Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Latest News and Updates

Can House Democrats move past impeachment?

House Democrats closed the first session of the 116th Congress with a celebratory press conference touting the party's legislative achievements of the past year.

House Democrats hoped to gavel in the second session on Jan. 7 with a fresh legislative agenda to sell to 2020 voters that will include a higher education reform measure, bills aimed at addressing climate change, and a rekindling of talks with the White House about an infrastructure bill.

House Democrats passed two articles, impeaching him for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress following months of investigations.

Pelosi decided not to appoint Democrats to serve as impeachment managers and did not send the articles to the Senate, where lawmakers had anticipated holding a trial in January.

The delay means that House Democrats, particularly swing-district freshmen in competitive reelection bids, can't immediately move past impeachment in the New Year.

Republicans plan to attack Democrats for focusing on impeachment instead of the economy, border security, and other legislation voters rank high in importance.

"And focusing solely on impeachment is not what people want. Polls show people want Congress to focus on lowering healthcare costs and securing the border. Democrats aren't doing that, and that is definitely something our members are going to emphasize."

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/can-house-democrats-move-past-impeachment

The Democrats’ delay game is now entering its desperate stage.

Sen. Chuck Schumer issued another demand Sunday for more witnesses and documents as impeachment moves to the Senate.

Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell calls the Dems' case the "The thinnest basis" for impeachment "In American history."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is refusing to send the articles of impeachment over to the Senate to begin the trial.

National support for impeachment is steadily falling, and every day Dems spend on impeachment lessens their chances of unseating Trump in November.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1993 that judges cannot interfere in impeachment trials because the Senate has "The sole power" over them.

Minutes after the impeachment vote, federal appeals judges asked Congress to show why its case to compel the testimony of former White House lawyer Don McGahn isn't abruptly ended because "The articles of impeachment render the case moot."

Their conduct so far has made impeachment a stain on them.


https://spectator.org/the-witness-wars/

The ‘Deep State’ and the Impeachment Conspiracy

Ever since the impeachment bandwagon got rolling in September, anything said in defense of President Trump is automatically dismissed by Democrats and their media allies as either "Republican talking points," "Russian propaganda" or a "Conspiracy theory." The self-evident purpose of this rhetoric is to delegitimize the president's defenders as either dishonest partisans, agents of a foreign enemy, or purveyors of paranoid delusions.

The near-universal loathing of Trump in the N.Y./D.C. media axis has made it difficult to get a fair hearing for the evidence that points to the role of the so-called "Deep State" in creating the circumstances that have led us to this impeachment circus.

Some of us are old enough to remember the 1970s and '80s, when left-leaning media sought to expose the shadowy machinations of the State Department, the CIA, and the FBI. Now that opposition to Trump has become the media's idée fixe every journalist is expected to celebrate former FBI Director James Comey's honesty and patriotism, and none of them seem interested in asking questions about why former CIA Director John Brennan's fingerprints seem to be everywhere on the effort to destroy Trump.

Nearly 63 million Americans voted for Trump, and all these voters were, according to the expert analysts at our intelligence agencies, basically stooges of Putin's "Influence campaign." Such an insulting interpretation, clearly implying that there could be no patriotic reason for any American to vote against Hillary, was the real basis for the FBI's surveillance of the Trump campaign.

Still, the finger of blame is now pointing directly at Brennan, and it is not a conspiracy theory to suspect that the former CIA chief was working hand-in-glove with the Clinton campaign to smear Trump as a Russian agent.

Having failed to prevent Trump's election, the "Deep State" is now supporting the impeachment of Trump.

Because no one seriously believes the Senate will vote to remove Trump from office, what was the point of Nancy Pelosi ramming this impeachment through the House? Isn't this just a distraction intended to divert our attention away from revelations of how the Obama administration spied on Trump's 2016 campaign?

https://spectator.org/the-deep-state-and-the-impeachment-conspiracy/

Pompeo Champions the Faithful

Christmas is anything but a season of peace and joy for millions of Christians around the world today.

After more than a century of intermittent genocide, persecution and forced removals, ancient Christian populations in much of the Middle East are on the edge of extinction.

Iraq's Christian population, estimated at 1.4 million as recently as 2003, fell by almost 90% in the chaos that followed the American invasion.

Roughly three quarters of Syria's Christian population, estimated at two million before the current civil war, are refugees.

Egypt still retains a large Christian population, but Copts face pervasive discrimination and, especially in rural areas, violence.

As authorities in Beijing work to enforce ideological conformity and restrict debate among China's 1.4 billion people, the Christian population is experiencing heightened scrutiny and pressure.

The extraordinary violence being deployed against Christians, Muslims and members of religious minorities like the Yazidis and the Baha'i-at levels not seen since the last era of Communist persecution-should serve as a wake-up call.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/pompeo-champions-the-faithful-11577144946?mod=hp_opin_pos_3

The Senate Has a Duty

Senate Republicans seem content to play along while ridiculing her gambit, but they should take their own duties more seriously and hold a trial.

The parchment merely says the House has sole power over impeachment and the Senate the sole power to try an impeachment.

With staggered elections every six years, two thirds of the Senate wouldn't face immediate re-election after a trial and vote.

This means the current Senate has a responsibility to fulfill its part of the Constitution's impeachment duty as a check on the partisan excesses of the Pelosi House.

Current Senate rules say a trial isn't triggered until the House appoints impeachment managers who deliver the articles to the Senate.

The constitutional lawyer and our contributor David Rivkin argues that in this context the Senate rules violate the constitutional duty to hold a trial.

For Senate Republicans, their constitutional duty here is also the best politics.


https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-senate-has-a-duty-11577147237?mod=hp_opin_pos_1

Two new Hunter Biden scandals brewing?

Will Hunter Biden sink his father's presidential campaign? The "Sleaze factor" is becoming an indelible mark on The Family Biden as a series of revelations keeps unfolding and raising suspicions that Papa Joe's political weight enabled his crack-addicted son to reap riches from Ukraine and China while Daddy was forming policy on them.

Hunter Biden is the subject of multiple criminal investigations related to "Fraud, money laundering and a counterfeiting scheme," it's claimed in court documents filed Monday in his Arkansas paternity case.

Biden filed a motion to strike down the claims, arguing "The notice is filed by a non-party simply to make scandalous allegations in the pending suit to gain some media attention."

Now the allegations are in the public domain, to be investigated by any party, interested or disinterested in Hunter or his dad. One of those purported investigations relates to Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian energy company with which Biden held a lucrative board post while his father, Joe, was vice president - drawing allegations of impropriety from Republicans including President Trump.

Recovering crack addict Hunter Biden owns a home in one of the swankiest neighborhoods in America, it was revealed Monday.

The son of former Vice President Joe Biden shares a ZIP code in the Hollywood Hills with celebrities such as Ben Affleck, Christina Aguilera and Halle Berry, according to documents filed in Hunter's Arkansas paternity case.

Biden, 49, is currently expecting his fifth child with 32-year-old wife Melissa Cohen Biden.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/12/two_new_hunter_biden_scandals_brewing.html

Is Pelosi's Impeachment “Panic” Merely More Sleight-of-Hand?

Everyday America met the Democrats' monumentally partisan impeachment with a collective yawn, even as the initiative drove up the chief executive's approval ratings and re-election poll numbers.

Seemingly five minutes after completing the unseemly act of ramming through two nothing-burger impeachment articles, Speaker Nancy Pelosi abruptly indicated she would delay their delivery to the Senate - a decision that seemed, to put it mildly, insane.

The conservative cognoscenti in particular, including the junior senator from the Lone Star state, thought Madame Speaker was selling impeachment - and panicking when it failed.

Just perhaps, she's buying - and using her sleight-of-hand as a legislative illusionist to use the distraction of impeachment to pick up some Christmas bargains for her wide range of constituencies, through a run not on the bank, but on the taxpayer's wallet.

Less than half a calendar day after the impeachment vote, the Speaker was before the media crowing about pending House passage of the NAFTA-substitute U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement.

Might there even be a dollop of prestidigitation in the sly lawmaker's otherwise puzzling postponement of progress on impeachment? What better way of satisfying her base's blood lust for the president's scalp, smearing him with the stain of censure for election season, but then making the whole sordid affair disappear - poof - as if it never happened?

Madame Speaker isn't that enchanting a sorceress.


https://issuesinsights.com/2019/12/24/is-pelosis-impeachment-panic-merely-more-sleight-of-hand/

The Democratic Party's Sick, Twisted Agenda for the Next Four Years is to Keep Impeaching Trump

"A U.S. House of Representatives panel told an appeals court on Monday that despite having already voted to impeach President Donald Trump lawmakers still have an urgent need for testimony from former White House counsel Don McGahn."

The Democratic-led House impeached Trump last week on two charges over his pressuring Ukraine to announce an investigation of former vice president Joe Biden and Biden's son.

Biden is a potential Democratic candidate to run against Republican Trump in the November 2020 election.

There is little chance Trump will be convicted and removed from office through a trial in the Republican-led Senate, but the impeachment proceedings could resonate at the ballot box in November.

The committee has been litigating since August in hopes of securing McGahn's testimony, which could bolster its case that Trump has improperly obstructed investigations into his presidency.

House counsel suggests Trump could be impeached again.

The Trump administration lawyers also urged the court to stay out of the dispute between the White House and Congress over McGahn's testimony.


https://thefederalistpapers.org/political-cartoon/democratic-partys-sick-twisted-agenda-next-four-years-keep-impeaching-trump

Making A Fortune: 19 Million Public Employees Across America Cost Taxpayers Nearly $1 Trillion

For the first time in history, 19 million public employee salaries at every level of government across America have been mapped and posted online.

The good intentions of America's 19 million public employees come at a very high price for the people - nearly $1 trillion.

Find out just how much public employees made last year.

Today In: Industry Search our interactive map of the top 2 million most highly compensated public employees across America.

Search 2 million public employee salaries by ZIP code at OpenTheBooks.com.

OpenTheBooks.com PROMOTED Last year, we found 1.7 million public employees earned $100,000 or more.

Use our interactive map and search by ZIP code, the top 2 million public employees making more than $95,000.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2018/12/11/making-a-fortune-19-million-public-employees-across-america-cost-taxpayers-nearly-1-trillion/#22ff399b3b67

Hunter Biden Denies Ukraine Money Laundering Allegations

Biden has denied the allegations against him and asked the court to strike the filing from the record, claiming the allegations were improperly filed, and may constitute "Redundant, immaterial, impertinent or scandalous" material, and that it was a "Scheme by a non-party simply to make scandalous allegations in the pending suit to gain some quick media attention."

Biden also asked for attorney's fees and costs to address the allegations.

Judge Don McSpadden only agreed that it was improperly filed, striking the evidence on a technicality "As it was not filed in any acceptable manner to this court."

A new filing in an Arkansas lawsuit against Hunter Biden claims that the former Vice President's son "Is the subject of more than one criminal investigation involving fraud, money laundering and a counterfeiting scheme."

Filed by private investigator Dominic Casey of D&A Investigations on behalf of Lunden Alexis Roberts - with whom Hunter fathered a child, Monday's "Notice of Fraud and Counterfeiting and Production of Evidence" alleges that Hunter Biden and associates Devon Archer and John Kerry stepson Christopher Heinz engaged in a money laundering scheme which accumulated over $156 million between March 2014 and December 2015.

According to the document, Biden, Archer and Heinz became directors of consulting firm Rosemont Seneca Bohai, LLC in order to "Conceal their family members ownership," establishing financial accounts at Morgan Stanley and China Bank, the latter of which was used in a money laundering scheme.

The filing also says that "Family members of DEFENDANT Robert Hunter Biden, Devon Archer and Christopher Heinz are business partners of Serhiy Leshchenko and Mykola Zlochevesky in the Ukraine, and are currently under investigation for their part in the counterfeiting scheme."

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/hunter-biden-accused-156m-ukraine-money-laundering-scheme-court-filing-linking-debunked

Here's Why Pelosi is Making Impeachment Permanent

China will lower tariffs on products ranging from frozen pork and avocado to some types of semiconductors next year as Beijing looks to boost imports amid a slowing economy and a trade war with the United States.

Next year, China will implement temporary import tariffs, which are lower than the most-favored-nation tariffs, on more than 850 products, the finance ministry said on Monday.

Why is Pelosi making impeachment a permanent process? - After I posted yesterday afternoon's update detailing the Democrats' latest move to make impeaching President Donald Trump a permanent feature of their rule in the House of Representatives, several readers sent messages asking why she and Schiff and Nadler would do this? What purpose does it serve?

Fourth, because pursuing permanent impeachment supports their new narrative in which they are already making the case that the 2020 presidential election will be illegitimate.

Having a President win re-election while "Under investigation" is key to that narrative.

Fifth, because they know that Ruth Bader Ginsburg is in terrible health, making it very likely there will be an opening on the Supreme Court at some point next year.

Making impeachment permanent enables them to argue that President Trump can't fill that seat while he's under "Suspicion."

https://dbdailyupdate.com/index.php/2019/12/24/heres-why-pelosi-is-making-impeachment-permanent/