BC TRUMP
Saved by @jacobhtml

Oh huh. Trump's defense isn't going to address the impeachment case (and seems to ignore his demands of Mike Pence again).

 Michael Van der Veen pretending that 61 losses is normal.

And, again, note that he didn't address Trump's unconstitutional request of Mike Pence.
Van der Veen lies about who asked for recounts in 2016.

And lies about Hillary's claims about Russia.
Trump's video is made in the style of propaganda, taken out of context.
Van der Veen now trying to make much of tweets Trump didn't send until hours too late.
"There had never been mob-like behavior" at Trump's earlier rallies?

Has this guy ever met Corey Lewandowski?
So when Trump is prosecuted we should expect Van Der Veen to back a 20 year sentence for Trump?

Again, Van Der Veen is not addressing the actual case.
Van Der Veen is now blaming someone who's not the Commander in Chief from protecting the country.

And he's misrepresenting the requests from LE.
The press should use Van der Veen's invocation of known provocateur John Sullivan and his false claim he's Antifa to ask why his brother, James Sullivan, a guy with ties to Proud Boy who was coordinating with Rudy, hasn't been arrested.
Note: To the extent that this was planned by Trump, it is actually very damning. I've been wondering if Kash Patel planned to use his failure to respond to the riot by referring back to June. This suggests that's the case.
Cancel culture! Drink!
Trump's lawyer lies about how many people voted for Trump.
Can we agree that the use of word "unity" here is sickly fascist?
That's it! They're not going to address:
1) Anything before January 6
2) Anything involving Mike Pence
3) Why Trump didn't do anything ON January 6

There's your headline. They have no response to the facts.
Reminder: John Sullivan's brother James APPEARS to have been in direct contact with Rudy, and he set up that false flag Antifa attack then.
BREAKING: Trump's lawyers say they can't trust the integrity of Trump's tweets!
David Schoen now trying to start a false conspiracy theory about SEKURITY VIDEO WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?
David Schoen making the case that Trump should be called as a witness.
Any bets on how many times Trump's people are going to replay these clips? I think this makes 3 now.
Congratulations to @tedcruz, @SenMikeLee, and @LindseyGrahamSC who have so little self-respect they think this is an appropriate way to treat their own body.
Folks, don't get distracted by this false equivalency.

Remember: they're playing this to avoid talking about why Trump ordered Mike Pence to do something unconstitutional, and spent 4 months setting up the riot.
Apparently Schoen doesn't think an insurrection is a dire threat.
Again, Schoen is comparing a lie about an inappropriate blow job to launching an insurrection and refusing to protect the country.

Schoen doesn't believe defending the country is a constitutional imperative.
Van der Veen:

Democrats hate Trump so I won't address all the Trump supporters who said that Trump incited a riot.
Van der Veen complaining that Dems didn't spend more time talking about 1A, but thus far no Trump lawyer has addressed the facts presented. Any of them.
Again, don't be gaslit by this: This is NOT the total of what Trump is being impeached for.

They're simply ignoring all the other things that aren't speech, or aren't legal speech. He ordered Pence to do something unconstitutional. He did nothing while the Capitol was attacked.
1:15 hour in and Trump's lawyers have not addressed any of the facts presented by the managers, save a blue check.
Is this the third or fourth playing of this?
Didn't this fella promise us precedent?

Also, has he addressed the unconstitutional demand Trump made of Mike Pence?
Finally!

1:31 in, we're at an argument.
"Just like Mr. Trump has done here."

Uh. Explain how it's on point? You're just gonna leave it there?
Does this dude know about Take Care clause?
Van der Veen: Trump's actions for an entire year leading up to his riot are irrelevant.

Van der Veen: But Raskin should be impeached for a single legal challenge.
Van der Veen is claiming the managers focused on Fight--that's false. That's what THEIR defense did. The Managers focused on far more.
Interesting defense strategy, showing Trump insulting Republicans.
Dear Senate Republicans: HIS DEFENSE IS TO CALL YOU WEAK.
Again: Trump's own defense cited Mike Pence's observation that that request, just now, was an unconstitutional request.
AGAIN: The impeachment managers didn't focus on fight. Trump's defense did. It's a distraction technique, from the other allegations which they're simply not addressing.
Congratulations, again, to @tedcruz, @SenMikeLee, and @LindseyGrahamSC, who have such little self-respect they think this is a valid defense.
There are a slew of arguments that Trump's team hasn't addressed.

A key one, though is that he did nothing as the Capitol was attacked by terrorists.

https://t.co/pSo4P2EV9a
Remember: Van der Veen said the entire lead-up to the attack was irrelevant.

Now they're going to claim there was no lead-up.
We're to a pounding table stage.
They're back to claiming that Trump sent his rioters to talk primary challenges with MoCs.
Castor says he feels like he was under oath but he has accused the rioters of being leftists.
BREAKING: CAstor emphasizes that Trump knew protestors were at the Capitol by 2:30 but did nothing ... but tweet.
BREAKING: Castor admits that the Commander in Chief did nothing to fend off terrorists.
Castor now calls the Proud Boys -- Stand back and Stand by -- violent criminals.

More from emptywheel

Dr. emptywheel
Dr. emptywheel
@emptywheel
gonna live tweet this.

Mark Meadows explains at the beginning that Cleta is not attorney of record but she's been involved.


Trump (who lied abt his inauguration size) says he knows he won bc of rally size.

Trump starts by describing that current margin is what "everyone agrees on."

Trump repeatedly claims that people went to vote but weren't allowed to bc a ballot already cast.

Maybe ... they had already voted? I think he just narced out a bunch of people trying to double vote.

Trump accuses "Ruby Freeman" of being a vote hustler.
GOVERNMENT
Dr. emptywheel
Dr. emptywheel
@emptywheel
Since everyone is writing abt Julian Assange today, some posts:

The Growing WikiLeaks Conspiracy [Indictment]

https://t.co/i3dNE6lnl7

This talks about the superseding CFAA charge that Assange boosters are generally silent or worse about.

Three Inconvenient Truths about a Hypothetical Trump Pardon for Julian Assange

https://t.co/FDl2KMJV8x

1) It may not work
2) It would have to pardon other crimes
3) That would include Trump's own corruption

Rat-Fucker Rashomon: Getting the "Highest Level of Government" to Free Julian Assange

https://t.co/oNr8YgXbhk

On the pardon discussions with Trump that WikiLeaks doesn't want you to know about.

The Minh Quang Pham Precedent to the Julian Assange Extradition

https://t.co/1i7yErl0sC

The UK extradited a guy whose primary crime (at the time) was doing graphic design for AQAP.

Julian Assange's First Witness, Journalism Professor Mark Feldstein, Professes to Be Unfamiliar with the Public Record on Assange

https://t.co/sl0sasWgeu

WikiLeaks boosters are lying, cynically, abt what changed between 2013 and 2017.
SOCIETY
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emptywheel
emptywheel
@emptywheel
Updated my table again:

Added one more classified folder plus the laptop for Trump
Changed Pence to possible "trophy"
Added zeros to make docs/year more obvious
CATEGORY PDFMAKERAPP GRAB PDFMAKERAPP GRAB THIS READWISEIO SAVE READWISEIO SAVE THREAD THREADER COMPILE SUMMARIZE THREADREADERAPP UNROLL PLEASE TTTTREADS UNROLL UNROLLTHREADCOM SAVETOBOOKMARKS
emptywheel
emptywheel
@emptywheel
Breaking: Not only does John Solomon continue to include more and more false claims in his propaganda, but after 4 years of "reporting" on FISA he still doesn't know what FBI Director signs to on FISA.


In reality, this is what John Solomon's "SMOKING GUN" says:

Steele was considered reliable (true!), his sources were in a position to report on what they reported on (true!), the reporting corroborated stuff in the report [that, btw, is mostly classified]


This paragraph, for example, includes 3 lies and one exaggeration: First, CIA informed FBI that until 2011, they asked Page questions about the RU intelligence officers trying to recruit him.


That does NOT cover the most alarming thing he did in 2015 or one RU intelligence officer that Page did not tell the CIA about while still an approved contact.

USG had gotten opinions about Steele that weren't entirely favorable (but unsurprising for operations officer), but this is before questions abt source network.
SOCIETY
emptywheel
emptywheel
@emptywheel
Tuning into the McCabe hearing.

Lindsey Graham is still boasting that CIA unmasked Hillary long before they unmasked Mike Flynn. He's legit complaining that Hillary ran a campaign and the CIA didn't

Whitehouse now explaining to Lindsey Graham that tying an opponent to a foreign country is not a criminal act. "If you look at CI investigation, obvious difference is that there were contacts bt RU intel operatives and campaign operatives."

"I don't think the FBI has any business interfering into that kind of campaign debate, you would be besides yourself with anger if FBI investigated Trump for trying to tie Biden to China."

Now Graham is talking about how Coffee Boy said working with Russia would be treason which 1) means that he thinks Roger Stone committed treason and 2) he demonstrably lied in that interview.

Now Lindsey claiming that the dossier created the impression that Trump was in bed with Russia, and not his open requests for Russian help.
POLITICS

More from Trump

the squad (6'3")
the squad (6'3")
@RafasItchyButt
Allow me to offer some commentary on several SCOTUS cases that are NOT the #moab, but which, considered in aggregate, will reveal my impressions on the #TRUMPSMASH #lawOfFunny

Can someone give me a google number or something? I want a party line.

https://t.co/SlJCsjWMUa


I'm sorry, but #lawOFFunny #nominologicaldeterminism.

#thomists


This one is important:
TRUMP
James Lindsay, expert on Hegel and math
James Lindsay, expert ...
@ConceptualJames
This is mostly right but strikes me as it needing said that I don't think the left or the intelligentsia have the slightest idea how low institutional trust in anything coming from a left mouthpiece is now. Except in-network, the best heuristic is "the opposite of what they said"


If you look at the situation from a predictive models perspective instead of the more rigorous and appropriate (under normal circumstances) "prove your case or gtfo" perspective, trusting the opposite of whatever the left side says has an AMAZING track record, as we know it.

Literally, the best heuristic most people have right now, in terms of how often it gets things right versus *completely* wrong, is "whatever CNN, the NYT, public health officials, and the Democrats said... yeah, the opposite." That is, they're wrong WAY outside of statistics.

They're also not just wrong. They're *completely* wrong, backwards, often transparently covering something up that they don't want known or refuse to believe. This isn't just a legitimation crisis because there's a heuristic: whatever the official left narrative is, is wrong.

There are a few reasons why such a heuristic would be more predictive than not. One of those is conspiracy, and another is mass hysteria with ideological capture. We know at least one of those is happening and have rather strong evidence both are. That makes conspiracy reasonable
TRUMP
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Warren C.🇺🇸 45th POTUS...
@808TeslaY
Situation Update, Jan 2nd – The Big Reveal … How Trump will change history on January 6th

Today’s Situation Update for January 2nd covers the “big reveal” that President Trump has announced for January 6th. On this day, Trump’s team will present information to Congress before


1.they vote on the contested slates of electors from the swing states where massive election fraud occurred.
What will this “big reveal” consist of? We know it’s something that has never been presented previously in a court case, nor to the public. The possibilities are endless:

2. Jeffrey Epstein bombshells? Declassified intelligence on China’s financial payments to the Biden crime family? Smoking gun proof that Dominion machines rigged the election? There are even rumors that two intelligence agencies for other nations have proof of election fraud and

3.are handing it over to Trump. Whatever gets presented, Trump believes it will change the outcome of the vote on Jan 6th. That means it would have to be truly historic, because Democrats aren’t going to vote for Trump in a contested election unless they are absolutely forced to.

4.We’ve even speculated that some members of Congress might resign on the spot after seeing this evidence. Others might face arrest for their complicity in the crimes that have been committed against America.

🇺🇸 Here’s what’s covered in today’s Situation Update highlights:
TRUMP
Jonathan Rauch
Jonathan Rauch
@jon_rauch
Post-impeachment, we can say this: Trump's presidency has amended the Constitution. Not formally, of course, but informally...which matters just as much. Here are the five Trump amendments. 1/9

1. "No president shall be removed from office for treason, bribery, or any other crime or misdemeanor provided a partisan minority of the Senate will protect him (which is always). Impeachment is thus a nullity and presidents can expect impunity." 2/9

2. "Congressional oversight shall be optional. No congressional subpoena or investigative demand shall be binding on a president who chooses to ignore it." 3/9

3. "Congressional appropriations shall be suggestions. The president may choose whether or not to conform with congressional spending laws, and Congress shall have no recourse should a president declare that his own priorities supersede Congress's express will." 4/9

4. "The president shall have authority to make appointments as he sees fit, without the advice and consent of the Senate, provided he deems his appointees to be acting, temporary, or otherwise exempt from the ordinary confirmation process." 5/9
TRUMP
Shannon McCallister - Redesign Your Thinking LLC
Shannon McCallister - ...
@SBMcCallister
@Nick_Carmody @NBCNews @BandyXLee1 @Narcopath_UK @narceducator The same tactics used with Trump were used with Hitler by the Evangelicals to set up someone who exhibits qualities as an AntiChrist into a role of a Saint but this time targetting Muslims as Killers of Americans & still using gay people as abomination of God to con churches...1/

@NBCNews @BandyXLee1 @Narcopath_UK @narceducator This was by design and process that developed over 60 years of psychological influencing through a collaboration of the entertainment world, religious broadcasts, oil/gas loyalists who bastardized the US Constitution, and #KochNetwork #DarkMoney orgs connected to DeVos...2/

@NBCNews @BandyXLee1 @Narcopath_UK @narceducator Judeo-Christian America never existed. 1A was designed to removed Roman Catholic Church of England hold over the newly formed US Government. It demands zero influence of religion over law or government decisions. The Virginia Baptist insisted on it w/ Thomas Jefferson...2/

@NBCNews @BandyXLee1 @Narcopath_UK @narceducator Judeo-Christian is coined from Nitzche's book "The AntiChrist" that means Jews converting to Christianity. It is used in the context we see today to tie in a Jewish Jesus into the Torah so that the strict rules of the Torah are elevated to a Christian philosophy. A paradox...4/

@NBCNews @BandyXLee1 @Narcopath_UK @narceducator It is a paradox because Jesus was a rebel Jew. He defied the teachings of the Torah which pissed off the Pharisees - Jewish religious leaders. He elevated poor & people society condemned to same level as leaders. He is nothing like what we see today as American Christianity...5/
TRUMP

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Kevin Murphy
Kevin Murphy
@kwmurphy
Okay look - I didn’t grow up with comic books. But I read stacks of science fiction digests and I kit-bashed model cars into fantasy rods, and just tried to maintain a low profile until I could get out of the house. So you could say I’m a distant cousin of the comic book fan. /1

And sometimes one’s childhood passion follows them into adulthood, sometimes not, sometimes as an adult one finds a passion they never had as a child and embraces it. For me, that must include getting involved with a puppet show at the age of thirty. /2

So who’s to say whose passion’s legitimate and whose is bogus? Nobody. Someone might indict your passion but they have no ground to stand on and should be dismissed out of hand. /3

Maybe they’re envious that you have a passion, maybe they think that their passion is cooler than yours, or maybe they’re just insecure, who knows. Doesn’t matter. /4

What matters is that if something gives you joy, and in the process doesn’t hurt others, then by all means follow it. It’s how we explore our secret hopes, our shadow sides, our inner character. /5
CULTURE
Chris Herd
Chris Herd
@chris_herd
I've spoken to 1,500+ people about remote work in the last 9 months

A few predictions of what is likely to emerge before 2030

[ a thread ] 💻🏠🌍

🚜 Rural Living: World-class people will move to smaller cities, have a lower cost of living & higher quality of life

These regions must innovate quickly to attract that wealth. Better schools, faster internet connections are a must

⏰Asynchronous Work: Offices are instantaneous gratification distraction factories where synchronous work makes it impossible to get stuff done

Tools that enable asynchronous work are the most important thing globally remote teams need. A lot of startups will try to tackle this

⚽️Hobbie Renaissance: Remote working will lead to a rise in people participating in hobbies and activities which link them to people in their local community

This will lead to deeper, more meaningful relationships which overcome societal issues of loneliness and issolation

🌍Diversity & Inclusion: The most diverse and inclusive teams in history will emerge rapidly

Companies who embrace it have a first-mover advantage to attract great talent globally. Companies who don't will lose their best people to their biggest competitors
REMOTE WORK
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David Rothkopf
David Rothkopf
@djrothkopf
Trump on climate: I don't believe it. Trump on Khashoggi: I don't believe it. Trump on Russia: I don't believe it. Idiocy? A canny game? Doesn't really matter as much as the underlying intellectual autocracy. In this administration only one opinion matters.

It's an assault on facts and reason. It's an assault on good governance. It's an assault on the bureaucracies that are being discounted. It's an assault on science and history. But it is also an assault on one of the underpinnings of democracy.

We live in a system that is grounded on the idea of collaborative government. Leaders may have a final word but even then, there are typically checks and balances. Hopefully, in this case, such checks and balances may work. But they also are being tested.

The president's position that he is smarter than all the world's scientists, than the entire intelligence community, than experts who have studied any issue all their lives, is, of course, asinine. But his belief that government turns solely on his opinion, is monarchic.

Louis XIV reportedly said, "L'etat est moi." That he was the state. Trump asserting that he knows better than all, discounts all advice, that his brain is enough to chart the course for America alone, is essentially saying the same thing.
POLITICS
V\u0936\u0941\u0926\u094d\u0927\u093f
Vशुद्धि...
@V_Shuddhi
क्या आप जानते हैं कि क्या है, पितृ पक्ष में कौवे को खाना देने के पीछे का वैज्ञानिक कारण!

श्राद्ध पक्ष में कौओं का बड़ा ही महत्व है। कहते है कौआ यम का प्रतीक है, यदि आपके हाथों दिया गया भोजन ग्रहण कर ले, तो ऐसा माना जाता है कि पितरों की कृपा आपके ऊपर है और वे आपसे ख़ुश है।


कुछ लोग कहते हैं की व्यक्ति मरकर सबसे पहले कौवे के रूप में जन्म लेता है और उसे खाना खिलाने से वह भोजन पितरों को मिलता है

शायद हम सबने अपने घर के किसी बड़े बुज़ुर्ग, किसी पंडित या ज्योतिषाचार्य से ये सुना होगा। वे अनगिनत किस्से सुनाएंगे, कहेंगे बड़े बुज़ुर्ग कह गए इसीलिए ऐसा करना

शायद ही हमें कोई इसके पीछे का वैज्ञानिक कारण बता सके।

हमारे ऋषि मुनि और पौराणिक काल में रहने वाले लोग मुर्ख नहीं थे! कभी सोचियेगा कौवों को पितृ पक्ष में खिलाई खीर हमारे पूर्वजों तक कैसे पहुंचेगी?

हमारे ऋषि मुनि विद्वान थे, वे जो बात करते या कहते थे उसके पीछे कोई न कोई वैज्ञानिक कारण छुपा होता था।

एक बहुत रोचक तथ्य है पितृ पक्ष, भादो( भाद्रपद) प्रकृति और काक के बीच।

एक बात जो कह सकते कि हम सब ने स्वतः उग आये पीपल या बरगद का पेड़/ पौधा किसी न किसी दीवार, पुरानी

इमारत, पर्वत या अट्टालिकाओं पर ज़रूर देखा होगा। देखा है न?

ज़रा सोचिये पीपल या बरगद की बीज कैसे पहुंचे होंगे वहाँ तक? इनके बीज इतने हल्के भी नहीं होते के हवा उन्हें उड़ाके ले जा सके।
ALL
Suhas S. Hardutt
Suhas S. Hardutt
@HarduttSuhas
THE BATTLE OF PRATAPGARH (10 Nov, 1659)

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's impeccable military genius and matchless courage humbled the Adil Shahi Sultanate.

The beginning of what was to come later for the M0ghuls from one of the most indefatigable defenders of Dharma!

(Thread)


Shivaji’s growing influence in Maval region, made him a threat to the Adil Shahi ruler of Bijapur who sought to restrain him. The man who was given the responsibility of this mission, was their commander, Afzal Khan. Afzal was a formidable warrior known for his ruthlessness.(1)

His strategy was to bring Shivaji out into the plains, where he held an advantage, compared to the rocky Deccan terrain. Afzal attacked the holy town of Pandharpur, and later demolished the temple of Bhavani at Tuljapur to instigate Shivaji in a bid to bring him out.(2)

Shivaji was angry but remained patient. Knowing that he could not defeat Bijapuri Sultanate in an open battle, Shivaji moved to Pratapgarh fort, located on rocky heights, surrounded by thick forests of Jawali.(3)

This set the pattern for future Maratha attacks, using guerrilla warfare against larger invading armies rendering them ineffective in unfavorable terrain.(4)
HISTORY