Impeachment

[mahagonny]

I was hoping it might be more like 'death by 1,000 cuts.' but I guess I'm resigned to the possibility of a second term.  People will forgive a lot of faults if they're making some money.

[nebo113]

I was hoping it might be more like 'death by 1,000 cuts.' but I guess I'm resigned to the possibility of a second term.  People will forgive a lot of faults if they're making some money.

NONONONO!!!!!!  We CANNOT be "resigned" to a second term, as the United States will not exist in any recognizable form.  FIGHT, mahagonny, FIGHT!!!

[mamselle]

So, is Bolton going to testify? Or isn't he?

Seems like I'm seeing one set of articles saying he's refused, and another that he will.

What's going on there?

M.

[mahagonny]

I was hoping it might be more like 'death by 1,000 cuts.' but I guess I'm resigned to the possibility of a second term.  People will forgive a lot of faults if they're making some money.

NONONONO!!!!!!  We CANNOT be "resigned" to a second term, as the United States will not exist in any recognizable form.  FIGHT, mahagonny, FIGHT!!!

I will certainly vote against Trump and for the democrat. I'm pretty sure my state will go blue anyway, but for the principle I'll vote. Last time I wrote in for someone who wasn't even running and has at least one PhD. A friend told me we'll never get a PhD president. People see too much education as intimidating, non-bonding, rather than an asset for the strength of the nation. Yet they see Trump's poorly socialized behavior as a strength.

[nebo113]

I was hoping it might be more like 'death by 1,000 cuts.' but I guess I'm resigned to the possibility of a second term.  People will forgive a lot of faults if they're making some money.

NONONONO!!!!!!  We CANNOT be "resigned" to a second term, as the United States will not exist in any recognizable form.  FIGHT, mahagonny, FIGHT!!!

I will certainly vote against Trump and for the democrat. I'm pretty sure my state will go blue anyway, but for the principle I'll vote. Last time I wrote in for someone who wasn't even running and has at least one PhD. A friend told me we'll never get a PhD president. People see too much education as intimidating, non-bonding, rather than an asset for the strength of the nation. Yet they see Trump's poorly socialized behavior as a strength.

WOODROW WILSON

[mahagonny]

I was hoping it might be more like 'death by 1,000 cuts.' but I guess I'm resigned to the possibility of a second term.  People will forgive a lot of faults if they're making some money.

NONONONO!!!!!!  We CANNOT be "resigned" to a second term, as the United States will not exist in any recognizable form.  FIGHT, mahagonny, FIGHT!!!

I will certainly vote against Trump and for the democrat. I'm pretty sure my state will go blue anyway, but for the principle I'll vote. Last time I wrote in for someone who wasn't even running and has at least one PhD. A friend told me we'll never get a PhD president. People see too much education as intimidating, non-bonding, rather than an asset for the strength of the nation. Yet they see Trump's poorly socialized behavior as a strength.

WOODROW WILSON

Thanks for the correction. The error was mine not my friend's. She probably said 'with political life a PhD is not something that gets you votes.'

But Woodrow Wilson is not remembered as a strongly successful president is he? And neither is Jimmy Carter. Though not a PhD you could tell he would hold his own when talking with scholars. Carter said famously 'I promise you a government as good and decent as its people.' But he was too good.

And you would think with the recent number of PhD's in the US growing, there would have been more popular interest in a highly educated president. Or maybe you wouldn't.

[Parasaurolophus]

Anyone following the public hearings?

[mamselle]

I can't hang out and listen, but I'm following the articles from both sides (well, I won't open Fox on my phone for fear some kind of green slime will take it over, but otherwise, I do open "The Hill" and, occasionally, "Yahoo," which I've come to think of as "Fox diluted to 2%.")

The responses are sort-of predictable so far. The Fox-like ones are all making fun of the whole thing, the CNN/NPR side are all being fairly detailed and specific. (I acknowledge my bias here).

I will say I have been extremely impressed by the resistance of most of the major news outlets to the scoop-temptation to "out" the whistle-blower.

If we get through this alive, the journalists will have done a very careful, responsible job of coverage and education. I only wrote for one paper for about three years, once, covering art, and dance, and such, and for an online site for about a year, a few years back, so I just identify in a very distant way to the tribe of public scriveners.

But I'm proud of them. I think many are doing their level best to keep information flow open and honest and transparent.

They do justify the trust the founders put in them....which is a kind of richness I want to remember to uphold and be grateful for, overall.

M.

[Anselm]

How can any normal human endure listening to this?

"Thank you so much for being here and for your service to our nation"

"Thank you for granting me the opportunity to speak here today" 

Can we skip the gratitude and just get it all over with?

[mamselle]

I understand the feeling of chomping at the bit.

But isn't civility--in large things as well as small--at the heart of a lot of the issues under consideration?

I'm grateful we're observing an ordered process and not going at it with catapults, tongs and stones.

It's about maintaining human respect and acknowledging the rules that keep us sane, and I think we need every bit of that we can muster at the moment.

Cadmium rods in the reactor keep the whole thing from going up in flames; absorbing the stray nutrinos of hatred, bile, and self-serving greed in any way possible can only help in the long run.

M.

[mamselle]

Sorry for the double...where is everyone?...but Sondland's just testified to so many points at issue that the whole defense is likely to have to be re-jiggered...if there's anything left to defend.

May get more interesting....some are suggesting that a recent MD visit by the Dutch sea captain's namesake was to provide an "out" for resignation, a sympathy ploy for rallying support, or the foundation for a guilt trip.

Or maybe it's truly a case of heartburn and acid indigestion from recent revelations, like today's.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar....

M.

[Hegemony]

These are certainly interesting times, aren't they?

I appreciated Anne Lamotte's tweet, apropos of the hearings:

"God just stopped by and said no one has to get any writing done today."

[mamselle]

Good to know she's willing to writie me an excuse....

M.

[spork]

I want to know where Parnas and Fruman got the money they donated to GOP campaigns. Actually I almost certainly know -- Russia. I just want the information publicized as part of a criminal prosecution.

Looks like Parnas has connections to Devin Nunes.

[spork]

Giuliani needs to be prosecuted criminally: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/27/nyregion/giuliani-ukraine-business-trump.html.