YES!!!
Aggressive Action From Congress
When I point out that the Demâs are moving too slow, that âplaying by the bookâ is playing into the Republicanâs plan of âthe long stall for the long haulâ â Iâm often hit with âWhat do you WANT? WE donât âbreak the lawâ!â
I donât want the House to âbreak the lawâ.
I want them to USE it.
Stern letters and subpoenas are ROUTINELY IGNORED.
They are ignored â because there are NO CONSEQUENCES for ignoring them.
This has been going on since at least the Bush administration.
This. Must. Stop.
The house has the power to arrest those who refuse subpoenas. I say, issue the subpoena with the Seargeant at Arms in tow. Refuse it? Have the person arrested and locked up. Even if itâs only for day â in their own office â LOCK THEM UP.
Take away any and all privileges they might have.
Shake up the norms and the protocols. Make the Republicans REACT TO US for a change. Sure, theyâll be outraged. Who gives a fuck? Theyâre ALWAYS outraged. What I hope will happen â is that the Dem base will be INSPIRED. Not depressed by more stern letters and ignored subpoenas.
Move fast â break things.
Nothing illegal. Just⌠unusual. Outside of the âaccepted normâ. Break some protocols. Do things that MIGHT create a legal hassle. âDonât like it? Letâs go to court and figure out if itâs legal. Meanwhile weâre going to keep doing itâŚâ Thatâs the CHICAGO way. Thatâs how the Republicans accomplish their steamrolling of democracy. Act first, permission later.
The house needs to create select committees. Not just one, Iâm talking at least three. A select committee to investigate emolument violations. A select committee to investigate campaign finance violations. A select committee to investigate foreign influence⌠you get the idea. Select committees to issue subpoenas and hold hearings.
From. Now. Until. The. Election.
Make the Benghazii investigations look like a cakewalk.
âBut nothing ever came of the Benghazii investigations! They were a sham! No charges!â
There were NEVER going to be charges. Thatâs not why they were held. They were held to continually pollute the airwaves with a constant narrative of âcriminalityâ. And it worked beautifully.
Flip the narrative. We need lots and lots of subcommittees. We donât need âsilent actorsâ like Mueller â we need public action. On the record quotes. Hell, lots of juicy leaks.
The mistake Mueller IS making â is to maintain his silence NOW while Rosenstein is yapping in defense of Barr. âTo sin by silence when they should protest, makes cowards of men.ââ Abraham Lincoln
So when asked âWhat do you expect/want?â My answer is âAction. Now.â
LOUD Action that CAN be taken. That will take back control of the public narrative.
Narratives drive votes. Donât believe it? Look at the âcrooked Hillaryâ narrative and the âMore emails discoveredâ narrative. There was no substance or ârealityâ to ANY of that. It was all narrative.
Never forget what Rove said about those of us in the âreality basedâ community. Weâre always behind the curve to their actions â studying them âjudiciouslyâ while they create a new reality from their actions.
Pelosi has the power to make this happen. Why isnât she using it? Because itâs ânot worth the trouble?â Well I suppose thatâs one narrative to put out there. But Iâm damned tired of slow walking our actions. Iâve got a closet full of dry powder left over from Fitzmas deliveries during the Bush administration.
Act. Now. Create a new reality for THOSE bastards to study.
Shout it so loud â that FOX has to spend all their time DENYING it. Put them on the defensive. If youâre explaining YOUâRE LOSING. LBJ knew this. âHell, I know itâs not true â I just want to hear the sunofabitch deny it!â
Create a constant narrative of corruption so deep and wide â the laziest Dem in the world â will march in the streets and to the polls come 2020.
As Josh points out â weâre in the midst of âdark timesâ. ââ It will be a long slog, in the face of people at the commanding heights of executive power who want to empower strongmanism. On the most generous read the angle is to stymie every investigation by running out the clock before friendly courts until 2020. It will require aggressive action from Congress (a mixed picture so far), the best lawyering in the courts but as much as anything else, perhaps more than anything else, political mobilization. I feel fairly confident this will all happen. But it wonât be remotely easy or quick.â
No more stalling - time to act now.
Thatâs what I want.
Elijah The Demander
At what point does the repeated violations of law by Trump by the ignoring subpoenas, refusing constitutionally lawful requests for documents, and refusal to testify before any government authority under oath constitute âHigh Crimes and/or Misdemeanorsâ?
Are these not ALL âimpeachableâ offenses?
Taxmanâs cumming
Problem with that is: âSelect Committeesâ MUST have near-equal representation from the minority party, PICKED BY the minority party. You can be sure that any select committee will be undermined and opposed from within by the lickspittle Republicans on it who will funnel any and all information directly to the White House so they can avoid any testimony or documents being turned over.
Then there is the Senate, where Mitch McConnel is running roughshod over all the rules and norms to give Trump everything he asks for: Which at this point is to stack the courts with as many Federalist Society sycophants as possible in the shortest possible time. That way when any legal challenges land in the Federal Docket, his hand-picked cronies will rule in his (and Republicans) favor every time. It may not look like it with the daily outrages of the WH, but the Fascists are playing the long-game here, and they are WINNING.
Who knew that Karma was a senior African-American gentleman?
And God is a Latina!
Whatâs the over/under on whether thereâs a mysterious raid by the FBI at Mazars USA, wherein they take all copies of anything related to Trump, this weekend?
âThe investigation could provide Democrats with a separate way to gain access to key Trump financial information, as House Ways and Means grapples with the Treasury Departmentâs attempts to stall the committeeâs request for Trumpâs tax returns.â
âThe offices of Steve Mnuchin and Bill Barr both issued statements refusing to comply with the subpoena, before someone simply pointed out they donât have jack to do with it.â
Yo creo que tenemos cosas utiles. El problema de nosotros es un ambiente de pesimismo.
At which point you arrest them and hold them in contempt.
You keep the upper hand. Constantly.
Just the same way they âmanagedâ the testimony and hearings when WE were in the Minority.
You should NOT HAVE TO say this.
sigh
I know, right?
Iâm ready for an impeachment move. Itâs not like weâre going to âturnâ anyone against him who doesnât already hate/love him. Screw the optics. He is flaunting the law every single day. His goddamn minions are aping his behavior every single day. The GOP stand around holding their dicks (sorry).
âAt what point does the repeated violations of the lawâŚâ??
At the point where a majority of SCOTUS sez so - thatâs the scenario that seems to be taking shape:
âMake everything a decision for the highest possible courts and rely on repugnican lickspittles to vote their way.â
Whatâs the winky-winky⌠You one of the FBI dudes running the raid?
[quote=âcastor_troy, post:9, topic:86762, full:trueâ]
Whatâs the over/under on whether thereâs a mysterious raid by the FBI at Mazars USA, wherein they take all copies of anything related to Trump, this weekend?
[/quote]Would that be, like, spying?
Nosotros Americanos NO corremos !!