#impeachable offenses

[judebert]

IMPEACH

Liars! Terrorists! Christo-fascist puppets! Corporate-fascist puppets! Traitors to democracy!

[foone]

Frankly, I think being the president is an impeachable offense

[simply-ivanka]

Suddenly Democrats Care About the Border

Biden and Schumer begin to see their political vulnerability.

By John Thune -- Wall Street Journal Opinion/ May 20, 2024

Trailing in the polls and desperate less than six months before Election Day, President Biden and Senate Democrats are trying something new: their best impersonations of Republicans.

The architects of the Biden border crisis—the worst in American history—suddenly want the American people to know they’re on the case. After three-plus years of mismanaging border security, resulting in more than nine million entries through the southern border, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is telegraphing that he may force Senate floor votes related to the border.

That’s his prerogative as leader, but I don’t expect anyone to buy this political theater. For starters, Mr. Biden has authority to take action at the border and to do so today. It’s the same authority he used to issue a multitude of executive actions relaxing border security, including rescinding the national emergency at the southern border, halting border-wall construction, ending the Remain in Mexico policy, and discouraging Immigration and Customs Enforcement from apprehending illegal immigrants.

The president this month ordered the removal of criminals and potential terrorists. This is a switch from the policy he started shortly after his inauguration, and the new order was made only after hundreds of people on the terrorist watchlist were encountered in between ports of entry on his watch. Vote for me, and I’ll clean up the historic mess I made is hardly an effective campaign pitch, and a few meaningless Senate votes won’t erase my Democratic colleagues’ long records of enabling illegal immigration.

In this Congress alone, Senate Democrats have banded together to protect taxpayer-funded flights for illegal immigrants to different states in the U.S. and keep federal dollars flowing to sanctuary cities. Democrats blocked votes on a litany of common-sense border-security and enforcement measures, including a proposal from Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) that would have let state and local law enforcement detain criminal illegal aliens until ICE can deport them. They even stopped legislation from Sen. Ted Budd (R., N.C.) that would deem assaulting a law-enforcement officer a deportable offense.

Not one Senate Democrat supported H.R. 2, House Republicans’ signature border bill, after Senate Republicans twice forced it to be considered.

But now Democrats need voters in Montana, Ohio, Nevada and Pennsylvania to believe they’re serious about the border. They aren’t motivated by national security. They’re concerned about their own political vulnerability. They’ve recognized, albeit too late, that the chaos of an open border is a political liability.

If Mr. Schumer devotes floor time to debating border legislation, he should expect some difficult conversations ahead—the same kinds of conversations we would have had in the Senate if every Democrat hadn’t voted to dismiss the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas without a trial.

It’s abundantly clear that the American people want an end to lawlessness at the southern border. They want the president to do his job and defend America’s borders. The bad political bet that Mr. Biden and Mr. Schumer are making is that voters will hire the arsonists to put out the fire.

Mr. Thune, a South Dakota Republican, is Senate minority whip.

[the-political-kitten]

Hmmmm.... now, why would the Republicans not take this opportunity? Because perhaps there is no there there?

That is epic!!!!

[contemplatingoutlander]

Surprise, surprise! Another GOP "star witness" against the Bidens also has lots of ties to Russia.

One central issue in the Bobulinski timeline—his long-standing connections to a sanctioned Russian oligarch behind state-controlled energy company Rosneft—appears far more close and complex than he has suggested, including in his House testimony. Bobulinski was a partner with Hunter Biden and a small circle of other associates in a proposed 2017 investment deal involving their startup entity, called “SinoHawk,” and privately owned Chinese energy firm CEFC. In 2020, Bobulinski went public with claims that the finances involved not just Hunter Biden, but his father Joe Biden, who was out of office at the time of the negotiations. Republicans have pointed to Bobulinski’s claims as evidence of potential wrongdoing, and his allegations have fueled unproven but widespread speculation about a bribery scandal—even though many of these claims have been debunked, and years of GOP investigations have turned up no evidence of impeachable offenses. But as the inquiry has unspooled the details surrounding the proposal, Bobulinski’s own connections to Russia have come into clearer focus.

[darkmaga-returns]

The American people voted for Trump to end the wars. Biden apparently wants to end the world.

By Dennis J. Kucinich The Kucinich Report

November 22, 2024

When President Biden approved the use of supersonic Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to strike Russia, he placed in jeopardy the national security of the United States, the safety of our troops abroad and violated the U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8, which provides that only Congress can declare war.

Biden has made a decision to insert the U.S. into an unambiguous, escalatory phase, using the territory of Ukraine to attack Russia directly with missiles which can reach 190 miles deep.  This is an illegal act by the President which puts our nation on a path to war with Russia.

The American people voted for Trump to end the wars. Biden apparently wants to end the world. Trump is listening to the American people. Biden is listening to NATO’s malignant agenda. 

Trump has put America’s interests for peace and prosperity first.

No President has the right to use unilateral executive authority to permit a U.S. missile strike against another nation. It invites a retaliatory attack.  It is an impeachable offense.

Congress, as a co-equal branch of government, must act now: 

Any Member of Congress can, under privileges of the House, ask for immediate consideration of a joint resolution which invokes Article I, Section 8, and then cuts off all funding for personnel, coordination, technical advisers, materiel, equipment and deployment of ATACMS and emplacement of any other offensive missile systems in Ukraine.

The specter of WWIII has  loomed before,  in October of 1962, when the Soviet Union used the territory of Cuba to place offensive missiles just 90 miles away from the American mainland.

Absent the wisdom of President Kennedy and the forbearance of Nikita Krushchev, the world was on a path to nuclear annihilation.

[jangillman]

Jan Gillman-Westgarth

I woke up and as I had my morning coffee, I realized that everything is about to change. No matter how I vote, no matter what I say, something evil has invaded our nation, and our lives are never going to be the same.

I have been confused by the hostility of family and friends. I look at people I have known all my life--so hate-filled that they agree with opinions they would never express as their own. I think that I may well have entered the Twilight Zone.

You can't justify this insanity. We have become a nation that has lost its collective mind!

• If a man pretends to be a woman, you are required to pretend with him.

• Somehow it’s un-American for the census to count how many Americans are in America.

• Russians influencing our elections are bad, but illegals voting in our elections are good.

• It was cool for Joe Biden to "blackmail" the President of Ukraine, but it’s an impeachable offense if Donald Trump inquires about it.

• Twenty is too young to drink a beer, but eighteen is old enough to vote.

• People who have never owned slaves should pay slavery reparations to people who have never been slaves.

• People who have never been to college should pay the debts of college students who took out huge loans for their degrees.

• Immigrants with tuberculosis and polio are welcome, but you’d better be able to prove your dog is vaccinated.

• Irish doctors and German engineers who want to immigrate to the US must go through a rigorous vetting process, but any illiterate gang-bangers who jump the southern fence are welcome.

• $5 billion for border security is too expensive, but $1.5 trillion for “free” health care is not.

• If you cheat to get into college you go to prison, but if you cheat to get into the country you go to college for free.

• People who say there is no such thing as gender are demanding a female President.

• We see other countries going Socialist and collapsing, but it seems like a great plan to us.

• Some people are held responsible for things that happened before they were born, and other people are not held responsible for what they are doing right now.

• Criminals are caught-and-released to hurt more people, but stopping them is bad because it's a violation of THEIR rights.

• And pointing out all this hypocrisy somehow makes us "racists"?!

Nothing makes sense anymore, no values, no morals, no civility and people are dying of a Chinese virus, but it’s racist to refer to it as Chinese even though it began in China. We are clearly living in an upside down world where right is wrong and wrong is right, where moral is immoral and immoral is moral, where good is evil and evil is good, where killing murderers is wrong, but killing innocent babies is right.

Wake up America, the great unsinkable ship Titanic America has hit an iceberg, is taking on water, and is sinking fast. The choice is yours to make. What will it be? Time is short, make your choice wisely!

(Not my words but very accurate and disturbing!)

Feel free to copy and paste. I did.

See 2 Timothy 4:3 and 2 Timothy 3:1-5

[robin-the-blind-sniper-rifle]

I definitely would like to say, now that everything is over, it is not the time to stop fighting. The Biden Administration needs to spend its last two months in office preparing to stop the orange from pardoning himself. The first thing to be done is to do everything they possibly can to protect the Department of Justice from being abolished. Here’s why.

In 1974, two years after the first revelation of Watergate and Nixon’s treason, the US Department of Justice implemented an addition to the constitution stating that the president is not allowed to pardon himself under the fundamental rule that no one can be a judge in his own case. Unfortunately, this addendum is quite vague, but it still exists as long as the Department of Justice exists. Henceforth why we should protect it.

I’m sure the question is “why does the addendum matter if it’s broad and based on a fundamental principle that not everyone shares?” Here’s why.

The idea of a presidential pardon originated from the royal pardon the king of Britain had. While it was on paper, the royal pardon of the king meant nothing. He was the king, and the king could do no wrong under the monarchical system, therefore making himself invulnerable to any offenses unless he were deposed or executed. Why does this matter? We’re not a monarchy, that’s not how this country operates (ideally).

Exactly.

The president is not the king. The president is the president until he isn’t for one reason or another. The president is meant to be bound by the limits of the Constitution and a self pardon would mean an imposition of said Constitution. Allowing a president to pardon himself would mean allowing him to project his power past his term, past his authority, in a way that doesn’t sit well with the system or the people.

The concerns with the way such a broken system (the one we have now) would operate under this framework are very valid. He wants to stack the Senate with yes men who will make flimsy legal arguments for his case; he wants to stack the courts with judges who support him; he wants to wipe his prosecutors from existence. But here’s what he doesn’t think about, something we need to hold onto.

In a world where he does pardon or attempt to pardon himself, it is easily grounds for impeachment, simple as that. He can try to do it and then it’s up to the courts to decide which way they want to go with it in terms of allowance. I won’t pretend to know or even guess the outcome of such a debate because there is no precedent and it could go either way.

But.

People like us, like Jack Smith (the special counsel of the Department of Justice still prosecuting the orange) still exist. So sign petitions, whatever you can find. Don’t embroil yourself in doomsday media. Most importantly, hold onto the hope that justice will be done.

We didn’t get a blue president, but we can still put the orange one behind bars the way he deserves

[hey-pretty-mama-its-johnny-bravo]

If you don’t feel like you can vote for one of the presidential candidates, vote for Ukraine. If you feel like your vote can’t save Palestine, vote to save Ukraine.

It may be hard to justify voting in this year’s presidential election, but if you want to do some good and help people with your vote, their is a very clear option.

Ukraine has been in a war for its survival for more than two years now. Casualties in the conflict so far have likely surpassed half a million and continue to grow with each passing day.

Since the beginning, Russia has repeatedly targeted civilian infrastructure with missile strikes. A report from June 2024 gave a figure of 11,126 civilians killed and 21,863 wounded since the beginning of the invasion in February 2022.

Since the early days of the invasion, experts have made reports accusing the Russian state of genocidal acts in occupied Ukraine.

In 2023, Russia pulled out of the grain deal that allowed the export of Ukrainian grain, which accounts for about a tenth of the global supply and is especially vital for food-insecure nations. Though grain exports from Ukraine have recovered, this can be accounted mostly to Russia’s inability to effectively prevent them, and they have bombed grain storage infrastructure that supports these exports. There is no strategic excuse for such actions.

For now, the war is grinding on with little hope of an end any time soon. Ukraine, understandably, is not willing to cede its sovereignty, its territory, and many of its people to Russian oppression. They have fought on against incredible odds, but they are extremely reliant on foreign support, be it financial, humanitarian, or military to continue and make progress in their battle for survival.

The aid that Ukraine needs has been repeatedly blocked by Republicans. It would be dishonest not to mention that these aid packages have also included funds for Israel’s actions in Gaza, which are as terrible or worse than those prosecuted by Russia. But the two can and should be separate, and Republicans have certainly treated them as such.

Donald Trump has frequently complimented Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, and was famously impeached (the first time) for reportedly threatening to withhold military aid from Ukraine unless the Ukrainian president provided dirt on Biden’s son.

Statements by two of Trump’s key advisers show that, if elected, he would withhold further military aid from Ukraine unless the country entered peace talks with Russia. Thus far, Russia has refused to consider any terms that would include a withdrawal from Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders. The plan also includes a “ceasefire based on prevailing battle lines during peace talks.” Effectively, Ukraine would be pressured into a ceasefire that leaves its territory under the Russian boot.

It’s important to note that the United States is not the only country providing aid to Ukraine, military or otherwise. But there is no other country that can provide military aid at the same level. There simply is no one else that can make up the difference. For Ukraine to go on the offensive and liberate their territory from foreign occupation, there simply is no other alternative to what the United States can provide.

Without continued aid, the war in Ukraine will continue to stagnate. Casualties will continue to mount. The people of Ukraine will continue to suffer as power infrastructure is destroyed by Russian missile strikes. Russian civilians will continue to suffer as their sons are conscripted (disproportionately from rural areas and ethnic minorities) to die for their oligarchs in a war that never needed to happen.

If you don’t feel like you can vote for anything else, vote to give Ukraine what it needs to defend itself and its people. The alternative is genocide and the legitimation of conquest and annexation.

[hareofhrair]

https://www.tumblr.com/hareofhrair/749247301532499968/gonna-need-yall-to-stop-putting-biden-is-just-as

People who keep on screeching about the revolution that will occur if Biden loses and things get worse and how punishing America for "Genocide Joe" need to learn about Ernst Thalmann.

He was a communist leader who believed that the liberals of his time were an obstacle to a Communist society in Germany, and worked to allow Hitler enough votes to gain power, in the belief that Hitler would make things so bad that the people would turn to communism.

It backfired HARD, and Germany became a fascistic dictatorship, Thalmann himself was imprisoned and eventually executed, and communism DIDN'T come to Germany.

Because frankly that's exactly what these numbskulls are braying for; to commit the exact same mistake Thalmann made nearly a century ago, because they care more about punishing a society that they believe is an obstacle to their moral superiority than actually stopping a monster who will actively bring about the end of Democracy as we know it.

Yeah, accelerationism is an idiot child’s idea of politics.

But most of the nasty messages I’ve received about this post so far don’t seem to think Trump winning is a good thing— They seem to be under the bewilderingly incorrect impression that there’s some kind of third option.

That if enough people don’t vote for trump *or* biden neither will become president and the government will be forced to present better candidates? Or something?

Genuinely I can’t decide if the lack of coherent thought is evidence of the nightmarish state of education in this country, or evidence that these people are or are uncritically repeating the propaganda of actual literal Russian agents. We know, like for an actual fact with solid evidence, that they have done this before, on tumblr specifically! Have yall forgotten about the actual russian psyop in 2016 trying to convince everyone it was pointless to vote?

Either Biden or Trump *will* become president. You have exactly ONE action which can influence this decision. Neither of them are going to immediately turn around and denounce Israel. Biden will continue loudly supporting them publicly while taking only the most non confrontational action behind the scenes to try and stop the genocide, because Israel is vital to US imperialism in that part of the world and literally no action he attempted to take against them would ever amount to anything but his immediate impeachment. And Trump will not just loudly support Israel, but has already repeatedly encouraged them to “get it over with,” urging more aggressive measures to end the genocide as quickly as possible because he thinks it’s “a bad look.”

He’s also made public his plans to eliminate the entire Department of Education, erase not just protections for transgender people but federal acknowledgement of trans people at all, codifying binary gender into federal law, and his environmental and energy policies amount to, and I quote, “DRILL BABY, DRILL.” Among a host of other heinous fucking crimes against humanity. This is not conspiracy! These are his publicly stated positions!

Meanwhile, Biden has reinstated environmental policies Trump stripped and pushed for aggressive climate action, signed legislation to protect lgbt and interracial marriage, reversed the trans military ban and ensured trans people would have access to government services, passed the first meaningful gun control legislation in 30 years, signed executive orders to protect reproductive rights, pardoned all prior offenses for marijuana possession, signed an executive order to curb police violence by banning chokeholds, increasing accountability, and restricting the transfer of military gear to police.

Is it enough? Does that make him a good person? Fuck no! I’d still spit in his face if I ever met him. But to pretend there is no difference between him and Trump is blisteringly ignorant.

People in the my messages and the notes of that post have repeatedly declared I just don’t care about anyone outside my privileged class, and I gotta say evidence suggests they’re projecting hard. I’m a deeply impoverished queer disabled person living in the deep south. I know EXACTLY how much worse a Trump presidency would be. The only way someone could pretend it makes no difference is if they believe they’re secure enough that none of it would affect them, and they’re too self centered to realize not everyone is lucky enough to be in that situation.

My heart breaks for the Palestinian people every day. That sounds trite but I don’t know how else to say it. I read their posts, I share their calls for donations, a day doesn’t pass where I’m not reminded of their suffering and how utterly helpless I am to do anything about it. I wish to god there was something I could personally do that would make any kind of difference for them, but I can’t.

I am in an airplane that is falling out of the sky. I can’t stop it. I can’t save the people around me. I’m trying to put on my oxygen mask and my seatbelt, and someone is trying to slap them out of my hands and telling me I’m a selfish monster for wanting to live when other people are going to die.

I’m just tired of people telling me I should give up and die. I want to live.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Michelangelo Signorile at The Signorile Report:

The New York Times reports on yet another treasonous flag flying on yet another home owned by Justice Samuel Alito and his wife. Last week, it was the Times report and a jaw-dropping photo of an upside-down flag—embraced by the “Stop the Steal’ movement—flown on the lawn of his Alexandra, Virginia, home in the days after January 6th. This week it’s an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which, as the Times reports, ‘like the inverted U.S. flag, was carried by rioters at the Capitol in the days after Jan. 6, 2021.” It was flown at the Alito’s home on the Jersey shore on Long Beach Island in the summer of 2023. [...]

Tribe acknowledges that there is no way this MAGA-led House is going to impeach Alito but says that’s not an excuse for the Senate not to “at least initiate a serious investigation into whether impeachable offenses have been committed,” and, at the very least, “whether a meaningful, enforceable code of ethics” should be enacted. Tribe says the Senate should call for Alito to testify and subpoena him if he doesn't. He needs to explain under oath what the flags meant, not just release statements to the media blaming his wife. Two days ago, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Dick Durbin, joining Democrats in the House and Senate, called on Alito to recuse himself from January 6th cases but said there’s “not much to be gained” by holding hearings. “No, we haven’t got anything planned,” he told NBC News. “I think he’s explained his situation. The American public understands what he did.”

Really? I think the American public is overwhelmingly horrified to see an upside-down flag on the lawn of a Supreme Court justice. Will Durbin continue with this weak argument even after the report of a second treasonous flag? His response is not only insufficient; it’s political malpractice as we’re headed into a critical election. There is an enormous amount to be gained. It’s all upside, no downside. The Supreme Court is very unpopular, having swung to the far right and stripping basic freedoms like the right to abortion. And after the corruption in the form of undisclosed gifts to Alito, Thomas and others, the American people want political leaders to stand up and demand justice. It doesn’t matter if Republicans fight against this. Let them be exposed as indifferent or supporting treason themselves.

This article from Michelangelo Signorile is spot-on 100% as to why Senate Judiciary Chair Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) to conduct hearings on SCOTUS Justice Samuel Alito's unethical behavior while serving on the court.

[schraubd]

Clown Cars Aren't For Driving They're For Clowning

At the start of the congressional session, I predicted that "endless stunt investigations is all the House GOP will do, because it's all they can agree upon". I'll give myself a pat on the back for that one, as the House -- on its second try -- decided to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for absolutely no discernible reason. It's dead-on-arrival in the Senate, and rightfully so, but we need to reiterate just how pathetic and embarrassing this was. It was embarrassing when it failed the first time, and it's embarrassing that it succeeded the second time. The nominal complaint -- that Mayorkas isn't enforcing border policy to Republicans liking -- is not only not an impeachable offense (except insofar as Republicans believe it's unconstitutional for them to lose elections, which appears to be increasingly their consensus view), but it's doubly-embarrassing to blame Mayorkas for inaction on the border given that congressional Republicans can't even pass their own bill on the border because they think doing so will help Biden in the next election (and because actual policymaking, unlike endless stunt investigations, requires actual position-taking). Republicans dealing with the fact that they are too chaotic and incompetent to even have, let alone enact, an agenda on the issue they say is a Crisis Invasion Destroying America!!1!!1! by impeaching a Democrat is the latest example of the crippling infantilization that has completely overtaken the party. The fiasco did give me a chance to call my Republican congressional representative, Lori Chavez-Deremer (R-OR), and Be Mad At Her, but to by honest my heart wasn't fully in it this time. I genuinely don't understand why Chavez-Deremer even wants to be in Congress at this point. She's not doing anything there -- she's certainly not legislating -- she just mindlessly nods along with whatever ridiculous circus show her more creative MAGA colleagues decide to put forward in any given week. One would think she could do the same thing much more remuneratively as a talk radio host, and with any luck after the next election she'll get that opportunity.  [Image: NYT] via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/RGlWn8f

[1americanconservative]

@charliekirk11

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris just flew a foreign leader into a swing state, on a military plane, during early voting of an election year, so that this foreign leader could campaign on their behalf against Donald Trump.

This is overt foreign election interference — the direct use of a foreign power, with its own interests, to meddle in America's elections. And it's all financed with taxpayer money.

Whether Harris wins or loses, this should be considered an impeachable offense.

@dandcaldwell

Worth noting that Zelenskyy was flown to Pennsylvania on an U.S. Air Force C-17.

The Biden-Harris admin is using military assets to fly a foreign leader into a battleground state in order to undermine their political opponents.