The Impeachment Inquiry

[Gaius Octavius]

Put them in a suite of the Tump Hotel? That would be hilarious.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

I had not considered that but, yes, it would be hilarious.

Speaking of hilarious, Schiff called trump "the first nonvoting member of the Politburo". 8 years ago Obama told Romney that by suggesting that Russia was an enemy the 1980s called and wanted their foreign policy back. Today, Democrats think Putin is Emperor Palpatine. Make up your minds, Democrats.

[sgt.null]

Hoping Republicans wrap it up quickly.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

This "vote against the President and your head will be on pike" story that Schiff mentioned....as of yet, I can find no credible corroboration that such a line was ever uttered or sent to any Republican Senator. Outlets like CBS and RawStory are saying "a POTUS condfidante said *this*" but no one is naming any names, of course. Conclusion: no one said anything like that, meaning that this is just another meme-driven news story designed to bolster the Democrats' case in the Senate. For all we know, Schiff leaked it to the press a couple of days ago so he could reference it the day he referenced it--he already has a history of planting news stories via leaks and then saying "wow--look at all these stories! there must be something there".

Republicans do not go around threatening people's lives because of how they vote. Now, if only we could get Democrats to behave in the same manner....

Now...as I promised....set to the tune "Reunited" by that great 1970s group Peaches & Herb....Exonerated.

When I got elected it was sure a surprise
You should have seen the look right in their eyes
They all screamed and cried because the polls had all lied
They couldn't believe their queen had lost, hey, hey

I tried to spend the next three years to do what I said
All the while they couldn't get me out of their head
They tried "stormy weather" but couldn't keep it together
Their shady lawyer dropped the ball and so it got tossed, hey, hey

Exonerated and it feels so good
Exonerated 'cuz I understood
There was no collusion it was just an illusion
And "orange man bad" was all they had, hey, hey, hey

They tried to get me next with that Russian probe
They had their people searching over the globe
Mueller investigated but the leads evaporated
He made a report but it wouldn't hold up in court, hey, hey

I had a little setback when they retook the House
They all kept saying I was nothing but a louse
That phone call with Ukraine went right to their brain
The whistleblower freaked out and started to shout, hey, hey

Exonerated and it feels so good
Exonerated 'cuz I understood
That there was no abuse it was just an excuse
To seek a correction for the election, hey, hey, hey

They launched an inquiry based on that phone call
They thought they would nail me right to the wall
The one-sided inquest was a joke and a jest
They rushed to compile it and then they could file it, hey, hey

Twenty people standing all on one stage
At me they were all directing their rage
But they started to smother and turn on each other
So with one voice they had no choice to impeach right away, hey, hey

Exonerated and it feels so good
Exonerated 'cuz I understood
There was no collusion it was just an illusion
And "orange man bad" was all they had, hey, hey hey

Nancy said that their act was heavy and solemn
But with her grin when she signed she looked just like a golem
The articles created but then for one month they waited
To keep folks in their seats and help out good old Joe Biden, hey, hey

Now at the end with the Senate prepped to vote
When I am still in that office I should probably gloat
My campaign's on cruise because they'll probably lose
In the meantime we should figure out what Hunter was hidin', hey, hey

Exonerated and it feels so good
Exonerated 'cuz I understood
That there was no abuse it was just an excuse
To seek a correction for the election, hey, hey, hey

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+


Mary Louise Kelly @NPRKelly | Twitter

[DoctorGamgee]

Nice job, Hashi. Earworm downloaded!

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Nice job, Hashi. Earworm downloaded!

Thank you--it took less time that I thought to make the words fit and I had lots of material from which to choose so all I could do was hit the highlights. I am not going to write a parody song set to Alice's Restaurant.

edit/add: John Bolton's "leak" in his upcoming book....truthfully, only Democrats give a shit because they are going to be the only ones who read it. The full Senate is not going to hear witness testimony and once the defense team has presented its case McConnell is going to move to bring the measure to the full vote: acquittal or guilty.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Several point to reiterate:

"quid pro quo" is actually how diplomcay is conducted or a normal basis. "You scratch my back; I'll scratch yours". That is not a crime or an impeachable offense.

Someone please cite the legal definition of "abuse of power" and cite the portion of the U. S. Code it violates. We will wait while you search. (hint: you won't find it because it doesn't exist). What does that mean? If something does not violate any criminal statute then it isn't a crime.

While you are at it, look for "Obstruction of Congress". spoiler: you won't find it in the U. S. Code, either--I already looked. Again, not a crime.

Still...."impeachable offenses" are defined by the House so here we are in uncharted territory. What will Democrats say when a Democrat is in the Oval Office and Republicans control the House?

Finally, when Trump is not removed from office what are Democrats going to do?

[Avatar]

That's obvious...lose the next election.

--A

[Gaius Octavius]

Hopefully chow down on some bat soup in order to show how cultured and tolerant they are?

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Isn't that part of how this coronavirus stuff got started? Just because we can eat bats doesn't mean that we should eat bats. *yeesh*

Anyway....ideally McConnell will whip up the votes to shut down calls for witness testimony, allowing Senators to ask questions for a day or two then get to the final vote before the weekend.

[peter]

With all of the much vaunted 'checks and balances' of the American system I have no doubt that justice will be done and be seen to be done. Otherwise they don't amount to a hill of bat shit never mind bat soup.

[Avatar]

Isn't that part of how this coronavirus stuff got started? Just because we can eat bats doesn't mean that we should eat bats. *yeesh*

Not quite. And in some parts of the world, they eat the bats because it's a handy source of obtainable protein.

Coronaviruses are, IIRC, the ones that make the leap from human to animal, and it's not from eating the animals per se, but because live animals are kept alongside slaughtered ones in close proximity to large numbers of people.

Both this one and SARS started, as near as can be determined, in Chinese "wet" markets, where exactly those conditions pertain.

--A

[peter]

Agreed - from the news reports I've seen it seems to be the wet-market holding conditions that seems to be the problem rather than the eating of unusual species [to the rest of us in the West anyway]

[Nb. Care does have to be taken in respect of what is fed to what though; the BSE outbreak in cattle in 90's UK was caused by the feeding of scrapie-infected sheep carcases rendered down at too low a temperature to milking cattle and then caused further prob;ems in humans in its manifestation as Croitz-Jacob disease [when they subsequently ate infected cattle material] at a later point.]

[TheFallen]

FWIW, there's one study that, based on DNA analysis of the virus's genome, suggests that snakes might be the Coronavirus's host species.

Equally plausible - the Chinese are happy to chow down on snake as well. In fact, having memorably spent an hour or two up Snake Alley in Taipei back in the day, I am sure I'm right in saying that various bits of snake are also featured i Chinese traditional medicine.

As for Creuzfeldt-Jakob syndrome, Peter... yes you're right in what you say, but the big take-out is that prion-based diseases are utter bastards.

At least a virus is sort of alive (and we are capable of developing antivirals these days)... but an utterly inert rogue misfolded protein? That's still capable of somehow inducing other proteins to copy it and misfold? Scary stuff.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Anyway....back to the impeachment trial.....

Democrats have now latched on to the talking point that if witnesses are not called in the Senate that the trial is rigged and any acquittal of Trump won't actually be a *real* acquittal. That's right--when you can't get your way just deny reality. They might as well tell us that if they don't get their way they will hold their breath until their face turns blue because that claim is just as childish,

When Trump is found "not guilty" and is still POTUS, the Democrats will probably try to impeach again but I don't think moderate Democrats will go for that--it will drag too far along into primaries and possibly even the national convention.

Incidentally....one of the articles of impeachment is based on the idea that Trump was trying to get a foreign government to interfere with a political rival against whom he is running and that is "abuse of power". By that logic, shouldn't Klobuchar, Sanders, and Warren recuse themselves from the trial in the Senate because they are Trump's political rivals? It is in their best interest to vote "guilty" so if they vote guilty they would be abusing the power of their office for political gain.

[Obi-Wan Nihilo]

Hashi, you are assuming that they'll be reasonable. Literally everything the Democrats have done since Trump entered the race has been unreasonable. Nancy Pelosi is under the bizarre impression that she's the most powerful person in the country. Last night she suggested that the POTUS's lawyers be disbarred for daring to defend the duly elected president.

The insanity will not stop until we the people demand better from our representatives. I still maintain that Trump was not the most desirable candidate in 2016, however he won the election. Rather than deal with the business of the country, Congress has chosen to try to re-litigate the process and nullify the results.

[Zarathustra]

If witnesses are essential to making this a "legitimate" acquittal, then why weren't those witnesses essential to making the impeachment legitimate? The Dems want to bring in witnesses they didn't talk to during the impeachment. So if *those* are the witnesses who have the alleged damning evidence, then why the hell did they impeach him without that evidence??

Trump can easily counter this strategy by saying it's the impeachment that was illegitimate, not the acquittal.

[SoulBiter]

Trump can easily counter this strategy by saying it's the impeachment that was illegitimate, not the acquittal.

And he would be correct. This so called impeachment has been driven by the Democrats, controlled by the Democrats, and voted on strict party lines by the Democrats. Based on that alone, what makes them think that when this went to the Senate, the Republicans were going to all of a sudden vote for removal from office?

But of course, we all know this was all for show. They knew they had nothing but they want to try to use this to discredit Trump for votes and maybe have some ammo for election seats. I suspect we will find that this has backfired. See you at the polls!

[peter]

Just a quick enquiry as to what exactly an impeachment is; is it a thing that like say the standing of a doctor before a disciplinary committee, is brought about because he might be deemed to have brought his profession (or office in Trump's case) into disrepute - but not necessarily have broken the Law? Or is it a tighter thing, a thing that pertains to offences against that which is stated in the statute books; a thing that might be demonstrated one way or the other, in the hearing, by reference to the Law. I'm not clear as to what the process actually is in respect of these alternatives? This is surely pertinent as to whether the impeachment proceedings should have been instigated against the President of not.