Impeachment

[ShelC]

Starting to crumble?

[Nodack]

I watched Rachel Maddow’s show last night and she was sounding the already crumbling alarm bells and it was pretty scary.

[Mori Chu]

I watched Rachel Maddow’s show last night and she was sounding the already crumbling alarm bells and it was pretty scary.

I don't watch her show, but in this case she isn't wrong. The Barr / DOJ stuff is a clear abuse of power and a corrupting of the justice system to explicitly aid Trump's friends and punish his enemies.

[Nodack]

We have a checks and balances system and Trump is eliminating so e of those checks and balances. The whistleblower went through the proper channels and reported to the inspector General. It was his job to report the whistleblower complaint to Congress. Trump was real pissed at that guy. Now Trump wants to fire that guy for doing his job. Next time the whistleblower will just be ratted out by the new hand picked Trump inspector General and we will never even know about it.

[Mori Chu]

Once all the people of character have left the government or been forced out, there will be no one to blow the whistle.

[Nodack]

And once he replaces all the inspector generals with pro Trump lackeys there will be no one to whistleblow to.

[3rdside]

I watched Rachel Maddow’s show last night and she was sounding the already crumbling alarm bells and it was pretty scary.

Man she's been breaking the final straw on trump over and over again for 3 years now - I like her in doses but she is way too sensationalist for me to take her too seriously.

[Nodack]

She isn’t saying anything that we haven’t been saying here already for the most part.

[3rdside]

True - which is why I try to hold myself to account for the TDS related feelings I get quite often. Just how real is it and how much is Twitter, Maddow etc feeding them.

I don't doubt Trump is bad for the country though, so she's not wrong to at least be making these points.

[Superbone]

True - which is why I try to hold myself to account for the TDS related feelings I get quite often. Just how real is it and how much is Twitter, Maddow etc feeding them.

I don't doubt Trump is bad for the country though, so she's not wrong to at least be making these points.

He's not just bad for the country. He's bad for the world.

[Nodack]

More than 1,100 former prosecutors and other DOJ officials call on Attorney General Bill Barr to resign
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/16/politics ... index.html

"Mr. Barr's actions in doing the President's personal bidding unfortunately speak louder than his words. Those actions, and the damage they have done to the Department of Justice's reputation for integrity and the rule of law, require Mr. Barr to resign. But because we have little expectation he will do so, it falls to the Department's career officials to take appropriate action to uphold their oaths of office and defend nonpartisan, apolitical justice," the officials wrote in a statement.

[Superbone]

More than 1,100 former prosecutors and other DOJ officials call on Attorney General Bill Barr to resign
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/16/politics ... index.html

"Mr. Barr's actions in doing the President's personal bidding unfortunately speak louder than his words. Those actions, and the damage they have done to the Department of Justice's reputation for integrity and the rule of law, require Mr. Barr to resign. But because we have little expectation he will do so, it falls to the Department's career officials to take appropriate action to uphold their oaths of office and defend nonpartisan, apolitical justice," the officials wrote in a statement.

Good for them. Barr's weak attempt to rebuke Trump was a joke.

[Mori Chu]

I'm really worried about all the meddling in DoJ cases that Barr is trying to do. Given all the judges and justices Trump has managed to appoint in his term so far, I don't know whether we can depend on fair and impartial justice in the courts. I just don't think there is any other way to deal with all of this than to vote Trump out by an overwhelming margin in November, so much that he cannot make any plausible claim of the election being "rigged" or unfair. I'm really scared.

[Cap]

I'm really worried about all the meddling in DoJ cases that Barr is trying to do. Given all the judges and justices Trump has managed to appoint in his term so far, I don't know whether we can depend on fair and impartial justice in the courts. I just don't think there is any other way to deal with all of this than to vote Trump out by an overwhelming margin in November, so much that he cannot make any plausible claim of the election being "rigged" or unfair. I'm really scared.

If Trump has taught us anything, it’s that “plausible” is irrelevant.

[virtual9mm]

I'm really worried about all the meddling in DoJ cases that Barr is trying to do. Given all the judges and justices Trump has managed to appoint in his term so far, I don't know whether we can depend on fair and impartial justice in the courts. I just don't think there is any other way to deal with all of this than to vote Trump out by an overwhelming margin in November, so much that he cannot make any plausible claim of the election being "rigged" or unfair. I'm really scared.

Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders is leading primary polls...

[3rdside]

I'm really worried about all the meddling in DoJ cases that Barr is trying to do. Given all the judges and justices Trump has managed to appoint in his term so far, I don't know whether we can depend on fair and impartial justice in the courts. I just don't think there is any other way to deal with all of this than to vote Trump out by an overwhelming margin in November, so much that he cannot make any plausible claim of the election being "rigged" or unfair. I'm really scared.

Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders is leading primary polls...

Based on a sample size of one - Jeremy Corbyn in the UK - I don't think Sanders can win it. In 2016 I think he could have won, but not this time.

Corbyn earned the nickname "magic grandpa" over here, promising everything to everyone and the nearer it got to the election the more he promised. His tweet likes would generate +100k repeatedly vs Boris Johnson's +20k or so - suggesting on-paper popularity and giving the impression he would win - but he got absolutely trounced.

He just wasn't credible in the end, and my take is that it showed that a traditionally right leaning country like the UK absolutely did not want to shift to a firm left position.

I feel Bernie is walking down the same path that, I fear, will lead to the same outcome.

Bernie actually isn't that far left at all, but relatively speaking from a USA point of view he probably seems like he is, and that will be cannon fodder for Trump come election time. Trump, on the basis of his tweets, i suspect knows this, hence his tweet-encouragement of Bernie.

I always liked Warren and after last night, it looks like people are starting to notice her - she would savage Trump on stage and elsewhere so I hope she get's the chance.

[3rdside]

*That being said, Corbyn was not leading any polls going into the election - he was historically unpopular, yet he still thought he could win. What a narcissistic, egocentric jerk (a deeply ironic, yet still true, statement if you know the man) iow.

And we ended up with Brexit because of it - in that same vein I think it's safe to say that on the back of Trump's senate acquittal and recent pardons for total dirt-bag individuals, if he wins we'll end up with a trashed USA and world at large. So no pressure then, Dems, to choose the right candidate ..

[Nodack]

I feel we are doomed no matter who wins. Washington will always be corrupt and owned by lobbyists/Corporations. We will never fix health care. We are just too divided and that is only getting worse and worse. All I can say is we are a dumb ass nation more interested in fighting itself than getting anything done. Was it China or Russia that did us in? No, it was ourselves. We are just a nation of spiteful dumbasses.

[Indy]

I feel we are doomed no matter who wins. Washington will always be corrupt and owned by lobbyists/Corporations. We will never fix health care. We are just too divided and that is only getting worse and worse. All I can say is we are a dumb ass nation more interested in fighting itself than getting anything done. Was it China or Russia that did us in? No, it was ourselves. We are just a nation of spiteful dumbasses.

I think it is a lot less about spitefulness and more about letting money into our elections and our elected officials. Buying elections is the exact opposite of democracy. Once we allowed it to happen, it was signalling the end. As important as healthcare and climate change, is getting big money out. We have to find a way to negate the CU ruling.

[Nodack]

That ruling isn’t even on the radar anymore. It’s past tense and nobody is talking about it except weird people like you and I that actually pay attention. Like I have said before, nothing short of millions of people marching in the streets demanding action gets the attention of politicians and gets anything started. Until that happens all this is just talk and the lobbyists win.