I feel like taking the day off tomorrow and getting popcorn for the Mueller Show
Think it'll be worth it? Taking a day off would be worth it....
=D
You probably don't work, so everyday is an off day for you
shareI'm at work right now.
Would you like to see my professional photography networking I'm doing? The most recent photo at top left is the building I'm in right now. I took it over the weekend.
I bet you'd like what I'm doing:
https://www.instagram.com/johndavidferenz/
That's me. I don't hide. I was already a minor public figure in the right realms, and since that's taking off, it was time to develop it more publicly.
I hope you enjoy glancing at the link ;)
HOW DARE YOU STEAL MY IDENTITY! How did you find my profile? Now you claim it as yours? HAX!!
In any case, it'll be a nothing burger with the hearing tomorrow. He'll probably bring a hardcover copy of his report so he can just reiterate to the idiots that didn't bother reading the report. Maybe he'll clarify it a bit more but it won't be in a way that will dispel or confirm anything more than he's already written. I'm guessing once the left get the same stuff he's already said, they'll maybe REEEE and just finally do the impeachment thing which Pelosi has been holding off for so long.
I'm in agreement with you, except I'm more pessimistic about Pelosi than you are. She has no intention of impeaching. She's been slow walking oversight because she knows investigations might uncover findings that would ratchet up the pressure on her to impeach and she doesn't want that.
shareDeep down I still trust Pelosi, and what her game plan is. I'm not bothered by her not wanting to impeach since it will never gain traction in the Senate, though I think it's important in a historical sense for the Dems to go down in history as voting for his impeachment.
shareThe House could vote on Articles of Impeachment and then sit on them without transmitting them to the Senate. That would prevent a Senate acquittal while still making the political statement loud and clear.
Pelosi's game plan is also loud and clear, she's dead set against impeachment. She's my Rep and I've been infuriated by her "leadership". She should have been pounding the press every day from Day 1 the Report was released that the obstruction case is a slam dunk, echoing the 1000+ former federal prosecutors from both parties who wrote an open letter saying so. Her attention should have been laser focused on educating the public on potential Trump crimes outlined in Volume One of the Report detailing evidence of bribery, aiding/abetting, and money laundering by him and his aides. Instead she spends most of her time attacking Dems and appeasing Republicans?!? That's inexcusable. I've heard from colleagues in districts where they've consulted their Reps familiar with her thinking. She believes she's protecting her House majorities in 2020 by protecting moderate Dems who won 2018 in districts Trump won in '16. What she doesn't seem to get is the #1 reason cited by exit polling the record turnout in 2018 was to check Trump, not just in liberal districts but swing districts in Ohio, Penn, and around the country Trump won in '16.
What matters most is an Impeachment Inquiry more than Articles of Impeachment themselves. This would put the unprecedented stonewalling of oversight by this administration on a fast track in the courts. Monday the full DC federal appeals court declined to take up an appeal of an April ruling against Dems trying to get the grand jury material Barr is withholding from congress. The ruling was that judges could not release grand jury materials for reasons other than those spelled out in the grand jury secrecy law. What would allow them to get those materials is an impeachment inquiry as established by precedent in Watergate. It was an inquiry that was given access to all the Watergate grand jury materials because it was an impeachment committee. The Senate was initially DENIED access to the Nixon tapes by the courts, but those same tapes were handed over as part of the grand jury materials to the impeachment committee when the House opened an inquiry. Could Barr be shielding a similar smoking gun in these Mueller grand jury materials? I'd say it's quite possible, even likely, else why has he been so fiercely refusing congress access? Pelosi is blowing it by not opening an impeachment inquiry to obtain that material.
As it stands, it's obvious Trump and Barr are petrified Mueller might let something slip from that grand jury material. This was laid bare by Barr's last minute official letter to Mueller yesterday to warn him not to stray from anything said in the public part of the report. But I don't think Mueller will, he's too by-the-book. Fear of disclosing more than was publicly released is also why DoJ barred two Mueller prosecutors from testifying, forcing them to cancel their scheduled appearances before congress. The only way Dems can get that material is by forcing Barr's hand in court by opening an impeachment inquiry. It would also give them the upper hand to compel public testimony from Mueller's prosecutors along with uncooperative witnesses like McGahn who was a huge fact witness to Trump crimes in Mueller's Report but refused to testify. But Pelosi is too chickenshit over the 'I' word to do her constitutional duty by providing a proper check on this president with the powers afforded her by opening an inquiry. I'm so pissed.
Glad I finally saw this post. Wow...this makes me even more pissed with her myself.
I'm convinced they're going to blow it in 2020 just like they did in 2016 and we'll be treated to yet another 4 years of that fat ba$tard. Jesus Christ...another 5 years of that twitter whining and ugly, fat, orange face all over the news...
I fear the same. The American constitutional system is failing on almost every level. The system isn't even strong enough to withstand one Trump term. Should he win re-election, game over. History will marvel at just how fragile the American experiment in democracy was by just how quickly it devoured itself. Trump will see the win as validation to do whatever the fuck he wants. And who will stop him? No one.
shareHow far do you think he would go? Do you think he'd find some way to usurp the system and become a dictator? I mean--he practically is already, but do you think he'd find a way to stay on longer than two terms?
At his age, I'm amazed the fat fck hasn't stroked out or had a heart attack with his seemingly 100%-fast food based diet but it does make you wonder how long the stupid fck could go on living. He rages constantly, looks increasingly red in the face and seems to be growing fatter. Makes you wonder how much longer he'd even last.
He'll go as far as his compliant stooges will carry him. How many times have we read some variation of "Trump doubles down" in the headlines? Even when the boat is pointed squarely at the rocks, he has only one response in his repertoire: all ahead full!
Have you seen the latest how he's replacing DNI (overall head of the nation’s sprawling intelligence community) Dan Coates? Coates got shit canned after doing the job on its own terms rather than as personal service to Trump. He repeatedly clashed with Trump over Russia, North Korea, and other areas where he didn't reflexively toe the Trump line. More recently he appears to have resisted Trump's decision to give Barr carte blanche to peak into the work of the intel community looking for "deep state" disloyalty to Trump.
He's tapped his diehard loyalist Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) to replace him. This guy's been in the House barely over 4 years and has little to no relevant experience for the job. His only qualification was being a fierce critic of the Mueller probe and a strong advocate for cleaning house and investigating Clinton. He was publicly auditioning for this position last week when he went on a rant against Mueller in the hearings to suck up to Trump and prove what a loyal toady he would be.
What this means more specifically is that intel and law enforcement apparatuses of the national government will now be wired for bad acts going into the pivotal 2020 election. With Ratcliffe and Barr in place there won’t be any leadership or even institutional obstacle to whatever kinds of purges Trump wants to push or to generating scandals about political opponents and covering up his own. This is a big reason to worry about more replays of 2016, more Devin Nunes type Deep State escapades now that we'll have a Nunes type stooge actually calling the shots over all of US intelligence.
I've noticed that pattern with Trump replacing a lot of high-level positions with little peon yes-men with little-to-no prior experience with the aspects of the position and we all know why: because they're little peon yes-men who won't say no to him.
This is scary. I mean--this is a nightmare scenario. Look at how...FLIMSY our government's checks and balances are! Seriously, this is scary. It only furthers what we've all known deep down all along: Our freedoms here are an illusion. We're being controlled like a dictatorship--they just try to make us feel as if we're not. Trump is the first one to come along who isn't even willing to pretend we're a free nation.
While I no longer subscribe to the bible, I have to say...if selling your soul to the devil was possible, Trump did it long ago. Nothing else explains how this old, fat, hate-filled, greedy, orange blob can keep going how he's going without keeling over dead from a heart attack or stroke. Seriously--just where the fck does this guy get his energy? He's OLD! He's unhealthy! He eats worse than a teenager! He drinks 12 diet cokes a day! I've never seen another man his age and THAT body type act like he does. IF there is a devil, Trump sold his soul to him long ago.
Again, while I don't put any stock in the bible, I can't help but state this: there are a lot of scary parallels between the antichrist and Trump.
Anyway, I'm not sure if I fully obtained your answer there. You've explained how it COULD happen but my question to you is a personal one: Do YOU personally think Trump will reign in a dictatorship in our country and find a way to stay on longer than two terms? You're probably the one person I'd want to know this answer the most from. What do YOU think is going to happen in 2020 and beyond? You've been right about most of the things you've said so far so I'd like to hear your perspective.
It's a terrifying question to contemplate. Every time I think there's no way it could happen he'll say something that throws a wrench in my thinking. Just last week he told a TPUSA young conservative gathering "Article 2 allows me to do whatever I want". He's referring to Article 2 in the Constitution which he believes grants him broad powers to do whatever he wants. We both know Trump is too illiterate to have ever read the Constitution. It's obvious he's repeating what Barr told him about the fringe Unitary Executive legal theory championed by neo-fascists like Barr. He's whispering these false reassurances in Trump's ear about how Article 2 in the Constitution spells out that a president sits above the law and grants him broad powers to do whatever he wants (in Barr's fringe interpretation) and therefore cannot obstruct justice. In so doing, Barr is nurturing and enabling Trump's worst instincts!!! Because of course Trump expands that to contemplate anything because the fiend knows no boundaries.
So lets take it one step at a time. Could Russians engineer Trump's re-election and Republican majorities in congress in 2020? They'd have to. Trump is deeply unpopular and could not win fairly in my opinion. But it's a foregone conclusion MoscowMitch, Herr Barr, and DNI Ratliffe would welcome Russian interference to rig 2020 for them. Putin has certainly forwarded to Trump a litany of schemes to accomplish this outcome. They even manage to meet 2-3 times a year in private, everything off the record, to discuss such matters. Trump has already said he welcomes foreign assistance. He’ll get it, at no penalty. Just like the last election, ALSO AT NO PENALTY, Russia penetrated Florida’s election system on a massive scale encompassing what is now understood to be almost every county. State officials were oblivious. So yes.
Could Trump really get a GOP congress to pass legislation to abolish presidential term limits? It would really come down to this.
I guess I just don't understand HOW these things can happen even WITH corrupt officials in play. I mean--it was PROVEN that Russia meddled with the 2016 elections and it was PROVEN they're still infiltrating us...
...HOW can this just slide by with seemingly NOTHING being done about it and why don't more Americans seem to CARE that a foreign enemy power is infiltrating us? I mean--it sounds ridiculous even asking this question, really. I mean--I basically feel like I'm living the in the Twilight Zone: where all this horrific sh!t is happening all around me and all I'm seeing is "Eh, whatever" from so many around me.
I mean--I don't care what party people are a part of--how can this not be raising massive alarm bells all over when we have a president and AG seemingly allied and usurping our entire system? We're watching the very structure and stability of our free government collapsing before us and no one is trying to do anything to stop it.
Clearly, our checks and balances system is SH!T if Donald and his AG can just plow over every single facet of it with ZERO consequences.
Just doesn't make sense to me. If it was proven that Russia has infiltrated us then there should be SOME sort of measure in place that supersedes any one person who doesn't want to do anything about it...but it seems like there isn't.
How did we get so damn lost? And we ARE lost. We're living in an era where MILLIONS--not thousands but MILLIONS--of average Americans are shrugging their shoulders at the concept of our basic freedoms being at risk, championing the thought of impending dictatorship, and openly embracing the return of NAZI practices--even going so far as to call it "the work of God" in the process.
That's why I said it feels like the Twilight Zone. It's actually frightening to see just how truly flimsy our system of government is and how seemingly easy it is for a corrupt man to gather more power. And his recent talk about "reigning in the intelligence agencies" scares the fcking hell out of me. I feel like Donald is infiltrating every single portion of our government, one agency at a time, and installing his cronies/yes-men into them. That's bad. VERY bad.
I have to be honest...if Trump wins a second term, I'm not sure our government will ever be the same again. I feel like it's Game Over if he's re-elected. Maybe I'm being too pessimistic but then again...maybe I'm not.
All I can tell you is this: I'm not a political person. All my life I ignored politics. Didn't care for them. Didn't talk about them. Didn't concern myself with them. Donald's election changed all that. Donald's election caught my attention. Now I'm scared. Now I feel like just about anything is possible at this point and none of it is good. Now I feel like that alternate 1985 reality from Back to the Future 2 could be a prophetic look at America in a Trumpian future. Well, maybe not during Trump's dictatorial reign, but I feel that we'll look like that one day after the damage Trump leaves us.
Rome was sacked in an afternoon friend. How did citizens of a proud, 500 year empire no longer find it worth defending and just give up without a fight? Lots of variables as to why it happened historians have been trying to explain ever since. If we are really in the twilight of a two century experiment in American democracy, I'd say the same applies here. There's no one easy answer. Only a confluence of factors can explain the unfolding tragedy of why our elected leaders are unwilling to defend the democratic institutions they were elected to serve.
Our founding document has been a source for global emulation; some Latin American countries even copied the US Constitution word for word to their own. Yet many didn't last before devolving into tyranny. Most recently Egypt post-revolution, their experiment in constitutional governance in 2012 lasted but one year before their elected president was overthrown in a coup backed by popular support. They've been ruled by military junta ever since. The hard lesson being the Constitution is only a piece of paper. It requires an educated public that understand and believe in checks and balances and a lot of hard work over a long time to build even America's highly imperfect standards of public integrity. We're seeing how quickly it can all be torn down when electing bad faith actors like McConnell, Trump, and Pelosi who care more about maintaining their power than protecting democracy.
I will say I find it very hard to see how even a corrupt GOP congress would vote to remove presidential term limits. That would require they dispel any pretense of democracy and embrace Trump as a lifelong president. He'd need much more popular support before I can see that happening. But Trump has made the same Faustian bargain faced by every elected wannabe tyrant who abuses power. They find they need to cling to power to avoid facing justice for their crimes. Even if he's deposed our institutions of gov have been badly damaged, maybe irrevocably.
That’s a scary scenario.
shareHell yes, it is.
That a$$hole once tried to revoke a naturalized US citizen's citizenship. Didn't happen. Why? Because it's...uh...UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
My wife is naturalized. I could definitely see that a$$hole in a nightmare scenario where he has absolute power somehow undoing all citizenship of any immigrants, revoking all green cards, etc.
If that scenario ever came I'd be dead because I would fight to the last breath if his blacksuits ever came to my door, trying to remove my wife.
So many people scoffed in the beginning when people mentioned all the nightmare scenarios of Trump and, not only have many of them come to pass, but there are very strong indicators that he may eventually get his way on many matter. Even the psycho's border wall is finally coming to fruition as he somehow (in an unprecedented event) managed to WIN his bid to maneuver those funds. The a$$hole is on a warpath and seemingly unstoppable. He's old, fat and red in the face but somehow doesn't keel over--he just keeps going.
Our country's state of affairs feels like a very bad B-movie these days, you know?
If that nightmare scenario ever came true his wife, in-laws and first wife would be the first group to go.
shareDoubt it. By all means, Melania should have already been deported as her immigration here became illegal at a certain point in time but she was given a free pass.
Donald is nothing if not a hypocrite.
It's possible there is a code here... Anyone Trump insults and attacks may secretly be in league with him.
Pelosi was already a prime suspect before, but she cannot hold anything back by herself.
Trump would not be above a loyalist "conspiracy" (more like strategy on the down-low) that goes to both sides of the aisle.
I give her a little more credit than that. It'd be asinine to be in secret league with Trump on anything unless you held real leverage over him (like Putin does) seeing as how he can't keep his big mouth shut and would shiv you in the back in an instant if he thought he'd benefit. That only works if he knew that you could screw him more if he screwed you.
According to my colleagues familiar with her thinking, she feels Mueller handed her a shit sandwich by not making a recommendation in his report that could give her political cover to impeach. She's a politician, and she's too fearful of bearing responsibility of initiating impeachment against Trump because she thinks it'll jeopardize her House majority in 2020. She blames Mueller because she feels the Special Counsel's Office was created as an independent body shielded from politics so it could make formal recommendations based on the evidence. Mueller declined to do this because of the OLC memo, even though he provided all the evidence that makes the obstruction charges a slam dunk. I blame them both for not recognizing and rising to the import of the historical moment and putting country over politics. I blame Pelosi most for talking out of both sides of her mouth and the terrible, extraordinary precedent she's setting; that clear evidence, meticulously collected that a president has committed what she calls "crimes against the Constitution" does not constitute sufficient grounds for impeachment, even when those crimes were designed to cover up an alliance with a foreign power. If more than that is needed, the impeachment power has effectively been nullified. Her nonsense rationalizations and hypocrisy makes me sick.
Getting more cynical, it's also worth keeping in mind what a gigantic cash cow Trump has been for DCCC fundraising. Trump has been a fantastic boogieman for Pelosi.
I don’t trust her at all. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that she was secretly an enemy if the Democrats. Sure seems so.
shareOops I didn't realize it wasn't the direct Instagram link... fixed.
However, I agree, and Mueller himself said it would be nothing because he said all his info is in the report.
Maybe it'll be something unexpected... hmmm
Yeah the unexpected is still quite possible. The biggest wildcard will be the GOP questioning. We are told Republicans are planning to hit Mueller with every Deep State conspiracy theory we’ve heard over the last two plus years. They want to create other news threads besides the ones about the president’s lawbreaking. They will also each be playing for the TV to Trump in order to try to outdo one another on who can be his biggest bootlicker. So that could prove to have some entertainment value. Some of those conspiracy theories will only get mass airing outside of the Fox alternative universe for the first time tomorrow.
I'm still bummed though that the best I feel we can hope for is that Republicans fuck up by overreaching and pissing off Mueller with some wild accusation that he lets slip something he might otherwise not have said than any confidence I have that Dem questioning using the format they're using will actually yield anything useful.
LOL yes the GOP has been taken over by propaganda artists and whataboutism types, so I would not be surprised.
shareThis is great! As a fellow (part-time) photographer, I truly admire your art and compositions. You have a great eye.
shareThanks, I am a semi pro but it's come time to upgrade everything I do to Pro and brand myself before I go fully public.
Exciting times ahead, I will be here still tho.
So happy for you! Maybe you can fly to Washington rather soon and take photos of T-rump doing the perp walk after tomorrow.
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