Friday, March 29, 2019

Adam Schiff nails GOP for indifference to attack on America

I often share my disappointment with the limp Democratic Party and how easily they wither in the face of GOP's ruthless macho bullying.  Still, once in awhile I get impressed and realize there is some hope left.  Now if only these few courageous politicians can start getting more of We The People to better support them by actively getting behind these individuals and letting our representatives know we expect them to follow through on their efforts.  
Act as if our democracy depends on it, because it does!  A healthy democracy requires an informed and engaged electorate!
Yeah, yeah, an imperfect democracy is better than this ME FIRST theocracy the oligarch owned GOP is pushing our country towards.


House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff fired back at Republicans on his committee, including disgraced former chair Devin Nunes, calling for his resignation during a hearing about Russia interference in the 2016 election. Lawrence: "You're going to want to see every word of the controlled, targeted, and building anger of the honorable Adam Schiff.”


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qKd9fDLku8
MSNBC | Published on Mar 28, 2019


2:42   Honorable Adam Schiff Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee:    

       “My colleagues may think it's okay that the Russians offered dirt on a Democratic candidate for president as part of what was described as the Russian government's effort to help the Trump campaign.  You might think that's okay.  (transcript continues)


My (Republican) colleagues might think it's okay that, when that was offered to the son of the president, who had a pivotal role in the campaign, that the president's son did not call the FBI.  

He did not adamantly refuse that foreign help, no instead that son said that he would love the help of the Russians. 

You (GOP) might think it's okay that he took that meeting, you might think it's okay that Paul Manafort the campaign chair, someone with great experience of running campaigns, also took that meeting.  

You might think it's okay that the president's son-in-law also took that meeting.  You might think it's okay that they concealed it from the public. You might think it's okay that their only disappointment after that meeting was that the dirt they received on Hillary Clinton wasn’t better.  

You might think that's okay.  

You might think it's okay that when it was discovered a year later, that didn’t lied about that meeting and said it was about adoptions.You might think it’s okay that the president is reported to have helped dictate that lie.  You might think that's okay.  I don’t. (4:10)

You might think it's okay that the campaign chairman of a presidential campaign would offer information about that campaign to a Russian oligarch in exchange for money or debt forgiveness.  You might think that's okay.  I don’t! 

You might think it's okay that that campaign chairman offered polling data, campaign polling data, to someone linked to Russian intelligence.  I don't think that's okay.  

You might think it's okay that the President himself called on Russia to hack his opponents emails if they were listening.  You might think it’s okay that later that day in fact the Russians attempted to hack a server affiliated with that campaign.  

I don’t think that's okay.  

You might think that it's okay that the president's son-in-law sought to establish a secret back channel of communications with the Russians through a Russian diplomatic facility.  I don’t think that's okay.  You might think it’s okay that an associate of the president made direct contact with the GRU through Guccifer 2.0  and WikiLeaks that is considered a hostile intelligence agency.  

You might think that it's okay a senior campaign official was instructed to reach that associate and find out what that hostile intelligence agency had to say, in terms of dirt on his opponent.  

You might think it's okay that the National Security Advisor designate secretly conferred with a Russian ambassador about undermining US sanctions, and you might think it's okay he lied about it to the FBI.

You might say that's all okay.  

You might say that’s just what you need to do to win.  

But I don't think it's okay.  I think it's immoral.  I think it’s unethical.  

I think it's unpatriotic, and yes I think it's corrupt and evidence of collusion.

Now I have always said that the question of whether this amounts to proof of conspiracy was another matter, whether the Special Counsel could prove beyond a reasonable doubt the proof of that crime would be up to the special counsel, and I would accept his decision, and I do.  He’s a good and honorable man and he is a good prosecutor.

But I do not think that conduct criminal or not is okay, and the day we do think that's okay, is the day we will look back and say that is the day America lost its way.  (6:52)

I will tell you one more thing that is apropos of the hearing today.  I don’t think it's okay that during a presidential campaign Mr.. Trump sought the Kremlin’s help to consummate a real estate deal in Moscow that would make him a fortune, according to special counsel hundreds of millions of dollars.  

I don't think it's okay that he concealed it from the public.  I don’t think it's okay that he advocated a new and more favorable policy towards the Russians, even as he was seeking the Russians help the Kremlin's helped to make money. 

I don't think it's okay that his attorney lied to our committee!

There’s a different word for that than collusion and it's called compromise."



MSNBC, O’Donnell:  Those words are going to live in history those words are going to be in every history book of this period and of this saga those words are going to be seen in that form in every documentary that is ever made about this investigation and these years of investigation you will be seeing those words for the rest of your life in some form or other when you are looking at the history of this story.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Schiff smacks back at Republicans calling for him to resign
Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee called on Schiff to resign his post as chairman.

By KYLE CHENEY 03/28/2019

… At her weekly press conference Thursday, Pelosi delivered an unprompted defense of Schiff as she railed against Trump and the Republicans who have called for his ouster.
“What is the president afraid of? Is he afraid of the truth? That he would go after a member, a chairman of a committee, a respected chairman?” Pelosi said. “I think they’re just scaredy cats. They don't know what to do so they have to make an attack. It's their own insecurity. Their own fear of the truth.”
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) also offered strong praise for Schiff.
"The American people have seen Mr. Schiff demonstrate on a regular basis responsibility, thoughtfulness, rationality and a commitment to finding the truth," Hoyer told reporters Thursday. "Apparently, all four of those aspects upset the president.” …
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Considering the Republican need for delusions 2016

I tried writing something today, but constant interruptions made it impossible to get anywhere and there's another crowded week ahead.  So I'm going to placate my frustration by sharing some insightful quotes from a few important recent articles regarding our upcoming election.

By Ed Kilgore | NYmag.com

By Anthea Butler | ReligionDispatches.org

By Neal Gabler | BillMoyers.com

By Robert Farley | FactCheck.org

By David Weigel | Washington Post

By Nina Burleigh | Newsweek.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


No comments: