Why the Impeachment Frenzy May Only Strengthen Trump

Victor Davis Hanson  "Contrary to suggestions by some, most Trump supporters are not automatons or blind supporters. What bothers them, and should bother others, about the latest Ukraine hysterias is the familiar monotony of this latest scripted psychodrama.

"The whistleblower admits to hearsay (“I was not a direct witness to most of the events described”). His term-paper report is laden with anonymously sourced rumors, e.g., “According to multiple White House officials I spoke with,” “I was told by White House officials,” “Based on my understanding,” “I learned from multiple officials,” “I do not know whether similar measures were taken,” “I do not know whether those officials spoke with or met with . . . ”

"Between references to Internet news accounts and “I heard from” and “I learned from” and “I do not know” anonymous officials, there is nothing here to launch an impeachment of any president.

"In the complaint are all the now-familiar tell-tale signs of pseudo-exactness, in the form of Mueller-report-like footnotes and page references to liberal media outlets such as Bloomberg, ABC, and the New York Times. There is the accustomed Steele-dossier scare bullet points. We see again Comey-memo-like disputes over classification status with capital letters UNCLASSIFIED stamped as headers and footers and TOP SECRET lined out.

"Scary references abound to the supposed laws that the legal-eagle whistleblower believes were violated. In sum, there is all the usual evidence of an administrative-state bureaucrat, likely to be some third-tier Brennan or Clapper-like intelligence operative, who is canvassing disgruntled White House staffers, writing a report that imitates intelligence-department dormats, combing the Internet, in “dream-team” and “all-star” footnote fashion, for scare quotes and anti-Trump stories, and then likely having it dressed up in legalese by an activist lawyer. Take all that away, and one is left with “I heard.”

"After nearly three years of this, we know the delivery system that ensues. Along with the sensationalized initial media hype, the promised “smoking gun” leak usually follows. But when the “overwhelming” evidence or “walls are closing in” documents are released, there is no criminal act to be found other than occasional art-of-the-deal bluster from Trump. And then on to the next crude coup attempt, since the line of wannabe Glen Simpsons, Bruce Ohrs, Andrew McCabes, and John Brennans seems endless." . . .

Townhall columnists have a lot to say on Adam Schiff's strange statement

Schiff Gets Slapped For Fabricating What Was In Transcript, Backpedals Claiming It Was “Parody”   Ryan SaavedraVerified account: : :
"Update to this story. He literally had to invent things because there wasn’t enough in the actual transcript to justify their lies and any cause for impeachment. 

Impeachment Circus: Adam Schiff Kicks Off Intelligence Hearing By Making Up Parts Of the Trump-Ukraine Transcript . . ." Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), in his opening remarks, re-wrote the transcript to make Trump sound like a mob boss. This is the lengths the Left will go to get Trump, just making stuff up. Is it shocking? No. We all know Democrats lie, but the extent and breadth that is has taken post-2016 are notable. I mean, Schiff recites lines that are just not in there:" . . .Daily Caller video:

. . . "That’s all you need to know. In fact, that’s all you need to watch from this hearing if you’re not paid to watch it. If you’re a voter and are interested, feel free—but the fact that the Democrats are now twisting public documents to fit their narrative only reinforced everything we know and think about the Left and their lust to impeach Trump. You all know this is political theater. And yes, with the transcript public, we will notice when the Left tries to sneak in a salacious and totally false rewrite." 
"That’s all you need to know. In fact, that’s all you need to watch from this hearing if you’re not paid to watch it. If you’re a voter and are interested, feel free—but the fact that the Democrats are now twisting public documents to fit their narrative only reinforced everything we know and think about the Left and their lust to impeach Trump. You all know this is political theater. And yes, with the transcript public, we will notice when the Left tries to sneak in a salacious and totally false rewrite."

The Hill  "Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is not a bomb-thrower. And he’s not a partisan street brawler.
"A fair-faced congressman from southern California, Schiff is a moderate, a compromiser, a man who chose law school over med school because he thought it would give him greater opportunities to serve the public.
"He is passionate about science education. He sponsors town-hall meetings on Darfur. He reads the classics for pleasure — he’s in the middle of what he calls his “Victor Hugo phase.”

"So there is nothing in the world that prepares you for the dark side of Schiff.

"But it’s there.

"Just ask Stephen Colbert." . . .

The Spin: Schiff Shares His Own Interpretation of the 'Damning' Ukraine Transcript"Before the call transcript was even released, Democrats used it to announce a formal impeachment inquiry on Tuesday. As of this morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi still hadn't read it."Per the request of Schiff and several others, the DOJ will also release the full whistleblower complaint. Schiff has already made up his mind about that document too." 

. . .Mark Davis feels Impeachment Gamble Already Backfiring on Democrats. . . "The arc of this story can certainly change. As the gaggle of House committees tries to avoid stepping all over each other, a hungry media climate will devour every development. This may or may not be of benefit to a Democratic Party that has telegraphed its doubts about any of its candidates’ ability to beat Trump next year." . . .

Rep. Schiff Fabricates What Trump Said In Ukraine Telephone Call Transcript

. . . "The House Intelligence Committee chairman even suggested that Trump told Zelensky, “‘And I’m going to put you in touch with Rudy — you’re going to love him, trust me. You know what I’m asking, and so I’m only going to say this a few more times in a few more ways. And by the way, don’t call me again, I’ll call you when you’ve done what you’ve asked.’ This is the sum and character what the president was trying to communicate with the president of Ukraine. It would be funny if it wasn’t such a graphic betrayal of the president’s Oath of Office.” 

"Schiff has said he believes impeachment of the president can be used as a “tool” to expose Trump’s alleged misconduct."

Schiff Gets Slapped For Fabricating What Was In Transcript, Backpedals Claiming It Was “Parody” 

Any chance CNN or MSNBC might report on this

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Double Standards on Ukraine: "Democrats in Congress and the media pretend to swoon over conduct they accepted when Obama did it."

Andrew C. McCarthy

"House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff’s opening statement at today’s hearing, a grilling of National Intelligence Director Joseph Maguire, was remarkable. To begin with, he recited a parody of the conversation between President Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky that was so absurd, it would not have made it into a Grade-C mob movie. A telling decision by Schiff, a capable former prosecutor: If you have an extortionate conversation, you quote it. If you need to imagine it into something it isn’t, that means it is not an extortionate conversation.

"Also telling: Chairman Schiff came flying out of the starting block describing how overwhelmingly dependent Ukraine is on the United States and its president. Of course, this fact must be forced to the fore because it is not obvious from the Trump–Zelensky conversation — again, Schiff does not have evidence that Trump extorted Zelensky for the purpose of aiding Trump’s 2020 campaign.

"But more to the point, the relationship of dependency intensified in 2015 due to the flight to Moscow of Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yanukovych. At that point, a new Ukrainian government more to the Obama administration’s liking, under President Petro Poroshenko, came to power. It was desperate for American help, financially and security-wise, which is why Vice President Biden was in a position to pressure it into firing the prosecutor who was conducting a corruption investigation of Burisma, the energy company that had appointed Hunter Biden to its board and was lavishly compensating him." . . .

Whistleblower complaint on Ukraine call released, alleges Trump solicited foreign 'interference' in election

Fox News Video at the link with the highly respected Catherine Herridge reporting.
"The whistleblower complaint that touched off a political tempest in Washington was released to the public Thursday, alleging President Trump used the "power of his office to solicit interference" from Ukraine in the 2020 election -- and that White House officials subsequently tried to "lock down" records of that phone call.
The rough transcript of the July call, between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, was already released a day earlier by the White House. It confirmed that Trump sought an investigation from Ukraine into the Biden family, though did not show the president explicitly leveraging U.S. aid as had initially been suggested in some media reports.
"But the whistleblower complaint, released by the Democrat-led House Intelligence Committee ahead of testimony from Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, goes further, though it is not a first-hand account of the call. The whistleblower, who remains anonymous, says in the complaint that White House officials who heard the call were "deeply disturbed" by it, and that White House lawyers discussed how to handle the call "because of the likelihood, in the officials' retelling, that they had witnessed the President abuse his office for personal gain." 
READ THE COMPLAINT  
"The document is sure to fuel the impeachment inquiry formally launched by House Democrats earlier this week. Trump, though, has maintained he did nothing wrong." . . .

Greta the Angry Rallies her "Thunbergians"

Those who are befuddled and beleaguered by climate nonsense look to Greta Thunberg as if she were another Joan of Arc. Those of us who live in reality see her as being hopelessly mired in the arrogance of untruth. Yes, Greta’s childhood has been stolen from her, but it isn’t America that’s done that – it’s her parents who have allowed her to be prostituted in this manner. . . .  (All video and photos added by TD)

Greta the Angry  Comparing her to the historic Joan of 
Arc, Deana Chadwell wrote, . . . "But, alas, she knows very little and what she thinks she knows makes her very angry. She shouts, “How dare you!” at her audience as if merely staying alive in this world is something we’ve all done to offend her. She shouts about “mass extinction” as if a half a degree warming over a century will have us all choking to death in the streets. She moans about losing her childhood and missing school.  Joan once said that she would rather be “spinning wool at her mother’s side” than commanding armies, but she screamed no accusations at the French people. She merely cited her divine mission and went off to war. Even when she was burning to death she said only two words, “Blessed Jesus.”
. . . 
"These two young girls –- both highly motivated –- were set in motion by two very different forces. Greta is terrified. She seems to really believe that she will be dead in 11 years. Her fear is palpable, so much so that she is infecting thousands of other unstable young people, and fear is only useful for fleeing or fighting. Fear never produces tangible improvements –- only ill health and anger.' "

I'm sure out there somewhere many people have said of Thunberg, "and a little child shall lead them." If not yet, they will. 

Climate change and ‘neurodiversity’  . . . "This is the first time I’ve encountered the term and was astonished to learn that major international corporations use consideration of same in their hiring practices:

JPMorgan Chase’s Autism at Work program, which piloted in 2015 with four people, now includes more than 140 employees in eight countries performing mostly technology-related roles, the company says. Pilot program participants were faster and more productive than their peers, according to the company. “There are multiple factors that contribute to this, but the commonalities are strong visual acuity, attention to detail and a superior ability to concentrate,” Autism at Work global head James Mahoney said in a blog post.

"Well, I suppose neurodiversity could be climate-expert enabling or a plus on one’s resume."

"Neurodiversity"...NO! Please don't keep using that word! I can't take it anymore!

Update:  Greta Thunberg: Lisa Simpson Crossed with Bane  "Don’t indulge creepy climate-change kids or their ill-informed tantrums." 

"Like many a 16-year-old before her, Thunberg merely skimmed her assigned reading and has only a Cliff’s Notes understanding of the IPCC report on climate change, which she incorrectly characterized as giving us eleven years before the start of “an irreversible chain reaction beyond human control.” The report just doesn’t say that. The Thunbergians are to science what the Branch Davidians were to religion." 

Counterpoint: Why We Should Take Greta Thunberg Seriously   . . . "After criticizing Greta myself, several repliers have declared that I’m “afraid of a little girl.” In fact, back in March, I was fired for upbraiding the way media outlets have covered Thunberg, incidentally proving my point.

"What isn’t fair is to dismiss the Swedish teenager because of her age. We trust 16-year-olds to do many things, including hold political opinions. The fact that she has Asperger’s syndrome also does not disqualify her from being listened to, or from voicing a position. Two things can be true at once: her beliefs are sincerely held and she is being exploited by those who have vested interests and political agendas. However, the environmentalist left needs to realize that other things can’t be true concurrently. Greta cannot be simultaneously old enough to voice her views on one of today’s most important issues and be too young to be criticized for the things she says." . . .

Media Have Only Themselves To BLAME For Disbelief In Ukraine SCANDAL

Federalist Papers

Socio-Political-Journal...   "Voter distrust — hatred, really — of the media has reached record highs. And it is all your fault.
"It is all your fault because you stopped believing in the media.

"It is your fault because you read too many stories about how Donald Trump colluded with the Russian government to steal the 2016 election — only to discover that it was Hillary Clinton and the Democrats who colluded with the Kremlin to smear Mr. Trump before the 2016 election.
"It is your fault for reading stories about how Mr. Trump lies about everything and will make up anything to destroy his political opponents — only to learn that Democrats in Congress wake up every morning to do that every single day, especially when it comes to Mr. Trump.
"It is your fault before that for reading all of those stories during the 2016 election about how Mr. Trump was such a tyrannical megalomaniac for suggesting he might not accept the results of the election — only to spend three years listening to Mrs. Clinton, all the Democrats and most of the crooked media refuse to accept the results of the 2016 election.
"It is also your fault for turning to that new-fangled internet device in search of actual news that did not utterly defy logic or facts or all the details that seem plainly obvious to any rational observer.
"Credibility of the media is in a free-fall death spiral. And it is all because you have given up and walked away.
"And just when you think our world has been drained of every last drop of absurdity, along comes the media carnival peddling one more bogus story." . . .

Fox News Dominates CNN, MSNBC In Impeachment Coverage Ratings  "Fox News was far and away the highest rated network Tuesday evening, as House Democrats officially launched an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

"The network averaged 3.3 million viewers during House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement, including 551,100 viewers in the coveted ages 25-54 demographic, according to Nielsen Media Research Center. The numbers far outpaced other cable news outlets, including MSNBC and CNN. (RELATED: Fox News Dominates CNN, MSNBC In Mueller TV Ratings)"

"MSNBC averaged just under 2.4 million viewers during Pelosi’s announcement, including just 305,000 viewers in the 25-54 demographic. Meanwhile, CNN averaged just over 1.4 million viewers during the announcement, with 365,000 viewers coming from the 25-54 demographic. (RELATED: MSNBC, CNN Host 7 Times More Democrats Than Republicans)

"Fox News Channel also dominated its prime time competition, averaging nearly 3.5 million viewers with 620,000 coming in the 25-54 demographic. Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson once again had the two most watched prime time shows, with Hannity averaging 3.9 million viewers, and Carlson pulling in 3.4 million."

Ann Coulter: The Transcript We Really Want to See

Video from Russia Today.

Ann Coulter  "The transcript of President Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky is yet another illustration of the rule: Never ask a question you don’t know the answer to.
"But on the basis of one drama queen’s overreaction to a rumor she’d heard about what was said on a phone call she didn’t hear (I'm assuming the whistleblower is Christine Blasey Ford), the Democrats have launched impeachment proceedings against the president. 
"I guess they figured it's easier than flying to South Dakota with picks and chisels and carving Trump into Mount Rushmore. But it will have the same effect. 
"Now that the transcript has been released, it’s The New York Times that doesn't want anyone to see it. 
"The transcript I'd like to see is the one of Nancy Pelosi reading the Trump transcript. 

F@@@@@@CK! Whose f***ing idea was it to demand this goddamn transcript?
F@CK!
F@@CK!
F@@@CK!

"The absolute worst version for Trump -- i.e. the one being repeated non-stop on MSNBC -- is that he did exactly what Obama and Biden were doing to Ukraine: intimidating an ally into giving us something in exchange for the foreign aid we were giving them. "Biden himself bragged about getting Ukraine’s prosecutor fired by threatening to withhold a big fat check from them.  'The Democrats’ argument is: No, no, no! When WE were pressuring Ukraine, we were doing it for good! Don’t you understand? We’re good; they’re bad. 'The other reason the media are going to have to bury this transcript is that Trump brought up a few items that the media have been hoping the public would never find out about.
'Trump said: “There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution, so if you can look into it ... It sounds horrible to me.” 
'Well, that’s something the media haven't mentioned before. Ninety-nine percent of Americans will be hearing about the funny business with Biden's son, Hunter, for the first time with the release of this transcript.
'Why did Vice President Biden order the Ukrainian president to fire the prosecutor investigating the Ukrainian company paying his son millions of dollars? Are Democrats claiming that this company was clean as a whistle and it was an absolute OUTRAGE that it was being investigated?
'Ukraine was looking into the company that conveniently placed Hunter Biden on its board long before Trump came on the scene. Something must have made the Ukrainian prosecutor want to investigate Biden’s company -- and it sure wasn’t to curry favor with the Obama/Biden administration. "The second issue the media does not want anyone to think about is CrowdStrike. 

"What is CrowdStrike, you ask? That is the cybersecurity firm that is the sole source of the claim that the Russians hacked the DNC’s emails -- which launched the conspiracy theories that tied our country in knots for the past three years.
"The Russian collusion story was originally hatched by Hillary Clinton in the summer of 2016 to cover up the utter corruption revealed by the dump of Democratic National Committee emails on Wikileaks. As was her practice whenever a scandal threatened to engulf her, Hillary rushed out and told the press to investigate something else. " . . .

CrowdStrike Revises Russian Hack Into Ukrainian Artillery  The Original Report

"CrowdStrike produced its report on December 22, 2016. The company’s co-founder Dmitri Alperovitch stated that the firm found the “malware used to track Ukrainian artillery units was a variant of the kind used to hack into the Democratic National Committee.” He stressed that those who used the malware had to have communication with Russian military:" . . .

Mattel Releases Gender-Neutral Barbies In Efforts To Be ‘More Inclusive’

Daily Caller  "The company that created “Barbie” launched a new line of gender-neutral Barbie dolls released in Walmart and Target stores Wednesday.
"Mattel Creatable World released a new line of Barbie dolls in efforts to create “more inclusive” dolls, available online at Target, Walmart, and Amazon. The dolls are designed to meet the needs of children who do not necessarily identify as female or male.
“ 'Creatable World™ gives kids a blank canvas to create their own characters,” Mattel’s website says. “Switch long hair for short hair—add a skirt, pants or both. It’s up to you! Mix and match, swap or share.' ”