#TrumpImpeachment 2.0
O, what a train wreck this is bound to be! What this nation absolutely needs just now is further divisiveness, as AOC calls for more funding to deprogram white supremacists and other D-related woke McCarthyite blacklists, MAGA-voters re-education camps and such. Never mind Joe Biden’s supremely dubious record on Black Civil Rights resembles…white supremacy. But hey, he’s assembled a most diverse cabinet of neo-cons and warmongers, and desires to Unify the Nation! Sure, he and Ms. Pelosi want help from Republicans to further their own stated agendas, but Trump must be held accountable!
Will it further piss off the 74,000,000+ Trump voters, some 9 million of whom had voted for President Wall Street and War, Inc. Obomba in 2012? No, the working class was sold out wholesale by that Nobel Peace Prize recipient weren’t we?
Will those of us who’d like to make Common Cause with some MAGA voters be able to after this already Domed to Fail debacle? I’d needed to Bingle for what’s been up with the Impeachment and had found these facts at a couple different sites:
“Although a majority of the Senate voted this week to proceed with a trial, the 55-45 vote falls short of the two-thirds that would be required to convict.
On Tuesday, 45 GOP senators backed a motion from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to argue that that the chamber’s impending trial was unconstitutional.
It is unlikely once again that Trump will be convicted in the upper chamber, as the Democrats would need 17 Republicans to vote for conviction.
The Democrats and Republicans currently control 50 seats each in the Senate, meaning at least 17 Republicans would have to vote with all 50 Democrats in order for Trump to be convicted.
Chuck Schumer has announced that the Senate trial will being on Feb., allowing time for the newish Defense attorneys to get up to speed, and both sides to read their briefs.”
Aha! Bingling further on the order of ‘then what the hell’s the point?’ I’d discovered:
‘PLAN D: Backup plan to have Donald Trump ‘BLOCKED from holding office ever again’ pushed as impeachment appears ‘doomed’, 28 Jan 2021, thesun.co.uk
“The seemingly doomed impeachment trial has prompted Senators Kaine and Collins to propose a vote to censure the former president as an alternative punishment, reports NBC News.
Now you may or may not remember Tim Kaine, but he was Hellary Clinton’s invisible Milquetoast non-controversial running mate…
“Virginia’s Kaine said adoption of the censure resolution could prevent Trump from holding future office, but legal scholars aren’t so sure.
A censure by either or both houses of Congress has no force of law if the person being censured is not a member of Congress, NBC reported.
But, Trump could be blocked from holding future federal office based on the notion he committed “insurrection or rebellion” against the United States under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
Kaine told CNN on Wednesday the resolution will declare that the January 6 riot at the Capitol building “was an insurrection against the Constitution of the United States.”
It also will state the finding that Trump “gave aid and comfort to those who carried out the insurrection by repeatedly lying about the election, slandering election officials,” and pressuring people to come to Washington during the electoral count.”
Pete Williams, NBC News, Jan. 28, 2021:
“The notion that a censure could block Trump from holding future federal office is based on how Kaine and his supporters are reading Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which says: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.”
Strange as it may seem, said professor Steve Vladeck of the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, there is a continuing legal question about whether the president is, in fact, “an officer of the United States.” That phrase appears often in the law, but the courts have yet to nail down the meaning when it comes to the person at the top of the executive branch.” […]
“Vladeck suggests that because there are so many unknowns, the most prudent course would be for both houses of Congress to approve a censure resolution, to give it extra heft. Unlike a vote to convict Trump in an impeachment trial, a vote to censure him would require only a simple majority, which is another reason some senators might find it more likely to succeed. But for now, the Senate’s majority leader, Chuck Schumer, is focused on the House impeachment article.” […]
“”There will be a trial,” the New York Democrat said, “And the evidence against the former president will be presented in living color for the nation and every one of us to see once again.”
Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley weighs in: ‘Senate is playing the dangerous game with the 14th Amendment’, Jan. 30, 2021 (in part)
“Kaine is open about his motivation for “an alternative that would impose, in my view, a similar consequence” without a trial and supermajority vote. But that is why this tactic is so dangerous. The party in control could bar dozens of its opponents from running for federal office. Some Democrats are now demanding such action against Republicans who challenged the election of Joe Biden.”
Agitprop Imperialist Project Alert:
“This is common in authoritarian countries such as Iran, where leaders often bar their opponents from office.” […]
“It would be a first impression for a court, but Trump would have a credible case. If he were to prevail, he could cite the decision as vindication and perhaps enhance his claims of being an establishment target. When the 14th Amendment was ratified, it was easy to see its applicability to those who swore allegiance to the confederacy or fought for it. A court today would face the issue of whether Congress has total discretion to make such a finding or if, as I believe, it is subject to judicial review.
Using the 14th Amendment is too clever by half. Our raging politics blinds many to what could be a dangerous precedent of barring opponents from office. When many people call for blacklists [one such] and retaliation against anyone “complicit” with Trump in the last four years, such a power would be ripe for abuse. There is an alternative, which is a censure resolution that can garner overwhelming support as a bipartisan condemnation rather than a circumvention of impeachment. We can then leave the Constitution alone, and leave the future of Trump to voters and to history.”
Another: ‘CNN airs guide to DEPROGRAM MAGA SUPPORTERS as cult expert claims ENTIRE country needs post-Trump help’, Jan. 19, 2021
But it’s okay, Joe; Washington DeeCee is a still a fortress with thousands of National Guard troops, as is the Capitol Building not unlike the Hellary’s Green Zone Embassy in Baghdad. What comes next after this suckitude, Joe: martial law?
(cross-posted from Café Babylon)
Comments
i hadn't meant to comment,
i'd just pressed Publish, or so i'd thought....
but i'll add two relevant tweets since i'm here:
Anyone still doubt that we ARE a banana republic? n/t
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
A 'Banana Republic' without bananas.
But we have a zippy theme song at least!
[video:https://youtu.be/RKf3Q4a5098]
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
On the road to
becoming Zimbabwe With Nukes
'not i, said the dog', 'not i, said the cat'
not i said the monarch butterfly'. what could this Exceptional Nation built on the triple evils of slavery, genocide, while claiming Manifest Destiny ('god wills it') be?
the intentions of the original framers being:
https://www.thoughtco.com/original-bill-of-rights-and-amendments-3322334
The Five Eyes and Israel are/were all like this: settler states.
It’s what ties the Five Eyes — U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand — and Israel together so tightly. The divine right of settlers to declare a Year Zero and build a new world over the graves of the old.
It’s in the nature of the dominant political and economic culture. The whole “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion” repackaging and rebranding campaign now rolling out doesn’t really alter that essence.
i was surprised to see you'd included
Britain, but loads of wars were waged to produce the UK, weren't they? and now ireland and scotland want out as well.
but the irony continues: biden's pick (Jaime Harrison) to head the DLC is black, as is SecDef nominee lloyd Ratheon Autin.
reuters rported on jan. 31 that biden will leave troops in afghanistan (someone has to watcch our poppy fields there, yes?
and i almost fell over laughing at this one:
“Al-Shabaab remains a threat to the U.S. and a dangerous enemy,” said Air Force Col. Chris Karns. “…While al-Shabaab is unable to attack the U.S. homeland today, their ambition to do so in the future remains.”
(thee first 200 bombing sorties didn't quite do the trick)
fuck africom and nato.
So well said
Manifest destiny!
Such a glorious name for empire building.
I do think you meant
74,000,000+. Just to make it more readable.
I'd like to say; Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, but we never get to meet the real bosses.
But I'm sure they already have a "bunker mentality".
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
i duz be numerically
challenged. thanks; fixed it.
i don't sleep much at night, so i had a nap: it was D-lightful and D-lovely. but dayum, i let the fire go out, and have one of those corona-prisms thangs in my eyes (woods dweller calls them corona migraines, but sometimes they don't bother making the hegg-aches), so i need to get offline for the near future.
so many interesting comments; thank you all for your additions. back as i'm able.
Bunker mentality is on full display
Is this Washington DC (District of Corruption) cordoned off by military fearing Robert E. Lee will storm the Citadel? No, Biden fears the leftest of the Leftists. Antifa. They don't like ya, JoJo. Neither do most of the Humanoids who voted for you ONLY because you weren't Trump.
Don't expect Bowser (a good dog's name ruined by cheap-ass politics) to request their withdrawal, like she did when Orange Man ordered National Guard to protect WDC. Nancy and Alex want their armed guards to accompany them to and from their homes. I wouldn't be surprised if Occasional-Cortex asks for a permanent detail of Capitol Police to guard her homes (plural).
Question of the day: will Nervous Nancy's bunker have room for all the matched outfits and face masks that harridan wears?
oooh, burn!
er...pardon me, but that's 'Speaker Harridan' to me and thee.
Election of First Citizen Biden
was the end of the Republic.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
The Republic was already on life support
We need to devise a government function test like we do for people. Think of the well-known (to us brainiacs) as the Glasgow Coma scale. Just for being alive, the being gets 3 points. Maximum score of vitality is 15. I would suppose our GCS was 9 which is just a tad over coma. Now the Congress is at a 5. Two more points lost and the Congress will collectively and individually be brain dead. In Californicate, we brainiacs have the right to pull the plug on the brain dead.
I am hoping to detach the power cord from the outlet.
Who Is Being Punished?
Impeaching a guy who isn't president is beyond silly -- it is kookoo bananas, perfect for our Republic.
The Orange Fartcloud will be almost 80 years old as of the 2024 election cycle. If you bar him from running, you aren't punishing him -- you are doing him a favor. The punishment is for people who want to vote for him again.
What confidence the Dems have in Democracy! People voted for the wrong guy in 2016 because their minds were manipulated by Putin. Their solution to the problem of people voting for the wrong guy is to keep the wrong guy off the ballot.
How can anybody take this shit seriously? The attack on the people who vote "wrong" is, by definition, totalitarianism. People do not know whom to vote for and their choices must be controlled. And, the "information" they receive must be controlled, or they will vote for some other wrong guy who is not yet known to be wrong.
The key word in the Blue vocabulary is now control.
Democracy means the right to be wrong. Destroying that right is a balls out abolition of democracy. This will formalize the results of the election of 2000 -- we got no fucking democracy.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
No Democracy? No Democracy!
I stopped believing in Democracy when Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon. And we let Obomber start 5 wars and enhance two existing wars after winning the NOballs Piece of Shit Prize after he had only been in office 2 weeks and had not yet unfurled his "Make the World safe for the Petrodollar and the Central Bank" [and the MIC] plan which he denied he would do when campaigning against McStain.
If alligators had hairs, you could split them.
.
I think it would make a great History Department Faculty Lounge discussion as to whether the USA ever had "democracy" in the first place. As of 1876, we certainly did not have The People in charge of picking the next President and Tilden is a footnote.
And we are in agreement that we have not had democracy for quite a while, if ever.
Funny how so many internet folks do not believe so. That is what makes the boards interesting, I suppose.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
@fire with fire
We are classified as a defective democracy but really never have been a democracy. The Princeton Study put that to rest by determining scientifically that there was no correlation between what the people want and what becomes law in the US. As an amusing thought I'll bet that if they did that in China the Princeton group would find that there is a much greater correlation between what the people want and what government provides. In theory, democracy, that is voting, is supposed to couple the people's needs to government action, but in reality it is just a mechanism that doesn't seem to work. In China a high level administrator better know what the people want and had better see to their needs, or else they will be removed from office. In the US, our elected officers are expected to play the party game and take care of the Oligarchs. On top of it, their government officials are professionals trained from early age to serve, ours are amature, corrupt hackers who have learned to play the game to get power and wealth, look at Nancy, Chucky and Joey.
Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.
I have no argument against your post
.
There are however, other ways to look at American political structures. The original formula for propertied white males to elect the leaders of their respective States, which, in turn, would control the selection of national leaders did not add up to funding a global war machine. It took a century and a half for that to happen.
Probably, the only reason why Washington, Adams and Jefferson did not try to conquer the world was that they knew they had no chance to prevail. The first order of business was Manifest Destiny. The second order of business was the splendid little war against Spain. The third order of business was for Wilson to get reelected in 1916 with the promise to keep us out of war, before immediately taking us into The Great War.
Even then, after Wilson left office, politicians in the US Congress kept us out of European entanglements for another couple of decades, while "we" followed the Monroe Doctrine to re-colonize "our" hemisphere.
I can agree that none of the above should be called democracy.
But, as in Rome and every other polity ever, there is always politics -- disputation over what the government does. I have heard of Russians laughing at Americans' conception of life in the old Soviet Union. "Yes, Stalin is a despot and he will kill you if you oppose him. But if you think he doesn't worry about public opinion, you are a fucking moron."
There are lots of things people can do to make real change. Voting just isn't one of them.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
Thank you for the reference to fine splitting
I agree with you, a well-crafted document to have the aristocracy of rich landowners and merchants control they rowdy population to pull all this diverse mess together into a larger, subtly executed (until recently) prestidigitation; in other words, the rich have always tilted the game to the rich. How strange people might think but there's no such thing as a free lunch (terrible metaphor but my brain is currently tapped out--awaiting my next shipment of Super-meth
Super-meth
ajamu baraka:
'We Are Entering a New Totalitarian Era’, Ann Garrison, blackagendareport.com, Jan. 27, 2021 (w/permission, some excerpts)
In this interview for Pacifica Radio’s Covid, Race and Democracy, Ajamu Baraka warned of a new era of totalitarian neoliberalism.
“Anybody who is in opposition to the hegemony of the neoliberal project is at some point over the next few years going to experience the heavy hand of the state.”
Ann Garrison: On January 20, we saw Joe Biden carry on about “unity” behind seven-foot fences topped with razor wire and 25,000 plus National Guard troops deployed . One friend of mine said that this pointed to an irony deficiency. Is there anything you'd like to say about it?
Ajamu Baraka: Well, I think it is ironic, but it's quite understandable that the kinds of activities that the US has been involved in promoting and supporting globally—undermining democracies, subverting states, undermining and destroying any semblance of the rule of law—have basically come back to haunt them. You have a militant movement in the US partially inspired by the inability of the state and the system to address their material interests and to look at their concerns regarding their own understanding of democracy and its deficiencies. They feel like they lack space to articulate those views, and they’ve decided to engage in militant actions to make sure that their voices are heard, and they believe that they are upholding democracy.
And their experience with the state made them feel justified in advancing their concerns about democracy in violent forms. The state has demonstrated to them that the way you defend democracy is through state violence. So they were taking their defense into their own hands and bringing it right back to the center of empire. Some of us call that blowback.
own understanding of democracy and its deficiencies. They feel like they lack space to articulate those views, and they’ve decided to engage in militant actions to make sure that their voices are heard, and they believe that they are upholding democracy.
And their experience with the state made them feel justified in advancing their concerns about democracy in violent forms. The state has demonstrated to them that the way you defend democracy is through state violence. So they were taking their defense into their own hands and bringing it right back to the center of empire. Some of us call that blowback.
AG: For the past four years, liberals on the coasts have excoriated the white working class in the middle of the country, whom they perceive to be deplorable Trump supporters. Do you think that this is helpful?
AB: No. Not only is it not helpful, it is inaccurate and it has helped to create the narrative that many of these forces have embraced; that is the centerpiece of their grievances. They believe that liberals and the liberal order have not addressed their needs, their interests. They believe that the economic elites are only out for themselves and that therefore they needed to rally behind Trump, a billionaire who claimed that he understood their interests and would fight for them because nobody else was.
So this characterization of them as deplorables, and as either Nazis or Nazi-like, is not only not helpful but also contradictory in the sense that those folks who level those charges still have not been able to explain why the Trump presidency happened."
from 'Two from BAR & a Chilling Ministry of Truth PSA from DHS', wd, jan 28
They do have an explanation
Putin hacked the vote. But you can't see the evidence for "security reasons" or even know the names of the claimants.
I wonder why Putin didn't steal the election this time? Or did he? /snark
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
i'm sorry;
but i'm not taking your meaning. 'they' who? for instance?
The DNC and HRC
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
RE: Trump as Hitler
Yesterday I watched a re-run of Rick Steves' "Fascism in Europe" on PBS station WTTW. There were many film clips of Hitler and Mussolini. Many people have compared Trump to Hitler, but watching those clips, I say Trump resembles Mussolini much more. Hitler's speaking style was very emotional with emotional gestures and facial expressions. Mussolini's was bombastic with barely any facial expression at all but with imperious hand gestures and largely wooden expression. Steves' says he was aping Augustus and I see that with his stance and all. But so was Trump. The flat voice and lack of facial expression totally ape Mussolini.
Hitler fought in WW I, being gassed in combat. Mussolini dodged the draft, by moving to Switzerland rather than by bone spurs. Mussolini also liked young women while Hitler is not noted for sexual conquests.
And IMO, Hitler was nuts. Literally. A psychopath. Mussolini was a ne'er do well with delusions of grandeur. A much better fit to Trump.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Facetiously, the suggestion that Trump was/is Hitler is funny
I'm not laughing.
Who were the despots who deprived people of earning a living when a tiny virus affected only the very old and/or infirm? Who arrested beauty salon owners and gym proprietors for operating their businesses even with social distancing and all that jive?
Hitler ordered people to death camps. So did Andrew Cuomo. Hitler let his Brown Shirts terrorize the populace. So did Cuomo / De Blahblah with their sanctioned hate Trump and Antifa/BLM rallies. Who painted victorious factional slogans on public streets. Not quotations from Mein Kampf but exhortations to love BLM (whose supporters are mostly white).
Ban Jews. Yeah Hitler did that. But Andy Cuomo won't let Jews pray in their synagogues. Is he going to make them wear patches so police can better identify them if they congregate in large numbers?
Don't give me the Hitler shit unless you refer to the DNC cronies. They are the fascists.
George Orwqell, we have arrived.
Free Speech = Domestic Terrorism.
Differing Opinions = Incipient Rebellion
Trump had flaws--but they fade in comparison to the Neues Partei des Amerikanische Reich (DNC).
As I said, Not Hitler but Mussolini
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
There's plenty of pix
where Trump thrusts his jaw out, looking exactly like Mussolini.
Orwell: Where's the omelette?
It looks quite obvious to me
the DNC greatly fear those 74 million Trump voters And those 9 million Obama voters coming back in 2024 and putting Trump back in the White House.
Just think about it. Trump regurgitates his no more new wars, bringing troops home, returning manufactoring jobs to America, bowing out of NATO, and MAGA in general. Especially if Biden pushes for an atack on Iran or China, or worse, Russia. If the DNC cabal continue to oppress the working class, the poor, the sick, and the elderly, Trump could be seen, again, as a LOTE.
This is what they fear the most and will do anything to make him in-eligible.
Hell, half the Republican establishment don't want him back in there.
If the powers aligned against him fail to block his future candidacy, we (the Berniecrat left, FDR democrats) will have a huge cudgel to wield against the DNC neo-liberals. They either give us much more than crumbs, or we will vote for Trump in 2024.
Screw "Vote blue no matter who". Give us what we want or you're outta there!
IMHO
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Not half of the GOP establishment contra Trump--most of them
You know what happens when a person turns blue--they die soon of deprivation of oxygen to their vital organs.
feet to the fire cudgels, eh?
i've been musing about this:
most people lionize both bernie and FDR's New Deal' in ways they may have misunderstood history.
i'm not by way of an historian, but FDR had wanted to ssve capitalism both from the commie IWW (wobblies) and populist huey long. this is as close as i could come to finding a citation (longish, but educational w/ telling quotes from FDR)
FDR and the Limits of the New Deal, Joshua Koritz - August 10, 2020
i'm out for the night, thank you all for such a good discussion.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGwK1jjemgE&list=RDDGwK1jjemgE&start_rad...
It kills me
wendy, that this doomed effort keeps Trump in the headlights for a few more weeks.
It will fail.
It will further enrage his supporters.
But, the pols and media have decided that the circuses will continue. The bread part, not so much.
NYCVG
given the many vicissitudes of RL,
as in: Life's a Beach, then ya (hopefully) die') i'll only be able to answer a few comments so i'll start here.
yes to trump in the headlights, but his homies seem to be jumping ship. given that he'd announced all FP decisions would be givn to his SoS mafia don pompeo, i reckon there might be a primary with both he and nikki haley for prez.
sociopathic sadistic pompeo was bafflingly left intact on social media for one thing, but in the end he was the power behind the throne, as Obomba is the power beind biden's throne.
but it all made me think of 'the fire next time':
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS2MzoQwsiY]
Astute observation
Looking in the Retrospectoscope, do you think W. was Cheney's tool--or as some conspiratorialists have alley--Dubya was the Mastermind of Dubya's WH?
Hill Democrats act so lame so often
that it's difficult not to conclude that they're ignorant of their power, laws, and effective political moves. They and the Republicans are too often blinded by the prospect of impeachment that they fail to accomplish a solid political point.
Once the election results had been confirmed by the states and Trump kept publicly repeating that it was fraudulent and he'd won, a censure resolution should have been prepared and held until Congress accepted the results on Jan 6 and a) if Trump likewise accepted the results, the resolution wouldn't be acted on and b) if Trump continued claiming fraud, the resolution would be submitted (and passed) in both chambers. As it developed, on 1/6 Trump exceeded his fraud claims and therefore, the resolution (amended with a notation that the funding of the MAGA riot would be investigated) should have been introduced on 1/7 while he was still in office.
Just because a censure carries no formal punishment, the court of public opinion may give it weight. No POTUS has ever been censured (a few resolutions were drafted (two on Trump) but not acted upon. Of course such a censure of Trump would have carried far more weight if DC Dems hadn't prosecuted that dumb impeachment last year. This move would also have made it easier to censure Congressional members that actively followed Trump's MAGA lead.
100% agree
Banning likely Presidential candidates from running is anti-democratic.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Too much is "anti-Democratic"
in this country for me to give a fig about Trump being made ineligible for a second WH term.
My considered opinion is that DJT isn't a likely 2024 presidential candidate. Other than Grover Cleveland (and he was only in his fifties), no defeated sitting president has come back to win a second term. Of course there haven't been that many one-timers given the US voters preference to give a president two terms.
Democrats have a bigger problem than Trump. Four years of doddering Biden will be enough, and Harris doesn't have enough on her own to win.
What do you see? A Bush resurgency?
Or some other Trump-like character? I wish with all my heart for another FDR, but my head tells me "It ain't gonna happen."
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Well, there’s always
Tom Cotton waiting in the wings to run on the Nehemiah Scudder evangelical/psychopath ticket. The red team might be just about ready for him now....
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
We're done with the Bushes.
Expect a lot of competition among the GOP crazies. Rubio and Cruz (and possibly Paul) are good bets to try again. Hawley is itching to pick up where Trump left off. They'll likely have competition from Pence who limits his craziness to religion. McConnell is fluffing Liz Cheney; an effort to attract saner, traditional Republican (not sane because the Cheneys are nuts).
No more traditional billionaire old-boy (R)'s
Liz vs Kamala, an interesting match, if you think about it on an empty stomach.
Paul imspired a lot of populist (R)'s. I'm thinking that like Bernie, he won't go the distance. I've seen speculation about DJT junior, but he seems to me to make W look like a competent statesman. Maybe someone we don't know, just like Trump appeared out of nowhere. It might be a dixiecrat but the (D)'s have proven they can win without the South and demographics propelled Georgia Blue and in four years the black/white ratio should be even larger. Another factor is the rise of Atlanta as an international business center. Many immigrants from California, Seattle, Chicago, New York, maybe Boston. The whites among them have no interest in Scarlett O'Hara. They are used to bribing Dem officials.
My gut tells me Paul or someone similar, taking up the Trumpista populist reins. especially since there should be disillusioned Purple voters realizing Biden is not the second coming of Roosevelt or even Truman. And black voters realizing that Harris is not Harriet Tubman but really the boss overseer/driver.
OTOH, they never tipped to Obama being Wall Street's "boy".
I know you use your head more than your gut. very interested in your opinions. I guess we will know better by 2022
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
“New Economy” type billionaire / entrepreneur comes outa nowhere
like Bloomberg, back when he was a Republican?
Some Elon Musk type but born in the U.S. (unlike Musk himself whose birth nationality makes him ineligible) ?
ala Ross Perot, yes
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
I only feel as if I'm on solid ground
when my head and gut agree. It's a wrestling match when they don't.
It's incorrect to say that Trump came out of nowhere in 2015. He briefly ran in 2000. Attempted to pick up where Perot left off and quickly realized that wouldn't take him anywhere. He began his appeal to the "tea party" in 2011/12 even as it made him look like a jackass. That put him at the top of the GOP leader board within a couple of weeks of entering the race. Then all he had to do was pick up the largest share of each candidates primary voters' base as they dropped out. This was a fascinating natural or organic development not at all like the 2020 Democratic manufactured development although the Obama dead-enders did vault Biden to the top of the national leader board from day one on. Biden just couldn't win the early primaries where voters had a chance to see and hear him. The sad fact was that in that huge field of Dem candidates there wasn't one that was strong and solid.
An example of my personal head/gut battle was GA 2020. My gut kept saying look at GA and my head said, it's GA! My head preferred NC and FL, and my gut was silent on those two. I did delve a bit into GA and the information didn't contradict my gut, but I should have gone deeper and also factored in the increase in absentee ballots. In the end I had GA - +3 Trump (actual Biden +0.24) (it was +5.13 Trump in 2016), NC - +2 Trump (actual Trump +2.31), and FL +1 Biden (actual Trump 3.36). (However, I'll never believe that in Miami-Dade Biden got fewer votes than Hillary did in 2016 and that Trump added 200,000 to his 2016 number (only a 1,000 more than Romney got in 2012).
It's too soon to tell much of anything at this point. The 2022 mid-terms might not be as telling as usual. There are so few competitive congressional districts that even a few D losses would be significant. In the Senate, 14 D and 20 R seats are up. Of the R seats, three are retiring (NC, OH, and PA) and Grassley (IA) is 87 years old. While it's easy enough to spot GOP senators that want to be POTUS, Republicans do better with a nominee that's a governor. Suspect we'll see a lot of them testing the waters in the next couple of years.
Where's Huey Long
when you need him? Oh, that's right assassinated...
Yep
1) agree with all you both said. Immediate Censure would have been smart. Nobody ever accused the Democrats of being smart, did they? canny cunning greedy not smart.
2) Dems can't get out of their own way or this is their way. Tripping themselves up at every opportunity.
More drama. More circuses. More eyes on media. More clicks.
Keep the revenue flowing and do as little as possible.
NYCVG
I'm reminded of powerdul Chicago alderman Burke
in his 80's, a multi-millionaire built on graft. Instead of retiring somewhere warm without an extradition treaty, the FBI busts him for shaking down a Burger king franchise for $2,500 for a permit. Got him on tape! Small time hoods are small time hoods, not matter how rich they are.
And what does the Democratic party think of him? they were enraged that Alderman Solis, wore a wire for the FBI in exchange for a reduced sentence!
EDIT:
Burke trial postponed again for health. He may yet die free.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Election fraud claims were not excessive
The courts conspired to prevent almost all of the election irregularities from getting heard in court for various reasons, chief of which was "lack of standing". The only trial in the matter was in Wisconsin filed by a state Republican which was lost. But the Trump team accusations were never presented to a Wisconsin court. And tell me how excess can be blamed on Trump when Pennsylvania had 200,000 excess ballots.
Trump does not inspire love around certain parts, true. But the overweening bitching about how bad he is/was ignores or deflects the truly dreadful things the DNC has conspired to do and is still doing.
Yes they were because
they were fact-free. All the ballots in states that Trump disputed were recounted. Totally impossible that the lame Democrats could "steal" a Republican dominated state like Georgia. Twice as the follow-up Senate run-off results were in line with the presidential election.
Actually, I still suspect that there was massive fraud in Miami-Dade because the results were too far outside the results in prior elections. That was in favor of Trump. However, disputing this wasn't worth the effort because Trump would still have carried the state, only by a smaller margin.
There are still something
like 30 (out of an original 80 or so) election or voting fraud cases still active.
In almost no instances have cases been allowed to proceed to trial - the dismissals have been mostly on the grounds of timing and standing. At least in Arizona it appears that some real forensic examination of ballots will happen due to political pressure.
Note that in a number of contested states substantial portion of the state legislatures and Congressional delegations supported raising challenges to their own state's electors (seven of PA's delegation, for example). And volunteer efforts are underway in a number of states to actively canvass voting rolls - in AZ, for example, volunteers checking on the ground are finding numerous irregularities.
It is pretty reasonable for people to question things when election officials have been so resistant to disclosure or the conduct of meaningful audits - such as that proposed for Georgia by Jovan Pulitzer and backed by GA State Senate committee vote. (Pulitzer proposes a physical audit of paper ballots to determine if they were ever folded for mailing, printed out or filled out by a human with pen or marker & such).
Very premature to say there is no there there regarding breaches of election integrity, much less cancel people for even bringing up the subject.
$75 million and 3½ years to do fact-free Russiagate with Mueller
but the same establishment now promulgates infallible pronouncements, in the manner of a papal bull emanating ex cathedra, that the 2020 election was immaculately conceived and above suspicion every step of the way.
Papal bullshit more likely--and a lot of secular BS too
Black is white
White is black
BB (Before Biden) when OMB was in office we had a trial, known from the start by all parties including Senate RINOs that this whole charade: cold borscht, looking like blood from a distance.
Now we have fact-based allegations that are forbidden to enter the courts, just Beijing Biden's injunction against such a legal unravelling of his very feeble grasp on power, not even considering his and progressive decrepitude.
No
Democrats know damn well what the rules are and how to use them. They used to do it long ago, but since Clinton they’ve been chasing the almighty dollar so hard they ran into the Republican Party and have stayed there since. As Hedges said:
Look at what McConnell did to Schumer last week. I heard that the senate still hasn’t appointed its cabinet members yet because of what he did. Democrats have always had the same power republicans have, they just don’t use it because they want the same things republicans donors do.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
They may want the same things as
Republicans and nothing that I want, but they are still politically lame. Their party leader and new president was hamstrung in selecting his cabinet by Trump's refusal to concede and allowing for the usual transition process. McConnell wouldn't be expected to expedite confirmation of nominees (and iirc Democrats did their best to slow walk some of Trump's nominations). However, a really good way to slow the process even more is tying the Senate up with an impeachment trial.
Politically savvy would have been completing the old business of Trump before the inauguration. Keeping Trump in the news was a terrible idea.
yes, lol, but remember:
Congress was on Vacation for weeks and weeks!
but hroom, hroom: Biden insiders say that joe wants to make the trial snappy so he can get on with having his cabinet nominees confirmed (yes,, some already have been...) but many of them, and more to come, are real pips, although O so diverse!. buttegeig, granholm, lloyd 'raytheon' austin, blinken...and OMG!
torture-covering apologist https://www.businessinsider.com/senate-confirms-avril-haines-biden-nomin... as DNI! how had i missed that one? gina haspell 2.0?
on edit: i'd forgotten that early on, janet yellen for treasury was confirmed: 'the first woman evah to head treasury !!!!'
Chief Torturer?
EDIT: Is that her job?
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
again, i'm adrift as
to your meaning. never mind, try this:
Even before President-elect Joe Biden sets foot in the White House, the Senate Intelligence Committee may start hearings on his nomination of Avril Haines as Director of National Intelligence.
Barack Obama’s top lawyer on the National Security Council from 2010 to 2013 followed by CIA Deputy Director from 2013 to 2015, Haines is the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing. She is the affable assassin who, according to Newsweek, would be summoned in the middle of the night to decide if a citizen of any country, including our own, should be incinerated in a U.S. drone strike in a distant land in the greater Middle East. Haines also played a key role in covering up the U.S. torture program, known euphemistically as “enhanced interrogation techniques,” which included repeated waterboarding, sexual humiliation, sleep deprivation, dousing naked prisoners with ice-cold water, and rectal rehydration.”
...................................................
In 2015, when Haines was CIA Deputy Director, CIA agents illegally hacked the computers of the Senate Intelligence Committee to thwart the Committee’s investigation into the spy agency’s detention and interrogation program. Haines overruled the CIA’s own Inspector General in failing to discipline the CIA agents who violated the U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers. According to former CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou, she not only shielded the hackers from accountability but even awarded them the Career Intelligence Medal.
Medea Benjamin and Marcy Winograd, dec. 29, 2020
I ediited for hopefully more clarity.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
please read my original comment
about haines, then the longer Codepink (?) link about her CV and her new 'job title' in my second comment.
Avril Haines, the “Fairy Hardcastle” of the Biden administration
https://www.qwant.com/?q=%2b%22fairy%20hardcastle%22%20%22c%20s%20lewis%...
Fascinating piece
on how Mitch McConnell operates, and why it actually suits him to be in the minority, as long as it is not too small a one...
From the Conservative Treehouse.
I've tried for hours to post a comment, no luck this is a trial
Working
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
That worked but not the comment I tried for hours to post
Did it contain emoji? Site software chokes on most emoji. n/t
perhaps a case in point, joe:
the rest is here.
Antics in the prior Oval Office
Off the rails: Inside the craziest meeting of the Trump presidency (Perhaps only the craziest now known meeting.)
Too amusing to focus on what some of the crazies were proposing. A snippet:
It appears that Trump will maintain that the election was fraudulent as tenaciously as Clinton maintains that Russia/Putin stole the 2016 election from her.
2 L to do more than scan,
but i do remember posting a diary blaming ded commie hugo chavez for the dominion machines.
gotta love it!