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StarfishSaver

StarfishSaver's Journal
StarfishSaver's Journal
December 29, 2019

Gabbard says impeachment will only "embolden" Trump

Uh-huh, Tulse. Something's emboldening Trump, but it ain't impeachment.

Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard spoke candidly on Saturday about her controversial decision to vote "present" during last week's formal impeachment vote, adding she feared the impeachment of President Donald Trump would only "embolden" him and increase his chance for reelection.

"I think impeachment, unfortunately, will only further embolden Donald Trump, increase his support and the likelihood that he'll have a better shot at getting elected while also seeing the likelihood that the House will lose a lot of seats to Republicans," Gabbard said, in a one-on-one interview with ABC News in Hudson, New Hampshire.

Gabbard -- a 2020 president candidate -- noted that the prospect of a second term for Trump and a Republican-controlled House is a "serious concern" of hers, adding that she's worried about the potential ramifications that will be left if Trump is acquitted.

She told ABC News that it could leave "lasting damage" on the country as a whole. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/rep-tulsi-gabbard-impeachment-embolden-trump-increasing-reelection/story?id=67960828
December 29, 2019

Why are people afraid to treat Imus' racism as a feature, not a bug?

https://twitter.com/ava/status/1211035045890125824

Instead of "Imus was a great guy who did lots of good things but, incidentally, (the racist stuff)" it should be "Imus was a racist radio host who, incidentally, did some good things."
December 29, 2019

Daddy and Daughter

Because we can all use a smile this morning.
https://twitter.com/melaninmamis/status/1210571442170953729

December 29, 2019

One reason Pelosi's "hold back" tactic is brilliant

For weeks, some people have urged Speaker Nancy Pelosi to hold off sending Articles of Impeachment over to the Senate for trial. But most, if not all, of these people offered few, if any details for how Pelosi should do that. Their advice was for her to simply not send the Articles to the Senate.

But Pelosi didn't merely refuse to refer the Articles to the Senate. She did it in a way that boxes in McConnell and the Senate Republicans and also frames a narrative to the Democrats' favor and to the Republicans' detriment.

Had Pelosi just held off sending the Articles, her refusal to move the process forward would have been THE story. The Republicans would have been all over her with a full and enthusiastic assist from the media, who would have spent 24/7 jumping up and down demanding to know when Pelosi would send the Articles to the Senate. Pelosi's "recalcitrance" would have been the ONLY story. In the meantime, Republicans would continue their plan to screw up the process once they got the Articles - and they would have done so with barely any attention because the focus would have been all on Pelosi.

But she was too smart for this. She didn't just hold on to the Articles. She tied her action tight as a knot to the Republican plans to screw up the process, making release of the Articles completely contingent upon the Republicans showing their hand. In the law, we call that a "condition precedent": an event that must occur before a party is required to perform. In this instance, Pelosi made the Republicans revealing the process they plan to use for the trial the condition precedent to her releasing the Articles because, she's explained, she can't refer the Articles until she appoints managers and she can't appoint managers until she knows how the trial will proceed.

By doing it this way, Pelosi ensured that, not only is she not "the bad guy" in this transaction and is not derelict in her duty - since she wants to do her duty but can't do it until the Republicans do theirs - but she also guaranteed that the Republicans can't do their dirt in the dark as they usually do. Every time anyone talks about Pelosi refusing to refer the Articles, they MUST talk about why she's refusing, report on the Republicans refusal to reveal the process they plan to use, and discuss the Republicans' efforts to rig the trial.

As a result, the story is not just about Pelosi holding the Articles, but - and probably moreso - about the Republicans trying to conduct a sham trial.

This was very strategic, intricate boss move.

December 23, 2019

Mystal: There's not a public facing job I could have IN THIS COUNTRY w/0% support from white people

He has a point:https://twitter.com/ElieNYC/status/1209153949904842753

Elie Mystal
@ElieNYC

Some friends wonder why I'm so *annoyed* at the Pete campaign

Let's just say that there's not a public facing job I could have IN THIS COUNTRY with 0% support from white people
Allen goddamn Iverson wasn't polling at 0% with white fans. We're not ALLOWED to have 0% white support.So the fact that this man gets to be taken *seriously* for President of the United States, on the theory that he'll *figure out* how to appeal to, like, ANY BLACK PEOPLE later, is just offensive to me. It is daily PROOF that this country thinks that black people are OPTIONAL.

Obviously, I'm biased. My career REQUIRES keeping enough WHITE PEOPLE more or less on board so that I may be allowed to work.

I don't even have the damn option of putting out a Tweet that I think ZERO PERCENT OF WHITE PEOPLE WILL LIKE.

But living in that world for [checks notes] 41 freaking years... watching this great white hope get inflated PURELY on the good vibes from other whites, without even MINIMAL consent from non-whites, just sticks in my craw. It puts me in a bad freaking mood.

If I want to spend ONE FREAKING DAY OF MY LIFE *truly* unconcerned with how white people think of me... I have to go "on vacation"... to Zimbabwe.

And with that: sorry white folks, that you had to experience this moment of black rage today. I'll go back to impeachment now.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1209153949904842753.html
December 21, 2019

Dean Obeidallah: Nancy Pelosi was right about Trump's impeachment

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., opened the debate Wednesday on whether to impeach President Donald Trump solemnly. And after Trump became only the third president in the history of our Republic to be impeached Wednesday evening, there was no joyous celebration — in fact, the speaker icily stared down some in her own party who applauded the vote on the House floor.

That Trump was successfully impeached says a lot about the level of frustration with Trump in Washington right now. But it is also a sweet, sweet victory for Nancy Pelosi, who has been second-guessed and criticized at every step in the process ... As a reminder, getting to this historic moment has been ugly. Pelosi was criticized by everyone from Trump to her fellow progressives, including myself. Obviously, Trump was outraged when she moved forward on impeachment. But many on the left felt she had moved too slowly, arguing she should have opened an impeachment inquiry right after special counsel Robert Mueller released his detailed report in April.

And criticize her we did. On my SiriusXM radio show, countless progressives slammed her for not pushing forward. Some asked if Trump was blackmailing her, or worse, pondered if Pelosi actually wanted Trump to win in 2020. I, too, wondered about the delay and urged Pelosi to proceed. I criticized the speaker for not listening to the Democratic base. I even wrote an article for CNN arguing that Pelosi’s apparent reluctance was helping Trump politically (at the time the president’s approval ratings were sliding upward.)

But I was wrong. In fact, all of us who pressured Pelosi to begin impeachment before she was ready were wrong.

Pelosi understood that despite the damning words of the Mueller report, Democrats needed more evidence, especially Democrats in swing states. Indeed, as Pelosi was rebuffing our calls to impeach this summer, only about 38 percent of all Americans supported impeaching Trump, with 54 percent opposed. And at the time, only about 100 members of the House Democratic caucus (out of 235 members) were publicly on board with impeaching Trump.

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/nancy-pelosi-was-right-about-trump-s-impeachment-democrats-were-ncna1105401
December 21, 2019

An uncomfortable truth about "Angry Black Women" in politics

https://twitter.com/AmeshiaCross/status/1208073712655884288
Just a point of order: Kamala Harris couldn't have gone after anyone on that stage like Amy Klobuchar did w/o getting the "angry" stereotype all too often given to Black women who assert ourselves
December 21, 2019

Area man flees battlefield, urges remaining troops to stand strong

Man identified as Jeff Flake ...
https://twitter.com/JoyAnnReid/status/1208355094913269761

Area man flees battlefield, urges remaining troops to stand strong...

December 21, 2019

Betty Bowers for the win

https://twitter.com/BettyBowers/status/1208205223950475264

"The fact is, no President has ever done what I have done for Evangelicals, or religion itself!"

Jimmy Carter, 95-years-old, looks up from hammering a shingle on a roof for a homeless person, rolls his eyes, and mutters, "Gurl, please . . ."

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