Congressional reporters say the impeachment terrain is shifting

[Dashinka 24,011]

3 hours ago, BooYah said:

It would help if you posted articles that were closer to being neutral, like The Hill instead of a far right rag that has zero credibility among anyone who isn't a Trump sycophant.

John Solomon has some great investigative articles in The Hill showing how much of a farce this really is.  They are posted elsewhere in CEHST,

 

4 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

This one, from an experienced former DOJ attorney, is well worth reading:

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/09/how-about-a-bipartisan-treaty-against-the-criminalization-of-elections/

 

 

4 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

And here's another, that puts into words what many are probably thinking but couldn't articulate:

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/09/why-trump-did-nothing-wrong-in-his-phone-call-with-zelensky/

 

It would be good to hear thoughtful feedback from participants here regarding this and the other link.

The Andrew McCarthy and Luke Thompson opeds are really clearly thought out.  This whole thing is unraveling faster than Schiff and Pelosi thought.  I don't think they expected Trump to release what he did, and now we know the so-called whistleblower really is not one (I always wondered how whistleblower laws are constitutional with respect to the 6th Amendment, but that will be left to those legal minds).  When the narrative first started, it was all about a promise that Trump supposedly made to Zelensky, but the phone summary and disgruntled complaint don't talk about that, and the Ukraine was not even aware their military aid was even being reviewed at the time of the call (unlike how Schiff tried to portray it in his opening statement supposed parody ).  The other thing that seems relevant is the fact that Ms. Pelosi is taking the opportunity of this farce to attack the credibility of AG Barr.  This is perplexing as AG Barr (other than being mentioned in the call) was not part of this narrative, but his DOJ is investigating the genesis of the Russian narrative, and the DOJ IG is getting ready to release his report, so maybe this is pre-damage control on the part of Ms. Pelosi.

 

The Dems are really stretching with this latest narrative.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

4 hours ago, BooYah said:

It would help if you posted articles that were closer to being neutral, like The Hill instead of a far right rag that has zero credibility among anyone who isn't a Trump sycophant.

Hey, welcome to CEHST. So are you going to be the user with TDS now?

[luckytxn 2,264]

4 hours ago, Cyberfx1024 said:

Hey, welcome to CEHST. So are you going to be the user with TDS now?

If the BooYah of old that was banned then yes.

 

[Randyandyuni 2,682]

9 hours ago, BooYah said:

It would help if you posted articles that were closer to being neutral, like The Hill instead of a far right rag that has zero credibility among anyone who isn't a Trump sycophant.

I agree, align with Yahoo, or Huff Post ... something of substance and more middle of the road, believable, not an agenda driven rag 

[Steeleballz 7,550]

4 hours ago, Cyberfx1024 said:

Hey, welcome to CEHST. So are you going to be the user with TDS now?

 

  As a staff member, you probably should be aware that there was a previous warning by moderation not to call other users that.

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,361]

15 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

  As a staff member, you probably should be aware that there was a previous warning by moderation not to call other users that.

I think that NOTAM has expired 😁

[Steeleballz 7,550]

Just now, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

I think that NOTAM has expired 😁

 

   I guess I missed the update. If we can label other posters as “deranged”, we can probably use “nut job” again too, right? However, I will disagree with you on that. I don’t think we are allowed to use disparaging terms against a certain group of posters.

 

   Much as I would like if we could. Sometimes I miss trading barbs with my old buddy RHR, but those days are over.

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,361]

1 minute ago, Steeleballz said:

 

   I guess I missed the update. If we can label other posters as “deranged”, we can probably use “nut job” again too, right? However, I will disagree with you on that. I don’t think we are allowed to use disparaging terms against a certain group of posters.

 

   Much as I would like if we could. Sometimes I miss trading barbs with my old buddy RHR, but those days are over.

You did your job making people aware.

 

I agree it was fun. Most of the people I traded barbs with I liked. Val being one, MBD the other.. Odd when I got banned from posting to another member, both of us contacted the Mods asking them why, and explained neither of us had a problem with the other.  

 

I hardly see how TDS could be offensive. Its used in the news all the time. I think it just got agenda reported and it went from there. Same thing with RWNJ. No biggie but it got used for payback.

 

Now MDL, MDR and MOR.  A couple of the lefties tried to get it banned, but its so non offensive they had no luck. Plus its used to describe all 3 positions 

Edited September 30, 2019 by Nature Boy 2.0

[Randyandyuni 2,682]

Deranged and derangement share a word root, but don't mean the same thing, similar but... Deranged is much more specific and carries more meaning

[Steeleballz 7,550]

3 minutes ago, Randyandyuni said:

Deranged and derangement share a word root, but don't mean the same thing, similar but... Deranged is much more specific and carries more meaning

 

    “Nut job” is a funny cartoon now, so we could make the case it’s a benign phrase too. Point is people were offended by the terms and we were told specifically not to use them as labels against other posters. Probably best if we stick to that.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

9 minutes ago, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

You did your job making people aware.

 

I agree it was fun. Most of the people I traded barbs with I liked. Val being one, MBD the other.. Odd when I got banned from posting to another member, both of us contacted the Mods asking them why, and explained neither of us had a problem with the other.  

 

I hardly see how TDS could be offensive. Its used in the news all the time. I think it just got agenda reported and it went from there. Same thing with RWNJ. No biggie but it got used for payback.

 

Now MDL, MDR and MOR.  A couple of the lefties tried to get it banned, but its so non offensive they had no luck. Plus its used to describe all 3 positions 

 

     My preference would be not to have anything removed. If someone goes off in a racist tirade, I would rather it stay so everyone could see what that poster is about. If someone resorts to name calling to end an argument, that says a lot too. However this is not just a site for our personal BS sessions, and we did agree to abide by the TOS. Even the parts we don’t like.

[Randyandyuni 2,682]

7 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

    “Nut job” is a funny cartoon now, so we could make the case it’s a benign phrase too. Point is people were offended by the terms and we were told specifically not to use them as labels against other posters. Probably best if we stick to that.

Agreed, it's more comical and softens the delivery, but depending on intent, can be as demeaning as the correct term. In the terms used in these forums, having been called a trumptard, deplorable etc never bothered me, being called a white supremecist and nazi-supporter did, when I was called the first 2 names, the intent was made jokingly, not believed by the stater, however the latter 2, did not seem said in a comedic manner. I think MDL, TDS, etc and similar tags are meant in the spirit of verbal dueling and not meant to infer a negative on the character of the so named 

Edited September 30, 2019 by Randyandyuni

[luckytxn 2,264]

6 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

     My preference would be not to have anything removed. If someone goes off in a racist tirade, I would rather it stay so everyone could see what that poster is about. If someone resorts to name calling to end an argument, that says a lot too. However this is not just a site for our personal BS sessions, and we did agree to abide by the TOS. Even the parts we don’t like.

This is how I was raised too. My father had told me that it is good to know where someone stood so we can decide if we want to have any kind of interactions with them. People are allowed to be racist and also hateful but I am allowed to not associate with them in any way as well as to do so. This site though is a private site and owned by Ewok and he can ban as he sees fit too so if any don't like it they can leave and start their own site or behave.

[Dashinka 24,011]

Krystal Ball: Impeachment inquiry shows 'hallmarks of the overpromise, underdeliver strategy'

Opinion by: Krystal Ball

Well, we are now officially on Day 2 of the impeachment inquiry and it is going just as well as you would expect for a process led by the bumbling Democratic establishment and hyped by the media. This already has all the hallmarks of the overpromise, underdeliver strategy that worked out so well with the Mueller report, except this time, Democrats also get to defend the righteous principle that Hunter Biden is worth $50k a month purely based on his knowledge of the Ukrainian oil and gas industry. So where are we?

Yesterday, the rough transcript of Trump's call was released and I basically agree with what congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard told us in our exclusive interview. It shows clearly unseemly conduct in which the president suggests he'd like to see Biden investigated. It's bad. Don't get me wrong. But honestly, it's also sort of incoherent, confused and indirect in the classically Trumpian style. Is this really the clearly impeachment-worthy act that we want to hang our hat on? Remember the standard that Democrats as a party already set. Bush literally lied us into a war where thousands of our men and women and thousands of innocent Iraqis were killed. His administration committed acts of torture under our name, but Bush's administration was never even fully investigated for these acts, let alone impeached. Is this call with Ukraine really worse than that?

Yet the media has already re-upped all their intelligence analysts, Watergate alums, and constitutional lawyers to create vast new expectations for a big reveal when we will learn the truly shocking thing that will finally end Trump. Since the actual rough transcript of the call was apparently not doing the job, now we are being told that the thing that will really blow the lid off is the full whistleblower complaint. Yesterday evening after a select group of members got to view that complaint, multiple news outlets, of course, ran stories about how disturbing the content was. Prepare for a much-anticipated reveal complete with many popcorn emoji tweets followed by underwhelming results after the Ukrainian equivalent of the pee tape fails to emerge. Not to mention the sure to be disappointing testimony of the acting DNI slated for today which will be parsed and hyped and ultimately fundamentally change nothing.

https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/463292-krystal-ball-impeachment-inquiry-shows-hallmarks-of-the-overpromise

[Dashinka 24,011]

Ignore the hype — this is not an impeachment inquiry

By Andrew C. McCarthy, opinion contributor — 10/03/19 09:30 AM EDT

There is no impeachment inquiry. There are no subpoenas.

You are not to be faulted if you think a formal inquest is under way and that legal process has been issued. The misimpression is completely understandable if you have been taking in media coverage — in particular, reporting on a haughty Sept. 27 letter from House Democrats, presuming to direct Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on pain of citation for obstruction, to cooperate in their demands to depose State Department officials and review various records. 

The letter is signed by not one but three committee chairmen. Remember your elementary math, though: Zero is still zero even when multiplied by three.

 

What is portrayed as an “impeachment inquiry” is actually just a made-for-cable-TV political soap opera. The House of Representatives is not conducting a formal impeachment inquiry. To the contrary, congressional Democrats are conducting the 2020 political campaign. 

The House has not voted as a body to authorize an impeachment inquiry. What we have are partisan theatrics, proceeding under the ipse dixit of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). It raises the profile, but not the legitimacy, of the same “impeachment inquiry” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) previously tried to abracadabra into being without a committee vote.

Moreover, there are no subpoenas. As Secretary Pompeo observed in his fittingly tart response on Tuesday, what the committee chairmen issued was merely a letter. Its huffing and puffing notwithstanding, the letter is nothing more than an informal request for voluntary cooperation. Legally, it has no compulsive power. If anything, it is rife with legal deficiencies.

 

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/464140-ignore-the-hype-this-is-not-an-impeachment-inquiry

Edited October 4, 2019 by Bill & Katya