Trump Responds to House Managers

For John, BLUF:  I was impressed that the now Citizen Trump was able to swiftly present a defense approach after having parted ways with his previous defense team, just before the weekend.  The trial is set to begin Tuesday, 9 February.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Trump Eviscerates Democrats' Impeachment Charges

From PJ Media, by Reporter Tyler O'Neil, 2 February 2021.

Here is the lede plus three:

On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump’s lawyers Bruce L. Castor Jr., and David Schoen released Trump’s answer to the Democrats’ article of impeachment accusing him of “incitement of insurrection.”  Trump’s response breaks the Democrats’ impeachment article into eight separate allegations and responds to each claim.  In a nutshell, the former president argues that it is unconstitutional for the Senate to remove a president when he has already left office and that he is innocent of the Democrats’ charges.

Trump asks the Senate to “dismiss Article I:  Incitement of Insurrection against him as moot, and thus in violation of the Constitution, because the Senate lacks jurisdiction to remove from office a man who does not hold office.  In the alternative, the 45th President respectfully requests the Senate acquit him on the merits of the allegations raised in the article of impeachment.”

The Senate already voted to take up the impeachment, with five Republican senators joining 50 Democratic senators in holding the matter constitutional.  However, 45 Republican senators voted not to hold the trial, given constitutional concerns.  This vote signified that the Senate is not likely to convict Trump.

The former president makes a few extremely salient arguments against the Democrats’ impeachment article.  In addition to the claim that the Senate cannot convict a former president on impeachment, Trump argues that the Democrats violated his free speech and due process rights in rushing to impeach him and that the article of impeachment is deceptively drafted in an unfair manner.  Trump also claims that disqualifying him from office would constitute a “bill of attainder,” which has been broadly interpreted to mean a legislative act against a class of people that inflicts punishment on them without a judicial trial.

It is obvious that the House Democratic Party Leadership jumped to a conclusion, without taking the time to conduct even a cursory investigation.

My question is if this upcoming trial will just be a blot on our record as a nation, or if it will be a prescedent for a more Caudillo like form of government?

Regards  —  Cliff

Wokeness Across the World

For John, BLUF:  The problem with immigrants is they bring the horrors from their home nations with them and react to them when they see the early indicators of same here in the US.  This is bad for Democrats.  Democrats should oppose immigration, except from Commonwealth Nations.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Wokeism Is Not Cool, Chinese People Know Too Well

From The Epoch Times, from Writer Jean Chen, 26 January 2021.

Here is the lede plus five:

Let’s begin with a true story that happened in China.

Mr. Zhang (an alias) was my father’s high school English teacher in the 1960s.  Twenty years before that, he worked as an interpreter for American liaison officers in China during WWII.  He and his wife were from rich families.  After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took power, they lived a low-profile life in order to avoid troubles that might arise because of their family backgrounds and his experience working with Americans.

In 1966, the Cultural Revolution began.  Young people were encouraged to accuse, turn in, or even beat up their parents to prove their revolutionary devotion, or to break away from their unfavorable family backgrounds.  Those who dared to do that were considered heroes.

Mr. Zhang’s teenage daughter, Ling (an alias), a classmate of my father, put up a poster accusing her parents of dancing the waltz and having capitalist thoughts.  This ignited a ferocious campaign against her father.  Posters attacking him were everywhere, calling him a “monster.”  In front of mass rallies, half of his hair was shaved.  With a big and heavy board hanging on his neck with his name crossed out with red ink, he was beaten, spat on, and cursed at.

As a result, Mr. Zhang’s son went insane and the whole family suffered tremendously.  Ling lived her life with immense guilt.  Two years ago, before her death from cancer, her parents came to visit her.  However, she kept her eyes closed, pretending to be asleep because she didn’t dare look at them.

This is just one of millions of sad stories that happened in China.  Families torn apart, friends betraying friends, teachers beaten to death by students….

Respect for the opinions of others is part of what free speech is about.

On the other hand, attacking people for their opinions, as opposed to reasoning with them, respectfully presenting your own opinion, is tyranny.

Regards  —  Cliff

Fixing Things the Wrong Way

For John, BLUF:  It seems a lot of folks think that they can stamp their foot and things will just happen.  Perhaps they are correct, but it seems like a bad precedent.  Free People should negotiate.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Armed Antifa Occupy Hotel, Shout at Cops:  'Pigs in a Blanket, Fry 'Em Like Bacon'

From PJ Media, by Reporter tyler O'neil, 1 February 2021, 10:43 AM ET.

Here is the lede plus three:

On Sunday, a group of homelessness activists who dressed up in antifa-style black bloc, armed with batons and knives, entered the lobby of the Red Lion Hotel in Olympia, Wash., demanding the hotel open rooms for homeless people.  Antifa agitators allegedly assaulted an employee while other employees hid in a basement room for more than six hours.  The police eventually secured the hotel, but in the skirmish, agitators chanted, “Pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon,” a death threat against cops.

Hotel employees first called the cops at about 11 a.m. Sunday.  The staff said a “mob of people wearing black” armed with hatchets, batons, and knives had entered the lobby and demanded the hotel open rooms to them, KIRO7 reported.  The antifa agitators wore gas masks, helmets, and goggles, apparently preparing for a battle.

The antifa agitators, organized with the group Oly Housing Now, occupied the hotel after advocates had booked 17 rooms and demanded that Thurston County continue to pay for the room with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding.

The Olympia Police Department (OPD) estimated about 45 antifa agitators stormed the hotel, both inside and outside the building.  After staff hunkered down in the basement for hours, police finally evacuated them from the building, the city announced.

I have my hand cupped to my ear, but I can not seem to hear any Democratic Party members condemning this action, this kind of action.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Fighting Back Against Wokism

For John, BLUF:  The author of this piece is former NYT Editor Bari Weiss.  She offers us 10 ways to fight woke culture, which I leave to you to look up at the URL.  I do provide her opening argument.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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10 ways to fight back against woke culture

From The New York Post, by Writer Bari Weiss, 31 January 2021, 10:05pm.

Here is the lede plus four:

I realize the faddish thing to say these days is that we live in the worst, most broken and backward country in the world and maybe in the history of civilization.  It’s utter nonsense.

I have a few basic litmus tests in my own life:  Can I wear a tank top in public?  Can I walk down the street holding the hand of my partner, a (beautiful) woman, in many places in America without getting a second glance?  Can I wear a Jewish star without fear?

I do not take those things for granted.  I know very well that in many other places, the answers would be different, and my life wouldn’t be possible at all.

America is imperfect.  (Does it even need to be said?)  There is bigotry toward blacks and gays and Jews and immigrants; there is intense polarization; political violence is becoming more regular; elected representatives believe conspiracy theories.  All true here as in many other countries being torn apart by the dislocations of the 21st century.

But there is no gulag in America.  There are no laws permitting honor killings.  There is no formal social credit system of the kind that exists right now in China.  By any measure, we have achieved incredible progress and enjoy extraordinary freedoms.  And yet people aren’t acting that way.  They are acting, increasingly, like subjects in a totalitarian country.

No gulag, no sanctioned honor killings, no social credit system.  Considering what is happening in the rest of the world, life in these United States is pretty good.  Not perfect.  But, relatively, pretty good.

The problem is we could lose it all if we don't stand up to the tyranny of the woke left, the politically correct, who would suppress our liberal freedoms, such as free speech and an open economy.  We don't need to fight, but we do need to stand fast, and support others who are standing fast and being canceled, being fired, being beaten up in mostly peaceful demoonstrations.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Teaching Failure

For John, BLUF:  It appears the schools that educated the members of the San Francisco School Board failed, miserably.  How else to explain their meeting where they de-named 44 schools?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Don’t care much about history

Here is the sub-headline:

From the Blog Linking and Thinking on Education, by Ms Joanne Jacobs, 1 February 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

In a process marked by “ignorance and incompetence,” San Francisco’s school board voted to rename 44 schools, ratifying historical errors and angering parents of “Remote School 1, Remote School 2 and so on,” writes Joe Eskenazi in Mission Local.

The board, which is in no rush to reopen schools, spent five seconds confirming the cancelation of “Abraham Lincoln.”  The Great Emancipator isn’t fit to have a school named after him because he supported the transcontinental railroad and the Homestead Act, which opened up the West for settlement, which displaced indigenous peoples.

The part I don't get is why they are living in San Francisco, California, if President Abraham Lincoln was so in the wrong for opening up the West.  Maybe they have the Cape Horn exemption.

This action by the San Francisco School Board is an act of woke madness.

Here is a good exit quote from the Blog:

The school Board did not listen to historians because they are way too busy not listening to scientists telling them that it is now safe to reopen schools with the due cautionary measures in place.  And of course, being so busy not listening they cannot possibly be expected to see that they are shepherding a generations of young San Franciscans into isolation, depression and disengagement from learning.

Maybe they are all science denying Republicans.  That is all I can figure.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Whither Portland

For John, BLUF:  I get the need to fix homelessness, which requires jobs, housing and social mores, as well as mental health care.  This will require elected leadership, which, so far, appears to be absent.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Death Of A City:  The Portland Story?

From Forbes, by Senior Contributor Bill Coner ly, 28 January 2021, 07:30am EST.

Here is the lede plus three:

How long does it take for a city to die?  Downtowns across the country have emptied due to the pandemic, causing many stores and restaurants to close.  Suburbs are doing much better, in many cases hardly touched by the recession.  But in Portland, Oregon, continued violence and vandalism have combined with high housing costs, homelessness and poor community leadership to raise the question:  how long before this city dies?

Portland has been doing well for years, and current problems are not certain to end the city’s life.

But without significant change, decline is certain. In many other cities, leaders stepped up to the challenge and saved their cities. That will probably happen in Portland, but there are few signs of change at this point.

Cities can die. Death can be sudden, as with Pompei, or gradual, as with the Mayan city of Tikal and the Jordanian city of Petra.  The United States abounds with ghost towns in the mining country as well as communities left behind by economic change.  Down the road from Portland are a number of mill towns that have emptied out.

The Marxists trying to impose their view of how society should operate are not bringing about useful change, but are making life miserable for those they come in contact with.

We, as Americans, need to unite and work together for a better society, one based on reality and an understanding of economics and social interaction.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Making Trump Shrink

For John, BLUF:  Every effort to denigrate Former President Trump seems to backfire.  One would think that President Trump had thwarted some Grand Democratic Party design.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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"But Trump must never have an official presidential library, and Congress should move quickly to make sure he doesn’t."

Here is the sub-headline:

Writes WaPo art and architecture critic Philip Kennicott.

From The Althouse Blog, by Professor Ann Althouse, 28 January 2021

Here is the lede plus one:

The case of Trump is exceptional by any standard, and he should be afforded no discretion over his records or any privilege to extend the amount of time before the public can see them.  Trump’s 2017 requirement that the National Archives withhold access to his materials until 2033 should be abrogated, and Congress should begin an extraordinary effort to recover as much of his communications legacy as possible, even material that wasn’t deemed “presidential.”

Trump’s presidency mixed public and private interests in a way that was unprecedented in modern American history, so his decisions on these matters can’t be trusted.  He incited an insurrection, and many of the people who may have participated in that, including members of Congress, are still actively engaged in public life.  The need to know who they are and what they did isn’t just a matter for the FBI, the Justice Department and prosecutors....

I am wondering when the Democratic Party is going to come up with the idea of keeping Former President Trump at sea all the time, transferring him from ship to ship, so he never comes inside the six mile limit?  Thus, they can make him a man without a country.

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff