Political theater, political meat: impeachment vs. Horowitz
There are two big competing political dramas going on at the moment.
One is the impeachment effort. I’m tempted to put the word “impeachment” in scare quotes, because the grounds are absurdly weak. But since a very real impeachment might end up receiving enough “aye” votes to pass, I’ve decided to omit the scare quotes and let the word stand alone for the most part.
The other drama is IG Horowitz’s report and testimony describing the excesses and outrages involved in the pre-impeachment attempt (known in FBI parlance as Crossfire Hurricane) to take down President (originally candidate) Trump.
The first drama is almost wholly run by the Democrats and is surpassingly boring at this point. I speak not just for myself but for much of America, which has tuned it out. It’s not boring in the sense that it’s a political misuse of a grave process. It’s boring because there’s no there there in the charges, but mostly because everyone knows that there is no chance of an actual removal and that it is mere theater, full of sound and fury, and signifying the ill-will and ruthlessness that we already know characterizes the Democrats today. The only real question at this point, as far as I can see, is how many Democrats will be allowed to vote against it – thus making the vote “no” the only bipartisan thing about it.
The Horowitz Report/testimony is a bit different, although the MSM is determined that their spin on both will dominate the airwaves. Horowitz will not cause anyone to go to jail, or maybe even be fired. But his report has described a situation that just a few short years ago would have been almost impossible to believe, the stuff of a far-fetched movie, and yet has now become sadly real and all-too-believable.
If you had said just twenty or so years ago that the following would happen, you’d be considered to be in tinfoil territory: that the FBI would engage in a vast effort to frame a political candidate and then president, with strong impetus from and cooperation by the party opposing that candidate (a party in power when the effort to frame him begins), that this effort would involve many agents and many activities and would catch some innocent people in its web, that the leaders of the FBI and many leaders in that opposition party would lie repeatedly and blatantly about it, that the MSM would fully cooperate in the lie and coverup, and that nearly half of the American people would either be convinced by the lies or would yawn about the whole thing.
Yet here we are.
I believe that the value of Horowitz’s testimony, for those Americans who actually manage to listen to (or read) a significant portion of it, is that it tells us how far this has already gone. As I’ve said before, every single American should be shocked at what has been revealed, and determined to make sure it never happens again and that those who did it will pay. But I have no illusions that those things will come to pass.
What I do think is that some people – perhaps lower-downs such as Clinesmith, who changed an email’s content in order to help frame Carter Page – will be charged and perhaps even convicted. But this will leave the larger problem untouched. It’s a problem that commenter “KyndyllG” described very well in a comment this morning [emphasis mine]:
A vast mass of my school and work acquaintances hold all of the leftist thought about orangemanbad as literal, gospel truth; they would sooner accept that water is not wet than question any part of it. And it’s not just that it’s obvious truth that cannot be questioned by anyone with a functioning brain, they assume that anyone who even considers anything to the contrary, much less believes it, is not just wrong but absolutely evil: stupid, racist, bigoted, sexist, Nazi orangemanbad supporters and defenders…
I saw this really kick into high gear around the beginning of the “Punch a Nazi” era. It was chilling. Some of these people posting social media memes glorifying attacking real or imagined Trump supporters were people I’d known for 20 years. To see chubby, balding middle-age parents who had never been in a physical altercation in their life (I know because I went to school with them) suggesting figuratively or literally that one should go around attacking people who might have voted for a President they don’t like, was down-the-rabbit-hole stuff. I suddenly saw what happened in Germany in the 1930s. These are people who have actively dehumanized political opponents. There is no such thing as rights or due process of the law for us. They are not interested in whether proper process was followed during what was obviously a politically motivated travesty of justice; they honestly couldn’t care less if every rule in the book was broken. It’s all good when you’re going after Trump and his untermenschen.
This is not an accident. Nor is it something they arrived at on their own. It is what the left wants and has encouraged, with the full assistance of the MSM.
The Left wants the constant drum beat that the pres is under constant impeachment scrutiny hoping to diminish his brand. Hopefully causing independent s to grow so weary that they will never cast a vote against a non MSM anointed candidate ever again! Bonus a warning to populists who might fancy a run, we will hound you into the ground, you will not be able to come up for air.
Re: the bore that is the impeachment hearing, I guess its a bomb in Canada too. I was reading Toronto Star & it urged me to read a column describing how * I must tune into the “absolutely riveting” ( their words) testimony against Trump ! Oh brother (sigh)
The sheer jouissance of demonization and the enthusiastic implementation of the “24/7 hate” can do wonders for one’s sense of self-worth and more finely develop the moral sensibility….
One of course doesn’t really have to bother wondering about any possible consequences. Why should one?…when one is always right, always moral, always superior— and one’s opponent is so—clearly, unequivocally, by definition—off-the-charts twisted, perverse, bent, unethical, wrong. And irredeemably RACIST.
Utterly evil…and thus deserving of every punishment….
There is always a bright side, however: at least they’re taking advantage of all those copies of “1984” they bought after Hillary blew the election. Not letting a single Room 101 go to waste would seem to be the ecological imperative of the day: Recycle, Reuse, Regurgitate—Refuse to Recognize any iota of Reality…as you do your absolute best to work yourself up into a hysterical zomboid state so as to totally wreck your fellow citizens (though as Nancy Pelosi would say, “with love”.)
Would be interesting to speculate that although there are NO consequences (and never ever will be), what MIGHT they be—what form MIGHT they take—were they to somehow, suddenly, materialize?
Whole resist movement is sheer lunacy. What they are resisting is the Electoral College. What dummies! They should know, but I guess they don’t, that is where the presidency is determined. I don’t want to live a pure democracy where a few heavily populated states decide who occupies the highest office in the land.
“They are not interested in whether proper process was followed during what was obviously a politically motivated travesty of justice; they honestly couldn’t care less if every rule in the book was broken. It’s all good when you’re going after Trump and his untermenschen.”
I am more pessimistic at each turn of events in this farce. The Dems are forcing the country into an untenable situation. I predict the day after the election all hell will break loose. If Trump wins, the cities will burn making 1968 look like a marshmallow roast. If a Dem wins, there won’t be cities burning, but the chances of real armed conflict between citizens goes way up. They (the Dems)will use the Virginia experiment as a basis…go after the guns, and the guns will not be given up without some serious bloodshed. November 2020 will be a turning point for this country, and I seriously wonder if the country will survive.
“Would be interesting to speculate that although there are NO consequences (and never ever will be), what MIGHT they be—what form MIGHT they take—were they to somehow, suddenly, materialize?”
Oh, there will be consequences. It just depends on how long it takes them to arrive and how bad they will be. Democrats threw morality and ethics in the garbage to save Bill Clinton and got President George W. Bush. Republicans followed Bush the Younger off the cliff and got President Barack Obama. Our political establishment ignored serious problems of trade, immigration, and prosperity for decades and got President Donald Trump.
You don’t have to be Nostradamus to see what’s coming the next time a Democrat is in power and there’s some sort of foreign policy or economic crisis.
Mike
I suddenly saw what happened in Germany in the 1930s.
When I was in Germany I talked to some older, not all ex, Nazis. My impression was that they had been drawn in as young, idealistic men. Heck, Gunter Grass was. My take is that idealism is a stage of life, like pimples in teenagers, that there is no particular moral quality inherent to it. But it is worrisome when mobilized.
If Trump wins, the cities will burn making 1968 look like a marshmallow roast. I
Take a pill. The school administrators, social workers, and mediaswine who are the Democratic Party’s real base aren’t going to burn down their local Starbucks. The sorosphere can buy enough rent-a-crowd to turn a suburb of St. Louis into a ruin, but not the whole country.
“If Trump wins, the cities will burn making 1968 look like a marshmallow roast. ”
Nah. But if so then the following days will look like a turkey shoot from the burbs into the city centers.
“… the stuff of a far-fetched movie, …”
Actually it was a sizeable plot element in “House of Cards.” Neo’s tinfoil hat comment is born out by a comparison of HoC and our current reality.
In the show, one NSC (or similar) guy gets access to the NSA database. Late at night, in his office when everyone is gone, he spies on the opponent campaign. He is prepared to fall on his sword if he gets caught and protect the President (who is in on it).
In our reality, there is a whole team of conspirators that goes to the top of the FBI, and they don’t settle for a measly NSA database. Their is a multipronged approach. And they got caught and have no intention of falling on their swords.
_____
“What I do think is that some people – perhaps lower-downs such as Clinesmith, who changed an email’s content in order to help frame Carter Page – will be charged and perhaps even convicted.”
If we’re lucky.
Watching the Circus… uh, Hearing today, I was struck by several Congresspersons referring to “Official Foreign Policy” as opposed to the President’s Foreign Policy. The tone was “How dare he?!”. Do they not understand that it is the President who is in charge of Foreign Policy, per the Constitution?
I have two questions:
Supposing Trump is actually impeached, is he still legally permitted to run for President in 2020?
Second, making the same assumption, and assuming he’s legally permitted to run for president…could he run for president in both 2020 and 2024 (recognizing that 2024 is unlikely simply due to his age at that time, but I’m just thinking about the legal aspects)?
Twenty-Second Amendment — Section 1
No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.
Chuck…”When I was in Germany I talked to some older, not all ex, Nazis. My impression was that they had been drawn in as young, idealistic men.”
One thing I don’t believe most people understand about Naziism: it was to a considerable extent a youth movement.
They weren’t all *men*, though…while I haven’t been able to locate good statistics, it is clear that there were a lot of female Nazi supporters.
The degree of the hate we are seeing in America today is truly disturbing. As an example, WSJ recently had an article about increasing education requirements in manufacturing…I have some problems with the article, and especially with the headline, but that’s another discussion…anyhow, the comments section was reasonably decent, as such things go…until this showed up:
“Trump voters still don’t get it. Uneducated arrogance with hatred of any one with college degree or foreign accent is not going to advance you in life.
Time to bury this sickness.”
Completely out of context. The level of arrogance and outright hate among the Progs makes itself visible in all contexts. And, as Sarah Hoyt nicely phrased it, these people project more then an iMax.
physicsguy,
“they honestly couldn’t care less if every rule in the book was broken.”
“Roper: So now you’d give the Devil benefit of law?
More: Yes.?What would you do??Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
Roper: I’d cut down every law in England to do that!
More: Oh??And, when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you?–?where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat??This country’s planted thick with laws from coast to coast?–?man’s laws, not God’s?–?and, if you cut them down?–?and you’re just the man to do it?–?d’you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?”
After Trump wins, there will be assassination attempts.
When the dems regain the Presidency, they will go after the guns because they have to, they cannot completely eviscerate the Constitution and establish their ‘nanny’ tyranny… without a disarmed public.
These trends won’t necessarily continue on a straight line, remember. Things can change; bigger problems can arise that put most of the sound-and-fury back in the back seat of the car while more urgent work is going on up front. We tend to see what’s going on and project it indefinitely. That is a bad, bad picture, granted. But things not only can change, things do change.
The Nazi rise was more complicated than a lot of people realize these days. For instance, you had the communist gangs running around, beating up people that they didn’t like, and murdering others. How do you stop that if the government can’t or won’t? The easiest way is to join another political party that’s willing to send its own toughs out into the streets to fight against those communist troublemakers. Of course, before long your gangs start to go after a wider net of targets. But by that point, you’re a believer and know that a few eggs will need to be broken to make the omlette. Early on, the Nazis got a good reputation because they were fighting back against the communist troublemakers.
I also saw it recently mentioned elsewhere that if you were down on your luck, and wanted work, the Nazis at the time would help you. The other political gangs (and there were more than just a couple of them) might give you a hand-out. But the Nazis would help you find a way to retain the dignity of earning your keep.
Chuck:
I urge you to get Utopia and Terror in the 20th Century.
“From the trenches of World War I to Nazi Germany to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, the 20th century was a time of unprecedented violence. . . . Such monumental violence seems senseless. But it is not inexplicable. And if we can understand its origins, we may prevent even greater horrors in the century to come.”
Professor Liulevicius explains the promises of Utopia that brought dictators to power, and resulted in industrial-scale death.
“Twenty-Second Amendment — Section 1”
Ok…that’s clear. What’s not clear to me is whether an impeached president is considered to have been a president for the portion of his term initially held, or if the impeachment sort of vacates his term.
Does impeachment affect his eligibility to run for a second term?
While I’m raising questions…what about Obama. If we found at some point that in fact he was not legally eligible to be president, how would that affect the many laws/actions he signed into effect? could they all be challenged in court? (of course, they can always be challenged, but I mean would their status be challenged)
Only upon conviction by two-thirds of senators present for trial vote would a President be barred from running to serve again, SueK. See relevant clause of Article I.
Hi SueK:
From the USA Constitution, Article I, Section 3, the sixth and seventh paragraphs (emphasis added):
It seems to me that if the House of Representatives actually impeaches President Trump and the Senate were to convict the President, then the punishment could include removal from office and a prohibition from ever serving as president, or as any other officer, of the USA.
The Nazi rise was more complicated than a lot of people realize these days. For instance, you had the communist gangs running around, beating up people that they didn’t like, and murdering others. How do you stop that if the government can’t or won’t? The easiest way is to join another political party that’s willing to send its own toughs out into the streets to fight against those communist troublemakers.
junior: That’s my take too. For many Europeans the 30s looked like a clash between communism and fascism. And you had to pick a side.
IMO the 30s and the 60s were decades driven by passions and certainties difficult to understand and reconstruct years later.
These trends won’t necessarily continue on a straight line, remember.
Kai Akker: *Always* good to remember.
Of course, figuring when the straight line is about to zig or zag, aye, there’s the trick.
Perhaps,… perhaps impeachment theater is achieving one of its primary goals. Sucking the air out of the room. The timing is perfect. No one on Fox is talking about Horowitz. The House is debating impeachment. Soon there will a vote. It’s historic.
If Durham has more than a couple indictments, I hope he is smart enough to stagger the announcements and charges out over time.
‘because the grounds are absurdly weak’
But the grounds might have been a lot stronger if the Democrats had interviewed the right people.
Perhaps,… perhaps impeachment theater is achieving one of its primary goals. Sucking the air out of the room
TommyJay: That part of the Democrats’ impeachment strategy I understand and in the short run it’s working.
In the long run I believe it redounds against them, but in the meantime they are dancing as fast as they can, hoping maybe they can make something work.
As everyone has noted, they don’t care how it looks.
“But the grounds might have been a lot stronger if the Democrats had interviewed the right people.”
No, they wouldn’t have because…and you may want to brace yourself…TRUMP DIDN’T DO ANYTHING IMPEACHABLE.
This is what Trump did. He asked the Ukrainian President during a phone call if he could look into possible corruption involving the son of the former Vice President of the United States and published reports of Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 election. THAT’S IT. We can certainly debate whether that kind of blunt request is wise, seemly, couth, or in keeping with diplomatic protocol. The idea it warrants removal from office is insane.
Mike
junior:
The Nazi rise was more complicated than a lot of people realize these days… Early on, the Nazis got a good reputation because they were fighting back against the communist troublemakers.
Hitler’s Table Talk 1941-1944: His Private Conversations
Yes,more complicated, as Hitler said that ex Reds became his best supporters, after having been beaten up. The Reds and the Nazis were both street-fighting men.
I know a little bit about the Krauts having lived there while in the Army from 1967 to 1970, three years overseas, without coming back to the land of round door knobs and stop signs.
From Chuck above: “My take is that idealism is a stage of life, like pimples in teenagers, that there is no particular moral quality inherent to it. But it is worrisome when mobilized.”
I tend to agree and have know idea how this time around will work but circumstances are always different for every time and place. The Germans where I lived, in Erlangen close to Nuremberg, who were in their 40’s and older had been through a lot in their lifetimes, lots of hard times in the 1920’s; then lots of violent political upheaval in the early 1930’s and then all of a sudden a stabilized growing economy in the 1930’s with employment and a feeling that the nation was gaining back everything they lost and a chance to get more. The propaganda was masterful and the Germans who I came to know as friends all said mostly the same thing, Hitler was really a great leader until they started losing the war. They really loved the Son-of-a-Bitch until they started losing because he gave them back their kraut pride.
Post Scrip: The older people who remembered the good and the bad old days also appreciated the way the USA came in and brought West Germany back as a first world country. Even in the late 1960’s the young kraut college kids were Anti-US was, I was reviled and spit on a time or two while we were keeping the Commies on the other side of the Iron Curtain.
The Sham Impeachment is enough to allow the Dems to barely report Horowitz, and by the time the Dems barely vote to not impeach (next week?), the IG report will be “old news”.
But even if Horowitz’s report was news, the key issue remains with Durham. Where are impeachments. My pro-Trump guy, Don Surber, has long been in broken record mode on this: no excitement without indictments.
I’m hoping for excitement “soon”. Like before Valentine’s Day? (Christmas?? nah, too soon.)
The Dems have long been acting more like Nazis than like Commies – and both were “socialist” movements.
Brace myself? No. That’s a bit too melodramatic for me.
‘No, they wouldn’t have because…’
Well, Trump could prove that in an instant, couldn’t he? And the Democrats could prove their side in an instant too, but neither side moves. Why?
Here is the issue. The phone call is not the accusation. That is called a straw man. If the phone call was all, you would be 100% correct. But they are accusing Trump of making a concerted effort to pressure the Ukraine and the phone call (they say) was only the tip of iceberg. If he did the maximum they are accusing, it would, at least, be close to the line. (although I would still argue that other presidents have done worse).
Personally, I think Trump just cracked a stupid joke that got out of control but the point is: we don’t know.
Anyway,the case could be settled in an instant. Neither side wants to do that, because neither side cares about the truth.
Also, I would suggest you argue against their best argument, not their worst.
“The Reds and the Nazis were both street-fighting men.”
Sometimes the same people…in 1933, the English traveler Patrick Leigh Fermor met a friendly German man who invited him to stay over in a spare bed at his place.
It turned out that there was Nazi regalia everywhere, and an SA uniform hanging neatly ironed. When Paddy said that it must be rather claustrophobic with all that stuff on the walls, he laughed and sat down on his bed and said: “Mensch! You should have seen it last year! You would have laughed! Then it was all red flags, stars, hammers and sickles, pictures or Lenin and Stalin and Workers of the World, Unite!” He went on to say that he and his friends “We used to beat hell out of the Nazis, and they beat the hell out of us…Then suddenly, when Hitler came into power, I understood it was all nonsense and lies. I realized Adolf was the man for me!” His old friends had all changed sides as well; the only problem he saw was that there were hardly and socialists or communists left to beat up. His parents did not share his enthusiasm, he said; they were “old-fashioned,” with his father still talking about the greatness of Bismarck and the Kaiser and Hindenburg and his mother focused only on the church.
huxley,
I don’t really disagree, but if one succeeds in the short run, and does it again and again, then eventually you end up the winner in the long run.
The famous quote from John Maynard Keynes is, “In the long run, we’re all dead.”
Here is the full context of Keynes,
On the other hand, I’m not a big fan of Keynes and I do think he was too much of a short termer. There is still an element of truth to the previous.
If Trump wins, the cities will burn making 1968 look like a marshmallow roast.
I don’t know if cities will burn per se, but I can tell you that I’m going to stay away from downtown Seattle and work from home for the rest of Election Week. I expect a lot of trashed cars and smashed windows and demonstrators blocking streets and riot cops with itchy baton hands.
junior on December 12, 2019 at 7:32 pm said:
you only have it partially right… the communist gangs won the fights… the nazis lost them, they did not go out and do what you said…
you can read the article.. its a tiny one in the times. i brought it up before.. goebbels gave a speech in the beer halls… didnt you ever wonder what was said to start the fights? he said… lenin is the greatest socialist second only to hitler, and boom…
this is what made the nazis change tactics and move into the government to make their revolution happen. otherwise they would have lost to the communists… hitler said his flag was red for the communists..
wish people would study the actual histories more…
i also gave links a while back to hilmar von campe who went over this stuff a while back, but that was, as neo points out, tin hat to know that early where things are going… but then again, wasnt so hard if your family lived through it and you as a child had to learn all the details which funny, the never again jewish people dont learn.
i have tried and tried to point the way and what to read to know…
it has no traction… which is why, we have to go through it
once we do, what we were will be gone forever..
we decided to ignore the process and methods, and so, ignore the machine itself
here is how huffington post neutered him:
Hilmar von Campe, Apt Pupil
01/10/2009 05:12 am ET Updated May 25, 2011
would you think that he was right or wrong? would you ask the swedes? and note, he didnt rail against immigrants, but people coming over borders without permit or permission..
In the first three months of 2019, there were 48 bombings in Sweden. By June 2019, Malmö and Stockholm had the most bombings. Up until July there were 120 bombings compared to 83 the same period the previous year.
Sweden bomb attacks reach unprecedented level as gangs feud
This article is more than 1 month old
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/04/sweden-bomb-attacks-reach-unprecedented-level-as-gangs-feud
Police say lack of fatalities ‘incredibly lucky’ after 30 bomb squad call-outs in two months
way before it got this way i pointed out the grenade attacks…
want to guess that the people who did this to a young lad for wearing a hat on a school bus will not get duly punished in the process?
https://twitter.com/AmericanDiaries/status/1205178650301227010?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1205178650301227010&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmoonbattery.com%2F
race against race, beatings over politics, fear…
if you look for the costumes, that came later..
if you look to the mobilization and ruination of the young, well, thats actually closer… even the young get training on how to snitch on parents, and are willing to fight for the national cause against their own to force their actions to change, if not their minds…
-==-=-=-
“The most painful part of defining National Socialism was to recognize my own moral responsibility for the Nazi disaster and their crimes against humanity. It boiled down to accepting the truth that ‘as I am, so is my nation,’ and realizing that if every German was like me, it was no wonder that the nation became a cesspool of gangsters. HitlerThis realization is as valid today for any person in any nation as it was then, and it is true for America and every American now.”
“Democratic procedures can be subverted and dishonest politicians are like sand in the gearbox, abundant, everywhere and destructive,” he writes. “What I see in America today is people painting their cabins while the ship goes down.
Today in America we are witnessing a repeat performance of the tragedy of 1933 when an entire nation let itself be led like a lamb to the Socialist slaughterhouse. This time, the end of freedom is inevitable unless America rises to her mission and destiny.” – Hilmar Von Campe
his site is still up: http://www.voncampe.com/home.html
here is what he said about systems of lies
now we are past the point of no return, and we see what he said is applied
and its too late to do or remove it… it should give one nightmares.
LIES
those in the know, knew what they were seeing as long as 30 years ago and more..
but once you wait till you see it and its not much arguable, the cucumber is almost a pickle
it cant change back..
hilmar wrote too close to the days events… which negated acceptance of his points
he spoke of this person or that person, and not a process handed down and put in place
welcome to the hall of mirrors and smoke..
“When the dems regain the Presidency, they will go after the guns because they have to, they cannot completely eviscerate the Constitution and establish their ‘nanny’ tyranny… without a disarmed public.”
This is spot on and true, yet the left should realize that the enemy always gets a vote on any war plan. The Constitution will NOT be a dead letter for only one side, and their fatuous idea that they can write down some law-words and expect Americans to turn in our guns because they say so- I’m thinking of you, Beto- should be a tell about just how idiotic these folks actually are.
Civil wars are nasty and brutal, and they if think no one feels the same way about them as they feel about Trump supporters- well, I suggest they think again. Of course they won’t, because of their jaw-dropping arrogance and gob-smacking ignorance. Plus, when they’re described like this- “chubby, balding middle-age parents who had never been in a physical altercation in their life”- I almost pity them.
Almost.
Xennady on December 13, 2019 at 12:26 am said:
“When the dems regain the Presidency, they will go after the guns because they have to, they cannot completely eviscerate the Constitution and establish their ‘nanny’ tyranny… without a disarmed public.”
This is spot on and true, yet the left should realize that the enemy always gets a vote on any war plan. The Constitution will NOT be a dead letter for only one side, and their fatuous idea that they can write down some law-words and expect Americans to turn in our guns because they say so- I’m thinking of you, Beto- should be a tell about just how idiotic these folks actually are.
* * *
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/12/10/virginia-sheriff-says-will-deputize-thousands-of-law-abiding-citizens-to-counter-anti-gun-laws/
…among other stories about the rising number of Virginia’s 2A-sanctuary counties.
The endgame is to reform the surveillance laws to allow needed intelligence to be gathered to thwart genuine dangers, without allowing partisan rampaging to occur.
A needle with a very small eye to push a thread through.
https://amgreatness.com/2019/12/10/what-about-the-fisa-court/
Angelo Codevilla
In re predictions of violence if Trump is not convicted (impeachment is just an indictment) and wins re-election in 2020.
This is where we are today.
It is not going to get better, unless the American electorate is as decisive in punishing the Democrats as the Brits were in evicting Labour.
https://amgreatness.com/2019/12/12/teen-hospitalized-after-being-savagely-attacked-on-florida-school-bus-for-wearing-trump-hat/
(He apparently wasn’t wearing the hat at the time, but had been continually bullied and harassed after wearing it the first – and only – time.)
https://amgreatness.com/2019/12/12/ratcliffe-dems-withholding-transcript-that-reveals-how-whistleblower-got-caught-with-chairman-schiff/
https://amgreatness.com/2019/12/12/horowitzs-gift-to-the-nations-enemies/
It’s hard to argue people out of their delusions when they are this crazy.
https://amgreatness.com/2019/12/12/squad-member-rashida-tlaib-blames-white-supremacy-for-nj-shooting-targeting-jews/
First we had white hispanics, now we have white blacks.
And Christian Jews — because the BHI claim to be the “real Jews” — which is patently untrue, and they also are decidedly not what any rational observer would call Christian.
The only people crazier than these are the ones who read their garbage and accept it.
Conrad Black made a point I haven’t seen elsewhere; don’t know how to verify it as there are over 1500 instances of “CHS” in Horowitz’s report.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/12/the-damning-inspector-generals-report/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=top-bar-latest&utm_term=fifth
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/12/michael-horowitzs-flawed-epistemology.php
BREAKING
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/12/12/jerry-nadler-in-surprise-move-postpones-vote-on-articles-of-impeachment/
The impeachment is irreducibly tied to the Russia investigation, and both were political gruel masquerading as meat.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/12/10/the-nuclear-option-obama-spied-fbi-lied-but-trump-impeached/
As is usual with the Democrats and Leftists who are always fighting injustice and oppression on behalf of someone else, the someones don’t always appreciate the favor — or agree with it.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/12/11/top-ukraine-official-andriy-yermak-casts-doubt-on-key-impeachment-testimony/
(excerpt from a report at Time magazine)
Tweet quoted in a Guy Benson piece — the only new thing there, however, as he mostly excerpts Taibbi’s post.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2019/12/11/lefty-writer-the-ig-report-is-damning-for-the-fbi-adam-schiff-and-much-of-the-media-n2557826?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm&newsletterad=&bcid=c516d6c9c54ff9490b6b8db0dcb77a00&recip=19890201
Eli Lake
@EliLake
·
Dec 11
It’s unpresidential and dangerous for Trump to attack the FBI director the way he did. That said, Chris Wray was also insisting that the Nunes memo on FISA abuse and Carter Page was inaccurate in 2018. Horowitz proved Wray’s objections were false. He needs to explain himself.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2019/12/12/wsj-columnist-hey-did-anyone-catch-this-interesting-detail-in-the-fisa-abuse-report-on-russia-collusion-n2557896
I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out what the Dems get out of this. They vote for impeachment, and it goes to the Senate, where the impeachment is dismissed, having failed to allege a “high crime or misdemeanor,” or there is a trial, in which all the Dems’ corruption and abuse of power is revealed, and then impeachment is voted down. Did they sway any voters? Did they increase the commitment of their base? Will they raise any more money? No, no, and no. So, what’s the point?
A couple of excerpts won’t do justice to the full post, but may suggest the idea being advanced.
Note that the FBI had already considered and rejected FISAs on both Papadopolous and Page as not having sufficient cause.
https://www.redstate.com/elizabeth-vaughn/2019/12/12/dan-bongino-discovers-critical-new-information-ig-report-actions-crossfire-hurricane-team/
“…among other stories about the rising number of Virginia’s 2A-sanctuary counties.”
AesopFan,
It’s late and I regret if I’ve missed something relevant in your comments- but it strikes me as a rather significant development that non-leftists have now learned to use the same language as the left in announcing their defiance against the law-words of the regime.
This is an iterative process and it seems to me that the leftist-dominated establishment has been falling increasingly behind of late. Most importantly, they failed to stop the hated Orange Man from becoming president. Lately, they haven’t even been able to interest the public in their impeachment teledrama.
Things work, until they don’t- and the DC establishment has stumbled from failure to failure, going back decades. Alas, we don’t have quite the political clarity the UK has just managed-yet- but at least we’re doing better than we used to do.
More on the observations by Strassel & Bongino, pointing out that they are not really new, and several people have written about the underpinnings of the Steele Dossier and how the coup was a long-term plan looking for an operational opening.
https://www.redstate.com/elizabeth-vaughn/2019/12/12/kimberley-strassel-buried-ig-report-line-poses-enormous-question-central-everything/
SueK writes: Supposing Trump is actually impeached, is he still legally permitted to run for President in 2020?
The House impeaches. The Senate tries. If convicted by the Senate, the president is removed from office and is ineligible for other high public office. If not convicted, the president is still president and can run for a 2nd term in 2020.
Trump is likely to be the third president impeached (Johnson in the 1860s and Clinton in the 1990s). Nixon was almost impeached but resigned before a vote was taken. Neither Johnson nor Clinton were convicted.
It has a name. It is called “the ends justify the means”
The problem with your analysis is that there aren’t many precedents on this, and the two best known work against your conclusion.
1. That provision applies to everyone who’s removed from an office via impeachment. Alcee Hastings was impeached and removed as a judge, but there was no bar to his running for Congress, and he’s still serving. Elected officials can be elected (or re-elected; Hastings served multiple terms) even after impeachment. The sovereign People, in their wisdom, overrode the Senate.
2. The Emoluments Clause uses the same language: “And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them”. The Democrats have already tried for Trump using this over his business dealings, and gotten shot down by SCOTUS, again because he’s an elected official. Ironically, a far better case under that clause could have been made against Hildebeeste for all the money she and Bill got from the Russians over Uranium One. Cabinet officials are the very definition of “Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them”.
Neo,
So glad to see that you have finally come around to seeing my point that the other side (liberals/progressives/leftists/socialists/Democrats) is driven by hate.
The comment you endorse by KyndyllG identifies the “vast mass” of such people he has known his whole life. Yes, he’s describing the large majority of those who vote for Democrats every election.
They hate. They hate deeply. Which is why they are so comfortable with their relentless slanders — bigot, racist, sexist, fascist, Nazi, white supremacist. Those aren’t nice words. They’re vicious, vile, and nasty. They are the most hateful labels imaginable. Only people motivated by hatred would use them indiscriminately as they do.
re: 2nd Amendment activism.
Today’s Don Surber “highlights” post documents recent 2A Sanctuary news.
It’s multi state.
It’s grassroots.
Prediction: it will spread
Item 6
https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2019/12/highlights-of-news_13.html
stan brown:
Some are driven by hate, but many are driven by what they see as hatred of hate. If they define the right as bigots and haters, and they hate the haters, then they see themselves as fighting hatred.
Neo:
Some are driven by hate, but many are driven by what they see as hatred of hate. If they define the right as bigots and haters, and they hate the haters, then they see themselves as fighting hatred.
Once again, I am reminded that Tom Lehrer’s topical comedy of a half century ago is still on-topic.National Brotherhood Week.
I am reminded of the decade of Friday nights at a bar with a fellow homeowner, which continued until the bar closed and he sold his unit. As he was a yellow dog Democrat, and I a yellow dog Republican, we had hours and hours of interesting political discussions.
One time I made a comment against something that Obama had said or done. The reply came back that he wasn’t a hater- as if hatred was defined as civilly disagreeing with Obama.
While my fellow homeowner wasn’t a hater, he on occasion referred to “Teabaggers,” which considering what the term originally meant, is rather hateful. One time, several years after the inccident, I referred to the pilot who drove his small plane into an IRS building. That suicide pilot was a “Teabagger,” he told me, which considering that his farewell letter quoted Marx, wasn’t accurate.
A lefty friend (sorta) of mine on Facebook remarked some time ago that there are now in effect two irreconcilable views of reality in place. Of course he meant that his is the actually correct one, and his opponents are deluded. But as far as it goes his statement was perfectly accurate. I can assure you (if any of you are in doubt) that many or most on the left are utterly convinced that their opponents are completely insane, delusional, wicked, and beyond the reach of reason and good will. I mean utterly.
Ignoring the question of who is actually correct, when two people each quite sincerely see the other as moments away from attempting to murder him, what kind of compromise, much less reconciliation, is even theoretically possible?
The monsters are due on Maple Street.
Also, I would suggest you argue against their best argument, not their worst.
Their ‘best’ argument is junk, just like their ‘worst’.
“Ignoring the question of who is actually correct, when two people each quite sincerely see the other as moments away from attempting to murder him, what kind of compromise, much less reconciliation, is even theoretically possible?”
Most people don’t believe that. Just social media addicts and most of them are…how shall I put this…wussies that would struggle to bait a fishing hook, let alone commit a violent act against a human being.
Mike
Here is my take on the “political theater”:
The House passes an impeachment bill.
They know The Senate will most likely not convict POTUS Trump.
Even before the Senate trial, the Lawfare Group sues to remove Trump from the ballot because he is “impeached” and cannot be eligible. Right or wrongly they also file to keep him from campaigning for the same reasons. They will not prevail but this is just to confuse LIV’s who will swallow it all.
These Dems are just this devious (read evil).
These Dems are just this devious (read evil).[R Daneel]
I agree with you. And that is another part of why I think the best approach here is to treat this impeachment exactly as it deserves — to toss it out on its ashcan ASAP. Kill the thing and let the President get back to real work and real achievements. The longer it stays open, the more opportunity for Democrats to make mischief, bad mischief. AG Barr is ready to throw the book at somebody, several somebodies, and that will take care of itself soon enough.
Would Nancy P have done this if she had thought the impeachment might actually succeed? I assume this is just maxxed-out cynicism and electoral gamesmanship, damn our history and our Constitution. But maybe there is 0.1% citizenship inside that head of hers (not in the heart position, a vacancy) that has been counting on losing the process.
Agreeing with your post from the commenter that this is an indication that half the country and much/most of those who are part of the government have reached the “punch a Nazi” phase. Further, that due process and the Constitution are dead letters as far as they are concerned and they are functionally at war with us by all means. Those means will include deadly force administered by the Organs of State Security as soon as it can be pushed through.
If such a situation obtains, and by every indication it does, we have moved outside any Social and Political Contract and are in Hobbes’ “State of Nature” where warfare and blood determines matters and there is no political recourse short of that. Should not those on the Conservative side, seeing this, be preparing and planning for that warfare and blood so as to defeat those who would kill us in the most efficient way before they can kill us?
Subotai Bahadur
Mbunge: I just meant murder as an analogy. I don’t think very many people at all on either side are seriously bent on physical violence, or feels in serious danger of same. And I think Subotai Bahadur’s comment above is over the top, so much so that I wonder if it’s trolling. But each side now does see the other as an enemy that wants to subjugate it politically and culturally. To use that misused phrase, an “existential threat.” Each views the other as the aggressor. I think, as I’m sure most commenters here do, that it’s actually been the left that has been the aggressor over the past 50 years or so, but those on the left do sincerely believe they’re fighting defensively.
I must say this Virginia gun control situation does seem to pose the possibility of actual violence.
Gringo, thanks for the link to Hitler’s Table Talk. From that, I hunted up the same thing on Wayback, in pdf. Easier to read. :>)
https://ia801304.us.archive.org/34/items/HitlersTableTalk_1941_1944/Hugh%20Trevor-Roper%20-%20Hitlers%20Table%20Talk%201941-1944%20%28His%20Private%20Conversations%29.pdf