Republicans are going to get away with it: They're confident that they won't need to call witnesses. Adam Schiff "proposed limiting depositions of witnesses in the Senate trial to one week, mirroring Bill Clintonâs impeachment trial," but that offer doesn't seem to be gathering support. The vote on calling witness testimony will happen tomorrow. Today, senators are asking their final questions of the House impeachment managers and Trump's crony defense team. Notably, Chief Justice John Roberts refused to read a question from Sen. Rand Paul.
My question today is about whether or not individuals who were holdovers from the Obama National Security Council and Democrat partisans conspired with Schiff staffers to plot impeaching the President before there were formal House impeachment proceedings.
â Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 30, 2020
The Iowa Caucus is so soon: THIS COMING MONDAY. Pete Buttigieg is amping up his criticisms of his opponents. "I hear Vice President Biden saying that this is no time to take a risk on someone new, but history has shown us that the biggest risk we could take with a very important election coming up is to look to the same Washington playbook," Buttigieg said. So HoT aNd SpIcY! He needs to make a strong finish. Otherwise, his campaign might be toast. Are you still undecided yourself? Here's a handy quiz to match you with a Democratic candidate. It gave me Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren equally. Helpful.......
HOLD UP: THIS IS TODAY'S BIGGEST NEWS. LOOK:
Fiona the hippo attempts to make #SuperBowl pick, vomits on Kansas City: https://t.co/I69pNMvkd8 pic.twitter.com/Z3qfMm5Wee
â WLWT (@WLWT) January 30, 2020
The coronavirus has been declared a global emergency: The World Health Organization held off on making the pronouncement, but now it's official. The Wuhan coronavirus outbreak is a global health emergency. What does that mean? The New York Times breaks it down:
The W.H.O.âs declarationâofficially called a âpublic health emergency of international concern âdoes not have the force of law. But it serves notice to all United Nations member states that the worldâs top health advisory body thinks the situation is grave.
Governments then make their own decisions about whether to close their borders, cancel flights, screen people arriving at airports or take other protective measures.
Declaring emergencies also adds urgency to any W.H.O. appeal for money. Thus far, that is hardly relevant: The countries most affectedâChina, Japan, Germany, South Korea, the United States, and Vietnamâcan afford to wage their own battles against the virus.
New Seattle royalty: Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and pop star Ciara are having another baby. The couple made the announcement over social media this morning.
Have you been to the Laser Dome yet? Lasers are lit.
Out little local trillion-dollar company: Amazon shares crossed $1 trillion dollars again with a huge 12% boost attributed to the company beating their expectations for the holiday quarter. "The earnings report jolted [Amazon] shares past $2,000 in after-hours trading Thursday as Amazon crosses the $1 trillion mark for market capitalization again," reports Geekwire. "It reached that milestone for the first time in September 2018."
Another politician jumps ship to work for NHL Seattle: Rep. Eric Pettigrew will retire at the end of this session to go and work for the NHL. He cited years of progressive activism, to which Rich Smith responded: "Pettigrew's "progressive" voting record is so special you'd be forgiven for confusing him with a Republican." Meanwhile, what is our NHL team name going to be? Durkan wants Kraken.
pic.twitter.com/8vyMzt956d
â Mayor Jenny Durkan (@MayorJenny) January 30, 2020
Crosscut got their hands on a controversial Customs and Border Protection directive that instructs CBP agents: "all persons born after 1961 and before 2001 with linksâsuch as place of birth, travel or citizenshipâto Palestine, Lebanon and Iran should be vetted at the border." Customs and Border Protection has denied this directive and a spokesperson told the Seattle Times that the agency "does not comment on leaked documents." More from the memo: âEven if they are not of Shia faith, anyone can state they are Baha'i, please question further to determine this is the case. When in doubt send for high side checks."
Seattle community organizations will receive 700 naloxone (also known as Narcan) kits from the city of Seattle in an effort to fight the area's opioid crisis, reports the Seattle Times. âWe have to combat this opioid epidemic everywhere we can to keep people healthy and safe in our community,â said Mayor Durkan in the announcement today.
Gay country crooner Orville Peck made his late-night TV debut last night: He didn't bring out Lavender Country but that's okay.