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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
A What the Fuck Just Happened Today? preview:
Trump named the former head of the Border Patrol as the new director of ICE. Mark Morgan is a former FBI agent who served as head of the Border Patrol during the final months of the Obama administration. He supports Trump's call for a border wall, Trump's decision to declare a national emergency to secure funding for the wall, and the administration's proposal to take migrants caught crossing the border and drop them off in sanctuary cities. Morgan's appointment will require confirmation from the Senate. (NPR)
Now that we have members of the Executive actually breaking the law on his command, I'm less sure about that.
I guess this week's lesson is going to be "don't play chicken with Congress".
Little bit premature lesson to take away considering the game's still going on and Congress has plenty of time to blink.
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.They already blinked. That happened on Thursday when they tucked their tails between their legs and offered Barr a new updated deadline for acquiescence.
This week's lesson is that House Democrats are terrified of taking the necessary steps to counter Trump. They're all but begging the Trump Administration for an excuse to let it slide.
I predict a token gesture from the Department of Justice that doesn't actually answer anything but allows the House to say, "He cooperated! Nothing more to see here."
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.In fact that is actually the nature of the request. They wanted Barr to testify before them, not confess he obstructed justice, just mumble a bunch of answers to show they took things seriously.
Barr refused.
The people on the backfoot here are the Democrats not Trump's Mouth of Sauron.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.This is how democracy falls, such as it was. Not with a bang, but with a "Kiss my ass!"
Never seen a bluer sky
Yeah, I can feel it reaching out and
moving closer
There's something 'bout blue
Asked myself what it's all for
You know the funny thing about it
I couldn't answer
No, I couldn't answer
Things have turned a deeper shade of blue
And images that might be real may be illusion
Keep flashing off and on...
Edited by Oruka on May 6th 2019 at 11:38:44 AM
I say subpoena barr, then hold him in contempt, if/when he doesn’t show up.
It’s just good practice, and closes any loose ends that could come up in a potential court challege, by showing that The House has exuasted every other avenue to get him to testify willingly.
Edited by megaeliz on May 6th 2019 at 2:49:43 PM
It's not like this hasn't been years in the making. Institutionalized distrust in the government by the media, young people don't get involved, even the democrat politicians have a large number of old people who don't want to "poke the hornet's nest" when the hornets are already lashing out, and in a lot of cases, we just don't have the youth rising up to replace the party's old-fashioned members and their ways.
My musician pageYes, people keep acting like the Democrats would be jumping the gun when they've fallen behind. The problem isn't that he might break the law.
The fact is he's broken the law, twice, and the Democrats REALLY don't want to arrest him.
This is Trump strangling a baby on Wallstreet like he claimed he could.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on May 6th 2019 at 11:55:01 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Part of it is Realpolitik in action - the Democrats don't want to put themselves in a position where the attack ads of "They're busy playing politics instead of governing!" write themselves, as impeachment - as mentioned in this thread before - is an inherently political act, rather than a legal one. And with Fox News pumping out propaganda 24/7, with CNN et. al. willing to play into the False Equivalence game in the name of better ratings, it's worth getting nervous about.
That said, they absolutely have to pull the trigger on this one. And hopefully, they can get at least a token Republican or two to jump ship by pointing out that, if this shit is allowed to stand, what happens when a Democrat pulls the same thing? They'll be able to point to this event as concrete precedence that they have the right to do so, which weakens any and all legal arguments that Congress puts forth at that time.
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"Unless they actually back off, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt until Wednesday. They are holding the Attorney General of the United States in Contempt of Congress, the last thing you want is a breach in legal procedure here.
Edited by Rationalinsanity on May 6th 2019 at 4:17:45 PM
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.Seeing as how the vote IS going to be held, I'm going to be interested in which democratic reps vote against holding Barr in contempt.
My musician pageYeah, this sort of thing is we you cross the t's and dot the ... lowercase j's
Edited by sgamer82 on May 6th 2019 at 1:21:26 PM
The problem is one that I think even some posters here forget: choosing NOT to impeach is also an inherently political act. If you choose not to enforce the law that you are elected to enforce then you should pay the penalty that the person you let go does not face. Letting Trump and his cronies get away with their crimes makes them accessories.
The Democrats confused by their base being disgusted with them is on them not the disgustees.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on May 6th 2019 at 12:22:13 PM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Which is why I said the second part - that as much as they might not want to for fear of political repercussions, at this point they have to. I could (unfortunately) easily picture them moving the vote until after Mueller's testimony, though, to help insure they've got a final nail for that coffin, rather than a prybar that foists it open.
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
Agreed.
A reminder that John N. Mitchell and Richard Kleindienst show that this isn't unprecedented legally.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on May 6th 2019 at 12:26:37 PM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.As an aside:
That was two years ago. I'm talking about today, when people are violating Congressional subpoenas because the White House asked them to.
Things are worse today than they were two years ago, as is generally the case when sliding down the slippery slope. This is in part because the people with half a conscience in the Executive have been steadily replaced by people without.
Edited by TobiasDrake on May 6th 2019 at 1:29:51 PM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.

They were, but that was before today actually came.
EDIT: Pagetopper
Edited by Reflextion on May 6th 2019 at 1:01:09 PM
Someone did tell me life was going to be this way.