up for reelection.........................that's because all the public has seen and heard ..................is BS from this enabling senator............................she is pulling her Kavanaugh BS again.................

November 3, 2020 cannot get here fast enough

January 13, 2020

Judge Holds WI Election Commission In Contempt, Demands Voter Purge

By Kate Riga
|
January 13, 2020 1:58 p.m.

Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Paul Malloy found the Wisconsin Elections Commission in contempt of court Monday, fining the board and some individual members for not immediately removing over 200,000 voters from the rolls.


According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Malloy said the board must pay $50 daily, and its three Democratic members who are fighting the purge an additional $250 a day each, every day they do not remove the voters.

“I can’t be any clearer than this,” he said. “They need to follow my order.”

Attorneys for the board maintain that the fines are undue, since they are awaiting news from the appeal of Malloy’s initial decision to remove the voters from the rolls.

The commission consists of three Democrats and three Republicans, and has been frozen in a partisan deadlock. They will meet Tuesday to decide whether to start removing the voters.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/wisconsin-election-commission-voters

January 13, 2020

Revealed: US listed climate activist group as 'extremists' alongside mass killers

DHS listed activists engaged in non-violent civil disobedience targeting oil industry alongside white supremacists in documents

A group of US environmental activists engaged in non-violent civil disobedience targeting the oil industry have been listed in internal Department of Homeland Security documents as “extremists” and some of its members listed alongside white nationalists and mass killers, documents obtained by the Guardian reveal.

The group have been dubbed the Valve Turners, after closing the valves on pipelines in four states carrying crude oil from Canada’s tar sands on 11 October, 2016, which accounted for about 15% of US daily consumption. It was described as the largest coordinated action of its kind and for a few hours the oil stopped flowing.

The five climate activists, members of Climate Direct Action, cut their way through fencing and turned the valves. The activists notified the energy companies whose pipelines were being disrupted and posted videos of their protest online and waited patiently to be arrested.

They’ve since been dubbed the “Valve Turners,” profiled in the New York Times magazine, and featured in a recent documentary titled The Reluctant Radical. Their trials have also tested the willingness of courts to allow climate activists to make use of the necessity defense – the idea that a criminal action is justified if it helps to prevent greater future harm–as part of a legal strategy.


https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/13/us-listed-climate-activist-group-extremists


So a "guy" that sign's a executive order to take land away from people and plant oil pipes on land which is not his isn't a extremists.................

January 13, 2020

McConnell Calling The Shots As Trump Molds His Impeachment Defense Team

By Kate Riga
|
January 13, 2020 9:50 a.m.

President Donald Trump has started to mold his impeachment defense team, taking his cues from Senate Majority Mitch McConnell (R-KY) even when the two disagree.

According to the New York Times, Trump is pushing for three of his most loyal congressional deputies to be involved: Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Doug Collins (R-GA) and John Ratcliffe (R-TX). McConnell is advising against their inclusion, taking the air out of Trump’s sails.

The two are also at odds over the structure of the trial itself. Trump has tweeted that he’d like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Intel Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) to be called as witnesses. McConnell, per the Times, has been telling colleagues that calling witnesses only introduces a degree of uncertainty and uncontrollability into the proceedings. Trump has reportedly said that he’ll follow McConnell’s lead.

A more solid part of the trial will be the inclusion of White House lawyer Pat Cipollone and Trump’s personal lawyer Jay Sekulow. Both are expected to have speaking roles. For Sekulow, this won’t come as much of a change — he hosts a daily radio show and makes regular television appearances. Cipollone is a much more under-the-radar figure.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/mcconnell-trump-impeachment-defense

January 12, 2020

Pelosi Denies 'Second Thoughts' On Holding Onto Impeachment Articles

By Summer Concepcion
|
January 12, 2020 11:08 a.m

Two days after saying that that the House will vote to appoint impeachment managers this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) expressed no regrets in holding onto the impeachment articles for three weeks.


During an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos Sunday morning, Pelosi reiterated that she plans to consult with House Democrats Tuesday morning during their regular caucus meeting.

“Well, what I did say is, I would be consulting with my members this week, on Tuesday morning, at our regular caucus meeting, that we would vote to send them over, and we will determine in our meeting when we send them over,” Pelosi said. “But it — we have never — I have always said I would send them over. So there shouldn’t be any mystery to that.”

When Pelosi added that she believes that Democrats accomplished their desire for “the public to see the need for witnesses,” Stephanopoulos pointed out that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “didn’t budge on witnesses at all” and is “not promising up front to have witnesses.”

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/pelosi-impeachment-articles-abc-stephanopoulos

Hey Stephanopoulos , instead of rehashing the second thoughts BS that the media wants to play, I guess the media hasn't figured out that when she was asked two weeks ago she said NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, why didn't you in your 20 million year job description ask her if she would take the advice of Neal Katyal to withhold one of the impeachment articles, because of the shenanigans of that federalist society POS McConnell wants to do with the articles, but nope, your ilk wants to talk about the traitors tweets, just like that feckless "toad' on NBC does every week and the other "conservative broadcasting system called "face the nation" with right wing hacks being put on all the time.......................

January 12, 2020

The Made-up Crisis Behind The State Takeover Of Houston's Public Schools

Texas says the takeover is about improvement. It's really about racism.
By The Conversation

Misc 1/12/20 5:47am Read time: 6 minutes

Domingo Morel, Rutgers University Newark

If the state of Texas had its way, the state would be in the process of taking over the Houston Independent School District.

But a judge temporarily blocked the takeover on Jan. 8, with the issue now set to be decided at a trial in June.

The ruling temporarily spares Houston’s public school system from joining a list of over 100 school districts in the nation that have experienced similar state takeovers during the past 30 years.

The list includes New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, New Orleans, Baltimore, Oakland and Newark. Houston is the largest school district in Texas and the seventh largest in the U.S

https://crooksandliars.com/2020/01/made-crisis-behind-state-takeover-houstons

They did this same republican shit in Louisiana after Katrina ...................

January 12, 2020

Education in Louisiana ...............K-12

https://harpers.org/archive/2019/11/the-k-12-takeover-charter-schools-new-orleans/

January 11, 2020

AP FACT CHECK: Trump's distortions are across the board

By CALVIN WOODWARD and HOPE YEN an hour ago

WASHINGTON (AP) —

President Donald Trump systematically fabricated his record before boisterous supporters and the eyes of the world this past week.

To a core question — did the U.S. killing of an Iranian general avoid an imminent attack on U.S. interests? — there is no definitive answer days after missiles flew. Trump and his officials said the U.S. attack achieved that result but have yet to prove it.

In other matters, Trump offered distortion across the breadth of public policy. He declared clean-air achievements when the air has become dirtier. He claimed to have come up with the “great idea” of letting veterans seek private care at public expense, when that was already law, accomplished by President Barack Obama.

He complained that he didn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize for peace in Ethiopia, when he had little to nothing to do with it.

He invented a dialogue with a Democrat in Congress and claimed he succeeded on two fronts where other presidents failed, each time for at least 44 years, a made-up number.

https://apnews.com/8e0783c70703d7b0419870be82fe9dd1

And I really would like to know why "reputably main stream media" keep putting trumpian assholes up to debate so that they can spew the same shit he spews.............................what am I missing.........................

January 11, 2020

Did anyone post the fact that the drummer for Rush passed away Neil Peart

Saw them on the Hocus Pocus tour...........................it was absolutely amazing.............and I just love this song..................




In an official statement, Rush instructed those looking to pay tribute to Peart to "choose a cancer research group or charity of their choice and make a donation in Neil’s name."

January 11, 2020

Its been three years.................and he will have street named for him in France.............