October 29, 2019

Awesome Castro video! "Who are you? I'm you. I'm me. No, wait!"

I LOVE this!

https://twitter.com/davejorgenson/status/1189199821980291072

October 28, 2019

The Dems are on message and on point!

I love that every House Democrat I've seen interviewed since Pelosi announced Thursday's vote on impeachment proceedings has been completely on message and all are, in one voice and with razor-sharp clarity, explaining exactly what they're doing and pushing back on any mischaracterization of what the resolution is about.

Bravo, Democrats!!!

October 28, 2019

Nancy Pelosi is backing the Republicans into a corner

She let them bleat for days about needing procedures for the impeachment inquiry and let them go on and on about what those procedures should be

And then BAM! Now she's now giving them what they said they want and will dare them to either vote Yes - which means they're essentially voting to ratify the impeachment inquiry and agreeing to the process Pelosi has laid out - or No - which will reveal just how full of shish they are.

Nicely done, as usual, Madam Speaker.

October 28, 2019

Thursday's Impeachment Procedure resolution title: Directing certain committees to continue their

their ongoing investigations as part of the existing House of Representatives inquiry into whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives to exercise its Constitutional power to impeach Donald John Trump, President of the United States of America, and for other purposes.

It will be marked up in the Rules Committee on Thursday.

October 28, 2019

Breaking: House will vote Thursday on impeachment procedures

If this is what I think it is, it's a really smart move!

I suspect that the resolution won't be a resolution authorizing an impeachment inquiry, but will instead lay out the procedures for an inquiry, which will operate as an approval without coming out and saying it.

It's my recollection that this was done in the Nixon impeachment - the House never specifically approved an impeachment inquiry, but approved various procedures for the conduct of an inquiry. I'll check the history, and correct that if I'm wrong.

October 28, 2019

Facts about the House Ethics Committee

There have been several posts in the last day claiming that the House Ethics Committee treats Republicans accused of wrongdoing differently than similarly-situated Democrats and even that it only goes after Democrats and doesn't investigate or punish Republicans at all.

That's just not true.

The House Ethics Committee is a strictly bipartisan body, the only committee evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans (5 and 5). The only impact majority status has on the committee is that the chair is a member of the House majority. Other than that, is completely even.

The Committee is required to and does investigate every complaint of unethical behavior by a Member brought before it. In the last few years, the Committee has investigated considerably more Republicans than Democrats. For example, in the last year, the Committee has conducted at least 20 ethics investigations involving Members and nearly three-quarters of those involved Republicans while just about a fourth involved Democrats.

In addition to ethics investigations, the Committee and its staff provide ethics guidance and advice to Members and their offices, help ensure that everyone stays within the ethical boundaries. For example, when I was a House staffer, I frequently consulted with them to help clarify ethical rules or before my Member, I and anyone on the staff conducted any activity I thought might raise a question to ensure that we were doing it right and, if there might be a problem, get their recommendations on how we could adjust our activity to stay within the ethical rules - or not do it at all. Their assistance is invaluable, above-board, and untarnished by politics.

Here is a link to the House Ethics Committee website: https://ethics.house.gov/
https://ethics.house.gov/media-center
https://ethics.house.gov/jurisdiction

There you can read the Committee rules, look up its press releases announcing its investigations and find out more about how it operates.

But please stop claiming the Ethics Committee doesn't investigate Republicans or treats Republicans and Democrats differently. It doesn't. It is, in fact, one of the few "untouchable" committees on the Hill and operates with great fairness, integrity, and discretion.

October 28, 2019

We can't both brag about being morally and ethically superior to Republicans but then complain when

we actually hold ourselves to a higher standard than the Republicans do.

October 27, 2019

Mrs Betty Bowers strikes again

https://twitter.com/BettyBowers/status/1188532473594077184

People are saying it's embarrassing that Russian knew about the Baghdadi raid before Congress, but I think it's probably more embarrassing that Russia probably knew about the Baghdadi raid before Trump.

October 26, 2019

This is funny

https://twitter.com/jkfecke/status/1187786134023262210

October 25, 2019

Some of y'all mocked Nadler's, Schiff's, Neal's and Cummings' "strongly-worded letters"

But Judge Beryl Howell today cited and quoted from Nadler's letters in today's blockbuster ruling ordering DOJ to turn over the grand jury materials.

As some of us tried to explain, those letters were a necessary part of the process that were absolutely critical to getting the ruling we got today.

There's a method to the madness.