Our Collective Future

For John, BLUF:  Yes, given the way the Government is waffling re Lieutenant General Michael Flynn and the way he was prosecuted, it is time for all of us to encourage our elected representatives to clean up the exceptions to our Bill of Rights protections.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Schiff protects intel 'status quo' power by sinking wide-reaching FISA reform:  Source

From The Washington Times, by Reporter Jeff Mordock, 15 March 2020.

Here is the lede plus fourI can't decide if this is about Representative Adam Schiff's irrational hatred of President Trump or his:

Attempts to rein in the government’s ability to spy on Americans fell flat after Rep. Adam B. Schiff intervened to protect the types of powers that the FBI used to go after the Trump campaign in 2016.

Mr. Schiff, California Democrat and chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, ran roughshod over House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, New York Democrat, whose panel had control over the battle to reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, said advocates on both sides of the aisle.

The power struggle created an awkward moment in which Mr. Nadler canceled the markup of his own bill just minutes before it was scheduled.

FISA allows U.S. intelligence agencies to meet with judges behind closed doors and explain why spying is needed without anyone to question their evidence.  The process has come under scrutiny since revelations last year confirmed that the FBI abused FISA to surveil Trump campaign figure Carter Page as part of its probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Liberal civil libertarians and conservative defenders of President Trump united in an attempt to curb the government’s powers with FISA reforms.  Instead, Mr. Schiff, at the urging of the intelligence community, pushed for smaller tweaks to the law.

I can't decide if this is about Representative Adam Schiff's irrational hatred of President Trump or if he is just in thralldom to the Deep State.  Neither is a good thing.

But, this is just part of the Larger issues we face, but fits easily into the angst expressed by Columnist Rod Dreher at The American Conservative (16 March 2020):

The Germs Of August

In the column Mr Dreher looks to the future and sees our liberal political system (in the old sense) being superseded by something like China's authoritarian Social Credit System.  He sees the authoritarian actions in response to the Coronavirus continuing on long after the pandemic has receded.  Here is how it ends:

It will not end there, though.  The system will stay in place after the crisis has passed, and most Americans, traumatized by the pandemic’s destruction, will be happy with that. It will then be deployed to protect the “health and safety” of the body politic by monitoring political and religious dissidents.  The logic of what we have all seen on campuses — speakers shut down because their points of view supposedly threaten the health and safety of “vulnerable minorities” — is going to be deployed by the state against dissidents of the political and religious right.  The rhetoric of public health is going to be unassailable after this crisis passes — and the political right, having destroyed itself over its Trumpian response to the crisis, will be unable to stand up against it.

It’s coming, eventually.  But I also believe that the professor is right for the shorter term about the possibility of Trump seizing emergency powers.

Either way, the end of liberalism is upon us.  I don’t think any of us foresaw that it would come from a virus.  For that matter, most people on both the left and the right don’t even see how bad it is likely to get.  They still think we’re in normal time, but in truth, it’s August 1914.

I have friend who is a hardened Democrat.  He wrote today:

Renember he ignores science and denies facts.  Whether he has simply gotten the message or not, it still is historic the damage he has done to federal organizations due to his beliefs.  He cant obscure that fact.
Nancy passed a bipartisan bill.

He didn't mention how Speaker Pelosi♠ put a poison pill in the initial bill.♥  But, we are making political progress, and I am expecting we will have an Election on 3 November.  And, if whoever the Democrats pick wins, we will have a peaceful transition of government in January 2021.  This is a pandemic, not the end of democracy as we know it.  But we all have to fight for our God given "Rights (as Englishmen)" and our Constitution.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  AKA Nancy the Ripper.
♥  She had, buried in the bill, a repeal of the Hyde Amendment.

Disrupting Elections

For John, BLUF:  The moves still available to the Democrats to fight the election of President Trump to a second term are still numerous.  For sure they do not wish to put his reelection to the test.  Losing twice would be deeply embarrassing.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Rand Paul:  Election 'chaos' is goal of Democrats, 'they hate the president so much'

From The Washington Examiner, by Columnist Paul Bedard, 31 January 2020.

Here is the lede plus six:

President Trump’s legal team and his supporters on Capitol Hill are turning their attention to a potential, though still unlikely, scenario should the Senate surprise the public with a conviction on the two impeachment articles he faces.

The new focus is keeping him on 2020 primary and general-election ballots so that he can return to office if he’s given the boot — or impeached again this year, as some House Democrats are predicting.

While there is no precedent, officials are conferring with constitutional scholars to determine the president’s ballot rights, because one thing is clear, a close political Trump ally said:  “He’s going to run no matter what happens.”

In an interview, Republican Sen. Rand Paul said the potential ballot confusion was “not emphasized enough,” and he believed that it was one of the key reasons Democrats have pushed impeachment to the cliff.

Their goal, he said, was not protecting democracy, but ruining the GOP’s election chances.

“Do you think [Democratic impeachment manager] Adam Schiff is just doing this because he’s such a stand-up citizen?  Or do you think he cares about damaging people of the opposite political party?” Paul asked.

“Right now, Trump is the presumptive nominee.  The thing is, if convicted, he wouldn’t be allowed to run.  This isn’t about the 2016 election.  It’s not about potential malfeasance in office.  It’s about taking him off the ballot and there being chaos on the other side,” he added.

For judges, in the past, not every conviction resulted in being barred from running for Federal Office.  I give you Representative Alcee Hastings, Democrat of Florida. . He was impeached and removed from office (Federal Judge), but he is now back as a US Representative.  And voted, just a few short weeks ago, to Impeach the President of the United States.

Yes, knocking Donald John Trump off the ballot is the best way to prevent him from being in the White House this time next year.  Maybe his successor, current Vice President Mike Pence, would be replaced by Ms Hillary Clinton, the woman who, while winning a plurality of the popular vote, failed to win fifty percent plus 1.  Not very convincing.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Call to Revolution

For John, BLUF:  Language being using in the Impeachment Trial is intemperate.  Can people live up to that language?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Will Democrats Take Up Arms To Remove 'Dictator' Trump Or Are They All Talk?

From Town Hall, by Opinionator Kurt Schlichter Kurt, 27 January 2020.

Here is the lede plus three:

I want to know why you Democrats are such cowards that you have not yet launched another civil war to free America of the totalitarian nightmare of President Donald J. Trump.  I mean, if he’s truly Hitler 2:  Electric Boogeyman, then isn’t it your sacred duty to remove this cancer on our body politic with arms if necessary?  Look, I get that you Dems have a track record on insurrections designed to oppress the rights of Americans you feel superior to that is pretty poor (0-1) but come on, heroes of democracy, make your move!  Just sitting here in the midst of this crisis you keep whining about makes you look like sissies or lying piles of talking garbage.

Actually, both.

Your hero, Jerry Nadler, while on parole from the chocolate factory, told the Senate this about our elected president:  "Only his will goes.  He is a dictator.  This must not stand and that is another reason he must be removed from office."

A dictator?  Hey, that’s bad, right?  I mean, unless the dictator is a leftist – wasn’t Castro dreamy?  But since this is a threat to our democracy, because Trump is a non-leftist dictator, aren’t you guys morally obligated to take action and remove him?  It’s obvious that those treacherous treason-loving traitors of treachery, the Republican senators, won’t toss the guy who did nothing wrong out of office so you can start working on throwing Mike Pence out of office, likely for the high crime and misdemeanor of trying to make America into The Handmaid’s Tale?

I think we can give the Democrats a pass while the Senate is holding a trial for President Donald John Trump.  But, if there is acquittal, then what?  Should the Democrats not take to the streets?  A Dictator is a bad thing.  It is inimical to to our Republic.  Representative Nadler's words demand action.

On the other hand, what if he is convicted but not barred from running for office, a la Representative Alcee Hastings?  What then?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Impeachment Overstep

For John, BLUF:  As Detective Harry Callahan said, "A man has to know his limitations."  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Jonathan Turley:  Jerry Nadler Made A “Major Blunder” By Accusing Senate Republicans Of Engaging In A Cover-Up

From The Daily Caller, by ALLAHPUNDIT, 23 January 2020.

Here is the lede:

Turley’s right to note that Lisa Murkowski, a rare persuadable Republican, was annoyed at Nadler after his accusation on Tuesday night.  This morning we found out that another (theoretically) persuadable Republican, Susan Collins, was so irritated that she sent John Roberts a note demanding an intervention.

The House Managers seem full of themselves.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Dictator Argument

For John, BLUF:  The House Democrats don't trust the American Voters to do the right thing in November.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Trump a Dictator?

That is the question.

Here is the CNN take on House Manager Jerry Nadler's presentation to the Senators:

"He is a dictator.  This must not stand, and that is ... another reason he must be removed from office."  House manager Jerry Nadler closed out his remarks this afternoon with some of the most fiery language that's been heard so far directed at Pres. Trump. https://cnn.it/37BMFFy

The response on Twitter, by Mr Michael Harvey:

Would a “dictator” allow himself to be impeached on grounds he finds scurrilous.  Trump has routinely been subverted and undermined by his own subordinates.  This is so moronic.

As Professor Glenn Reynolds said at Instapundit:  "Indeed".

Does anyone remember The Night of the Long Knives?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Off to the Races

For John, BLUF:  I fear there will be long term trouble ahead.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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House Committee Votes Articles of Impeachment

Regards  —  Cliff

Types of Impeachment

For John, BLUF:  The situation in our Nation's Capitol is confusing, which suggests the players are themselves confused.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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As I listen to the Democrats in DC talk about impeaching President Trump, I have come to the conclusion there are three schools of thought, three different reasons for impeachment, which I call Type I, Type II and Type III.

1. "Nancy Pelosi"—President Trump endangers the National security of the Republic.
2. "Hillary Clinton"—President Trump is an illegitimate President and should be removed.
3. "Gerald Nadler"—President Trump's level of corruption cries out for punishment.

Can it be all three at once?  Of course.  But, it is unlikely.  More likely one of the above, or two other options, orthogonal to the regular way of thinking.

There is a Typve IV, which is Deep DNC, characterized by an effort to sink one Democratic Primary Candidate, to be benefit another, with the hope of also muddying up the likely Republican Candidate.

Then there is Type V, the Strikeback, in which the President implants something the Democrats find shiny, which eventually blows up in their face.

Regards  —  Cliff

Fear and Loathing

For John, BLUF:  I don't understand why the Democrats are going down the road of calling former Special Counsel Robert Mueller to testify before House Committees.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Ghost of Hunter Thompson Lurks over Mueller's Coming Testimony

From PJ Media, by Roger L Simon, 27 June 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

You don't have to exhume Dr. Hunter S. Thompson to explain the sudden turnabout that has led the previously silent Robert Mueller to accept subpoenas to testify in front of two congressional committees.  But it doesn't hurt.

Fear, as the good doctor famously said, and loathing.

I must admit that I was surprised that Representatives Nadler and Schiff want Mr Robert Mueller to testify about his time as Special Counsel.

Maybe it is because they are so invested in the Russian Conspiracy Theory that they can not see any other path.  Maybe it is because they are hoping that they can, as Committee Chairmen, control the conversation so as to prevent any adverse questions and corresponding answers, and thus score political points.  Maybe they are looking for a path to show that they haven't been obtuse all this time, as the DOJ IG Report comes out and U.S. Attorney John Durham delivers his Report.  Of course it is possible they are just thick.

The best line of the article was about a member of Special Counsel Mueller's team:

That group included the highly-controversial Andrew Weismann of the Enron scandal and more.  Not exactly anyone's idea of Atticus Finch.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff