First they go after Medicaid, coz who doesn’t like kicking poor people, like my U of CA Graduated Niece who can’t find a good job in her area of expertise, or those dirty welfare queens, right, or illegal human being milkiong the system, amirite?
Then it’ll be MediCare coz MediCaid, MediCare, what’s the difference, two letters?
Then it’ll be privatizing Social Security because that’s what the Money Markets want, and that’ll be that.
Well, that’s the plan anyway.
Thank you for taking the time to contact your representatives.
The GOP’s most righteous, honest, principled, uncorrupted Senators::Romney, Sasse, Collins, Murkowski, Grassley, Lee (did I miss anyone) should form a committee to talk to Donald.
They go to Trump and gently inform him that for the good of the country and his own presidency, he should not oppose letting his people to testify. They can explain that some parts of might be uncomfortable, that he’s going to go through some things, but he should do it.
Still thinking Citizens United was a good idea, I imagine.
Alas, no space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunity misused!
Well…that doesn’t follow logically. If this Congress doesn’t issue subpoeans, it doesn’t mean they’ve waived the right to do so, nor does that mean anything for any future Congress.
There is, however, a political impact in that this Senate is intent continuing to strengthen the Executive Branch (at least when a Republican is in the White House.)
Outstanding Post
Exactly what Faux news is busy doing Where truth goes to die
Also, I believe there is no executive privilege for criminal behavior. Bolton knew about Trump’s “drug deal”. Withholding funds that had been allocated to Ukraine by Congress was illegal.
Privilege does not cover all actions of an official in their office. It only covers the interactions they have with the executive. Also, privilege can be pierced if the advice/interaction is shared with others, it is supposed to be for confidential advice. The President wants it to cover all actions by everyone and that is definitely not what the privilege is supposed to cover.
From a Vox summary, two types of EP, direct Pres communications and docs/discussions directly related to Pres deliberative process. Then there is the crime aspect, which negates EP. I would think Bolton talking about a “drug deal” and telling them to go to lawyer Epstein would NOT be EP.
In United States v. Nixon , the most high-profile executive privilege case ever decided by the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Warren Burger (writing for a unanimous Court) concluded that there is a “presumptive privilege for Presidential communications” that is “fundamental to the operation of Government and inextricably rooted in the separation of powers under the Constitution.”
The other type of executive privilege, referred to by Judge Patricia Wald of the DC Circuit in an important 1997 case as “deliberative process privilege,” comes not from the US Constitution’s separation of powers but from the common-law notion that government officials should be free to privately deliberate before deciding on a particular course of action.
This privilege is both broader in applicability than the presidential communications privilege — since it can apply to conversations within the executive branch that don’t involve the president directly — and more limited in its strength. It only applies to documents and discussions when a decision was being made, while presidential privilege can protect “final and post-decisional materials as well as pre-deliberative ones,” per Wald.
Further, the Nixon case suggested that deliberative process privilege is less strong than presidential privilege and can more easily be outweighed by other concerns. “The [deliberative] privilege disappears altogether when there is any reason to believe government misconduct occurred,” Wald writes. “On the other hand, a party seeking to overcome the presidential privilege seemingly must always provide a focused demonstration of need, even when there are allegations of misconduct by high-level officials.”
More like they-ran-out-of-onion-bagels-and-now-I-have-to-settle-for-sesame disappointed.
And it doesn’t apply to potentially illegal activities, which is what Bolton would be testifying to.
That bad, huh?
Dude, that is hilarious.
I can see the future:
Nov. 2024: Two weeks after Tulsi Gabbard [D] defeated Mike Pence [R] in the presidential election, it was revealed that Ms. Gabbard worked out a “deal” before the election.
Mike Pence had vacationed with his wife in Jamaica. So Ms. Gabbard agreed to release development money to Jamaica only in exchange for the government of Jamaica ANNOUNCING AN INVESTIGATION of Mike Pence for kiddie diddling while he was in Jamaica. That’s it. No arrest. No charges. ONLY ANNOUNCING AN INVESTIGATION.
Ms. Gabbard won, of course, after that little “October Surprise”. But, all the GOP folk were okay with it:
“Good for her”, Lindsey Graham [R] said. “Turnabout is fair play. After all, we all defended Donald Trump for withholding military aid to bribe and exort Ukraine to ANNOUNCE AN INVESTIGATION of Joe Biden [D] to torpedo his candidacy. So fair is fair. I guess that’s the NEW NORMAL”, Graham concluded.
I hope the Democrats have some way of combatting the media blitz that comes out after the Republican senators “exonerate” himThey will come out with a well done marketed attack on the “Impeachment Witchhunt” .It will be a Mueller Report redo.
The reality show celebrity has to be the center of attention at all times not any witnesses who have evidence to share with the American people. The nerve of some people.
Besides, It’s too late now for the White House to command big ratings for Trump after Dems commanded huge ones on the opening day (as Donald has complained about in tweets), so the GOP Senators will do as The Second Coming of God demands and just pull the plug.