I watch "our brothers" Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon every evening ~ I admire their liberal minds lightly dusted with old fashion ethics ~ Their political views suttelly made clear in their journalism .

Pompeo responds to NPR reporter, says story is another example of 'unhinged' media.

Another page right out of "you know who's" playbook!

IF these dainty politicians can't handle a simple comment like that, how on earth will they EVER be able to handle a tough opponent in their re-election campaign..:blink:

The Republican arguments
 

The movie "CATS" has had some terrible reviews, imdb lists its rating presently as 2.8 out of 10 !! (lol)

On another site, I saw a warning about this film:

to the effect that watching it "might cause brain damage".

Since I had already diligently watched all of witnesses testifying as the Dems were preparing their Impeachment brief, I skipped Schiff's presentation, and only caught some of his presentation on the news, and yes it was very well done, absolutely excellent.

However, having seen a few of the incoherent Republican arguments on the news, I thought that it might be useful to also warn people that watching the Republican arguments might also cause brain damage; and then it occurred to me that anyone who agreed with what they were putting forward had already suffered from brain damage, and that they all should be immediately picked up and placed under medical surveillance. Trump and his Republicans really know their voting base. :)

T.V. Ratings
 

President Trump expressed frustration on Twitter over the fact that his "lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in T.V.

If I can just recycle an old Seinfeld joke...(his of course pertained to blood on your clothes and laundry)

IF you've got lawyers defending you in an impeachment hearing, perhaps low TV ratings aren't your biggest problem!

Info from a leaked manuscript.......
 

Former national security adviser John Bolton came under fire on Sunday over a report that was published in The New York Times that claimed that Bolton said in his upcoming book that President Donald Trump directly tied financial assistance to Ukraine with Ukraine announcing an investigation into Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden.

“President Trump told his national security adviser in August that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats including the Bidens, according to an unpublished manuscript by the former adviser, John R. Bolton,” The New York Times reported. The Times added that one of the reasons that Bolton now wants to testify is that he is afraid that “he will be accused of holding back to increase his book sales.”

Immediately following the publication of the Times’ report, Democrats and the media began to call on Republicans in the Senate to allow new witnesses to be brought into Trump’s impeachment trial.

The majority of us were brought up to trust our government and president; as well as all public and safety people in charge. Looking at what our young'ins have to respect and look up too is devastating ~ coaches raping children ~ teachers assaulting the kids both physically and w/ beatings ~ local politicians committing fraud in almost every state and city. How do we explain the dangerous mind of TRUMP to the children ? How do we get them to trust and feel safe ? I know from explaining social enviorements we have to teach Jonathan to beware of over friendly coaches ? So hard to look at them having to accept and answer the questions they have after . I HOPE they impeach and REMOVE TRUMP so we can start to restore the respect we should have for our country's leader. Maybe it will become a start for rehabilitation for the youth to be safe in this world. Life is short and so fragile right now. Only ethical unity can cure. ~

I was brought up to trust the government and "officials"; but it didn't take with me. I quickly absorbed the "don't trust anyone over 30" meme, and I had a healthy suspicion of police officers and the like. I don't think we really can teach children to trust and feel safe when it comes to government officials; I think a healthy dose of suspicion is a good thing. The important thing is to teach children who they _can_ trust. Or they'll be lonely forever from lack of trust and constant suspicion.

Trust
 

Considering my not-so-perfect childhood, I was never taught to "trust" anyone outside my immediate family. Moreover, I was always, even from childhood, quite skeptical. Luckily, being skeptical is healthy, while of course, being suspicious is always indicative of having had really bad conditioning.

To me, the element of trust is only present when there is love. As a matter of fact, when there is love, trust is a part of that love, and the issue of whether or not to trust doesn't even come up. Other than that, in ego development, it is something to be earned. The nature of trust always includes honesty, openness, transparency and above all, generosity of spirit. I can always tell who is generous and who is selfish (and not to be trusted) by the way in which they are capable of revealing the full extent of the core of why they say what they say - in other words, how they respond. You see, the worse kinds of lies are the lies of omission.

Insofar as public officials are concerned, I always thought that police officers were there to help you, especially if you were lost, and I have even driven to the closest RCMP office while driving thru Canada to get directions. :) I really didn't know any police officers while growing up, and I read in my 20s how there was a large number of law enforcement who beat their wives! Recent estimates are that they are 4 times more likely to hurt women than the rest of the population. I could never trust someone who was on a power trip.

Insofar as politicians are concerned, nothing that any Canadian politician has ever done has had the slightest effect on my life. If anything, their lack of action regarding climate change (and other issues) since I read "Silent Spring" in my 20s has always made me think they should all be arrested and charged with the genocide of the animals who live in nature (and more recently the Australian PM who should definitely be charged with murder - the estimates are about 1 billion animals killed in the Ozzie wildfires).

In the building where I live, the police even knew my apartment #, and would buzz me when they wanted to get into the building. Eventually, I found out that they had a code they could push and would tell them to call their head office and get the code and stop bugging me. Just because someone wears a uniform does not make them "perfect". Just because someone holds some government office doesn't make them "perfect". The worst kind of person is someone who plays god with the lives of others, and tries to get them to live according to their idea of how they should live. These kinds of people usually attract a gang of people who are susceptible to peer pressure, and the members of such a gang are notoriously untrustworthy, basically because their idea of how they see other people is always screened through their loyalty to whoever is in charge. They just can't be true to themselves, because their idea of being true is always to their "leader", and not to themselves - the whole issue of being a "leader" or a "follower".

As Shakespeare wrote, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be." So, in the same vein, I would say, neither a leader nor a follower be. It is only then that one can clearly see what the heck is going on.

So, my only question would be why on earth should anyone trust any "authority"? My main motto would be to "question authority", while remaining skeptical.

Good thing we have these threads to talk about issues wether personal or social. Vent away charley u need to get a lot off your shoulders . Common sense bares the weight .. open your heart there are wonderful people in this world esp. right here on this site ~ always feel free to express :) we are all here to help you.

Pompeo’s clash with NPR grows after journalist is barred from plane.
 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s quarrel with NPR escalated on Monday after one of the radio network’s reporters was barred from flying on the secretary’s plane during an upcoming trip to Ukraine. Michele Kelemen, a veteran reporter for the network, was removed from the list of reporters allowed to fly with Pompeo on a trip to Eastern Europe, only days after the secretary reportedly exploded at another NPR reporter for asking questions about Ukraine. The State Department Correspondents’ Association swiftly condemned the move in a statement on Monday.

The correspondents association concluded that the exclusion was in retaliation for a testy exchange between Pompeo and NPR host Mary Louise Kelly on Friday morning. During a roughly 10-minute interview, Kelly asked Pompeo a number of questions on U.S. policy in Iran and on Pompeo’s involvement in the Ukraine scandal at the center of President Donald Trump’s impeachment. Kelly asked whether Pompeo owed an apology to former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch for her unceremonious ouster from her post in Ukraine. Yovanovitch was removed as Trump and his circle viewed her as an obstacle to pushing Ukrainian officials to investigate his Democratic rivals. Pompeo responded tersely and reportedly met with Kelly afterward behind closed doors, yelling at her for asking questions about Ukraine.

Joni Ernst......
 

After President Donald Trump's legal team on Monday completed the second day of their impeachment defense—which largely consisted of attacks on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter—Republican Sen. Joni Ernst told reporters that she is "really interested to see" how team Trump's performance at the Senate trial "informs and influences the Iowa caucus voters, those Democratic caucus-goers."

Ernst's remarks, which came just a week before the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses, were widely viewed as an open admission that Trump's attorneys and the Republican Party are using the Senate impeachment trial as an opportunity to damage Biden at the polls.

"This is saying the quiet part out loud," tweeted MSNBC correspondent Garrett Haake, a sentiment that was echoed by others.
"Here is Joni Ernst screaming the quiet part into a bullhorn," said Kaili Joy Gray, executive editor of The American Independent, in response to the Iowa Republican's comments.

If I'm not mistaken she's up for re-election this year! Thankfully she has a skill to fall back on!

Trump praises Pompeo over handling of NPR reporter.....
 

I can't find the longer scene where the a camera focuses on Pompeo with a smirk on his face and Alan Dershowitz slapping Pompeo's back for a job well done I'm assuming!

When I saw this it made me sick to know we have these sort of men running our country!

Ugly old White men oozing entitlement.

Besides making me sick, it also made we wondered if these men would want their daughters or wife's subjected to such treatment!

Such a sad state of affairs when one is rewarded and praised for such bad behavior and ESPECIALLY when the praise is coming from the commander in chief and yet even sadder, we're no longer surprised by it!

Unfortunately again I cannot find the longer and exact footage of what shows Trump on the White House Lawn giving shout outs and sucking up to various Republican Senators!

His claim of 'I Want Their Vote' is no doubt true, one of these few times I believe him to be telling the truth, but as I watched it also crossed my mind he was giving them a not so subtle warning not to cross him or they'd face his wraith!

Can you just imagine Donald's reaction if his precious Ivanka was at the receiving end of such bad behavior!

~
 

He met Melania @ Epstein's house ~ there were pictures of 2 younger Donald and Melania ~ she was very desperate and broke ~ she became a friend of Epstein's and she met Trump there ~ look it up !

I was listening to NPR's All Things Considered, and heard an interviewee state that, as regards rape victims, we must encourage the culture to not only believe what they have to say, people must also consider their experiences to be important. For example, most people (even Republicans) believed Christine Blasey Ford was telling the truth about Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulting her, but they did not consider it important enough to deny Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination.

This highlighted what has been a blind spot for me - I have believed, I think, that of course everyone believes rape is important and serious. But now that this has been pointed out to me, I have realized that _of course_ there are many people, probably mostly men, who don't consider it important at all, or of little importance. Very disheartening when thinking about the human race.

I also think my belief was a creation of the way I was raised, to be a white, Southern "lady", whose "virtue" was to be protected at all costs. I had not thought about this particular issue beyond my own experience. It had to be brought to my attention by this interview; on the surface of it, of course what I believed is true, i.e., rape is a terrible crime. I had just not seen it from a bigger perspective, i.e., not everyone feels that way.

I think that because we are white Christian ladies in the South, a rape of US is a terrible crime-- against our fathers/husbands/protectors/family/class, but most of those same men that would swear vengeance on our perpetrator are likely to have committed their own assaults against women who were NOT us, and would not see those assaults in the same category.

AND they would tell us to suck it up pretty quick if we went around acting traumatized for more than 60-90 days following the crime.

Very disappointing indeed nhplowboi.........

Nancy Pelosi ripping Donald Trump's speech may not have been planned, but it was effective



I loved it that she tore it up and I also applaud her for not using the typical announcement when introducing the President (leaving out honor and privilege)!

Hmmmm

2 not guilty votes...

So that means aquittal?

Yes.

Twelve current Republican Senators voted with the minority to convict and remove President Bill Clinton in 1999 because he lied about having oral sex with someone who was not his wife. Those same Senators just voted with the majority of Republicans to acquit that evil f***ing TRAITOR who sold out his own country for his personal benefit. I'm disgusted and about to head out to the protest rally/march in Manhattan. I hope that helps take the bad taste out of my mouth.

Collins invariably takes one step forward and two steps back...what a despicable, dishonest coward.

Susan Collins Says Trump Has “Learned His Lesson” And Will Behave Now.


During an interview with CBS news yesterday, Republican Senator Susan Collins explained why she today was going to vote to acquit Donald Trump. And according to Susan Collins, she wants to acquit Donald Trump because she believes he is totally learned his lesson. Here is what Susan Collins had to say. "I believe that the president has learned from this case. The president has been impeached, and that’s a pretty big lesson, you know"!

Right and if you believe that, I've got a great deal on a bridge you may want to buy...

Romney's speech gave me hope that there exists some decency in the Republican Party.

How ironic......
 

~~~
A hate spewing monger (Rush Limbaugh) receives The Presidential Medal of Freedom while a good decent god fearing Christian receives scorn and distaste!

I know! This is just one more thing on the list of things that I can't believe T***p has done! He still manages to shock me!

Trump Acquittal - History repeats itself
 

This has all been done before... :)

As per the prophetic Mel Brooks film, A History of the World: Part I (1981)

Mel Brooks, as Comicus, says:

"Politics, politics,
politics, politics!

Politics! Yes!
The Roman Senate.

The Roman Senate
is the best legislature
that money can buy!

Corruption starts
in the streets
with the little peddlers.

They bribe an assemblyman,
he bribes a councilman,

the councilman bribes
a senator, and the senator...

It goes all the way
to the Emperor!"

You see, history has truly repeated itself!

The above quote starts at @ 1:57 in the following excerpt from the film:



or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNRvz5O9l2s

I really hate religion being brought into politics.

"Flood the zone with shit"...a long read:
 

Donald Trump Jr....
 

Donald Trump Jr. posted a picture on Instagram calling Sen. Mitt Romney a “pussy” after Rommey announced that he would be voting to convict Trump on one of two impeachment charges.

The picture featured Romney wearing high-waisted jeans, and was captioned: “Mom Jeans, Because you’re a pussy.” “Mitt Romney is forever bitter that he will never be POTUS. He was too weak to beat the Democrats then so he’s joining them now,” Trump Jr. ended his post by calling for Romney to be expelled from the GOP for being part of “the resistance.”

Talk about the apple not falling far from the tree!

National Prayer Breakfast.....
 

Trump attacked his political rivals at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, just hours after his acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial — charging that they had inappropriately invoked "their faith as justification" for calls to remove him from office. The dig appeared to be directed at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who have both referenced religion as they explained why they believed Trump needed to be impeached, though the president did not specifically mention the lawmakers by name.Pelosi struck back at the president during a news conference in the Capitol, telling reporters Thursday morning that she found his statements to be "so completely inappropriate" and chiding Trump for "talking about things that he knows little about: Faith and prayer."

Yet Trump has the nerve to call Schiff and Pelosi 'vicious' and 'horrible' people?