A Different and Dangerous Impeachment

George Rebane

‘This Impeachment Is Different – and More Dangerous’ writes Lawrence Lessig in Politico.  He is currently the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School, and according to my lights tilts a bit to the left.  But he has penned an insightful piece that more or less flies in formation and abets Rebane Doctrine on the Great Divide (you know, confirmation bias and all that).

Lessig correctly argues that the current impeachment imbroglio is not a rehash of America’s past impeachments.  Today, the plethora of politically polarizing media have so divided the country that both sides are totally sustained in their beliefs without even considering whether there is any middle ground remaining, and, if so, should we seek it out.  He points out that past impeachments were carried out by elite cadres operating, more or less, out of the public glare.  The impeachers were not pored over by the public, whose changing attitudes were not constantly apparent to the impeachers.  Today, Americans have a choice on how to view the impeachment process, and their attitudinal temperature is taken multiple times a day by countless polls.

Well, actually the Nixon Watergate scandal was followed through the big three and NPR outlets, but then everyone had pretty much the same picture of what was going on.  There was one basic ground truth which was broadly accepted.  Today “as information channels have multiplied, real “broadcast democracy”—the shared and broad engagement with a common set of facts —has disappeared. An abundance of choice means fewer focus on the news, and those who do are more engaged politically, and more partisan. No doubt, there is more published today about impeachment across a wide range of media than before, but it lives within different and smaller niches.”

And due to this “abundance of choice” with less “focus on the news”, the strongly divided attitudes “will have a profound effect on how this impeachment will matter to Americans.”  Neither side will be sharing any common ground over which to view the proceedings, understand the facts, and distinguish between allegations, perceptions, presumptions, inferences, …, and then what used to be known as evidence.

Holman Jenkins at the WSJ makes a strong case (here) for there being no chance for common ground when he goes through an analysis of Adam Schiff’s impeachment inquiry report wherein its author paints the progressives’ picture of what went down with lavish and profound lies.  Schiff is a politician profiting from the polarization that needs to be maintained.  Take as an example the Mick Mulvaney news conference that is now totally misrepresented in the lamestream – “A media transcript plainly shows that acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney was not referring to a Ukraine quid pro quo when he said politics will influence foreign policy and that critics should “get over it.” Ambassador Gordon Sondland merely “presumed” that Mr. Trump sought a quid pro quo from Ukraine. Why falsely characterize these men’s statements, as the Schiff report does, when doing so is unnecessary to convince anyone that Mr. Trump nevertheless envisioned a quid pro quo?”

And even more astounding in Schiff’s dim assessment of the intellect of his true believing constituents, we have – “Mr. Schiff claims Mr. Trump delayed “critical military aid” to Ukraine, but offers no evidence that the aid was critical. (The missiles discussed in Mr. Trump’s supposedly incriminating call with Ukraine’s president were not even part of the holdup.) He insists Mr. Trump’s dealings undermined U.S. national interests, but a president is perfectly entitled to differ with Mr. Schiff over what constitutes the national interest. With a casualness you expect only from the media, he relies on the fallacy that wishing to examine Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 election is tantamount to denying Russian meddling.”

Lessig concurs that “the Civil War may well have been the last time we suffered a media environment like this. Then, it was censorship laws that kept the truths of the North separated from the truths of the South. And though there was no polling, the ultimate support for the war, at least as manifested initially, demonstrated to each of those separated publics a depth of tribal commitment that was as profound, and tragic, as any in our history. That commitment, driven by those different realities, led America into the bloodiest war in its history.”

He believes that “we’re not going to war today”, because “we are not separated by geography, and we’re not going to take machetes to our neighbors. But the environment of our culture today leaves us less able to work through fundamental differences than at any time in our past. Indeed, as difference drives hate, hate pays — at least the media companies, and too many politicians.”

Finally, Lessig makes an appeal to the media companies to quit selling hate, and instead seek and establish a common ground whereon both sides could at least share some of the same views; and perhaps that would start a productive national dialogue.  A part of this process would be for companies like Facebook and Twitter to self-censor divisive and false political advertising.

In the end Lessig believes that we have “a fractured America because of siloed information”.  And his strong presumption is that the overwhelming share of citizens of both persuasions restrict their input to outlets of their preferred ideological flavors.  But that is patently an one-sided argument, as even these pages confirm.  Yes, when we monitor CNN, MSNBC, NYT, …, we see a narrow-casting of ideas both in their ‘news’ and commentary.  But that clearly is not the case when we look at the news segments, and even some commentary programs, of outlets like Fox News and Fox Business that with intense regularity feature strong proponents of the Left who launch dialogues totally absent from the other side.  Talking to a liberal these days quickly reveals that the person has not even been updated by his leftwing media on the basic factual happenings of the day.  And here I’m not talking only in the aggregate of such populations; of course, exceptions exist, but they are relatively infrequent (most certainly not any of RR’s leftwing commenters).

To conclude, what concerns me about today’s sincere academics and analysts of our national drama, is that almost all of them turn a blind eye to the distinct, and (to me) very evident, possibility that we are now ideologically beyond the tipping point.  That America is divided by a chasm of no shared ideas into two distinct ideological cohorts.  One working feverishly to fundamentally transform the republic into a pure socialist democracy on the road to globalism, and the other seeking to avoid such a revolution, and go on evolving as a liberty-loving, risk-tolerant nation of entrepreneurs and workers, people who continue to enjoy the blessings of minimally regulated markets overseen by a limited and constitutional government intent on preserving America as free and sovereign nation-state.

Comments

[scenes]

"Today, the plethora of politically polarizing media have so divided the country that both sides are totally sustained in their beliefs without even considering whether there is any middle ground remaining"

It's worth considering what the two extremes even are. It isn't like Trump is much of a Libertarian, anti-central bank, free market proponent, etc.

People tend to know which side of the split they're on, but what exactly is that split is worth a word or two.

[George Rebane]

scenes 113pm - good point Mr scenes. It seems that today the easy way to view the split is by noting that both sides are more unified in what they don't like about the other side, than what really they find in common with their fellows. And what they don't like about the other does not always have to be an accurate representation; comfortably confirmed perceptions will do quite well to keep the sides apart.

[Paul Emery]

George

Did you take a public stand on the impeachment of Clinton? Looking back do you support that impeachment?

[Bill Tozer]

Exhibit A: comment above. Beyond the tipping point. No common ground.

Talking to a liberal these days quickly reveals that the person has not even been updated by his leftwing media on the basic factual happenings of the day. And here I’m not talking only in the aggregate of such populations; of course, exceptions exist, but they are relatively infrequent (most certainly not any of RR’s leftwing commenters).—-Dr. Rebane

[Paul Emery]

Bill

I was just inquiring as to whether George and I had common ground on the Clinton impeachment. What's the problem with that?

[Scott O]

St Paul, The Pious - "I was just inquiring as to whether George and I had common ground on the Clinton impeachment. What's the problem with that?"
The problem, Paul, is that you show up here asking all manner of questions and you answer none.
Due directly to your actions, I see you as nothing more than an small child with bad manners.
Clinton perjured himself under oath and was not only impeached, but was disbarred from practicing law.
That is a matter of historical record.

[Walt]

More tough news for Paul.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/473461-supreme-court-halts-subpoena-to-deutsche-bank-for-trump-financial
Nope,, not getting those to dig for impeachment dirt.
Hope that ruins your night.

[scenes]

'St Paul, The Pious - "I was just inquiring as to whether George and I had common ground on the Clinton impeachment. What's the problem with that?"
The problem, Paul, is that you show up here asking all manner of questions and you answer none.'

lol. Exactly.

Personally I think a man has a God-given right to lie about blowjobs that pre-dates the US legal code or English common law. It's probably written in cuneiform somewhere.

[Walt]

Only LIBS can try and pull this line of BS off.
"President Can Be Impeached for ‘Motives’ Without Breaking Law"
"The House Judiciary Committee released a report Saturday in which it argued that a president may be impeached for “illegitimate motives” even if his actions are “legally permissible.” "
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/12/07/house-judiciary-committee-report-president-can-be-impeached-for-motives-without-breaking-law/

Remember LIBS,, your own rules and actions will make it justified to do the same to you.
Somehow you haven't figured that out yet.

[scenes]

"President Can Be Impeached for ‘Motives’ Without Breaking Law"

Hell yeah. The Blue Mob can vote on any old thing they like. Open borders, overseas adventures, and men in dresses have powerful patrons.

"The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Pretty loose definition. Is talking to a foreign leader 'treason'? Does it imply 'high misdemeanor' or just 'misdemeanor'. What is high? When yer running a coup, any old thing will do.

I expect the main result will be a backfire similar to the business of approving judges. The Democrats change the tradition for purely political reasons, the Republicans get power in both houses, and the next (D) President will get kicked out for parking tickets (or perjuring himself about activites at the Man's Country in jolly old Chicago, it does bring up an undignified picture of Obama and Rahm Emanuel making policy).

[Castaneda]

,,,Trump is corrupt...as with Capone it might be necessary to take him down by some lesser means...

Akin to Impeaching Clinton for perjury about BJ...

[Scott O]

re: scenes, Walt - You have to remember we are in a 'Constitutional crises'. That makes it different. The Dems really, really don't want to do this but the bad orange man is going to destroy the world as we know it, so the circus must go on.
Can't you see Trump is destroying our Democracy? Can't you see he is putting us in an 'existential crises'?
Just as soon as they impeach him, everything will be OK, and we can relax.
And that is why these new rules only apply to Trump - certainly not any Dem.
What a joke.

[scenes]

",,,Trump is corrupt..."

lol. Uh huh.

What you are seeing is probably the most transparent administration in history. Between the internet, leaks by a Blue Mob run bureaucracy, and a GEOTUS that simply doesn't give a shit, the kimono has opened a bit. Between that and Trump's low need for campaign funding or wealth extraction from his job, it could well be the least corrupt in your lifetime. Perhaps an exception could be made for non-entities like Ford.

It's all like playing Whac-A-Paul. Trump hurts the other children, he plays so rough. We don't like him cuz of some sort of stripper girlfriend, or the grabbing of willing pussies, or two scoops of ice cream, or his wife's white outfit, or pulling out of ineffective treaties, or or or. Just accept that it's an emotional reaction about feelz and spare us the 'reasons'. There's strength in being honest with yourself.

[Walt]

Nadless Nadler can't wait to waddle onto a news set.
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2019/12/08/nadler-if-trump-is-acquitted-i-do-not-know-if-2020-will-be-a-fair-election/

A Fair election would be Illegals Voting, Dead People Voting, Tampered Voting Machines and Democrats Voting more than once.

[Scott O]

Car-load 8:42 - "...it might be necessary to take him down by some lesser means..."
And why is it 'necessary'?
All of the accusations of actual crimes committed by Trump have come up empty.
Carloada is indeed admitting that this is just a way for the Dems to attempt to overturn the last presidential election by a politically oriented impeachment.
There are no 'high crimes or misdemeanors'.

[scenes]

re: Walt

It's those Russkies I tell ya. Here's an effort I can get behind.

https://www.dailydot.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/putin-voter-id-meme.jpg

[Bill Tozer]

As Jimmy the peanut farmer said, “I had lust in my heart.”

Are Thought Crimes Impeachable?

“Alleged bad thoughts are not crimes — at least not outside George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984.””

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/11/trump-impeachment-inquiry-alleged-bad-thoughts-not-crimes/

[George Rebane]

Along with our readers, I await anyone from the Left coming forward with evidence of corruption in/by the Trump administration. Please spare us your allegations, presumptions, predictions, inferences, intense beliefs, perceptions, subjunctives, ..., and any additional extracts from counterfactual reasoning you may be able to dredge up. Not holding my breath.

[Bill Tozer]

Dr. Rebane @ 10:13 am, sir.

Because Trump is a really really really bad man, he must be driven out of town on a rail. Tar and feathered first, of course.
Because Trump is a really really really bad man, anything he does is bad. Strike that. Everything he does must be really bad, because he is a bad bad bad man. Don’t let him touch anything! Get him away from the controls...be is a really really really bad man. And by obvious extension, all his thoughts, words, and deeds are really really bad bad bad. Fruit of the poison tree.

Can’t remember which R congressman or senator walked into the D full Intel Committee Caucus basement secret meeting and 17 of the 24 Lefties there had already voted to impeach Trump.

The only thing that is amazing to me (I know, I shouldn’t be surprised by anything by now)....amazing to me....is the breath of the arrogance and the stunning lack of the Dems trying to hide what they are doing. Just a whiff of pretense will do. And when they momentarily fall back into their “deny everything” mode, we hear their leaders like Queen Nan of Nunnery and the Distinguished Adam Schiff say “I pray for the President everyday” or “I haven’t made up my mind yet”, roflmao. One is praying that Trump has a painful existence burning in Hades for eternity (with ALL his family members with him ) and the other....well.....let’s just say the Internet lives forever and the history of unfounded and unmoored statements against Trump precedes them to the present hour.
—————
@ 9:23 am

You are slipping Scenes. You forgot Melania’s shoes were wrong!

[Castaneda]

,,,all it will take is pergury on the part of Trump for whoremongering,,,now that the Right-e-ohs have set new and dangerous impeachment precedents.

[fish]

Posted by: Castaneda | 08 December 2019 at 11:05 AM

Yeah dugsKKKi.......”pergury”.....that’s the ticket!

[Walt]

So tell us Dougy,, how much does the lady of low moral character OWE Trump today? You did get that news about what the court said,, didn't you? Here Let me help you out with that.
From the Proggyu Press even.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/11/judge-orders-porn-star-stormy-daniels-to-pay-trump-attorneys-fees.html

That should plug you up and spare a pair of Depends for a day.

[Walt]

Here Dougy,,
tell us what page that may be on.
https://www.scribd.com/document/438720284/House-Judiciary-Committee-Releases-Report-Defining-Impeachable-Offenses#from_embed

Can anyone find proof or fact of an actual crime in this roll of orphanage grade butt wipe paper?

[Paul Emery]

Scott, Scenes

The question was for George.

[Castaneda]

,,,Posted by: fish | 08 December 2019 at 11:14 AM,,,

Oh look, another Peeline clone!!!

[fish]

Posted by: Castaneda | 08 December 2019 at 11:41 AM

Oh dugsKKKi.....you would think, as an educator you would be grateful for the spelling help. So as not to look ignorant in the future!

[Walt]

Capt. Cricketts is getting pissy.
Who will show up next? Bobby Emery? Or Paul Cross?

[Castaneda]

,,,yes fishpee,,,thanks

[fish]

Posted by: Castaneda | 08 December 2019 at 11:49 AM

Now was that so difficult?

[Bill Tozer]

On any given Sunday.......

[Bill Tozer]

Well, I would rather be a whoremonger than a hatemonger. All the Lefties got in their toolbox is peddling hate. There is a wretch for every nut.

“Our democracy is what is at stake,” she said. “The president leaves us no choice but to act.”

She is wrong. She does have a choice, and she made the wrong one.“

https://nypost.com/2019/12/07/theres-great-hate-for-donald-trumps-success-goodwin/

Nobody said draining the swamp would be without strong ‘resistance’. Most of us (speaking for myself using the Royal We) think dranging the swamp thing monsters is an impossible task.
——-
“David Brooks: Pelosi's Slam on Reporter a 'Beautiful Political Moment of the Year”
————
Then, there is always one in the crowd: Sen. Cruz DESTROYS Chuck Todd in Battle Over Impeachment, Media Bias, Ukraine

“Ha, ha, ha. You know, Chuck, substance matters,” Cruz laughed at his moderator as he proceeded to school (the first of many) him on how Trump had armed Ukraine to fight a hot war against Russia.”

Shortly thereafter, Cruz brought up how “House Democrats put out a 55-page report, they called it a scholarly report that purports to say you don't have to prove a crime, you don't have to prove a law was violated to impeach a president.”

Todd began to scream over his guest to get him to stop exposing the Democrats. “Senator! That is exactly why the impeachment was written into the Constitution,” he proclaimed. He proceeded to defend the Democratic argument that no provable crime was needed, supposedly because, “That's exactly why the phrase ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ is in there, because they did it before they even wrote our laws, sir!”

Todd never explained how the lack of a provable crime was allowed by the Constitution. The document said “high crimes and misdemeanors,” but the U.S. justice system also said one was innocent until proven guilty.

Then, when Senator Cruz said that he believed “Hunter Biden got that position is because his daddy was vice president of the United States,” Todd put words in his guest’s mouth and bitterly declared, “So, you believe Ukraine meddled.”

For weeks, Todd and the rest of the liberal media had been pretending it was somehow a crazy fringe conspiracy theory despite their articles about it from 2017. So, when Cruz acknowledged that was what he believed, Todd was visibly shocked and the crew in his studio audibly laughed.

Following Todd’s freak out, Cruz calmly called out the “game” he and the rest of “the media is playing” with those facts. “You've said the senators, sort of aghast, ‘do you believe Ukraine and not Russia interfered in the election?’ Now, that in a court of law would be struck as a misleading question. Of course, Russia interfered in our election. Nobody looking at the evidence disputes that,” he said.

To further back up his point, Cruz argued that the reason Todd the rest of the liberal media were now downplaying Ukraine’s meddling was that, “A, they were trying to get Hillary Clinton elected, which is what the vast majority of the media wanted anyway. And B, it's inconvenient for the narrative.”

Todd was obviously fuming and lashed out by asking the Senator if he read the intelligence reports that showed Russia meddled in 2016. Cruz schooled him again by noting that he did, and that he’s sat through many briefings when other countries tried to interfere as well.

“Russia has tried to interfere in our elections. China has tried to interfere in our elections. North Korea has tried to interfere in our elections. Ukraine has tried to interfere in our elections. This is not new, 2016 is not the first year they did it,” he said.

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/2019/12/08/sen-cruz-destroys-chuck-todd-battle-over-impeachment-media-bias-ukraine

[Scott O]

Paul 11:37 - "Scott, Scenes
The question was for George."
Really?
Gee - let's look:
Paul 5:19 - "Bill
I was just inquiring as to whether George and I had common ground on the Clinton impeachment. What's the problem with that?"
Clearly, that question was not for George.
Do try to keep up, Paul.

[Walt]

I gave the Paul the inquisitor, the documents, you would think he would jump at the chance to list the charges.
This should be more fun than Trump's tax returns he's been slobbering over, waiting to "see".(Ant a lot easier for Paul to digest.)

[Bill Tozer]

ANALYSIS/OPINION:
Nancy Pelosi, American Psycho.

“These are hard times for anyone trying to cling to a shred of sanity in politics. The lying, the distortion, the projection, the dual personalities, the anxiety, the obsessive-compulsive disorder and the schizophrenia.
Mental illness is real and it is on full display in Washington every single day the past three years since the unthinkable travesty has befallen our fair federal city along the sliding Potomac River.

But what we saw Thursday was so much more than just mental illness.
Mrs. Pelosi escaped from her cult and stepped before the cameras in one of the most extraordinary hostage videos ever shown on live television.

“When in the course of human events,” the House speaker began, staring vacantly into nothingness. She blinked. And blinked again as if to send a message without alerting her captors. But what was she trying to signal?
“When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another.” Stare. Blink. Chew.
Was that another secret signal? The chewing on her words? The strange mouth movements?
Or was that her meds? Is she still on her meds?
More staring, more blinking, more chewing.
“With those words, our Founders courageously began our Declaration of Independence from an oppressive monarch, for among other grievances....blah, blah, blah

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/dec/5/nancy-pelosis-hostage-video/

Yep, it all sounds like stirring creamy pasta to me.

[scenes]

Paul mewls @11:37
"Scott, Scenes The question was for George."

Sorry about that, it's hard to tell in the latest Whac-A-Paul silly question game just where we were. Deciding who gets to speak is a tricky matter of course and is best done by a moderator.

I'm thinking, only in the most brotherly and kind way of course, that you could simply start your own blog.

The name writes itself: paulsquestions.typepad.com

It would be a super busy website. Filled with levity and insight. I can imagine the result.

Putin1968, why do you think that Clinton has such an interesting sex life? I love talking about Presidents' sex lives.
Posted by: Paul Emery 09 December 2019 at 05:16AM

Муж да жена́ одна́ сатана́.
Posted by: Putin1952 09 December 2019 at 05:20AM

[fish]

Posted by: scenes | 08 December 2019 at 02:05 PM

Given the friendship with our genial host mentioned on more than one occasion by Punch, you would think that these "private" questions would be delivered via e-mail or over lunch.

[Carlos Danger]

Paul is a high maintenance child. There is a real George Rebane is not answering the phone or the call to respond immediately. Not now, sweetheart, I have a headache.

So, 21 years ago this month Bubba was impeached. GEORGE must declare today what was his stance then, has it changed, what is his public stance now, and does he agree with the problem child assessment?

Polly wants a cracker, NOW!

[fish]

Summed up nicely.........

"KURT SCHLICHTER: The Democrats’ Massive Impeachment Fail. “To the surprise of no one who isn’t a blue city pol, a media hack, or an insufferable Fredocon sissy, the American people are not particularly impressed by the genius idea of replacing our president a year before an election because he allegedly expressed curiosity about why the coke-sniffing, stripper-impregnating, dead brother’s wife-trifling, Navy-rejected loser son of Vice President Gropey O’Definitelynotsenile scored a $50K+ a month gig on a Ukrainian gas board. And it’s just dawning on some of them they maybe this impeachment brainstorm was not the bestest idea there ever was.”

https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2019/12/05/the-democrats-massive-impeachment-fail-n2557446

[Bill Tozer]

@ 4:17 pm.

Best article on the Different and Dangerous Impeachment yet! Great analysis. Many, many nuggies...gold ‘clunker’ nuggies in the miner’s pan. Recommended.

“But those purple district Dems who got elected talking about “unity” and “working together” and how they would be “independent” and “not Nancy Pelosi’s puppet,” well, it’s a little different when Nancy’s hand is up your puppet hole making you say “impeachment” while your constituents are saying, “Uh, what exactly have you done in D.C. for two years besides whine about Trump?”

[Walt]

So the Proggys rewrote the meaning of treason. Good luck making that stick.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/12/08/treason-house-judiciary-committee-report-trump-ultimate-crime/
"The Constitution specifically defines treason in Article III, Section 3: “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.”

The House Judiciary Committee report, however, expands that definition to include what it calls “betrayal,” and declares: “Although the Framers did not intend impeachment for good faith disagreements on matters of diplomacy, they were explicit that betrayal of the Nation through schemes with foreign powers justified that remedy.”

The phrase “schemes with foreign powers” is sufficiently vague to include the “quid pro quo” plan that Democrats allege the president attempted to make with Ukraine, trading U.S. aid for investigation into a political opponent.

(No direct evidence exists to prove that claim, and the only direct witnesses testified before the House Intelligence Committee that the president did not want that “quid pro quo.”) "

That makes Biden a traitor.
Now he claims stupidity?
https://dailycaller.com/2019/12/08/joe-biden-hunter-biden-axios/

https://dailycaller.com/2019/12/08/joe-biden-burisma-conflict/
"“Nobody warned me about a potential conflict of interest. Nobody warned me about that,” Biden told NPR when asked about his discussions while vice president involving his son Hunter Biden’s position with Burisma Holdings."

Nice try.
He was told PLENTY of times.

[Bill Tozer]

And the bribery context our Founders used as a guiding light goes back to the Magna Carta in the 1200’s. It means to sell your allegiance to a foreign power and put your allegiance to them ahead your allegiance to your own country or Kingdom. Originally it was meant for deputies and ministers of the King in government....who sold their country out for a bag of wealth. Oh yeah, the common law of England was largely created in the period after the Norman Conquest of 1066.

Start @ 2:30. Bribery; you know it when you see it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk5TpuCtv6A

[Russ]

ONE AMERICA NEWS (OAN) GOES WHERE MSM WON’T: Former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko tells OAN all about former U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovich’s “untouchables” list. If OAN can go to Ukraine and interview principals in the impeachment scandal, why can’t ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, the Washington Post, New York Times, etc. etc.?

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Answer: Because they’re not interested in knowing what actually happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgKGjoIkaXU&feature=youtu.be

[Bill Tozer]

Russ, OAN is a Putin broadcast! Didn’t you hear? Vlady’s waterboy. You are not allowed to question the matter, not to mention watch such extreme far right Russian Colluding
broadcasts. Where have you been? Bad, Russ, bad. Now get on board with Team Blue.

Heck, it was easy for Solomon just to walk right up and get Ukrainian court documents. It’s not like he had to pry any doors open. And his phone logs (he doesn’t use AT&T) show three calls to Rudy or (someone like Rudy’s) private number and showing by his log that Solomon was doing exactly what any good reporter would be doing: making a lot of calls and knocking on doors.
and calling people at their work numbers. A bunch of reporters want to talk to Rudy or other WH officials close to the President from every network. Shocking. Some are more curious than others. Conspiracy!

The nail that stands up will get pounded down. Trump never said “could ya help a brother out. Could you do ME a favor..” No, he said could you help us out. Us. Bill Barr is looking into stuff that was going on in 2016, Mr. ‘just elected anti-corruption new’President of Ukraine. I am sending Rudy who did a terrific job cleaning up New York. Heard a bunch of terrible things that happened in your county, so you might want to look into it. Terrible things.”

[Bill Tozer]

One America News: Biden, part two. Debunk this...wait and see. The Mob really had to kick the Ukraine hornet’s Nest to snare Trump, didn’t they. Not a winnings strategy. They just cannot help themselves. Quite short-sighted of the children. TDS does fog judgement, obviously.

https://www.oann.com/viktor-shokin-biden-outraged-we-seized-burisma-assets/

[eri]

Thank you for sharing
https://aab-edu.net/

[Bill Tozer]

From the Cross News Network

EXASPERATED: Journalists Fear Dems May Have Blown Impeachment

“NBC’s Meet the Press host Chuck Todd compared the President to O.J. Simpson when he worried Trump would evade justice: “I’m having a quick flashback to the O.J. trial.” Todd feared Trump was “going to get acquitted” even though “everybody knew” he was “guilty.” His MSNBC colleague Donny Deutsch yelled at his fellow Democrats for being too weak: “We can’t bring a knife” to a fight with Republicans who have “machine guns.”

CNN host Brian Stelter fretted to fellow CNNer Jake Tapper are we going to “regret not doing even more to speak out about this lying and deceit?” Stelter was so confounded that any Republican could support Trump, he actually asked on a cult expert: “You say the President is using mind control, but how is that provable?”

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/geoffrey-dickens/2019/12/09/exasperated-journalists-fear-dems-may-have-blown-impeachment

**No bias here. News you can’t use. Headlines are funny:

Trump Bringing America To Its “Terminal Moment”

How Can Anybody Support Trump? We’ll Ask a Cult Expert

End Is Near for Trump “Cult”

Trump’s “Idiot Nationalism” Is Going To Take Down America and the World With Us

Oust Trump to Reverse Bad Historic Ebb for America

Our Liberal Bias Is “Reality-Based”

Journalists Not Anti-Trump Enough

Screw “Uniting” the Country! “Trump Is Dangerous” for Minorities!

Trump Is a “Bad Idea” Just Like Hitler

Why Doesn’t America Hate Trump Like We Do?!

Time to Vote Out Trump’s “Monarchy in Disguise”

[Bill Tozer]

Can’t be bothered to investigate. Got it.

WHEN YOU’VE LOST THE INTELLIGENT VOICES ON THE WASHINGTON POST’S OP-ED PAGE. . .
In both its news and opinion sections, the Washington Post has been beating the drum for impeaching President Trump. However, two op-eds in today’s paper, both by writers with a strong aversion to Trump, are unimpressed with the case for impeachment. The op-eds are good evidence that the impeachment process isn’t playing out the way Democrats had hoped it would.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/12/when-youve-lost-the-intelligent-voices-on-the-washington-posts-op-ed-page.php

[robert Cross]

In the 'just another lie' category: The long hyped right wing excuse that the FBI Russia investigation was politically motivated by the deep state in order to damage trumpler is total bullcrap. The DOJ Inspector General’s report rebuts the depiction of the investigation of trumpler's campaign as a politically biased plot against him. The report concluded the FBI and DOJ were justified in launching their probe because of evidence the Russian government was trying to infiltrate the Trump campaign as part of its efforts to influence the election. So all of the 'witch hunt' garbage is just that, garbage, that less than conscientious consumers of information buy into hook line and sinker, not because they want to know the truth but because they want to believe all the lies, distortions, and outlandish conspiracy theories put forth by trumpler to the detriment of the nation and the world.

[fish]

Posted by: roberta Cross | 09 December 2019 at 11:17 AM

Mmmmmm......more delicious word salad made by Americas favorite homemaker roberta Cross....!

[Todd Juvinall]

Oh BoobieC the AG and Mr. Durham have issued their statements stating the opposite of the deep state IG's report. You have failed the test.

[Robert Cross]

Todd, you have consumed the TrumpAid (sour grape flavor) nothing you, Barr or any of trumpler's minions say is true. You are living a lie, it must be difficult to look in a mirror day after day knowing this. I feel sorry for you all especially Clouseau who continues to bang his head against a wall.

[fish]

Posted by: Robert Cross | 09 December 2019 at 11:39 AM

I feel sorry for you all especially Clouseau who continues to bang his head against a wall.

Who is this......?!

[fish]

Todd I wouldn't sweat Robertas constant whining.....remember, even the craziest "guest" at the group home is allowed 15 minutes a day on the computer... by law !

[Don Bessee]

Not so fast there IG -

The U.S. attorney who is conducting a wide-ranging investigation of the origins of the Trump-Russia probe released a rare statement Monday saying he disagrees with conclusions of the so-called FISA report -- after DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz found in that review that the probe's launch largely complied with DOJ and FBI policies.

“Based on the evidence collected to date, and while our investigation is ongoing, last month we advised the Inspector General that we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened,” U.S. Attorney John Durham said in a statement.

“I have the utmost respect for the mission of the Office of Inspector General and the comprehensive work that went into the report prepared by Mr. Horowitz and his staff,” Durham said. “However, our investigation is not limited to developing information from within component parts of the Justice Department. Our investigation has included developing information from other persons and entities, both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S.”

As Horowitz has conducted his review of DOJ actions during the Russia probe, Durham, the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, has also been conducting a wider inquiry into alleged misconduct and alleged improper government surveillance on the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/barr-blasts-fbi-over-intrusive-probe-of-trump-campaign-in-wake-of-fisa-report

;-)

[fish]

OH NOES........

BREAKING: AS IMPEACHMENT MOVES AHEAD TRUMP SURGES IN BATTLEGROUND STATES

Roberta and Punchy impacted most!

https://firehousestrategies.com/analysis/december_2019_battleground_survey/

[Bill Tozer]

Re: Not so fast. I recommend waiting a day or two as the IG Report shakes out. Much to digest already. Sample stories:

* FBI Knew The Steele Dossier Was Highly Dubious As Early As January 2017, But Still Relied On It For FISA Renewals
The FBI smelled garbage. It relied on said garbage anyway.

* DOJ IG Report Slams Bruce Ohr’s Failure To Report Repeated Interactions With Steele

* IG Report Confirms No FISA Warrant On Carter Page Without Steele Dossier
“The much awaited Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) report, conducted by Inspector General Michael Horowitz, was released today. It finds that the FBI would not have had enough claimed evidence to secretly surveil former Trump aide Carter Page, and thus the Trump 2016 campaign, without using a “dossier” of opposition research funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign”

* Brennan Lied About Not Including Steele Dossier In Intelligence Community Assessment On 2016 Russian Election Interference

“The new report from Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz confirmed former CIA Director John Brennan lied to Congress about whether the dossier authored by Christopher Steele was used in the Obama administration’s Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA).”

And on and on it goes.........

*Bill Barr And John Durham Criticize Conclusions Of IG FISA Investigation

“Attorney General William Barr and U.S. Attorney John Durham expressed their concern over the conclusion of the newly released FISA report, which concludes the FBI launched a surveillance investigation into former Trump aide Carter Page based on uncorroborated evidence funded by Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

The FISA report concludes, while the FBI investigation was rife with errors, there is no evidence of political bias or improper motivation that influenced the FBI’s decision to spy on Page.

In remarks revealing Barr’s attitude toward the FISA report’s findings, Barr claims the IG report made clear the FBI launched an out-of-line investigation.

“The Inspector General’s report now makes clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken,” Barr said.”

Now,with that out of the way, back to “Impeach the Mother Clucker!”

[George Rebane]

Did anyone find any pro-Trump errors with which the FISA report was rife? If all the 'errors' were anti-Trump, what conclusion can one draw from such evidence?

[Bill Tozer]

Dr. Rebane @ 1:10 pm
Not yet, but I am still searching for any pro Trump errors. Got my work cut out for me.

More IG headlines:

“IG Report Says CIA Dismissed Steele Dossier as ‘Internet Rumor’”

“IG Report Details ‘Significant Omissions and Inaccurate Information’ in FISA Application to Surveil Carter Page“

“DOJ IG Report Finds Russia Probe Wasn’t Politically Motivated But Suffered from ‘Serious Performance Failures’”.

What the hay are ‘serious performance failures’? Will a little blue pill fix it?
————
And to think the Horowitz report was just about the FICA warrant application to the Court...with no authority to question those outside the DOJ/FBI

[Bill Tozer]

Bobbie Sue sez:

“In the 'just another lie' category: The long hyped right wing excuse that the FBI Russia investigation was politically motivated by the deep state in order to damage trumpler is total bullcrap. The DOJ Inspector General’s report rebuts the depiction of the investigation of trumpler's campaign as a politically biased plot against him. The report concluded the FBI and DOJ were justified in launching their probe because of evidence the Russian government was trying to infiltrate the Trump campaign as part of its efforts to influence the election. So all of the 'witch hunt' garbage is just that, garbage, that less than conscientious consumers of information buy into hook line and sinker, not because they want to know the truth but because they want to believe all the lies, distortions, and outlandish conspiracy theories put forth by trumpler to the detriment of the nation and the world...
Todd, you have consumed the TrumpAid (sour grape flavor) nothing you, Barr or any of trumpler's minions say is true. You are living a lie, it must be difficult to look in a mirror day after day knowing this. I feel sorry for you all especially Clouseau who continues to bang his head against a wall.”
—-
Bobbie Sue is in good company! Got her cookie recipe from the highest authority. It’s all bull crap!

James Comey tweets out the good news.
‏
@Comey
So it was all lies. No treason. No spying on the campaign. No tapping Trumps wires. It was just good people trying to protect America.
———-
Well, who can argue with that? Unfortunately, we can assume Roberta will continue banging her pretty little head against the wall. Sure as night follows day and day follows night. It’s called projection. Now, how about all those fake organisms? We’re they fake too?

[Todd Juvinall]

Listening to the democrat blowhards in the kangaroo court today I have to say, Beria would be proud of Nadler and the gang. Not one fact witness and Nadler had a staffer testify as a witness then had him become a interrogator! Kangaroos are offended.

[George Rebane]

Then again, if the "serious performance failures" were all agin' one side, them of us who fell off the punkin wagon last week, and have now had a little time to soak up some city smarts, well, we'd still have a hard time believin' that it was all an unbiased little effort that went on behind them closed doors, if you get my drift. Actuarily, our gimlet eyeball looking at that report also has some serious clerical back-up - word of God, if truth be told. There was a very clever preacher man some years ago by the name of Rev Tom Bayes who taught us how to figger the chances of such news being on the up and up (although it does requires some of us to take off one shoe to do all the rithmetic). And doncha know, that kind of reckoning tells you there's somethin' smelly tween the pages of that there report. Now you go figger.

[Russ Witherspoon]

Rebane-" If all the 'errors' were anti-Trump, what conclusion can one draw from such evidence?"

As a math whiz, you know better than to postulate half of a question . . . unless you are attempting to force the answer you wish to find.

A less skewed question might be:
1,002 examples of Trump's treasonous behavior were put on display. If 3 examples are found false, what conclusion can one draw from such evidence?

[George Rebane]

RussW 337pm - Surely you jest Mr Witherspoon.

[Scott O]

"1,002 examples of Trump's treasonous behavior were put on display."
'Alleged' treasonous behavior. Are you sure it isn't 2,000 examples?
A great example of 'just keep throwing lots of mud and maybe some will stick'.

[Walt]

The "I'm not a LIB" Proggy lets himself get played like a banjo
in the movie Deliverance.
https://dailycaller.com/2019/12/09/matt-gaetz-impeachment-daniel-goldman/
"Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz on Monday torched Daniel Goldman, a former MSNBC contributor serving as House Democrats’ counsel in the impeachment probe, after Goldman said he’s not a partisan.

“Are you a partisan?” Gaetz asked Goldman. “I’m not a partisan,” Goldman answered. Gaetz then pressed the Democratic counsel on whether he makes political donations.

“I do, sir. I think it’s very important,” Goldman began to answer, before Gaetz continued. “Matter of fact, you’ve given tens of thousands of dollars to Democrats, right?”

Gaetz also pressed Goldman on a tweet he sent defending the Trump-Russia dossier. The Florida congressman reminded Goldman that he said in a tweet that “nothing in the dossier is proven false,” even though that’s not the case.

“But the dossier said there was a Russian consulate in Miami, when there isn’t. The dossier said that Michael Cohen had a meeting in Prague when he didn’t. The dossier said that Michael Cohen’s wife was Russian, she’s, in fact, Ukrainian. And so, as we sit here today, where you I guess got a tweet mentioning a pee tape, presenting yourself not as a partisan, hired by the Democrats to pursue the president, do you regret this tweet?” Gaetz asked.

Goldman dodged the question, refusing to answer whether or not he regretted the tweet."

Just another lying Progressive son of a bitch!

[Bill Tozer]

I do finding it amusing that the Dems control the committee, the Dems control the rules, the Dems control what witnesses may or may not be called, the Dems control the media....and they still come out with the short stick. In the Intelligence hearing, we were treated to days of testimony and only one eye witness to the call.

Today in the House Judicial Committee we were blessed to have staff lawyers as witnesses, none who are or were witnesses to Treason, Bribery, High Crimes and Misdemeanors. Not one material witness presented. The last time the Judicial Committee met, they brought in four lawyers/scholars as witnesses. Witnesses to what?, roflmao. Unbelievable. Lawyers as witnesses and today staff lawyers as witnesses. Where’s the beef?

I don’t know why I even bother. Impeachment was baked into the cake the moment Hillary could not appear before her supporters to deliver her concession speech on Election Night, USA. No one is surprised. Just another exercise in goofing through the motions.

The lingering question I have had is why this big rush? They have already voted to impeach Trump a half dozen times before the Ukraine call, so why the Christmas Eve deadline? Aha! I told ya this would all circle back to Russia, Russia, Russia. At least we don’t have to litigate again the Logan Act and Prague and 17 Intel Agencies and The Tower of Power. Or do we?

Why the rush? Why no witnesses in the Judicial Committee; one committee relegated with the task of coming up with Articles of Impeachment?

The Dems answer:

“So now, they have adopted the doctrine of preemptive impeachment. In other contexts (such as the Iraq war), preemption has proved to be an enormously controversial political rationale.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/a-preemptive-impeachment

See, it all gets back to Russia and Trump stealing the election. Baked into the cake. Trump is going to do it...AGAIN!

[fish]

Posted by: Bill Tozer | 09 December 2019 at 06:22 PM

I do finding it amusing that the Dems control the committee, the Dems control the rules, the Dems control what witnesses may or may not be called, the Dems control the media....and they still come out with the short stick.

The Republicans would lose every election if they didn't have the Democrats to run against!

[Bill Tozer]

Amen, brother.

I’VE HAD IT WITH IMPEACHMENT
Apparently the Democrats held another impeachment hearing today, at which I take it they heard “testimony” from their own lawyers. I see on Twitter that the broadcast networks all covered this farce live, and then cut away when the Republicans started talking about the Biden bribe.

I knew all I needed to know about the Ukraine hoax when I read the transcript of the Trump-Zelensky call, and everything I needed to know about the Russia hoax long before today’s IG report was released. Maybe the Durham report will produce some new evidence; maybe it will even lead to some criminal indictments. I hope so.

In the meantime, I don’t intend to waste any of my valuable time paying attention to the Democrats’ shameful impeachment effort. This video, which President Trump tweeted last night, sums up my feelings nicely. Impeachment is a political act, and the appropriate response to it is political, as well.

https://twitter.com/DanScavino/status/1194448682466398209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1194448682466398209&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.powerlineblog.com%2Farchives%2F2019%2F12%2Five-had-it-with-impeachment.php

PS: Spin it til the cows come home, but the Horowitz reports is really really bad news for the FBI and the FISA court process. It is a major blow to the Bureau. 5 alarm fire.

[Bill Tozer]

Buck on Twitter.

What America learned today is that a glorified internet rumor padded with bad faith “opposition research” can lead to most powerful law enforcement agency in the world opening up a relentless investigation that ignores all contrary evidence in its quest to crush innocent people

It is true that since FBI agents were dumb enough to believe Carter Page was a Russian asset at the heart of an international conspiracy to rig a presidential election, they were clearly dumb enough to believe almost anything-
But that doesn’t mean they weren’t anti-Trump too

As expected, the basic party line from within the DOJ is that all these mistakes and errors that were useful to the anti-Trump cause were somehow good faith errors, because the FBI had some very reckless and dumb people working the most politically sensitive case in its history

Here’s my preview of IG report:
“There were some irregularities and insufficient vetting procedures”

“Steele dossier played big role”

“Need to review best practices, set up a commission”

“No systemic bias or criminal conspiracy”

*Bureaucrats always protect the institution....

https://twitter.com/BuckSexton?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Amazing that this is what the best and brightest have brought us.

[Walt]

Hummmmm... Where are the Proggys? Busy looking for something to try and slow the flames of their political dumpster fire?

[Scott O]

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/12/09/doj-ig-at-least-17-significant-errors-or-omissions-in-the-carter-page-fisa-application/
If the impeachment were an actual trial in a real court of law, the judge would have looked at all the incompetence by the prosecution and thrown the case out of court.
Notice how all of the errors conveniently went against Trump. No bias here.
Right.
Gosh, yer honor, we ain't biased, we's jus stoopid!

[Bill Tozer]

Back to Russia, Russia, Russia. Didn’t a Dem say just the other day that “All roads lead to Putin”. No, Mad Max just repeated it in a different way. Anyway.

“So, how about all those errors uncovered in the IG Report. When the best and largest federal law enforcement agency in the world working on its biggest case in years, if not decades, somehow has all these “not criminal/political intent” mistakes...big mistakes life withholding mega exculpatory evidence...well, what are the odds that every single mistake or bureaucratic “error” damaged Trump only and only Trump. Lapses in judgement. As Horowitz wrote in his own report, his job is not determine what was behind the ‘error, just identify errors. Poor decision making, all that kind of stuff. Human error. So, some people made mistakes, man. what’s the big deal? Nothing burger,

https://www.dailywire.com/news/bombshell-fbi-altered-evidence-that-falsely-cast-carter-page-as-russian-spy-report-says?

Bull crap that the Trump investigation was legit. Bull Pucky. How could a rumor end up in top echelon of the FBI and Justice Department. And then just walk into a FISA court with a piece of paper that has not been vetted, has not been verified, and waltz out with FISA warrants to spy on the Trump based solely on that one piece of paper your got from Steele. 17 errors? Waiting for Durham. Slow news day anyway.

[Barry Pruett]

Some true news. Republicans in the 90s made impeachment main stream by trying to impeach Clinton. They made this circus possible. No way what Clinton did was impeachable whether getting a hummer in the White House or lying under oath in a civil proceeding (depending on your point of view). That said, an eye for an eye weakens our Union. This fighting needs to stop because the only loser are the People.

[Russ Witherspoon]

Scott O "A great example of 'just keep throwing lots of mud and maybe some will stick'."

Ah yes, a liberal ploy. Mrs Clinton has had truck and trailer loads of mud dumped on her. Of course it was all dumped by liberals.

[Scott O]

"Mrs Clinton has had truck and trailer loads of mud dumped on her."
Yeah - she just always happened to be around criminality. But she never knew shit. She just made the coffee.
"Billing records? I threw them away." And then some were found in a dead man's attic and some in the trunk of a car in the tow yard and some magically just showed up sitting on a table at the library in the White House.
But there's still a lot of leftist idiots that believe that billing records thrown away in Arkansas can travel through space and present themselves on a table in the White House untouched by human hands.

[Bill Tozer]

RW
So it’s all about revenge for a blowjob, eh? Makes sense. Been stewing on that for 21 years now? I know, you are watching us and the Royal We will never forget. Burns ya up every time you think of it, eh? Been waiting for this moment for years and now its within your grasp! Slobber slobber. Revenge is a dish best served cold. It’s close you can almost taste it. Enjoy your fall to Earth

So, No truce in sight. Come on Car-load and RW, put a little love in your heart. How about forgiving us Irredeemables? Bury the jacket. Just kidding. While you are stewing on Impeachment Blowjobs, pull my finger. Meanwhile, off to outside the DOJ/FBI with Durham and that thug-goon Barr. Miles to go before they sleep.

Already have Durham outside the Department, outside the country, and knocking of the CIA door and working on up. Ratcliffe or something R said an interesting thing the other day. He called the dossier ‘the Obama Dossier.’ Probably just a Slip on the tongue.

[Scott O]

Barry - "...by trying to impeach Clinton."
Uh - he was impeached.
https://www.reference.com/history/president-bill-clinton-impeached-6e064bf5b22b8316
"President Bill Clinton was impeached on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice by the House of Representatives on Dec. 19, 1998."
And he was disbarred. That was not a political action.
Good to know I'll never have to worry about being charged with perjury and obstruction of justice. I'll just tell the judge that Barry said it's no big deal. Just a bunch of Republican nonsense.

[Barry Pruett]

Impeachment should reserved for serious constitutional matters. Clinton lying about a blowjob was not a constitutional crisis. Yes Clinton lied about sex. So what? The voters can take care of that. If Clinton enforced laws which the Supreme Court found unconstitutional, now we have identified a real reason which is what the founders had in mind in connection with impeachment. This thing with Trump is the same as Clinton. When reasonable minds can disagree impeachment should be off the table for the best of the union. Let us voters deal with the minor non-constitutional stuff.

[Don Bessee]

@923 - That begs the question will they learn the lesson with 2 re-elections and another loss of the house? A pattern of penalty from the voters could be established?? We shall see.

;-)

[Barry Pruett]

True. True. The people are in control and we can tell them what we think.

[scenes]

re: BillT - "So it’s all about revenge for a blowjob, eh? Makes sense."

I ran into a quote by J Edgar Hoover.

"I regret to say that we of the FBI are powerless to act in cases of oral-genital intimacy, unless it has in some way obstructed interstate commerce."

..although you'd have to ask Clyde Tolson about that.

No doubt there's an 'Obama Dossier' just like there is for any political leader, but I do like the fact that GEOTUS got the beast to make itself known a bit.

I do need to think on when and why the US secret police veered left from their far right stance in Hoover's day. Perhaps it was always fated to be in that the primary tendency in the US right (as opposed to the European varieties) is less interested in the growth of government. After all, the Prime Directive of any government function, even a police force, is growth.,

[Bill Tozer]

Lindsey Graham is taking the position that he is not dragging in Adam Schiff or any other Congressperson not waste the time mainly not drag the country through all long process and waste time. He sees the damage to the country, albeit unpopular in some quarters.
He would like to hear from Hunter, and more importantly, the Whistleblower. Sounds fair. Focus on the issue at hand. Maybe bring in some Ukrainian officials.
Heck, their own internal investigation in the 2015 plus time period , the Ukrainians found out that they did indeed meddled with the elections in 2016. But, if Graham drops that, it’s OK. Do that stuff in house with Durham. Focus on impeachment, evidence and why the heck this thing made it out of the House. Then acquit. We already know the ending. Don’t need to bring up everything in the Senate. See, I compromised.

Hmmm, Durham has increased his staff. Odd, I thought he was winding down. :)

FBI TERMINATED ANTI-TRUMP SOURCE STEFAN HALPER ‘FOR CAUSE’ IN 2011
New IG report reveals that an FBI informant, most likely Stefan Halper, was hired and fired multiple times by the FBI for the “motivation” behind his spying.

[Bill Tozer]

Barry,

Look at the bright side. Only 5 more years of impeachment hearings left!!!

Scenes.
Good question. The DC mentality has become overwhelmingly left, with the higher you go, the more Lefty (Leftier?) it becomes. It’s the DC HQ mentality mixed with some NY HQ mentality. No joking around with them. No cuts ups welcomed. They are, with exceptions, of the same mind.

[Bill Tozer]

“Dem Rep. Jayapal: Trump Himself Is the ‘Smoking Gun’ in Impeachment Case”

Well, yeah. That’s been the Left’s position.

“She continued, “[T]his is an odd situation where we had the first and best witness very early on, on national television, saying exactly what he wanted from that call with Ukrainian President Zelensky. And that was Donald Trump when he came out and he said he wanted an investigation into the Bidens.”

Jayapal then advised she and the rest of the House Democrats hope to “lay out the facts” against Trump.”

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2019/12/09/dem-rep-jayapal-trump-himself-is-the-smoking-gun-in-impeachment-case/?

Meanwhile, word is they are dropping the charge of bribery. Lay the facts out there, ladies. Treason is the high card, your ace in the hole. Trumps Trump. Just helping you out. Now, get out there and roar! Show the world your pretty facts for all to see.

[Gregory]

Turkey on the IG report:

https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/473709-horowitz-report-is-damning-for-the-fbi-and-unsettling-for-the-rest-of-us

[Gregory]

That's Turley!

[Gregory]

From Kimberly Strassel's twit feed:

2) The report is triumph for former House Intel Chair Devin Nunes, who first blew the whistle on FISA abuse. The report confirms all the elements of the February 2018 Nunes memo, which said dossier was as an "essential" part of applications, and FBI withheld info from FISA court

3)Conversely, report is an excoriation of Adam Schiff and his "memo" of Feb 2018. That doc stated that "FBI and DOJ officials did NOT abuse the [FISA] process" or "omit material information." Also claimed FBI didn't much rely on dossier.

4)In fact, IG report says dossier played "central and essential role" in getting FISA warrants. Schiff had access to same documents as Nunes, yet chose to misinform the public. This is the guy who just ran impeachment proceedings.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1204200899133919232.html

[scenes]

BillT: "The DC mentality has become overwhelmingly left, with the higher you go, the more Lefty (Leftier?) it becomes."

To a large degree, my guess is that the Substate hivemind has it's own heading. The same great minds that brought you years of drone strikes, hijinks in Libya (complete with it's own head of state death by bunga bunga), an ever-growing surveillance system, and a global system of commerce that lacks patriotism has made common cause with our local 420th Nevada City Volunteers. Both have veered towards each other.

I'm still trying to get comfortable with defining it and don't do well. Heroes of the left like John Brennan, the current Pope, B. Sanders, also haven't laid out a philosophy. I suppose that Trump is clumsily feeling his way towards a little 'r' resistance to what is basically the large-scale establishment view. It's all in flux, all in flux.

[Todd Juvinall]

More AP propaganda and bias in the Union today on the IG report. Not a word that the AG and Durham disagreed or that the Steele Dossier was bogus. Amazing malpractice. I sent an email to Rogers and Hamilton. You all should as well and urge them to get rid of the AP crap.

[Scott O]

Barry 9:23 "This thing with Trump is the same as Clinton."
I have to disagree. Bill Clinton was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice. Those are clear and definite crimes. It doesn't matter what he was lying about. The R's running the House at the time didn't have to employ the most tortured sort of reasoning and fabricated BS to get the votes against Clinton.
What clear and definite crime has Trump been charged with?
It's been pretty obvious from the start of his term that the Dems have been fruitlessly looking for anything to charge him with.
Their new, new, made up definitions and terms give away the lie that Trump has done anything to be impeached for.
The bottom line is that the authors of the Constitution left the matter with whatever party controlled the House. If the votes are there to impeach, then impeachment it is, even if it's for jay-walking.

[scenes]

moi@8:06AM

My need for word salad was making me muse about the birth of the left-wing megacorporation, and how this changes the definition of 'left'.

We've seen a good 50 years of coalescing of commerce. There's the growth of manufacturing companies and the crowding out of most, the victory of the chain store/restaurant/car dealer, the network effect and gigantism off internet corporations, but I can't think of another time in history when those companies became political activists in non-related activities. The idea of a huge coffee shop chain becoming fixated on gun control or providing restrooms to drug addicts is new...not to mention Google.

Corporatocracy is the wrong word as the government is still the primary player. The gutting of US manufacturing and the growth of storing and pushing bytes as an 'economy' has upset the apple cart, but this merger of corporations and traditional left-wing shibboleths is new to me.

[scenes]

moi #2: Maybe that is the real genius of Trump. He's blowing up the uncomfortable marriage between the individualist and militarist right. The sides, they are a changin'.

[Bill Tozer]

Yesterday, the one who did the Victory Dance and was the most vocal above the noise was one James Comey. Reminded me of when Trump and Putin met on stage in Helsinki, the one yelling the loudest above all voices was John Brennen. “Treason! Traitor!!”

“Comey claims to be funnier in person than he is on Twitter, but I think the proper comparison is with J. Edgar Hoover. He may be funnier than Hoover, but Hoover was a better FBI Director.”

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/12/live-from-comeyworld.php

[George Rebane]

ToddJ 810am - Todd, you continue to believe that The Union is somehow trying to be a mid-road newspaper. Give it up. The Union is a leftwing newspaper that likes to see itself as, perhaps, center-left. They are not making a mistake, subscribing to an established leftwing news service like AP is on plan for outlets like The Union.

Scenes 825am - the established correct word you are looking for is ‘corporatism’ - the incestuous relationship between government and private corporations which need the government gun to manage their competition through laws/regulations/subsidies in return for paying off cooperating politicians whose policies they then in turn support - the quid pro quos go on and on. And to top it off, the Left points to the whole affair as evidence for the failure of capitalism. More later.

[Bill Tozer]

Scenes @8:06am & 8:25 am

Confession time. When I characterized the mindset of the government work force living and drawing their checks in DC, I knew the term “Lefty” was woefully inaccurate. Leftier does not encapsulate the meaning, not by a long shot. Even deleted that paragraph and rewrote it and still was not satisfied. When one thinks of mid level types or CIA analysts, one thinks of Mr. “Call me Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, please” Vindman. The common thread closer to the top (and stink) is a globalist and bureaucratic Establishment mentality married together. A force unto themselves. The other 4th branch of government.

So, yes Scenes, I chickened out and posted the 10:36 pm knowing full well the post would have better without reaching for the right word. This, I am a coward, a yellow bellied bushwhacking lizard of the lowest form.

When and how the FBI/ DOJ turned to something that fits into its own pigeon hole is an interesting and puzzling question. Maybe they never moved, just J Edgar got caught.

Buzz words yesterday were “McCarthyism”, followed by Beria.

[Bill Tozer]

Random headlines. My distain for Shiifylipps grows...even through he is in hiding. It grows stronger.
Add James Comey to the list of Pencil Neck lying geeks.

*SCHIFF: ONLY IMPEACHMENT WILL ENSURE A FREE AND FAIR ELECTION
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Schiff made clear the only election that Democrats will accept the results of is an election without Donald Trump

*IG Report Confirms Schiff FISA Memo Media Praised Was Riddled With Lies
Nearly two years later, the inspector general's report vindicates the Nunes memo while showing that the Schiff memo was riddled with lies and false statements

* IG Report Shows Comey Lied To Congress About FBI Investigation Of Trump Campaign
Not only did the Obama administration’s FBI target the Trump campaign in the heat of the 2016 presidential election, but it used an intelligence briefing of Trump to gather ‘evidence’ on him.
——-
And still they found not a shred of evidence of Russian-Trump collusion. That’s cause even Peter and Lisa knew there was no there there. Guess the Dems are setting up for not accepting the results of any election that has Donald J Trump on the ballot. He who fights and runs away shall live to fight another day. Never surrender, never retreat. Just fall back to a better location.

Hints that this current impeachment will fail to remove Trump from office is heard with “we can impeach him as many times we want when he screws up again...and we know he will.”

Bingo:
*An Election Too Important to Be Left to Voters

[scenes]

GeorgeR: "Scenes 825am - the established correct word you are looking for is ‘corporatism’ - the incestuous relationship between government and private corporations which need the government gun to manage their competition through laws/regulations/subsidies in return for paying off cooperating politicians whose policies they then in turn support"

Not that a word really matters, but I think I'm dissatisfied with 'corporatism'...whether it's meant in the sense of control of the .gov by business or simply the organization of society by common interest.

The odd thing I'm seeing is the merging of special interest group politics with (what should be) disinterested corporations. It's not unknown in the past, there's always been the odd John Kellogg, but there's an underlying philosophy of this New Left that many companies have signed up for with no advantage to their stockholders. The result is a hodgepodge of the KVMR news desk, Twitter, school bureaucrats, GoogleAmazon, and well meaning 5G activists. Whether it's a real mass movement or just an agreement between mafias is something I'm trying to wrap my head around.

[scenes]

"*An Election Too Important to Be Left to Voters"

...and even then, they get it good and hard.

[fish]

Posted by: scenes | 10 December 2019 at 10:39 AM

The odd thing I'm seeing is the merging of special interest group politics with (what should be) disinterested corporations. It's not unknown in the past, there's always been the odd John Kellogg, but there's an underlying philosophy of this New Left that many companies have signed up for with no advantage to their stockholders. The result is a hodgepodge of the KVMR news desk, Twitter, school bureaucrats, GoogleAmazon, and well meaning 5G activists. Whether it's a real mass movement or just an agreement between mafias is something I'm trying to wrap my head around.

"The new aristocracy was made up for the most part of bureaucrats, scientists, technicians, trade-union organizers, publicity experts, sociologists, teachers, journalists, and professional politicians. These people, whose origins lay in the salaried middle class and the upper grades of the working class, had been shaped and brought together by the barren world of monopoly industry and centralized government. As compared with their opposite numbers in past ages, they were less avaricious, less tempted by luxury, hungrier for pure power, and, above all, more conscious of what they were doing and more intent on crushing opposition. This last difference was cardinal."