The Democrats’ Orwellian impeachment vote
The Democrats pretended to do something today, but it was nothing or worse than nothing.
Byron York calls the resolution they passed “The Adam Schiff Empowerment Act.” But Schiff was already informally empowered to do what the act still allows him to do, which is pretty much whatever he and the Democrats want him to do, or not do.
The resolution states that the Democrats can give the Republicans more rights than before in the process – if the Democrats want to do so. Right now they don’t want to. But they hope that by saying they can expand rights for Republicans, the American people will think they have expanded those rights.
And if the American people buy that, they’re just as stupid and malleable as the Democrats and the MSM think they are.
The Democrats say they’re responding to the Republican demand that they vote on an impeachment inquiry. But the Republicans didn’t demand a vote on this particular resolution, which merely states what was already going on and what might happen in the future and confers none of the benefits that an impeachment vote conferred to the defense in the past. This is kind of like that strange modern fiction, a promise ring – without the promise
From York:
The first thing the resolution will do is give the impeachment investigation to the Intelligence Committee. Until now, three committees — Intelligence, Oversight, and Foreign Affairs — have been conducting impeachment interviews. Going forward, Oversight and Foreign Affairs will be out of the interview picture in favor of Intelligence.
Among other things, that would mean that some Republicans who have been persistent critics of the process but who have been allowed into depositions by virtue of their membership in other participating committees — two examples are Oversight Committee members Rep. Jim Jordan and Rep. Mark Meadows — will no longer be allowed in the interview room.
See how that sleight of hand works?
More:
The resolution also gives Schiff total control over whether transcripts of depositions already completed and those yet to be done will be made public…
The resolution would also give Schiff the authority to call and conduct public hearings on impeachment. Schiff will control the witnesses. Although there has been some discussion about whether Republicans will have the right to call witnesses, the resolution only gives the ranking Republican on the Intelligence Community, Rep. Devin Nunes, the right to ask Schiff to call a witness.
“To allow for full evaluation of minority witness requests, the ranking minority member may submit to the chair, in writing, any requests for witness testimony relevant to the investigation,” the resolution says. “Any such request shall be accompanied by a detailed written justification of the relevance of the testimony of each requested witnesses to the investigation.” Republicans will get nothing that Schiff does not approve.
The resolution received not a single Republican vote. Two Democrats in swing districts – Colin Peterson (MN) and Jeff Van Drew (NJ) – were allowed to vote against it. Justin Amash of Michigan, who once was a Republican (and a pro-impeachment NeverTrumper) but became an Independent last July, voted for it. So you might say that any bipartisanship here was bipartisan support for a “nay” vote.
Doesn’t matter. The Democrats will do whatever they want.
“The resolution also gives Schiff total control over whether transcripts of depositions already completed and those yet to be done will be made public…”
Total nominal control perhaps, but as the testimony of “former NSC Senior Director for European Affairs Tim Morrison” has been published today we may be seeing a new front in the leaking game finally beginning from Republican members or staff.
“Two, Mr. Schiff,” this development seems to say, “can play the favorable leaking game.” At least that’s the way I read it.
it really doesn’t matter in terms of the impeachment..
one side is already ready to kill… and speaks openly about that
including the list of things that were done to Catholics in England, Jews in Germany, and more recently… here in the USA..
push down one group, lift up the other… top down, bottom up
crush the body politic between the hammer and the anvil..
etc
look…
it dont really matter as these are the new “brutal class” as in the past
not enough knowledge of the mechanics, too much about the appearances
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=UlsNtVPKmLI
do you think you can reach such people with a cogent argument that the side they are on is using them, and will change the minute that they have what they want?… guess not… as we just had a new thread right after i posted today… (funny how that happens… its always a coincidence)
no problem.. i also pointed out about the vote above, about 30 seconds after it happened as i was watching things.
Mother Jones
A New Wave of Left-Wing Militants Is Ready to Rumble in Portland—and Beyond
remember, it was the communists that beat up the fascists and moved them into a political end over the street battles.
history repeats cause the people dont bother to learn what is salient or not…
sdferr:
See the post I just put up.
As a former Democrat, Schiff is the most disgusting point guy you could have in charge of this charade. Watching him in action is enough to make you vomit. Neo, I just read your reviews, and I appreciate and agree with you. I guess this will be my third vote against Democrats and I will gladly vote Red.
It is a travesty.
Very good neo, I think you’ve got the state of affairs about spot on.
What I’m seeing here as a kind of change is a natural “tit for tat” developing. As Insty likes to say, faster please. Let’s add: hit harder too, please.
Though the picture of Morrison’s testimony remains somewhat cloudy, yet how different would our understanding be were the documents entirely missing from Republican biased reporters’ hands?
This is kind of like that strange modern fiction, a promise ring – without the promise
no.. its like the 1930s soviet constitution..
IF you take the time to read it, it gives with one hand, then takes it away
This decision was adopted on February 6, 1935. It reads :
in response to this, the republicans noted how soviet this was.
Republicans Yell That Democrats Are Doing Impeachment ‘Soviet-Style,’ Which Would Be News to Stalin – Esquire
[Stalin wasn’t the only soviet state and was a dictator, probably poisoned by Beria]
Three men are sitting in a cell in the White House as suggested recently. The first asks the second why he has been imprisoned, who replies, “Because I criticized Donald Trump.” The first man responds, “But I am here because I spoke out in favor of Trump!” They turn to the third man who has been sitting quietly in the back, and ask him why he is in jail. He answers, “I’m Donald Trump.”
as we go forwards… remember the Five precepts:
Don’t think.
If you think, then don’t speak.
If you think and speak, then don’t write.
If you think, speak and write, then don’t sign.
If you think, speak, write and sign, then don’t be surprised.
you been warned not to be surprised given all the commentary for a long time here
remember, if they win, these are crimes against humanity… not the past you can forget!
the funniest part of this article, is the TITLE:
The Democrats’ Orwellian impeachment vote
Because if you want to avoid saying soviet, you just say Orwellian!!!!
It allows people to no longer fear the issue as they forget that Orwell wrote about the things going on in the soviet union, and not a fully fictional book!!!!! It was honesty wrapped up in fiction.. not a fiction.. just as Aldous Huxley’s book details the western ideal as put forth by his brother, other family members, and their contemporaries.
Orwell’s prediction of a “peace that is no peace” came true within months after coining the term “cold war” after realizing that nuclear powers could not go toe to toe, but had to turn their opposition inside out and weaken them with bad ideas (mind viruses like a computer has no biology but has a virus)
forget 1984… Read his Diaries.. and In Front of Your Nose
“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.” George Orwell
“Read with care, these diaries . . . can greatly enrich our understanding of how Orwell transmitted the raw material of everyday experience into some of his best-known novels and polemics.” Hitchens…
‘If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.’ Orwell
Artfldgr:
Actually, that was a mild JOKE of mine.
And just because I said l likened it to the Star Chamber doesn’t mean I’m not in complete agreement that it’s also very Soviet-style. I actually am in complete agreement on that. The Star Chamber designation emphasizes the secrecy. But the two analogies are not mutually exclusive; they are complementary.
yes.. but twice you pull the punch and go with a joke, and avoid the soviet thing?
why? why pull punches on the eve of WE?
in the star chamber… people may not know the later more relevant and copied item was real in the soviet sphere too..
and in the orwell, it also avoids the same thing
didn’t you ever notice how trained you are to avoid it like pavlovs dogs an the bell?
Avoiding Ruta is avoiding the soviet version of anne frank…
why do the kids not know the soviet union? we have all avoided it, hid it away, refused to read its equvalents, and go for the safe!!
Orwell 1984 is safe…
the royal star chamber is safe too
so is anne…
and you dont see the pattern… always with a ‘reasonable’ answer for preserving its ambiguity… hiding it when exposing it would be more useful
dont worry… its not you… its your whole life and everyone in the west
where are the movies of the gulags like concentration camps?
where are the movies and such on the system as with even today, we make endless ones of the germans? i can give you 40 on the gone germans, for each one of the soviets, and the soviets one you wont read, or watch..
i notice the pattern of avoidance, because i try to speak about it
and its ALWAYS avoided… even if decades pass. and always rationalized away by the person doing it… avoiding the reading…
you even ignore that a Joke is often an avoidance mechanism… and you have a degree in psychology.
ha ha… such a funny “joke” no one got and no one laughs… ha ha
“Granddaughter, please explain Communism to me,” an old Russian woman asks her granddaughter. “How will people live under it? They probably teach you all about it in school.”
“Of course they do, Granny,” her granddaughter responds. “When we reach Communism, the shops will be full – there’ll be butter, and meat, and sausage…you’ll be able to go and buy anything you want…”
“Ah!” exclaimed the old woman joyfully. “Just like under the Tsar!”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Q: What is very large, makes a lot of smoke and noise, takes down 20 liters of gas per hour, and cuts an apple into three pieces?
A: The Soviet machine built to cut apples into four pieces.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Q: What does a Soviet optimist say?
A: It can’t get any worse!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
A Briton, a Frenchman, and a Russian are standing and staring at a portrait of Adam and Eve.
“Look at their calm, their reserve,” says the Briton. “Surely they must be British!”
“Nonsense!” Replies the Frenchman. “They are beautiful. Surely they must be French!”
The Russian finally speaks, “they have no clothes, no shelter, only an apple to eat, and are being told this is paradise. They are Russian.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Q: Why is communism superior to capitalism?
A: Because it heroically overcomes problems that do not exist in any other system.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
those were jokes… and people understand they are
they make them laugh..
Orwell does not make for humor
and what your using it for, is as serious as a heart attack, and so not funny
ha ha
All that matters is if the courts buy it and give the committee access to Mueller’s grand jury testimony and Trump’s tax records. If they don’t then it matters not at all.
Speaking on the matter during an interview with C-Span, Paul said “nobody in the media seems to care that what AOC is supporting or what Bernie is supporting is Stalin and Mao and Pol Pot, and all these terrible ideas, and they get away with it because they aren’t challenged.”
“When we don’t educate our youngest generations about the historical truth of 100 million victims murdered at the hands of communist regimes over the past century, we shouldn’t be surprised at their willingness to embrace Marxist ideas.” Rand Paul
to quote PEE WEE HERMAN:
…….That was so funny i forgot to laugh
Baltic Appeal to the UN fought for latvia, estonia and lithuania freedom..
not 200 years ago
In the 1980s and 1990s, i helped that battle
not 200 years ago…
the baltic way was copied as the hong kong way
Baltic Way – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Way
Hong Kong Way – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Way
will there be a united states way (other than the fake copy they tried a long time ago)?
Right now I think that this impeachment procedure will eventually blow up in the Democrats’ faces. They don’t have much time to work with, as holiday breaks are coming up with Thanksgiving and Christmas, soon to be followed by the early primaries in 2020. As for the latter, what was seen as a solution to issues in 2016 may become a problem for them in the coming year.
And then there is the 800-gigaton Godzilla waiting in the wings, with the inspector general’s report, and then whatever Attorney General Barr ends up doing, plus the developing consensus that Michael Flynn was very likely framed.
So that’s the main point, they just don’t have the time to push through impeachment charges that will at least try to appear reasonable to the general public.
Amidst this gruesome charade, it’s reassuring at least to know that you can’t keep a good woman down…
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/10/31/the-midnight-ride-katie-hills-career-methree-democrats-final-act-vote-trump-impeachment-inquiry/
Arfldgr:
The joke was about the promise ring analogy, not Orwell. It certainly wasn’t meant to be a knee-slapper. It was a light moment on an otherwise extremely heavy topic.
The NYT official editorial today — butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths.
With such revelations piling up, the White House and its backers have opted for a defense strategy that avoids addressing the president’s actions and focuses instead on discrediting the impeachment process as illegitimate and unfair. They have criticized House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for not holding a formal authorization vote, for conducting closed-door depositions and for denying the president the due process afforded in formal criminal proceedings.
None of these objections hold up. Even so, Democrats aim to address them with the provisions of the resolution they will consider on Thursday.
…
Procedures like these aim to fulfill Congress’s obligation to be as deliberative, fair and open as possible. That is the right focus. Of course, no matter how many concessions the Democrats make, Republicans will cry foul.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/indepth/the-rules-of-impeachment/ar-AAJD5jn
I have no words.
In the contemporary style:
“None of these objections hold up.”
Narrator: Everyone of these objections holds up.
“Even so, Democrats aim to address them with the provisions of the resolution they will consider on Thursday.”
Narrator: Democrats will address none of them with their new provisions.
Looking up butter-melt-mouth, I find I used it correctly and it goes back to 1562:
___________________________________________
The phrase butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth or butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth describes someone who appears demure, innocent or sincere but is in fact unkind, devious or insincere.
The idea is that the person in question is so calm, cool and collected that butter wouldn’t even melt in his mouth. A British phrase, it is more popular in the American South than in other regions. The phrase was listed as a proverb in 1562 in the work The Proverbs and Epigrams of John Heywood: “She looketh as butter would not melt in her mouth.”
https://grammarist.com/usage/butter-wouldnt-melt-in-his-mouth/
_______________________________________________
I love language.
I fear the Democrats plan to use, in their phony “impeachment,” a variation of the tactic used in Robert Mueller’s phony Russian collusion investigation. This party-line resolution will enable A. Schiff to impose draconian and crippling restrictions on the President’s and/or Repubicans’ right to have any meaningful input into the process. The President should refuse to participate in any manner whatsoever in this outrageous farce. And if he should do that, Schiff and his minions will accuse him of . . . wait for it . . . “obstruction of justice.”
As though Democrats have any respect for justice.
We are indeed watching sausage being made.
This Impeachment Inquiry procedure, as reported, is very transparently a kangaroo court on the way to constructing a frame-up.
On every possible occasion and in every possible forum–as widely as possible–the features that make this a kangaroo court and a frame-up job have to be shouted to the skies–over and over again–until even the most propagandized, even the dullest among of us, realizes that this whole procedure is totally illegitimate, and against every one of the standards of fairness, the Bill of Rights, the Law, and equal treatment under it.
This article might be of interest.
See https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/10/this-is-a-seditious-coup-last-time-democrats-did-this-they-eventually-hanged-for-their-sedition/
John McLaughlin, former CIA director says *fuck the Constitution, who needs it?* Or “Thank God for the deep state!”. Same diff.
https://mobile.twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1190039245429387264
huxley,
Grazie! I’ve known that expression all my life (farm country, 100 mi. straight west of Chicago); it was common. (Seems to me that many of the people from elsewhere, such as Chicago itself, northern Penn., more, know the phrase.)
But I’ve always wondered wherefrom & how come. Your explanation is what the phrase directly implies, and it’s good to have that verified, and to have an idea of when it came to be used.
And I love language too. :>))
“remember the Five precepts:
Don’t think.
If you think, then don’t speak.
If you think and speak, then don’t write.
If you think, speak and write, then don’t sign.
If you think, speak, write and sign, then don’t be surprised.” – Artfldgr
I hadn’t ever heard that one.
Reminds me of the German analog “First they came for the Jews…”
And thanks for the Soviet jokes.
One of the big vulnerabilities (and defining characteristics) of the Left is that, although they continually substitute mockery for argument with their opponents, they cannot abide mockery of themselves.
AesopFan:
Absolutely, the Left cannot abide mockery of themselves. One of the better of the Left’s tormentors is Sabo, a West Coast (L.A. I think) street artist. He is so effective that PayPal canceled his account, upon which he depended for his income. Look it up on DuckDuckGo (avoid g o o g l e). I canceled my PayPal account immediately. And I advise others to do likewise.
Big tech and corporate America are way out of line adopting and promoting Far Left theology. Gillette, a man’s company if ever there was one (the Friday Night Fights are one the air!) tried to go “woke” with ads showing a proud father(?) tending to his transgendered kid’s first shave. And such like. Reports are Gillette lost $8 billion as a consequence. They lost me forever. And here’s a tip for all you guys out there looking for a good shave: go to Costco and get the Kirkland razor and blades. I can’t stop my wife from kissing me now. Not that I’m trying very hard . . .
I’ve known that expression all my life (farm country, 100 mi. straight west of Chicago); it was common.
Julie near Chicago: As near as I recall I’ve only encountered, “butter wouldn’t melt…,” in books, film and tv. I would enjoy hearing it aloud.
Here’s a piece from a “Salon” article, which accuses Trump and supporters of warring on democracy. Quite bats.
Even more concerning for the rule of law in America, Barr has now launched a criminal investigation into the career FBI, CIA and other law enforcement or intelligence officers who did their job by investigating Russia’s connections to Donald Trump and that country’s widespread interference in America’s elections.
As he proved during a recent speech at the the University of Notre Dame law school, Barr is also working to overturn the United States Constitution and, apparently, to transform the country into a right-wing Christian theocracy.
In many ways, Donald Trump is the nightmare scenario that the Framers designed the Constitution to protect against. Benjamin Franklin warned that “Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.” In Federalist No. 47, James Madison sounded the alarm about demagogues and authoritarians such as Trump: “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one or a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”
Donald Trump and his spokespeople continue to engage in stochastic terrorism. The most recent example: Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., perhaps Trump’s most avid congressional defender, told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson on Monday that journalists are “assassins.”
Trump and his Republican Party are continuing their campaign to keep nonwhite people and other likely Democratic supporters from voting. This is part of a broader effort to undermine the human and civil rights of nonwhite people in America and around the world.
“Donald Trump’s war against democracy: Is it already too late to save America?”
https://www.salon.com/2019/10/31/donald-trumps-war-against-democracy-is-it-already-too-late-to-save-america/
huxley, I am speechless. That writer surely belongs in the funny farm, and whatever passes for an editorial board at Slate along with him or her!
May be the daftest rant I’ve ever heard.
Re: “stochastic terrorism” — Stochastic just means random. So, stochastic terrorism should mean nothing more than random terrorism. Fine, if you must be fancy.
However, “stochastic terrorism” has become a term of art and arrived as an entry in new dictionaries. It started as a term applied to unpredictable lone wolf terrorist attacks. However, “stochastic terrorism” has been further repurposed to apply solely to the alt-right and Trump by Juliette Kayyem, an Arab Harvard JD who has been in and out of the State Department since 2009.
Stochastic terrorism is “the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted.”
…
Kayyem notably used the term stochastic terrorism on Twitter, on CNN, and in an op-ed for the Washington Post to discuss the El Paso shooter, President Donald Trump, and white supremacy.
More Orwell, brought to you by the Ivy-League-Media-Complex.
It’s really too bad, tho not surprising, that when the Reps had the House, they didn’t investigate Obama for crimes. I’m pretty sure the next time (Trump) Reps hold the House of Representatives, and there are crimes by a Dem President, there will be less hesitation about investigating.
With Reps repeating what the crime is. And the Dems saying that crime didn’t really matter.
In this case, there is still no crime, it’s still just fishing and getting publicity.
Link for above: https://www.dictionary.com/e/what-is-stochastic-terrorism/
On an upbeat note, in the supermarket today ahead of me was a royal blue jacket emblazoned on the back in large letters ” TRUMP 2020, I passed the elderly lady ( at least 80+ to my reckoning) I like your jacket. I told her by way of support. She broke into a broad smile ” thank you” was the reply.
This whole situation is shaping up to be the kind of situation you read about in political thrillers, where there is a deep seated, wide-spread, seditious conspiracy, and the fate of the Republic is at stake, but, unfortunately that does seem to be what our current situation is, and it’s all too real.
If the Left, Democrats, and the actors of the Deep State—with the aid of the MSM—can manage to convince enough people that their “Impeachment Inquiry” (with, pretty likely, an actual Impeachment Resolution down the road) is legitimate and fair, and are able to create the appearance that President Trump has committed some sort of “high crime or misdemeanor,” and remove him from office then, indeed, we are no longer ruled by our Constitution, Laws, and tradition, but by trickery and force, and our Republic and our experiment in self-government is finished.
Meanwhile, there is a filtering process—a great separation—going on here.
The major coastal cities ruled by Democrats—including Los Angeles, and San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Chicago are—via their policies—making themselves more and more unlivable, and people are escaping those cities and their states, and resettling in more livable areas, many of them away from the Northeast, and the coasts, and in more central and southern parts of the country.
Meanwhile, the people (and the industries/economies) of the middle and southern parts of the country—mocked and denigrated by the elite, the leaders of those coastal cities—are, thanks to the actions of President Trump—starting to revitalize, and, I’d guess, its residents are getting pretty tired of being denigrated and mocked by these coastal elites, which have been a massive failure at the governance of their own populations, and of our country generally.
Thus, it looks as if, at some point, there is going to be a rupture—perhaps even an explosion—and what happens after that can either be cold or hot.