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Reports of protests are overblown. A few incidents around the country, but nothing major.

5 (45.5%)

A few major incidents in capitals, but nothing much in DC.

5 (45.5%)

A major incident in DC, but nothing much around the country.

0 (0%)

More than 10 capitals have major upheavals, but nothing much in DC.

0 (0%)

A major incident in DC plus more than 10 capitals with significant upheavals.

1 (9.1%)

More than half the capitals around the country have problems with protesters, but DC is quiet.

0 (0%)

DC has major problems, while more than half the capitals around the country also have considerable trouble with protesters.

0 (0%)

Huge disruption to the day.

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 9

Voting closed: January 19, 2021, 10:49:21 PM

[oilcan]

Xenophobic to me is hijacking an airliner and suicide flying it into a landmark building. The US already is the most diverse nation in the history of the world and very modern. You want primitive and xenophobic go to central America or the middle East. So much self-loathing!

When I want primitive and xenophobic I just read your posts.   

[bambu.]

http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/prince-andrew-warned-he-is-not-above-the-law-by-virginia-roberts-lawyer-after-he-is-accused-of-showing-zero-cooperation-with-epstein-probe/ar-BBZoCWG?li=AAgfYrC&OCID=AVRES000

Meanwhile Gloria Allred, who also represents five of Epstein’s accusers, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “If he has done nothing wrong, which appears to be what he has claimed, then why won’t he talk to law enforcement?

“No response is the same as zero co-operation. This is ridiculous. It’s just not acceptable.”

#####

What happened to "You have the right to remain silent......etc

Why won't he talk to law enforcement?
Good question.
Maybe he's read about what happened to Ray Krone...and to Sabrina Butler, and others....and doesn't like the look of 'American justice'.
Maybe he saw what's happened to the Black Aussie model with the valid visa and valid passport who was sentenced by a judge, was fulfilling that sentence, but was arrested by US law enforcement and tossed in prison who knows where, and for who knows how long.

Maybe he's seen what the expert who's saying that Epstein might not have died from suicide, has said...and fears for his life if he talks.

Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and others have been photographed with Epstein, who had many friends in the ruling/upper class.
Maybe they could enlighten the FBI.

Maybe he should plead the fifth.

[LarryBnDC]

Hannity goes in on Romney... smells like, desperation.


https://twitter.com/ndrew_lawrence/status/1222343164255703041?s=20

[bodiddley]

Looks like there will be witnesses.  I doubt the GOP could just allow senators to read book excerpts without actually calling Bolton as a few GOP senators have proposed.  Far too shaky and a book is not sworn testimony, plus no chance to question Bolton, etc.

Of course it's not like Mitch is going to just allow the Senate to subpoena Bolton, Mulvaney, Barr, Crazy Rudy, Parnas, Nunes, etc.  But Dems have to be angling to get 2 or 3 of those in there.  Already the GOP is trying to drum up support for alternative witnesses such as Hunter & Joe Biden

If it's going to be Bolton +, I'd love to see Rudy under oath.  He's a slippery bastard, but also has a penchant for contradicting himself, sometimes in the same sentence.  And he's too cagey to be willing to go to jail perjuring himself for Trump.

Give someone t the NYT credit for knowing that Bolton's book was being vetted by the NSC and bringing out the well-timed bombshell.  Doesn't make up for cheerleading us into the Iraq War, but it's something.  Mitch was getting set for a quick acquittal and forgettal, and now the chance of Trump going down in flames has risen significantly.

Shumer was saying it has a Watergate feel to it, with more leaks and bad news for the President dribbling out every week and every day.  Even if Trump is acquitted, if it looks like a Senate coverup -- not calling necessary witnesses, voting acquittal despite evidence of wrongdoing and/or strong public support for impeachment -- it's easy to see a scenario where the DEMs take over the Senate from the craven GOP.

It's funny how this whole impeachment process gains momentum, looks bad for Trump, then subsides and becomes ho-hum, only to rev up again.  I can't discern where the Dems have deployed shrewd strategy and where they've gotten lucky. 

Another benefit, as the impeachment threat closes in again, Trump is likely to blow a fuse and do/say something reckless and stupid, likely adding to his woes.

[bodiddley]

For those who missed it, Trump's long touted ME peace plan is a two-state status quo affair, in which Israel annexes all of the West Bank where they have settlements, keeps the Golan, and the international community pays the Palestinians $50B for allowing 70% of their land to be stolen.  The only concession is that the Palestinians would get East Jerusalem as their capital, though even that is muddled with Israel getting "undivided Jerusalem" as its capital, and all of the Old City containing most of the Holy Sites would remain under international guardianship outside Palestinian control.

Basically, the US plan fully backs Israeli annexation of much of the West Bank, gives Israel full sovereignty over all the settlements, and is just a political boon for Netanyahu as he tries to win the March 2 elections and stay out of jail on corruption charges.
And since the plan was revealed during a presidential election year in the US, with a limping Trump under impeachment, it's completely dead on arrival with zero chance the plan will even be considered until next year, and then only if Trump wins/

Likely the plan will never be seriously considered.  Instructive that the Palestinians and Syrians -- the legal owners of the occupied lands -- were completely ignored and sidelined from the process.  It's all a political show.  Bibi gets a strong boost of support form Trump, so he can look like a powerful albeit corrupt pol.  Now both major Israeli parties back full out annexation of West Bank Palestine.  A major power play while the Arab/Muslims are divided and distracted (and some secretly in bed with Israel).  While Trump gets to firm up his evangelical/fundamentalist/Christian support.

[bambu.]

Talk to law enforcement?
Yeah, right.

http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/dna-exonerates-man-after-he-spent-25-years-in-jail/ar-BBZpYDK?li=AAgfYrC&OCID=AVRES000

After spending a full 25-year sentence in prison for a crime he did not commit, a Bronx, New York, man was exonerated by the first prosecutorial conviction review unit on the East Coast.

Rafael Ruiz was convicted in 1985 for sexually assaulting a girl in East Harlem. Ruiz, then 25, was sentenced to 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison and was released on parole in 2009 after serving the entire stint.

[bodiddley]

Schumer insisted that senators should hear from the same four witnesses whom he has been pushing for since the start of the trial — Bolton; acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney; Robert Blair, a White House official; and Michael Duffey, an official at the Office of Management and Budget.

"We're not bargaining with them — four witnesses and four sets of documents," Schumer said.

Guess I'm not as up on this as I should be.
Why not Rudy? He seems clearly at the crux of things, and was telling folks that Trump authorized a q pro q on the Ukraine aid hold.  Why not Rudy's henchmen who seem willing to talk to anybody who would listen?

Q: Couldn't the House now subpoena some or all of these folks?  They can open or re-open any investigation.

One thing good about a Senate or House subpoena is that if Trump doesn't allow aides to testify, it just supports the obstruction charge in Article 2.

[barton]

[barton]

Bo - your recap of the "peace plan" sounds accurate to me.   Yahu is only an "interim" pm at this point,  who knows Gantz has better prospects of getting the job when the Knesset works out its mess from September.   So,  yeah,  why not put on a spectacle for the base.   

[bodiddley]

Bibi is desperate, he's not just fighting to keep his political career going, but he's trying to stay out of jail.

I edited my post above to fix a few typing and factual errors (Trump under impeachment not indictment -- Bibi under indictment, etc).

I haven't yet heard how Gaza figures into a Palestinian state or otherwise in the Jared proposal.  But basically, Israel doesn't give a shit about Gaza and Gazans, as long as they can just keep illegally blockading it from land and sea, and keeping it in misery.

And is this still Jared's baby?  There was always talk about Jared working on a major peace plan, Jared being the ME point man, etc. but upon release I didn't hear Jared mentioned.  He's still alive right?

[bodiddley]

It's not too long ago when Palestine and Tibet were major international human rights issues  Now they're both largely forgotten about, left to languish under colonial regimes and capitulate.  Non-violence hasn't exactly worked for Tibetans, while the Palestinians made the mistake of accepting half measures and took to policing themselves in the fraction of their land they are allowed to live on.

Interesting how world attention moves on.  Largely due to American media and politics changing.  But also the Syrian and other refugee crisis hitting Euroland.  Nobody stands up to China anymore, while nobody really backs the Palestinians anymore.

[LarryBnDC]

Economic Anxiety my ass


“Metzl opens the book recounting his conversation with a man he refers to as Trevor, a 41-year-old Tennessee man who was dying from liver damage and who was adamantly opposed to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

“Ain’t no way I would ever support Obamacare or sign up for it. I would rather die.” Trevor tells Metzl in the book before explaining why. “We don’t need any more government in our lives. And in any case, no way I want my tax dollars paying for Mexicans or welfare queens.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/01/28/how-white-identity-permeates-policymaking-outside-washington/

[Driver125]

Spot on.  Trump is the Chosen One, indeed!  Question is still - Who did the real choosing?

Very good question, DeeJ, and one I occasionally ask myself. You know that most of the time it isn’t Trump doing the actual choosing, not with his short attention span and his aversion to work and any sort of research or deep attention to detail (Trumppy is the ‘overall’—big picture theorist—“Too many immigrants in this country….etc.”)). His choices for judges have come from some right wing conservative outfit (I forget their name at the moment). Still, you wonder….how much do the Bannons, et all, of this administration, influence who gets into positions of power….considering that loyalty to the Dear Leader is always first and foremost while ideology beyond Trumpism is not necessary.

[josh]

nobody really backs the Palestinians anymore.

Not what I'm hearing.

[josh]

https://www.vox.com/health-care/2020/1/29/21075388/medicare-for-all-what-countries-have-universal-health-care?fbclid=IwAR3E2QNE-rPuBdP0vxILP_yxHDCuDr0SFqQTyWbFgXLrg5vWO6qFgKvFhHw

9 things Americans need to learn from the rest of the world’s health care systems
Universal health care is hard, but it should be possible — and eight more things I discovered from visiting other countries.