Testimony: Nunes acolyte misrepresented himself to Trump as Ukraine expert
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman also testified on Tuesday that the National Security Council staffer, Kash Patel, fed the president disinformation about Ukraine.

The decorated Army officer who testified to House investigators on Tuesday told lawmakers that a close associate of Republican Rep. Devin Nunes “misrepresented” himself to President Donald Trump in an effort to involve himself further in Ukraine policy, according to two people familiar with his closed-door deposition.

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert, told lawmakers that after attending Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inauguration in May as part of a delegation led by Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Vindman had been looking forward to debriefing Trump and giving a positive account of Zelensky’s vision for Ukraine’s future.

“The U.S. government policy community’s view is that the election of Zelenskyy and the promise of reforms to eliminate corruption will lock in Ukraine’s Western-leaning trajectory, and allow Ukraine to realize its dream of a vibrant democracy and economic prosperity,” Vindman said in his opening statement.

Story Continued Below
But he was instructed “at the last second” not to attend the debriefing, Vindman told lawmakers, because Trump’s advisers worried it might confuse the president: Trump believed at the time that Kashyap Patel, a longtime Nunes staffer who joined the White House in February and had no discernible Ukraine experience or expertise, was actually the NSC’s top Ukraine expert instead of Vindman.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/30...e-expert-061763

How can GOP senators serve as impeachment jurors when they’re implicated in Trump’s misdeeds?
Nancy Pelosi has announced that the House will finally hold a formal vote dictating the rules for the impeachment inquiry, six weeks after it was launched by a whistleblower’s complaint mysteriously withheld from Congress. And on Tuesday, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman backed up both the initial whistleblower and U.S. diplomat Bill Taylor by testifying that he too was concerned about the Trump administration’s push to use congressionally-allocated military aid to Ukraine to coerce an investigation into Joe Biden.

Congressional Republicans have long since stopped defending Trump on the merits since shortly after the White House released a transcript of a July call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Instead, they’ve sought refuge in increasingly meaningless process arguments. So of course Pelosi agreeing to a formal vote on the rules of impeachment hasn’t stopped Republican complaints about the process. The goalposts will shift once again. No matter what the Democrats agree to, Republicans will complain about procedural unfairness and also refuse to concede the inquiry is legitimate. But how much of Republicans’ unwillingness to hold Trump accountable for his self-dealing is because they’re in on it?
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/10/how-can...rumps-misdeeds/

How the Borgias point the way for Trump’s America
There are disquieting similarities between the US today and the medieval Catholic church

It takes effort to picture Donald Trump as Alexander VI, the late medieval pope whose notoriety helped trigger the Protestant Reformation. Once you have the image, it is hard to lose. Today’s America and late 15th-century Rome are separated by half a millennium but united on an important point. The US is a dominant system that is losing its legitimacy. The Church was turned upside down by the advent of printing. Post-literate social media is doing the same to the US establishment. Mr Trump, like the Borgias, is the ripening of the old, not a harbinger of the new. His presidency is peak American excess.

Today’s warning signs echo that historic crossroad. Late medieval Rome was pervaded by three corruptions: simony, nepotism and indulgences. Simony, which is the sale of ecclesiastical office, had extended to every bishop, archbishop and cardinal’s position by the time Rodrigo de Borja became pope. Indeed, he bought the papacy. ...

...Mature systems must adapt or die. What prompted the Protestant uprising was the Church’s glaring distance from the philosophy it was supposed to uphold. The chasm between Christ’s gospel of poverty and the palaces the bishops inhabited proved too great for the unlettered masses. America’s meritocratic creed also looks increasingly hollow to large chunks of voters. The net worth of the median US household in 2016 was $97,300. America’s wealthiest 400 families are worth the same as the bottom 300m people combined.

A few years after Pope Alexander passed away, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to a church door. His revolution would not have been possible without printing. More than a century of religious wars followed. Western democracy today is beset by a similar technological revolution. Democracy’s high priests have lost control of the message. After Alexander’s death, the papacy reverted to the Medicis — the Florentine plutocrats. This showed that Rome had not learnt from its mistakes. We can only hope that America today is better able to digest the warnings of history.

https://www.ft.com/content/d68deaf0-fb6a...54-36acbbb0d9b6

Taktik in der Ukraineaffäre
Trumps verdrehte Welt
US-Präsident Trump ist ein politischer Überlebenskünstler. Sein Erfolg beruht auf einem Mechanismus, den er nun auch in der Ukraineaffäre wieder nutzt. In der Psychologie würde man von Projektionen sprechen.

Wir erinnern uns: Im US-Wahlkampf 2016 war die sogenannte E-Mail-Affäre das große Ding. Hillary Clinton hatte als Außenministerin einen eigenen E-Mail-Server und einen privaten Account genutzt. Donald Trump und seine Anhänger pumpten den Vorgang zur größten Staatsaffäre seit Watergate auf, sie sahen dadurch die nationale Sicherheit der USA gefährdet. "Sperrt sie ein", lautete ihr Schlachtruf, gemeint war Hillary Clinton.
Für Trump war die Affäre praktisch. Wann immer ihm Fehlverhalten vorgeworfen wurde - und dafür gab es reichlich Anlass - sagte er einfach: "Aber Hillarys E-Mails!"

Der Vorgang ist typisch für Trump: Der US-Präsident beherrscht es meisterhaft, die öffentliche Meinung in seinem Sinne zu beeinflussen. Alle Dinge, die ihm vorgeworfen werden, spiegelt er einfach sofort zurück. Er lenkt von eigenen Verfehlungen ab, indem er seinen Gegnern mindestens die gleichen, ja, vielleicht sogar noch monströsere Taten unterstellt.

In Trumps verdrehter Welt sind alle anderen korrupt, nicht er. In Trumps verdrehter Welt missbrauchen alle anderen ihre Ämter, nicht er. In Trumps verdrehter Welt lügen seine Gegner, nicht er.
Eine perfide und wirksame Abwehr
In der Psychologie würde man diesen Verteidigungsmechanismus Projektion nennen. Die Projektion kann eine sehr perfide, sehr wirksame Abwehr sein, denn die Wahrheit wird vernebelt. In der heutigen Politik nutzt sie kaum jemand so intensiv wie Trump. In den Echo-Kammern der Trump-Welt, bei Fox News und bei seinen Fans im Netz, finden die Projektionen des Präsidenten die entsprechende Verbreitung. ...

Es ist jetzt schon klar: Trump wird die Methode weiter ausreizen. Sein Vorteil ist, dass ihm als Präsident das größte Megafon des gesamten Landes, ja, der ganzen Welt zur Verfügung steht. Egal, was er sagt, seine Projektionen werden im Netz und in den TV-Sendern täglich und pausenlos in alle Haushalte übertragen.
Er hat von allen Kandidaten bereits heute den größten Wahlkampfetat. Den kann er nutzen, um seine Sicht zu verbreiten. Und Trump scheint gewillt zu sein, die Lautstärke weiter aufzudrehen. Für ihn ist das kein Problem. Inzwischen muss man annehmen, dass er tatsächlich selbst an das glaubt, was er da sagt.
"Aber Hillarys E-Mails!", das war einmal. Ab jetzt heißt es: "Aber die Bidens!"
https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/d...-a-1293051.html

Typisch fuer Narzissten. Und fuer jede Menge Dumme, die drauf reinfallen. Wie auch jede Menge verlogene Schlechte, die bei der ueblen Scharade gerne und wissendlich mitmachen.

US debt surpasses $23 trillion for first time
The federal government's outstanding public debt has surpassed $23 trillion for the first time in history, according to data from the Treasury Department released on Friday.

Growing budget deficits have added to the nation's debt at a speedy rate since President Trump took office. The debt has grown some 16 percent since Trump's inauguration, when it stood at $19.9 trillion. It passed $22 trillion for the first time just 10 months ago.
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/46860...-for-first-time

So sieht "konservativ" auf Repugianisch aus. :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdFFAJys...HaWUAoHG-6o3BtM

Yep.

Spare Us From the Vichy Republicans
The party has become a cult run by crooks.

...What are we to make of all this? The notion, beloved by the press, that Trump holds Republicans in a kind of thrall, like the Klingons’ tractor beam, does not withstand scrutiny, because there is no evidence that the GOP will resume normal behavior once the beam is switched off. They have been getting crazier and crazier for years, which is why I departed Capitol Hill in 2011 to spread the news to all who would listen.

Republicans have now become seriously deranged, and even more cult-like. Louie Gohmert, once a comical outlier, but now the heart and soul of his party, is invoking civil war as a remedy to the potential impeachment of his beloved Führer. And for sheer cringe-inducing weirdness, nothing matches the GOP’s fixation with abortion once they achieve power, which has now reached an almost unbelievable stage of sick obsession in Missouri. Today’s GOP has become a creepy mashup of grade B totalitarianism and perverted Freudian manias disguised as family values.

Once, I called them an apocalyptic cult, which they were and are. But in those relatively naïve days, even I underestimated their growing appetite for crime, betrayal, and certifiable lunacy.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/...FBr369PYBZ0kfXE

Republicans must lie to survive: They have no other choice
From Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump, the path to Republican political success is rooted in profound deception

... The lying is not limited to the leaders at the top but pervades the entire Republican Party. This is necessary to sustain the party. The lying is constantly on display from members of Congress to state officials to spokespeople in the media. They are always deceiving, misleading, changing the subject, clouding the issues, presenting a diametrically opposite view from the truth, blaming the Democrats for being the true liars, and forever waging malicious personal attacks against their opponents instead of debating issues on the merits.

To be sure, politicians as a group tend to bend the truth, and Democrats are no exception. But nothing compares to the sheer magnitude and volume of lies that emanate from the Republican Party. The lies are carefully designed to destroy truth by manipulating or confusing the public, and are deployed in massive coordinated campaigns that constitute “systemic lies” with blatantly false labels: “Junk science” to describe actual climate science, “right to work” to describe eliminating workers' right to organize, “religious liberty” to describe privileging Christians over all others, “death panels,” “death tax” and “fake news.”

The enormity of the lying is simply stunning, and it is carried forth by an army of loyal Republican soldiers at every level. But the Republican Party seems to do the best when it has a highly charismatic personality at the top. A perfect puppet of perfidy. ...
https://www.salon.com/2019/10/12/republi...fUfW-Ao0fOXk0NI

Former Republican unleashes on the ‘rotten to the core’ politicians of the GOP
‘There is no greater example of selling your soul to a charlatan than what Republicans are doing right now’

Tell us how you really feel, David Jolly.

‘These are, in today’s Republican party, spineless politicians rotten to the core without virtue, without any level of human integrity, devoid of self respect, self reflection…Without courage and without the moral compass to recognize their own malevolence.’
-David Jolly-

That’s how the former Florida congressman and self-proclaimed Never-Trumper answered the question, “What has happened to the Republican party?” posed by MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace on Monday.

“One day maybe they will have the recognition of how they failed the country and themselves in this moment,” Jolly continued. “But that would be giving them credit that somewhere down deep they have the goodness to recognize how to reconcile their own failings with what is right and just in American politics and frankly what is right and wrong in the eyes of adults and children alike.”

Ouch. It’s safe to say Jolly’s not looking to work his way back into the party’s good graces following his GOP exit last year.

“There is no greater example of selling your soul to a charlatan than what Republicans are doing right now in the House and the Senate,” he added. “And their legacies are on the line just as much as Donald Trump’s.”

Jolly was a lifelong Republican until he jumped ship in 2018. Before then, he served in Congress from 2014 to 2017 following the death of his boss. He ran for Senate in 2016 but dropped out when Marco Rubio opted to seek a second term.

Watch the MSNBC clip:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/former...VjP6IMjJBEyuWfQ

Referee says he told Rep. Jim Jordan that Ohio State doctor performed sex act in shower
The referee said the response of Jordan and another former coach was, "Yeah, yeah, we know."

John Doe 42 is the second person to say he told Jordan directly about either being approached or molested by Strauss, who was found by independent investigators to have sexually abused 177 male students over two decades.

Jordan, a powerful Republican congressman and a top defender of President Donald Trump in the ongoing impeachment inquiry, has repeatedly denied knowing anything about what Strauss did to the wrestlers he helped coach from 1986 to 1994. He has said the allegations against him were politically motivated....

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ref...doctor-n1078476

The Authoritarian Rot That Produced This President* Is Present in the Republican Party at All Levels
Need proof? Look at Kentucky and Wisconsin.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/po...ernor-election/

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t...ea8&oe=5E4D4F71

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t...7eb&oe=5E567443

Why Are Conservatives So Dumb On Social Media?
Even if your goal is to be a major demagogue to argue for your "side," a minimal level of reading would prevent you from looking ignorant

Social media is an odd phenomenon. The goal is to raise your profile to push your messages as far as possible.
Generally speaking, the way to get your profile raised is to create content that will push emotional triggers and encourage engagement. In other words, demagoguery works to create the impression of influence on whichever platform. That goal does not recognize partisanship.

But--and maybe this is just the prism of the content that filters in my feed--conservative demagoguery is just so, so... stupid. Is it that conservatism demands a lack of understanding of context? Is it that they are uneducated? Is it that truthiness trumps (pardon the expression) facts? ...

https://crooksandliars.com/2019/11/why-a...o-dumb-social-0

Kyle Griffin@kylegriffin1
The Senate voted to make Steven Menashi a federal judge. (auf Lebenszeit)
He's never tried a case.
He condemned women's rights and diversity.
He refused to answer senators' questions.
Every Dem present voted against, every Republican present but Collins voted to confirm.
11:55 AM - 14 Nov 2019

Das sind die Repugnians heute.

Paul Erickson, Russian Agent Maria Butina’s Boyfriend, Pleads Guilty to Fraud
Erickson admits he conned someone called only “D.G.” into wiring him $100,000, under the pretense that the money was for a real estate investment in North Dakota. It was not.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/paul-erick...guilty-to-fraud

The Republican Party can lead any person to believe that their promises will be fulfilled in the future.
They follow the Hitler line – no matter how big the lie; repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as truth.
-John F. Kennedy-

Why Are Republicans So Anxious to Play Putin’s Game on Ukraine?
It’s one thing to support Trump. It’s another to embrace Putin’s disinformation. But even some of the savviest Republican senators are jumping into bed with the Bear.

When Sen. John N. Kennedy of Louisiana went with a group of fellow Republican lawmakers to celebrate the Fourth of July in Moscow (yes, Moscow) last year, they met with Russian counterparts in what the Russian press described as a “secret room.” Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of Russia’s foreign affairs committee, said Kennedy had promised to deliver a “tough message” about Russia’s interference in U.S. elections, but when it was his turn to speak “he had absolutely nothing to say.”

Now the Republicans have plenty to say, and most of it benefits the Kremlin. Indeed, the Republicans of Donald Trump’s regime and the Russians of Vladimir Putin’s often sing in amazing harmony. ...

Nothing could better epitomize the ideal outcome of the Kremlin’s barrage of conflicting narratives, its dezinformatsiya, or disinformation designed to create a false impression that the truth is simply unknowable.

Gone are the days when the GOP dared to confront the Kremlin, and we should keep in mind that prominent Russian politicians and media figures rejoiced at the death of the late, great Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) last year—presciently predicting that no one in the Republican Party would be able to live up to his legacy. Appearing on the Russian state television show 60 Minutes in 2018, Karen Shakhnazarov opined: “Global empires like the United States are destroyed from within... The U.S. is deteriorating. They won’t find other fighters like McCain. There won’t be any others like him. This process is irreversible.”

The Kremlin wagered its bets with stellar precision and the Republicans made the job easy. Instead of picking up the torch of democracy proudly carried by McCain, the GOP of Trump is clutching the tiki torch of Russian propaganda. ...

It’s the capitulation to the Kremlin by the virtual entirety of the obsequious GOP that really draws attention now as Trump’s impeachment by the House and trial by the Senate loom on the near horizon. ...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/when-it-co...lay-putins-game

WATCH: Tucker Carlson Says He Is Rooting for Russia in Conflict Against Ukraine
In October, it was revealed that Donald Trump had a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky that prompted some in his administration to blow the whistle on. Since then, US ally, the Ukraine has become more of an enemy for conservatives in and out of the White House.

There was clear evidence of anti-Ukraine sentiment this weekend when Louisiana senator John Kennedy claimed that it may have been Ukraine, rather than Russia, who meddled in the 2016 election. On Monday night, Fox News host Tucker Carlson took anti-Ukrainian sentiment a step further by admitting that he was “rooting” for Russia in its conflict against the Ukraine.
The Fox News host made the statement while interviewing Richard Goodstein, a former adviser to Bill Clinton.

Carlson asked his guest, “I know Hunter Biden. I actually like Hunter Biden. But that’s totally corrupt and you know it. Why is it worse to ask about it then it is to do it?”
Goodstein replied by saying, “Because people are actually dying on the front lines. You think this is a joke.”
As Goodstein continued talking, he was interrupted by the host, who said, “Why do I care? Why do I care what’s going on in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia? And why shouldn’t I root for Russia, which I am.”

https://hillreporter.com/watch-tucker-ca...t-ukraine-52061

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t...fad&oe=5E84020E

Zitat von Willie im Beitrag #40

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https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EKUHkXVU0AEYFgE.jpg

Zitat von Willie im Beitrag #42

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https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EKUHkXVU0AEYFgE.jpg

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Republicans ‘are being used by Russia’: Former GOP congressman rips those spreading conspiracy theories
Republicans were blasted as “a party without conviction” for spreading conspiracy theories that were started by Russian intelligence — by a former GOP congressman.

Former Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) was interviewed by Ali Velshi on MSNBC’s “The Last Word” on Monday.
“First, let’s recognize what they are doing now, what Sen. [John] Kennedy (R-LA) said, it’s gravely dangerous,” Jolly said. “Through their ignorance, negligence, they are being used by Russia.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has been nicknamed “Moscow Mitch” for his support of Vladimir Putin.
“Republican senators and Republican members of Congress tonight are being used by Russia because they are unwilling to look at the truth,” he added. “What I’ve learned these last three years is it wasn’t a law and order party, just a party that hated Bill Clinton. It wasn’t a constitutional party when Barack Obama was in office, it was just a party that hated Barack Obama. We’re seeing a party embracing Donald Trump because they have a quest for power, proximity for power and they want within their reach the ability to self-deal.”

“This is a party today without conviction and they are willing to be used by Russians,” he noted.

“The Republican Party today has abandoned truth and failed the American people and frankly failed themselves,” Jolly charged. “And one day will recognize that and regret it.”
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/11/republi...8KC_STjWW9RETOw

‘Welcome to the new mainstream GOP’: Conservative website delivers sobering news about Republicans’ descent into the alt-right
Founded by Charlie Sykes and Bill Kristol in December 2018, The Bulwark has become a refuge for conservatives who are disdainful of Donald Trump’s presidency. And contributor Laura K. Field, in a November 27 article, delivers some sobering news to The Bulwark’s right-wing anti-Trump readers: the alt-right fringe has become the mainstream of the Republican Party.

Most of The Bulwark’s readers probably knew that already, but Field (who has held faculty positions at Georgetown University and American University) offers a lot of evidence to drive the point home. Under Trump, Field laments, alt-right figures like Steve Bannon, Sebastian Gorka and Stephen Miller have become “the face of today’s conservatism and today’s Republican Party.” ...

... Field wraps up her article on a troubling note, warning that extremists such as Fuentes won’t be disappearing from the GOP anytime soon.
“The extreme environmentalists and Green New Dealers are fighting for the future of life on this planet; Nick Fuentes and his ilk want a white Christian ethnostate,” Field writes. “That conservatives today aren’t reeling at this difference tells us all we need to know about the successes of the alt-right…. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the new mainstream GOP.”

https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/welcome...5ldA22QDnzbaSZ0