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DCCC releases 2019 Thanksgiving dinner talking points

Thanksgiving dinner table, before the political food fight

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has released a humorous, menu-style set of talking points for Democrats to respond to that Republican blowhard who seems to spout off at everyone’s Thanksgiving dinner. The talking points, which can be found in this .pdf, are entitled “Know Your Stuffing.” Each subject has a cute Thanksgiving dinner theme, complete with food graphics, and is designed as a response to a Republican rant, since they always seem to be the ones who bring up these political subjects at the holiday table. For example, there is “Aunt Mary’s ‘There Was No Quid-Pie-Quo,'” described as “a crust so flaky, it falls apart the moment you present it with evidence.” Responses to this talking point are listed under “What to Bring,” and include:

  1. Multiple members of the Trump administration have testified before Congress there was a quid pro quo agreement with Ukraine.
  2. Trump himself—in a memo he released—admitted he withheld aid from Ukraine until they dug up dirt on his political opponents.

Both of these responses even include footnotes to reputable sources for this information.

Devin Nunes melts down at Trump impeachment inquiry hearing

Republicans defending Trump: melted butter, toast, or both?

Yesterday morning, the House Intelligence Committee held another Donald Trump impeachment inquiry hearing, this time with Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland. To say the hearing did not go well for Trump and the Republicans is an understatement. For example, Sondland admitted that  “everyone was in the loop” regarding Donald Trump’s demand that Ukraine‘s president provide “deliverables,” meaning helping Trump personally by investigating phony conspiracies about Joe Biden, Biden’s son Hunter, and the Democratic Party’s 2016 presidential election efforts, in exchange for a meeting with Trump and crucial military aid for Ukraine that Congress had already approved.

The devastation that Republicans on the Committee must have been feeling was perfectly captured in this bit of video that is part of the tweet below, showing Republican Ranking Member Devin Nunes painfully turning to his side’s counsel after one segment of Sondland’s testimony:

Mind you, Sondland is not some Democratic Party hack. On the contrary, he is a real estate businessman who in recent years has been a Republican Party donor and bundler of contributions to Republican candidates such as Willard Mitt Romney. Sondland, through his companies, donated $1 million to Donald Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee, and then received his ambassadorship in return.

Watching Devin Nunes’ reaction to Sondland’s testimony, we can’t help but be reminded of a similar meltdown by a well-known TV character in similar circumstances:

Photo by Sterling College, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/xvdQhy

No surprise as mainstream media fall short in Trump impeachment coverage

Protesters share their opinion on Donald Trump impeachment

While many mainstream media outlets have aired the Donald Trump impeachment hearings that began in the U.S. House on Wednesday, the commentary by some of the media afterward was cringeworthy. Special mention goes to NBC News and Reuters, who faulted the hearings for not being scintillating enough. According to NBC News:

Reuters followed up with “Consequential, but dull: Trump impeachment hearings begin without a bang.” Sadly, this is the kind of circus coverage that we have come to expect from our news media.

After election defeats, will Republicans finally abandon Trump?

Virginia Beach voting sticker

Yesterday, Republicans suffered stunning election losses in Kentucky and Virginia. In Kentucky, Democratic state Attorney General Andy Beshear defeated incumbent Republican Governor Matt Bevin to become the new Governor-elect (Bevin thus far has refused to concede the election). Bevin’s defeat is a major embarrassment for Donald Trump, who, on Monday night, held a rally in Kentucky’s second-largest city, Lexington, and pleaded with the audience to prevent a Democratic win in the state, saying, “You can’t let that happen to me!”

In Virginia, Democrats won the majority in the State House of Delegates and the State Senate, to go along with their Democratic Governor. This marks the first time in 26 years that Virginia has had a unified Democratic state government, which may well be a continuation of the “Blue Wave” that swept Democrats into the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections. One of the issues for Virginia voters yesterday was gun violence, after 12 people were killed in a mass shooting in Virginia Beach last May. Republican lawmakers in Virginia, as well as nationally, have dragged their feet on or even blocked taking common-sense steps proposed by Democrats to reduce gun violence. The voters may have signaled that they have had enough.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg testifies before House of Representatives

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee yesterday. The title of the hearing was: An Examination of Facebook and its Impact on the Financial Services and Housing Sectors. As we recently indicated, Messaging Matters has pulled the plug and stopped using Facebook, due to a combination of Facebook’s data mining business model, its history of user data breaches, and its pro-Republican bent. The rest of America is not likely to take much comfort after what was heard yesterday.

Is the tide finally turning on gun violence?

Vigil for shooting victims (Dayton, OH)

Colt Firearms recently announced that it will suspend production and civilian sales of its AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifle. Due to their design enabling shooters to kill so many people in so little time, the AR-15 (the most popular rifle in America) and similar assault weapons, such as the AK-47, are the top choices in a large number of America’s deadliest mass shootings, and the vast majority of mass shooting deaths, including:

Aurora, CO; Sandy Hook Elementary School (CT); Poway, California synagogue; New Zealand mosques; El Paso, TX; Dayton, OH (9 people killed in 30 seconds); Las Vegas, NV concert; Sutherland Springs, TX church; Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (Parkland, FL); Santa Monica, CA; San Bernardino, CA; Albuquerque, NM; Geneva County, AL; Chattanooga, TN; Carson City, NV; and more.

In addition to Colt’s discontinuation of the AR-15, moreover, several other actions might be considered early signals that the tide of public opinion, and legislative action, may be starting to turn against gun violence. These actions include:

Democratic leadership and base talk Trump impeachment differently

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Much hay was made this week from Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s answer to a Washington Post interviewer’s question about impeaching Donald Trump. Here’s the question and Pelosi’s response:

There have been increasing calls, including from some of your members, for impeachment of the president.

I’m not for impeachment. This is news. I’m going to give you some news right now because I haven’t said this to any press person before. But since you asked, and I’ve been thinking about this: Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he’s just not worth it.

Many Democrats took to blogs and social media to express their disappointment with Speaker Pelosi’s answer. For example, here’s author and MSNBC contributor Malcolm Nance:

However, what this episode really shows is that the Democratic Party’s base (including a few House members) and its leadership have different considerations that allow them differing degrees of freedom in what they can say publicly at this time.

Nancy Pelosi keeps putting Donald Trump in his place

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

For the past two months, Democratic U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has figured out the secret of dealing with Donald Trump: treat him like the toddler that he is. The results have been remarkable. First, on December 11 of last year, Pelosi cleaned Trump’s clock in a televised Oval Office meeting that also included Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and a silent Vice President Mike Pence. Pelosi called Trump’s threatened government shutdown the “Trump Shutdown,” and even dared Trump to ask for a vote in Congress on his desired border wall. The Trump Shutdown label stuck, and angry voters punished Trump and the Republicans for their failure to keep the federal government open despite controlling all of its branches.