BC TRUMP
Saved by @jacobhtml

Oh huh. Trump's defense isn't going to address the impeachment case (and seems to ignore his demands of Mike Pence again).

 Michael Van der Veen pretending that 61 losses is normal.

And, again, note that he didn't address Trump's unconstitutional request of Mike Pence.
Van der Veen lies about who asked for recounts in 2016.

And lies about Hillary's claims about Russia.
Trump's video is made in the style of propaganda, taken out of context.
Van der Veen now trying to make much of tweets Trump didn't send until hours too late.
"There had never been mob-like behavior" at Trump's earlier rallies?

Has this guy ever met Corey Lewandowski?
So when Trump is prosecuted we should expect Van Der Veen to back a 20 year sentence for Trump?

Again, Van Der Veen is not addressing the actual case.
Van Der Veen is now blaming someone who's not the Commander in Chief from protecting the country.

And he's misrepresenting the requests from LE.
The press should use Van der Veen's invocation of known provocateur John Sullivan and his false claim he's Antifa to ask why his brother, James Sullivan, a guy with ties to Proud Boy who was coordinating with Rudy, hasn't been arrested.
Note: To the extent that this was planned by Trump, it is actually very damning. I've been wondering if Kash Patel planned to use his failure to respond to the riot by referring back to June. This suggests that's the case.
Cancel culture! Drink!
Trump's lawyer lies about how many people voted for Trump.
Can we agree that the use of word "unity" here is sickly fascist?
That's it! They're not going to address:
1) Anything before January 6
2) Anything involving Mike Pence
3) Why Trump didn't do anything ON January 6

There's your headline. They have no response to the facts.
Reminder: John Sullivan's brother James APPEARS to have been in direct contact with Rudy, and he set up that false flag Antifa attack then.
BREAKING: Trump's lawyers say they can't trust the integrity of Trump's tweets!
David Schoen now trying to start a false conspiracy theory about SEKURITY VIDEO WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?
David Schoen making the case that Trump should be called as a witness.
Any bets on how many times Trump's people are going to replay these clips? I think this makes 3 now.
Congratulations to @tedcruz, @SenMikeLee, and @LindseyGrahamSC who have so little self-respect they think this is an appropriate way to treat their own body.
Folks, don't get distracted by this false equivalency.

Remember: they're playing this to avoid talking about why Trump ordered Mike Pence to do something unconstitutional, and spent 4 months setting up the riot.
Apparently Schoen doesn't think an insurrection is a dire threat.
Again, Schoen is comparing a lie about an inappropriate blow job to launching an insurrection and refusing to protect the country.

Schoen doesn't believe defending the country is a constitutional imperative.
Van der Veen:

Democrats hate Trump so I won't address all the Trump supporters who said that Trump incited a riot.
Van der Veen complaining that Dems didn't spend more time talking about 1A, but thus far no Trump lawyer has addressed the facts presented. Any of them.
Again, don't be gaslit by this: This is NOT the total of what Trump is being impeached for.

They're simply ignoring all the other things that aren't speech, or aren't legal speech. He ordered Pence to do something unconstitutional. He did nothing while the Capitol was attacked.
1:15 hour in and Trump's lawyers have not addressed any of the facts presented by the managers, save a blue check.
Is this the third or fourth playing of this?
Didn't this fella promise us precedent?

Also, has he addressed the unconstitutional demand Trump made of Mike Pence?
Finally!

1:31 in, we're at an argument.
"Just like Mr. Trump has done here."

Uh. Explain how it's on point? You're just gonna leave it there?
Does this dude know about Take Care clause?
Van der Veen: Trump's actions for an entire year leading up to his riot are irrelevant.

Van der Veen: But Raskin should be impeached for a single legal challenge.
Van der Veen is claiming the managers focused on Fight--that's false. That's what THEIR defense did. The Managers focused on far more.
Interesting defense strategy, showing Trump insulting Republicans.
Dear Senate Republicans: HIS DEFENSE IS TO CALL YOU WEAK.
Again: Trump's own defense cited Mike Pence's observation that that request, just now, was an unconstitutional request.
AGAIN: The impeachment managers didn't focus on fight. Trump's defense did. It's a distraction technique, from the other allegations which they're simply not addressing.
Congratulations, again, to @tedcruz, @SenMikeLee, and @LindseyGrahamSC, who have such little self-respect they think this is a valid defense.
There are a slew of arguments that Trump's team hasn't addressed.

A key one, though is that he did nothing as the Capitol was attacked by terrorists.

https://t.co/pSo4P2EV9a
Remember: Van der Veen said the entire lead-up to the attack was irrelevant.

Now they're going to claim there was no lead-up.
We're to a pounding table stage.
They're back to claiming that Trump sent his rioters to talk primary challenges with MoCs.
Castor says he feels like he was under oath but he has accused the rioters of being leftists.
BREAKING: CAstor emphasizes that Trump knew protestors were at the Capitol by 2:30 but did nothing ... but tweet.
BREAKING: Castor admits that the Commander in Chief did nothing to fend off terrorists.
Castor now calls the Proud Boys -- Stand back and Stand by -- violent criminals.

More from emptywheel

emptywheel
emptywheel
@emptywheel
Breaking: Not only does John Solomon continue to include more and more false claims in his propaganda, but after 4 years of "reporting" on FISA he still doesn't know what FBI Director signs to on FISA.


In reality, this is what John Solomon's "SMOKING GUN" says:

Steele was considered reliable (true!), his sources were in a position to report on what they reported on (true!), the reporting corroborated stuff in the report [that, btw, is mostly classified]


This paragraph, for example, includes 3 lies and one exaggeration: First, CIA informed FBI that until 2011, they asked Page questions about the RU intelligence officers trying to recruit him.


That does NOT cover the most alarming thing he did in 2015 or one RU intelligence officer that Page did not tell the CIA about while still an approved contact.

USG had gotten opinions about Steele that weren't entirely favorable (but unsurprising for operations officer), but this is before questions abt source network.
SOCIETY
emptywheel
emptywheel
@emptywheel
Tuning into the McCabe hearing.

Lindsey Graham is still boasting that CIA unmasked Hillary long before they unmasked Mike Flynn. He's legit complaining that Hillary ran a campaign and the CIA didn't

Whitehouse now explaining to Lindsey Graham that tying an opponent to a foreign country is not a criminal act. "If you look at CI investigation, obvious difference is that there were contacts bt RU intel operatives and campaign operatives."

"I don't think the FBI has any business interfering into that kind of campaign debate, you would be besides yourself with anger if FBI investigated Trump for trying to tie Biden to China."

Now Graham is talking about how Coffee Boy said working with Russia would be treason which 1) means that he thinks Roger Stone committed treason and 2) he demonstrably lied in that interview.

Now Lindsey claiming that the dossier created the impression that Trump was in bed with Russia, and not his open requests for Russian help.
POLITICS
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Dr. emptywheel
Dr. emptywheel
@emptywheel
Since everyone is writing abt Julian Assange today, some posts:

The Growing WikiLeaks Conspiracy [Indictment]

https://t.co/i3dNE6lnl7

This talks about the superseding CFAA charge that Assange boosters are generally silent or worse about.

Three Inconvenient Truths about a Hypothetical Trump Pardon for Julian Assange

https://t.co/FDl2KMJV8x

1) It may not work
2) It would have to pardon other crimes
3) That would include Trump's own corruption

Rat-Fucker Rashomon: Getting the "Highest Level of Government" to Free Julian Assange

https://t.co/oNr8YgXbhk

On the pardon discussions with Trump that WikiLeaks doesn't want you to know about.

The Minh Quang Pham Precedent to the Julian Assange Extradition

https://t.co/1i7yErl0sC

The UK extradited a guy whose primary crime (at the time) was doing graphic design for AQAP.

Julian Assange's First Witness, Journalism Professor Mark Feldstein, Professes to Be Unfamiliar with the Public Record on Assange

https://t.co/sl0sasWgeu

WikiLeaks boosters are lying, cynically, abt what changed between 2013 and 2017.
SOCIETY
emptywheel
emptywheel
@emptywheel
Updated my table again:

Added one more classified folder plus the laptop for Trump
Changed Pence to possible "trophy"
Added zeros to make docs/year more obvious
CATEGORY PDFMAKERAPP GRAB PDFMAKERAPP GRAB THIS READWISEIO SAVE READWISEIO SAVE THREAD THREADER COMPILE SUMMARIZE THREADREADERAPP UNROLL PLEASE TTTTREADS UNROLL UNROLLTHREADCOM SAVETOBOOKMARKS
Dr. emptywheel
Dr. emptywheel
@emptywheel
gonna live tweet this.

Mark Meadows explains at the beginning that Cleta is not attorney of record but she's been involved.


Trump (who lied abt his inauguration size) says he knows he won bc of rally size.

Trump starts by describing that current margin is what "everyone agrees on."

Trump repeatedly claims that people went to vote but weren't allowed to bc a ballot already cast.

Maybe ... they had already voted? I think he just narced out a bunch of people trying to double vote.

Trump accuses "Ruby Freeman" of being a vote hustler.
GOVERNMENT

More from Trump

Rachel "The Doc" Bitecofer \U0001f4c8\U0001f52d\U0001f34c
Rachel "The Doc" Bitec...
@RachelBitecofer
1. What @WillieGeist is trying to get across to @NikemaWilliams on @Morning_Joe is that the GOP is nationalizing their message & making their message high stakes, tapping into voters anger at Trump's loss to get them to vote in a Jan. run-off & that Ds NEED TO DO THE SAME. Its

2. about giving Trump power- its about giving low-info voters, who are the bulk of the electorate motivation to cast ballots in the run-off. This is WHY turnout plummets in these things on the D side- the GOP keeps their messaging on stakes (control of the senate to fend off

3. socialism) while Ds go off into policy. That is a losing strategy. It just lost them nearly a dozen House seats & the chance to cut into partisan gerrymandering by flipping 4 state houses. They can't make that mistake here bc control of senate is everything here. If Ds have it

4. Biden can get some policy done- if Ds don't, the GOP will block everything. Biden will be a lame duck from day 1. So the message should be "hey voter, did you know you have a super vote? That's right, with your one vote, you can elect 2 senators that will give Ds control of

5. senate & with it REAL police reform. With it, Dreamers not getting deported to countries they've even been to- potentially to die from lack of insulin. With it, the power to save the pre-existing conditions coverage for millions of Americans, including Nicu babies who'd in
TRUMP
Noah Smith \U0001f407
Noah Smith 🐇
@Noahpinion
1/Today's @bopinion post is about Trump's taxes, and what they show about how America allocates capital.

We appear to have some big problems.

2/Trump has a bunch of businesses that lose money. Our financial system has lent him money to throw into unsuccessful golf courses, hotels, and so

3/A lot of these loans are loans that Trump hasn't even paid back yet, using loopholes in the tax system to avoid paying taxes on those unpaid debts.

Why would creditors give money to a guy who wastes the money on bad businesses and doesn't even pay them back?

4/One seemingly obvious answer is that capital is just really cheap these days. Companies are able to borrow more easily than at any time in the last few decades.


5/But this presents us with a mystery.

Why hasn't an abundance of cheap capital caused the return on financial capital to fall? Interest rates are low, but stock returns have held up strongly.
TRUMP , POLITICS
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Asha Rangappa
Asha Rangappa
@AshaRangappa_
THREAD. I am failing to see any better path for Trump apart from resignation. (Yes, I know you will say, "He'll never do that" but also did you ever think three days ago that he'd be impeached twice?) Here's me as HIS (competent) lawyer:

2. You will be impeached. Your goal now is to avoid criminal liability, and, if possible, jail time. If you resign now, you avoid several unpleasant possibilities. For one, you make the potential for an invocation of the 25th amendment, on the basis that you are CRAZY, moot

3. If you resign, and Mike Pence becomes President, he will likely give you a limited, but nevertheless broad, pardon. If he emulates Ford's pardon for Nixon, you will be pardoned for (at the very least) obstruction of justice in the Mueller investigation

4. He MAY be able to give you a pardon for crimes committed BEFORE you took office, such as your campaign finance violation, or whatever sketchy financial crimes you committed, but that is touch and go. There is *some* ambiguity over whether such a "blanket" pardon is valid BUT

5. You could also mitigate this by being frank with him and allowing him to be as specific as possible on your prior criminal liability in the pardoning language (like financial crimes re taxes, etc.). He is, however, unlikely to pardon you for inciting insurrection BECAUSE...
TRUMP
\u274cTimothy Tobin\u274c
❌Timothy Tobin❌...
@tatobin2
DONALD TRUMP IS SO RACIST ...

— that he restored and increased HBCU funding (which Obama cut permanently) and met with HBCU leaders to find more solutions to bring higher education to black communities!

— that he gave loans to black entrepreneurs when the banks wouldn't. https://t.co/qiK2Ul7se2

— that Jesse Jackson praised Trump for helping him put together his Rainbow Coalition and for being a model for “people on Wall Street to represent diversity.”

— that he was awarded the 1986 Ellis Island Medal Of Honor alongside Rosa parks and Muhammad Ali for “patriotism, tolerance, brotherhood and DIVERSITY”. They don't give these medals to racists. https://t.co/WliqZHc34j

— that he dated a black woman.

— that he donated to and did personal favors for Rev. Al Sharpton's National Youth Movement. https://t.co/nBTvLiO128

— that he helped sponsor and finance both of Jesse Jackson's presidential bids.

— that when a homeless black woman was found illegally living in Trump Tower he allowed this woman to stay for 8 years, and provided her with three meals a day, and fresh flowers once a week.
TRUMP
\u2607RiotWomenn\u2607
☇RiotWomenn☇
@riotwomennn
Steve Bannon the day before Trump's deadly attack on the Capitol.

"All hell is going to break loose tomorrow ... This is not a day for fantasy, this is a day for maniacal focus. Focus, focus, focus. We're coming in right over the target"

Listen:
TRUMP

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Make them irrelevant > Hold a grudge

Holding a grudge is the easy thing to do.

But holding a grudge is not the right thing to do.

A grudge puts poison in your body & rewires your subconscious mind.

You consume the poison & destroy your reality while your attacker sleeps like a baby.
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WHY BABUR NEVER TRIED TO ATTACK SRI KRISHNADEVARAYA ?

A🧵u must read

It is very well known that Babur considered Krishna Dev Raya as the strongest ruler of the entire subcontinent, and Vijayanagar empire the strongest during that time in India.

1/10


The Vijayanagar empire reached its peak during 1509-1529 around the reign of Krishna Dev Raya.

Vijayanagar’s famed elephant brigade 👇

2/10


At his command there were over 50000 elite troops with a regiment of Portuguese gunners and 3200 cavalry with 600 elephants.

3/10

Along with that more than four hundred thousand ( four lakh) peasant levies and irregular military made this empire one of the largest in all of South Asia.

A typical Vijayanagar levie soldier 👇

4/10


During Baburs invasion, Krishna Dev Raya ruled supreme in all of deccan.

In fact, in an all our brawl, Krisha Dev Raya will beat Babur fair and square.

Babur could muster at max 50000 troops with 50 canons.

While Krishna Dev Raya had these numbers in Hampi alone

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Laurie Voss
@seldo
The 2018 State of JavaScript survey is out. They got 20,000 responses and have some delicious, delicious data. I'mma thread in some highlights:

First up: JavaScript flavors. There's TypeScript at 47% adoption, a tad higher than npm's own survey results (which said 46%). npm's survey is coming up again soon and will ask about TypeScript in a lot more detail.


I really, *really* like SoJ's "would not use again" question, which lets people who've abandoned a tech self-identify. This is noticeable in the graph above with Flow users -- 41% of people who've used Flow say they wouldn't use it again.

Now JavaScript frameworks. It's been a full year since npm's survey, so these numbers differ from ours in the directions I expected:
React 65% (vs. 60%)
Vue 29% (vs. 24%)
Ember 5% (vs 4%, I was expecting a bigger rise)

But there's a shocker in here: Angular.


npm's survey had Angular at 40% last year and SoJ has it at either:
- 58% (if you include those who don't want to use it again)
- 24% (if you count only those who like it)
Since npm's question didn't ask if they intend to *continue* using it I think that might explain this.
TECH
Anshul Pandey
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IMPORTANCE, ADVANTAGES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF BHAGWAT PURAN

It was Ved Vyas who edited the eighteen thousand shlokas of Bhagwat. This book destroys all your sins. It has twelve parts which are like kalpvraksh.

In the first skandh, the importance of Vedvyas


and characters of Pandavas are described by the dialogues between Suutji and Shaunakji. Then there is the story of Parikshit.
Next there is a Brahm Narad dialogue describing the avtaar of Bhagwan. Then the characteristics of Puraan are mentioned.

It also discusses the evolution of universe.( https://t.co/2aK1AZSC79 )

Next is the portrayal of Vidur and his dialogue with Maitreyji. Then there is a mention of Creation of universe by Brahma and the preachings of Sankhya by Kapil Muni.


In the next section we find the portrayal of Sati, Dhruv, Pruthu, and the story of ancient King, Bahirshi.
In the next section we find the character of King Priyavrat and his sons, different types of loks in this universe, and description of Narak. ( https://t.co/gmDTkLktKS )


In the sixth part we find the portrayal of Ajaamil ( https://t.co/LdVSSNspa2 ), Daksh and the birth of Marudgans( https://t.co/tecNidVckj )

In the seventh section we find the story of Prahlad and the description of Varnashram dharma. This section is based on karma vaasna.
RELIGION
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A relationship begins to get stiff when excessive patterns begin to form.

Too many patterns leads to a boring, predictable, logical lifestyle.

Get the emotions involved.

Do something spontaneous out of the blue moon & flip the script.

'What's wrong with the patterns?'

Nothing is wrong with patterns.

However, there is a problem when all you have are patterns.

It's boring.

'Can you explain why?'

Sure 👇

The thing with relationships is that it's meant to be an emotional experience.

It's very difficult to logically explain love, right?

'Right.'

Well this is where you want to steer the ship the right way.

1. Too emotional is bad.

2. Too logical is bad.

Let me break it down.

1. Too emotional

If a relationship is completely ruled by emotions, then it's too volatile.

You will never reach productivity if you are aimlessly only following each others emotions.

This lifestyle tarnishes any structure for the couple.

'So why do people do it?'

Because it's fun.

You may ruled by this stage in the honeymoon phase.

Normal.

You'll be so spontaneous that it almost becomes a lifestyle.

But it's hard to level up your life when you're too spontaneous.

Avoid.
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