the hypocrisy level of pelosi’s impeachment ‘inquiry’ rises

Yes, even further than this:  (smile) 

 In his Sept. 29, 2019 ‘CIA sets terms for Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into Trump’s crimes’, Joseph Kishore reports in part:

“The scandal over the Ukraine call has been instigated by the intelligence agencies. It was a CIA agent in the White House who prepared the report that is the basis of the inquiry. It was the decision by a group of Democrats drawn from the military and intelligence agencies that led Pelosi and Schiff, both with longstanding ties to these same agencies, to shift from their previous opposition to impeachment.

The Democrats have made clear that they intend the impeachment inquiry to be exclusively focused on Ukraine and Trump’s undermining of US “national security”—that is, the basic strategic imperatives of American foreign policy. For this reason, the inquiry will be carried out by the House Intelligence Committee and its chairman, Schiff.

The Washington Post reported on Friday that Democratic leaders “are eyeing a fast-paced investigation.” A meeting of the Democratic caucus “urged the leadership to keep the messaging around impeachment on national security and the Ukraine probe” led by Schiff, “not on the litany of potential Trump offenses investigated by other panels, including the House Judiciary Committee, which traditionally takes the lead in impeachment proceedings.”

Some senior Democrats, the Post reported, “are even arguing that other committees should forego potentially explosive hearings that could distract from the intelligence panel’s work.” There will be “very few hearings, if any,” according to a senior Democratic Party aide, with most of the investigation taking place in “closed-door interviews.”

The Democrats do not want a repeat of the Watergate investigation into Richard Nixon, with its extensive public hearings, broadcast live on television. They are even sidestepping a full vote in the House to authorize the initial inquiry, as was done in the impeachment drives against both Nixon and Bill Clinton.”  [snip]

“The impeachment inquiry, the Times wrote, should remain confined to the Ukraine phone call and “the integrity of the next election.” The latter means connecting Ukraine to the allegations of Russian “meddling” that have been at the center of the Democrats’ opposition to Trump since the beginning of his administration.

Beyond Ukraine and Russia, the Times concluded, “much of Mr. Trump’s behavior should remain outside the scope of the inquiry.”

The Democrats are seeking to frame the Ukraine issue as an extension of their neo-McCarthyite anti-Russia campaign. Pelosi argued along these lines in an interview with MSNBC on Friday morning. After noting that she “prays for the president all the time,” Pelosi declared, without evidence, that “Russia has a hand in this.”

Kishore rightfuly argues that it’s a gangster v. gangster comparison, then notes:

“The warring factions in Washington express in different forms the terminal crisis of American democracy. The cesspool of reaction is the product of unending war, the criminalization of foreign policy and the extreme growth of social inequality. Trump himself is not the cause, but rather a symptom of the disorientation and desperation of the ruling class in the face of a series of geopolitical, economic and social crises for which it has no solution.

The immediate backdrop for the eruption of the impeachment crisis is a series of geopolitical debacles for US imperialism. The CIA-backed regime-change operation in Syria has failed. The Trump administration, facing a disastrous stalemate in Afghanistan, sought, and then rejected, negotiations with the Taliban. The regime-change operation in Venezuela has floundered.”  (the rest again, is here)

From the most tireless and estimable diplomat on the planet, ‘Obvious paranoia’: Lavrov responds to Pelosi claim Russia ‘had a hand’ in Trump-Zelensky impeachment scandal’, RT.com, Sept. 27, 2019

“Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s claims that Russia was involved in the Trump-Zelensky phone conversation scandal as “obvious paranoia” and yet another “deadly sin” to pin on Moscow.

“Russia’s been accused of all the deadly sins, and then some,” Lavrov said at a press conference at the UN General Assembly on Friday, addressing a question about Pelosi’s claims that his country was somehow involved in the alleged quid pro quo between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In an interview with MSNBC that aired earlier on Friday, Pelosi had claimed that Russia has a hand in what she referred to as Trump’s shakedown of the Ukrainian president during a telephone conversation back in July – released this week by the White House – as well as the subsequent cover-up of the cover-up.”

Trump is “undermining our national security” by withholding military aid from Ukraine, she insisted, and violated the constitution by overriding an act of Congress.

The Democrats claim that Trump threatened to withhold military aid unless Ukraine restarted a corruption probe into the gas company that employed Hunter Biden, the son of then-vice president and current Democratic front-runner Joe Biden.

Pelosi launched an impeachment inquiry on Tuesday while admitting she had not read a transcript of the fateful call between the two leaders. She nevertheless accused Trump of betraying his oath of office, national security, and “the integrity of our elections.”

The call transcript, released the following morning, did not include any discussion of military aid, and mentioned the Biden investigation only in passing – a subject that was broached by Zelensky, not Trump.”

Yes; from a previous diary I’d posted on the elections in the Ukraine, these were the 2017 roll call votes to sanction Russia and to to arm Ukraine however much will be necessary in order for Ukraine’s Government to conquer the two rejectionist parts of former Ukrainian territory ((419 to 3 in the House, and at first 97 to 2 in the Senate and then 98 to 2 there):

[2017 House roll call vote for H R 3364, Senate roll call vote]

And just for the hyuk, hyuks of it: ‘Real Ukrainegate: America midwifed the mess, and now wants Europe to pay’, Sept 24, 2019, RT.com

I was tempted to bring the photo, but resisted due to who’d not in the photo, but invested in the Maidan putsch: George Soros, Pierre Omidyar, Obomba, and of course the Spooks.  But the ‘who gives how much to Ukraine’ graph’s pretty cool.

A lot of you have watched this Duran video;  Café commenter juliania had somehow dug out my 9/11 diary on ‘Barr and Durham to investigate the Spooks’, asked me to go to b’s most recent thread on Nancy Pelosi’s folly inquiry, and find the link by commenter el sid; she says if it’s so…it’s huge! I did, and the section on the investigation begins at about 13 minutes.  While I’d listened to a lot of it (while doing chores), what I’d gleaned from it doesn’t seem to match what one other C99er concluded.  Any brief Cliff’s notes would be wonderful, as admittedly I may have been extrapolating a bit while searching my two longish diaries on the Ukrainian election, and I really can’t imagine having the time to listen again.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8YId7LwpOo]

(cross-posted from Café Babylon)

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snoopydawg's picture

and therefore can just make sh*t up.

Adam Schiff lied to the country about what Trump was to have said to Zelensky. This is just jaw dropping incredible.

I have a favor I want from you,” Schiff said while appearing to read from a paper. “And I’m going to say this only seven times, so you better listen good. I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand? Lots of it, on this and on that.”

Schiff later chalked his fictional summary of the controversial phone call to a joke.

My summary of the president’s call was meant to be at least, part, in parody. The fact that that’s not clear is a separate problem in and of itself. Of course, the president never said, ‘If you don’t understand me I’m going to say it seven more times,’ my point is, that’s the message that the Ukraine president was receiving in not so many words,” Schiff said.

Schiff didn't just lie about what Trump said. He also lied about Russia occupying Ukraine and not mentioning that it was his party's president that illegally overthrew the Ukraine government. Russia is not occupying Crimea. The people there voted over 90% to be with Russia in a fair election.

This is just incredible that Schiff is taking impeachment of Trump not seriously. Read some of the replies to the tweet.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Anja Geitz's picture

@snoopydawg

And load up on the popcorn, or the Xanax. Cuz this is just getting more pathetic by the hour.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

snoopydawg's picture

@Anja Geitz

NRA was a ‘foreign asset’ of Russia in 2016 election, claims report by Senate Democrats

The 19-page retort describes Wyden’s document as “littered with salacious, unsubstantiated accusations” that reads more like “a political document directed at an organization well known in US politics to be despised by Democrats because of its advocacy for Second Amendment rights.”

I will have to go with the Xanax since I can't eat popcorn. Or nuts!

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Anja Geitz's picture

@snoopydawg

they keep the fingers busy

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

snoopydawg's picture

@Anja Geitz

Nuts in general or anything that requires chewing. Makes it boring to watch baseball when I can't shell and eat peanuts. But I'm good with beer!

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Anja Geitz's picture

@snoopydawg

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

his 'man cave' to watch his alma mater play football. he grabbed a container of the glorified chex mix i roast for him and our son. (treble the spices and worshestershire sauce, double the butter to help the large flake nutritional yeast kinda cling), but even without roasted cashews it would melt in one's mouth. used be able to afford pecans, but no longer.

he came back up not long after as his nebraska team was gettin' their asses handed to 'em by the buckeyes. ye gods and li'l fishes, i hate football. ; ) baseball may be slow, but it's a thinking game as well as a physical prowess game...

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wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

RT had that. too. wot next?

on edit: NRA, NPR...too funny.

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snoopydawg's picture

@wendy davis

Five myths that the WaPoo got wrong on Ukraine

This talks about the Crimea vote that happened after Obama's coup, but it comes from RT so take it with a grain of salt. /s

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wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

three grains of salt, and gave it to jim p down thread who'd expanded most fulsomely on a comment i'd made to someone's agitprop to you re: ukraine and crimea. one grain of salt was that i disagree with the author about biden, but small matter. but do look at my hints for chex mix that can melt in your mouth (some corn chex, more rice chex, no wheat chex) somewhere or other in the thread.

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snoopydawg's picture

@wendy davis

I find RT is usually a reputable source, but I do take one writer there with a grain of salt on his opinions on certain subjects.

I did see your comment on Chex mix, but you would be surprised with what people think is tender and how tender it is for me and whether I can chew it enough to be safe to swallow. I appreciate the thought though.

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wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

a snark tag, as i'd rec'd it to jim p, and had also wanted you to to read his/my responses in a comment directed to you in your absence. his was brilliant, imo.

but as i'd hinted in the OP, i would have hoped that the congress-critters hadn't been so in thrall to the western imperium's MSN.

"Yes; from a previous diary on the elections in the Ukraine, these were the 2017 roll call votes to sanction Russia and to to arm Ukraine however much will be necessary in order for Ukraine’s Government to conquer the two rejectionist parts of former Ukrainian territory ((419 to 3 in the House, and at first 97 to 2 in the Senate and then 98 to 2 there):
[2017 House roll call vote for H R 3364, Senate roll call vote]

no hyperlinks came thru, but how abysmal, and that so many of them still vote that way. like the anonymous spooks and generals claiming that DT was actually about to take amerika out off NATO/africom leading the the shite 'defense of nato act'. almost unanimous in the house, not even a roll call vote in the senate. cripes.

ah, i'm so sorry about your teeth; mine are crap, but i can eat the chex mix with a swig of a drink. used to get our weekly rations of yeast (all B vitamins) on popcorn, but after a point....

one author that both RT and strategic culture carry bats about .500 as far as i'm, concerned, but i can't (of course) recall his name, and sometimes the content of a particular op-ed are a bit diferent from each other. lots of news at RT i admit i check by bingling the original source, or at least other sources to verify.

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@snoopydawg listening to too much right wing news. Today, for listening to too much left wing news.
So, which is it, chica?
On a side note, I didn't appreciate the criticism either time.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

@snoopydawg and shoot other Americans every day with them. Of course Putin made us do it.

With that kind of thinking in high government office in America, the Russians need do nothing but stay out of the way while we destroy ourselves. They've known that for a long time, actually, which just makes us crazier.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@Anja Geitz get me some hash!

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@snoopydawg
Whether you think it is justified or not. They have formally annexed Crimea and have occupied and maybe annexed Eastern Ukraine.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

wendy davis's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

the self-declared luhansk and donetsk people's republics post-maidan may have received military assistance from russia, but surely received humanitarian assistance, as the neo-nazis in ukraine blew them to bits, including babushkas and children.

that wretched fukkery was part of the reason zelenskiy was elected in the end, although there are two discrete versions of whether or not he means to, according to my two posts on the ukrainian election. according to those, zelenskiy had kept in his cabinet some very unsavory characters left over from the US-approved poroshenko regime, again making me wonder who trump (according to the duran video) had been warning him about. but as i'd said, i may have been simply pinging my election coverage as i'd formulated my take, and had pinged: corrupt oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskyi?

but i for one think their having declared as breakaway republics was entirely justified, FWIW. the neo-nazis yats couldn't control burned 39 pro-russians alive in the trade union building in odessa oblast post-maidan, for instance.

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@The Voice In the Wilderness So it's your theory that when a region 75% Russian heritage, and which saw 90% vote for the violently deposed President saw the new government cabinet majority composed of party members who -- on their own websites in their own words -- called for the ELIMINATION of Slavs ...
A government which passed a law forbidding the use of the Russian language as its first act (later rescinded when they realized the bad p.r. at a time they wanted Western money.)

Your theory is the people there objected to Russian protection, preferring instead to be ELIMINATED.

And do not give me no shit about this. I looked up the cabinet, what party they came from, and went to their websites. Some went further than ELIMINATION and went right to EXTERMINATION!!!

The infamous Privy Sektor had a name change: it started as The Social-Nationalist Party (wink wink). You could also read how Putin is a pawn of the Rabbis at some of the sites. The government has made a National Holiday for Bandera, who murdered hundreds of thousands; Slavs, Jews, and Poles.

As to Eastern Ukraine you repeat a bald-faced lie without bothering to actually know anything. The people there repeatedly asked Russsia to take them (having a Russian heritage and voting results like Crimea). Russia always refused. Should they have left their ethnic kin to genocide instead of supplying aid?

Having an opinion without knowing anything is our right. But repeating propaganda without a moment's inquiry or thought makes such opinions more than worthless.

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Orwell: Where's the omelette?

wendy davis's picture

@jim p

expanded so well in pushing back on this sort of agitprop. my media files are stuffed with photos of torchlight parades in (the) ukraine with right sektor and svoboda flags. at my.fdl, i got so much resistance to countering the MSM propaganda: 'wendy, you're smarter than that!' i wish US congress-critters hadn't been so apt to believe the lies, but of course it's so much easier to believe Imperial bullshit from the papers of record in amerika and the UK, isn't it?

avowed banderist yulia tymosheno ('the braided one', self-styled 'joan of arc') ran in this last election also, changed her look, got some eyeglasses...but got trounced early on, thank goodness.

while i don't subscribe to some of what he's written, byran mcdonald's post at RT this a.m.: Washington Post shows how to ‘lose the information war’ by peddling DISinformation & falsehoods on Ukraine & Crimea , did try to highlight how polling results in the ukraine (yes it was formerly 'the borderland' before having declared independence) are so easily manipulated to be flipped upside down for (ahem) pragmatic reasons.

but your detailed response was very worthy, and i thank you for it.

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@snoopydawg
There is more evidence that the USA "occupies" the 13 Southern states by your reasoning.
The vote was not sanctioned by the legitimate national authority just like the Confederate secession was not authorized by Amendment of the Constitution.
There a block of east-central Illinois counties that want to secede from Illinois. Is the state of Illinois occupying them? Is the Illinois State Police an occupying power?

just like the Tea Party listened too much to Rush Limbaugh and Fox News, you have been listening to much to RT.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@The Voice In the Wilderness you do not watch enough RT.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

wendy davis's picture

@on the cusp

i gotta say Rt's my first stop after my morning java; it's one place dissident, non-wsetern imperial/hegemonic journalists can get published. lotta click bait and cage (oh, yuk) fighting now, but still there are some gems like lavrov, stehen cohen, javid zarif (iraninan FM), the hilarious george galloway, and many more. next stop, wsws.

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@wendy davis George Galloway is just great.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

wendy davis's picture

@on the cusp

java on my keyboard. reaching for the phone one day, i'd knocked mr. wd's beer glass all over his laptop: bad form! and it needed to be replaced, sigh. i've replaced this one on mine twice, but they ain't cheap, either, so i color in the letters with a white pen that have disappeared.

but i also love RT and esp. wsws for bringing news of continuing slow-mo-murdering of julian assange. wsws has reporters all over the planet, as well, and i like that a lot, as well as joseph kishore haven given me permission to reprint anything i like after bitching to the site that all their stuff should be CC with attribution.

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@wendy davis Sorry about the keyboards, but especially sorry about the spilled beer. A tragedy!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

wendy davis's picture

@on the cusp

it, i'll say that. but as café commenter juliania always says: my guilty conscience is my gadfly (which word i'd had to look up, and she's right.) i often get the Blue Meanies (h/t john lennon) in the early morning hours chastising myself for past misdeeds i feel guilty about, but it's how i know that while i do try, i'm not a good person, and need t try harder to be.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@wendy davis I hate paywalls.

I hate walls.
I hate fences.

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wendy davis's picture

@Alligator Ed

you're welcome, and so do i. great art as imagery. speaking of which, i'd seen not henry kissinger's great op ed earlier on 'the impeachment party', and his use of art and art as metaphor was sublime. never had time to go back and comment, as weekends here are full of RL chores and obligations.

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wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

i hadn't seen that! schiff's proud of his lying (ooopsie, paradoy) like pompeo says they were taught in the CIA? yeah, the old 'russia stole crimea' trope needs to die, but of course it won't, as Dems can keep raising the military budget and arming ukraine: because: Russia!

sorry to be muzzier that usual, but i fell asleep when i lay down to rest my eyes and had an hilarious dream i was officiating a winner-take-all volleyball game between the Blues and the Reds. Schiff stole the volleyball, and another ref had to 'draw his weapon' to get it back. truthfully, i wish amerikan elections were decided by fight-to-the-death Rollerball!

thanks, i'll have to read the rest again.... ; )

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edg's picture

What a piece of crap. Here's why:

1. It only covers 2016-2017.

2. It only counts ODA (Official Development Assistance), i.e. economic development, not military and other spending.

3. It doesn't match U.S. foreign aid figures, which show $969 million disbursed by all U.S. agencies in 2016-2017. Eichenwald's chart has it at just $204 million.

Reference: U.S. Foreign Aid by Country -- USAID.com [Note: Change the Implementing Agency dropdown to All Agencies and select the years of interest, 2016 and 2017 for example.]

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wendy davis's picture

@edg

and your eagle eyes, amigo. still, withholding $250 million as 'endangering amerikan national security' doesn't even rise to the level of laugh track worthy, given a *public stated* $38 billion to israel in military assistance annually.

but thanks for keepin' him honest, as well as the author of the piece.

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in impeaching officials even after they've left office. You can't kick them out, obviously, but you can cut off money, security, and rescind honors. A clever strategist would note that.

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Orwell: Where's the omelette?

wendy davis's picture

@jim p

nor do i know why pelosi and the CIA dems plus brennan who'd signed the original impeachment document are aiming for, and esp. now that they've limited the 'inquiry' to this phone call tempest in a teapot. the limiting kinda/sorta get, as the compliant D's would get a hella lotta pushback for aiding and abetting trump in his fascistic policy decisions.

i do remember from the duran video that 'the squad' (ocasio-cortez and the others) have supported pelosi's impeachment inquiry, and i've read that upon opening it she's received $13 million in contributions, although open secrets won't provide evidence of that for five+ months or more.

but the risks to the Dems by the barr/durham investigation seem major to me, if they actually proceed in good faith and effort.

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@wendy davis in a forest and nobody hears of it...
There is no question at all that Big Media is an agitprop arm of the point-1% and their war lust. There have been so many lies -- direct and by omission -- that we see a third model of propaganda. Goebbels would call a meeting of Publishers and say "Gosh, it'd be swell if people knew how happy people in the camps are." And there's features everywhere soon after. Stalin -- you wrote and handed it to the censor; waiting to get the edits back or for your door kicked in at 4am.
Now it's whatever the .1%s secret police want published.
Anyway, there'd be some different things said in public if former offcials' impeachment was also on the floor of Congress.

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Orwell: Where's the omelette?

wendy davis's picture

@jim p

so sagely that if a lie is told often enough...it becomes The Truth? and of course mark twain had a boatload of quips about lies, damned lies, and statistics.

and the first casualty of any war is...The Truth, recently from the war on julian assange, war by other means on russia, iran, VZ, cuba, an the proxy wars on yemen, syria, libya (again), and the list goes on. on edit: including DT v the McResistance.

so your use of the metaphor here is brilliant: 'if a scandal happens in a forest and nobody hears of it...'.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

excellent Kishore piece. For that matter, all of your essays are outstanding, but, often above my pay grade, since I know zilch about foreign policy. Wink Anyhoo, thanks for all of your hard work.

For sorta obvious reasons (my own background), I find this 'case' to be quite fascinating. But, more importantly, very disturbing. Aside from the fact that I don't care for 'spooks' (which I figure he is--a lawmaker let the cat out of the bag that it's a 'he,' BTW), I'm especially skeptical of people who won't put a face to their claim(s).

Anyhoo, the only thing that makes sense (to me) about this so-called national security breach brouhaha, is that as ridiculous as it is on its face, the PtB figure that the American People will swallow it. (They're probably correct.)

I'm still trying to see what I can find out about the CIA personnel process for so-called 'details.' I believe that interrogating the CIA operative's supers (under oath) may be key to finding out if his reassignment was solely for the purpose of trying to make a case for impeaching DT. (assuming they won't perjure themselves, which is probably a shaky assumption)

Last night, I posted the Standard Form numbers which pertain to processing a GS (General Schedule) employee, for a detail. I'm familiar with the process, since I've been detailed a couple of times. Now, most GS's are in "competitive service." I was.

But, found out that CIA operatives are in what's called "excepted service." Not a surprise. So, in spite of the fact that their pay schedule is the same as our GS pay schedule, I'm not certain if they have exactly the same paperwork requirements/procedures for "temporary reassignments" (i.e., details) as we did. But, I'll keep digging.

What I'm fuzzy on is if the Administration is forbidden to ever know who the whistleblower is. If they are, suppose WH attorneys would be denied access to obtaining operatives personnel action forms through discovery. That should would seem unfair. Dunno. Maybe I can find something more on that.

Pretty clever of the Deep State Dems, IMO--chose a matter to impeach him over, that, by it's very nature, calls for 'closed' hearings. So, guess we'll just have to 'trust' them to give us an accurate account of said testimony. Yeah, sure--whatever.

Raised Eyebrow Emoji.JPG

Of course, I would think that many folks who are capable of utilizing critical thinking would question this, and, consider it to be just a little bit too convenient. But, hey--you never know.

Please give my best to Mr WD--and, hope you don't spill any more of his beer! Biggrin Seriously, hope you are both getting along well. Some folks out West (Arizona, for sure) seem to have had a pretty hot summer. Hope you Guys were spared. Don't remember what elevation you're at, but, was thinking that you're not real high up in mountains. Remember when we last traveled through Colorado, we made a trek up Pike's Peak, which we thoroughly enjoyed. (quite a few years ago, BTW)

Take care.

Blue

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

wendy davis's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

write up anymore (or copy/paste up, lol) would fall under the rubric of anti-capitalism and anti-imperialism, (and foreign elections, I/P, etc.), so this is a bit of a departure for me. but the hypocrisy was just too much to pass up.

by 'it's a he' meaning the alleged spook whistleblower who'd (as i understand it) never even heard the phone call? my bet is on either brennan or john bolton, but maybe because they're easy guesses, eh?

unfortunately i have no understanding of your past experiences with spooks, and related musings and filings, but good luck on your quest! iirc, gjonsit had a thing up recently highlighting some law or EO, congressional memo, or what have you...that it's legal for spooks to lie. or maybe i dreamed that.

the video of our chief mob boss diplomat Pompeo laughing uproariously over the fact that Spooks are taught that...was great. but i sure hope barr and durham do get somewhere with this investigation, vain a hope as it might be.

weird weather here this year, but at least our long drought broke, and the almost empty water reservoir is full again; what sweet relief! late spring freezes and snow (mr. wd calls them 'the tribulations') froze lots of the garden perennials, all the fruit (dammit),
lots of the starts we'd set out. but we'd held some seedlings in the greenhouse in abeyance, so that helped. but temps might reach 90 in the daytime, plunge to 34 by morning. we've had an extra couple weeks of no-frost this fall, so the flowers have been breathtakingly bountiful (ten arrangements right now arrayed around me), tomatoes late, cannabis same, japanes cukes plentiful, etc.

we're at about 7000 feet in 4-corners CO just 10 mi. east of mesa verde nat'l park. and we'll harvest most of what's ready in today, a wundeground's calling for a hard freeze on wed. night. so i'll get to play with the flowers again today, a very time-consuming & delightful pleasure to artistically arrange. salad plate-sized dahlias of many hues, loads of other beautiful flowers an fillers to augment them.

ah, we're doin' well enough, i suppose. and i hope you and mr. blue (and your pup) are doing far better than that. ; ) ah: pike's peak in Co springs; that's where are daughter and her family live. a hellish steep mountain! best to you,

wd

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

@wendy davis

(I think) almost half that of Pike's Peak--so, definitely, quite notable. Hey, sounds like the weather and terrain in your neck-of-the-woods is the kind that Mr Blue and I would luv! Smile Although huge swings in temps can be a bit aggravating, I'd sure like to see some of your cooler temps. (Hard to get too cold, for me.)

BTW, hope you can get a couple shots of those beautiful flowers you're describing, before they're all picked. (To add to your lovely Cafe slideshow. Pleasantry )

Blue

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

wendy davis's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

and nights might have reached 15 below; other winters have been a bit colder. but we lived for a time in hahn's peak, co, where 40 below was average. and we lived in an old miner's cabin, no insulation, no indoor plumbing save a cold water tap that required heat taping. me, i learned over a dozen years to at least love bathrooms, lol, after years with only outhouses, baths in oval stock tanks in the kitchen, and so on.

hippie days. ; )
the la plata mtns. (the utes call the shining mountains here out our bedroom door are high, but i dunno what the highest peak reaches. mr. wd says: mt. hesperus is 13,232 high.

the arrangements didn't reach the quality of art, but gorgeous bounty nonetheless. best to you,
wd

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wendy davis's picture

to answer, i'll have to close down for the night exhausted, and respond tomorrow. mine eyes are too crossed to even read by now, so my apologies. i've been achin' to hear this song all day.

wouldn’t it be great to live in a multi-party democracy© in a multi-polar world in which human rights for all (and the planet) were sacrosanct?

a brilliant cover by two of the best musicians evah...of old bluesman timmy thomas’s plaintive song 'why can't we live together?'

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulI0-NiJKqc]

g' night all, sweet dreams if you can manage it.

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wendy davis's picture

thought gjohnist had indicated earlier; but perhaps even more horrific nonetheless:

They got caught!’ Trump reacts to report that whistleblowers exempted from need to have firsthand info as part of ‘RECENT’ update’, sept 29, RT.com

'US President Donald Trump has cried foul after reports suggested a whistleblower complaint form, which allows second-hand information to be submitted, is the result of a recent revision of intelligence community guidelines.

“WOW, they got caught. End the Witch Hunt now!” the US President wrote on Saturday evening, tweeting a link to the Federalist report.

The Friday bombshell alleges that the intelligence community “secretly gutted” the requirement for whistleblowers to be in possession of firsthand knowledge of whatever they want to report.

It appears that the crucial requirement was struck from a ‘Disclosure of Urgent Concern’ form sometime between May 2018 and August 2019, the paper reports. The newest version of the form that allows a whistleblower to "disclose" information they "heard about from others" was uploaded to the Office of the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community (ICIG) website on September 24, as the document’s PDF properties show.'

The whistleblower complaint that focuses on a July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is dated August 12. Within a fortnight, on August 26, the ICIG determined that the complaint was legitimate. In a letter to Acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Joseph Maguire, the ICIG said that the complaint “appears credible” and constitutes “an urgent concern.”

However, a screenshot of the May 2018 document outlining the conditions for such a complaint to be considered “credible” by the ICIG says it must contain “reliable, firsthand information,” while the whistleblower openly admitted that he “was not a direct witness to most of the events described,” including an ill-fated call between Trump and Zelensky.

The White House released both the transcript of the call and the complaint itself on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. The complaint, which is largely based on media reports about contacts between US and Ukrainian officials and second-hand accounts of the conversation between Trump and Zelensky, alleged that Trump was pressuring his Ukrainian counterpart into reopening a corruption investigation into Joe Biden’s son Hunter in return for US military aid. However, the transcript has revealed no quid pro quo arrangement.'

this one doesn't even make sense to me, but: Trump told Russians their ‘bad’ meddling is the same as ‘good’ US meddling – WaPo’s fresh Russiagate resurrection attempt, 28 Sep, 2019, RT.com

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