Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Consistently wrong since 2002

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

You cannot shame the shameless.

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

“Alexa, change the president.”

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

You are here: Home / Archives for Politics / Impeachment Inquiry / Impeachment Hearings

In November, the House of Representatives Impeachment Inquiry entered a new phase: public hearings. The House Intelligence Committee, led by committee chair Rep. Adam Schiff, has called several witnesses to testify in the inquiry, including Dr. Fiona Hill, David Holmes, Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, George Kent, Bill Taylor, Kurt Volker, and Gordon Sondland.

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: The GOP Insists There Will Be Blood Impeachment

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Per the “Senior Congressional Correspondent for Fox News”, as of this morning:
Wednesday Morning Open Thread 6
Wednesday Morning Open Thread 7

The Washington Post, yesterday — “Mayorkas impeachment moves to Senate, where trial could end fast”:

… Led by 11 impeachment managers appointed by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Republicans have demanded a full trial, while Senate Democrats, who hold a 51-49 majority, are planning to band together to dismiss or table the trial. Most Senate Republicans, despite previously voicing concerns about the substance of the two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, have echoed the lower chamber’s calls for the Senate to adhere to precedent and hold a trial.

At least one Republican — Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) — said last week that he planned to vote against a full trial. On Tuesday, Romney softened his position, telling reporters that he at least wanted debate on the articles before moving to dismiss them and therefore did not support tabling the charges. Several others who have been critical of the impeachment have yet to stake out their position, including GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska). Collins, citing her role as a juror in the trial, declined to weigh in on how she will vote, and Murkowski vaguely said she wanted “process.”…

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Wednesday Morning Open Thread: The GOP Insists There Will Be <del>Blood</del> ImpeachmentPost + Comments (213)

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Too Many GOP Klowns in Our National Circus

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Democrats work for people; Repubs work for a tiny cabal of oligarchs, domestic & foreign.

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Procedural Open Thread: The Work Continues

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I didn’t jump in on the WITNESSES NOW debate earlier, because I remember all too vividly the Repubs lying and showboating during the Iran-Contra hearings, which made it possible for that era’s monsters to finish destroying the evidence, sometimes by killing (even more) nameless not-American people. Those hearings not only gave VP Bush (and, later, his even more vile spawn) a free pass to the Oval Office, they made Oliver North a celebrity, and wealthy — and those were the days before GoFundMe.

What I said or didn’t say here wasn’t gonna change anybody’s calculations, most specifically those of the Democrats running Impeachment Two, and I’m willing to accept their political acumen in this area is more to the point than mine. YMMV…

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Continuing Impeachment Trial Open Thread

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The previous thread was getting long. I’m not sure how much more there is to go – I am not watching, just getting snips from Twitter as I get some other stuff done.

I found this interesting – the nuclear football that follows the Vice President around was also at risk. You can see the military aide carrying it at 0:13 in the video.

Stephen Schwartz follows the nuclear footballs and collects photos of them. I asked him to verify. Here’s his answer –

Sorry for the duplication. That seems to be the way this works.

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Impeachment Hearings Open Thread

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Here we go again, citizens!

The Democrats serving as impeachment managers are Representatives Raskin, DeGette, Cicilline, Castro (Joaquin), Swalwell, Lieu, Plaskett, Neguse, and Dean. (Thanks, Baud!) The Trump defense strategy on the Republican side is rather less clear to me, but I assume we’ll hear from the kooks in the Sedition Caucus, which comprises most House Republicans.

Open thread!

PS: Sorry for squashing not one but TWO posts, but I’m gonna leave this one up for impeachment hearings discussions.

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What Kind of Fuckery Is This?

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Last night the news broke that McConnell doesn’t have the votes to block a vote on having witnesses. What this means isn’t clear, but if there’s anything clear about this whole ordeal, it’s that Comrade McConnell is going to engage in the maximum fuckery possible. In last night’s comments on a post with a different topic, Martin made this point:

As part of the process, they have a vote of whether to consider witness. That’s the vote in question here. Then there’s a process of submitting witness requests to leadership, I think it is, and they introduce individual motions for votes. They don’t need to introduce every rando request, but things they think are relevant. It could be none will pass. There will probably be some negotiating in how the motions are structured, whether individual witnesses, open or closed session, all that garbage.

That sounds possible to me, but as the ever-shifting needs of the weaker links in his caucus to have fig leafs of “I did too vote for witnesses” bump up against the desires of safe seat Senators to just get it over with, how this thing ends up will probably be at least a little unpredictable.

That first story linked brings up a Republican talking point that witnesses will cause the impeachment to be delayed by a side trip into the courts as witnesses resist their subpoenas. My understanding is that this is bullshit: Roberts will rule from the bench and his ruling is final. Congress has the sole power to impeach and remove, and there is no appeal for a ruling from the presiding officer, the Chief Justice.

I’m sure Trump, who has skirted the law by dilatory legal actions for his whole life, disagrees, but unless anyone can cite a non-wingnut legal authority, I’m thinking that any witnesses called will show up.

What Kind of Fuckery Is This?Post + Comments (132)