Trump wanted to FRAME innocent Americans.

[Kid Berwyn]

IMPOTUS Donald J Trump demanded a foreign leader — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky— join a criminal conspiracy to frame innocent American citizens for Trump’s political advantage.



“Corruption in public office is treason.” — Amb. Adlai Stevenson, Jr.

[dewsgirl]

1. I have a sneaking suspicion he still does and if he can get away with it,

he will.

[hedda_foil]

7. He always believes he can get away with it because he has always gotten away with his crimes.

Yeah sure, he's had to settle a few cases eventually but the rewards of cheating are bigly and the risks in his experience are eeny-weeny-tiny-teeny,.

[certainot]

23. he's getting away wih shit now because americans let 1500 radio stations make

excuses and lie constantly to 50 mil a week

none of the ukraine craap would even be possible except that lmbaugh was bleating about it at least since trump ever mentioned it and media really is doing a crappy job not to look at the timing of when this shit started getting pushed because there is considerable evidence that putin's been using talk radio for at least a decade - or dr fiona hill is an idiot

[orangecrush]

28. This is true

And we let it happen.

There used to be laws against propaganda.

[Evolve Dammit]

29. Yep. 24/7/365. Limbaugh, Hannity, Ingraham, Savage, and dozens of proteges. Smear and fear works.

[Evolve Dammit]

31. Oh, and throw Mike Pence in there too since he ably filled in for "Nazi Salute Ingraham" on her show

[Kid Berwyn]

48. A veep picked personally by Paul Manafort

Who himself happens to be a business associate of Dmitry Firtash and owes millions to Oleg Deripaska.



Source: http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/07/trump-putin-russia-collusion.html

[Evolve Dammit]

55. Nice chart. A Manfort pick to the point they held up Drumpf's jet to make the meeting happen.

[Kid Berwyn]

11. Barr's boy Durham now investigates ex-CIA chief Brennan...

...just for telling the truth about Russia’s election meddling in 2016.

From CNN:

Excerpt...

John Durham, the US attorney tapped by Attorney General William Barr to investigate, has requested Brennan's emails, call logs and other documents from the CIA, the Times reported Thursday, citing a source briefed on his inquiry.

Snip...

Durham is interested in what Brennan told other officials -- including former FBI Director James Comey -- about his and the CIA's views of the infamous dossier compiled by retired British spy Christopher Steele of salacious allegations about Donald Trump, Trump associates and Russia, according to the newspaper.

Continues...

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/20/politics/john-brennan-john-durham-fbi-russia-2016-election/index.html

[dewsgirl]

14. Brennan was exactly who I was thinking of.

[certainot]

25. lmbaughs been calling for brennan and other 'deep state' 'actors' like obama to be

investigated etc

it's putin > lmbaugh/talk radio/fox > trump - the collusion is right in front

[Midnight Writer]

2. He campaigned on the promise of locking up his political opponents, and still got millions of votes.

[hedda_foil]

8. If he wins in 2020, I have no doubt that Barr will indeed lock up his political opponents.

[onetexan]

9. This is why Lowbarr is so dangerous

He needs to be disbarred.

[Mr.Bill]

13. I worry they may start doing it long before the election.

Think about it. What if you woke up tomorrow morning to find out Pelosi, Schiff, Nadler, Biden, etc. have been arrested by the DOJ and are all being charged with Treason. What could anybody do about it?

[wnylib]

20. I think -- and certainly hope -- that there would be

massive demonstrations in DC and across the country that would make Hong Cong look tame.

Plus sympathetic demonstrations of support abroad.

Make it impossible for such a dictatorship to rule and let the chips fall where they may.

But hope with all the energy I've got thst it never comes to that.

[Wednesdays]

32. They would have to get the backing of the military first

But if they did, all bets are off. Street protesters, even armed ones, are no match for tanks, air-to-ground missiles, and Apache helicopters.


I didn't even mention tactical nukes.

[wnylib]

35. But would the generals side with a dictatorship?

There sre already military officers who have concerns about Trump.

If it gets too bad, I'm grateful for not living far from the Canadian border.

[Evolve Dammit]

30. That's when it comes apart for real.

[Mr.Bill]

34. I agree.

But I also think they think that's when it all comes together.

[Initech]

37. I've been thinking about that.

What would they accomplish with putting Biden, Hollary, and Obama in prison? And what could they possibly charge them with?

These fuckers are dangerous and scary.

[Kid Berwyn]

17. "It Can't Happen Here"

Yet, it has.

The Horrifying American Roots of Nazi Eugenics

by Edwin Black

Edwin Black is the one author of "IBM and the Holocaust" and "War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race," from which the following article is drawn.

Hitler and his henchmen victimized an entire continent and exterminated millions in his quest for a co-called "Master Race."

But the concept of a white, blond-haired, blue-eyed master Nordic race didn't originate with Hitler. The idea was created in the United States, and cultivated in California, decades before Hitler came to power. California eugenicists played an important, although little known, role in the American eugenics movement's campaign for ethnic cleansing.

Eugenics was the racist pseudoscience determined to wipe away all human beings deemed "unfit," preserving only those who conformed to a Nordic stereotype. Elements of the philosophy were enshrined as national policy by forced sterilization and segregation laws, as well as marriage restrictions, enacted in twenty-seven states. In 1909, California became the third state to adopt such laws. Ultimately, eugenics practitioners coercively sterilized some 60,000 Americans, barred the marriage of thousands, forcibly segregated thousands in "colonies," and persecuted untold numbers in ways we are just learning. Before World War II, nearly half of coercive sterilizations were done in California, and even after the war, the state accounted for a third of all such surgeries.

Continues...

https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1796

The wheels of justice do grind slowly. America’s supporters of autocrats and the other sick minds won’t realize they’re expendable until it’s too late. Then they find themselves running interference on the firing line.

[brewens]

3. Are corruption investigations normally started off with a public announcement? I thought

you usually wanted the suspect to find out about it when indicted and or the authorities show up with a search warrant? That's the part that stinks to high heaven. Did Secretary of Corruption Giuliani operate that way when he was a prosecutor?

[Kid Berwyn]

18. Needed when the object is to raise false suspicions in the public mind.

In Trump’s World of Big Lies, all that’s needed for information success is to plant the first idea (lie). Let the innocent accused spend their time trying to straighten things out. And no matter how much truth is applied, for too many of the Trump believers, the Big Lie is what they’ll always remember and spread.

“Read the Transcript” is Trump’s Big Lie

Breaking down the classic propaganda technique at the heart of Trump’s impeachment defense

Nicholas Grossman
Arc Digital, Nov. 12, 2019

In Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler coined the term “the Big Lie,” noting that people are, somewhat paradoxically, more likely to believe more blatant falsehoods, especially about consequential topics. The “masses,” he wrote:

more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods.

It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation.

Snip...

Retaining one’s integrity while standing up for abuse of power isn’t easy, and most of the defenses are weak.

The whistleblower’s account was second hand.
Yes, but officials with first-hand knowledge have confirmed it.

There was no quid-pro-quo.
There obviously was, and officials have testified to it.

Trump is too dumb to execute a quid-pro-quo.
He’s not, and even if he were, the Constitution does not say “abuse of power is okay if the president is incompetent.”

Trump just cares so deeply about fighting international corruption.
Ukraine is the only country where he’s shown interest in the topic, and the only things he asked for were falsely exonerating Russia and manufacturing an investigation into his political rival.

What about some other thing some other politician did some other time?
Irrelevant.

Snip...

By imploring people to “read the transcript,” Trump is gambling that his followers won’t actually read it and think for themselves. His backers in Congress and the media might, but they’re all-in, so they’ll lie about it. Voters who don’t read the transcript will believe what Trump and Trumpist media claim it says — at least enough voters to make Congressional Republicans fear crossing their base.

Continues ...

https://arcdigital.media/read-the-transcript-is-trumps-big-lie-e0664b3e3349

Democracy requires Truth. Tyranny, not so much.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

47. Mein Kampf is TrumPutin's favorite book

[malaise]

4. He tried the same shit with both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton

Don the Con is a vile monster and that is kind.

[Kid Berwyn]

19. Amazing how he got away with it.

And he likely would have, were it not for the Blue Wave of 2018.

From Karen J. Greenberg:

or Trump, lying is but the tip of the iceberg and in this he reflects far more than his own predilections. He reflects as well our moment, our age. George Orwell, that prescient 20th-century observer, warned in his classic essay “Politics and the English Language” about one key aspect of such a lying mindset: the way “lack of precision” in language can pose a danger to society and to political stability.

When it comes to imprecision today, the dangers couldn’t be more real. In fact, the strategies employed in Washington to confuse and mislead the public have subtly eaten away at the country’s collective mindset, creating fertile ground for Trumpian-style lying to successfully take root. In many ways, the focus on Donald Trump’s blatant and persistent lying only serves to obfuscate other no less destructive methods of deceiving the public that preceded him into the White House and helped create the conditions that make the president’s lies so destabilizing.



ETA: Almost forgot to mention the role of the “free press,” or Corporate McPravda as I prefer: The for-profit media operate for that. The Big Five care not one wit for comforting the afflicted compared to what they roll out for comforting the comfortable. A+ treatment, all the way.

[malaise]

22. Many of the producers facilitating this madness are hacks

aka plants -the media is part of the problem largely because of corporate ownership. Both the for profit agenda and the billionaire owners' interests are threats to democracy.

[Kid Berwyn]

24. John Solomon springs to mind.

BOLO: Consider armed with disinformation.



A Dozen Questions for John Solomon

by Sidney Blumenthal
November 5, 2019

EXCERPT...

Solomon began his career as a reporter for the Associated Press, but subsequently bounced around in right-wing media from the Washington Times to a website called Circa News (owned by Sinclair Media and now defunct). In 2012, the Columbia Journalism Review concluded that Solomon “has a history of bending the truth to his story line” and “distorting facts and hyping petty stories.” Among his claims to infamy is publishing the debunked Uranium One conspiracy.

Starting in March of this year, Solomon’s articles in The Hill and his tweets spun out a web of conspiracy theories, in some cases then tweeted by Trump: that parts of the Ukrainian government in coordination with the U.S. ambassador to the Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch colluded to help Hillary Clinton’s campaign by leaking financial records of Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman (who had been a consultant to the Russian backed Ukrainian president deposed in the 2014 revolution Viktor Yanukovych); that the U.S. ambassador had pressured the Ukraine prosecutor not to investigate a George Soros-backed group and “Soros-connected names” who helped the Clinton campaign in the alleged scheme; and that the ambassador told the prosecutor not to investigate a list of individuals and that, according to the prosecutor, former Vice President Joe Biden was supposedly attempting to quash the prosecutor’s probe of his son Hunter’s involvement with Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company.

Solomon depicted a second innocent victim of these conspiracies in addition to Trump: Ukrainian oligarch Dimitry Firtash, “a major target of the Soros group.” Firtash — close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian mafia kingpin Semion Mogilevich, and a chief financier of former Ukrainian president Yanukovych — is fighting extradition to avoid U.S. federal charges of bribery and racketeering. Solomon wrote that Robert Mueller’s investigation was attempting to frame Firtash to get “some dirt on Donald Trump,” but that the case against Firtash was “falling apart.” Solomon stated, “The oligarch’s defense team told me that Firtash rejected the deal because he didn’t have credible information or evidence.”

The State Department labeled the charges in Solomon’s initial article about Yovanovitch “an outright fabrication.” Later, the Ukrainian prosecutor Solomon quoted as his source, Yuri Lutsenko, was dismissed from his position and disavowed Solomon’s reporting, saying that Hunter Biden “did not violate anything” and now said that his statements to Solomon about a do-not-prosecute list were false. Lutsenko is now under criminal investigation for abuse of power. Meanwhile, the effort to extradite Firtash to face corruption charges continues.

SNIP...

7. You claim that you met Parnas through Congressman Pete Sessions. When did you first become aware of the Parnas and Fruman financial contributions to Sessions? What other favors has Sessions done for you?

CONTINUES...

https://www.justsecurity.org/66962/a-dozen-questions-for-john-solomon/

From the White House to Congress to the State Department to Fox Noose and Deutsche Bank to secret numbered Swiss bank accounts demonstrate the extent of the conspiracy. Not Space Force, we need a new Division in the Department of Justice for Investigating Corruption and RICO in Federal office.

[malaise]

26. He should be in prison

Sickening

[2naSalit]

42. All these people should sue that POS for defamation...nt

[UniteFightBack]

5. This used dick bag is STILL TRYING to frame innocent Americans. nt

[Kid Berwyn]

36. UDB is pulling out all the stops.

Rudy Giuliani—and Russia—Pay Close Attention to This Ukrainian Conspiracy-Peddler

Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Derkach’s wild theories are easily disproved—but that hasn’t stopped them from gaining traction with the top tiers of U.S. government and Trump’s lawyer.

Erin Banco, Anna Nemtsova
The Daily Beast, Dec. 18, 2019

With the logo of the Russian Interfax news agency in the background, Ukrainian parliamentarian Andriy Derkach opened his third news conference in three months by telling reporters, in Russian, that he had evidence that could bring down two of President Donald Trump’s biggest political rivals: 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Derkach, a former member of a pro-Russia party in Ukraine who is known for propagating conspiracy theories, rattled off a dizzying slew of allegations ranging from how Americans helped the state-run gas company Naftogaz steal billions of dollars from Kyiv to how a Ukrainian oligarch who donated to the Clinton Foundation is actually a Russian spy. For the most part only Russian state media companies covered the press conference. Derkach did not respond to repeated requests for comment for this story.

Snip...

Derkach, a self-described political independent, attended the Dzerzhinsky Higher School of the KGB in Moscow and was for a time a member of the pro-Russia party—the Party of Regions—in the Ukrainian parliament. He also served in the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, in Dnepropetrovsk; his father headed the organization in the late ’90s and early ’80s. He is a member of the Russian Orthodox Church and traveled to Moscow as a delegate during the election of Patriarch Kirill as head of the church in January 2009.

Derkach and Giuliani met in Kyiv last week, and the Ukrainian parliamentarian provided Trump’s personal lawyer with a series of documents highlighting his allegations, including his favorite: Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential election, not Russia. The Daily Beast obtained a 50-page dossier disseminated by Derkach focusing on the 2016 allegation.

Continues...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/rudy-giuliani-and-russia-pay-close-attention-to-ukrainian-conspiracy-peddler-andriy-derkach

Gee. Russia? That’s what Mueller said.

[Solomon]

6. Don't forget he was still calling for the execution of

the Manhattan Five even after it was proven they were innocent.

[WA-03 Democrat]

15. Central Park 5 :)

[Solomon]

54. Thank you!

I couldn't remember what they were called.

[Kid Berwyn]

38. 13 Virtues normal people know

Rembrandt’s depiction of Aristotle contemplating upon a bust of Homer



Contrast with the record of America’s best known bust.



The highest virtue, according to Aristotle, was Intellectual Contemplation (Fabric Swatches).

In addition, the following 12 virtues also can be attributed to Aristotle and the sad reality.

1) Courage – bravery and valor vs Bone Spurs

2) Temperance – self-control and restraint vs Stormy Daniels

3) Liberality – bigheartness, charity and generosity vs Tax Jamboree for Billionaires

4) Magnificence – radiance, joie de vivre vs Mocking the Disabled

5) Pride – self-satisfaction vs Bragging about Bankrupting a Casino

6) Honor – respect, reverence, admiration vs Inviting Our Nation’s Enemies to Settle Elections

7) Good Temper – equanimity, level headedness vs Calling for Violence and Incarceration toward Journalists

8) Friendliness – conviviality and sociability vs No One Volunteered to Mention Pee-resident Had Toilet Paper Stuck to Shoe as He Climbed Stairs to Air Force One

9) Truthfulness – straightforwardness, frankness and candor vs LOLOL

10) Wit – sense of humor – meaninglessness and absurdity vs Military School of the Catskills Swirliemaster 2nd Class

11) Friendship – camaraderie and companionship vs Putin, Muhammad Bin Salman, Netanyahu, Kim, Duterte, Bolsonaro, etc etc etc.

12) Justice – impartiality, evenhandedness and fairness vs Witch Hunting with Barr and Rudy

No wonder comparisons are odious, thy name is Trump.

[Grokenstein]

10. Trumpkins: "What crime did he commit????"

(trumpkin slaps bucket over head and bangs it with a wooden spoon)
"LA LA LA LA LA!! I don't see the evidence!! LA LA LA LA LA!! I don't hear the evidence!! LA LA LA LA LA!! That means there IS no evidence!! LAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! Hashtag winning!! Kay Ay Gee!! REEEEEEEE!!!"

[littlemissmartypants]

12. (snort)

[Initech]

40. I'd answer back with "what crime did Hillary commit"?

They don't have an answer.

[Kid Berwyn]

44. Federal Criminal Offenses and the Impeachment of Donald J. Trump

Holiday gift idea for the hard-of-thinking:

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Problem of Missing Witnesses and Documents for the Conviction of Donald J. Trump
Andrew Weissmann

Campaign Finance Law
Paul Ryan

Bribery
Randall Eliason

Honest Services Fraud
Barbara McQuade

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
Susan Simpson

Hatch Act
Gary Stein

Contempt of Congress
Michael Stern

Impoundment Act (non-criminal law)
Sam Berger

Details: https://www.justsecurity.org/67738/federal-criminal-offenses-and-the-impeachment-of-donald-j-trump/#Intro

[Karadeniz]

16. Thanks for baldly stating this fact.

[Kid Berwyn]

45. You are most welcome, Karadeniz!

Seems to get lost amid the “Now it goes to the Senate for dismissal, er, trial,” narrative.

What else needs to be made clear:

Trump’s actions in Ukraine have advanced the interests of Russia.

You probably know about this resource from the Center for American Progress: https://themoscowproject.org/

[Cetacea]

21. Let's hope he doesn't replace the current FBI Director (as per William Webster)

[Kid Berwyn]

46. "We have no information that indicates that Ukraine interfered." --

Absolutely agree, Cetacea. Witchsmeller Barr is working his magic on reality.

FBI director pushes back on debunked conspiracy theory about 2016 election interference

"We have no information that indicates that Ukraine interfered," Wray said.

By Luke Barr and Alexander Mallin
ABC News, December 9, 2019

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Monday undercut a theory pushed by President Donald Trump and some of his Republican allies that the government of Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election.

"We have no information that indicates that Ukraine interfered with the 2016 presidential election," Wray told ABC News in an exclusive broadcast interview on Monday.

Wray is the most senior, currently serving, government official to undercut the claim -- pushed as recently as Sunday by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in an interview about the ongoing impeachment inquiry.

Snip...

"Well, look, there's all kinds of people saying all kinds of things out there. I think it's important for the American people to be thoughtful consumers of information, to think about the sources of it and to think about the support and predication for what they hear," he said. "And I think part of us being well protected against malign foreign influence is to build together an American public that's resilient, that has appropriate media literacy and that takes its information with a grain of salt."

Continues...

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fbi-director-pushes-back-debunked-conspiracy-theory-2016/story?id=67609244

Weird days when FBI Director disagrees with his boss the IMPOTUS, who agrees with his boss, Putin.

[guillaumeb]

27. A perfect call. eom

[Kid Berwyn]

49. Lie of the Year

Lie of the Year 2019:

Donald Trump’s claim whistleblower got Ukraine call 'almost completely wrong'

By Katie Sanders
PolitiFact on Monday, December 16th, 2019

President Donald Trump started the morning of Sept. 20 dismissing headlines about someone who blew the whistle on a phone call he had with the president of Ukraine. The call, he tweeted, was "pitch perfect."

Snip...

At the heart of the whistleblower complaint: an historic phone call

The whistleblower filed the now famous complaint on Aug. 12. It is nine pages long. The description of a July 25 phone call between Trump and Zelensky takes up two pages. That section is the backbone (though not the entirety) of the impeachment inquiry of the president.

Trump started the call after 9 a.m. from the residence of the White House. The purpose for the leaders’ phone call, as suggested by the National Security Council, was for Trump to congratulate Zelensky on his political party winning control of Ukraine’s parliament.

The call started with pleasantries and lasted half an hour. The whistleblower was not listening in but cited "multiple White House officials with direct knowledge of the call." The complaint says Trump "pressured" Zelensky to:

• investigate Biden and his son, Hunter Biden;

• look into allegations that interference in the 2016 election, attributed to Russia, originated with Ukraine and a Democratic server; and,

• speak with Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr about those issues.

Continues...

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2019/dec/16/lie-of-the-year-donald-trump-whistleblower-wrong/

[rampartc]

33. i have understood this from the beginning

but the articles pf impeachment do not make this clear enough for the public.

[Kid Berwyn]

50. Clarity and conciseness are key.

Unlike what is spread through social media, memes aren’t photos with superimposed text.

Memes are infectious ideas that spread brain-to-brain like a virus. An example from a complicated person, Rep. Adam Schiff:

Trump betrayed America.

Thank you for understanding, rampartc!

[spanone]

39. K&R...👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[Kid Berwyn]

51. Thank you, spanone! Think of the children and Barr.

Another area that deserves attention of investigators is AG William Barr’s role in the frame-up. Per the White House memo, Trump told Zelensky:

President Donald Trump repeatedly encouraged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to work with his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and U.S. Attorney General William Barr to investigate Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, according to a memorandum about a July phone call between the two leaders released by the White House Wednesday morning. The memo is not verbatim.

“There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that, so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great,” Trump is said to have told Zelensky. “Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it… It sounds horrible to me.”

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/transcript-trump-call-ukraine-includes-talk-giuliani-barr/story?id=65848768

Despite WH assertions, it’s a memo not a transcript. Still, it demonstrates the corrupt intent of Trump and his henchmen, including the Attorney General of the United States, William “My Dad Hired an Unqualified Jeffrey Epstein to Teach High School” Barr.

[captain queeg]

41. Great picture, lovely complexion. If it was anyone else the paramedics would be called

[Kid Berwyn]

53. Mental health is tied to dental health.

Guy gives gingivitis bacteria and all that rot a bad name.



https://www.webmd.com/oral-health/news/20130731/dental-health-dementia

[catbyte]

43. What an ugly, ugly thing. Look at that face. Not a trace of humanity.

[empedocles]

52. We're all getting better at sharply framing and titling issues. Good to see.