Thinking about Trump's 'intimidating" tweet. I'm 90% confident he's intentionally provoking Pelosi, 70% confident he wants a formal impeachment vote in the House, and 50% confident he actually wants a trial in the Senate.

"The Ukraine" has always been important to Russia. Sevastopol is the Russian navy's only warm-water port, and the Ukrainian steppe has been known for centuries as "the breadbasket of Europe".

Jane - The father died in 2017, shortly after his Japanese wife filed for divorce. No official cause of death, as near as I can tell. Knowing zip about the kid besides what he did and that he has a grievous .45 caliber (!) head-wound, I wish him a quick and quiet death. (The brain damage is likely extensive.) But if I knew him intimately, I might very well take a different position.

Jane - If I were his father, I would have died two years ago. I he were my son, given his deeds and the nature of his wound, I probably would wish him a painless death. But if I were his father, I would perhaps understand what was going on in his head and have a different perspective.

Looking forward to Elise Stefanik dissecting Marie Yovanovitch. Tears in vain. Especially if the Trumpster nukes Schiff's predicate from orbit today.

Prediction: The pending transcript will show Zelensky apologizing to Trump for the actions of his predecessor and offering to atone.

Trump has said he will release the transcript of an earlier phone conversation with Zelensky later this week. Perhaps it will reveal Zelensky VOLUNTEERING information about Ukrainian involvement in our 2016 election and/or information about Burisma and Biden.

The centerpiece of Trump's 2020 reelection strategy could be a Senate impeachment trial, with saturation media coverage at zero expense to his yuge campaign war-chest. Exactly what the media have sworn to avoid.

Do you think it a coincidence that Lindsey lined up all but three Republican Senators to condemn Pelosi's impeachment process mere hours before the NYT broke the story on Durham's investigation morphing to criminal? And I seem to recall that Lindsey met with Barr a few weeks back to plan the roll-out of the IG's FISA report. Things that make you go HMMMM.

Trump is willing to go for broke.

Pelosi is betting that Mitch and Lindsay will quickly toss out the House impeachment product. She doesn't yet grasp the danger of the Barr/Durham prosecutions feeding into an extended Senate trial.

The TomR in me suspects that Trump is actually looking forward to an impeachment trial in the Senate. That's why he's been provoking Pelosi so viciously. She cannot afford to back down at this point without seriously alienating the Dem base. The stars are aligning nicely for a yuge reality show in the Senate.

Tom R You may have addressed this in an earlier post: has an ENT ruled out Meniere's?

Re: Rosie Premature extrapolation.

Re: bird deaths Domestic and feral cats. One study estimated they kill a million birds DAILY in Oz. Another estimated at least 1.4 billion annually in the U.S. Seems like a pretty big deal.

Going to watch Ken Burns now. We shall see.

CH Honestly, I never got beyond the first chapter of "Gravity's Rainbow". (How I ever managed to plow through Joyce's "Ulysses" remains a mystery.)

Never did like Pynchon's work. Wanted very much to like "Mason and Dixon" but just couldn't. Love Knopfler's "Sailing to Philadelphia" though, and it was inspired by the book.

And Salinger was deeply into fad diets. May the circle be unbroken.

"Franny and Zooey" is good stuff, by my tastes.

CH I don't think pervy, but he was involved with several much younger women at various points. And he was spiritually promiscuous. The folks in Cornish found him a regular guy, if a bit distant.

CH But did you find J. D. Salinger's house?

Even Ole Neil knew there were only four dead in Ohio.

There's a brief discussion up-thread (beginning with a Clarice post @10:39 AM) about the film "Avalon" and the lives of Jewish immigrants from Europe. To anyone interested in the cultural and political evolution of Ashkenazi Jews in North America, I heartily recommend Zachary Leader's two-volume bio of Saul Bellow. It's a terrific piece of work. And don't cut the toiky prematurely.

Armageddon PDX did not happen. Proud Boys & Friends showed up in modest numbers, had a prayer meeting of sorts, and disbanded. Antifa showed up with a larger army, beat up on a few people who looked patriotic, and got arrested. Stuff still going on around downtown. Might get nastier later this evening, but the cops seem to be pretty much in control. Violent groups will be kept small, I think. Channeling TomR, it's possible this event was a sting to force the antifa networks into a Code Red and then track 'em down.