39 thoughts on “Articles Today”

  1. “They haven’t drafted the articles of impeachment yet, but Democrats say Trump’s impeachable offenses include abuses of power through self-dealing, betrayal of national security in the service of foreign interests, and corruption of our elections that undermine our democratic system. Or as Trump put it, [Trump in a clip] ‘promises made, promises kept.’”— STEPHEN COLBERT

  2. wapo:

    Democrats are expected to unveil two articles of impeachment against President Trump on Tuesday that will focus on abuse of power and obstructing Congress, and would be voted on by the full House next week, according to three officials familiar with the matter.
    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) met with Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and other committee chairmen Monday night after a nine-hour hearing in which a Democratic counsel laid out the party’s case against Trump. The three officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks, cautioned that the plan had not been finalized.
    Leaving a meeting with Pelosi, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.) told reporters that he and the chairmen of other House committees would announce specific articles at a news conference at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
    At an event hosted by the Wall Street Journal on Monday night, Pelosi said no final decision had been made.
    “You think I’m going to tell you the articles of impeachment?” she said when asked about the matter. “We’re in a place where our members, our leadership of our committees of jurisdiction have now gotten the last input” about the conduct at issue, she added. “They’ll make a determination, a recommendation as to how we will go forward and what the articles will be.”
    Under the current plan, the Judiciary Committee would vote on the articles Thursday, according to two people familiar with the matter, setting up a floor vote next week.

    [continues]

  3. dana milbank wapo:

    The GOP: If it looks, swims and quacks like a duck, it’s an avocado

    Walk to the back of the impeachment hearing room, into the Republican cloakroom where lawmakers huddle during proceedings, and you’ll find a closed double door with a sign taped to it announcing:
    “This is not a door. Thank you.”
    Pay no attention to the latch, the push bar, the light visible through the crack, the wood panels: This is not a door.
    It’s the perfect distillation of the defense of President Trump in these final days of the House impeachment proceedings. This is not a quid pro quo. This is not an abuse of power. This is not an obstruction of justice. It doesn’t matter if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck. This is not a duck. Thank you.

    [continues]

  4. why do media et al keep insisting the impeachment vote is not bipartisan?  so what is an Independent, a potted plant? a third of the country identifies themselves politically as independent and 43.7% of those support impeachment according to 538. 

    cnn:

    Rep. Justin Amash said Friday that he is prepared to vote for three articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, ensuring that Democrats won’t be the only ones to impeach the President when the historic vote hits the floor as soon as this month.
    Amash, a Michigan independent who left the Republican Party this summer after he backed formal impeachment proceedings, told CNN on Friday he would back three articles of impeachment: obstruction of Congress, obstruction of justice and abuse of power. He cautioned though he would wait to see the final language before ultimately committing to vote for them.
    “I think there’s sufficient evidence for all three,” Amash said Friday on his way to the House floor. “Impeachment is like an indictment. We’re just issuing the charges. The trial happens in the Senate. There’s certainly probable cause to issue charges.”

     

    [continues]

  5. Amash is right – but like Poobah said – emoluments?  Do those fall under abuse of power?  Plausible, but harder to demonstrate than the others – but if we only had SFB’s tax returns to review…

  6. I watched about 5 minutes of yesterday’s hearing.  Saw Castor deny that Biden was even a presidential candidate.  Had enough of it at that point and changed the channel.  I know it’s history…  but I can’t watch anymore Republican bullshit.
     
    I had a friend that hated B. Clinton and said he didn’t care, he just wanted to see the word impeached after Clinton’s name.  Well…  back atchya buddy concerning trumpty dumpty.

  7. Patd, if one is politically independent, they are by definition not in a party, so nothing they do is “bipartisan”, as that prefix implies “2 things”, in this case, “parties”.

  8. Republicans panic when they can’t control something, and everything, so it was genuinely entertaining to listen to grown men whine, cry, and throw temper-tantrums, yesterday.

  9. Our local public radio station decided to broadcast live coverage of the Clinton hearings. Instantly, I got on my CP informing them that they would never seen another dollar from this citizen if they carried out that charade. Within fifteen minutes they announced that they had “reevaluated the need” for their broadcasting of the hearings deciding that there was enough other coverage and what the community really needed was their traditional programming.

  10. “if one is politically independent, they are by definition not in a party”

    bink, thank you for the correction; however our politicians who run as independents (lower case I) are many times  referred to as 3rd party people and then there are those folk who actually are registered with the American Independent Party or some variation.

  11. she can giveth and she can taketh away

    the hill:

    House Democrats and the White House have struck a deal on a historic trade deal to update the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Tuesday. 

    Pelosi announced the deal on a head spinning day in Washington just one hour after she joined Democrats in setting out two articles of impeachment against Trump.

    The agreement on the trade pact is important to Pelosi and Democrats, who want to show they can legislate even as they move toward just the third impeachment of a U.S. president in history. Republicans have repeatedly criticized Democrats as being consumed by impeachment.

    [continues]

  12. Well, if that bothers you, patd, i am tired of people referring to news-media as some sort of monolithic entity with a common voice.  News-media are actually thousands of different entities competing for the same space, and if one is dissatisfied with one, there are plenty of others to consume.

    Cable News are cartoons for old people.  

  13. bink, not bothered. just wish MSM would now and then acknowledge the existence of those who are not affiliated with either the dems or the gopers.   

    similar situation with seeing the political world only in black or white voters when almost 1/3 of country is/identifies as neither.

  14. Indies get their time in the sun every election cycle, when politicians of any stripe have to persuade people who can’t make a simple decision.

  15. On this day in 1997, Kumcho and I moved in to our new home in exurban Columbia. Our small community has met our hopes by being an ethnically and age diverse haven in a beautiful part of this state. I don’t believe Bink would be comfortable here; most of the people express pleasure in having their children earning respect of, and appreciation for, people olde enough to be their parents’ greats.

  16. I’ve never been a big believer that independents are really independent. We assume it means they’re all ideological moderates but polling shows most consistently lean and vote one way or the other, just don’t want to be identified with a party, they just like the sound of calling themselves independent.

  17. Exactly, CC.
     
    Have no clue wtf you’re talking about, Flatus.  I was disrespecting cable news, not old people.

  18. Craig…  I can attest to the fact that most “independents” from NH just like the sound of calling themselves that.  As a long time former election official…  I can tell you that it was a rare occasion when an independent didn’t take the party’s ballot that we all knew he/she would vote for during any primary.
     
    Cable News are cartoons for old people.
    Bink….   LOL!  That may be true…  but us old people vote in much larger numbers than you youngsters.  Until your and subsequent generations figure this out….  we oldsters own your political asses.

  19. Bink, I’ve been in the news business. Authored a daily column of information gathered and fused from a variety of domestic and international sources, both public and private. These sources were rigorously evaluated as to reliability and accuracy. My column was distributed early every morning to decision makers worldwide. My reputation, and future, were on the line with each publication. Cable news people probably face the same pressures.

  20. Cable news people probably face the same pressures. Flatus
     
    I don’t think so  — they have no respect for the truth and treat news like a horse race

  21. Flatus is just looking to fight with me, specifically, because he resents the tone of my contributions, KGC.  Don’t feel obligated to refute his assertions on merit.
     
    I honestly don’t care.  Have fun reading 7 posts a day, good Sir.

  22. bink & kgc,
    who do you mean by “cable news people”?   all reporters or just the moderators and headliners?  how ’bout folks like Rachel maddow, Anderson cooper, chris Wallace?   are they all bad and untruthful in your opinion?  

     

    and what about the non-cable news on ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS?  anyone there worth listening to in your opinion?

  23.  
    actually Patd I think they are just as guilty of the false equivalency and not following up and not always asking the hard questions..,…
    And letting people lie
    Rachel Maddow has become unwatchable to me –more time talking about how wonderful she is and not much news

  24. I like Democracy Now 
    and why would I waste my time watching stuff that is often wrong but never acknowledged as such
    It’s know wonder the American public is stupid     they are educated on the news by stupid people

  25. Renee, Just a thought,  if they voting in a primary by definition they aren’t an independent.
    As to undecideds.
    When you end up with choices such as we currently have. You have to decide if the policies of your party are worth riding with the wingnuts. With Trumps full blown racism for me it is no problem to vote against the Republicans and  for people I think are idiots otherwise.  But other well meaning people have a higher tolerance level and do believe in their policies. 
    With the current crop of Democrats I can see where some people are undecided. What a choice do you go with the idiots or the racists.  
    Right now the Democrats are lucky that Trump is still president.  If the Republicans were smart they would impeach Trump remove him from office. With Pence as president and the economy they would be the one who roll rather than the current state where they are going to get rolled.
    There are obviously people who will switch their votes in every election. It got Obama elected, it got Trump elected and it got the house to flip in 2018.
    Pretend they don’t exist if you want. 
    Jack

  26. I watched some network news the other night and they were repeating the idiot in chiefs claims as if they were true and or had never been fact-checked  including all the Biden bullshit
    If there were decent media with national distribution Fat ass the golfing president would not be president

    The only person calling our anyone so has been Chuck Todd
    and Kennedy is a maroon

  27. As i’ve said, many times, i enjoy PBS, NPR and BBC World Service.  Any other news i consume i get from internet news feeds.

    You’re one of those internet news feeds, patd! i respect your editorial sensibilities more than any you named.

  28. Jack…  here in NH they are actually called “undeclared”…  undeclared…  independent… just a matter of semantics.  They are allowed to vote in primaries by declaring which party’s ballot they want to take.  For the purpose of that vote they have registered with that party.  But by signing a paper after they vote… they instantly go back to undeclared.
     
     
    The point of my post is that the people at the polls can usually tell you which ballot said undeclared voter will ask for in any primary with pretty good accuracy.
     
    BTW… there are more undeclared registered voters on the rolls here than Democrats and Republicans put together.  People here will tell you that they are proud of their independent status even though they largely vote for the same party over and over again.

  29. bink, likewise.  thanks.

     

    KGC, but but but how would we know what the idiot-in-chief is thinking and that he is indeed chiefly an idiot &  danger if they don’t report it? 

    fine line for newsperson to cross –

    could be seen as censorship by not letting us hear/read it

    report it with reporter’s  personal opinion/evaluation/slant

    just put it out there and let us judge for ourselves

  30. I still like Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, Ari Melber, and Kasie Hunt. I don’t care for upcheck or tweety bird. I remember when they were bush/cheney republicans and presume that they are still. 

  31. I suppose chris wallace has some gawdawful dirt on the fakes nause murdochracy, which might explain how he’s still allowed in the door, whereas shep has been cast into the outer brightness. 

  32. Craig, exactly…”I’ve never been a big believer that independents are really independent.”  Would anyone ever think that George Will is anything but a CONSERVATIVE??     Thanks for the Impeachment link!

  33. Indies are interesting.  We know they tend to vote in a way that aligns with one party or the other.  They like to call themselves “Independent” because they occasionally will vote for someone they like in the other party.  Logical and reasonable.  The issue for me is the media making the Republicans sound like seventy-five percent of the world at the same time they are making the Indies sound like seventy-five percent of the world, and the Dems maybe five or six voters spread across the country.

    The filter is most of the media is owned by corporations and placed in the entertainment division.  I listen to various radio stations and when there is something political happening I usually only have the sentence stating what the Dems said, and a lot of audio of the greedy old perverts ranting and raving about the Dems.  The reason I do not even have Sinclair stations allowed on my television.  Never faux also.

    Putin wins again.  I can hardly wait until the KGB agent comes to the WH.  Nothing says traitor like inviting the enemy into your house.

  34. Lock him up. Lock them ALL up. Waterboard ’em. Then hang ’em out to dry – upside down, ala mussolini and clara petacci.

  35. There was a time when I was in college that I called myself an independent until I had a fairly deep discussion with a girlfriend and figured out that I had never voted for a Republican. Three years later I was the faculty sponsor for the University Young Democrats at the University of Alabama. In that role I got to host Claude Pepper and his wife for six hours in Tuscaloosa and met Joe Biden In passing. Claude Pepper is one of the nicest people I ever met in my life and his wife was an absolute delight, and Joe Biden had a lean and hungry look.

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