Impeach Trump????

[Baruch]

Wow, SCOTUS has just ruled in favor of Trump - he can now re-appropriate money from the military to build his wall. Congress used to have the power of the purse - no longer the case. The US has taken one more step towards a banana republic.

We have been a banana republic for 100 years, ever since we did the bidding of United Fruit in Latin America.  See Smedley Butler.

[trdsf]

Impeachment has nothing to do with a subsequent criminal indictment.  That's why Nixon needed a pardon from Ford.

And even if the federal prosecutors are gun shy, there are a number of state prosecutors who are ready to have a go.

[josephpalazzo]

More like a banana split republic...

What's more disheartening is that the vast majority of Americans don't care. Compare to the French who went to the streets with their yellow jackets protesting their government for "months" because they felt their way of life was threatened, Americans seem to be like zombies on auto-pilot. Sure you can say there has been an erosion on our institutions over the years, but what's happening is more like IED's thrown in our face, but we take it as just another day.

[Baruch]

What's more disheartening is that the vast majority of Americans don't care. Compare to the French who went to the streets with their yellow jackets protesting their government for "months" because they felt their way of life was threatened, Americans seem to be like zombies on auto-pilot. Sure you can say there has been an erosion on our institutions over the years, but what's happening is more like IED's thrown in our face, but we take it as just another day.

i would love to see an ongoing protest movement.  Like Yellow Vests.  But what happened to Occupy?  Why did they fold so quickly?  Because they were a false flag operation, controlled opposition?

[trdsf]

I thought pardons could only be granted after a person has been found guilty pf the crime they're being pardoned for. If so, how could Ford have pardoned Nixon? Was that a legal pardon?

The business end of the pardon is as follows:

Now, THEREFORE, I, GERALD R. FORD, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974.

Emphasis added.  Ford's initial justification was his interpretation of Burdick v. United States, which was that accepting a pardon carried an implicit admission of guilt.  This is not a universally accepted analysis of that particular decision, though.

However, Ford later provided this explanation of events:

In a 2004 interview with Bob Woodward, reported Thursday night on The Washington Post’s Web site, Mr. Ford offered another, less lofty motive for the pardon: his friendship with Nixon, which lasted for two decades after the pardon and which letters show was closer than publicly understood.

“I had no hesitancy about granting the pardon,” Mr. Ford told Mr. Woodward, “because I felt that we had this relationship and that I didn’t want to see my real friend have the stigma.”

Alexander Haig is known to have put out feelers for a quid pro quo -- Nixon resigns in exchange for a pardon.  Ford claimed to have sent Haig back to Nixon's people with 'no recommendation' for Nixon's next move; Nixon resigned one week later.  No one has admitted to any formal agreement regarding a pardon, but it's hard to imagine there wasn't some sort of understanding.

[Baruch]

Yet Japan, at that time (70s) not only managed to depose a PM (Tanaka), but imprison him too.

[josephpalazzo]

Another diversion from Trump on rep. Cummings. Of course the media and the Dems fell for it focusing on Trump's racism, when the real focus should be on Cummings' oversight committee looking into Trump's finances. Trump must be patting himself on the shoulder. When will the media start to recognize a bait-and-switch??

[Baruch]

Another diversion from Trump on rep. Cummings. Of course the media and the Dems fell for it focusing on Trump's racism, when the real focus should be on Cummings' oversight committee looking into Trump's finances. Trump must be patting himself on the shoulder. When will the media start to recognize a bait-and-switch??

All Republicans are Nazis?  Really?  It was CNN that recently invited Richard Spencer on their TDS show.  All Republicans are Southerners?  Well, after the Southern Strategy, Republicans in name only, went south and took over a lot of George Wallace caucuses.  Stupid opportunism I think.  Republicans should have remained liberal and pro-business, like Donald Trump ;-)

And yes, unfortunately a lot of Dem run cities are shitholes, just like Labor run cities in the UK.  Socialism breeds parasitism and barbarism.  Detroit is America's Venezuela.  And Chicago and Washington DC are heading the same way.  I don't think this has to do with skin color or IQ.

So what if I called some person stupid ... because they are.  But they happen to be colored or a woman or a gay person.  Does that make me racist/misogynist/homophobic?  No, I am simply able to see thru liberal hypocrisy.

[josephpalazzo]

Another buzzfeed news detailing how Russian Trolls used social media starting in 2014:

"....The IRA (Russia’s Internet Research Agency) was able to reach up to 126 million Americans on Facebook via a mixture of fraudulent accounts, groups, and advertisements, the report says. Twitter accounts it created were portrayed as real American voices by major news outlets. It was even able to hold real-life rallies, mobilizing hundreds of people at a time in major cities like Philadelphia and Miami. Fake online personas were able to communicate with members of the Trump campaign â€" who were unaware they were ever communicating with foreign nationals....."

"...By 2016, according to Mueller’s findings, the IRA was becoming increasingly interested in mobilizing its followers physically. It was buying ads to organize anti-Clinton flash mobs and building pro-Trump photo challenges.

One of the most unsettling things in Thursday’s report (the Mueller report) are the details about how successful Russia-controlled social media accounts became at actually organizing political rallies. First, they would use spoofed accounts on Facebook or Twitter to announce an event. Then they’d privately message the event to real users, asking them if they could attend. Then if they got a bite, they’d assign one of these real people to be the event coordinator. Usually, the Russian troll would make up some excuse as to why they couldn’t personally attend, according to the report....."

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanhatesthis/mueller-report-internet-research-agency-detailed-2016

[Hydra009]

Intelligence Chief resigns, this has nothing to do with Russian meddling

Coats saw Russia as an adversary to the US, The Times wrote, and pushed for closer cooperation with European countries to counter it, but the White House did not agree.

"A different team makes for different allies" - anonymous

[josephpalazzo]

The troubling thing is that the adults are leaving (McMaster, Mattis, Tillerson, and now Coats) and are replaced by sycophants.

[Baruch]

Intelligence Chief resigns, this has nothing to do with Russian meddling
"A different team makes for different allies" - anonymous

Anyone today, who sees Russians under their bed, are tools being used by British Intelligence.  Like Professor Mifsud.  I love the Brits, but I don't want to be their bitch.

I will be glad to see the collapse of Nato.  But sorry to see the negative consequences of the collapse of European Socialism aka EUSR.  Maybe not this year, but eventually.  In all political economics, you can deny reality, but not escape the consequences of denying reality.  GB was nearly destroyed in 1940 ... and has repeatedly attempted suicide since then.

[Baruch]

Another diversion from Trump on rep. Cummings. Of course the media and the Dems fell for it focusing on Trump's racism, when the real focus should be on Cummings' oversight committee looking into Trump's finances. Trump must be patting himself on the shoulder. When will the media start to recognize a bait-and-switch??

"Democrat Baltimore Mayor Confirms Trump's Comments: "Oh My God, You Can Smell The Rats, Dead Animals"" ... not just Baltimore.  But I hope that every municipality is run into the ground, turned into Mumbai/Kolkata ... by the Third World Socialism of the Democrats.  May every US city become Detroit.

Democrat plan .. make every place into a slum, so that per Charles Dickens, the victims will be attracted to the false compassion of the Victorian hypocrisy and vote accordingly.

[Baruch]

The troubling thing is that the adults are leaving (McMaster, Mattis, Tillerson, and now Coats) and are replaced by sycophants.

Ah yes, the kind of folks who promote the warmongering of George W and Barak.  Why have Democrats returned to the vomit of imperialism?  Dogs of war.

[Hydra009]

Me too, Mitch.