https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-impeachment/trump-impeachment-trial-opens-white-house-faulted-on-ukraine-aid-freeze-idUSKBN1ZF186?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FPoliticsNews+%28Reuters+Politics+News%29

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate impeachment trial on whether to remove U.S. President Donald Trump from office formally began on Thursday even as a congressional watchdog found that the White House broke the law by withholding security aid for Ukraine approved by Congress.

The assessment from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office was a setback for Trump, even though it was unclear if it would figure in his trial in the Republican-led Senate given that key issues such as whether witnesses will appear or new evidence will be considered remain up in the air.

Democrat Adam Schiff, who heads a team of seven House of Representatives members who will serve as prosecutors, appeared on the Senate floor to read the two charges passed by the House on Dec. 18 accusing Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress arising from his dealings with Ukraine.

Chief Justice John Roberts, wearing his black judicial robe, was led onto the Senate floor by four senior lawmakers. He took an oath to preside over the trial and then swore in the assembled senators, instructing them to raise their right hand, asking, “Do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, president of the United States, now pending you will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help you God?”

The 99 senators present signed their assent one by one. One senator - Republican Jim Inhofe - was in his home state of Oklahoma to be with a family member facing a medical issue, according to his office, but was due to sign later in the day.

https://www.wbir.com/article/news/investigations/one-doctor-and-49-million-addictive-pills-now-under-federal-investigation/51-a024e1a2-6e9a-4497-b6ac-b94bab027925

Dr. Bruce Coffey and his degenerate wealthy sons helped fuel the opiate epidemic crisis in Oneida, Tennessee. Some dumb fuck town, perfect location for a million-dollar drug operation. And you would think, his 500 patients a day would be enough money for his whore family, but it wasn't. He also owned the pharmacy next store he'd send the victims to get their dope from.

Assholes like this one, are what politicians (left and right) and local law enforcers allow to do business that destroys our families in this nation. It took a "federal investigation" to take this scum bag down. Yet, he's still running his drug businesses! Thanks to his local and state supporters in government and the judicial system.

These doctors are idiots from the get-go! Privileged retards. Their educations are paid for. Even the test and exam scores! So when they finally get that "doctor" title, they do what most dummies with drug connections do, start selling drugs. But this prick was selling so many addictive pills, it was enough to supply the entire town; 15 pills per resident, per day!

Assholes, like this guy, turn our children into drug addicts. And they get away with it! Local protection. It's always local.

We need a FEDERAL POLICE agency. Police to police the police. Like a big brother watching you. But not in a hillbilly way. That's just sick.

JANUARY 16--A man wearing a pair of self-balancing hover skates recently rolled into a Walmart, filled up his cart, and then glided out of the Florida store without paying for the merchandise, police say.

In a bid to identify the “futuristic thief,” cops in Winter Haven have released surveillance video showing him zipping into and around the store on January 8.

According to a Winter Haven Police Department report, the suspect made off with $551.08 worth of merchandise, including paint, a trash can, a vehicle battery, a bouquet of flowers, a Roku TV, and a Motokicks hoverboard.

A cop noted that the perp used a "hover board to push the shopping cart through the store by standing on it and hovering while selecting items."

The thief, who has a large tattoo on his forearm, drove away from Walmart in a late-90s Nissan Maxima sedan with "two different sets of aftermarket chrome wheels, and slight hood damage."

The suspect appears to be wearing a pair of Voyager brand Space Shoes. The shoes, which cost about $200, use self-balancing technology and are the “next generation of E-mobility, with two skates that are independent of each other,” according to the manufacturer.

The Space Shoes have a maximum speed of 6.2 MPH and a range of five miles before they need recharging. The shoes, each of which weighs six pounds, include “fun, bright” LED lights (as seen on the Walmart footage).

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/hovering-walmart-thief-178492

A Ukrainian man nearly lost his genitals after his wife put him in a painful DIY chastity belt for being unfaithful.

The unnamed man in his 40’s, from the city of Zaporizhia, in southern Ukraine, told doctors that he woke up one morning earlier this week to find a big metal nut screwed onto his wiener. It had been “installed” by his wife, as a way to stop him from being unfaithful, but the man claimed that it was strangulating his organ. He tried removing it himself, but the nut didn’t budge, so he had no choice but to call an ambulance.

Unfortunately for the desperate man, hospital staff could do little to help with his delicate problem, so a specialist team of rescuers were called in. They used a circular saw to slice the piece of metal in two, while pouring water on it to keep it from overheating because of the friction. There wasn’t too much they could do about the sparks, so the patient just had to endure.

“We received a call from doctors who asked to remove the nut,” rescuer Oleksandr Brienko said. “We used special equipment to do the job. The man was lying on the surgical operating table under anaesthesia while we were cutting the object off.”

“We often face similar incidents and are quite trained in removing rings, handcuffs and other objects off people’s bodies. In this case, we actually saved the man’s penis. He will be able to become a father in the future,” fellow rescuer Eduard Nekhoroshev added.

The Ukrainian man is currently being treated in the hospital, but is expected to make a full recovery. According to local media reports, he is considering asking for a divorce.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-U1dQxvCNY&feature=emb_title

https://www.odditycentral.com/news/woman-puts-husband-in-diy-chastity-belt-to-prevent-him-from-cheating.html

The Florida Man arrested for using a front-end loader to dump a bucket of dirt on his girlfriend’s car has escaped with a judicial slap on the wrist, according to court records.

Hunter Mills, who was scheduled for a January 6 trial for felony criminal mischief, recently struck a plea deal that resulted in a deferred prosecution agreement and his placement in a pretrial diversion program.

If Mills, 20, successfully completes the program--which is afforded to some first-time offenders--the criminal charge will likely be dismissed. Most diversion programs last 12 months.

Mills was arrested in August after he covered a 2010 Cadillac driven by his girlfriend in dirt. The woman had driven to meet Mills on a road adjacent to the headquarters of an excavation firm that sells top soil and landscaping materials. The dumping site was in Crestview, a city about 50 miles from Pensacola.

According to an arrest report, when Mills’s girlfriend “refused to answer a question,” Mills--who arrived at the meeting site in a front-end loader--“dumped the dirt on the driver side half of the vehicle, causing scratches to the top, hood, and trunk. The window was down during the incident, which caused dirt to fill up the air vents, center console, and power windows.”

The car’s owner estimated that his ride suffered $8000 in damages.

When questioned by police, Mills admitted covering the car in dirt, but “stated that he did this in an attempt to get [the woman] to leave him alone.”

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/criminal-mischief/dirt-dump-plea-deal-085139

Apocalyptic scenes give glimpse of what would be normal conditions in 3C world

The bushfires ravaging Australia are a clear sign of what is to come around the world if temperatures are allowed to rise to dangerous levels, according to scientists.

“This is what you can expect to happen … at an average of 3C [above pre-industrial levels],” said Richard Betts, professor of geography at Exeter University. “We are seeing a sign of what would be normal conditions in a 3C world. It tells us what the future world might look like. This really brings home what climate change means.”

Average temperature rises in Australia were about 1.4C above pre-industrial levels before this season’s fires, showing a more rapid rate of heating than the global average of 1.1C.

Scientists warn that beyond a rise of 2C, the impacts of climate breakdown are likely to become catastrophic and irreversible, yet current global commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris agreement are estimated to put the world on track for 3C of heating.

“These are the impacts we are seeing at 1C [of heating] so these impacts will get more [severe] as long as we do not do what it takes to stabilise the world climate,” warned Corinne Le Quéré, professor of climate change science and policy at the University of East Anglia (UEA). “This is not a new normal – this is a transition to more impacts.”

Average temperature rises in Australia were about 1.4C above pre-industrial levels before this season’s fires, showing a more rapid rate of heating than the global average of 1.1C.

Scientists warn that beyond a rise of 2C, the impacts of climate breakdown are likely to become catastrophic and irreversible, yet current global commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris agreement are estimated to put the world on track for 3C of heating.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/14/australia-bushfires-harbinger-future-scientists

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-01-08/the-catholic-church-s-strategy-to-limit-payouts-to-abuse-victims

Dioceses are aggressively moving and reclassifying holdings to shrink the value of their bankruptcy estates.

More dioceses are filing for bankruptcy now that rules are changing about how much time a victim has to sue over abuse. Seven states and the District of Columbia passed laws in 2019 that suspend the statute of limitations on civil sex abuse suits, and at least three other states are considering them.

...

In many cases, churches precede bankruptcy by transferring and reclassifying assets. The effect is to shrink the pot of money available to clergy abuse victims. That and Chapter 11’s universal settlements and protections from further claims have been an effective one-two punch for limiting payouts. A Bloomberg Businessweek review of court filings by lawyers for churches and victims in the past 15 years shows that the U.S. Catholic Church has shielded more than $2 billion in assets from abuse victims in bankruptcies using these methods. “The survivors should have gotten that money, and they didn’t,” says Terry McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org. “The Catholic Church has behaved like a business. It hasn’t behaved like a religion that lives by the rules it espouses.”


COUNTDOWN TO POPE FRANCIS CONDEMNING THE GAYS IN THREE >>> TWO >>>