72 thoughts on “Apocalypse now”

  1. revelations – not the biblical kind

    https://theweek.com/speedreads/889435/trump-apparently-gave-giuliani-consent-request-meeting-ukrainian-president-new-impeachment-evidence-shows

    The evidence from Lev Parnas has arrived.
    Parnas is an indicted Soviet-born associate of President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who aided in Giuliani’s campaign to pressure Ukraine into investigating Trump’s domestic rivals. He previously turned over evidence related to Trump’s impeachment in compliance with a congressional subpoena. Today, House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) turned the documents over to House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), who will send the evidence over to the Senate, where it could possibly be used in Trump’s upcoming impeachment trial.
    Among the evidence provided by Parnas are handwritten notes he took during a meeting in Vienna, where he wrote that he needed to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce that Ukraine would launch an investigation tied to former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
    [notes]
    Another revelation came in the form of a draft letter from Giuliani to Zelensky, in which Giuliani requested to meet with the Ukrainian leader. Notably, he said he was making the request with Trump’s “knowledge and consent,” though it’s unclear from the letter if Giuliani and Trump had ever discussed the specifics of the meeting.
    [tweet and letter here]
    Parnas then allegedly sent a copy of the letter to a Zelensky aide, but the sit-down never actually came to fruition. Read the House Intelligence Committee’s letter here.

  2. Does not being in the fray/cluster’f, and, airing all of those well-produced ads make Mike seem like the more dependable candidate?     I still prefer Warren (and I still like Yang), but I’m starting to get the feeling that’s how it will go.   

  3. If MitchCo doesn’t handle this properly, they are complicit and should be thrown out on their keesters. 

  4. There’s a letter to Hyde,
    There’s a letter to Hyde;
    Yovanovich is on the next plane. 

  5. NYTimes:

    […]
    In a separate series of cryptic text messages, Mr. Parnas communicated with another man who appeared to be monitoring the movements of Ms. Yovanovitch. The texts, exchanged in March on WhatsApp, indicated that the second man, Robert F. Hyde, was in touch with people in Ukraine who were watching Ms. Yovanovitch.
    “They are willing to help if we/you would like a price,” one message from Mr. Hyde to Mr. Parnas read.
    It was not clear who was watching the ambassador or why. 
    “Needless to say, the notion that American citizens and others were monitoring Ambassador Yovanovitch’s movements for unknown purposes is disturbing,” said Lawrence S. Robbins, a lawyer for Ms. Yovanovitch. “We trust that the appropriate authorities will conduct an investigation to determine what happened.”
    In a brief interview conducted via text on Tuesday, Mr. Hyde, a Republican congressional candidate in Connecticut, denied that he had tracked Ms. Yovanovitch’s movements in Kyiv, and called Representative Adam B. Schiff, the intelligence committee chairman, a “commie.”
    In a post on Twitter late Tuesday, Mr. Hyde suggested that he was just “playing with” Mr. Parnas in the texts.
    Mr. Giuliani said on Tuesday that he had no knowledge of potential surveillance of Ms. Yovanovitch.
    A lawyer for Mr. Parnas, Joseph A. Bondy, said that the text messages indicated that his client did not take part in any possible surveillance.
    “There is no evidence that Mr. Parnas participated, agreed, paid money or took any other steps in furtherance of Mr. Hyde’s proposals,” Mr. Bondy said in a statement.
    In a separate interview, Mr. Bondy said that he and Mr. Parnas were  “very gratified that these materials” had become public, adding that “we remain committed to providing sworn testimony to Congress as it deems necessary.”
    [continues]

  6. I respectfully submit the proposition that the Demo Candidates rent a conference room and talk among themselves for the next period of time and leave the news cycle to focus on the main frame.  

  7. “Come, Watson, come!’ he cried. ‘The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!’ Ten minutes later we were both in a cab…

  8. The so-called birds of spring are already here, making faces at me which could be best described as “knowing leer”.
    But perhaps I’m just being…..anthropomorphically paranoid.

  9. This could get interesting.  I’m sure more details to follow. 

    Dmitry Medvedev resigning

    Ana Cabrera
     
    @AnaCabrera
    ·
    #Breaking: Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev announced that he and the entire Russian government is to resign in a televised statement on the Russian state TV.
  10. I fear Van Jones got it right last night on CNN:

    “Tonight for me was dispiriting. Democrats got to do better than what we saw tonight. There was nothing I saw tonight that would be able to take Donald Trump out, and I want to see a Democrat in the White House as soon as possible.” 

  11. Yeah…  that debate was kinda boring.  Not really any new material.
    The big loser to me was once again…  CNN.  WTF was up with those questions.  “Let’s make it clear, Mr. Buttigieg, would you let Iran have nuclear weapons, yes or no.”   As if he or any candidate would say “sure they can have them.”  And what was this “tell us how your opponent is “wrong” shit.  How about… tell us how your proposals are different.  But no….   CNN once again wanted a food fight…   morons!
     
    Iowa can’t come fast enough for me.

  12. Just heard from local source Orlando Rep. Val Demings to be an impeachment manager. The former city police chief, on both Intel and Judiciary committees, is one of Pelosi’s rising stars. 

  13. All this chatter Pelosi got no concessions by delay, but McConnell was forced to back off original plan to dismiss charges, couldn’t get the votes, and he might be forced to vote on witnesses. 

  14. She got what she said she wanted by the delay: Increased public awareness and commitment as evidenced by calls to elected officials. The added arrivals of new disclosures were pleasant happenstances.

  15. She got McConnell to sign off on Hawley’s nutcase proposal. He is now on the record as being in the extreme nutcase camp. And in an election year with a competent well funded opponent.   What more do you want?
    The lady can walk and chew gum at the same time.
    Jack

  16. Maybe having shot your baby down by the river is possibly not the best way of going about searching for a heart of hold.

  17. I’m certain you all found last night boring, after all you have watched each debate and picked them apart. Most Iowans haven’t and like them this was also my first debate. Immediate take away from last night. Amy seemed to be the only person who realized that she was in Iowa. It seemed like everybody else was talking to a generic national audience. The “have you quit beating your wife” questions directed at Bernie were amusing. Liz managed to remind the world how old Bernie is. ( 30 years ago Bernie ) of course she sounded like his nagging wife at the senior home when she did it. Joe just hung on, smiled and ran the campaign that should have been run in 2016, years late of course. Mayor Pete, ain’t he a cute youngster? Steyer kept staring at me, reaching out through the camera reading my mind, messing with my brain. Next time I get out the tinfoil.
    Jack

  18. The questions were silly and the moderators were terrible, but i think all the candidates did well, especially Warren (of course), and Buttigieg.

  19. Renee
    He is a debate coach at directional U. This wasn’t about winning a college debate. This is politics, he was worried about a stumble that would have ruined a college debate that is scored on points but was a minor event as she ticked off issues that are of concern to Iowa. After all if she can’t come in 3rd or better in Iowa she is out.
    Jack 

  20. Couldn’t do it last night, again. Been there, heard all that.
     
    FYI, Windows 7, as of yesterday, has no support of any kind. They recommend Windows 10 which has a vulnerability. They recommend the patch.  I’ve never been able to get the patch to work same as Dave Barry. 

  21. …back-up your data, immediately, if you haven’t.  Flash media is very cheap these days.  Avoid using the internet with Win7.

  22. tiptoe…
    my husband ordered a new laptop last week because of this issue.  He loved using Windows 7 and really hasn’t wanted to give it up.  But such is the way with technology.
     
     

  23. wapo:

    MOSCOW — Russia’s prime minister submitted his resignation Wednesday as part of a surprise government shake-up directed by President Vladi­mir Putin as he looks to an eventual transition of power and to ensure his influence after his term ends in 2024.

    Putin accepted the resignation of Dmitry Medvedev, a longtime ally and political partner who once served as president. Medvedev, however, will remain in Russia’s power structure as the Security Council’s deputy chairman, which has been compared to a vice presidency.

    Less than three hours after Medvedev’s resignation, Putin offered the post of prime minister to Mikhail Mishustin, the head of the Russian tax service who is viewed as a possible placeholder as Putin reshapes Russia’s power structure.

     

    The broad moves came shortly after Putin gave his annual address to Russian lawmakers and proposed major constitutional changes that included transferring more power to parliament, including the ability to name the country’s prime minister. Currently, the post is selected by the president.

    Putin took advantage of that by promptly nominating Mishustin, who has not been part of Russia’s top-tier leadership before.

    What Putin wants to change

    Putin also called for “enshrining” the state council, which advises the president, in what could be a path for him to maintain significant influence in a different capacity once this six-year presidential term ends in four years.

     

    Medvedev’s resignation means the entire ministerial cabinet is out, too, but it’s expected to remain in place until a new government is formed.

    “For my part, I also want to thank you for everything that was done at this stage of our joint work, I want to express satisfaction with the results that have been achieved,” the president told the cabinet members at a meeting.

    “Not everything was done, but everything never works out in full,” he said without elaborating.

    [continues]

  24. RR, me too.  I hated leaving 98 and now 7. But I also hated leaving P1 back in the day.  Time & confusion marches on! 

  25. Renee, urge him to install the windows 10 pro 64bit version. Once he has things personalized, updates will be installed seamlessly on a daily basis. That includes security stuff like the thing that will be updated tomorrow.

  26. I use Mozilla Firefox as my browser and gmail for mail. Win 10 is very tolerant of customization.

  27. Flatus…  he’s already ordered the computer from HP.  As a retired employee, he can buy HP stuff at employee purchase price.  He told me he ordered a customized machine.  I have no idea what he’s put on it.  I will show him your comment though.

  28. looks like Lev is going to spill his guts to Rachel tonight.  my hunch is to avoid having his guts spilled in a dark alley somewhere.   get the bad (or badder) guys before they get him ploy.

    it may also be my imagination, but his ill-fitting suit in pictures lately seems less a fashion statement than a possible cover over for protective accoutrements.   

  29. Ms Renee,
    Of course, Rick will have to relearn everything, which is a pain in the neck, but it’ll be worth it. Whenever he feels grumpy about the new system, just remind him of how lucky he was to skip Windows 8 & 9.

  30. precautions also being taken by senate for upcoming festivities

    from RollCall:

    Senators and their staffs officially learned Wednesday of access restrictions and decorum practices in and around the Senate chamber during the upcoming impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.
    In a Dear Colleague letter signed by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Charles E. Schumer of New York, senators were advised of limits on guest and staff access to the Capitol building’s Senate wing.
    Senators and House members will be allowed access, as will staffers with special impeachment trial credentials (the normal hard passes will not be sufficient). In addition, visitors to the Capitol for official business will need to be escorted through the tunnels from the Senate office buildings by staffers with the proper special credential.
    “Access to any floor of the Senate Wing of the Capitol is restricted daily, beginning 30 minutes prior to all proceedings involving the exhibition or consideration of the Articles of Impeachment against the President of the United States and daily, beginning 30 minutes prior to all times that the United States Senate is sitting for trial with the Chief Justice of the United States presiding,” McConnell and Schumer wrote Wednesday.
    Also eligible for Senate-side access are people who hold gallery tickets to view the proceedings, as well as aides with floor privileges under the normal Senate rules (provided they have the impeachment trial overlay) and members of the press (who also have been advised they need the special credentials).
    Visitor gallery tickets are being allocated to individual Senate offices, and the daily passes may be used more than once on the day in which they are valid, which could make Senate offices a hot spot for handing off the passes to view the proceedings.
    Committees will each get two of the special credentials, and personal offices will each get one, according to the leaders.
    As for the behavior of the senators themselves, a separate bulletin released on Wednesday affirms that there will be no electronic devices in the chamber for use by the senators during the trial. The notice also reminds senators that they need to keep quiet during the proceedings in the chamber.
    “Upon the announcement of the arrival of the Chief Justice, Senators should all silently rise at their desks and remain standing until the Chief Justice takes his seat,” the notice says. “Similarly, when the Chief Justice departs, Senators should rise and remain standing until he has exited the chamber.”
    In accordance with impeachment trial rules, requests of the chief justice such as motions and questions for impeachment managers are supposed to be made in writing by senators.
    The letter from Schumer and McConnell also effectively includes confirmation of media access restrictions which CQ Roll Call reported Tuesday. Senators are being told to refer questions about media access to the Senate wing of the Capitol to the Senate media gallery staff.
    Tuesday night, Rules and Administration ranking Democrat Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., expressed opposition to the press restrictions, which include an additional layer of screening to enter the Senate chamber and a “pen” on the second floor of the Capitol restricting the ability of members of the media to question senators.

  31. I gather that bob hyde is a Washington fixer as well as the owner of a CT lawn care service. Apparently, if you want your manure spread on your pansies, you call one number, but if you want some dope planted on your wife’s lover or you yearn to have Ambassador trailed through Kyiv, you call another number.

    What would J. Edgar Hoover do ?

  32. 1. Is someone attacking the Trail ? It’s pretty slow going on my side of the cyberpath.
     
    2. Ms Pat, I’m sure that parnas is worried. He’d better watch what he eats, what’s put in his tea, and what’s been spread on the doorknob. He should avoid windows, especially high ones, and bridges. If all else fails, putin could try post box stuffed with semtex at the side of the road, or a missile strike ala suleimani. Not much can be done to prevent those ploys.

  33. XR, from this at crooksandliars hyde’s not limiting services to just planting dope but perhaps a plant requiring a 6 ft deep dig:

    I am rarely shocked by things the Trump administration and his loyalists do – that is what three years covering this administration will do to you. But I think we have finally reached the point where I can say I AM SHOCKED.
    The Democrats were just given a trove of documents, notes, texts and other evidence from Lev Parnas, buddy of Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani — and it is shocking. The Washington Post published 38 slides of information, including handwritten notes from Rudy Giuliani, passports, letters from Rudy to Zelensky and texts. And of all the things in the trove published SO FAR the texts are the most shocking.
    Why?
    Because it appears they are discussing an assassination plot against AMBASSADOR MARIE YOVANOVITCH in Ukraine. And who is on these conversations? Lev Parnas and Robert Hyde (Congressional GOP candidate from Connecticut!). Not only are they discussing killing her, but Hyde tells Parnas, “They are willing to help if you would like a price” and then, “Guess you can do anything in the Ukraine with money…what I was told.”
    And during this time period they also appear to be tracking her movements, with Hyde giving real time updates on her security, electronic access, etc. Mobster behavior. Traitorous behavior. Criminal behavior.
    Twitter exploded.

    [several tweets and docs here]

    Will Pompeo step down? Will the DOJ investigate or will we have to wait until the next administration takes over (we already know the answer – Barr won’t do anything). Will the Senate call Parnas and Hyde as witnesses – this seems very material to the trial?
    Every day brings new and terrifying revelations of this mobster President*.

  34. Ms Pat, thanks for the Crooks and Liars. I admit I was finally shocked by children dying in cages. But, I’m a softie.
     
    I’ve maintained since 2015 that trump, trumpco, trump campaign, and trump admin are all interwoven organized criminal enterprises. From the time of his death here in MN, I have maintained that peter smith was murdered. I have no doubt that seth rich was also murdered for a political reason.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_W._Smith
     
     

  35. Of course, the shock is that the putin/trump/giuliani/parnas/hyde gang left a trail, not that they contemplated bumping off an honest diplomat because she was an honest diplomat. That should have been expected.

  36. Congratulations Mr C Crawford !
     
    You have won an amazing new topic !
     
    You will find your prize parked in your Quick Drafts Box this afternoon.
     
    Offer not available in States where prohibited
     

  37. SFB is acting like a mob boss.  He did it before and he is doing it now.  The Executive branch is non-functional from the political appointees up.  Departments are running in a shadow mode, you know something is happening, but it is not easy to see.  Science of any type is discouraged or even worse, attacked and destroyed.  See the US Dept of Agriculture for what happens to science based work.  They are shredded and sent to Kansas.  The greedy old perverts are Russian assets or agents now.  What a shame, what a pity.
     
    I have five, or maybe six, Windows computers, all running Win10.  They are all kept current to avoid problems.  The other four or five are Linux machines and not often in use.  Only for special events when I want to have fun on the Internet.  Always keep your machines, no matter what flavor, up to date.  You may not be the favorite target of Moscow, but you maybe of some sleazeball down the street.

  38. Let’s do a speed test run.

    I watched a bit of the debate last night.  I agree – CNN got an F.  Fewesst number on stage and what does CNN do?  Try to cover more topics so that no one gets time to give an answer to a question- but manoman there were a lot of questions.

    Speed test passed. Much better – what’d you do Poobah, get a service provider who doesn’t speed throttle?

  39. HOw about this shit as reported by Wapo?

    McConnell’s office says Senate will not yet accept articles from the House
     

    In the latest gamesmanship between McConnell and Pelosi over the articles of impeachment, McConnell’s office made clear it would not formally accept the articles until Thursday even if they are delivered by the House later Wednesday.
     

    The House clerk and sergeant at arms are expected to lead the managers as they deliver the articles to the Senate this evening. But McConnell’s spokesman, David Popp, said the they won’t be accepted until the Senate has sent the House managers a formal invitation to bring them over.
     

    “Under Impeachment rules, once the House formally notifies the Senate it has appointed managers, the Senate is required to set a time for the House managers to exhibit the articles. This two-step process is specified in the rules of impeachment,” Popp said in a statement.
     

    “When the Senate receives the initial message tonight, the body will formally invite the managers to exhibit the articles during tomorrow’s session of the Senate,” he continued. “Only at that time, when the House managers return at the invitation of the Senate, is it possible for the Senate to formally receive the exhibition of the Articles of Impeachment.”
     

    Pelosi’s spokesman, Drew Hammill, quickly retorted that the House “never expected exhibition of the articles today. The articles will be transmitted to the Senate today as planned.”

    McMertle was reported to be grinning (or whatever that grotesque look he gets is) just before he ate a fly.  I love Hammill’s response – Fuck off (or something like it).

  40. This Just in.

    RICHMOND — Both chambers of Virginia’s General Assembly passed the Equal Rights Amendment Wednesday, fulfilling a promise that helped Democrats seize control of the legislature and marking a watershed moment in the nearly century-long effort to add protections for women to the U.S. Constitution.
    ***
    Since 2017, Nevada and Illinois have ratified the ERA, which put Virginia in place as the final state needed for ratification, if the five withdrawals are not counted. But the U.S. Justice Department last week issued a finding that the amendment had expired and could no longer be ratified.

    That ought to help Dems with suburban women November.  Clueless Repubs doubling down on this base crap.  

  41. That’s what a lot of the Internet service providers do to data once you reach a certain level. AT&T and Verizon are famous for it. With them best I can recall once your data use hits 20 gigs in a month they slow your data transmission rate down so that things load more slowly on the Internet. Pretty devious shit.

  42. CNN’s Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) tweeted at 8:22 PM on Wed, Jan 15, 2020: Sound of the moment was caught by CNN’s microphones >>>

    “I think you called me a liar on national TV,” Warren can be heard saying.

    “What?” Sanders responded.

    “I think you called me a liar on national TV,” she repeated…

    https://t.co/gWkap5bkRy

  43. Oh, god. I LOVED Gunfight at the OK Corral. Watched it a slew of times. Uris wrote a terrific screenplay as cheesy westerns went. He wuz robbed when he was overlooked by the Oscar guys. 

  44. Speak of the devil, he seemed to be on drugs at his rally.
     
     i had always thought he was anti-drug and alcohol, but saw him with a glass of wine, recently, and now his very seemingly doped-up appearance.

  45. I am tremendously impressed by the crazed raving about appliance lights. How is it possible that 35 – 40% of the country can’t see that he’s demented and dangerous ?

    Honest to G!D trump reminds me of the tales about Emperor Ferdinand in the 1800s. His inauguration speech : “Ich bin der Kaiser und ich will Knudeln ! ”  In English : I am the Emperor and I want dumplings !

  46.  
    There’s an old English proverb that informs us, “Truth is the daughter of time.”

    The parnas documents implicate trump, barr, pompeo, hyde, giuliani and possibly others. Time is running out for the republican party. Truth is growing up despite all the republican attempts to smother her.

    Lock them ALL up

  47. parnas claims pence was also “in the loop.”
     
    What did pence know, and when did he know it ?
     
    Lock them ALL up

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