Category: News

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News Round-Up: February 5, 2020

(image via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: It is #BeefDip Bear week in Puerto Vallarta (above) and our favorite PV spot, Mantamar Beach Club, is where the action’s at. • Advocate: Chicago man arrested for robbing Grindr dates armed with a taser. • Epoch Times: Cute deaf dog adopts cute deaf guy #DogsRule

• The Wrap: The ratings for Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night were not boffo, down 26% from his first two SOTU addresses. • Instinct Magazine: The man behind the March on Washington, who helped organized multiple bus boycotts, and served as a mentor/advisor to Martin Luther King, Jr. has been posthumously pardoned of his anti-gay arrest charge. • ABC News: Iowa caucus update – with 86% of precincts reporting, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg had 27% of the vote and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders had 25%. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren had 18%, former Vice President Joe Biden had 16% and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar had 12% of the vote.

(graphic via ABC News)

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Senate Votes To Acquit Donald Trump, Romney Only GOP Guilty Vote

The U.S. Senate voted to acquit Donald Trump today on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) was the only Republican to cross party lines and vote to remove Trump from office. Two notable red-state Democratic Senators – Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona cast ‘guilty’ votes. This becomes the first bipartisan vote to remove a sitting president via impeachment. From the New York Times:

The tally for conviction fell far below the 67-vote threshold necessary for removal and neither article of impeachment garnered even a simple majority.

The first article, abuse of power, was rejected 48 to 52, and the second, obstruction of Congress, was defeated 47 to 53. Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, was the only member to break with his party, voting to remove Mr. Trump from office.

The votes, ending the third presidential impeachment trial in American history, were a resounding victory for Mr. Trump after five months of blaring scandal over Ukraine that embroiled Washington and threatened his presidency. But both sides agreed that the final judgment on Mr. Trump will be rendered by voters when they cast ballots in just nine months.

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House Committee ‘Likely’ To Subpoena John Bolton

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton (image via White House - public domain)

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton speaking to the press in May 2019 (image via White House – public domain)
Even as the Senate prepares to close up shop on the Donald Trump impeachment trial today, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that it is “likely” House Democrats will subpoena former national security adviser John Bolton regarding Trump’s hold on military aid to Ukraine. From Axios:

The state of play: Trump is set to be acquitted on articles of impeachment centered on the Ukraine saga, and Republican senators voted last week against calling new witnesses, including Bolton, in the impeachment trial.

Bolton alleges in the manuscript of his forthcoming book that Trump explicitly tied the Ukraine aid to political investigations of his opponents, including former Vice President Joe Biden and his family, and asked in early May to ensure that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would meet with Rudy Giuliani.

What they’re saying: Nadler said he was not worried about the potential political backlash from continuing the investigations, saying, “I think when you have a lawless president, you have to bring that to the fore and you have to spotlight that.”

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Final Iowa Poll Cancelled After Polling Mistake

L-R Sen. Bernie Sanders, Mayor Pete Buttigieg
Bernie Sanders supporters, of course, believe it’s a conspiracy against a Bernie. From USA Today: A highly anticipated release of the Iowa Poll, one of the most respected political surveys in the nation, was canceled Saturday night  ahead of the Iowa caucuses after Pete Buttigieg’s campaign complained that his name had been omitted by a poll interviewer. “The Iowa Poll was founded in 1943,” Carol Hunter, executive editor of the Register, said in an interview Saturday. “It’s built its reputation over many decades for accuracy, and we feel the utmost responsibility to uphold that reputation.” CNN did an internal investigation and found that an operator had enlarged the font on their computer screen, cutting off Buttigieg’s name, which had been at the bottom.  

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Today’s Date Is Super-Extra Special

Today’s the day of the big J.Lo/Shakira concert! I hear in honor of the music, there will also be a big sports ball game. Plus, it’s Groundhog’s Day – and yep, Punxsutawney Phil predicts early spring. AND – today’s date is a rare eight-digit palindrome (reads same, forward and backward), 02/02/2020 — the only one of its kind this century: Aziz Inan, a University of Portland (Ore.) professor who has a website chronicling 500 years’ worth of palindromes, tells the Post about today’s rare configuration — where both MM/DD/YEAR and DD/MM/YEAR are palindromes. “The previous eight-digit palindrome like this was 11/11/1111, 909 years ago. We’ll only have to wait another 101 years for 12/12/2121.” P.S. Today is “the 33rd day of the year, which is followed by 333 more days.” (via Axios)

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DOJ Reveals It Has Dozens Of Trump/Ukraine Emails

The news of the emails came just hours after the Senate voted against any new evidence in Donald Trump’s impeachment trail. Because, of course. CNN reports:

The Department of Justice revealed in a court filing late Friday that it has two dozen emails related to the President Donald Trump’s involvement in the withholding of millions in security assistance to Ukraine — a disclosure that came just hours after the Senate voted against subpoenaing additional documents and witnesses in Trump’s impeachment trial, paving the way for his acquittal. The filing, released near midnight Friday, marks the first official acknowledgment from the Trump administration that emails about the President’s thinking related to the aid exist, and that he was directly involved in asking about and deciding on the aid as early as June. The administration is still blocking those emails from the public and has successfully kept them from Congress

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News Round-Up: January 31, 2020

Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Australia’s Coach Clayton (above) shares great legs/butt workouts on his Insta. Why? Because no one ever wrote a song about a small butt. #amiright Follow him on Instagram here. • Press Herald: Jack Phillips, the anti-gay baker from Colorado who took his case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to avoid making a cake for a same-sex couple, just got a book deal for his story. • KIT212: Kenneth has the what’s what in gay rags across the country including the latest issue of DNA Magazine (below). • LA Times: Joshua Ebow, 30, was arrested in connection to a string of brutal anti-gay hate crimes in the Los Angeles area. If convicted he faces up to 14 years in prison. Ebow was charged with punching and stabbing “men who were gay or perceived to be gay.” • USA Today: The U.S. State Department raised its travel advisory amid the coronavirus outbreak. The new message is firm: “Do not travel to China.” The alert, which is a Level 4 (the highest level), cites the fact that the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency as reason to suspend travel. • Iowa: Donald Trump warned an Iowa crowd in a wild campaign speech Thursday night that global warming activists are out to “kill our cows,” and “that means you’re next.” #srsly

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Senate Votes 51-49 Against Calling Witnesses In Trump Impeachment Trial

Donald Trump
And that’s that…

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Murkowski To Vote ‘No’ On Impeachment Witnesses

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) announced Friday she will vote against calling witnesses in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. And with that announcement, we are likely to see the trial come to an end soon. “I carefully considered the need for additional witnesses and documents, to cure the shortcomings of its process, but ultimately decided that I will vote against considering motions to subpoena,” Murkowski said.

The announcement came just prior to a four-hour debate and a vote on whether to allow new evidence, scheduled for Friday. A few of things I’ll point out here: One, Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Mitt Romney (R-UT) have already announced they would vote ‘yes’ on calling witnesses. IF Murkowski had voted ‘yes’ as well, it would have put Chief Justice John Roberts, currently presiding over the trial, in the position of having to break a tie. The optics of him choosing a side in the proceedings would have been horrible for the Republicans. This surely led Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to hold Murkowski to a ‘no’ vote. Two, Murkowski isn’t up for reelection this year, and she comes from an overwhelmingly red state. She needed to look like she was standing with her party. Contrast that with Collins who IS up for reelection with a tough campaign ahead – in a state that isn’t a solidly red state. Finally, in the 20 U.S. impeachments since 1797, this is the first one to have no witnesses. Think on that.