Andrew C. McCarthy: Examining the House Impeachment Inquiry Resolution

Andrew C. McCarthy: Examining the House Impeachment Inquiry Resolution

. . . "Some observations about the eight-page resolution.
"1) The resolution is flawed, for reasons we’ll get to (the flaws could be major or minor, depending on how the resolution is implemented). By any measure, though, it is a significant improvement over the status quo ante. Once it’s passed, the House as an institution will have endorsed the impeachment inquiry. As we have pointed out, the Constitution commits the impeachment power to the House, not to the Speaker or the majority party in the House. The House acts as institution only by voting . . .
2) Not surprisingly, Democrats are posturing that the passage of the resolution means the president must produce any information directed by the House. This is an overstatement. . . (Keep reading...).

'This Ain't Over': Doug Collins Calls on Schiff to Testify About His Relationship With the Whistleblower  "Republican Congressman Doug Collins is calling on House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff to testify as a witness after Democrats moved forward with their impeachment resolution Thursday morning.

" 'Come to the Judiciary Committee and take every question asked of you [Schiff]. Be the first witness and take every question asked of you, starting with your own involvement with the whistleblower. Folks, this ain't over. Get ready. The cloud that is dropping will be dropping on their heads because process matters and substance will always win out in the end and this president has nothing to worry about on substance," Collins said." . . .

NSC Official Testifies He Heard Nothing Illegal On Trump-Zelensky Call, Transcript Accurate  "CBS News is reporting that Tim Morrison, the National Security Council's Senior Director for European Affairs, testified before Congress on Thursday that he heard nothing illegal on the phone call between President Donald J. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Morrison also reportedly testified that the transcript released by the White House was accurate." . . .

 [VIDEO] Tom Brokaw Disappoints Andrea Mitchell When He Tells Her ‘Democrats Don’t Have The Goods on Trump’  . . . The average American is not consumed with Trump-hate, even if they don’t particularly like him, they don’t allow this hatred and blackness to rule their lives as these crazy fake media elites do. They can still assess a situation with reason and commonsense. These media nut jobs are unable to do that, and how scary that they’re the ones “reporting the news” to the rest of us.
"So, when Tom Brokaw joined Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC and explained to her that unlike Nixon, the Dems just don’t have the “goods” on Trump, you can just feel her fantasy bubble popping.
"But don’t worry, she’ll regroup and get “high” on more of her supply right after Tom leaves the building.

Pelosi In 1998: Impeachment Has ‘A Traumatic Impact On The Confidence That The American People Have In Government’  What are Pelosi's firm convictions?

Catherine Herridge, Fox News Veteran, Moves to CBS News

From Weasel Zippers, which commented:  "Great reporter, bad move. She should have spoken to Sharyl Attkisson first. She’s going to end up back at Fox when she finds out she wouldn’t be able to report freely."

In a rather direct conversation former CBS investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson talks about her decision to leave CBS News.

Some of the interesting aspects she discusses are how CBS was uninterested in airing numerous reports on scandals that surround the Obama administration and White House. She also talks about how the White House would call CBS to pressure the network to stop airing information, and how even her print reporting would find White House officials calling to express their concerns.

Variety  "Catherine Herridge, a Fox News Channel veteran who has been with that network since it was founded in 1996, is moving to rival CBS News.

"She will work as a senior investigative correspondent out of Washington, CBS News said, and will start in November.

"Herridge is the second long-serving Fox News journalist to leave the Fox Corporation-owned cable-news outlet in recent weeks. Shepard Smith, another long-serving Fox News journalist who was seen as the network’s main breaking-news anchor, surprised viewers earlier this month by announcing his departure on a Friday-afternoon broadcast. Smith had tangled on air with opinion host Tucker Carlson.

"Herridge’s move is said to have been in the works for several weeks, and is not tied to Smith’s exit. Her contract with Fox News lapsed this summer, and the network had been negotiating to get her to stay, according to a person familiar with the matter. She has not been known for jousting with the opinion programs, making frequent appearances on Fox News’ most-watched program, “Hannity.” The opportunity to move to CBS News was seen as one she could not turn down, this person said.

"Her departure may give a new boost to recent speculation that the network’s news-side employees have grown frustrated during a period when its opinion hosts have largely used their programs to lend support to President Donald Trump and his administration, sometimes criticizing news reports.

“ 'CBS News has always placed a premium on enterprise journalism and powerful investigations,” said Herridge, in a statement. “I feel privileged to join a team where facts and storytelling will always matter.” Herridge’s national security reporting was recently recognized by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society with the “Tex” McCrary Award for excellence in journalism." . . .

Tucker: A plea to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calling out her bigotry

Tucker Carlson
Stop attacking people for the color of their skin!

The Beltway's 'Whistleblower' Furor Obsesses Over One Name

Paul Sperry, RealClearInvestigations  . . . "For a town that leaks like a sieve, Washington has done an astonishingly effective job keeping from the American public the name of the anonymous “whistleblower" who triggered impeachment proceedings against President Trump — even though his identity is an open secret inside the Beltway." . . . 
"Trump supporters blame the conspiracy of silence on a “corrupt” and "biased” media trying to protect the whistleblower from due scrutiny about his political motives. They also complain Democrats have falsely claimed that exposing his identity would violate whistleblower protections, even though the relevant statute provides limited, not blanket, anonymity – and doesn’t cover press disclosures. His Democrat attorneys, meanwhile, have warned that outing him would put him and his family “at risk of harm," although government security personnel have been assigned to protect him. 
“They’re hiding him,” Fleitz asserted. “They’re hiding him because of his political bias." . . .

. . . "In effect, Ciaramella helped generate the “Putin fired Comey” narrative, according to the research dossier making the rounds in Congress, a copy of which was obtained by RealClearInvestigations.
'Ciaramella allegedly argued that “President Putin suggested that President Trump fire Comey,” the report said. “In the days after Comey’s firing, this presidential action was used to further political and media calls for the standup [sic] of the special counsel to investigate ‘Russia collusion.’ “
'In the end, Special Counsel Robert Mueller found no conspiracy between Trump and Putin. Ciaramella’s email was cited in a footnote in his report, which mentions only Ciaramella’s name, the date and the recipients “Kelly et al.” Former colleagues said the main recipient was then-Homeland Security Director John Kelly." . . .

Ben Garrison

The Whistleblower revealed: the White House couldn't see this coming?

Meet Eric Ciaramella — H.R. McMaster Appoints Susan Rice Ally to be his Personal Aide  Going back to 2016.

. . .  "Ciaramella’s ascension is surprising considering pro-Trump sources within the Obama administration disclosed to me in December, 2016 that Ciaramella’s helped draft Susan Rice’s anti-Trump talking points before the Inauguration.

In fall of 2016 as Obama’s director for Ukraine on the NSC, Ciaramella was the main force pushing Trump-Russia conspiracy theories.

Some suspect Ciaramella was one of the original leakers who told the media about classified conversations Trump had with Russian diplomat Sergei Lavrov. While it’s unproven that Ciaramella leaked that conversation, it is now a fact of life that he will have access to every conversation Trump has with foreign officials, as part of his official duties for McMaster." . . .

Whistleblower Eric Ciaramella: Is this the best they've got?  . . . "Not long after that, he got kicked out of the NSC for suspected leaking, something other people have been jailed for.  It raises questions as to why the heck this guy even ended up at CIA, drawing a likely six-figure salary and big bennies.  He doesn't even sound security clearance–worthy, given his propensity to leak.  Tight-lipped he wasn't.

"And maybe that has a lot to do with his past politics, unimpeachably Democratic and leftist — which would amount to the real reason Democrats are protecting him.  How bad was it? [Paul] Sperry writes:" . . .

What we learn ultimately from Paul Sperry is that Schiff needs to recuse himself from his sham because he was right in the middle of it from the beginning and his efforts to keep Ciaramella's identity secret were efforts to protect himself. As for Ciaramella, he ought to be fired, and working now for an organization more compatible with his inclinations, political operativity and bureaucratic dishonesty ...  some place like Fusion GPS.  . . .

 Mystery Revealed – CIA Gossiper Eric Ciaramella: Democrat, Former NSC Staff, Worked with Joe Biden and John Brennan…

The Democrat plan for a 42% national sales tax

Yahoo  

"If you’re a Democrat who supports “Medicare for All,” pick your poison. You can ruin your political career and immolate your party by imposing a ruinous new sales tax, a gargantuan income tax hike or a surtax on corporate income that would wreck thousands of businesses.

This is the cost of bold plans.

"Supporters of Medicare for All, the huge, single-payer government health plan backed by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and several other Democratic presidential candidates, say it’s time to think big and move to a health plan that covers everyone. Getting there is a bit tricky, however. A variety of analyses estimate that Medicare for All would require at least $3 trillion in new spending. That’s about as much tax revenue as the government brings in now. So if paid for through new taxes, federal taxation would have to roughly double.

"The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) has done voters a favor by spelling out what kinds of new taxes it would take to come up with that much money." . . .

'Whistleblower' Who Complained About Trump's Call to Ukrainian President Zelensky Revealed

Townhall  "Everything Trump's defenders feared about the whistleblower is true! According to a report from RealClear Investigations, the whistleblower is 33-year-old Eric Ciaramella.

"Ciaramella is a holdover from the Obama administration and a registered Democrat. He's been accused of leaking like crazy. He worked with Joe Biden, he's a vocal critic of President Trump, and he invited a DNC operative inside the White House to attend meetings. He also helped instigate the investigation into Russia collusion. So, of course, Democrats believe his second-hand complaint about President Trump's phone conversation with Ukrainian President Zelensky over the actual transcript of the call itself. 

And Ciaramella worked with a Democratic National Committee operative who dug up dirt on the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, inviting her into the White House for meetings, former White House colleagues said. The operative, Alexandra Chalupa, a Ukrainian-American who supported Hillary Clinton, led an effort to link the Republican campaign to the Russian government. “He knows her. He had her in the White House,” said one former co-worker, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

. . . "The report claims that federal records show Ciaramella attended a state luncheon with Joe Biden's office back in October 2016. You'll never guess who else was there? Former FBI Director James Comey and former National Intelligence Director James Clapper. You can't make this stuff up! The report says it was strange for Ciaramella, a relatively low-level GS-13 federal employee, to have been there. And it describes Ciaramella's invitation as "unusual," saying it "signaled he was politically connected inside the Obama White House." 

. . . 

"Big Squaw E. Warren speaks with forked tongue"

So do most voters, including women and minorities who are too smart to be dazzled by talk of ‘environmental racism’. Elizabeth Warren thinks she can win on an anti-prosperity, increased bureaucracy platform.

SPECTATOR USA

. . . "Now that we are down to the last little Indian, a question that has been furtively whispered ever since the Democratic field assembled for playtime this summer is out in the open: do the Democrats have a death wish? Forget about the comic relief candidates — Cory Booker, Eric Swalwell, Jay Inslee et alii. What does it mean that two top Democratic candidates are an avowed socialist who harbors a special place in his heart for the Soviet Union, one of the most monstrous tyrannies in world history, and an unavowed socialist who traipses around the word but embraces all the policies? Remember, Warren has publicly declared that ‘I’m with Bernie’ when it comes to ‘Medicare for all’, i.e. government-run (which means badly run) healthcare. Ronald Reagan was right when he noted that ‘one of the traditional ways of imposing statism or socialism’ on a society was by way of medicine. Obamacare took a huge step in that direction. ‘Medicare for all’ would finish the task."
. . . 

". . . What else does Elizabeth Warren — Hillary with ankles and less Chardonnay — wish to impose upon us?

"Chew on these morsels. ‘On my first day as president,’ she tweeted, ‘I will sign an executive order that puts a total moratorium on all new fossil fuel leases for drilling offshore and on public lands.’

"Think about that. Barack Obama famously said that ‘we cannot drill our way out’ of the problem of getting enough energy. But it turns out that we can. President Trump’s aggressive support for fracking and other methods of harnessing America’s energy resources have, in a little over two years, transformed the US from a net importer into a net exporter of energy. More energy, more prosperity. Unemployment under Trump has fallen to historic lows, especially for women and minorities. Meanwhile his energy policy, tax cuts and ‘America first’ initiatives have fueled the first real wage increases for the working and middle classes in decades. In less than three years, middle-class incomes have surged more than $5,000." . . .

Matt Gaetz files ethics charges against Adam Schiff

Townhall  "Florida GOP Congressman Matt Gaetz has filed an ethics complaint against House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff for the way he has been handling the impeachment inquiry into President Donald J. Trump. Specifically, Rep. Gaetz says that Schiff has been "distorting  @POTUS ’s call with President Zelensky, Lying to the public about 'Russian collusion', and blocking members of Congress from attending impeachment depositions.' " . . .  

Democrats are throwing all they can at Rep. Gaetz, including things he did that they were just fine when done by Bobby Francis O'Rourke. It would be just fine had Rep. Gaetz been a Democrat and even a rapist. Inciting riots that cause the deaths of some ethnic group members would be no problem if Matt Gaetz were known as Rev. Matt Gaetz.   TD

He’s A One-Man Ukrainian Lobby!

Ann Coulter

"Proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 1: Immigrants are required to wait a minimum of two (2) generations before bossing around the most successful, prosperous, free country on Earth, and fully three (3) generations before advising on our government’s policy toward the countries of their forefathers."

"I have a confession. I behaved badly recently, and I’m just going to admit it.
" As a guest at a dinner party in Georgetown, I stormed in and started bossing everyone around. First, I demanded that the foyer be painted a different color and wainscoting be added to the dining room. Then I had my hosts assemble their children so I could give them all different names. Before making my exit, I grabbed two legs of turkey off the entree platter and stuffed them in my purse.
" I have a second confession. None of that happened. But if it had, I would be exactly like Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman.
"He was born in Ukraine and raised there until age 3 1/2, when he was invited to our country. As you’ve no doubt heard, he served in our military. Thank you for your service, Colonel!
"Now he is the top Ukrainian adviser on the National Security Council. Of all the people who could look out for the U.S.’s interests vis-a-vis Ukraine, we got someone who was born there.
"As such, Vindman was permitted to listen to a phone call the president of the United States made to the president of Ukraine -- a completely unnecessary, pro forma task.
"So, naturally, when he had a policy disagreement with President Trump pertaining to the country he was born in, he thought he had a responsibility to agitate for removal proceedings against the duly elected U.S. president, just as I might have taken issue with the carpets in the Georgetown townhouse.
"For some reason, we keep hearing about Col. Vindman’s valor and patriotism. I don’t doubt that he’s a super swell guy. But unless I missed it in the newspapers at the time, I don't believe he was elected president in 2016. In fact, there's a specific constitutional provision that prevents Col. Vindman from ever being president: He wasn’t born here.
"Study question: Why might the framers have added that clause?" . . .

Al-Baghdadi and liberals; consider the synchrony

http://stiltonsplace.blogspot.com/

"Saturday night "live" is what ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi wasn't following a daring special forces operation last Saturday night. Troops went in, cleared the compound - killing those who resisted - then closed in on al-Baghdadi himself.
"The ISIS leader scurried down a dead-end (literally) tunnel with three of his children, then blew all of them to bits with a suicide vest." . . .

Ian Macfarlane

Ben Garrison

There is more to the above cartoon than you may think. Think of how many California elected officials warn illegals about upcoming ICE raids and consider that they are not above giving ISIS warnings for reasons that I cannot comprehend. Californians are being educated in schools that post items such as this leftist propaganda pictured below:

Impeachment City; Elections Have Consequences

If Republicans remain reluctant to act because they fear how the liberal public, the Dems, or the media will respond, then they really aren’t living in reality.  We’ve already lost the public perception game.  We don’t have the media, Hollywood, or the educational system in our court.   We don’t have much left as Republicans.  Donald Trump and his unyielding devotion to punching back on our behalf is our last best hope.  When he goes -- whether through removal due to impeachment or the 2020 election -- the GOP is dead.  It could be decades before conservatives have a viable party and by then, the damage will be catastrophic. Sally Zelikovsky

How the Senate Should Handle Impeachment  . . . "The Senate should change its rules or enact new rules establishing that it will summarily dismiss any impeachment from the House and not hold a trial, when that impeachment is based on any of the following: partisan politics (this can be proven since impeachment has been their clarion call since Election Night 2016);  conduct that falls squarely within the executive’s constitutionally-enumerated powers (among others, the executive’s ability to conduct foreign and national security policy, to protect the homeland, and to fully execute the laws of the United States, including investigating and prosecuting corruption carried out by citizens); hearsay evidence and any other evidence that would be inadmissible under the Federal Rules of Evidence; information protected by executive privilege or that is classified; evidence that has been obtained in violation of the accused’s constitutional guarantees or any other laws; or evidence that was illegally obtained. 

"The Constitution states that the President shall be “removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”  That requires that a trial take place, but if the Senate determines, in accordance with Senate rules, that there are no grounds for a trial, it’s hard to see a reason why the Senate cannot “throw out” the impeachment.  

"Gutsy? You bet.  Likely to rile up the Dems?  Don’t care.  Effective?  Damn right. " . . .

No longer an impeachment. Now, it's a railroading   . . . "Under pressure to make their Soviet-style impeachment to overturn the results of the 2016 election "fairer," Trump-maddened Democrats have put on a 'impeachment resolution' public relations show in a bid to legitimize their secret basement hearings.

. . . 

"The shammy resolution, expected to be rammed through Thursday in that desperate Democrat bid to get this whole thing over before the end of the year, does keep the House Intelligence committee under Rep. Schiff in the catbird's seat leading the impeachment as he has so far in his basement, but now it effectively shuts Republicans out of the process. It requires Republican House ranking intelligence committee member Rep. Devin Nunes to get permission first from Schiff first before he can call any witnesses or issue any subpoenas. If Adam Schiff doesn't want them, they won't be heard from.

"The resolution keeps all of the previous Soviet-style basement hearing testimony still secret and non-transparent, with no new questions permitted from Republicans." . . .