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Tim Stone
Tim Stone
12:00 AM
Yeah that uh, that'll do it
 
Wipqozn
Wipqozn
12:39 AM
> After fleeing Syria, Hadhad's family settled in Antigonish in 2016 and built a social enterprise ⁠— Peace by Chocolate ⁠— which sells its products across the country and employs about 55 people, including other refugees.
> Mason’s successful amendment was for a tiered fee of $2,000 for a company with 10 or more vehicles, $5,000 for more than 25 vehicles, $15,000 for 26 to 100 vehicles and $125,000 for a fleet of 100-plus vehicles.
 
 
2 hours later…
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
2:32 AM
Hannity's response is apparently to call MSNBC "state TV" because irony is dead
 
 
2 hours later…
Memor-X
Memor-X
4:26 AM
if the GOP stop witnesses from being in the trial, the documents that Parnas or anyone else release can still be used right?
 
SaintWacko
SaintWacko
5:07 AM
@puzzlepiece87 I'm going to go with the last one
The Republicans aren't acting in good faith, so it doesn't actually matter what they send or when they send it
 
 
1 hour later…
puzzlepiece87
puzzlepiece87
6:21 AM
@SaintWacko Thanks for this :) I am now leaning in your direction.
 
 
6 hours later…
Elva
Elva
12:20 PM
"Good" news everyone! The top 5 hottest years are still the last 5 years! How many years running has that been I wonder... boingboing.net/2020/01/15/climate-crisis-2019-was-hotte.html
 
 
1 hour later…
Memor-X
Memor-X
1:32 PM
> Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said on Twitter that it “took note of the possible illegal surveillance on the territory of Ukraine by former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch," according to a translation from Business Insider.
 
BradC
BradC
2:25 PM
@Memor-X Well, Rudy and Trump did want Ukraine to announce an investigation into corruption, so...
for anyone who missed it:
probably more accurate headline at the DailyKOS:
 
BradC
BradC
2:39 PM
Parnas said in his Maddow interview that everyone knew and was in on Trump's demand for an announcement of an investigation:
Pence knew that's why his visit to the inauguration was cancelled, and had been specifically tasked with extracting that demand during his later meeting.
Barr knew, and was basically "part of the team"
if you missed the Maddow Show last night, someone has cobbled together a series of youtube segments that (more or less) add up to the entire show:
You can also download the full show audio from the Rachel Maddow Show podcast feed (I won't link it, just search for it in your podcast player)
 
BradC
BradC
3:00 PM
I don't have a lot of confidence that GOP senators will suddenly get a conscience, but perhaps they'll wise up to this:
> Still, the legal analyst Susan Hennessey was correct Wednesday when she cautioned on Twitter that everyone should be duly cautious about the Parnas allegations. There’s danger here for those building the case against Trump; false accusations based on the word of a criminal could be damaging.
> But the danger for Republicans is pretty obvious, too. As someone said on Twitter Wednesday evening, Republican senators don’t even know what they’re covering up for, or at least what they would be covering up for if they follow the White House’s preference to rush through the Senate impeachment trial that starts next week and refuse to hear from relevant witnesses and collect relevant documents.
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
Yeah, the biggest reason to drop Trump remains not that they particularly disagree with anything he's doing but that his extreme level of incompetence makes doing all of those bad things unnecessarily complicated
 
MBraedley
MBraedley
@TimStone Which state does McSally serve?
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
Arizona
 
MBraedley
MBraedley
3:15 PM
Hmm, yeah, that could go Dem.
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
Kyrsten Sinema, the other Senator from Arizona, is technically a Democrat
She was elected in 2018 while McSally was appointed to McCain's empty seat
McSally will face a special election in 2020
@TimStone (after losing to McSally and prior appointee Kyl resigning)
lmao
"Sure glad that the thing we were entirely in control of happened, thank goodness"
looooooooooooooool
 
BradC
BradC
@TimStone ooohhhh, that Lev Parnas!
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
Whom amongst us does not remember being involved in a conspiracy?
 
Elva
Elva
I do!
 
BradC
BradC
@TimStone here's a Politico article about the GAO report:
actually, that's a pretty lame article. 3 paragraphs, doesn't even link to the report
I apologize for posting that link. Those responsible have been sacked
 
Elva
Elva
3:28 PM
Barely worthy of being called paragraphs, those are just three sentences with empty lines between them :p
 
BradC
BradC
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
While I marginally agree that it was unnecessary fluff uhhh will he be surprised when he finds out who the president is
 
BradC
BradC
@TimStone not to mention they did the same thing during the Clinton impeachment. Only then there was a typo on the pens, and they had to be reprinted :P
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
 
BradC
BradC
wonder if there are any of the typo pens out there: Untied Stated Senator
here's a 1999 article about them and their possible collector value, along with other historical notes about pens in Washington:
 
Elva
Elva
3:39 PM
@BradC quick tie them back up!
 
BradC
BradC
Here's a slightly more substantial NBC article about the GAO report.
Good piece with a resounding conclusion:
> But aiding and abetting presidential obstruction and abuse of power isn’t a process problem, even if arrives at the Senate wearing sensible shoes. It’s collusion. It’s a non-process rigged to look like a process. That isn’t boring. It’s grotesque. And it only works if we believe it. Let’s not.
 
BradC
BradC
4:31 PM
> Germany’s defense minister on Thursday confirmed a report that the United States was threatening to impose a 25% tariff on European car exports if it continues backing the Iran nuclear deal.
> The Washington Post said that Trump made the threat if Britain, France and Germany did not formally accuse Tehran of flouting the 2015 nuclear deal.
 
MBraedley
MBraedley
@BradC Why does this man want to start WW3?
 
BradC
BradC
So if you check out John Hudson's twitter timeline, you'll see the timeline here:
1. WaPo article with the original story
3. The story is confirmed by Germany's defense minister
So either our embassador to Germany was out of the loop on a massively important international situation
Or he's as much a fucking liar as the president
Not sure which is less bad
 
 
1 hour later…
Yuuki
Yuuki
5:39 PM
> Parnas: I’ll Release a Photo Each Time Trump Denies Knowing Me
I'm not sure if you can call that petty, but we might need more popcorn machines.
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
5:52 PM
 
BradC
BradC
6:10 PM
Everything they're doing here is totally unnecessary. Students are, and have always been, permitted to pray or whatever on their own time.
This is pandering to the religious right, period.
 
user15026
...was this even a problem?
 
BradC
BradC
No, it was not. It plays into the paranoid persecution complex of the religious right
 
user15026
Like this feels like a case of hte majority yelling "I AM BEING PERSECUTED BECAUSE I HAVE THINGS BUT THEY"RE NOT SPECIAL ENOUGH BECAUSE THEY:RE TREATED AS NORMAL"
 
BradC
BradC
(and to be clear, I know of what I speak. I was a member of that religious community for most of my life, and I'm still married to one)
@Ash yep. They perceive the loss of special privileges as persecution
 
user15026
nods I grew up Christian and considered myself one until...idk, a couple years ago.
 
BradC
BradC
6:14 PM
"My kids teacher isn't allowed to say a Christian prayer to Jesus at the beginning of class in a public school?? Outrageous!!"
 
user15026
@BradC I remember when my school stopped doing the Lord's Prayer every morning and people lost their minds
 
user15026
Yet, try to give a Muslim student a place to pray or whatever as needed, and people go OH NO THEY CANT HAVE THAT.
 
user15026
because those are bad prayers or whatever :/
 
user15026
(I am very grateful that the obligatory prayer stuff for Baha'is has options, and is not super strict beyond "do this each day" - there are different prayers that can be said at different times or in different time windows, so it's easier just to pick a method that doesn't interrupt your workday/schoolday, at least in my experience.)
 
Yuuki
Yuuki
Ukraine launches investigation...
Trump: !!!
... into 'spying' on former ambassador by Trump's associates
 
user15026
6:19 PM
oh fun
 
Yuuki
Yuuki
Trump: Monkey's paaaaaawwww!!!
 
BradC
BradC
Here's the Friendly Atheist article about the topic: Trump Administration Issues Unnecessary Rules to “Protect” Prayer in Schools
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
6:37 PM
RIP Christopher Tolkien
 
user15026
7:01 PM
@BradC "The Education Department also plans to issue guidance that will require local school districts to certify that they have no rules or regulations that conflict with students’ right to pray at school. It will also require states to notify the Education Department if there are complaints against a school district regarding the right to pray. The department does not have similar reporting requirements for states when a school district is accused of other types of discrimination."
 
user15026
I wonder how that will hold up if someone non-Christian complains about their right to pray....
 
user15026
@TimStone oh, that's sad :(
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
lol
That's all the more reason to hold them!
 
Yuuki
Yuuki
@Ash IIRC, one of the Satanic churches is usually pretty quick to jump on this sort of thing.
 
SaintWacko
SaintWacko
@Ash Oh come on, you know that's not who this is meant to protect
 
Yuuki
Yuuki
7:12 PM
IIRC, there's two main ones: one is basically a church and the other one is a separation-of-church-and-state organization that uses Satanic imagery to help illustrate its points.
 
SaintWacko
SaintWacko
They're so great
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
Looking out for the little folk sheds a tear
 
user15026
@SaintWacko I know, that's my point.
 
user15026
I'm not stupid.
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
 
user15026
7:27 PM
I know it's not for non-Christians, but if they keep this wording, it can be, and that is going to get interesting.
 
user15026
@TimStone I always find the "so help you God" bit of swearing fascinating, because it's supposed to have this great gravitas, like DONT MAKE GOD MAD and all that, but it just feels so...weird.
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
Could use a few smitings tbh
FWIW re: the prayer thing, this has been guidance since 2003, he's just cranked the dial further in order to seem like he's doing something
 
user15026
@TimStone hahahahaha of course.
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
The funding tie in just adds an enforcement measure that was probably not necessary to begin with
@TimStone Adjourned until January 21st
 
user15026
@TimStone so they did...nothing?
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
7:40 PM
They were sworn in and now the White House will have until Sunday to provide a preliminary response to the charges, after which point the House will have until Monday to file a rebuttal
Monday is also a holiday
Not sure if that factors into it
(I assume it probably does)
 
user15026
This is gonna be a slow process, isn't it....
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
It probably depends on several factors
It could be over before the month ends, if McConnell has his way
But we'll see
 
Nzall
Nzall
7:57 PM
@TimStone Here's what I heard: Mitch needs 51 votes to dismiss. He has 53 senators. He has a majority for his first defense, namely waiting to determine whether to call witnesses until after the opening statements by the House and the WH. Then for that vote, there are supposedly 4 republican senators who will vote alongside the democrats for witnesses
Like, AFAIK Mitch does not have the vote count for an early dismissal
 
BradC
BradC
@TimStone wonder what form the White House response will take; whether it will simply be a response to the 8-page impeachment articles as voted, or a response to the multi-hundred pages of additional material as presented by the judiciary committee
because 3 days isn't all that long to produce a comprehensive response. Nor is 1 day enough for a sufficient rebuttal
 
murgatroid99
murgatroid99
@BradC It's not like they haven't already had more time to work on the response
 
BradC
BradC
@murgatroid99 true, true
 
Nzall
Nzall
I hope they can file the Parnas papers into the record, those documents are pretty much the smoking gun the Dems needed
Like, back during Watergate Nixon lost senate support within days after the smoking gun 18 minute tape he hid away
 
BradC
BradC
@Nzall Yes, they were released by the committee before the articles were sent over
that's what the rush was all about
But clearly Parnas can provide a whole lot more context via testimony, if he is allowed to be called
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
8:06 PM
 
Nzall
Nzall
Okay. Like, let's hope the party of rampant constitutionalism will actually enact the constitution and at least do their job in reading the documentation
 
Unionhawk
Unionhawk
lol
 
Nzall
Nzall
@TimStone Hang on, is he comparing cheating on sports with wartime intelligence gathering?
 
BradC
BradC
The GOP's dilemma is that at this point it is going to be mighty hard to prevent Parnas from testifying without it being super totally obvious that they are covering everything up (which is what they're doing)
 
Nzall
Nzall
Yeah
problem is you need 20 senators to flip, which won't be easy, even with the mountain of evidence
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
8:08 PM
@TimStone Hm, this account shifts everything by a day, there might have been a misunderstanding in the original timeline I saw
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
8:28 PM
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
8:43 PM
Really hard to overstate how dumb the President is
Also like
Did he not know he had already been impeached or?
Waiting until the start of the Senate trial seems like an arbitrary marker for this
 
BradC
BradC
@TimStone he's just pounding the pulpit
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
9:00 PM
lol
 
BradC
BradC
9:53 PM
and... this wasn't already the policy because... ?
ah, ok
> Typically, the FBI notifies only the victim of a cyber intrusion. When it comes to election systems, the victim is often a county.
> But if the FBI only notifies local officials, "it may leave the state officials with incomplete knowledge of the threats," the official said.
 
Memor-X
Memor-X
10:49 PM
@BradC the one thing i'm concerned about is that the public will ignore it
i want to believe that the Core Trump Base who believe Trump is god, can do no wrong and thus wont even look at that is such a small number while the rest of America, mainly Republican Voters, will see this realize the slippery slope they are on and protest vote by voting for another party
but ofcause there is still a sliver of hope that the space-time distortion that's allowed 2016 to last for 4 years will also make history and Trump is the very first President to be removed from office by impeachment
 
Yuuki
Yuuki
@TimStone he's like the worst version of hodor
 
Tim Stone
Tim Stone
11:40 PM
Honestly I could have gotten through today without this, and yet here it is
 

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