Impeachment and Removal from Office

Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19319
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Impeachment and Removal from Office

Post by Big Magilla »

“Let us stand among the greatest statues that stand among the White House grounds, where truths were spoken long ago by our forefathers. Let us remember what this House stands for, this White House. It stands for trust. It stands for moral obligation. It stands for the safety of the United States of America.

“Now listen here, my fellow residents of the USA. The president is in much danger from this radical left-wing group. I say ‘radical’ because this group has only filthy lies and distortions of the mighty truths that have been written. The truth, my friends, the truth that holds the greatest scripture that is the Declaration of Independence.

“And what does the left want to do? To knock down a nation of God’s glory. This is a disgrace to mankind and a disgrace to the people of the United States of America. This is a crime. An impeachment of this nation’s success. For their control of deceit and disgusting lies against our President Trump, who held to his promise for our country and his word for our country’s love.

“We call upon our highest prayers and ask Jesus, Moses, and all saints to save the truth that has been taken down by these cruel individuals of the left and ask God to place his hands upon this nation of the United States of America and bless and protect the truth for our President Donald Trump, so he can continue his legacy as one of our greatest presidents.” – Actor Jon Voight, whom Trump last year awarded the National Medal of the Arts - 1/26/2020
User avatar
Precious Doll
Emeritus
Posts: 4453
Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2003 2:20 am
Location: Sydney
Contact:

Re: Impeachment and Removal from Office

Post by Precious Doll »

Reza wrote:
Precious Doll wrote:I have to admit that I haven't paid the slightest interest in any of this as one tends to concern oneself more with what is going on in the political landscape of one own country with generally only a passing interest on much outside ones own borders.
I think this appears to be true of people living in big countries only. People from smaller countries are generally more aware about what is happening around the world especially if that country has also suffered and experienced an attack of any sort by another nation on its own shores. Most people from countries that have never been hit directly seem oblivious by and large to what is going on in other countries or have only a passing knowledge or interest through a mere glimpse off a news channel. Take the United States as an example. Never ever been attacked until 9/11 - Pearl Harbor does not count as it was too far away from the mainland and it is an incident to which today's generation at least cannot quite comprehend a feeling of being violated since it took place too far in the past.

Only if Iran (a "skirmish" that is hot in the news) retaliates and hits the United States causing some form of devastation on its mainland shores will dramatically change the perception of its people into understanding what it feels like to be violated which should in turn make more Americans speak out against its government's war mongering policies which it uses as a pretext against what it conveniently terms as "terrorism" when oil is one of the main reasons for its vociferous aggression on other lands.
I do take an interest in what's going on around the globe but I really have little interest in US domestic politics. Other countries domestic politics can be of interest sometimes but I tend to avoid domestic US because I'm sick of the amount of coverage it receives in my own country at the expense of other news items. Also most past and present politicians of all stripes have compromised themselves so much that I pretty much zero respect for most of them.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
Reza
Laureate Emeritus
Posts: 10031
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 11:14 am
Location: Islamabad, Pakistan

Re: Impeachment and Removal from Office

Post by Reza »

Precious Doll wrote:I have to admit that I haven't paid the slightest interest in any of this as one tends to concern oneself more with what is going on in the political landscape of one own country with generally only a passing interest on much outside ones own borders.
I think this appears to be true of people living in big countries only. People from smaller countries are generally more aware about what is happening around the world especially if that country has also suffered and experienced an attack of any sort by another nation on its own shores. Most people from countries that have never been hit directly seem oblivious by and large to what is going on in other countries or have only a passing knowledge or interest through a mere glimpse off a news channel. Take the United States as an example. Never ever been attacked until 9/11 - Pearl Harbor does not count as it was too far away from the mainland and it is an incident to which today's generation at least cannot quite comprehend a feeling of being violated since it took place too far in the past.

Only if Iran (a "skirmish" that is hot in the news) retaliates and hits the United States causing some form of devastation on its mainland shores will dramatically change the perception of its people into understanding what it feels like to be violated which should in turn make more Americans speak out against its government's war mongering policies which it uses as a pretext against what it conveniently terms as "terrorism" when oil is one of the main reasons for its vociferous aggression on other lands.
User avatar
Precious Doll
Emeritus
Posts: 4453
Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2003 2:20 am
Location: Sydney
Contact:

Re: Impeachment and Removal from Office

Post by Precious Doll »

I have to admit that I haven't paid the slightest interest in any of this as one tends to concern oneself more with what is going on in the political landscape of one own country with generally only a passing interest on much outside ones own borders.

Anyway, there is are a number of weekly comedy shows on one of Australia's Government funded free-to-air networks none of which I watch because I watch very little television. However, I do make the effort to watch The Yearly each year (which is renamed from The Weekly which runs for most of the year) which is a round-up of mainly political issues for the year.

For anyone like myself who has no idea why Donald Trump is being impeached, all is explained in this 5 minute comedy skit by an increasingly drunk comedian Denise Scott from the finale of The Weekly - The Yearly for 2019 (apologies in advance if the humour doesn't translate):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgjlPlBFSMw
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
Mister Tee
Tenured Laureate
Posts: 8637
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 2:57 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

Re: Impeachment and Removal from Office

Post by Mister Tee »

To no one's surprise, both articles pass. Dem defections are 2 on Article 1, 3 on Article 2. Plus Tulsi Gabbard "Present" on both. Is anyone still naive about her?
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19319
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Impeachment and Removal from Office

Post by Big Magilla »

Started to watch this morning's hearings. Had to mute Repub's loud, meaningless opening remarks, suffered through the temper tantrums of the Repub committee members trying to delay the proceedings as Nadler shut them down one by one, then started to listen to the Dems' presentation but it was just a repeat of what every MSNBC and CNN news program has been hour after hour, day after day, for weeks. Had to just it off, will catch the headlines, if there are any, later.

It's time to move on. Just get it over with. Draft the articles of impeachment, vote on them and have the trial. Sad to say, but the American public is mostly made up of ignoramuses. If they haven't gotten it by now, chances are they won't, and only the next election if the Dems don't blow it in the meantime, will set the country on a saner course.
User avatar
Sonic Youth
Tenured Laureate
Posts: 8003
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 8:35 pm
Location: USA

Re: Impeachment and Removal from Office

Post by Sonic Youth »

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKBN1Y02MO

"Support for Impeachment Grew During Hearings." And there you have it. The Emerson poll was indeed an outlier. I suspected it was but I couldn't relax until I had further confirmation of it. You should see the graph on the front page of Nate Silver's fivethirtyeight.com. The lines for "Impeach" and "Don't Impeach" on the "Do you support impeaching President Trump?" graph grow closer and closer together until they're nearly touching... and then quickly jump apart as if they felt an electric shock. It's a beautiful thing. We can only hope they continue to diverge.

For once, this may be a Happy Thanksgiving, or at least a hopeful one.
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
Sabin
Laureate Emeritus
Posts: 10748
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 12:52 am
Contact:

Re: Impeachment and Removal from Office

Post by Sabin »

Big Magilla wrote
1948+36=1984, 1984+36=2020
:shock:
"How's the despair?"
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19319
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Impeachment and Removal from Office

Post by Big Magilla »

1948+36=1984, 1984+36=2020

When George Orwell wrote his dystopian novel it was 1948 (1949 when it was published the following year). When the actual year 1984 rolled around there were many who breathed a sigh of relief that the events foretold in his seminal work didn't come to fruition, but here we are approaching another 36 years later and the era of misinformation taken as fact by the gullible masses has taken hold in the U.S. and elsewhere.

In early 2020 we will likely have the Senate trial of Donald J. Trump, which if he is acquitted and re-elected President of the United States, could lead to a permanent era of "the president can do anything he wants, he is in effect Big Brother."

Could be Orwell was right, it just took twice as long as he thought it would for his dark world to take hold.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19319
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Impeachment and Removal from Office

Post by Big Magilla »

What is this about Joe using his influence to get Hunter a job? Either I haven't heard that or it was so long ago I forgot it, but that isn't what they're claiming.

I've hated Trump ever since I first heard of him, which I think was back in the 1970s. He was sleazy all his life. How anyone could watch him on TV for more than five minutes let alone vote for him was beyond my comprehension. Yet, I was willing to hold my nose and live with him as president for four years just as I lived through the odious presidencies of Nixon, Reagan and George W., but from his idiotic inaugural address to his constant lies and everything he's done since he's been in office has cried out for impeachment and removal from office.

I don't know if he is a Russian mole or just a Putin dupe and we're likely not to find the smoking gun that proves it one way or another, but it's not just the phone call. It's the double-dealing that led up to the phone call. Using Russian tropes about a debunked Biden scandal, withholding money already appropriated from an ally fighting a hot war until the newly elected president agrees to investigate the debunked scandal - the alleged corruption of a minor company among many allegedly corrupt companies in the country, conflating Joe Biden's demanding that a former corrupt prosecutor be removed before the U.S. would approve prior funding, not the prosecutor who was looking into that company before Hunter Biden went to work for them - and Giuliani finally telling the new president they don't have to conduct an investigation, just announce that they're going to start one just like so many other things Trump farted in the air about that never happened, just fouled up the air to ruin whoever it was he was pissed at that particular day.

The dots are all connected. To say otherwise is to look yourself in the mirror and lie like Lindsay Graham and Devin Nunes.
Sabin
Laureate Emeritus
Posts: 10748
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 12:52 am
Contact:

Re: Impeachment and Removal from Office

Post by Sabin »

Big Magilla wrote
The latest argument seems to be "The Dems were out to get him from day one, and will find any excuse to impeach him. We don't need to know anything more."
I mean... it's not the worst argument.

It's hard to argue that the Dems haven't been impeachment-minded since he took office. Countless Dems ran on impeachment during the midterms. Heck, I'm self-aware enough to know that I've been out to get him since day one.

But I'm desperately unconfident about the Ukraine call. It does not seem like a political winner to me. It asks the average voters to emotionally invest in the intelligence community. It also asks the voters to completely divorce Donald Trump's quid pro quo with Zelensky with Joe Biden using his influence to get his son a job. And I get it! That's a "Republican talking point." But drawing false equivalencies is one of the man's greatest political strengths.
"How's the despair?"
User avatar
OscarGuy
Site Admin
Posts: 13668
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 12:22 am
Location: Springfield, MO
Contact:

Re: Impeachment and Removal from Office

Post by OscarGuy »

Willful ignorance is his base's bread-and-butter.
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19319
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Impeachment and Removal from Office

Post by Big Magilla »

No one who watched the hearings could have any doubt as to the guilt of Trump and his cronies. The problem is that those who are "opposed to impeachment" didn't watch them, not even on Fox.

In my over-55 retirement community where a number of the residents have nothing to do all day but sit in front of the TV either went out to avoid the TV or if they did stay home and watch, turned to the Hallmark channel or something equally benign.

The latest argument seems to be "The Dems were out to get him from day one, and will find any excuse to impeach him. We don't need to know anything more."
Sabin
Laureate Emeritus
Posts: 10748
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 12:52 am
Contact:

Re: Impeachment and Removal from Office

Post by Sabin »

Sonic Youth wrote
The majority of people do believe this was an abuse of power. But when they say they don't like impeachment, they really mean it.
According to another poll, the American people want the government to get its hands out of their Medicare.
"How's the despair?"
User avatar
Sonic Youth
Tenured Laureate
Posts: 8003
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 8:35 pm
Location: USA

Re: Impeachment and Removal from Office

Post by Sonic Youth »

I saw that poll. It really unnerved me as well, until I saw all the explanations of how much of an outlier it may be. (In that same poll, Republican support for impeachment has gone up.) But I won't relax until Nate Silver tells me to, and he hasn't said anything about it yet. Nor does it explain why, after 2 months, Trumps approval rating has remained steady or why the television viewership ratings have been stagnant. I know he'll never get voted out of office, but getting the public to rally against him would have been victory enough. But let's face it, it's consistent with what polls have been telling us all year, that impeachment is not a popular option. The majority of people do believe this was an abuse of power. But when they say they don't like impeachment, they really mean it.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/11 ... key-voters
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
Post Reply

Return to “Current Events”