COTW: The Corroborated Whistleblower Complaint

Latest: AP reports that a second State Department official overheard a presidential phone call from gumba Gordon Sondland that was revealed by Ambassador Taylor in his televised testimony, yesterday. Taylor referred to his aide David Holmes, who has been summoned by the House Intelligence Committee.  The second witness to overhear the conversation is Suriya Jayantia, a career staffer based in Kiev.  She no doubt will also be called to testify, adding more evidence of Trumpillini's personal attempt to extort an investigation of Joe Biden from Ukraine in return for release of appropriated military aid.  The aid was eventually released, but only after OMB's withholding, directed by the Orange King, was discovered by senators.*

Current and former U.S. officials say Sondland’s use of a cellphone in a public place in Ukraine to speak with anyone in the U.S. government back home about sensitive matters, let alone the president, would be a significant breach of communications security. Fiona Hill, who served as the senior director for Russia at the National Security Council, said in a private hearing she found it [Sondland's lack of compliance with security protocol] deeply concerning and asked for someone from the Intelligence Bureau to “sit down with him and explain that this was a counterintelligence risk.” As usual, when Don Veto was asked about Sondland's communication, he could "not recall" the phone call that closely ties him to the Ukraine bribery scheme, "not even a little bit".  Perhaps his memory should be refreshed in public?  As Nancy put it succinctly, "If the president has something that is exculpatory--Mr. President, that means if you have anything that shows your innocence--then he should make that known. That’s part of the inquiry. And so far we haven’t seen that. But we welcome it.”  So does the nation.

{12/11/2019} For those political junkies out there getting ready to binge watch the public impeachment proceedings in the House, NPR has posted a useful version of the complaint [right] that moved the needle on the Hill.  The whistleblower's letter of August 12 is annotated with testimony that corroborates its contents.  NPR says, "...[this] annotation shows, most of the complaint has been corroborated during closed-door depositions of administration officials, through public statements and from a rough transcript of the call itself, released by the White House".  Repugnants will attempt to discredit the source of the complaint, and also attempt to divert attention to the former Vice President and his son's activities in Ukraine.  These arguments have already been refuted, so the last line of defense will be that the President's extortion attempt is not impeachable; clearly an argument NOT related to reality since the word "bribery" appears in the Constitution as an impeachable offense.  An even more despicable display of partisanship is their demand that the whistleblower's identity be publicly divulged by calling him to testify even though his anonymity is protected under federal law.

*Gordon Sondland, Trump’s ambassador to the European Union who was also immersed in the bribery scheme, tried to explain to Taylor, "that President Trump is a businessman. When a businessman is about to sign a check to someone who owes him something, the businessman asks that person to pay up before signing the check.”  The only problem with that mentalityt is that Trumpillini was not closing a mid-town real estate deal, but denying help to a nation state ally against a common aggressor. Besides that crucial contextual difference, what did the Ukrainians owe Trumpillini?  Defense Department official Laura Cooper testified that the Orange King directed the freeze without informing Congress, a violation of legal requirements. Ukrainians were being killed and wounded while Trumpillini used national security as a bargaining chip.  Apparently the aid was finally released after two months when Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, threatened to block $5 billion in Pentagon spending for 2020 if the aid wasn't given to Ukraine, and after the House began an impeachment investigation.

New South Wales Burns

Seventy-seven bushfires at last count are consuming large areas of New South Wales and Queensland along the coast.  About 100 homes have been destroyed and three people are dead, but the fire toll will go higher.  The metropolis of Sydney, not usually threatened by bush fires, has been issued a 'catastrophic' fire danger warning. The fires are larger and earlier in the season than before.  The question on people's mind is: what role has global warming played in this disaster? The question cannot be answered with a simple direct cause and effect relationship, but climate conditions that favor fire outbreak have been increasing. The chart shows the increase in extreme fire conditions over time.

Widespread drought has affected much of eastern Australia, the continent's most populated area.  Above-average temperatures now occur most years and 2019 had the fifth-driest start to the year on record, and the driest since 1970. January-to-August rainfall totaled 50 percent below average, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. In some places, drier-than-average weather dates back to 2017. Australia recorded its hottest month in January 2019.  High winds the week are expected to spread fires currently burning out of control.  Climate scientists have been warning for years that global climate change will exacerbate natural disasters including the frequency and intensity of wild fires.  A warmer climate dries out natural vegetation, making easier to burn.

Australian politicians have been downplaying any connection between the current conflagration [photo: Getty Images] and global warming including the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, who has advocated for the Australian coal industry, one of the world's largest.  The deputy prime minister blamed “raving inner-city lunatics” for linking the fires to climate change on national radio.  But the the scientific evidence shows clear links between trends in Australian climate, fire danger over time, and the likelihood of an escalation in fire risk in years to come.

"Toontime: To Russia With Love

credit: Kevin Siers, Charlotte Observer

This week Ambassador Sondland changed his story after giving his sworn deposition in which his account of the Ukraine exchange differed from other sworn accounts given by Ambassador William Taylor, Lt.Col. Vindmin, and George Kent¹. Faced with possible perjury charges, Sondland flipped his story in an addendum where he stated his ''recollection was refreshed", and that an investigation of the Bidens was a necessary condition for the release of approved military aid to Ukraine.  This confirmation by a Trump loyalist of a criminal conspiracy to withhold aid for political favors is actually continuation of a pattern of criminal behavior by Trump's gang that began months before the 2016 campaign. Paul Manafort, former campaign chair now convicted felon, was doing business with pro-Russia Ukrainians who had connections to the Kremlin, and knew of Russian efforts to influence US foreign policy by supporting Trump's bid for the presidency.

Candidate Trump was willing to accept Russian help, and Manafort knew this. (Trump Jr. to Russians at their Trump Tower meeting: “If it’s what you say I love it.”) That is why no one at a senior level in the campaign came forward to report Russian espionage activity to US authorities. (Trump to Stephanopolis: “I don't think in my whole life I've ever called the FBI. In my whole life....Give me a break.")   That is also why a false narrative that Ukraine was behind stealing the DNC emails was created for a cover story. There was no QPQ at that point because Il Douche was only a candidate, so all he could offer was illegal encouragement to Russian operatives working to influence the election.  (Trump to Russia: "I hope you able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing!") Once he was in power, and emboldened by the suppressed Mueller report, he attempted to extort foreign help to smear his putative 2020 political opponent. He created through his flying monkey, Rudy 'Ghouly', a shadow foreign policy to pressure Ukraine's government into investigating the Bidens.  The Ukrainians got the message: no investigation, no aid.²

So as much as Repugnant defenders want to minimize Trumpillini's betrayal of his oath and the Republic to a single phone call, his confessed extortion was merely a culmination of criminal conspiracy that began before his election to office three years ago.  The Trumpillini's gang in the Department of Barr nearly succeeded in burying the two year probe by a professional federal law enforcement officer, but the whole story will out as a consistent picture of deceit, disruption, collusion with a foreign power, and obstruction emerges from the public impeachment inquiry. At least that is what US Person hopes for the sake of the Republic because the adults have apparently left the room.  Public hearings begin Wednesday.

credit: Ed Wexler

1. George Kent, a State Department official present during the infamous July 25th phone call, tied Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to placing a hold on Ukraine's military aid at the direction of the Orange King. Mulvaney defied his congressional subpoena for testimony today, allowing the House impeachment inquiry to draw a negative inference of Mulvaney's participation in the extortion scheme.
2.This scenario is consistent with the facts now known, but it is also consistent with the way Don Veto took care of business in the mob-infested waters of 1980's New York construction industry.  According to the WaPo, "Throughout his early career, Trump routinely gave large campaign contributions to politicians who held sway over his projects, and he worked with mob-controlled companies and unions to build them".  In other words he played both sides of the legit fence. In 1985 he circumvented campaign finance laws to enable giving $150,000 to local candidates for office.  He did big business with S&A Concrete, a company owned by Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno, boss of the Genovese crime family, and Paul Castellano, boss of the Gambino family.  He was by no means alone cooperating in the pervasive corruption, but he certainly leveraged it for all it was worth, just as he has done with the office of President.

Condors Come Back

Critics of the conservation movement often complain that its a waste of time and effort to save species threatened with extinction--after all, extinction has been going on for millennia.  It falls on closed minds to reply that extinctions are increasing at an unnatural rate because of man and his exploitation of the planet.  The California condor's (Gymnogyps californianus) story is a successful one that proves conservation of a species does make a difference and can alter its fate.  The bird was reduced to just 27 wild individuals when an intensive campaign of captive breeding began in 1987. 

Once common to the entire west coast of North America, the vulture huddled on the edge of extinction in the central California mountains.  By the 1990's the Fish & Wildlife Service released its first captive bred birds into a sanctuary north of Santa Barbara.  Their release did not guarantee their survival; these birds suffered from the same plague as their extinct forebearers--lead shot.  The scavengers would eat carcasses of animals shot by farmers, ranchers and hunters and die from lead poisoning.  Since the release program began in 1992, 40% of the recorded birds have died by consuming lead. On July 1st, the state finally outlawed lead shot.  The conservation effort has not been inexpensive; an estimated $2 million is spent each year on the conservation of condors.  We have been rewarded for the investment as these majestic fliers, with wingspans of up to ten feet, are now gracing the Californian skies again.

Despite the setbacks, condors have reached a new milestone in their recovery.  In the Ventana mountains the condor population is now over 100 with some 276 living in the wild southwestern US.  The central California population has increased by 10% in just one year, aided by abundant food and new chicks coming out of the breeding program.  The condor is very close to reaching its recovery goal set by the USF&W in 1996 of 150 in California and 150 in Arizona and Utah, with 15 nesting pairs in each region.  When the species reaches that goal, there will be an effort to 'downlist' the bird from endangered to threatened.  Just another example of how the Endangered Species Act works to protect wildlife from an early exit.

Another Environmental Retreat

The regime, in its ongoing effort to dismantle environmental protection laws painfully established over the last decade, will announce a reduction of regulations limiting the amount of heavy metals that are allowed to leach from ash dumps created by coal power plants.  The new rules will relax requirements and completely exempt a significant number of plants from all regulation.The rules being overturned were passed during the previous administration after a containment pond in Tennessee burst, spilling more than 1.1 billion gallons of coal-ash slurry into nearby rivers and destroyed homes. In 2014 82,000 gallons spilled from a ruptured coal ash slurry pipe into North Carolina's Dan River.  Duke Energy, [photo] owner of the closed fossil fuel plant, paid a $6 million fine for violating clean water laws.  Industry supporters claim the regulations passed in the wake of these disasters were an "overreaction", and motivated by a desire to close fossil fuel facilities.

Environmental organizations say the proposed rollback is dangerous and a huge step backwards.  EPA says 1.1 million 'Mericans live within three miles of a coal plant. The 2015 rules set deadlines for plant owners to invest in modern waste treatment facilities to keep toxins out of local water sources, set minimum standards for storage structures, and monitor water quality.  However, they did not designate coal ash as a "hazardous substance", which it clearly is.  The old rules would have increased plant operating costs, but better protect public health from heavy metal exposure.  Heavy metals like lead, arsenic, selenium and mercury are very toxic and carcinogenic.  Around the nation there about 1,300 coal ash, the waste from burning coal, storage sites. About 130 tons are created each year.  A study by environmental groups, found 90 percent of the 265 coal plants required to test their groundwater near coal ash dumps discovered unsafe levels of at least one contaminant.   The old were rules were to go into effect in 2018, but were delayed until 2020 by industry hack, Scott Pruitt, who was forced to resign as EPA administrator for ethics violations.

COTW: Cognitive Disonance @ VWH

This weeks COTW is a billboard of insanity:

The above chart based on the latest computer models of rising sea levels due to global warming shows the number of coastal cities in danger of inundation by the middle of this century. By 2050 land that is home to 300 million around the globe will be covered in water by annual flooding. Frightening, but not as frightening as this next chart:

In a study of Il Douche's on-line screed since his inauguration, the newspaper of record determined that the Malignant One attacks in more than half of his tweets (11.000+).  The on-line social media platform has become his personal propaganda organ, one that is almost totally devoid of reality.  He has promoted conspiracies more than 1700 times. 

'Toontime: Next stop, Impeachment Town!

credit: Joe Heller
BC Idonwanna sez:  Untiil new polls come out...

Ms. Nancy finally pulled the string on King Orange this week.  In a historic vote that was only two short of a unanimous Democrat caucus, the full House voted to endorse the impeachment inquiry announced by the Speaker. Only one recovering Repugnant voted to for the resolution.  Notably, the vote came only after polls show the people are on board, and an Army lieutenant colonel* serving at the NSC substantiated the whistle blower's complaint in detail under oath.  Pressure from the left wing of the caucus to hold an impeahment inquiry had been building for months.  Way to hang, Ms. Nancy!

Repugnants will increasingly find it a kind of 'dry-drunk' defending the would-be mobster occupying the Very White House, as the Democrats deposit the mounting evidence against him in public.  His supporters have had to resort to a rather weak defensive line--"Yeah, yeah, but the wrongdoing is not severe enough to warrant removal".  Even this sociopathic narcissist is not depraved enough to shoot somebody on 5th Avenue in broad daylight, but he did confess to committing extortion while in office, which is a federal felony.  The de minimus line of argument demonstrates why it is so important to throw the entire litany of impeachable offenses at the raging elephant, including the obstruction of the Special Counsel's investigation, and not just depend on the contents of his now infamous "do us a favor" phone call to President Zelensky.  The Orange King is already in Missip' telling the rubes that "impeachment is an affront to you".  Clearly the only affront to the nation is his betrayal of his oath, and a willingness to exchange national security for kompromat from a foreign leader. (Mississippi's state flag has the confederate battle flag in its upper left quadrant, which says a lot about the state.)  The train may stop in the Senate on partisan grounds, but it is definitely headed to impeachment town in the House as predicted by yours truly, US Person.

credit: Christopher Weyant
Wackyddodle sez:  Brought to you by the Deep State: who ya' gonna' call?

*The optics of Col. Vindmin in his dress blues with a chest full of medals coming it to testify under oath in defiance of a regime order to boycott the hearings was made to order.  Just how low Repugnants are will to go to prop up their crumbling political hegemony was demonstrated when they accused Vindmin, a Ukranian Jew whose family fled to the US when he was three years old, of having 'divided loyalties'. The right wing tropes never change, they just get more outrageous.  Reactionaries were saying the same thing about JFK because he was a Roman Catholic 'papist'.