Impeachment Inquiry

[fraurosena]

If the Dems let this pass, the whole impeachment inquiry will end as a dud. 

 

[Ozlsn]

2 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Rufus, from his tweet to your ears. Make it so!

Aunt Crabby has the right of it.

 

I'm with Aunt Crabby. Pick a target carefully, give them the opportunity to comply and then jail their ass when they don't. I mean if Joe Naugler (to pick a non-random example) can be held in contempt for non-appearance to testify then I see no reason more affluent people shouldn't be.

22 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

I'm leaning towards testifying in a costume like on The Masked Singer!

Oh I so want a baby Trump costumed witness.

Also adding to the take care of yourself wishes @fraurosena. Definitely go in if anything gets worse.

Edited October 8, 2019 by Ozlsn

[GreyhoundFan]

Gotta love Comic Sans font for legal documents. ?

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I clicked on this, assuming it was satire or a parody, but NOOOO, it's Matt Gaetz (R-Dumbass): "This article is for congressmen who think Captain Kangaroo presided over kangaroo courts"

Spoiler

At a news conference Tuesday morning, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) had this to say about the latest developments in the impeachment inquiry being led by House Democrats:

“What we see in this impeachment is a kangaroo court, and Chairman Schiff is acting like a malicious Captain Kangaroo.”

So.

Here we are in 2019, where it has become necessary to explain that the classic children’s television show “Captain Kangaroo” was not a courtroom drama. This may be news to Gaetz, since the last episode of the show, which ran from 1955 to 1984, aired when the congressman was about 2 years old.

Bob Keeshan, the actor who played Captain Kangaroo, was not a captain, a kangaroo or even Australian. Originally from Queens, N.Y., he served in the Marine Corps during World War II, though he never saw combat. (Long-standing rumors that he and Lee Marvin were heroes at the Battle of Iwo Jima are not true.)

Before inventing and portraying Captain Kangaroo — so named because of his large pockets — he played Clarabell the Clown on another kids’ program, “The Howdy Doody Show.”

So “kangaroo courts” don’t come from a kids’ show. But if you thought the term — meaning an informal or improper court with no legal standing — comes from Australia, you would also be mistaken.

There are many theories about the American origins of the term, none of which have been definitively proved. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it first appeared in print in the 1853 novel “A Stray Yankee in Texas,” in a description of a farcical court assembled by drinking buddies to “prosecute” one of their friends for kissing a black woman.

But it may date even earlier than that, back to the 1849 California Gold Rush. In 1985, the nationally syndicated column “The Straight Dope” explained that “some say miners established kangaroo courts to deal with claim jumpers (get it?).”

Those miners may have had Australia on the brain, because more than 11,000 Australians, many of them former prisoners, migrated to San Francisco during the Gold Rush. They were generally regarded as uncouth troublemakers known for drunkenness, arson and hiring “low women.” As the San Francisco Chronicle explained, one denizen of the “Sydney-Town” slum was famous for eating literally anything you put in front of him — for the right price (a nickel!).

It got so bad that residents formed a vigilante group that lynched two Australians, deported 14 more and intimidated others into fleeing.

On Tuesday morning, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary tweeted that “kangaroo court” was its top trending search. It had also found an even earlier first reference for the term, dating to 1841 and describing a lynching of “loafers ... instituted by the kangaroo court.”

Captain Kangaroo, who taught kids to be safe, follow the law and respect playmates, probably would not have approved.

 

[Ozlsn]

5 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Gotta love Comic Sans font for legal documents. ?

 

Could have been worse - could have been WingDings...

4 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I clicked on this, assuming it was satire or a parody, but NOOOO, it's Matt Gaetz (R-Dumbass): "This article is for congressmen who think Captain Kangaroo presided over kangaroo courts"

  Hide contents

At a news conference Tuesday morning, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) had this to say about the latest developments in the impeachment inquiry being led by House Democrats:

“What we see in this impeachment is a kangaroo court, and Chairman Schiff is acting like a malicious Captain Kangaroo.”

So.

Here we are in 2019, where it has become necessary to explain that the classic children’s television show “Captain Kangaroo” was not a courtroom drama. This may be news to Gaetz, since the last episode of the show, which ran from 1955 to 1984, aired when the congressman was about 2 years old.

Bob Keeshan, the actor who played Captain Kangaroo, was not a captain, a kangaroo or even Australian. Originally from Queens, N.Y., he served in the Marine Corps during World War II, though he never saw combat. (Long-standing rumors that he and Lee Marvin were heroes at the Battle of Iwo Jima are not true.)

Before inventing and portraying Captain Kangaroo — so named because of his large pockets — he played Clarabell the Clown on another kids’ program, “The Howdy Doody Show.”

So “kangaroo courts” don’t come from a kids’ show. But if you thought the term — meaning an informal or improper court with no legal standing — comes from Australia, you would also be mistaken.

There are many theories about the American origins of the term, none of which have been definitively proved. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it first appeared in print in the 1853 novel “A Stray Yankee in Texas,” in a description of a farcical court assembled by drinking buddies to “prosecute” one of their friends for kissing a black woman.

But it may date even earlier than that, back to the 1849 California Gold Rush. In 1985, the nationally syndicated column “The Straight Dope” explained that “some say miners established kangaroo courts to deal with claim jumpers (get it?).”

Those miners may have had Australia on the brain, because more than 11,000 Australians, many of them former prisoners, migrated to San Francisco during the Gold Rush. They were generally regarded as uncouth troublemakers known for drunkenness, arson and hiring “low women.” As the San Francisco Chronicle explained, one denizen of the “Sydney-Town” slum was famous for eating literally anything you put in front of him — for the right price (a nickel!).

It got so bad that residents formed a vigilante group that lynched two Australians, deported 14 more and intimidated others into fleeing.

On Tuesday morning, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary tweeted that “kangaroo court” was its top trending search. It had also found an even earlier first reference for the term, dating to 1841 and describing a lynching of “loafers ... instituted by the kangaroo court.”

Captain Kangaroo, who taught kids to be safe, follow the law and respect playmates, probably would not have approved.

 

Wow the bit about Australians migrating to San Francisco with the Gold Rush is something I had never heard before. Americans migrating here when our rush(es) started I knew about, but I had no idea it went the other way too. As to the lynchings I am genuinely shocked - our goldfields were probably not any more law abiding but the ones nearest me had a strong, often unwelcome police presence from very early on (see also: Ned Kelly, bushrangers, Eureka Stockade).

[fraurosena]

The comic sans already gave it away, but...

 

[fraurosena]

Still sticking to a stern lecture, instead of enforcing the subpoenas, I see. 

When will the Dems finally start baring their teeth? This administration can keep on perpetuating all kinds of atrocities — like allowing the Turks to commit genocide ffs — as long as you keep on handling them with kid gloves. The ‘nobody is above the law’ truism is all fine and dandy, but repeating it over and over is not going to save democracy in America. And now people’s lives are actually at stake. The time for prevarication and ‘softly, softly’ has passed. It’s time to act, not lecture.

 

[formergothardite]

The only way to beat Trump is to not let him get away with all this stuff and the democrats just sit around clutching their pearls and letting him do whatever he wants. This is how Trump wins the next election, the democrats hand it to him by doing nothing. 

[fraurosena]

It would not surprise me in the slightest if the attempts to fabricate dirt on Biden started as soon as Biden announced he was running.

 

[fraurosena]

Some logic the BT's don't have an answer for, except falling back to whataboutism -- Obama used executive privilege too!

 

[fraurosena]

Oh, it turns out that Trey Gowdy did not nope out after all! 

Trey Gowdy agrees to serve as outside counsel for Trump

Quote

President Trump has asked former South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy to assist him with legal advice from outside the White House and Gowdy has agreed, though details are yet to be finalized, according to people familiar with the situation.

Where it stands: As the president faces an impeachment inquiry, Gowdy can offer Trump another opinion on where legal theory meets political reality, a person familiar told Axios' Margaret Talev, adding that his Benghazi experience is seen as an asset. Gowdy is expected to advise the White House behind the scenes and appear on TV to advocate on behalf of the president.

The state of play: Now that Trump faces an official impeachment inquiry, the White House has formalized its strategy to ignore lawmakers' demands until Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds a full House vote formally approving an impeachment inquiry.

For nearly a month, the White House has refused to comply with House investigations into whether Trump jeopardized national security by allegedly pressing Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 presidential election.

Subpoenas: The White House, EU ambassador Gordon Sondland — named in the whistleblower report — the Defense Department, the White House Office of Management and Budget, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have all been subpoenaed since Pelosi announced an impeachment inquiry on Sept. 24.

Vice President Mike Pence is facing a request for documents.

I lolled at the part where they say that '... his Benghazi experience is seen as an asset..." They do know that nothing ever came of all of his investigations, don't they?

[fraurosena]

If it wasn't so appalling and devastating and didn't come at the expense of actual human lives, I might have cheered at this news. But it is appalling and devastating, and it will cost so many innocent people their lives, so I can't really be happy about this at all.

All I can hope for is that it will be the downfall of Trump and all of his cronies and enablers. May they rot in jail until they die for the role they all played in the preventable murder of the Kurds -- and all other people that will suffer from the resurgence of ISIS.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Because of the notes, I can't post this article, but it's worth a read, both for the hyperbolic letter, and for the notes. "The White House’s scathing and legally questionable impeachment letter, annotated"

 

George Conaway's take on the letter:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[fraurosena]

Oh, the irony...

 

[JenniferJuniper]

He's officially a fucking murderer now and the Republicans, aside from a few tsk, tsks, continue to protect and support him.

Trump is old.  He's in bad shape. He almost certainly has heart disease.  No matter what happens with impeachment, he'll die, probably sooner rather than later.  But the Republican party needs to be stomped into ground and ended forever.  I know the evil people that now make it up and the morons who vote for them will still be around, but we need to start by grinding the party into the ground.  And hope something more sane rises from it's foul ashes. 

[fraurosena]

From the first whistleblower’s attorneys:

Link goes to document.

[fraurosena]

 

[fraurosena]

Oh, you mean Trump acting illegally and asking others to aid him with it didn’t start in a vacuum with extortion of Ukraine? He was doing it all along? Next we’ll be hearing he was Engaged in illegal acts even before he became presidunce.

/sarcasm 

 

[Howl]

On 10/8/2019 at 10:30 AM, fraurosena said:

Sorry, but I can't contain myself. I've just noticed that Jim Jordan is really short! I mean... dude's tiny!

Somebody pointed this out on cable news shows last week.  He's literally a Trump mini-me. 

[fraurosena]

Very interesting development.

Two Foreign-Born Men Who Helped Giuliani on Ukraine Arrested on Campaign-Finance Charges

Quote

Two Soviet-born donors to a pro- Trump fundraising committee who helped Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to investigate Democrat Joe Biden were arrested late Wednesday on criminal charges of violating campaign finance rules and are expected to appear in court on Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter.

Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two Florida businessmen, have been under investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, and are expected to appear in federal court in Virginia later on Thursday, the people said. Both men were born in former Soviet republics.

Mr. Giuliani, President Trump’s private lawyer, identified the two men in May as his clients. Both men have donated to Republican campaigns including Mr. Trump’s, and in May 2018 gave $325,000 to the primary pro-Trump super PAC, America First Action, through an LLC called Global Energy Producers, according to Federal Election Commission records.

The exact nature of the charges couldn’t immediately be determined.

John Dowd, who headed Mr. Trump’s legal team until spring 2018 and is a lawyer for the two men, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The Campaign Legal Center, a transparency advocacy group, filed a complaint with the FEC in July 2018 calling on the commission to investigate whether Messrs. Parnas and Fruman had violated campaign-finance laws by using an LLC to disguise the source of their donations.

Messrs. Parnas and Fruman had dinner with the president in early May 2018, according to since-deleted Facebook posts captured in a report published by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. They also met with the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr. , later that month at a fundraising breakfast in Beverly Hills, Calif., along with Tommy Hicks Jr. , a close friend of the younger Mr. Trump who at the time was heading America First Action. Mr. Parnas posted a photo of their breakfast four days after his LLC donated to the super PAC.

A spokeswoman for America First Action said the super PAC had placed the contribution in a segregated bank account following the complaint filed with the FEC. The donation “has not been used for any purpose and the funds will remain in this segregated account until these matters are resolved,” the spokeswoman said. “We take our legal obligations seriously and scrupulously comply with the law and any suggestion otherwise is false.”

Since late 2018, Mr. Fruman and Mr. Parnas have introduced Mr. Giuliani to several current and former senior Ukrainian prosecutors to discuss the Biden case.

House committees last month sought documents and depositions from Messrs. Parnas and Fruman related to their interactions with the Trump administration, Mr. Giuliani and Ukrainian officials. The initial notice from the committees set the dates for their depositions as Thursday and Friday.

Mr. Dowd wrote a letter to the House Intelligence Committee last week advising them that he was representing Messrs. Parnas and Fruman and noting that the two men had assisted Mr. Giuliani “in connection with his representation of President Trump.” He said some of the documents sought by House Democrats last month were protected by attorney-client privilege and that a privilege review of those documents “cannot reasonably be conducted by Oct. 7,” the deadline lawmakers had set.

He also criticized the document requests as “overly broad and unduly burdensome.”

Messrs. Parnas and Fruman also worked to oust the ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, whom Mr. Trump had removed from her post this spring.

In May 2018, Pete Sessions, at the time a GOP congressman from Texas, sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asking for her removal, saying he had been told Ms. Yovanovitch was displaying a bias against the president in private conversations.

Mr. Sessions told the Journal his letter was in line with a broader concern among members of Congress that the administration wasn’t moving swiftly enough to put new ambassadors in place. He declined to say where his information about the ambassador came from but said he didn’t follow up on his letter and didn’t hear until months later about Mr. Trump’s interest in replacing her.

Messrs. Parnas and Fruman told the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project in July that they told Mr. Sessions last year that Ms. Yovanovitch was “bad-mouthing” the president. They later donated to his campaign.

Mr. Trump moved to oust Ms. Yovanovitch this spring after Mr. Giuliani told him that she was undermining him abroad and hindering efforts to investigate Mr. Biden. House committees are seeking Ms. Yovanovitch’s testimony.

The men and companies associated with them became political donors only recently and have contributed just over $500,000 total in the past three years, according to FEC records. Other recipients of their donations include Florida Sen. Rick Scott, the National Republican Congressional Committee and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the records show.

Mr. Parnas made his first donation, of about $100,000, on Oct. 24, 2016, to the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, the records show. Mr. Fruman made his first federal political contribution in February 2018, giving $5,400, then the legal maximum, to Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign.

 

 

[fraurosena]

 

It seems they were arrested in the nick of time.

 

[fraurosena]

Good question! 

Let me think. ? 

Who would be in a position to know? Could it be... somebody with an alliterative name right at the top of DOJ? 

[fraurosena]

I swear I did not see this tweet until after my previous post.

 

[fraurosena]