Politics 2023

[Rusty Edge]

And why weren't impeachment proceedings the next order of business after the certification of the election?

[Buster's Uncle]

No integrity or no guts, depending on who.

[Trenacker]

I assume it must be very difficult to obtain evidence of organized insurrection. And our entire system of government is designed for that. Look at how difficult it has been to use [Sleezebag]’s public statements to date to affix legal culpability for things like the Charlottesville riot.

So far, I think [Sleezebag] is in the biggest political trouble of his life. Matt Gaetz’s explicit call for violence at the Iowa State Fair, with [Sleezebag] behind him, and the allegation that [Sleezebag] told Pence he was “too honest”—implying that [Sleezebag] wanted him to do something [Sleezebag] knew was dishonest—reinforce my impressions here.

I think the Secret Service had no idea what to do with [Sleezebag], who seems to have believed deeply (or known explicitly) that the armed men at the Capitol were no threat to him.

The Republican Congress is full of craven Quislings who have sacrificed all principle to try to ride the political tiger. Some—MTG, Tuberville, Boebert, Gaetz—are True Believers™ who are not possessed of the moral fiber or intellectual capacity to understand what they are doing is wrong. Others—Vance, Graham, McCarthy—are simply addicted to the relevance that comes with serving as tribunes for a movement that has gripped so many of their countrymen. But the dark secret is that all it takes to achieve those stratospheric highs is a complete willingness to dupe people who deserve better. And I think some of them retreat into the Fox News bubble so that they can hide from disconfirmatory information, the better to convince themselves what they are doing isn’t illegitimate.

The real problem is that there is no desire for action from Republican voters. They are far more worried about what Joe Biden might do than with what [Sleezebag] has done because Fox News has editorial control over the information they receive. They don’t see [Sleezebag]’s misdeeds. They don’t hear his missteps and lies and nonsense. They don’t learn about the fullness of their own side’s misdeeds. They don’t know who they’re in bed with. And they’re fed incredible misinformation about everything from Black Lives Matter to the LGBTQ+ community. Think about how many of them defense the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” as this misunderstood effort to make education “age-appropriate.” I still see Republicans insist that Democrats would like the bill if only they would read it, even though statements from the bill’s sponsors, including DeSantis, make clear it is intended to discriminate, and even though its practical consequences have been to create a chilled teaching environment in classrooms where there was never a problem in the first place.

[Buster's Uncle]

Always a problem, that last, when outsiders try to "reform" the -admittedly incompetent- educational system.  It ends badly every time.

Hey!  Kids! Leave those teachers alone!

[Geo]

Hey! Putin! Leaves those 'kraines alone!

[Rusty Edge]

Well, we got here eventually.

Fulton County Georgia just got 10 out of 10 indictments from the grand jury in the Cheeto Mussolini RICO case.

That would include [Sleezebag] because he was the beneficiary of said criminal conspiracy. Hopefully it includes Sen. Graham as well. The contents aren't yet public.

What that means is that if [Sleezebag] were convicted of even one charge ( and he is on tape soliciting a public official, and on record in social media threatening Georgia jurors) he would face a mandatory minimum of 5 years, and a maximum of 20. The judge must sentence a minimum of 3 years confinement and 2 years probation. Beyond that, the President cannot pardon him for a state charge. The gov. of Georgia cannot pardon a prisoner. The state parole board cannot pardon a prisoner until they have both 1) served their full sentence, and 2) kept their nose clean for 5 years afterwards. 

[Rusty Edge]

Agreed Geo.

[Rusty Edge]

So [Sleezebag] and 18 co-conspirators ( Mark Meadows and many of [Sleezebag]'s attorneys) are facing 41 charges.
I didn't hear Lindsey's name as a defendant, but I understand he was called as a witness before the grand jury. I figure he is smart enough to get on the right side of this.

[Rusty Edge]

A Georgia racketeering charge is problematic for [Sleezebag] in another way.
To qualify for cash bail, the burden of proof is on his attorneys to convince the judge that he won't threaten a judge, juror, or witness. Good luck with that.

[Rusty Edge]

While being POTUS is the hardest job in the world, the requirements are so simple that even a short-fingered vulgarian should be able to understand them-

1)Protect the Constitution of the United States.
2)Preserve the Constitution of the United States.
3)Defend the Constitution of the United States.

If you're one of those guys like Nixon who aren't satisfied with being the most powerful person in the world, or the length of your term, here are some additional rules, which are pretty simple.

1)Don't crime.
2)Don't crime on tape.
3)When you do crime on tape, exercise your right to remain silent.

[Unorthodox]

Continually dumbfounded by the blinders on his followers. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Continually.

Leave out everything he's done since 2014, and you still got the worst kind of attention-hungry celebrity; a drag on the rotation of the planet, and a joke.

Qualified to be president?  Not qualified to volunteer at the animal shelter.  Not passing the rather modest requirements to pose as an adult.

[Rusty Edge]

I can totally understand how a guy like FDR or JFK would draw a cult following and potentially become a dictator.. or an orator like Obama.

But this guy?

Speaking of the former guy... my wife is tired of me saying insanity is his best defense.

* Looked directly at a solar eclipse.
*Advocated taking disinfectant internally to cure Covid.
* Claimed that the Montreal dementia test proved he was a genius- then recited the wrong answers to the questions.
* Motivated psychiatric professionals to break protocol and write a book about his psychopathy.
* Can declassify documents with his mind.
[EDIT to add afterthoughts]
* Advocated using nukes against hurricanes [/EDIT]

I think there's enough there for a few jurors to find reasonable doubt about his sanity.

[Unorthodox]

The classified stuff is ESPECIALLY mind boggling for me with the blinders people. 

[Buster's Uncle]

You being in a job position that underlines how seriously that is taken, and IIRC, the guy at the desk across from you being a tankie for the Pig...