Monday, December 23, 2019

"A Crime in Progress"

In March of 1936, British politician Sir Austen Chamberlain was speaking to a trade union about the tumultuous times they were experiencing when he mentioned an ancient Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times."  No research has ever verified any such curse, Chinese or otherwise, which hasn't prevented the quote from finding its way into our modern lexicon.  It never really made sense to me that the quote would be related to a curse unless bland & boring is your cup of tea. 

One thing is certain; we "Baby Boomers" timed our arrival perfectly to be witnesses to some very interesting times indeed.  From the space program & moon landings to presidential assassinations and the Berlin wall coming down.  From the hippies and the peace movement of the 60's to 911 & global warming.  From Rock & roll to the personal computer...our time here so far has seldom been boring or bland. 

Of all the historic events we've witnessed; the one now playing out in Washington D.C. with the impeachment of Donald Trump is far from over; and its repercussions will be felt for many years to come.  That is why I invested the time to watch all of the public testimony on the Ukraine issue, and nearly all of the recent floor "debates" leading up to the historic vote on 45's impeachment. 

When I was young, politicians were also statesmen and orators, some better than others, but all spoke in coherent complete sentences.  Some were good enough to stir up real feelings, which is a power that should never be abused.  I've always liked listening to great speakers, regardless of the subject, I like the eloquence and artistry of language.  Watching the Ukraine testimony, and the floor impeachment "debates" was like watching patriots and statesmen at work being heckled & harassed by a group of  Meth addicts with ADHD


The Democrats to an individual, were full of steely eyed resolve as they each spoke elegantly about the facts before them.  The Republicans on the other hand mostly read from a sheet of talking points with their heads bowed, unable or unwilling to make eye contact.  A few of the GOP Trump defenders were loud & shrill; tossing out lie after lie like howler monkeys throwing handfuls of excrement.  Grade schoolers on a sugar high have more decorum than I saw from Trumps defenders, and are more articulate of speech. 

The WORM defense (White Old Republican Men) of Trump mainly consisted of transparently absurd foot-dragging tactics by GOP representatives who clearly would rather muddy the water than actually debate the issues at hand: in an attempt to delay the vote, so they could later claim the Dems held a "midnight impeachment vote."  So sleazy!  Just like spoiled brat children; the GOP defenders answered serious charges with taunting, name calling, obfuscation, hysteria...and when that didn't work they resorted to just making shit up.
  
IMPEACHED

Trump repeatedly attacks teen age climate activist Greta Thurnberg (who has Asperger's Syndrome) and the GOP politicians are silent; but when a witness made an oblique reference to Trump's son Baron, they literally lost their shit for 2 straight days!  Such hypocrisy. 

It is also worth noting here that those WORM defenders never once defended trumps character, morality, honesty, or integrity - Not Once - and for a simple reason, he has none of those things.  Instead they prattled on about the process being flawed, despite the fact much of it was written and voted in by them. Yeah, not a single republican congressman or senator said as much as a single word supporting Trumps character.  Its good to know there are some lines they won't cross, some lies they won't swear by.

Adam Schiff referred to Trumps Ukraine gambit as "A crime in progress" which I think in all fairness applies to Trumps entire time in office as well.  It's also fair to say that Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham are driving the getaway car when it comes to the crimes Trump was impeached for.


McConnell is currently blocking 121 bills from being approved, including new laws that would protect our elections from foreign intervention & influence!  That is why he has earned the name Moscow Mitch, and frequently refers to himself as "the grim reaper."

Nancy Pelosi is playing hardball with the senate by waiting to send articles of impeachment to the senate, until they confirm the format of the impeachment trial...since they have previously said they will call no witnesses, hear no testimony, see no documents. It's called damage control.  Obviously, they don't want more truths to see the light of day.  Why do we always allow them to defend the Truth with a wall of lies?

"Where ever law ends, tyranny begins" ~ John Locke

The constitution states, and requires that a senate impeachment trial be conducted in a fair and unbiased manner.   The day Trump was impeached we saw both Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham state unequivocally for the news cameras that they would be "taking their cues directly from Trumps white house, and have already decided how they will vote."  Doesn't sound like fair and unbiased to me.  They are both up for re-election in 2020, its time to vote them out of office because it is quite clear neither of them are working for us or even our country. 

53 GOP senators will decide the terms of Trumps impeachment trial.  The other day I watched Dem. Rep. Steny Hoyer speaking to Republicans, admonishing them for their lock-step support of this clearly rogue president... and I was impressed.  He told them that courage is contagious, then asked them how they wanted history to remember them, when all is said and done.  This guy is Trump's kryptonite!


A new poll out today states that 70% of Americans want a senate trial that includes witnesses, testimony & documents.  Unfortunately, that doesn't matter at all to McConnell & Graham, and it matters even less to Trump.  What we want doesn't count, that's exactly how the electoral college gave us G.W. Bush and now Trump.  Once this impeachment debacle is finished (with Trump in jail) we need to clean out all the WORMS in our government, do some serious election reforms and destroy the electoral college because that is an education we can no longer afford.

"America is a rudderless ship where just getting by is good enough."
                                                                  ~ An Acceptable Loss ~

Meanwhile back at the office for management and budget; new emails have surfaced incriminating Trump even deeper into the quagmire, prompting Chuck Schumer to say the Democrats are possibly looking at some new articles of impeachment.  I simply can't wait to see how that plays out! 


This whole thing about Trump being our president has now de-evolved to a point beyond international embarrassment.  The sheer amount of damage Trump continues to wreck upon America has degraded his significance to that of having a rabid raccoon in our garage.  We have to remove him from the garage before he destroys even more stuff (those freedoms we take for granted as example).  If we just smack the raccoon a few times with the broom without driving him out of our garage, then he's not only still there but now he's mad as hell & backed into a corner. 

Trump supporters at his rally the night of his impeachment came to be inspired but instead got a madman in mid-meltdown as Trump railed on about dishwashers, showers and toilets for nearly 20 minutes.  Earlier the same day Trump sent a six page letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  It was full of rambling incoherent self-important rantings, personal attacks and several outright lies. (what else is new?)  I doubt that Trump comprehends this, but that letter will go into the permanent record for this impeachment and will do much to influence the picture history will paint of him.

With the stain of impeachment a permanent black spot, Trump is no longer a "Teflon Don" because this will stick to him forever.  Furthermore, he needs to win the 2020 election to stay out of jail; as New York still has charges pending against him. 


Insiders are saying Trump is mad as hell over being impeached, which was obvious from his last two rallies.  He is ramping up his divisive rhetoric to fire up his base, framing the 2020 election as "Us vs Them" to his supporters.  Like that raccoon in the garage, Trump is now cornered & angry, which makes him dangerous.  He doesn't need to pretend to be the nice guy anymore, and we all should know by now how he deals with those who anger or cross him.  He has single handedly intimidated the entire republican party into supporting him no matter what.  That is, in and of itself exceedingly dangerous.  With his toxic narcissism riding atop his hyper-inflated ego Trump may well decide that if he has to go he will just take the country down with him, before he flies back home to Russia.

"Most of us can read the writing on the wall,
 we just assume its addressed to someone else."
                                              ~Ivern Bell~

It wasn't too long ago that Rudy Giuliani went on national television and gave us the quintessential Orwellian quote, "Truth isn't Truth."  Now we have McConnell and Graham saying "the facts don't matter" if you support Trump.  PR no longer stands for public relations, nowadays it refers to Propaganda Reality. 

With Trumps impeachment the democrats are just taking out the garbage because the Donald never did any odor control.  Every gambit he touched became a smelly mess or full on disaster.  Trumps "presidency" has seen him stumble from one scandal to the next with barely a time out in between to catch our wits. 


Our government is nothing more than an aging Kleptocracy and the reason Trump got impeached is because he broke the rules & doesn't play well with others.  For generations both houses of congress have been stealing America blind as they enrich themselves & their corporate sponsors.  The democrats are little different than the republicans.  Throughout this impeachment the Dems have conducted themselves as if they are squeaky clean and above reproach; kinda like putting on your best clothes before going to church.  In reality, they are just as complicit in the destruction of this nation.  Right wing, left wing makes no difference when both wings are on the same vulture, and the flight plan never changes.  The Dems are just as guilty of plundering the treasury and malfeasance as the GOP, its just that its the Dems turn to play the good cop.

So, Trump has been impeached, but his buddies in the senate have announced their trial will be a kangaroo court without witnesses, testimony or truth; and their intention to vote acquittal on both articles of impeachment, nullifying the whole process.  Just another bait & switch street theater for the masses, another nothing burger.  Just another day in America.  Everything begins to make sense, and motivations become transparent one you finally realize that the system isn't broken...it was designed to operate exactly as you've always seen.

© 2019 full re-post with permission only 





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4 comments:

  1. Had a flicker of respect for Pelosi there when she shut the goons up with a gesture, shut the WORMS boo's up with just bulging her eyes, crunching her mouth up and a pointed finger.

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    1. That was also my favorite moment from the impeachment proceedings; however, as I remember it, it was her democrat colleagues who began cheering, not booing, as she announced the results of the vote on articles of impeachment. That fast but brief reaction was all she needed to show the world who is in charge.

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  2. And the Hill reports "The move comes after North Korea threatened to give Washington a “Christmas gift” unless the U.S. makes concessions in nuclear talks with the country. Negotiations between U.S. and North Korean officials stalled earlier this year after a summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ended abruptly.

    The U.S. flew four aircraft, the RC-135W Rivet Joint, E-8C, RQ-4 Global Hawk and RC-135S Cobra Ball, over the country between Tuesday and early Wednesday. The planes were believed to have carried out missions in and around the Korean Peninsula, Yonhap reported."

    Right on cue. Evil circus

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  3. Right on cue indeed. Its all just international street theater. Probably just more empty rhetoric between 2 morons; however nobody needs a nuclear war like a despised, impeached president with rapidly sinking poll numbers, so who knows? With Fukushima we're already getting all the radiation from a nuke war, might as well have the war too and clean the slate once and for all.

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