Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon makes it simple enough for GOPers

Puppet Trump wanted his own puppet in Ukraine

Putin's puppet, Donald Trump, wanted to be like his daddy Vladdy. He pounced on the new president of Ukraine in the hope of having his own puppet, partially to impress and please Putin, but also to show that he's a powerful dictator, too.

The investigation of the Bidens and 2016 was not as important as having the head of a foreign state announce an investigation. The announcement could be pointed to by Trump over and over for as long as there was no conclusion from the sham investigation. With no actual investigation or conclusions, it would provide fodder for unending right-wing conspiracy theories and incitement.

If Ukraine's President Zelensky had done this one favor for Trump, the next favor would be easier to secure and Trump would have his very own puppet. Trump would no longer be the odd man out in the ring of dictators he so admires.

The whistleblower blew up the wannabe dictator's "perfect" plan. Trump got caught. Is it any wonder he rages about the whistleblower?

***IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY HEARING NOV 19 THREAD 2***

Link to 1st thread, with streams:
***IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY HEARING NOV 19 THREAD 1***

Axios: public hearings schedule, Tue, Wed, Thur

Republicans keep demanding a whistleblower. Schiff should give them one.

We owe it to Republicans to replace Chairman Schiff's gavel with a whistle.

Devin Nunes is bravely defending Trump. That's bad news for the president

Devin Nunes is bravely defending Trump. That's bad news for the president

by Richard Wolffe

The ex-dairy farmer isn’t exactly the cream of the cream: his bizarre claims on the president’s behalf have backfired

If you were on trial on national television, facing the possible loss of your job and the probable loss of what remains of your reputation, you might not place your fate in the hands of Devin Nunes.

Nunes is a one-time dairy farmer who now milks the bursting udders of an entire herd of conspiracy-minded cows.

Mad cow disease had the rare power to leap across species through an unusually mysterious vector known as a prion. Mad Devin disease appears similarly devastating to the human brain through an unusually mysterious vector known as Vladimir Putin.

The California congressman – who somehow qualified as the most senior Republican on the House intelligence committee – opened his defense of Donald Trump with a long moo about Moscow and the Democrats’ interest in the Mueller investigation.

[ ... ]

Reminder: Transcripts, etc. available ...

The transcripts and other documents related to the Ukraine impeachment inquiry are available at:

https://www.justsecurity.org/67076/public-document-clearinghouse-ukraine-impeachment-inquiry/

As reported by blaze on DU:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212666250

Examples:

Hill Deposition Excerpts released Nov 8

(Full transcript also available there)

LTC Vindman Deposition Excerpts released Nov. 8

(Full transcript also available there)

a reminder: those we elect resemble and represent the U.S.

We're nearly half-way through the term of the 116th Congress.

The Blue Wave of 2018 wasn't just about numbers. Democrats are changing the face of government. Our House now more closely resembles our neighborhoods. We are getting there, in spite of the obstacles.

"What happened to our wealth? They took it."

Homewreckers: How Wall Street, Banks & Trump’s Inner Circle Used the 2008 Housing Crash to Get Rich

We speak with investigative reporter Aaron Glantz about his new book “Homewreckers,” which looks at the devastating legacy of the foreclosure crisis and how much of the so-called recovery is a result of large private equity firms buying up hundreds of thousands of foreclosed homes. “Homewreckers: How a Gang of Wall Street Kingpins, Hedge Fund Magnates, Crooked Banks, and Vulture Capitalists Suckered Millions Out of Their Homes and Demolished the American Dream” reveals how the 2008 housing crash decimated millions of Americans’ family wealth but enriched President Donald Trump’s inner circle, including Trump Cabinet members Steven Mnuchin and Wilbur Ross, Trump’s longtime friend and confidant Tom Barrack, and billionaire Republican donor Stephen Schwarzman. Glantz writes, “Now, ensconced in power following Trump’s election, these capitalists are creating new financial products that threaten to make the wealth transfers of the [housing] bust permanent.” Aaron Glantzis a senior reporter at Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting. He was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize this year for his reporting on modern-day redlining.

[ ... ]

AARON GLANTZ: Well, first of all, I wanted to know. Eight million Americans lost their homes in the Great Recession. But they didn’t just disappear, right? So we live now in a society where the wealth gap between the richest one-tenth of 1% and the other 90% is bigger than it’s been in a hundred years. And so much of Americans’ wealth is in their homes, because we have very few other ways to save. So I wanted to know: What happened to these houses? Who profited off this mess? And that trail led me to a number of people who are in Donald Trump’s inner circle.

[ ... ]

What I wanted to know was what happened after. Right? We’ve been stuck in this country on this trauma of 2007, 2008, 2009. But now here we are in 2019. Ten years have passed. The unemployment rate is low. The president tells us everything is great. But people don’t feel like everything is great. So, you know, we have jobs, but what happened to our wealth? They took it. That’s what happened.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And also, the disproportionate impact that this loss of equity in all these homes had, especially on the African-American and Latino communities, which were even more dependent on home equity for what little wealth they had or net wealth they had.

AARON GLANTZ: What we see is that banks, like Steve Mnuchin’s bank, concentrated their foreclosures in communities of color. And then, when they started making loans again when the economy improved, they didn’t make loans to those communities. So they wiped out the wealth of these communities with foreclosure, but then, over a five-year period, Steve Mnuchin’s bank made three loans to help African Americans buy homes and 11 loans — this is national bank — helped three African Americans and 11 Latinos buy homes over five years.

And now Steve Mnuchin, as the treasury secretary, is in charge of regulating every American bank. And so, he and Donald Trump picked one of his deputies at OneWest Bank, Joseph Otting, for this position called comptroller of the currency, which basically is America’s top bank cop, who’s in charge of enforcing laws, like the Community Reinvestment Act, that are meant to stop redlining. So, this bank, which didn’t make any loans — hardly any — to communities of color is now in charge — you know, this leadership, under President Trump — of making sure that these anti-redlining laws are followed.

[ ... ]

Oct 4, south central KY and it did not get above 90F !

I've turned off the AC and opened the windows for the first time since at least June.

Damned Chinese hoax.