This will be a short post. Others will write the history of this era, with lenses both short-term and expansive as time passes. Smarter, less lazy people than I will compile all of the dizzying details into cogent timelines and brutally revealing analysis. I write this only to get my personal feelings on the record, because I'm goddamned sure that I'm on the right side of history, and my ancestors need to know it.
America is broken.
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) eulogized the version of it we knew when he said last night, "The question then is not whether the president did it, but whether the United States Senate or the American people should decide what to do about what he did." In other words, we know he's guilty, but we're not going to do anything about it.Marco Rubio (R-FL) added today, "Just because actions meet a standard of impeachment does not mean it is in the best interest of the country to remove a President from office."
The fix was in from the beginning in the impeachment trial of President* Donald John Trump. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) summarized it succintly, saying, "What we have seen over the last couple of days is a descent into constitutional madness".
Our country is increasingly more culturally diverse, less religiously observant, and less, well, white than it ever has been. That simple group of facts and the eventual outcomes that they herald is a recipe for the death of the current power structure. And if there's one thing that history teaches us, it's that power always seeks to hold power, usually with disregard for morality, norms, and anything other than short-term gain.
In this sense, Trump is a symptom. Mitch McConnell is the disease.
The Senator from Kentucky is betting that Democrats won't have similar willingness to use raw power when they eventually regain control of its Constitutional levers, instead deferring to the norms of the last century of the American political story. He is probably right. His genius (demented, appalling, infuriating genius) lies in his utter disregard for precedent, fairness, and comity. Machiavelli worships at his feet.
He'll be dead soon enough. Most 77 year-olds have a limited shelf life. The damage he wrought, which reached a climax that may well be a plateau this week, will long hereafter haunt us.
“God help us,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA).
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68 comments:
your first-place (8-2 in caa play) tribe host hofstra at 4:00 this afternoon. w&m throttled the pride (7-3) on the island earlier in the year. this one will be a lot closer. tribe is favored by 2.5.
We’re in a weird bad place where precedent and intellectual consistency do not matter. Grassley, Inhofe, McConnell and Shelby all voted “guilty” on both impeachment charges against Clinton, including the obstruction of justice charge. They were willing to “overturn an election” in that case. Why not now? We all know why, of course, but the answer isn’t satisfying because it’s intellectually bankrupt. And I recognize that the same can be said of Leahy and Schumer.
A number of Republican senators admitted that Trump’s actions are impeachable but declined to do so because they want the American people to make the decision for them. They punted to us. I have faith that the Democratic nominee will campaign like hell in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. I also have faith that many of the people who for whatever reason held their noses and voted for Trump will not do so again. I hope that Bloomberg and Steyer will spend a ton of money to get out the vote in Texas, Georgia, North Carolina and Florida.
The majority of Americans didn’t vote for this situation. I have faith that it will come to an end in 2020. Please don’t point to 2004, by the way.
JMU dwelling in the cellar. A sad state of affairs indeed.
i hear you, zman, but i have limited confidence in the security of our election systems and in the administration's interest in bolstering that security. i have even less confidence in the democrats' ability to fight their way out of a wet paper bag. i can easily see a scenario where sanders loses a contested convention and his people pack up their shit and go home, which hands another election to trump.
That’s the spirit!
My day started with a 520 AM wakeup so I could get a kid to a friend’s house for a 6 AM departure for a ski trip. I came downstairs to find out my dog had explosive diarrhea all over our new carpet. I did initial cleanup, dropped my kid, found a convenience store that sold club soda, and then spent 20 mins gently massaging diarrhea out of that carpet.
So while I want to become intellectually invested in this post, I am too busy feeling sorry for myself right now.
I’ve never seen a Fast/Furious movie. Thinking about making a thing of it, maybe my own personal Fast February Film Festival. There’s eight of these cinematic masterpieces to consume...tho I can possibly skip the third? Help me out here, Furiousphiles. #content #postcount
The unintentional comedy of Vin Diesel is fantastic. I watched the first couple. They’re entertaining enough.
I never saw any Fast Furious movies but they appear to have been expressly made for Teedge. A marathon papal election/viewing session with live blogging is in order.
Read this by an embattled W&M alum:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/james-comey-trump-wont-be-removed-but-well-be-fine/2020/01/31/95816ca0-4460-11ea-b503-2b077c436617_story.html
Awesome defensive stand by Ireland against the Scots with a couple of minutes remaining.
Reply to an inquiry from last post:
Bruce Rader still the sports anchor of note here. I see him out and about everywhere. He’s still stocky with a nasally high voice and very little knowledge about sports.
TJ - I created a new blogger account (can't remember my old one) just to tell you that under no circumstances are you to skip Tokyo Drift. In a lot of ways, it's the best of them - meaning it's definitely the worst, but in a hugely fun way. Lucas Black went to the early-Keanu school of commitment to the role/wooden acting.
JAMBONI!
Jam Pony!!
This is an exclusively Florida 90s bass music joke that none of you will get. But I still had to get it on.
Bold move by the XFL to use “X Gon Give it to Ya” as their theme song. I’m in.
Is DooDoo Brown involved?
First cousins, Z.
The HOF in pro sports is such an eye of the beholder thing for most of the candidates. That said, couldn’t be happier for Edgerrin James getting in this quickly. An absolute beast who was a truly complete three down back and ahead of his time in that respect. Easy to make the case he’d have been even better in the modern game. His physical ability is/was all time but his football IQ remains underrated. He had the complete and total trust of Peyton Manning. No small feat for a tailback from Imokalee, FL. He’s also now a very successful strip club owner. Hashtag GOALS.
Not sure I can recall seeing this many white guys playing large roles on a Syracuse basketball team. Gonna risk accusations of racism and say that’s a bad thing.
Jamboni googinnoogin
Teej, we should all be assigned serial movie watching duty for a month. One of us has to watch and review all the films from series like Harry Potter, Friday the 13th, Saw, Godzilla, Star Wars, American Pie, etc. Futile and stupid gesture. And we’re just the guys to do it.
TR already has comments prepared for the Emmanuel Forever series.
Emmanuelle? Or did you mean this Emmanuel?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmanuel_Lewis
Dibs on the Tremors flicks.
My kid was sick yesterday so I watched the first Harry Potter with her yesterday. If this is a thing I’ll take the British wizard kids.
Whit, I like where this is going...someone needs to take the Police Academy franchise,
I can do all four Revenge of the Nerds movies.
Yes, there were four.
My dog is the worlds worst watchdog. Never barks at someone walking to my front door. Never Fula to bark/growl at my across the street neighbors as they back their boat into their driveway.
Okay, people. My square is 49ers 3, KC 0. For me and my usual low dollar betting habits, there is an extraordinary amount of money on the line. Every score change is a payout. A simple first drive FG by SF gets me a grand. Let’s go.
And Teej, Police Academy was the first one I thought of and I forgot to mention it. Let’s do this.
damn, whit. thinking lucrative thoughts for you.
I was born the same day that the Chiefs won their last Super Bowl.
Go KC!
need a stop for whitney!
That coin toss hurt
need a field goal for whitney!
WHIT!
need a bar tab for whitney!
Whitney!!!
And there was much rejoicing. If 3-0 holds for the quarter I get $2500 more.
need a long drive for whitney!
need a stop for whitney!
I’m on pins and needles for Whitney right now...
need a chiefs figgie for whitney!
Oh well. A grand ain’t bad.
he's just getting started, mark
WHITTTT!
need an investment vehicle for whitney!
Another K in the bank
why does kyle shanahan hate whitney?
why do the referees hate whitney?
Being damn close to $5K I didn’t land doesn’t sully the 1400 I’m up. Well, a tiny bit. But the game goes on.
the puerto rican flag reveal was nice. buncha maga dopes were very confused.
need a 14:58 drive that ends in a niners field goal for whitney!
need a suitcase to carry all that cash money for whitney!
Whitney swimming in winnings like Scrooge McDuck
Another G?
whitney gonna fund gheorghefest 2020
Loving this pool
need a couple of first downs and a punt for whitney!
how much money has 0-0 made tonight, whit?
0-0 was king
I lost all three of my bets, as well as my 4-4 box square.
My son, 11yrs old, had 0-0 last night in the neighbors pool. $2 a square for about $50 per quarter which is like a grand to him.
He also started watching the office about three weeks ago. He start from the first episode and is now midway through season seven. I could have him write up his summary when he's done with all nine seasons. It might be funny see what he writes, at least for me.
And I realize it's not the best parenting move to let him watch it, especially when the last episode was about herpes and cold sores.
The racial sensitivity training episode isn't ideal either but you live in Massachusetts so I guess he'll be fine.
My 10 y/o and 12 y/o boys love The Office. We are binging it as a family. The wife is a bit sensitive, but I let it slide. Some of the worst stuff still goes over their heads. We all crack up watching that show. We're into Season 4.
It’s fun. One of my daughters binge watched the whole thing when she was 14. I got her this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019AALM5C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_5WkoEbRK18X3Z
rewatching the office, breaking bad, and curb your enthusiasm with my kids was a highlight of parenting. and watching parks and rec for the first time.
i love imagining TR cleaning up that dog diarrhea.
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