[NB: Check the byline, thanks! /~Rayne]

These things aren’t worth a full post but perhaps they’re worth a brief look. They bugged me when I ran across them — now it’s your turn.

~ 3 ~

The sketchy work former U.S. Attorney and now-former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta did on Jeffrey Epstein’s prosecution — a non-prosecution — looks worse as time goes by and we learn more about Epstein’s recidivism.

(Which really isn’t recidivism since he wasn’t prosecuted by the feds, yes? He continued business as usual unabated.)

But Acosta wasn’t the first U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida under the Bush administration. He replaced Marco Jimenez, conveniently in time to prosecute Jack Abramoff and investigate Jeffrey Epstein.

Jimenez’ departure to return to private practice in June 2005 didn’t draw much attention, though he was one of the relatively few USAs who served less than their full four-year term after appointment by the president. This seems odd given how much scrutiny the U.S. Attorneys received during the Bush administration due to “Gonzales Seven” scandal — the U.S. Attorneys dismissed en masse on December 7, 2006 by U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Jimenez wasn’t one of the attorneys summarily fired by Bush.

At the time both Marcy and I had speculated about possible unifying reason(s) why the U.S. Attorneys were terminated. One of them was the possibility some of the USAs were LGBTQ and/or might be sympathetic to LGBTQ targets in prosecutions. Another reason was related to the handling of energy cases like Enron, FERC corridors, fracking, and pipelines.

But it didn’t occur to me that another possible unifying reason was human trafficking.

New Mexico’s U.S. Attorney was fired with the rest of the “Gonzales Seven.”

And Epstein not only had a residence in south Florida but in New Mexico.

What a coincidence.

David Iglesias was the USA for New Mexico until December 2006, succeeded by his assistant Larry Gomez. Gomez never received a nomination by Bush with Senate approval; he served the rest of Bush’s term as acting USA. Iglesias wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times that he believed he and the rest of the “Gonzales Seven” were terminated for political reasons.

Two GOP members of Congress — Representative Heather Wilson and Senator Pete Domenici, both now out of office — had pressed Iglesias to prosecute a corruption case. There had also been pressure to investigate and prosecute voter fraud.

Epstein’s New Mexico ranch is now under investigation.

~ 2 ~

Speaking of New Mexico, I’ve had this squirreled away for a while because I wasn’t certain what to make of it last October.

The acting U.S. Attorney for New Mexico, James Tierney, entered an agreement with the Trump administration in July 2017 about its “zero tolerance” policy pertaining to the El Paso Sector. The program separating children from family members was piloted through New Mexico, beginning there nearly a year before it was rolled out to the rest of the country.

The El Paso Sector should not to be confused with city of El Paso, which is located in Texas. Texas also has four USAs.

Why was the agreement with New Mexico’s USA alone and not with the USAs for all the border states — Texas, Arizona, California, and New Mexico? Why with an acting USA instead of waiting for a Senate-approved appointee?

Note also that Damon Martinez, appointed by President Obama, was forced out as U.S. Attorney for New Mexico in March 2017. Tierney was the acting USA until Trump nominee John C. Andersen was approved by the Senate in February 2018.

Sure would like to know what the trend is in New Mexico for human trafficking prosecutions.

I hope like hell children separated from their families or unaccompanied haven’t been trafficked out of U.S. concentration camps while the federal government looks the other way.

~ 1 ~

And now back to a tangent related to Epstein, who once worked for now-defunct investment bank Bear Stearns before he opened his own financial management services firm.

This is really more of a reminder, I should say: Trump and/or his organization had obtained alternative financing through Bear Stearns, some of which was tied up in the beginning of the 2008 crash.

Fusion GPS’ Glenn Simpson’s January 2018 testimony before the House Permanent Subcommittee on Intelligence mentioned Trump having had relationship with Bear Stearns:

[SIMPSON]… There’s the Trump vodka business that was earlier. And then ultimately, you know, what we came to realize was that the money was actually coming out of Russia and going into his properties in Florida and New York and Panama and Toronto and these other places.

And what we, you know, gradually begun to understand, which, you know, I suppose I should kick myself for not figuring out earlier, but I don’t know that much about the real estate business, which is I alluded to this earlier, so, you know, by 2003, 2004, Donald Trump was not able to get bank credit for — and if you’re a real estate developer and you can’t get bank loans, you know, you’ve got a problem.

And all these guys, they used leverage like, you know, — so there’s alternative systems of financing, and sometimes it’s — well, there’s a variety of alternative systems of financing. But in any case, you need alternative financing.

One of the things that we now know about how the condo projects were financed is that you have to — you can get credit if you can show that you’ve sold a certain number of units.

So it turns out that, you know, one of the most important things to look at is — this is especially true of the early overseas developments, like Toronto and Panama — you can get credit if you can show that you sold a certain percentage of your units.

And so the real trick is to get people who say they’ve bought those units, and that’s where the Russians are to be found, is in some of those pre-sales, is what they’re called. And that’s how, for instance, in Panama they got the credit of — they got a — Bear Stearns to issue a bond by telling Bear Stearns that they’d sold a bunch of units to a bunch of Russian gangsters.

And, of course, they didn’t put that in the underwriting information, they just said, we’ve sold a bunch of units and here’s who bought them, and that’s how they got the credit. So that’s sort of an example of the alternative financing. … [bold mine, excerpt pages 95-96]

We already know Trump and Epstein were friendly — enough so to party together. Was there some relationship between Epstein’s financial management firm and Trump’s business which might have helped Trump obtain access to Bear Stearns even while Trump was having difficulty getting credit elsewhere?

~ 0 ~

This is an open thread. What little stray things popped up recently that aren’t worth a post by themselves?

[NB: Note the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]

I was doing my usual day’s end wrap up routine — shutting off the lights, checking the windows, reading the headlines to make sure the planet hadn’t blown up before I shut off my computer.

And this bullshit came up at Google News, just below the Epstein-Acosta coverage:

I’ve seen in my Twitter feed all day the hullabaloo about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ chief of staff’s remarks and the subsequent flurry of feedback between different factions among the House Democrats. Some of it is hotly reactionary, some of it is measured, and a lot of it swings wildly in between.

But that snapshot of my Google News front page is EXACTLY what the real problem is: the internecine conflict is a fulcrum on which the right-wing and foreign agents can act to divide the party at a time when it can least afford it.

And the right-wing media like Fox News is using that same point for its own amusement and profit.

Even neutral-to-left media is using the tensions to gin up clicks and increase readership.

They have zero interest in the manifold crises on which the entire spectrum of Democrats — from stick-in-the-mud conservadems to hot-under-the-collar progressives — must work together. The media is only in this for fun and profit.

Meanwhile there’s a wholly corrupt, malignant narcissist intent on undermining everything on which our country was founded. House Democrats need to quit their circular firing squad and get their heads together. They need to focus on that wretch and the debris field he’s making of our nation instead of allowing themselves to be used as a profit center by the media.

Focus on the fact only 86 House Dems have committed to supporting an impeachment inquiry. ~132 more votes are needed to pass a resolution kicking off the process.

We are now nearly 191 days into the 116th Congressional term. Trump continues to lock up children in cages and take babies from their parents at the border, leaving them in concentration camp conditions which wouldn’t be tolerated for dogs. He continues to trash the Constitution from threatening war to ignoring Supreme Court decisions. That an impeachment inquiry hasn’t already been launched reflects badly on the entirety of House Democrats, from Speaker Pelosi to the 2018 Blue Wave freshmen.

~ ~ ~

This weekend I have a couple of voters staying with me who identify as independents. They tend to vote for Democrats but they won’t commit to being Democrats. They’re 25 years old, college-educated, and they actually watched the Democratic presidential candidates debates a couple weeks ago, rushed home from work to make sure they caught both nights in full.

These young people are fed up. They’re worried, angry, disgusted. They want real and rational leadership, especially because they’re deeply concerned about the pace of climate change.

They are NOT impressed by the inability of House Democrats to pull themselves into a cohesive cohort to stop Trump.

The more senior House Dems need to understand social media presence and follower count may not convert to votes on the House floor now, but these convert to votes in primaries next year. They convert to many small donations online between now and November 2020 as well as shoe leather when canvassing and GOTV matter. These two independents visiting me are exactly the people who’ll be persuaded by what they read in their Twitter feed and watch at YouTube; they have the disposable income to make regular donations. They’re not impressed by representatives who suck up to corporations over individuals especially when there’s campaign donations involved. They’re impressed by accessible representatives who do their homework and then do their best to ensure government oversight.

They want House Democrats to get their act together and stop Trump.

None of the tweeted and reported bullshit I saw being slung between House Democrats gets them any closer to doing what the 2018 Blue Wave told Democrats needed to be done. I don’t have a good explanation for these young voters as to when House Dems will pull out of their navel-gazing spiral. I can only hope it’s soon.

This is an open thread.

[NB: Check the byline, thanks! /~Rayne]

FIFA Women’s World Cup Final will be played today, Sunday at 11:00 a.m. ET/5:00 p.m. CET at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Lyon, France.

U.S. meets the Netherlands which won playoff match 50 against Sweden this past Wednesday in extra time, 1-0.

Megan Rapinoe is expected to start; she was unable to play in match 49 against England due to a minor hamstring injury.

This is Netherlands’ second World Cup competition; the final pits them against three-time World Cup champions.

I’ll add links here to scoring and any alternative live feeds I can find as soon as FIFA updates information on the match so that sports news outlets can access it. The match will be streamed on Fox Sports and Telemundo.

CBS Sports shared a link to FuboTV which will stream the final live. You can watch it on FuboTV if you sign up for a free trial. Kind of funny that CBS is promoting a streaming partner since it doesn’t have the license for FIFA WWC itself.

There are two men’s finals scheduled for exactly the same time slot, by the way, one attributed to a “clerical error.” This is total bullshit, yet another typical patriarchal erasure of women.

In anticipation of the match you might check out these articles:

— Netherlands beat Sweden, will face U.S. in final

— The USWNT will play the Netherlands in the World Cup final. Here’s what you need to know

— Opinion: Messages matter, and teams in World Cup final send good one with female coaches by Nancy Armour, USAToday

— So the President F*cking Hates My Girlfriend by Sue Bird

— I helped spark the Rapinoe-Trump war. Trust me, put your money on the soccer star by David Hirshey, LAT

— Opinion: USWNT’s Megan Rapinoe is living her patriotism at World Cup. What’s your excuse? by Nancy Armour, USAToday

UPDATE — 11:34 a.m. —

The Guardian has a live coverage page for the match.

Here’s the Twitter Moments page for the match.

Last year when I wrote a post for the Fourth of July holiday I shared the full text of the Declaration of Independence.

Since that post our country slid increasingly backwards toward an autocratic monarchy, losing sight of the reasons why this nation’s founders threw off a long train of abuses and usurpations, dissolving the American colonies’ relationship with Britain.

Today in our streets fought for and paved by the American people, a belligerent, petty and abusive tyrant who obtained and holds his office by questionable means will have the military parade he has envied other autocrats.

Across town his minions in the so-called Department of Justice will continue to chip away at the Constitution in search of some means to deny to persons within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws in the execution of the 2020 U.S. Census.

And persons of color who’ve fled to the U.S. seeking asylum from violence will continue to suffer inhumane treatment at the hands of federal employees who swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution including the same equal protection spelled out in the Fourteenth Amendment.

(Do take note there have been no raids by ICE ejecting white birth tourists like the Russians in Florida. No Congressional caucuses will find these birth parents in American concentration camps.)

Noting the grim slide we should recall this holiday has always been aspirational. It may mark the day when the republic’s birth began but this nation has always been in a state of becoming.

We have yet to form a perfect union; we can only work toward perfecting it.

To this end it’s worth revisiting this year a historic address by Frederick Douglass delivered on July 5, 1852 — nine years before the Civil War began, when the country was 76 years old. He did not stint when reminding his audience the holiday observed meant little to slaves:

… What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.

Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival. …

Our shouts of patriotic fervor ring hollow today when one thinks of the undenounced tyrant occupying our White House making a mockery of this nation of laws through his numerous frauds and manifold obstructions while willfully, shamelessly persecuting helpless children and their families, and ignoring the thousands of American deaths he has caused through his bad faith execution of office. Revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, indeed.

As grim as things are today, it cannot be more so than it was for Douglass who could not know as he spoke that it would be another thirteen years before slaves would be emancipated, or that it would be another 113 years before the Voting Rights Act would pass Congress, to secure the right to vote for persons of color.

Or that we would still be fighting voter suppression of minority voters 167 years later even this week as the Supreme Court failed to protect minority voters’ rights and the same petty tyrant rejects his oath to protect and defend the Constitution including its Census of all persons.

Somehow Douglass, an escaped slave himself, remained optimistic:

… Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. “The arm of the Lord is not shortened,” and the doom of slavery is certain. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. …

What lies ahead is not as dark and unknown as that which lay before Douglass in July 1852. We have seen better if not perfect. It can be had again and improved upon with a re-dedication to the principles the founders laid out in the Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution.

We must recall our nation’s identity began with a shared belief that we are all created equal, that we are endowed with certain unalienable Rights including Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Seeking to establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, we instituted a government to secure our inalienable rights and these common interests.

We can and will check this government of and by the people when it fails us just as we checked a monarch in 1776, just as we’ve checked executives and other elected office holders who have failed their oaths. We have continually refreshed our representatives and justices to the same end.

As we have for 243 years we still have work to do. Ted Kennedy spoke of the ongoing nature of this nation’s mission when he said, “For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.”

Recommitting to the American dream, I leave off with hope that we can and will continue to pursue a more perfect union.

Wishing you and yours a safe Fourth of July. Consider this an open thread.

[NB: Check the byline, thanks! /~Rayne]

Vice President Mike Pence was scheduled to travel to New Hampshire yesterday. That didn’t happen.

Source close to VP tells me:
“Something came up and the VP had to be back at the White House. It is not a cause for alarm. “. We await more information on @vp abrupt change of travel plans that canceled or postponed NH event.

— Kelly O’Donnell (@KellyO) July 2, 2019

Nearly 24 hours later this still smells really fishy.

Pence was scheduled to speak at 1:20 p.m. EDT at an addiction treatment center about the opioid crisis. Prepared remarks sounded less like an attack on the Sackler family, responsible for manufacturing opioids in the U.S., and more like an excuse for the crimes against humanity perpetrated along the Mexican border (because so many families with babies must surely be carrying fentanyl into the country).

Details are sketchy about when and how Pence’s trip was canceled. There were reports that Air Force 2 was already in the air and called back mid-flight; some of these reports were based on feedback from Pence’s aide Randy Gentry:

Pence Aide Randy Gentry: “Air Force 2 was heading this way. There’s been an emergency call back. The Vice President was asked to return to Washington so at this time we’re going to cancel today’s event.” https://t.co/eBdX6GOBMJ

— Alison King NBC10 Boston (@AlisonNBCBoston) July 2, 2019

White House spokesman Judd Deere told AP that “Something came up and the VP needed to be in D.C.,” “there is no cause for alarm.”

Two more anonymous White House officials told AP that the matter was not national security-related or related to a health issue.

Whatever happened caught the Veep’s staff by surprise based on their flip-flopping messages:

Pence’s COS Marc Short told @meridithmcgraw that the Vice President was on the plane but it didn’t take off. Then he turned around, back to the White House. He told her we’ll find out “in a few weeks” what happened.

— Tara Palmeri (@tarapalmeri) July 2, 2019

What could have happened at the White House to cancel Pence’s speech on such short notice — the room in which he was to speak was already packed, waiting his arrival — and subsequent confusing press handling?

Some reports noted that Putin had a cancellation of his own nearly simultaneously with Pence, causing a lot of idle speculation and possibly some disinformation.

A fire aboard a Russian research submarine killed 14 aboard the vessel. But the timing of the actual fire and Pence’s reversal don’t sync. The fire was on July 1 and Putin offered remarks about the fatal event yesterday according to the U.S. Naval Institute news outlet.

Yet others attributed the problem to a local problem in New Hampshire after reports of gunfire at Pease Air National Guard Base, located a circuitous 50 miles northeast from where Pence was to speak and 50 miles east of the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport where Pence was scheduled to arrive before his engagement at Granite Recovery Center.

None of this adds up and all stinks of manufactured fog. We’ll have to hope the press remembers to follow up with Pence’s chief of staff in a couple weeks.

There was one other key event yesterday that did not affect Pence directly but could easily have triggered a malignant narcissist’s meltdown.

Sometime after 11:00 a.m. yesterday news outlets reported the House Ways and Means Committee had filed suit against the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service to obtain Trump’s tax returns.

Complaint via ABC News on Scribd

I imagine somebody in the Oval Office is squirming about Congress crossing the red line.

Another tetchy subject may be the Second Circuit’s order yesterday unsealing the summary judgment record in the Jeffrey Epstein case; additional sealed materials are now subject to a particularized review for release to public.

NEW: As expected, the Second Circuit orders the unsealing of a tranche of files related to wealthy sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his underage victims.

Doc, h/t @MikeScarcella: https://t.co/SmM3KGa3fL

Background from the arguments via @CourthouseNews: https://t.co/kxWdcYVL1z

— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) July 3, 2019

Is somebody worried their name will come up in the unsealing process?

What other events might have created enough havoc in the White House that forced Pence to reverse his trip and his staff to perform communications contortions with the reason to be known “in a few weeks”?

This is an open thread.

[NB: Check the byline, thanks! /~Rayne]

I am putting up an open thread because 1) I need a break from all the heavy, and 2) Megan Rapinoe and the U.S. team are goddesses, and 3) a certain Brit needs to eat a shit sandwich.

This guy, specifically:

Ms Rapinoe sure does love herself. Can’t wait to see our Lionesses dent that stupendous ego. pic.twitter.com/w5FzcnXvGQ

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) June 28, 2019

What a massive wanker. This misogynistic prat has no problem when men take pride in their sports:

Hmm whatever could the difference be pic.twitter.com/BqJTr7zCdk

— badly drawn bee 🐝 (@soapachu) June 30, 2019

Megan Rapinoe didn’t start today; the score is now US 2, England 1.

And the score off the field:

The secondary ticket market for #USA–#FRA is exploding. Women’s World Cup TV audiences around the world are setting unexpected records. USWNT revenues exceeded USMNT’s for 3 years. The message is clear for FIFA and national federations:

Pay. The. Women.pic.twitter.com/MrpQ6h1pWE

— Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) June 26, 2019

Ridiculous. Pay the women.

Have at it.

UPDATE — 11:45 p.m. 02-JUL-2019 —

Do you smell something burning?

UK will not recover from this burn. This is worse than Brexit. https://t.co/z2QotB7fnQ

— Jemaine Clement (@AJemaineClement) July 3, 2019

[NB: Check the byline, thanks. Update at bottom of post. /~Rayne]

You may have been following the impeachment inquiry whip count posted here last week.

You may also notice though we agree that an impeachment inquiry is necessary, not everybody at this site agrees how to go about it.

All the shouting and the namecalling won’t change this fact: With 433 active House seats it will take 218 votes (allowing 1 safety vote) to pass a resolution to begin an impeachment inquiry; we are now at 85 votes or 39% of the necessary votes.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could try to put this up for a vote right now but she’d lose. It’d be obvious to that corrupt orange monster and his evil minions there was absolutely no Congressional check on his power. Trump, his minions and sponsors would perceive this failure as a permission slip to continue their crime spree, possibly ramping up to even worse.

One thing can change this dynamic.

You.

You can raise hell with your intransigent representative if they are a Democrat who has not yet offered their support for an impeachment inquiry. You can still raise hell with your GOP representative just so they know we are still expecting them to perform to the letter of their oath of office.

You can also identify a primary candidate running against the most resistent representatives, make a donation to them, volunteer to help their campaign, and then call your intransigent rep and let them know you are going to ensure they are primaried because they are failing their oath of office.

You can share Law Works’ production of The Investigation recorded last week if friends and family haven’t read the Mueller report and don’t understand that Trump obstructed justice. Now bmaz thinks this production was a stunt but treat it as a podcast: talk a friend or family member into a long car ride over the holiday and weekend, and play The Investigation while you’re on the road. Talk about the report and the obstruction — and then persuade them to help make calls.

About those rallies outside media offices: we could have rallies outside local offices of members of Congress, but there’s no guarantee media will treat these as newsworthy. They didn’t cover any of MoveOn’s rallies this month for example. So hold them at media offices, like outside the biggest radio or television stations in your market. Make it impossible to avoid coverage. I’d like to tell you to avoid the Sinclair-owned ones but if the local station picks up the story, it’s a double win. If you organize one with a group be sure to prepare clear, succinct talking points and have a designated spokesperson deliver them.

You can wallpaper your municipality with home printed materials to drum up more support. Feel free to use this graphic:

Post it at the library, grocery store, coffee shop, wherever there’s a bulletin board open for public use.

Is this an old school approach? Sure, but let’s face it — the new school efforts aren’t breaking through.

It’s up to you. And you, and you.

Let’s roll.

Congressional switchboard: (202) 224-3121

Updated whip count follows below; share in comments any new announcements by House members throwing support behind an impeachment inquiry.

A word to leaders of certain activist organizations who’ve been dogging Nancy Pelosi: it’s YOUR organizational leadership failing this country if you haven’t persistently encouraged your members to focus on getting the 218 House votes needed. Harassing Pelosi doesn’t make it likely the outstanding 133 vots will turn up; it makes it more likely they will hold out longer to avoid the harassment they’ve seen aimed at Pelosi. Jesus Christ, use your fucking brains. No dog is going to willingly show up for a whipping they’ve seen another dog take; they’ll run and hide.

Carrots are good as well as sticks; while your organization badgers Pelosi for fundraising now, keep in mind the entire House must raise money to run in 2020. Reward the representatives who are committing to voting for an impeachment inquiry with donations.

This is an open thread.

UPDATE — 1:00 p.m. 02-JUL-2019 —

Updated spreadsheet with count. Note that 16 of 25 Democratic House Judiciary Committee members are now in support of an inquiry since last week — that’s 67%.

Still zero GOP support save for Justin Amash; meanwhile the RNC is dishing out tickets for a non-campaign campaign event using taxpayer funded resources limiting access to a taxpayer-funded Fourth of July holiday. Surprised none of these spineless leeches are sucking up to Moscow for the holiday.

[NB: As always, check the byline. Thanks! /~Rayne]

Tonight only at 9:00 p.m. EDT (sorry, Rachel Maddow) the (nonprofit-?) organization Law Works will stream a live play based on the Mueller Report.

Read about the program at Variety, which calls this a “star-studded” “live reading” of the report.

This is one way to educate a portion of the public who can’t or won’t read the Special Counsel’s report. One might wonder if members of Congress might give this a shot or if they will continue to avoid the truth about the Trump campaign and administration.

If you happen to stream this Law Works’ production, share your thoughts here.

This is an open thread.

UPDATE — 9:15 p.m. EDT —

Running into 500-502 errors at Law Works’ site. Streams a little jerky through their Twitter account.

[HAPPENING NOW] Watch #TheInvestigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts streaming LIVE right now:https://t.co/59WqWBNcpP #MuellerReport https://t.co/NXgE0ojxwi

— Law Works (@LawWorksAction) June 25, 2019

[NB: Check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]

Some crazy bullshit happened last evening, probably while our fearless Agent Orange Chaos was under the influence of anti-anxiety medication/two scoops/Hannity’s fluffery:

President Trump approved military strikes against Iran in retaliation for downing an American surveillance drone, but pulled back from launching them on Thursday night after a day of escalating tensions https://t.co/Icup7tUDl9

— NYT At War (@NYTimesAtWar) June 21, 2019

This is like a half-assed Gulf of Tonkin event, a deliberately staged precursor to war. The Gulf of Tonkin was the rationale for the Vietnam War which resulted in 58,318 dead and 303,644 wounded U.S. military personnel and nearly 4,000,000 total dead, along with billions in defense expenditures.

It’s not like we haven’t seen other similar bullshit lies leading us into war, and some of the key lies propelled by the same news outlet quoted above, written by NYT’s Judith Miller. NYT has clearly prepped itself for more of the same — just look at the specialty Twitter account it set up called “NYTimesAtWar.”

We’re being dragged into a wholly unnecessary war because other non-US factions want to use our military for their ends. We have total shit for soft power right now because Trump doesn’t believe in diplomacy unless he’s conducting it with some other Big Authoritarian Man[™]. He will definitely trash anything the previous administration negotiated as part of the JCPOA (read: something a black man did). Trump’s also pliable depending on when he’s approached and by whom — like this propaganda by Fox News yesterday catching him first thing in the morning when he watches television, conditioning his responses for the day:

This is what Donald Trump saw on Fox and Friends this morning. If it does not concern you, it should. pic.twitter.com/gg445ncTr9

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) June 20, 2019

And again today, after the attack last night was canceled, Fox News is again beating the drum for war and tacitly questioning Trump’s manhood:

Brian Kilmeade: “They blow up 4 tankers and we do nothing. When they blow up our drone that costs $130 million and we do nothing. We know it’s not going to end there. So at some point, in the Middle East, no action looks like weakness, and weakness begets more attacks.” pic.twitter.com/fL6kLVnLeO

— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) June 21, 2019

Who else was working on Trump’s head all day yesterday, pushing this bullshit narrative based on manufactured evidence?

Thankfully the House has finally voted this Wednesday to end the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) which has been used to support all manner of military action against real and claimed terrorist threats:

The House of Representatives voted today to repeal the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). Presidents have used the AUMF to justify never-ending wars that lack Congressional approval.

This is the first time in nearly 18 years that a chamber of Congress has repealed this law. The measure, sponsored by Rep. Barbara Lee (CA), was included in the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 2968). Designed to take effect eight months after being signed, Congress would need to pass a new AUMF or the administration would need to remove military personnel from current conflicts during that time.

Prescient timing, or no? Whatever the case, if factions within the Trump administration were going to rely on the 2001 AUMF to execute their attacks on Iran, the support is gone in the House.

This is where YOU come in. The Senate hasn’t voted on the Defense Appropriations Act including the rescindment of the 2001 AUMF; it could be stalled once again on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s desk. Stalled or not, the Senate needs to hear from its constituents about this absurd run up to war — denounce this incompetent attempt at launching war without adequate Congressional approval and ask for an investigation into whatever happened last evening to launch an attack without a legitimate AUMF and then reversed the attack mid-flight. This behavior is irrational and only more likely to trigger events the American people have no desire to see happen.

If you need another briefing and a script for making your calls to your senators, visit @Celeste_pewter’s TinyLetter page.

Congressional switchboard: (202) 224-3121

Do call your House reps and praise them if they supported the rescindment and admonish them if they didn’t. They need to know constituents are paying close attention.

The really scary/aggravating part of last night’s near-miss was that fossil fuel corporations can’t be happy about this. If they aren’t happy and they weren’t consulted, who’s running our foreign policy besides a guy responsible in no small part for hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths in the Iraq War and another Christianist doofus too stupid to realize he’s being used as a pawn by other non-Christian geopolitical forces?

This is an open thread.

[NB: Check the byline, thanks! Updates at the very bottom. /~Rayne]

CNN published a report this weekend tallying the House Democrats who have already expressed support in one way or another for an impeachment inquiry. The head count stood at 63 out of 235 Democrats on Saturday, along with lone Republican Justin Amash (R-MI).

There are many possible reasons why House Democrats haven’t yet expressed support for a Constitutionally empowered inquiry, not the least of which is simple chickenshit worry about polling for the 2020 race. I say chickenshit because 2018 was a huge wave and the reasons which drove that wave have not subsided. They have only increased in intensity.

Can you think of anyone in your circle of friends and family whose taxes have gone down since the Trump tax bill passed? Can you think of anyone who’s found their grocery bill or their rent has gone down? What about medical bills — has anyone you know experienced a drop in prescription drug costs or health care insurance premiums?

And what of other matters like personal privacy or the ability to vote? Have those matters improved for the average Americans you know?

Now we can add more rural Americans to the discontented having been ignored while their states have been inundated, just as coastal residents in hurricane-damaged states have also gone without timely attention and aid.

The blue wave will continue. Its power needs to be focused. We have some time to address that. But we also need to develop that focus with more effective investigations into the Trump administration’s public corruption and abuses of power as well as obstruction of justice and oversight. An impeachment inquiry will provide the teeth necessary to obtain evidence and testimony, and it’s well past time to get the House Dems on board.

Here’s the whip list below — I will update it as I see reports in the media.

Your job as a citizen is to exercise your civic duty and contact your representative to find out where they stand on an impeachment inquiry, and to convey your opinion supporting one.

Do share your results in comments; we’ll watch to see how long it takes for the media to catch up with any changes in this whip count.

Let’s roll, people. Congressional switchboard: (202) 224-3121

Side note: Have you ever noticed how many members of Congress are Juniors or II/III/IV in their family?

None will be women.

UPDATED — 12:00 a.m. 18-JUN-2019 —

Rep. Katie Porter from CA-45, a moderately conservative district including Orange County, threw her support behind an impeachment inquiry.

I saw a mention of 67 Dems now supporting an inquiry but I only have 64. If you know of any other House members who have now said they support an impeachment inquiry, please let me know. Thanks.

UPDATED — 5:00 p.m. 19-JUN-2019 —

Thanks to community member harpie who shared a link to NBC’s latest whip count which showed 66 House Dems and 1 House GOP member supporting an impeachment inquiry. NBC’s list deviated from CNN’s in that NBC did not include Brenda Lulenar Lawrence (D-MI) and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX). Newly added supporters are in boldface.

[1] NBC also showed Harley Rouda as a Yes in a previous iteration but has now offered a correction:

CORRECTION (May 30, 2019, 1:25 p.m. ET): An earlier version of this article misstated the position of Rep. Harley Rouda, D-Calif., on beginning an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. Rouda has said he supports an impeachment inquiry only if Trump does not comply with congressional subpoenas, not before.

Nice fence sitting, Rouda, hope your pants are adequately padded. Does this include obstruction by staff/ex-staff who refuse to comply with subpoenas or no? Anybody in Rouda’s district want to call and find out which side of the fence Rouda is on today after Hope Hicks refusal to cooperate with the House?

UPDATED — 5:00 p.m. 19-JUN-2019 —

Adding Brian Higgins (D-NY) as a Yes:

Obstruction of justice is an impeachable offense. The multiple instances laid out in the Mueller report necessitate that the House launch an impeachment inquiry. pic.twitter.com/Y6wERZyorS

— Brian Higgins (@RepBrianHiggins) June 19, 2019

UPDATED — 7:30 p.m. 20-JUN-2019 —

Community member harpie shares these latest additions to the Yes column:

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)

Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-CA)

Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY)

And community member P.J. Evans shares this link reporting Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) has also joined the Yes chorus.

Productive day on the Yes front. Wonder how much was because of Hope Hicks’ and White House intransigent responses to questioning. House GOP caucus is still fully behind the scofflaw-in-chief, save for Justin Amash (D-MI).

UPDATED — 7:45 a.m. 21-JUN-2019 —

I’ve made a change to the spreadsheet to indicate which members of the House Judiciary Dems support an impeachment inquiry. 13 out of 24 members currently do — that’s critical mass. Chair Jerry Nadler is a likely supporter given his submission of a resolution last year for impeachment, but as chair he may be obligated to hold back until he has reached some threshold internal to the committee. Here’s the breakdown:

If your representative is one of the House Judiciary Committee Dems who have not yet thrown their support behind an impeachment inquiry, your calls matter the most right now. With all HJC Dems on board, Nadler has the political will power aligned to begin pursuit of an inquiry.

UPDATED — 1:30 p.m. 21-JUN-2019 —

Add another Yes on the board supporting impeachment inquiry:

INBOX: @LacyClayMO1 is cosponsoring resolution to impeach President Trump (https://t.co/xdG32vABSm) — and another resolution to launch an impeachment inquiry (https://t.co/M1TSE6J4n4): pic.twitter.com/KlZHyBt69b

— Jason Rosenbaum (@jrosenbaum) June 21, 2019

UPDATED — 5:50 p.m. 21-JUN-2019 —

Two more House Dems now support an impeachment inquiry — one of them is a House Judiciary member, too. That’s 14 of 24 or 58% of the committee now behind an inquiry.

Rep. Debbie Muscarsel-Powell (D-FL):

Read my thoughts on why I support opening an impeachment inquiry into the President >> https://t.co/RX8U85Wgoq pic.twitter.com/XIIJMAbnmw

— Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (@RepDMP) June 21, 2019

And Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) changed his position.

If you call your representative, please share the results of your call in comments. Thanks. If comments close here soon because the post gets knocked down by other content, I will put up a new Whip It post.