[EdG Note: IANAL. If I am wrong about legal aspects in this essay or there are factual errors, let me know in the comments and I'll update.]

There's been a lot of bloviating by media talking heads as the Senate trial of the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump proceeds. This question should naturally arise in the minds of observers: Are there actual rules and precedents that govern impeachment or do the two sides make it up as they go along?

A fairly nearby star is starting to act in weird ways . . .

If you have ever gazed towards the night sky in the winter, you may be familiar with the constellation Orion, the ancient Greek hunter, and the very bright red star in the upper left arm of Orion, called Betelgeuse:

So the former Secretary of State and twice-failed presidential candidate has made a few comments about social media to The Atlantic, and rarely have I seen Orwellian doublespeak laid out so plainly. I don't know if she lacks the self-awareness to realize how she sounds, or if for her, saying this stuff publicly is just an expression of power: I will say what I want because this is my world and all you little people just live in it.

Truth-tellers and Liars

What an upside down world. Journalists are jailed for telling us the truth about our governments, and liars are paid big bucks to read propaganda off their teleprompters. Chelsea, Julian, and now Glenn all punished for revealing the crimes committed by those in power.

Something/Someone Old

I just watched this for the first time. My mom couldn't believe I'd never seen it. Holy shit, was it good!

You may recall in an essay I wrote 12 days ago that FiveThirtyEight was predicting Sanders would win only 3 states--New Hampshire, California, and Vermont--during the entire 2020 primary/caucus elections.

As of now, that has changed quite dramatically.

Only focusing on the results through SuperTuesday (March 3), let's look at FiveThirtyEight's predictions now:

UKRAINEGATE Part 1 – A Not So Solid Prosecutor

You probably heard about the huge pro-gun rally in Richmond, Virginia last week.
What you probably didn't hear about was that the catalyst for this march was a stupid, baseless konspiracy theory.

A truly inspiring story.
Julian is finally released from solitary in Belmarsh because the other prisoners in the prison were appalled by his treatment and took up action on his behalf.

A small victory for basic humanity - and it took criminals to teach it to the British state. https://t.co/bEMHlW4v0C

— Craig Murray (@CraigMurrayOrg) January 24, 2020

Joe Rogan came out for Bernie Sanders and liberals threw a fit because of it.