Americans have had to endure a lot of political hypocrisy lately and I have no doubt it will continue. When the tide is running your way feelings of omnipotence and superiority often coincide/link. At the time, one generally does not recognize the downside. It comes when you are least expecting and so it will be with the rush to impeach Trump by the likes of Pelosi, Waters and others of their ilk.
Every new day brings its own list of surprises and this impetuous call will as well.
Hypocrisy is not a safe shield that protects. It eventually becomes a dagger aimed at one's own heart so be careful what you wish for.
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Pelosi is playing
politics with impeachment, but Trump committed an impeachable offense
By Marc A. Thiessen
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is, once again, playing politics with impeachment. On CBS News’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday, she warned that President Trump has to be removed because he poses an imminent threat to the country. We have a “deranged, unhinged, dangerous president of the United States, and we’re only a number of days until we can be protected from him,” Pelosi (D-Calif.) said.
Well, if Trump is that
dangerous, why didn’t she call the House back immediately to pass articles of
impeachment, and then challenge the Senate to come back into session and hold a
trial this week? Instead, she is waiting until Wednesday — a full
week after the Capitol riot — to hold a House vote. House Majority Whip James
E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) suggested this
weekend that Pelosi could wait until well into the Biden presidency before
sending impeachment articles to the Senate. “Let’s give President-elect [Joe]
Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running,” Clyburn said.
“And maybe we will send the articles sometime after that.”
Pelosi is politicizing
what are very serious and weighty questions: Did the president of the United
States engage in impeachable conduct? And is it prudent to impeach him when the
Constitution will remove him from office in a matter of days?
On the first question,
the answer is clearly yes. It is true that, as some legal scholars have pointed
out, Trump would never be convicted of incitement in a criminal court. As
former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy, who successfully prosecuted “blind
sheikh” Omar Abdel Rahman for
incitement, told me, “an
incitement case is very difficult in criminal court. ... You have to intend
that a violent crime take place.” McCarthy points out, however, that the issue
in impeachment is not criminal liability, but whether the president committed
what Alexander Hamilton described as political offenses that call
into question his fitness for office. And by that standard, McCarthy says, what
Trump did was “clearly an impeachable offense” and “a deep betrayal of his
obligations as president … to protect our elections, rather than undermine them,
and to protect Congress.”
For more than six weeks,
Trump ginned up anger among his supporters, telling them they had reelected him
in a landslide and that their victory was being stolen from them. He then
brought a massive crowd to Washington on the day that Congress was meeting to
confirm Biden’s electoral college victory, and urged them to march on the
Capitol. He might not have intended for his supporters to storm the building,
but he recklessly stoked a throng of people who did just that — and five deaths
occurred.
Instead of immediately
rushing to the cameras to call off his supporters, Trump sat back and watched
them ransack the Capitol. An hour after they had overwhelmed police barricades,
Trump poured gasoline on
the fire, tweeting “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have
been done to protect our Country.” (Indeed, Trump never even bothered to call
to see whether the vice president was safe.) Only at 2:38 p.m. did Trump feebly
tweet urging the already violent mob to “Stay peaceful!” It was not until 4:17
p.m. — nearly three hours into the assault — that Trump finally posted a video
telling his supporters “you have to go home now.” Even then, he spent more time
claiming his “landslide” election was “stolen” than calling for calm.
Early on Jan. 6, The
Post's Kate Woodsome saw signs of the violence to come hours before thousands
of Trump loyalists besieged the Capitol. (The Washington Post)
And while Trump might
not have intended to provoke violence, he intended to send a crowd to coerce
Pence into committing an unconstitutional act by invalidating electoral votes
cast for Biden. That is an abuse of power. Trump told the crowd that “all Vice
President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to recertify, and we
become president.” They swarmed into the Capitol chanting “Hang Mike Pence”
when he refused. Trump played with matches and started a forest fire — that
makes him culpable for the death and destruction that ensued, even if he didn’t
intend to set the fire.
The second question is more difficult. If Trump had nine months left in office, rather than nine days, there is no doubt that he should be removed from office. It is unclear, however, whether at this late date, an impeachment trial is in the country’s best interests. It would divide the country, turn Trump into a martyr, and keep him front and center for months into Biden’s term. There is also the risk that he might be acquitted, because some Republicans might decide they cannot convict a president who has already left office, while others fear alienating constituents who just voted to give Trump a second term. Trump could then claim vindication. The best thing might be to let him simply leave in ignominy. But Pelosi seems to care more about politics and retribution than what is best for the country.
And:
Hollywood Elites and Violent
Thoughts
By Tim Graham
|
Big Tech's rush to take down and ban social media accounts
or de-platform entire websites that they believe in some way caused the
horrible rioting at the Capitol is based on fear -- that Joe Biden's
inauguration will devolve into another riot. Or that there will be riots at
state capitols.
Social media platforms such as Twitter are only focused on
President Donald Trump and his millions of devoted fans. They don't seem to
focus on violent thoughts on the left, most prominently the Hollywood left.
Apparently, their violent thoughts are never plausibly dangerous; no one could
ever be incited by them.
One very easy example is actor (and Trump impersonator on
"Saturday Night Live") Alec Baldwin, who tweeted on the night of the
rioting: "Put Ted Cruz in the stocks and throw rotten fruit and buckets of
horse piss at him. Then ride him on a rail. Then tar and feather him. And film
it. For Netflix."
That tweet is still available. Freedom of speech is
untrammeled for Tinseltown. Alec Baldwin can always claim he was joking.
He claimed he was "kidding" on Dec. 20, 2020, when
he tweeted: "Who arrests Trump if he refuses to concede? Who drags him
out? Pepper spray? Cuffs? A knee on his neck, cutting off his oxygen? Does he
wheeze 'I can't breathe.' Just whale away on him like a pinata? Rodney King
style? The thug who has destroyed the country. What does he deserve?"
Baldwin also claimed he was joking when he appeared on Conan
O'Brien's late-night show in 1998, as the Bill Clinton impeachment proceedings
were underway. Let's recall exactly what Baldwin yelled about the House
Republicans working to impeach the president: "(I)f we were in other
countries, ... all of us together would go down to Washington and we would
stone Henry Hyde to death! We would stone him to death!" The audience
cheered and he shouted: "Wait! Shut up! Shut up! No, shut up! I'm not
finished. We would stone Henry Hyde to death, and we'd go to their homes, and
we'd kill their wives and their children. We'd kill their families!"
Did that feel like a joke to Hyde? Or the other Republican
impeachment managers in the House? Did their wives and children feel safe?
When Kathy Griffin was dismissed by CNN in 2017 for tweeting
a picture of herself with a replica of Trump's severed head, Baldwin tweeted:
"No one walked out of the studio and said, 'No! We're serious!' No one.
... but all your gutless, weasels in the GOP insisted that I actually
threatened Hyde. They played the victim beautifully."
Nothing happened then. How we wish nothing had happened on
Jan. 6.
Baldwin has a bad habit of indulging his violent fantasies
for all to see. On the Fourth of July in 2006, he took to the Huffington Post
to advance a fantasy about a double murder of Osama bin Laden and then-Vice
President Dick Cheney.
"Osama struggles, swearing at me in his native tongue,
until I jam the box cutter into his neck. I do it again," Baldwin boasted.
"I gather up the body of the world's most notorious terrorist and hurl it
over the balcony. Then, in the final stroke of luck, Bin Laden lands on Dick
Cheney."
As members of Trump's Cabinet resigned in disgust at the
Capitol riots, Baldwin retweeted actor Michael McKean, who also had a stint on
"Saturday Night Live." McKean said, "If this were Japan, there'd
be a lot of seppuku instead of these chickens--- resignations." In other
words, suicide by slitting your own stomach.
Apparently, no one's censoring violent thoughts famous people post on social media ... if they're liberal comedians.
Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org.
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When it comes to China will Biden be concerned?
“Biden Gets China,” headlined the January 2, 2012 report in The Atlantic. As author Steve Clemons explained, “Vice President Joe Biden will take the lead on the administrations next phase China policy.” This marked a shift to a “strategy of engagement with Biden at the top,” that allows the US to deal with China’s likely next president from a Vice President to a Vice President/Next President status -- and to continue both the Departments of State’s and Treasury’s ongoing engagement with other designated key Chinese leaders.”
As Clemons explained, the move to put Biden at the top was “orchestrated” by Thomas Donilon, once described by James Mann in Foreign Policy as “Obama’s Gray Man” and seldom mentioned in the press. So Americans have cause to wonder what, exactly, Thomas Donilon is about.
According to AllGov.com, Donilon worked in the Carter White House and four years later served as campaign coordinator for Walter Mondale. In 1985, the University of Virginia law grad served with the Democratic National Committee and the next year joined the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee but “he remained interested in helping get Democrats elected to the White House.”
In 1988, “Donilon first advised Sen. Joseph Biden” then went on to serve as senior counsel on President Bill Clinton’s 1992 transition team, and chief of staff for secretary of state Warren Christopher. Donilon became assistant secretary of state for public affairs and participated in the expansion of NATO and the relationship between the U.S. and China. His background showed no scholarly work on that country or any other.
From 1995 to 2005, Thomas Donilon was chief lobbyist of the Federal National Mortgage Association, better known as Fannie Mae. As CNN reported, Donilon left the company before it imploded and “was forced to pay $400 million to the federal government for misstated earnings during his time there.” Donilon also attempted to interfere with an audit by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight and tried to launch a separate investigation into the OFHEO itself.
In 2010, the president tapped Tom Donilon for National Security Advisor, which troubled Robert Scheer of The Nation. “Why in the world would President Obama, whose legacy has been sabotaged by a housing crisis that Donilon helped create and conceal, have hired him to run the most sensitive position of public trust in his administration?” Donilon was a skilled political player, Scheer wrote, but as the president so often demonstrated, “it’s the top hustlers of whom he seems enamored.” In similar style, Robert Gates predicted that Donilon would be a “disaster” as national security advisor.
In Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary of State at War, Gates wrote that Donilon characterized the United States military as “in revolt” and “insubordinate.” Donilon, who had never been in the military, “bridled” when Gen. McChrystal announced a “counterinsurgency” strategy in Afghanistan. Here Donilon was only advancing official administration policy. As Gates explained, “troops risking their lives need to be told that their goal is to ‘defeat’ those trying to kill them. But such terms were viewed in the White House as borderline insubordinate political statements by generals.”
According to James Mann, Donilon amassed “enormous internal control” over American foreign policy, Even so, “few news outlets have profiled Donilon, who generally prefers to operate behind closed doors.”
In a June, 2013, speech to the Asia Society, Donilon said, “I disagree with the premise put forward by some historians and theorists that a rising power and an established power are somehow destined for conflict.” No clarification that the “rising power” is a Communist dictatorship and one of the most murderous regimes in history, and the “established power” a constitutional democracy. As Donilon saw it, “a deeper U.S.-China military-to-military dialogue is central to addressing many of the sources of insecurity and potential competition between us.” (emphasis added)
So the “disaster” Thomas Donilon, who first advised Sen. Biden in 1988, is the likely source for Joe Biden’s claim that the Chinese Communists are “not bad folks, folks” and “not competition for us.” This is the Fannie Mae hustler who “orchestrated” Joe Biden as the point man for China policy. On Biden’s watch, China ramped up internal repressions and became more aggressive, modernizing their military and creating island bases that put key American allies and interests at risk.
In November, CNN reported that Tom Donilon was a “leading contender” for director of the CIA, a post he has reportedly turned down. Still, the Donilon family influence runs strong.
Tom Donilon’s wife Cathy Russell was deputy assistant to the president and chief of staff for Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden. She then became U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues at the Department of State. As Bloomberg reports, Donilon’s wife served on Biden’s transition advisory board and will be director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. Tom’s younger brother Mike is also a player.
During the 2020 campaign, Mike Donilon served as Biden’s chief strategist, and as the New York Times reports, Biden has now made Mike Donilon a senior advisor, “the defender of the Biden brand.” Meanwhile, back in 2012, brother Tom Donilon helped out by “orchestrating” Joe Biden’s takeover of China policy. As the New York Post reported, through son Hunter, the “Big Guy” got a piece of the action.
“Biden Gets China,” has now become “China Gets Biden,” right where they want him. As President Trump says, we’ll have to see what happens.
Nor does he seem to understand those like me.
Biden Doesn’t Understand Why 74
Million Americans Have No Interest In His Unity Facade
Biden's inauguration theme of "America United" denies
the left's leading role in inflicting the deep and deadly wounds that threaten
to torture America beyond the point of recognition.
By Kylee Zempel
In just a few short days, Joe Biden will address the nation at his
inauguration, themed “America United.” This unity message, the Presidential
Inaugural Committee declared, “reflects the
beginning of a new national journey that restores the soul of America, brings
the country together, and creates a path to a brighter future.”
The announcement of this bipartisan theme seemed apropos following
a week of turbulence and destruction perpetrated by Trump supporters at our
nation’s Capitol, the seat of American self-government— upheaval that serious
figures on both the left and the right have categorically and correctly
condemned. After Biden’s speech on Jan. 20, he and his wife, along with
soon-to-be-Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, will lay a wreath at
the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, accompanied by Presidents Barack Obama, George
W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and the former first ladies.
If you ask Biden and the inaugural committee, this display of
bipartisanship aims to reorient the nation, binding us across ideological lines
and uniting us all. At the conclusion of the ceremony, echoes of “Kumbayah”
will undoubtedly rise from America’s heartland as the right-thinkers and the
deplorables join hands in glorious oneness.
This, of course, is all a facade. On its surface, Biden’s call for
unity is a slimy display of partisan gaslighting. Deep down, however, it
represents a profound misunderstanding of who America is and, worse, a perverse
denial of the left’s leading role in inflicting the deep and deadly wounds that
threaten to torture America the Beautiful beyond the point of recognition.
Half of America Is
Irredeemable, but Let’s Have Unity
The fact is, no speech, no theme, no assembly of presidents past
can “restore the soul of America, bring the country back together, and create a
path to a brighter future” so long as the commander in chief and his No. 2
consider half the electorate to be irredeemably racist, sexist, homophobic, and
bigoted insurrectionists and seditionists — or at the very least, complicit in
all these sins.
Further, 74 million Americans just voted to re-elected an
anti-establishment outsider and a cultural matador, whose very existence in the
political realm offers a direct rebuke to the political realities wrapped up in
all that Obama, Clinton, and even Bush represent. The symbolic presidential
reunion Biden has organized is no olive branch to the new Republican Party,
which is tired of funding detestable institutions, weary of political
correctness and corrupt elitist claims of decorum, and sick of endless wars.
There’s a little something about unity Biden doesn’t understand.
In games of winners and losers, sincere unifiers value harmony when they
lose, not just when they get their way.
Americans lose interest in unity when the people calling for it were so
recently hostile to their values and livelihoods.
After all, the Democratic Party that now holds the power of the
presidency and both branches of Congress is the same one that spent four whole
years trying to undo the loss they suffered in 2016, including a despicable
special counsel investigation, based on Democratic National Committee-funded
oppo research, that came at a $32 million price tag
to American taxpayers.
Democrats led a no-holds-barred crusade against the commander in
chief, pledging to “impeach the motherf-cker.”
When that didn’t work, they settled for canceling conservatives online and in
classrooms for questioning leftist gender orthodoxy, maligning pro-life
advocates as science-deniers, and smearing champions of due process as rape
apologists.
They dragged Christians through the mud and into the courts,
upending the life of a cake artist and trying to force nuns to pay for
abortifacients. When conservatives doubled down on their Second Amendment
rights, Biden told gun owners he would take their “AR-14s,” even telling one
concerned working-class man he was “full of sh-t” and
partnering with hell-yes-we’ll-take-your-guns Beto O’Rourke.
For the past 10 months, Democrats and their corporate media
friends have smeared faithful churchgoers, mask critics, and lockdown
detractors as grandma-killers. They’ve shouted online that boys are girls and
in the streets that silence is violence.
When law-abiding Americans took offense at the rioting and looting
that plagued America’s cities for months, the left downplayed the violence,
with the incoming vice president even working to help bail out dangerous criminals,
including a suspect who shot at police, a woman charged with second-degree
murder for stabbing her friend to death, and a twice-convicted sex
offender. Now Biden will lay a wreath in Arlington National Cemetery with
the woman who called voters who wanted to Make America Great Again
“deplorables” — and we’re calling it “America United”?
Save Your Unity Speech
Democrats’ interest in unity is a new one — and harmony can’t be
manufactured with a presidential publicity stunt and empty words read off a
teleprompter. Speechwriters can type their little fingers to the bone, crafting
flowery language and hopeful imagery, but how on earth are those who really
want to make America great again, not as a political slogan but as a principled
return to America’s founding ideals, ever supposed to reconcile with a party
whose figureheads have maintained that America was never really that great? How
can we hope for unity when conservatives are being purged from social media and when
right-wing retailers, by mere
association with Trump, are being de-platformed?
If Trump has taught us anything — and he’s taught us many things —
it’s that we’re better off actively engaging in the raging culture war as we
wrestle with our country’s ills than to fake a veneer of civility and unison
and watch as our deeply cherished beliefs go to hell in the name of decorum. If
we really want to “restore the soul of America,” we must grapple with all the
ways we’ve strayed from our convictions — without taking the easy and deceitful
path of pinning them all on Trump.
Trump was a symptom of our sins and in some ways even a
repudiation of them. He wasn’t the origin, and we’ll never have unity again
until our political betters are honest about that fact. Unity would be great,
but our divisions can’t be cured with ignorance or obstinance about what the
real problems are — and unity most certainly isn’t possible if our solutions
involve deep-seated malice toward our opponents, glossed over with a simple
speech.
If Biden really wanted America to be unified, he’d stop
mischaracterizing the 74 million Americans who believe differently than he does
— but his feelings about irredeemable America didn’t change overnight just
because he eked out an election.
And:
Pence to Pelosi - call off the dogs:
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Sent by a very dear friend and fellow memo reader:
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