When did Congressional testimony become performance art?

http://www.terrellaftermath.com/

Victor Davis Hanson: Anti-Trump figures could face 'boomerang effect' as Mueller probe concludes 

. . . "Hanson recommended that President Trump in 2020 campaign heavily on the state of the economy as the post-Mueller news cycle continues."You mention the good economy," he told host Laura Ingraham. "That's something Trump needs to focus even more on.""We have a big annual deficit and Trump might be vulnerable there, but the Democrats don't have a reputation for fiscal sobriety," he added. "In areas that Trump might be vulnerable, they offer no alternative vision but the Green New Deal and reparations." . . .

When you address a committee, you are competing for attention and influence on the internet  . . . "To note that he was showboating is not meant as a criticism. Stewart has campaigned for proper health coverage for the first responders for over a decade and knows many of them personally: these were not the vainglorious platitudes of another celebrity chump.
"But it is also worth noting that Stewart did not have to – as a YouTuber might put it – ‘DESTROY’ the committee as much as he did. He could have made his points without the ‘EPIC’ anger; without all the zingers (‘al-Qaeda didn’t shout “death to Tribeca”‘); without constantly fiddling with his pen the way he used to on The Daily Show. He could – probably – have got what he wanted without making the whole process of committee hearings look dull, antiquated and inhumane." . . .

Want To Guess Which Republican Sided With Democrats On AG Barr's Contempt Vote? . . . "And now, the war between House Democrats and the Trump White House had reached a new level. Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) was the sole Republican to vote with Democrats (via NYT):

Time To Start A Recall Process For California

Noisy Room  "Recalling a governor has been done before (Gray Davis) in California for reasons not nearly as serious as those under present Governor Gavin Newsom. Procedures are here.

"Let’s take a look, shall we?

1. He pardoned several felons just last month including those that committed grand theft, solicited a murder for hire operation in a street gang network, and even forgery.
2. There is a growing homeless problem that is so far out of control the Center for Disease Control should declare several cities/counties a threat to public safety for disease control and prevention. In fact, the CDC spends more than $3 million out of their California office and most of that is earmarked for Los Angeles. 

3. Remember that boondoggle of a high speed rail system? Well, the federal government kicked in $2.5 billion and canceled a balance of $930 million since Newsom, for the most part, terminated the rail construction. There is some chatter about restarting the high speed rail construction where the cost would blow up to $77 billion. But hold on… there is more about this. California owes landowners under eminent domain. Seems many of those landowners moved away for nothing, literally nothing. Businesses wonder too about their financial sacrifice. Others could not sell their real estate that was not part of the rail system or eminent domain because it was too near the proposed rail project and the land was essentially declared worthless.

. . . 

4. Now, Governor Newsom has declared undocumented immigrants will get state-paid healthcare. The state already has financial obligations it has not paid and must honor to make things right for her citizens before he can go spend $98 million. Where did that number even come from in the first place? Oh, another detail is a fine on people who don’t buy healthcare insurance, known as the individual mandate. He included in this budget (state budget is $214 billion) an additional $450 million over 3 years to fund insurance subsidies. Don’t forget that water tax too, it is still on the table while the state power companies are toggling power to users to save dollars. Sounds like a third world country more every day. Can the state even fund the $7.8 billion in the state employee pension fund? Oh, all diapers and menstrual products are tax exempt, there is rental assistance, and a major housing shortage. Swell eh?  

. . . 

How to get rid of Trump? Somebody help!

terrellaftermath

Pelosi says she’s ‘done’ talking about Trump, but admits Dem caucus ‘not even close’ on impeachment  . . . "Pelosi, who served in Congress during the impeachment process for former President Bill Clinton, has warned that moving forward with efforts to impeach President Trump will only tear the nation part.
“ 'There is nothing as divisive in our country, in my view, than impeachment,” she said Tuesday, although she reportedly recently told Democrats that she would rather see Trump “in prison.' ” . . .



Even Democrats Aren’t Sure Whether John Dean Did Them Any Good  . . . "After the four-hour hearing wrapped on Monday, though, not all Democrats were reveling in the testimony of Watergate’s star witness. Some were even wondering if anyone had bothered to watch." . . .

'The Return of Dean,' or another sign that they got nothing on Trump  . . . "The bottom line is that Nadler and company have nothing on President Trump, or at least nothing that can be turned into an article of impeachment that the country will believe.

At the same time, they can't look at the camera and admit that the Mueller chapter is over and it's time to fix real issues, such as the border crisis." . . .

If you saw a helicopter crash instead of John Dean's testimony yesterday, here's the 11.5 minutes you want to watch

Beto O’Rourke Vows to Prosecute Trump When He Becomes President  . . . "I would want my Justice Department, any future administration’s Justice Department to follow the facts and the truth and to make sure at the end of the day there’s accountability and justice, without this, without that, this idea, this experiment of American democracy comes to a close." . . . Video here.

Is America Now a One-Party Country?

David Kamioner  "There was a time, perhaps last in the mid-1960s, when this country had two viable political parties that represented two practical views of government. Both had many principles in common and both regularly were granted executive power from the voters.
"Since that time one party, the Republicans, in its befuddled and often frustrating way, has continued to represent at least some semblance of a cogent set of ideals and practical political arrangements.

"The Democrats, no longer an actual political party as we commonly understand the term, has devolved into a rabid alliance of grievance mongers more concerned with getting federal loot than they are in the welfare of the nation as a whole.
"We won’t count the Libertarian Party, because really . . . who does?
"The Democrats have achieved this status by cleverly exploiting the resentment and bitterness of groups that at one time had bona fide grievances with American society. To name two, blacks and women.
"Of course, African Americans and women have gotten raw deals in the past. But it’s also the case that both groups have seen many unfair biases wither away, more as a result of gradual societal edification and maturation than of government intervention. That is not enough for the gripe groupies. It never could be.
"They pursue a successful two-track strategy of crying oppression to keep up loyalty to the cause while at the same time encouraging their clients to believe in equality of result, which is an impossible goal. When parity of results fails to occur (because it’s impossible) this in turn further fuels the resentment and bitterness that alights the grievance engines and enriches its engineers.
"The ironic part is the Democrats largely have been effective in securing for their charges many of the unethical thumb-on-the-scales perks they once decried as racism and sexism when they applied to white males as recently as a generation ago.
"The main cases bear examination." . . .

Ilhan Omar Refuses to Comment on Terrorist Recruitment in Her District

PJ Media

"WASHINGTON — Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) declined to address a report that found the highest level of terrorist group recruitment has taken place in her congressional district.

According to a Fox News report from February, “More men and boys from a Somali American community in Minneapolis have joined – or attempted to join – a foreign terrorist organization over the last 12 years than any other jurisdiction in the country.” The city of Minneapolis is located in Omar’s district.

“ 'FBI stats show 45 Somalis left to join the ranks of either the Somalia-based Islamic insurgency al-Shabab, or the Iraq- and Syria-based ISIS combined. And as of 2018, a dozen more had been arrested with the intention of leaving to support ISIS,” stated the report.

"Omar, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was asked about the report's findings on Capitol Hill." . . .

Leftism Makes People Meaner: Reflections on the Torture of Paul Manafort

"Angry over the possibility that Manafort may be pardoned by President Trump, the Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance, charged Manafort with additional crimes based on state law. That way, if found guilty of state offenses, he cannot be pardoned by Trump, as the president's power to pardon applies only to federal -- not state -- crimes."

Dennis Prager

"The sadistic treatment of Paul Manafort illustrates something I have believed since I attended graduate school in the 1970s and saw the behavior of left-wing students: Leftism makes people meaner. 
"There are kind and mean conservatives and kind and mean liberals. Neither liberalism nor conservatism makes people kinder or meaner. But this is not the case with leftism. 
"With the handful of exceptions that accompany every generalization, leftism makes people meaner, even crueler. 
"Take the transfer of Manafort, the one-time Trump campaign manager, from a federal prison to New York's Rikers Island prison. Rikers Island is universally regarded as a wretched place. As Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz wrote: 

"The decision to move Paul Manafort ... from the decent federal prison to which he was sentenced to solitary confinement to the dangerous hell hole that is New York City's Rikers Island seems abusive and possibly illegal.
"I know Rikers well having spent time there visiting numerous defendants accused of murder and other violent crimes. It is a terrible place that no one should ever be sent to." 

"Mass murderers and torturers are among those incarcerated at Rikers Island. Moreover, Manafort, found guilty solely for white-collar crimes, will be placed in solitary confinement -- "for his own safety.' "  . . .

Liberal Activists Prepare Secret List of Judges for Potential Dem President

Free Beacon  "Liberal activists are beginning to identify progressive judges to fill the courts should a Democrat win the presidency in 2020.
. . . 

"The liberal activists do not intend to publicize their recommendations.

"Russell Wheeler, a judicial expert at the Brookings Institution, has estimated the number of judges who would be eligible for senior status by election day:

Under a formula that is based on age and years on the bench, Mr. Wheeler estimates that 35 Democrat-appointed appeals court judges are now eligible for senior status, a number that could grow to 39 by Election Day 2020. Among district court judges, 53 appointed by Democrats are now eligible, with the potential to grow to 58. And some Republican-appointed judges out of the 100 now eligible for senior status might prefer not to be replaced by Mr. Trump, as well, expanding the possible field of post-2020 vacancies.

"Judicial Crisis Network president Carrie Severino raised questions about the list of judges.

" 'Shocking @nytimes story reveals left wing dark money groups working with Democrat pres candidates on a secret list of nominees for SCOTUS. Why are they hiding this list? Why are they scared to show the American people the kind of judges they want? #SecretList #StopHiding," Severino tweeted on Monday.

" '@realdonaldtrump had no problem revealing his list of potential judicial noms. He made it public, campaigned on it, & let the American people see the kind of judges he would appoint. Why are left wing dark money groups and Dems not willing to do same? What are they hiding?" Severino asked."

Joe's convictions: unshakeable to the bitter end.

Picture this man giving a State of the Union address. 

Joe Biden, 1973: Nixon Must Be Seen as ‘Innocent’ Until Proven Guilty
So very true and the honorable position; who could ever dispute it?

Tony Branco

"Joe Biden Plans to Mention Trump 76 Times in Iowa Speech" . . . "The establishment media is driving Biden’s message even before Trump gets to Iowa where both men will be participating in campaign activities, thanks to the leaked copy of the speech this morning.
"CNN reported that Biden will “eviscerate” Trump during his speech today and other news outlets offered a similar preview of the showdown." . . .

Biden reverses course: 'We need to get tough with China' . . . "Both the GOP and President Trump's reelection campaign have used Biden's remarks as a potential opening to convince swing voters that Democrats can't be trusted in dealing with trade negotiations with China."

Joe Biden Lied in 1987 with Claim He Marched in Civil Rights Movement  . . . "And when Biden made that false claim that he had marched in the Civil Rights Movement when in fact he had not done any such marching, his aides cringed, per the Times’Flegenheimer.
“ 'More than once, advisers had gently reminded Mr. Biden of the problem with this formulation: He had not actually marched during the civil rights movement,” Flegenheimer wrote. “And more than once, Mr. Biden assured them he understood — and kept telling the story anyway.”
"A few months later, in September 1987, Flegenheimer writes that Biden’s lies and “recklessness as a candidate” had finally “caught up with him.”
“ 'He was accused of plagiarizing in campaign speeches,” Flegenheimer wrote. “He had inflated his academic record. Reporters began calling out his exaggerated youth activism.' ” . . .
1990’s Biden Called Barr ‘One of the Best’ AG’s  "Former vice-president and current Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden praised Attorney General William Barr in 1995, calling him "one of the best" attorneys general Biden ever worked alongside. But Biden went back on his praise of Barr when he called for the attorney general to be fired in early May." . . .

John Dean, Aunt Maxine, and the Queen of Mean go after President Trump

"[Dean] frequently appears on CNN as a paid contributor, in which he's usually criticizing Trump."

terrellaftermath.com

'The Return of Dean,' or another sign that they got nothing on Trump  "How desperate are the Democrats?  
"First, Speaker Nancy Pelosi allegedly said that she wants to send President Trump to prison.  On what grounds?  We don't know, but that's not the point.  Speaker Pelosi has to keep putting anti-Trump nuggets on the table so that the beast doesn't devour her.

"Second, they've brought back a real oldie, John Dean of Watergate fame.  He is apparently going to tell the Democrats how to impeach President Trump, or something like that.  
"This is from NPR: " . . .

The Real Lesson of Watergate Ignored in John Dean's Testimony and Media Commentary  "With the return of John Dean to the witness’s chair in a congressional hearing room yesterday, false analogies between that incident and the current day Russia Hoax are everywhere in the mainstream media. But the one real lesson of that era is still valid today: Don’t trust the government’s Administrative State bureaucracy -- and in particular prosecutors, who are, too often, henchmen using their power and resources unethically, carelessly and ruthlessly.  Too often they do not deliver justice; they hunt and destroy and cheat when necessary.  (See here, here and here.)" . . .

Republicans assail Dean’s record: 'How many presidents have you accused of being Richard Nixon?' . . . “ 'Mr. Dean has made a cottage industry out of accusing presidents of acting like Richard Nixon,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said.

"Dean, the ex-White House counsel in President Richard Nixon's administration, was convicted of obstruction of justice after striking a deal to cooperate with the Watergate investigation. He has spent decades critical of the GOP and wrote a book in 2004 accusing President George H.W. Bush of acts “worse than Watergate.' ” . . .

Pelosi: Impeachment Is ‘Not Off the Table’

Anti-Trump Amash Quits Freedom Caucus Only Days Before Protest Planned In Front Of His MI Office

100%FedUp  "Rep. Justin Amash announced tonight that he’s quitting the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
“ 'I have the highest regard for them, and they’re my close friends,” the Michigan Republican told CNN. “I didn’t want to be a further distraction for the group.' ”
. . . 
"Amash said he had not attended a caucus meeting in months and only had gone to Monday’s meeting before House votes to inform them of his departure." . . .

Here’s How Trump’s Michigan Supporters Are Hoping to ‘Squash Amash’ After His Impeachment Talk

The 2020 News Cycle Will Look Very Different

Victor Davis Hanson

"The Russia collusion narrative and associated Robert Mueller hysteria are all but over.

"Mueller’s obstruction of justice narrative involving the non-crime of collusion is ending, too.

"Donald Trump’s tax-return psychodrama is going the way of the Emoluments Clause, the Logan Act, the 25th Amendment and the comical in-house coup attempt of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

"What takes the place of Mueller and “the noose is tightening” bombshells? Perhaps the new narratives involving Inspector General Michael Horowitz and FISA abuse, or Attorney General William Barr’s investigation into the origins of the Russia collusion probe—far quieter, far more serious.

"The media for three years obsessed over a false “Trump did it” story. But in the next 17 months, the storyline may change from the myth of the “walls are closing in” on the president to the reality that Obama-era officials committed serial felonies—from perjury and lying to federal officials, to leaking classified documents, spying illegally on a political campaign, deceiving a FISA court, and obstructing justice.

"As we have already seen with the flare-up between former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (who signed a FISA writ, who wrote the memo for Comey’s firing, who appointed his old boss Robert Mueller as special counsel, and who, McCabe says, joined him for a moment in contemplating removing Trump) and former FBI Director James Comey (who likely lied under oath, deceived a FISA court, leaked classified documents and ordered informants placed in the Trump campaign), at some point, these culpable grandees will start turning on each other, and it will be hard to stop.

"Even Christopher Steele is rumored to be offering his expertise about the birth and life of his fallacious dossier." . . .

What Melania's Hat Can Teach Us About First Impressions

Intellectual Takeout

"I caught my first glimpse of Melania’s outfit soon after she and President Trump arrived at Buckingham Palace, kicking off their 2019 state visit.

“Did you see the footage of Trump and Melania visiting Buckingham Palace?!” ran my text to a friend. “I love Melania’s hat!”

"Checking it out for herself, my friend sent back, “I like her whole outfit!” Indeed, it was a classic fashion choice reminiscent of the Edwardian period, capable of measuring up to the proper fashion standards the English Royals commonly exhibit."

. . . 

"But Melania’s classic clothes signal more than a time-tested outfit that fits any occasion. They signal dignity, respect, and grace.
"We live in a time when almost every individual craves these qualities. We want to be treated with dignity. We want others to respect us. And while we may not always think of it, those who have the ability to present themselves with grace through a calm, composed, and considerate manner are often those we most admire." . . .