"As Trump continues to say ‘No,’ more Democrats are thinking about impeachment" by Nicholas Fandos New York Times, May 21, 2019
WASHINGTON — New divides opened among House Democrats on Tuesday over how to uphold Congress’ oversight powers in the face of President Donald Trump’s stonewalling, with a sizable bloc of progressive lawmakers pushing for the first time over their leaders’ objections to start an impeachment inquiry.
Democrats were at odds about how to fight the latest defiance of a House subpoena, this time by former White House counsel Don McGahn, who skipped a scheduled hearing Tuesday about Trump’s attempts to obstruct the Russia investigation.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., House Judiciary Committee chairman, promised to hold McGahn in contempt of Congress and warned Trump and other potential witnesses to expect new hardball tactics. Democratic lawmakers and aides said they could include new subpoenas, possible rules changes allowing the House to fine people held in contempt and threats to Trump’s legislative priorities as leverage for compliance.
“We will not allow the president to stop this investigation, and nothing in these unjustified and unjustifiable legal attacks will stop us from pressing forward with our work on behalf of the American people,” Nadler said during a brief hearing of an emotionally raw Judiciary Committee. “We will hold this president accountable, one way or the other.”
The Democrats’ divisions spring from a shared fear that Trump is succeeding not just in evading congressional accountability himself but in permanently rewriting the rules of engagement between the legislative and executive branches, freeing future presidents from one of the Constitution’s most potent checks on their power.
“We can focus on McGahn. We can focus on Barr. We can focus on Michael Cohen. We can call the roll,” Rep. Val B. Demings, D-Fla., a member of the Judiciary Committee who supports impeachment, said in an interview. “But the problem here is the president of the United States.”
Their concerns that Trump might be permanently weakening Congress’ powers prompted prominent progressive lawmakers on and off the Judiciary Committee to declare in private meetings and public statements in the past 24 hours that they saw no choice but to initiate an impeachment inquiry.
The new supporters of impeachment included Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., a co-chairman of the influential Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., vice chairwoman of the Judiciary Committee.
They argued that such an investigation would streamline disparate House inquiries and empower the committees in their push to conduct oversight of the executive branch. And they expressed hope it would show the public that the fight over documents and witnesses is not just another Washington partisan squabble, but a showdown with historic implications.
Neither side is getting help from House Republicans, who despite the abdication of Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, who came out in favor of impeachment over the weekend, remain opposed to any additional investigation.
Democrats continue to hold out hopes, albeit diminishing ones, that they can secure testimony from Mueller himself. Talks between the special counsel’s staff and House Democrats continued to grind along this week, according to two people familiar with the conversations. Mueller’s team is questioning the timing and format of possible testimony, including how much of any hearing would take place in public rather than behind closed doors, they said.
The slow pace of the talks goes appears to go beyond logistics: House aides involved in the report say they have gotten the sense that Mueller, and some of his aides, would rather let his written report speak for itself than push him into the partisan fray.
Press officers for the Justice Department and the special counsel’s office declined to comment.
Impeachment advocates are also increasingly butting heads with their own leader, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who holds the ultimate decision-making power over her caucus’s strategy and has consistently warned against the divisiveness of impeachment. Several members of the California Democrat’s own leadership team confronted her in private Monday night with arguments in favor of beginning an inquiry, only to be gently swatted down with calls to stay the current course.
“Candidly, I don’t probably think there’s any Democrat who probably wouldn’t in their gut say, ‘He’s done some things that probably justify impeachment,’ ” Pelosi’s top deputy, Rep. Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, said Tuesday. “Having said that — this is the important thing — I think the majority of Democrats continue to believe that we need to continue to pursue the avenue that we’ve been on, in trying to elicit information, testimony, review the Mueller report, review other items. If the facts lead us to broader action, so be it,” but in a sign that Pelosi senses her caucus’s growing restless, she called a Wednesday morning meeting to update it on the status and strategy behind the House’s investigations, and people involved in the investigations say that the speaker approved an escalation of tactics short of impeachment to try to turn the tables.
McGahn may become a test case. He skipped the Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday under order of the White House, leaving an empty chair where Democrats had hoped he could serve as a star eyewitness as they seek to build a public case of wrongdoing.....
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My National lead:
"Mueller, House Democrats at impasse over how much of his testimony would be public" by Devlin Barrett and Ellen Nakashima Washington Post, May 21, 2019
WASHINGTON — Robert Mueller and House Democrats have been unable to reach an agreement on how much of the special counsel’s expected congressional testimony would be public, and how much would take place in private, according to people familiar with the matter.
If he testifies at all, right?
The special counsel’s office, along with senior Justice Department officials, has been quietly negotiating with the House Judiciary Committee, whose chairman, Representative Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, has been eager to have Mueller testify as soon as possible.
Who is driving the dispute is a source of debate. Two people familiar with the matter said the Justice Department is deferring to Mueller, who would like for any discussions beyond the public contents of his report to be conducted in private, but another person said it is primarily the department, rather than Mueller himself, resisting a nationally televised hearing.
Grab your popcorn!
These people spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding Mueller’s report and anticipated testimony.
Democrats want to press the special counsel publicly about a host of issues.
The attorney general released a lightly redacted version of Mueller’s 448-page report a month ago, and Democrats have been pushing for Mueller to testify since. The report says Mueller’s team did not find that Trump or his associates conspired with the Kremlin to influence the 2016 election, but Mueller notably declined to reach a conclusion on whether Trump had sought to obstruct justice.
Barr, meanwhile, said he and Rod Rosenstein, the former deputy attorney general, had assessed the case and determined that the evidence would not have substantiated an obstruction prosecution.
Lawmakers have heard Barr’s detailed account of how he reached that conclusion, but how Mueller came to believe he could not decide is more of a mystery. In the report, Mueller’s team wrote that it was influenced by a Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel opinion that says a sitting president cannot be indicted, combined with concerns about the fairness of accusing someone of a crime — even privately — who could not face trial.
Hundreds of former prosecutors have opined that Trump would have been charged with obstruction, based on the case Mueller detailed, were he not president.
How do you obstruct an investigation into something that didn't occur?
Democrats, too, want to press Mueller about a letter he sent to Barr after his report was complete — but before it had been made public — accusing the attorney general of not fully capturing ‘‘the context, nature, and substance’’ of his work in a letter he sent to lawmakers.
Barr has said he felt the letter was ‘‘a bit snitty,’’ and he called the special counsel after receiving it. By Barr’s account, Mueller said in that call that ‘‘his concern was not the accuracy of the statement of the findings in my letter, but that he wanted more out there to provide additional context to explain his reasoning and why he didn’t reach a decision on obstruction.’’ It is unclear, whether Mueller agrees with that characterization.....
When you clear things up get back to me.
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Related:
Trump lawyers appeal ruling over financial records
Longtime Fed critic vetted by the Trump administration
Ex-Va. attorney general to join Homeland Security
IRS tax return memo rebuts administration stance
NY moves to ensure Trump pardons can’t nix state charges
Also see:
Official apologizes for comment about driving while blonde
Police to return property seized from San Francisco reporter
Dianne Stuhr walks with her dogs, Winston and Patty, Tuesday, May 21, 2019, along Tenmile Creek in Frisco, Colo. Nearby Breckenridge Ski Resort reported 9 inches of snow overnight. (Hugh Carey/Summit Daily News via Associated Press)
The reason it's a printed photograph with no accompanying article is because it would comntradict the agenda-pushing narrative (which will change next year due to the rain, right?).
Related: They grow the nation’s food, but they can’t drink the water
Though water contamination is a problem up and down the state, Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed a tax of about $140 million on urban water districts and the agriculture industry to pay for redevelopment in districts serving unsafe water. Some have bristled at the proposed tax, given already-high tax rates in the state and a budget surplus of more than $21 billion.
Forget the contaminated water and air quality, they have carbon taxes to collect!
Hungary’s migrant abuse is ‘matter of urgency,’ European agency finds
May offers UK lawmakers a vote on a second referendum
Oxford University to help disadvantaged gain admission
Frenchman in vegetative state kept alive after appeal to UN
Time to put you out of this misery.
"Why we google moving to other countries when the party we don’t like wins" by Rick Noack Washington Post, May 21, 2019
WASHINGTON — Late on Saturday came the announcement that crushed Australian liberals’ dreams of returning to power. Defying all expectations and polls, the center-right administration of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison managed to hold onto power, echoing the surprise victory of President Trump in 2016.
Beyond the unreliability of polls, there was another echo of 2016.
Unless it is India or Israel.
After Trump’s victory, disappointed Democrats eager to leave the country crashed the Canadian immigration website. Almost three years on, the same could be observed on the other side of the world on Sunday.
And yet they are all still here!
In New Zealand, where Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has managed to position herself as a global liberal role model despite governing a country with a population smaller than London’s, government servers registered a surge in interest to migrate there over the weekend.....
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Related: Man accused in Christchurch mosque shootings now faces terrorism charge
I'm so tired of agenda-pushing staged and scripted false flag fakes (imho), sorry.
"Last synagogue in Revere prepares to close its doors" by Daniel Grant Globe Correspondent, May 21, 2019
There will still be Jews in the city of Revere, but after Friday there will no longer be a synagogue for them to attend.
The city’s last temple, Temple B’nai Israel — established in 1906 — is closing, a victim of declining membership, not enough money, and too few congregants willing to take on the jobs that a mostly volunteer-run house of worship needs to keep going.
There once were three active synagogues in the city, which attracted Jewish immigrants from Russia and Eastern Europe. Congregation Ahavas Achim Anshe Sefarad closed in 1998 after nearly 80 years, and Congregation Tifereth closed in 2015 after 103 years. The old-timers died, and their descendants largely moved elsewhere.
In earlier days, the synagogues were right in the neighborhoods where Jews lived, but now B’nai Israel is what is called a “destination synagogue,” because people drive there.
The brick building on Wave Avenue, which dates to 1925, is being purchased by a Muslim group that plans to use it as a social and religious center.
I gue$$ they will $ell to anyone, 'eh?
The cemetery is being turned over to another group to manage, said Debby Cherry, president of the temple, and there is an effort to figure out what to do with the Torahs, prayer books, mantle, and ark.
The number of Jews in the United States is not declining, said Dr. Ira M. Sheskin, a professor in the department of geography at the University of Miami and director of the university’s Jewish Demography Project, holding out the number of 6.9 million, which has remained steady, but the situation for synagogues is less positive. Most of the losses are in smaller towns and cities, and closing a synagogue in effect leaves the congregants homeless.....
That's because “Jews don’t stay put because they are too busy or too old.”
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I $uppo$e the Globe's member$hip is in the same state as the synagogues, being that they are now writing the paper exclusively for Jewish supremacists while advancing their agenda.
"Federal authorities involved in probe of arson fires at Jewish centers in Arlington, Needham" by Travis Andersen Globe Staff, May 21, 2019
Federal prosecutors are now heading up the investigation into three recent arson fires at Jewish centers in Arlington and Needham that shocked both towns and prompted a massive solidarity rally Monday night.
“The US Attorney is the lead on this investigation,” said Jennifer Mieth, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Fire Services.
Here comes the cover up!
Related: Newly Released FBI Docs Shed Light on Apparent Mossad Foreknowledge of 9/11 Attacks
Just wondering why the Globe ignored that cover up, 'er, story.
Police officials said Friday that they’re trying to determine whether the fires in both communities are connected. Authorities last week released video surveillance footage of a suspicious person walking from the scene of the first Arlington blaze.
All three fires were quickly put out. No one was injured.....
Has the absolute stench of another self-inflicted false flag to promote the usual narratives of Jewish victimhood and Jews under threat.
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Related:
Swastika, threatening language found drawn on desk at Newton middle school
Anyone know what Rocky Taube has been up to?
Judge gives prosecutors more time in Kraft case
The Globe cleaned him up and wrapped him in a Jewish towel.
Boston protesters blast strict abortion laws passed by several states
The noon rally was part of a national wave of protests, called the ‘‘National Day of Action to Stop the Bans.’’
That is What She Said.
Related:
States sue over rule allowing clinicians to refuse abortions
Also see:
Movers damaged her grandmother’s vintage piano
Pianist crushed in Allston restaurant facade collapse sues
Family identifies girl, 13, pronounced dead at Lawrence hospital
This Mass. roast beef shop was rated one of the best in the country by People magazine
N.Y. lawyer, Calif. wine mogul plead guilty in college admissions case
Two new Boston school buildings on the horizon
Boston area housing market in full spring bloom
After 2017 sexual harassment complaints, union official now up for a promotion
Arts give Boston economy a $2b boost, report says
The region’s arts and culture sector contributes about $2 billion annually to Greater Boston’s economy, according to findings from a report conducted by the nonprofit group ArtsBoston. The report, sponsored by Bank of America, says area arts and cultural events attract roughly 21 million people every year, more than four times the combined attendance at Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox games.
It's a $elf-$erving report that belies belief!
"The Trump administration is preparing to announce another round of aid to farmers hurt by the trade war with China as soon as Thursday, people familiar with the plan said, a package of assistance that could exceed $15 billion. The outlines of the plan still could change, since President Trump can make adjustments any time before it’s officially announced....."
Related: Trump Administration Could Blacklist China's Hikvision,
Globe must have blacklisted that article from its website.
"Technology companies helped power stocks broadly higher on Wall Street Tuesday, snapping the market’s two-day losing streak. The rally followed the US government’s decision to temporarily ease off proposed restrictions on technology sales to Chinese companies. The news gave a boost to technology sector stocks, which took steep losses a day earlier when the Trump administration announced curbs on technology sales, aimed primarily at Chinese telecom gear maker Huawei....."
Really, what more is there to talk about?
Related: Singapore startup Biofourmis raises $35m, plans headquarters move to Boston
There $ure is plenty of money out there if you know where to look!
"Stanton T. Friedman, scientist who tracked UFOs, dies" by Richard Sandomir New York Times , May 21, 2019
NEW YORK — Stanton T. Friedman, whose conviction that extraterrestrials have arrived on Earth led him to leave his career as a nuclear physicist to lecture widely about alien visitations, died May 13 in Toronto. He was 84.
His family said he died of a heart attack at Toronto Pearson Airport on his way home to Fredericton, New Brunswick, from a speaking engagement in Columbus, Ohio.
That is one way to shut him up.
Mr. Friedman had worked for major corporations on projects like rockets and compact nuclear plants for space when he left the world of established science to become a prominent voice in the study of unidentified flying objects, or ufology, a field embraced by many but viewed by many more with skepticism.
Was that his mission?
“He was the ideal person for the role because he was a nuclear physicist, a rocket scientist — a genius — but he spoke the people’s language, and he didn’t put himself on a pedestal,” Kathleen Marden, one of Mr. Friedman’s co-authors, said in a telephone interview. Their book, “Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience,” chronicled her aunt and uncle’s supposed close encounter with aliens in New Hampshire.
In several books, many television appearances, and hundreds of speeches around the world, Mr. Friedman demonstrated little doubt that alien spaceships had come and gone and that extraterrestrials had walked the Earth.
“What this means,” he told The New York Times in 1987, “is that we humans are not the big shots we think we are.”
He argued that the US government had engaged in a “cosmic Watergate” to cover up evidence of alien landings, most notably the one that believers say took place in 1947 on a ranch near Roswell, N.M., spawning an enduring fascination with reports of alien encounters.
The real cover up is this stupid smokescreen to mask U.S. military projects and technology -- and so many people have bought it. The sheer ubiquitous of the issue in the ma$$ media is the tell!
Mr. Friedman was a civilian investigator of the Roswell incident and wrote about his findings with Don Berliner in the 1992 book “Crash at Corona: The US Military Retrieval and Cover-Up of a UFO.”
Mr. Friedman trusted in the veracity of many eyewitness accounts of alien visitations and abductions and accepted reports of burn circles, landing gear marks, and small footprints as evidence of flying saucer landings and takeoffs.
He happily debated doubters and debunkers.
During a radio appearance in 2004 on “Coast to Coast AM with George Noory,” Mr. Friedman faced off against Seth Shostak, senior astronomer of the SETI Institute, in Mountain View, Calif. SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) performs experiments to detect radio or light signals from space that might reveal the presence there of sophisticated beings.
“They want us to provide a body, and we want them to provide any kind of evidence that there’s anybody out there sending signals,” Mr. Friedman said.
Shostak said SETI had not found evidence of “cosmic company” on Earth.
“While he’s claiming that he’s found the evidence and they’re here, I don’t find that evidence terribly compelling,” Shostak said, adding that “if we do find something, it won’t be claims like the ufologists’, but claims that can be verified by many people in many ways where there will be no doubt.”
Stanton Terry Friedman was born July 29, 1934, in Elizabeth, N.J. His father, Louis, was a blue-collar worker, and his mother, Florence (Zeitlin) Friedman, was a homemaker.
Mr. Friedman earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics from the University of Chicago. He became something of an itinerant nuclear physicist, working on projects for General Electric, Westinghouse, TRW, and McDonnell Douglas.
His fascination with the possibility of extraterrestrial life began in 1958, when he read “The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects.”
The author, Edward Ruppelt, a former Air Force officer, had worked for a federal government investigation of possible UFO sightings called Project Blue Book.
That is where my print copy ended.
The rest of the article must have been abducted before disappearing from the sky.
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Also see: CIA Admits Alien Conspiracy
Confirming it is bullshit for mass consumption and diversion, same as the moon landing.
