Showing posts with label nancy pelosi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nancy pelosi. Show all posts

Monday, January 20, 2020

Why Trump Ought To Be Impeached



I would like to leave the nuances of Ukraine to the elected politicians on Capitol Hill -- they get paid well enough -- and at some level I recognize that the Kentuckian McConnell -- and to think I spent five and a half years in Kentucky -- will manage to repeat the partisanship exhibited by his party in the lower chamber where Nancy Pelosi single-handedly architected the process, but I still harbor the fantasy that Trump might get impeached for reasons bigger than Ukraine, and even Russia.

The president should be elected democratically, which means one person one vote. He was never elected. In the majority of countries, if you can collect three million votes, you can become president. He was way short.

The low unemployment numbers widely advertised are a sham. The actual numbers are at least twice as large. Post-2008 America has seen an epidemic of lower-paying jobs.

The stock markets are another sham. Companies are buying their own stocks. That is company money paying for the rise in share price to the benefit of the top share-owning executives. Productive investments are not being made. Buying your own stocks is eating potato chips.

Donald Trump rightly pointed out the massive loss of manufacturing jobs, but he did not have a solution then, he does not have a solution now. The losses are structural. This is more like the loss of agricultural jobs at the onset of the first and second industrial revolutions powered by steam and electricity. Universal health, universal education, and universal basic income will build the foundation for real solutions to create the knowledge and service jobs of tomorrow. Here is looking at you Bernie and Andrew Yang.

The guy is everything you feared old white men were: racist and sexist. And he lies like nobody in the public sphere. He is a post-truther who needs to be ditched.

But the number one reason in the climate. The clock is ticking. Four more years of the leading villain country behind climate change doing nothing is 12 years minus four years left to fight climate catastrophe. There is a cliff ahead. Send him to Australia for some education. He is fit to study abroad.

There is also World War III. We don't want World War III.

His getting impeached will open up the possibility of someone like Ted Cruz grabbing the Republican nomination. I have plenty of policy disagreements with Ted Cruz. But at least he is not foul-mouthed. He has basic decency. He is textbook conservative. Legitimate disagreements become possible. Genuine conservatives are not fact-free. And when you face facts, you move from climate denial to offering conservative solutions to climate change, which might rely more on tech entrepreneurs delivering faster on cleantech advances. I can live with that.

And America does not need more dynasties. America does not need to get triggered.

US Impeachment Sausage Drama: Quantum Politics?
The Dollar, Weaponized
Taiwan's Medicare For All
Trade War Temporary Truce: Phase 1
Africa's Moment To Shine
The Impeachment Slog
Trump's Iran Speech
Trump: Morally Lost And Confused?
Impeachment Maneuvers Expose America

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Saturday, January 11, 2020

The Impeachment Slog



The Supreme Court can legally step in if McConnell tries to push through an unfair impeachment trial: attorney “If such a sham trial comes to pass, is there any remedy? In fact, there is a stronger case than many think that the Supreme Court has the power to review impeachment trials, to ensure that Senate procedures meet a basic level of fairness.” ....... Chief Justice John Roberts has the right and duty to step in if he sees justice not being served. ...... “Since the Constitution grants the chief justice the privilege of presiding over the trial, he ought to have — and in my view does have, under proper constitutional interpretation — considerable power to steer the Senate toward reasonable standards for weighing evidence and rendering judgments. He cannot and should not be a potted plant.” ..... “If McConnell and his Republican colleagues insist on setting rules that turn the trial into a farce, then the matter would be ripe for judicial review, as outlined by the various justices in Nixon v. United States. The House — through the speaker or the impeachment managers — could take the matter to court,” he concluded.

We Found Major Trump Tax Inconsistencies. New York’s Mayor Wants a Criminal Investigation. Asked about ProPublica’s findings that the president’s company made itself appear more profitable to lenders and less to tax officials, Bill de Blasio said the city had examined the matter and sent its findings to the Manhattan district attorney.

Pack the Union: A Proposal to Admit New States for the Purpose of Amending the Constitution to Ensure Equal Representation For most of the twenty-first century, the world’s oldest surviving democracy has been led by a chief executive who received fewer votes than his opponent in an election for the position..... The first of these executives started a war based on false pretenses that killed hundreds of thousands of civilians..... The second — a serial abuser of women who hired as his campaign manager a lobbyist for violent dictatorships — authorized an immigration policy that forcibly separated migrant children from their families and indefinitely detained them in facilities described as “concentration camps.”...... federal elections in the United States are profoundly undemocratic and, thus, profoundly unfair ...... The Electoral College — when it contravenes the popular vote — is an obvious example of this unfairness. But it is just one of the mathematically undemocratic features in the Constitution. Equal representation of states in the Senate, for example, gives citizens of low-population states undue influence in Congress. Conversely, American citizens residing in U.S. territories have no meaningful representation in Congress or the Electoral College. ...... Just as it was unfair to exclude women and minorities from the franchise, so too is it unfair to weight votes differently. The 600,000 residents of Wyoming and the 40,000,000 residents of California should not be represented by the same number of senators. ....... Article V of the Constitution requires supermajorities to amend the Constitution, so pragmatists have been reduced to advocating meager solutions: perhaps Congress could admit Washington, D.C., as a state; maybe Puerto Rico too, if we’re really feeling ambitious. ......

four amendments: (1) a transfer of the Senate’s power to a body that represents citizens equally; (2) an expansion of the House so that all citizens are represented in equal-sized districts; (3) a replacement of the Electoral College with a popular vote; and (4) a modification of the Constitution’s amendment process that would ensure future amendments are ratified by states representing most Americans.



Donald Trump's Iran claims on Fox News met with skepticism and complaint President says four US embassies ‘probably’ targeted but Democratic senator calls for new intelligence briefing

John Bolton impeachment testimony will be blocked, Donald Trump says
Bloomberg Spent $200 Million and Isn’t on Track to Score a Single Delegate

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Wednesday, January 08, 2020

A Glass Of Water Can Be A Lot Of Water

Hello Nancy
But
A glass of water
Can be 
A lot of
Water
Depends on
If
The Glass is
Full
Or Half Empty
If
It
Is
Half full
Well, 
That is 
A lot of water
At the 
Bottom 
But
If 
It
Is
Half
Empty
That is
Still
A 
Whole
Lot of
Water
At
That 
Bottom. 








Could It Be Bernie?

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Friday, December 20, 2019

Trump: Morally Lost And Confused?

The reason many are not shocked about this is that this president has dumbed down the idea of morality in his administration. He has hired and fired a number of people who are now convicted criminals. He himself has admitted to immoral actions in business and his relationship with women, about which he remains proud. His Twitter feed alone—with its habitual string of mischaracterizations, lies, and slanders—is a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused....... None of the president’s positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character. ..... That he should be removed, we believe, is not a matter of partisan loyalties but loyalty to the Creator of the Ten Commandments. ..... Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come? ......

We have reserved judgment on Mr. Trump for years now. Some have criticized us for our reserve.



'I'm never afraid and I'm rarely surprised': Pelosi emboldened Pelosi, personally, is ending the year on a high note after successfully guiding her diverse, and at times fractured, caucus through a turbulent 12 months bookended by a record-breaking 35-day government shutdown in January and Trump's impeachment in December. ...... Pelosi has refused to commit to sending over the articles of impeachment until McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) reach an agreement on ground rules for the trial. But she has also downplayed the idea that she will delay the trial as long as possible, saying she’s merely waiting to see what kind of deal the two Senate leaders can reach before she formally transmits them across the Capitol. ......

Some GOP lawmakers compared the president’s predicament to both the crucifixion of Jesus and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

....... “Some of them don’t believe in the Constitution,” she continued. “They didn’t act upon it, they acted completely against it. They believe in Donald Trump.” ...... “Can you believe they tweeted that out?” she said Thursday. “They thought it was a thing to tweet it out. ‘There she is falling apart in a room full of white men.’ And I go out saying, ‘All roads lead to Putin.’” ....... Pelosi said she felt very confident about Democrats retaining their majority in November...... And more than 30 House Republicans have already announced their retirements or left office, a sign that the GOP is not optimistic about taking back power........ “It means that they know they’re gonna lose,” Pelosi declared. “And if you win, you’re going to serve in the minority under a Democratic president. You may want to spend more time with your family.”

Queens man impeached Former Jamaica Estates resident Donald Trump was impeached Wednesday by the U.S. House of Representatives. He is the third president to be impeached in United States history — and the first from Queens......

The entire Queens House delegation voted in favor of impeachment.

...... “No normal person would be able to get away with attempting to extort a foreign power to compromise our country,” U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “But all too often, the most corrupt and powerful people grow so accustomed to life with impunity that standard accountability feels to them like unjust persecution.” ...... Trump’s old Jamaica Estates home, where he lived as an infant until he was four years old, went back on the market after it was sold to a Chinese investor and rented on Airbnb for $725 a night ...... Trump’s parents’ graves are located at All Faiths Cemetery in Middle Village. The cemetery was slapped with a lawsuit by New York Attorney General Letitia James earlier this year for allegedly misappropriating funds.
CNN Poll: US economy receives its best ranking in nearly 20 years This is the highest share to say the economy is good since February 2001, when 80% said so...... Almost all Republicans (97%) say economic conditions are good right now, as do 75% of independents and 62% of Democrats. ..... nearly 7 in 10 expect the economy to be in good shape a year from now (68%), the best outlook in CNN polling since December 2003.

An impeached Trump tries looking ahead, but uncertainty threatens Senate vindication Trump and his aides have long eyed a Senate trial as the venue for eventual vindication in the saga, viewing the Republican-led chamber as a lock to acquit the President...... Trump has hailed Van Drew's switch over the past several days, and used the unanimous Republican opposition to impeachment as evidence of the party's unity. He hopes the solidarity will extend in the Senate ..... "I think as we all know the President is a counterpuncher." ..... Trump has seriously considered bringing on at least four of his fiercest House allies to lay out a minority response to Democrats' report, which could provide the President with some of the theatrics he believes he deserves in his quest to clear his name...... Lawyers will also argue the Trump was well within his right as the head of the executive branch to withhold aid and propose a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky....... They have also discussed arguing former Vice President Joe Biden is not immune from scrutiny simply because he may face Trump in the election next year.

How Boris Johnson’s Brexit Won
Money has been leaving China at a record rate. Beijing is battling to stem the tide
Alienated, Alone And Angry: What The Digital Revolution Really Did To Us We were promised community, civics, and convenience. Instead, we found ourselves dislocated, distrustful, and disengaged.
Amazon is its own biggest carrier
Apple Has 'Secret Team' Working on Satellites to Beam Data Directly to iPhones

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Thursday, December 19, 2019

Impeachment Maneuvers Expose America

It is amazing how fractured and divided this country has become, how fact-free the political discourse has become. Maybe the US needs to elect itself a constituent assembly to write itself a new constitution with the written proviso that it will elect itself a new constituent assembly every 100 years.

America has become such a sham democracy. Maybe a two-party democracy is no democracy at all. The whole world is watching. The US is losing its credibility in slow motion.

Don’t let Mitch McConnell conduct a Potemkin impeachment trial now that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has announced his intention to conduct not a real trial but a whitewash, letting the president and his legal team call the shots. ....... a president is being impeached for defying his oath and the Senate is threatening to defy its oath as well. ....... Consider the case of a prosecutor armed with a grand jury indictment who learns that the fix is in and that the jury poised to consider the case is about to violate its oath to do impartial justice. In that situation, the prosecutor is under no affirmative legal obligation to go forward until the problem is cured and a fair trial possible. ........ when the majority leader has made clear that he is, for all practical purposes, a member of the defense team. ...... the media and the public have a constitutional right to attend and observe a criminal trial — despite the opposition of the accused, the defense team and even the prosecutor and the trial judge. ........ all that is threatened by a lawless president, one who treats the Constitution as no big deal, impeachment as illegitimate and the powers of the presidency as limitless.

The Conservative Case for Impeachment — and Removal ‘The most heinous act in which a democratic government can engage is to use its law enforcement machinery for political ends.’....... As bad as the dirt collection business was, perhaps even worse was the evidence that [Hoover] had allowed — even offered — the bureau to be used by presidents for nakedly political purposes. ........ proposes to use the attorney general in an attempt to investigate a political opponent for undeniably political ends........ law, morality, traditions and institutions are at least as important to the preservation of freedom as the will of the people. ...... What Republicans are now doing with their lock step opposition to impeachment — and with their indifference to the behavior that brought impeachment about — is not conservative. It is the abdication of principle to power. ....... history will judge members of this Congress harshly if they fail to state their revulsion at the president’s behavior in the strongest terms they can. Impeach and convict.



Pelosi threatens to delay Senate impeachment trial Some legal scholars have suggested she could consider refusing to transmit articles of impeachment to the Senate.
Thoughts on the Impeachment of Donald J. Trump
Americans are counting on Senate for full and fair trial of Donald Trump
‘In a class by herself’: Pelosi has roared back in the Trump era The speaker's return to power and legacy will be linked forever to her battles with the norm-busting president.
How Harvard Made Pete Buttigieg the Moderate That Progressives Love to Hate A bitter presidential election, a terrorist attack, two wars and four years in Cambridge forged the centrist message propelling Buttigieg’s rise.
Most Americans Think There’s Enough Evidence To Impeach Trump

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Wednesday, September 25, 2019

President Pelosi? Trending On Twitter



Dick Morris: Impeachment? Over What? Just to be sure, they are also piling on everything they can think of and have been seeking to dredge up through their congressional subpoenas, all packaged into impeachment resolutions. Trump’s tax returns, his foundation activities, his hotel rentals for public events, and everything else is now fair game and likely to be wrapped into impeachment resolutions. ...... Their actions are not the considered opinions of responsible lawmakers. They are the desperate attempts of incumbent congressmen to avoid losing primary battles against pro-impeachment insurgents. ......

The ghost of Joe Crowley, defeated for re-election by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, prowls the Democratic House cloakrooms and haunts its members.

They are pushing impeachment — on whatever grounds they can find — to avoid and win primary fights....... And I’m sorry, but if President Trump had picked up the phone and called Zelensky and said “I have some military aid that I am holding up from Ukraine and I want you to investigate the Bidens and their activity in your country. If you do that, I will release the aid,” I don’t believe an impeachable offense would have been committed...... In the phone call with Zelensky, Trump did not link aid to investigations, he hinted at it. Even had he said it explicitly, it would not be grounds for impeachment....... Voters who backed Democrats in 2018 elected a grand jury not a legislative chamber....... And, the process will doom Biden’s candidacy leaving only the un-electable Elizabeth Warren in its wake.

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Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Videos: Imran, Salman, Sanjay, Tabu, Ajay, Nancy, Trump

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Monday, July 15, 2019

Trent Lott, Donald Trump And The United States: 2002 To 2020

Trent Lott resigned as Senate Majority Leader for making a comment that was perceived as racist. It was not even explicitly racist. He simply praised a guy who was out and out racist. That is all. But such was the political culture that he resigned.

Today! The guy in the Oval Office can tell four Congresswomen to go back to their countries while having conducted impeachable actions, all in a dossier provided by a former FBI Director ..... This country is coming off its wheels.


Lott resigns as US senate majority leader | US news | The Guardian The US senate majority leader, Trent Lott, bowed to the politically inevitable today and resigned his post as US senate majority leader, two weeks after praising the segregationist 1948 presidential campaign of Strom Thurmond. Republicans, Democrats and many media outlets have been calling for Mr Lott's head since his comments at a 100th birthday party for Mr Thurmond. Yesterday the country's most prominent black Republican, Colin Powell, went on record as "deploring the sentiments" expressed by Mr Lott at the now infamous party. The president's brother, Florida governor Jeb Bush, also signalled that he though Mr Lott should step down.

There was a time not long ago when Repulicans actually took a stand against racist comments.



'RACIST AND DISGUSTING': EX GOP CONGRESSMAN JUSTIN AMASH BLASTS TRUMP AFTER HE SAYS CONGRESSWOMEN SHOULD 'GO BACK' TO THEIR COUNTRIES
Trumpism is built on racism President Trump is a racist. This is the most important issue in the 2020 presidential campaign. Everything else is secondary....... This is not just a cosmetic political issue. Many of Trump's worst policies are arguably race-related: His administration's bids to undo the Affordable Care Act and scuttle the joint agreement halting Iran's progress toward a nuclear weapon do not stem from any real ideological motivation on his part — instead, he seems motivated primarily to undo the most notable policy achievements of his predecessor. Former President Barack Obama, of course, was another black politician whose citizenship was called into question by Trump. Again: That is probably not a coincidence. ............ Prejudice spans the breadth of presidential policymaking under Trump. His policies on immigration are designed to appeal to conservatives who believe the "ceaseless importation of Third World foreigners" is a national emergency. His administration's positions on the Census citizenship question, voting rights, and police powers, likewise, appear to be aimed mostly at preserving white political power in this country. Even his well-documented misogyny finds its fullest flower when aimed at women of color....... Racism is the foundation upon which Trumpist governance and politics are built. ....... when the president tells a handful of non-white liberal women to go back to where they came from? Crickets. ....... Pelosi can aid the cause of unity by finally giving her blessing to an impeachment inquiry against the president. ... Attempting to impeach the president is the right thing to do — and that's the only sufficient reason to do it — but the effort might also help unite her fractious caucus. ...... Trump has harnessed overt racism to a degree unmatched by any national politician since George Wallace; there is little historical reason to believe the prejudice he has unleashed will subside unless it is directly confronted and roundly defeated.

Trump’s racist outburst was unbelievably vile — but why is anyone surprised?
Trump opens new attack on AOC's 'squad' as he blasts Tlaib for vowing AGAIN to 'impeach the motherf***er' – and claims far-left lawmakers made Israel 'feel abandoned'
Ocasio-Cortez Rips Trump’s Racist Attack: Our Power ‘Makes You Seethe’
Stephen King Has A Chilling Theory On What Comes Next For Trump Supporters King asked: “How long before Trump supporters realize that you don’t surround yourself with dirty guys unless you’re dirty yourself?” ...... “I might’ve said he had his head somewhere where a certain yoga position would be necessary to get it there,” King explained last year. “And that was it, man.”
Ocasio-Cortez versus Pelosi: It’s a long-term power struggle — not a ‘catfight’ Conditions in our so-called republic are terrible, but never so bad that the political and social crucible of the Trump era can’t make them worse........ “Concentration camps” is an entirely accurate description, by the way, but call them whatever you like: Freedom dispensaries, indoor picnic areas, beach volleyball camps without beaches (or volleyballs). They are just one more ingredient in our national shame, confusion and collective trauma, and perhaps that’s the really shocking part. The gradual revelation that our government is holding unknown numbers of human beings in shocking and inhumane conditions — living in stench and filth, sleeping on concrete floors, denied basic standards of health or hygiene — becomes just another outrage on a seemingly endless list, and has left most Americans numb. ...... In the manner of bigots, xenophobes and nativists throughout our history, the grandson of immigrants suggested these four women of color should “go back” to their home countries........ Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s parents are from Puerto Rico, which is … OK, never mind........

the American-born ancestry of Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, who is black, precedes Donald Trump’s (or mine, or that of most white Americans) by many generations.

..... the racism and sadism of his administration’s immigration policy — if to call it “policy” at all is not an insult to language ..... Chakrabarti is perceived by some observers as the Rasputin behind the Squad’s agenda, which sounds like a grossly sexist assumption in general, and outright ludicrous when applied to these four women. But that’s where we are. ......... Rep. Gregory Meeks of Queens, whose district adjoins Ocasio-Cortez’s. Meeks was recently “elected” to replace Crowley as Queens Democratic leader, in a rubber-stamp election held at a private meeting with roughly the same degree of transparency and democracy that attended local party elections in the Soviet Union. There were no other candidates....... If New York’s districts start to fall to left-wing insurgents, one by one, the nation will notice and the pattern will spread. If the pattern spreads, what is endangered is not just the power of certain individuals, but the entire theory of power that has driven the Democratic Party for generations. Those are literally the stakes.

AOC’s Chief of Change Chakrabarti is a new type on Capitol Hill: the movement chief of staff....... In my mind, an ideal situation is we have a president surrounded by a bunch of people who are constantly thinking how could we go bigger, bolder, faster, better on everything. … I don’t know if Inslee’s going to be president, but if he runs a really good campaign, maybe he ends up running a big agency. What’s the mind-set he’s going to bring to that agency?” ....... “The whole theory of change for the current Democratic Party is that to win this country we need to tack to the hypothetical middle. What I think that means is, you don’t take unnecessary risks, which translates to: You don’t really do anything. Whereas we’ve got a completely different theory of change, which is: You do the biggest, most badass thing you possibly can — and that’s going to excite people, and then they’re going to go vote. Because the reality is, our problem isn’t that more people are voting Republican than Democrat — our problem is most people who would vote Democrat aren’t voting.” ...... The son of immigrants from India, Chakrabarti grew up in Fort Worth. He graduated from Harvard with a computer science degree and went to work on the tech side of a hedge fund in Connecticut. After saving enough money to start his own company, he moved to San Francisco in 2009 and co-founded Mockingbird, a Web design tool. In 2011 he became one of the earliest employees of Stripe, the online payments platform. Chakrabarti and Ross Boucher, one of his colleagues on the Stripe product team, would work 70-hour weeks, eat dinner every night in the office, then go work out. ..... San Francisco was a shock ... it’s just huge amounts of wealth and some very rich people, and then just poverty and homelessness very visually and very viscerally ...... a learned cynicism, he thinks, of his generation having grown up watching wars, recession and bank bailouts. “We’ve only ever seen the establishment win,” he says. ...... Exley told me. “He was just a super-humble, super-level-headed guy. I always used to joke that he was the only emotionally healthy person in politics.” ....... formed a group called Brand New Congress with the mission to recruit hundreds of community leaders and working-class candidates to run on a vision of getting corporate money out of politics, tackling climate change, transforming the economy, providing health care for all, standing for racial justice and stemming mass incarceration. ....... “It was clear from the very beginning that the ship was moving with his guidance. … He was so focused that it naturally created a gravitational pull. … He was sort of relentless in that, and simultaneously just so pleasant, it was shocking. Almost not human. I used to say, ‘How do you stay so Zen?’ ” ...... many good people doing strong community work didn’t see the point of running for Congress. ...... “To boldly and decisively spur a people-led movement for social, racial, environmental and economic justice.” ....... voters really will turn out for bold ideas scaled big enough to tackle today’s crises of climate and inequality.



Lindsey Graham backs up Trump after his racist attacks on Dem women: ‘They hate our own country!’ “We all know that AOC and this crowd are a bunch of communists,” he said. “They hate Israel, they hate our own country, they’re calling the guards along our border concentration camp guards… they’re anti-Semitic, they’re anti-America.”
Trump Doubles Down: ‘Sad’ That Dems Stick Up for People ‘Who Speak So Badly of Our Country’
Trump calls on minority congresswomen to apologize after he said they should 'go back' to their countries
Donald Trump's racist tweets show he doesn't understand America
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Sunday, July 14, 2019

The Pelosi AOC Fight, And Strom Thurmond



Donald Trump entered the fight saying something like "Go back to Africa!" That is Strom Thurmond rhetoric.



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Thursday, July 11, 2019

Star Power: AOC And Pelosi Compared



When it comes to wattage, AOC is like a sun. Nancy Pelosi is like one of Jupiter's moons. Nancy Pelosi has never been a future president. Enough said. Some people are bigger than the chamber they are in. That does not apply to Nancy Pelosi.

A newly elected first black President Of The United States had to tell Nancy Pelosi: "I am not a stupid man!" Pelosi must have exhibited racist attitudes. Liberals can be plenty racist. Trump is from New York, after all. From Queens too, the most diverse large county in America.

There never were immigration laws when the Europeans came over. Latin America is the new Europe. Build a statue, not a wall.








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Saturday, June 01, 2019

A Bad Scenario For Trump

If the trade war not only continues but escalates mindlessly to the point Huawei is further strangled, and China decides to put into play the rare earth minerals card which is a serious blow to the US high tech industry, and of course Mexico, which did not pay for Trump's wall, will not cave in to his latest threat, and already the US Chamber Of Commerce is suing Trump for the stupidity, and the stock market goes down 10% in one day, and America is officially in recession and Americans are losing jobs left and right while paying about 20% more for everything they buy, in that scenario Trump's approval rating could go down to the 35% zone. That is when he will lose support in the US Senate. It happened during the government shutdown. He ended that shutdown. He might also end the trade war. But trade is not an on-off switch.

In that 35% approval rating zone, there might be enough support for his impeachment and the House might finally go for it. In the meantime, the House is already building a case by investigations of Trump. Pelosi is passing the buck to the people. She things investigations will wear down Trump's support whereas immediate impeachment proceedings will rally Trump's base around him.

Trump could be impeached by the summer of 2020. Pence takes the seat, runs and is easily beat.

Of course, this is not painless for China. It is not painless for Mexico. But Trump really has not left much wiggle room for them. The Chinese economy, of course, will also get hurt.

Maybe it is the other way around. It is not that the trade war will drive down the US economy and Trump's popularity and then it will be the right time to impeach. He should be impeached so the worst of the trade war is not heaped on the ordinary American.

Besides, what is Pelosi investigating? Mueller already did that. And he is a professional.

Americans' support for impeaching Donald Trump rises The poll also found that 32 percent agreed that Congress treated the Mueller report fairly, while 47 percent disagreed..... The number of Americans who said President Donald Trump should be impeached rose 5 percentage points to 45 percent since mid-April ...... House Speaker Nancy Pelosi re-emphasized that the leaders of the investigative committees in the Democratic-controlled House were taking a step-by-step approach. ........ “This is very methodical, it’s very Constitution-based,” Pelosi said. "We won’t go any faster than the facts take us, or any slower than the facts take us.” ...... House Democrats are pursuing multiple inquiries into Trump's presidency, his family and his business interests. ..... Trump is stonewalling at least a half-dozen such inquiries, refusing to disclose his tax returns, invoking executive privilege to keep the unredacted Mueller report under wraps and filing unprecedented lawsuits to block House investigators. ...... “It’s becoming a circus over there” in Washington



The end of Nixon’s presidency proves Pelosi is wrong to wait on impeachment a progressive Republican congressman from Wisconsin, William Steiger. The press, he complained, “is always looking for a political or self-serving motive for our votes.” Reporters were not paying enough attention to the conscience of individual congressmen, as they approached a historic vote. ...... “This is an occasion when party loyalty demands too much,” the elder Hogan said. “To base this decision on politics would not only violate my conscience but it would be a breach of my oath to uphold the Constitution. Those who oppose impeachment say it would weaken the presidency. In my view, if we do not impeach this president after all he has done, we would be weakening the presidency even more.”..... Three days later, five more of the 17 Republican members of the Judiciary Committee followed Hogan to vote for the first of the articles of impeachment, alleging that Nixon obstructed justice in the the Watergate cover-up...... history forgets the other 11 Republicans of the committee who marched slavishly to the party line ...... Three other Republicans, Sen. Barry Goldwater, Sen. Hugh Scott and House Minority Leader John Rhodes, were critical in persuading a wavering Nixon not to drag the country through an impeachment trial in the Senate. They went to the White House on what would become the day before the president’s resignation not to demand that Nixon leave office, but simply to “assess” with him his bleak situation.......

What happened in Washington in the summer of 1974 is a template for what could and perhaps should happen in the summer of 2019.

..... Hogan and his like-minded colleagues did not step forward at the outset of the impeachment process, but only at the very end, when historic votes loomed, votes that would force upon them the most profound personal consideration about what they valued and what they stood for..... Yet today’s House leader, Nancy Pelosi, and her group are demanding that Republicans step forward now, at a preliminary stage in judging President Trump, as a condition of proceeding with impeachment. No formal process should even be initiated, she says, without significant Republican buy-in. This position is untenable...... The investigate, investigate, investigate strategy lets both Republicans and Democrats off the hook. The point of oversight should be to come to conclusions about presidential misconduct, and then do something about it. Only specific articles of impeachment allow for that. Voting, in public, with history in the balance, concentrates the mind and the conscience; investigations alone do not....... Waiting for weeks and even months for the courts to deliberate and decide questions of obstruction and abuse of power ensures that impeachment will die by October. In the fall, the nation will be turning its attention to the 2020 election with the Iowa caucuses only a few months away...... Impeachment hearings must get underway before the August recess of Congress. After that, forget about it. Trump will have won. No collusion, no obstruction will be the mantra of the land by fiat.

Donald Trump is no Richard Nixon. He’s worse Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report makes one thing clear: Donald Trump is no Richard Nixon. He is worse. And yet Trump seems almost sure to be spared Nixon’s fate. This will do severe — possibly irreparable — damage to the vital norms that sustain American democracy....... Then came Trump. After smashing through dozens of other deeply rooted norms of American politics to win the presidency, he treated the post-Watergate consensus with similar contempt. ...... “The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion” on behalf of Donald Trump. The FBI and Mueller set out to discover whether Trump’s campaign was complicit, and Trump took extraordinary measures to thwart their efforts. Nixon’s obstruction of the Watergate investigation looks almost innocent by comparison. ..... In the hyperpolarized political environment of the early 21st century, the president is a law unto himself.


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Saturday, May 25, 2019

Three Crises: China, Iran, DC

The US faces a trade war with China, an almost war with Iran, and it faces a constitutional crisis in Washington DC. Of the three the last might be the biggest.

The White House's stonewalling on demands from the US Congress have reached uncharted territory.






I have read up much more on the trade war than the other two. It is an unfolding scenario. I don't see a well thought out strategy. I do note that there seems to be bipartisan support on the Hill. What is the endgame scenario?



Does this sound like a guy fighting for democracy?


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Monday, April 15, 2019

AOC's Path Ahead Is Primarily Digital

AOC's path forward might primarily be digital.



Nancy Pelosi just won't stop trolling Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez





This comment from Steve Bannon is interesting. In that Bannon thinks it will be a Harris-Beto ticket on the Democratic side.

Harris is for Medicare For All, and for the Green New Deal, but she is very clear she is "not a Democratic Socialist." Beto has pretty much abandoned Medicare For All. Of the Dems that are doing well in the polls, these two are in rhetoric more to the center. In the US political system, the label socialist is still weight around the neck.





Democratic candidates may find it hard to 'change the channel' from Trump
Andrew Yang: We're undergoing the greatest economic transformation in our history For Americans who are still trying to figure out why Trump is President, the answer is simple -- we automated away millions of manufacturing jobs in the Midwest, and Trump spoke directly to the fear and anger of those voters. He promised them that he would restore those jobs -- a promise on which he has notably failed to deliver. Here's the reality, though: The financial crisis of 2008 brought our 14 million manufacturing jobs (itself a low plateau from the 17 million in 2000) down to 11.4 million, and 10 years of expansion has only brought us back up to 12.8 million...... But what happened to manufacturing workers will soon happen to retail workers, call center workers, fast food workers, truck drivers and others, as the next Industrial Revolution takes hold of our economy. ..... automation will disrupt jobs at about three times the rate of the Second Industrial Revolution, which sparked thousands of strikes and mass riots at the turn of the 20th century...... The challenge for the Democratic Party is to solve the problems that got Trump elected...... We are undergoing the greatest economic transformation in our history, and we are dealing with it by pretending nothing is happening..... it is not immigrants who are causing economic dislocations. It is technology and an evolving economy...... We must reformat our economy ..... It would be paid for by a new tax that falls most heavily on the big winners of artificial intelligence and robotics, such as Amazon, Google, Facebook and Uber...... We must separate access to quality health care from one's employment ...... a human-centered capitalism....... we need to build a trickle-up economy from our people, families and communities up. ..... a time of unprecedented technological change...... the path is not left or right, it's forward...... More than 90,000 of these individuals have donated an average of $18 to our vision, and we are set to make the debate stage in June....... Trump is the symptom, not the problem. His solutions are to turn the clock backward, build the wall and bring old jobs back. I'm suggesting we do the opposite -- accelerate our economy and society and move us forward to solve the problems that got him there in the first place.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez really thinks there’s still a way to impeach Trump
Pelosi rips AOC, says her posse in Congress is ‘like five people’ In a recent interview with USA Today, the House speaker pointed out that votes are more significant than Twitter followers — a remark that was also interpreted to be a dig at AOC. ....... “While there are people who have a large number of Twitter followers, what’s important is that we have a large number of votes on the floor of the House,” Pelosi said.





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