US Politics, December 2019: Profound procedural deficiencies

Who knew the "C" in "C-Span" stood for coup? This is the most unfair process ever! We had no witnesses! Schiff and the Whistleblower and Hunter should testify! There is nothing wrong with the phone call! This is so partisan it hurts, have you no sense of decency or comity? We saw no documents, not a single one, this was all done in secret! This is tearing the whole country apart!

There, I saved you all the trouble of listening to the GOP response.

You say that like I was planning on listening to the GOP response in the first place

I will say, glancing at the coverage of people speechifying, that it is sort of refreshing to see some unfamiliar faces for once, even if I want to punch many of them. Surprised the GOP didn't try to shoehorn Nunes and Jordan into this spectacle, too.

xpost It is admittedly challenging muting and unmuting in more or less five-minute intervals.

likely nothin that will matter goin on

ILX in a nutshell.

the Democratic Party in a nutshell

and i hope they stay there

I like nuts!

It's up to the Bernienuts now

Bernie Planters

can everyone be quiet, i'm trying to listen to the campaign ads for next year

hey guys, anything going on today in american politics

― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, December 18, 2019 8:29 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

my friend is suing the trump administration (along with the SPLC and some other orgs), not sure what else is happening?????

lmao there's a rally tonight

I think yesterday Trump pretty much directly called for Schiff to be murdered so it's gonna be...uh...interesting to see what he comes up with tonight

I heard like three seconds this morning in which some R guy said exactly this: "Republicans have not been able to subpoena documents or call witnesses"

Um my dude are you literally SIMULTANEOUSLY saying that you want to subpoena documents / call witnesses AND allowing Rs to ignore subpoenas and refuse to testify?

The hypocrisy would burn except we are now all so used to it that it's just a dull, tedious ache.

Rep. Collins off to a rip-roaring start with “irregardless.”

It’s the President’s party!

I know its important to point this stuff out but the GOP & their voters will defend literally anything this party does no matter how idiotic or cruel the argument. remember these are the people who still claim 3 million illegal immigrants voted in 2016 & that Christine Blasey Ford was sexually assaulted by **someone** but there's no possible way to know who and it definitely is not the dude with the reputation for being blackout drunk all the time

This shit is so tiresome. Who wrote that memo? https://t.co/fxcEfdOMlp

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) December 18, 2019

telling yr kids the presidency is "sacred" is mean

If they feel provoked and put on the defensive, they dig in their heels even further so that the opposition does not get the satisfaction. That's all they care about. It doesn't matter what is being argued or how arbitrary it even is for them to draw a line in the sand in regards to "dem stance" "GOP stance" depending on the context.

xxp

Dem stance: (reasoned position which one may or may not find agreeable depending on one's ideological perspective)
GOP stance: (feces-streaked maniac frantically jerks off onto a hamburger)

Let us now regard these stances with equal respect, as the founders would have wanted.

Both sides bitches

This is pretty underwhelming.

I wish democrats used the impeachment trial as a way to showcase stuff that would be more embarrassing for republicans to have to defend. But maybe that was impossible.

Would love to know what infractions we could confront the shame-free GOP with that makes them hang their heads in shame and say 'I done a bad, bad thing'.

Kompromat, presumably

the republicans have moved well past troubling themselves to be embarrassed about their party or its positions

Treeship, you can't shame the shameless.

(stifling sobs with limited success) 'At long last, I must admit that I...I have left no sense of decency, sir.'

-Bob Marley no living Republican

“...When Jesus was falsely accused of Treason, Pontius Pilate gave Jesus the opportunity to face his accusers. During that sham trial, Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus, than Democrats have afforded this president in this process.” #ShamImpeachment pic.twitter.com/n8FZRe64eo

— Barry Loudermilk (@RepLoudermilk) December 18, 2019

not sure where they go from here

I wish democrats used the impeachment trial as a way to showcase stuff that would be more embarrassing for republicans to have to defend. But maybe that was impossible.

That's Impossible has been trademarked by Dem leadership

btw lol that Jesus was "falsely accused", pretty sure claiming to be King of the Jews was an affront to Caesar

To all of the republicans who have taken to rending their garments over the unfairness of Trump undergoing impeachment proceedings which, because the outcome is ultimately in the hands of the GOP, will result in nothing more punitive than a degree of mild inconvenience, might I offer the counterproposal of just having the president melted down in an industrial-sized vat of acid?

but is it a fact that he's rapidly declining and his handlers are becoming aware etc?

Check out this exchange I had with then private citizen @realDonaldTrump on Oct. 15, 2008. We spoke about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and he then offered his thoughts about impeachment. pic.twitter.com/mXlsG9SjbB

— Wolf Blitzer (@wolfblitzer) December 18, 2019

Man, that fake news is getting more sophisticated every day! I can barely distinguish it from the genuine article anymore.

It's a cliche to say so, but, my god, he once spoke in coherent, intelligible English.

pretty sure claiming to be King of the Jews was an affront to Caesar

Being the Messiah, according to the Messianic beliefs of his era, would have also required his being the King of the Jews. This is the reason why the gospels include an elaborate genealogy to prove Jesus was a direct descendent of David. As unreliable as the gospels are as biography, it appears Jesus was very circumspect about making direct outright claims to be the Messiah, but he frequently spoke about "his father in heaven" and let people draw the obvious conclusion. Come to think, this makes him a lot like Trump and his 'do us a favor, though'.

I guess freebasing unchallenged entitlement and virulent racism for years does the same thing to your brain that meth does to your face, huh.

how the fuck is ‘barry loudermilk’ a real name

Democrat Trump in above clip

xpost Give him a break, he had it legally changed from Diarrhea McBowels.

I'll never understand how democrats failed to incessantly bash voters over the head with that old interview clip of Trump praising Hillary. And I guess I should prepare myself for basically no one ever seeing this clip, either.

"Look, I said nice things about her before! Cause we were such great friends! She's so mean to me, very nasty. Why doesn't she ever say anything nice?"

True story: there is a White House staffer going around the Senate delivering to each office, as a package, the incoherent, scathing Pelosi letter AND...wait for it...a giant 16x12 White House Christmas card (along with, implausibly, a second smaller Christmas card).

What a day. pic.twitter.com/y8gZuQbipl

— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 18, 2019

there is also a tiny, microscopic card that is included in the package, if chris murphy had bothered using the oversized magnifying glass that was included as part of his birthday gift from earlier in the year

wait does Melania have the exact same signature as Donald?

or this that not her name there or waht

It's just that they're both such fitness nuts that they only sign things while using one of those vibrating belt exercisers.

are we looking at a 9-10pm vote ET?