#Impeachment coup

[multidimensional-trashcan]

have a reverse Destiel confession meme ‘cause Dean just didn’t say enough to fit everything there (at least he gets to say ‘i love you’ this way)

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

[whatareyoureallyafraidof]

[randyite]

[beau-rebloga-coisas]

Good evening, Lula was banned from Israel from drawing comparisons of what's happening to Palestinians to the Holocaust genocide

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Bramhall

* * * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

September 14, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

Yesterday, Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) announced he would not run for reelection. That announcement came just as The Atlantic published an excerpt from a forthcoming biography of Romney by McKay Coppins in which Romney expressed disgust with his Republican colleagues for feeding Trump’s lies to their voters in exchange for power and acknowledged that “[a] very large portion of my party really doesn’t believe in the Constitution.” 

Coppins had access to Romney’s private journals, correspondence, and interviews. He describes Romney as isolated from other Republicans in Washington, unwelcome first because he was disgusted by Trump and vowed to be independent of him and then because, in the first impeachment trial, Romney voted to convict on one of two charges.

Romney said that “[a]lmost without exception” his Republican colleagues “shared my view of the president,” but they refused to speak up out of fear that their voters would turn against them. Coppins recounts a weekly caucus lunch at which Republicans gave Trump a standing ovation, listened as he boasted and rambled through remarks, and then burst into laughter as soon as Trump left.  

That loyalty appears to have been behind leaders’ refusal to address rumors of violence on January 6, 2021. According to Coppins, on January 2, 2021, Senator Angus King (I-ME) warned Romney that a high-ranking Pentagon official had told King that right-wing extremists online appeared to be planning to attack the government on January 6 to stop what Trump had told them was the stealing of the 2020 presidential election. They talked of guns and arson and bombs, and they talked of targeting the traitors in Congress, among whom they counted Romney for his vote to convict Trump on one count in his first impeachment trial. King was concerned for Romney’s safety.

Romney promptly texted then–Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to recount the conversation. “There are calls to burn down your home, Mitch; to smuggle guns into DC, and to storm the Capitol,” Romney wrote. “I hope that sufficient security plans are in place, but I am concerned that the instigator—the President—is the one who commands the reinforcements the DC and Capitol police might require.” McConnell never answered. 

When even after the events of January 6, fellow senators continued to execute their plan of objecting to the counting of electoral votes for certain states, Romney called them out on the floor of the Senate for “being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy.” 

Romney recalled that some senators refused to convict Trump in the second impeachment trial out of concerns for their safety and that of their families. Romney himself had hired a security detail for his family since the attack on the U.S. Capitol, but at $5,000 a day such security was out of reach for most of his colleagues. 

Just eleven years ago, Romney was the 2012 Republican nominee for president. Almost 61 million Americans voted for him. Now he is leaving public service with voters calling him a traitor and threatening his life. 

In the House of Representatives today, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had to pull back one of the eleven spending bills that Congress needs to pass before the end of the fiscal year on September 30 to fund the government. Extremists say they will not bring any of those bills to the floor without deeper cuts than McCarthy agreed to in a deal with President Biden earlier this year. 

In a conference meeting today, McCarthy allegedly exploded at the extremists stopping the budget process, who hold over him their power to challenge his speakership. “If you want to file a motion to vacate,” he said, “then file a f*cking motion.” Rather than backing down, an extremist leader, Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL), continued to needle McCarthy on social media.  

The House went home for the weekend. While it made no progress on the budget this week, Speaker McCarthy did manage to initiate an impeachment inquiry into President Biden in an unsuccessful attempt to appease the extremists. According to Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman and Alyce McFadden of the New York Times, those extremists have been conferring with Trump. 

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who has led calls to impeach Biden, told the reporters that she told Trump she wanted the impeachment inquiry to be “long and excruciatingly painful for Joe Biden.” Ultimately, she says, she wants a “long list of names” of those she claims are involved in crimes with the Bidens, and when Trump wins the presidency in 2024, she wants “to go after every single one of them and use the Department of Justice to prosecute them.”

Today the independent counsel appointed by then-president Trump to investigate Biden’s son Hunter charged Hunter with three felonies related to the fact that he falsely claimed he was not using illegal drugs when he applied to buy a handgun that he owned for about 11 days in 2018. Los Angeles Times legal affairs columnist Harry Litman noted that in June, after five years of investigation, the Justice Department negotiated a plea agreement with Hunter Biden’s lawyers in which Biden would plead guilty to two tax offenses and receive probation, and a gun charge would be dropped after two years if he continued to stay drug-free. 

Although Biden had taken the unusual step of retaining Trump’s appointee, then–U.S. attorney David Weiss, to continue to investigate Hunter even after Trump’s term ended, to avoid any appearance of interference, Republicans protested what they saw as preferential treatment for the president’s son, harassing Weiss’s team and FBI agents and their families. Then the deal fell apart for reasons unrelated to Hunter.

And now Weiss has brought more charges. Litman notes that “the charges Weiss brought are rarely pursued for their own sake. The department does bring such charges against defendants who use improperly obtained firearms to commit other crimes. And in one or two instances, prosecutors appear to have used such charges against defendants whom they knew to be particularly dangerous. But this indictment over an isolated lie by a relatively harmless firearm applicant seems to be without precedent.” 

But, Litman notes, the Republicans now have something with which “to muddy the waters with respect to Trump’s multiple criminal indictments.” As if on cue, House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-KY) claimed that “[m]ountains of evidence reveals that Hunter Biden likely committed several felonies and Americans expect the Justice Department to apply the law equally. Today’s charges are a very small start, but unless U.S. Attorney Weiss investigates everyone involved in the fraud schemes and influence peddling, it will be clear President Biden’s DOJ is protecting Hunter Biden and the big guy.” 

Yesterday, President Biden spoke at a campaign reception. “Everybody always asks about impeachment,” he said, but he didn’t think much about it. He noted that Greene had vowed to impeach him the first day she was elected, and said: “I get up every day…not focused on impeachment. I’ve got a job to do. I’ve got to deal with the issues that affect the American people every single solitary day.”

That focus today demonstrated the vision Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have for the U.S. After yesterday’s meeting between Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan today held a trilateral call with his counterparts in Japan and South Korea, honoring the agreement forged at the historic trilateral summit of the three countries at Camp David in August. Together, they noted that North Korean arms exports to Russia would directly violate multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, including ones for which Russia itself voted.

And in Largo, Maryland, today, after listing the economic accomplishments of his administration, Biden called out the Republicans for their lack of policy plans. For all the time they spend attacking Bidenomics, he said, “here’s what they never do: They never talk about what they want to do…. They tell you what they’re against. What are they for? It’s like they want to keep it a secret.” 

Biden pointed out that just months ago, Republicans threatened to default on the U.S. debt, and now they are breaking the commitment they made to resolve that standoff. Working from a budget produced in June by the Republican Study Committee, which has 156 out of 222 of the Republican members in the House, Biden explained that Congressional Republicans now are doubling down on the old trickle-down economics that “hollowed out…the middle class…blew up the deficit…produced an anemic economic growth…and…stripped the dignity and pride and hope out of a community, one after another.” 

“[Y]ou hear from our friends on the other side, the MAGA Republicans, what’s wrong with America. Everything’s wrong with America. They keep telling us America is failing,” Biden said. “Well, they’re wrong. They’re failing. America is not failing. America is winning. And there’s one reason for it: you. All you people get up every single morning and go out to try to do the right thing. You, the American people—you’re the one with grit and determination. Not me or your elected officials. You.”

“We’re the only nation based on an idea—an idea. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. Look,” Biden said, “we’ve never fully lived up to it,’’ but “[w]e’ve never walked away from it.”

“These other guys are trying to walk away from it.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[jillcantstaystill]

Listen, will we make sure Trump loses again through organizing and educating? Yes, duh.

Am I also absolutely exhausted and don’t want to deal with him again? YES DUH

[filosofablogger]

Move Over Giancana, Gambino & Genovese ...

Calling Trump a ‘mob boss’ and his supporters a ‘mob’ would have been considered hyperbole once upon a time, but having lived through four years with Trump in the Oval Office, and the three years since with radicals attempting to destroy the democratic foundations of this nation in the name of Donald Trump, it no longer seems far-fetched or hyperbolic.  While I am sick and tired of reading and…

[kpopisntreal]

so are we not just gonna talk about how republicans are bellyaching over the state of the country so bad they’re considering trying to impeach biden if they win the house

[theivorybilledwoodpecker]

Okay, everyone in the US needs to look at what's happening right now and analyze it like you would a list of events from a history textbook:

Children are stolen from their families, locked in "detention centers."

A president attempts a coup, but he is not impeached. The people who took part in the attempted coup are given sentences of anywhere from a few months to a few years. Nowhere near what one would expect for people who committed treason.

There are numerous laws put in place to limit voting even more than it was already limited.

There are laws passed to discriminate against entire groups of people, and a main political party calls human beings abominations.

The highest court rules that convicted criminals have no right to introduce new evidence, even if it proves the "criminal" innocent."

The highest court rules that police cannot be sued for not informing someone of their right.

The highest court says that they intend to take away bodily autonomy from women, children, trans men, nonbinary people, agender people, intersex people, gender fluid people, and other gender nonconforming people.

If I was reading this about a country in a history textbook, I would clearly be able to see that the country was losing any semblance to a democracy. If this was a novel, I would be shouting at the main character to wake up. What do you think?

[contemplatingoutlander]

How to save the Supreme Court from Alito’s ethical malfeasance

The justice’s unconscionable violations of ethics demand the court be reformed.

Jennifer Rubin clearly explains why Alito went too far in allowing a symbol of the insurrection to fly over his home, and why the Roberts Court needs to stop slow-walking the presidential immunity decision if the Court is to regain any credibility. This is a gift🎁link so anyone can read the full article, even if they don't subscribe to The Washington Post.

Among the Supreme Court’s abominations — shredding precedent to obliterate reproductive freedom, financial impropriety, partisanship — none compares to the upside-down flag, identified with violent insurrectionists, that flew over the home of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. Ethics experts and lawyers (including former judges) of all stripes expressed their outrage. “His statement — which says his wife displayed a symbol associated with a failed coup to subvert democracy because she was offended by an anti-Trump sign one of her neighbors displayed — is so incoherent it is insulting to our collective intelligence,” constitutional law professor Leah Litman emails me. “And a Justice who resides in a house that displays symbols glorifying a coup should not participate in cases that will determine whether people who participated in said coup will face any accountability.” [...] Alito (alongside Justice Clarence Thomas, whose wife encouraged coup plotters) has heard multiple insurrection-related cases, including the pending immunity case that could absolve Trump of criminal liability. In letting his home stand in solidarity with constitutional arsonists, Alito made a mockery of his oath to “faithfully and impartially discharge” his duties under the Constitution. Any other judge (especially one implicated in financial misconduct) would be compelled to resign and/or face the threat of impeachment. So what about Alito? Immediate Triage Unlike its speedy disposition of the 14th Amendment case (24 days after argument) and of many lesser matters, the court put the immunity case in deep freeze, making it near-impossible to try the ex-president before the next election....The Alito debacle only deepens the impression that the court has its thumb on the scale — or the brake — for Trump. [...] As constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe warns in an email to me, if Roberts “wants the Court to retain any credibility at all,” he must compel the court to “bite the bullet and issue its decision, ....” Then, Tribe explains, “Judge [Tanya S.] Chutkan either can hold whatever hearing the Court thinks necessary to decide exactly which charges against the former president may remain” or can begin the trial itself, which “should have been over by now.” Alito’s ethical self-immolation leaves Roberts no alternative if he wants to dispel the perception that two ethically compromised, partisan justices have thoroughly corrupted the court. (He also should implore Alito to recuse, but who believes that’ll happen?) [emphasis added]

[wilwheaton]

Thomas expects the nation to take seriously his views on the subtlest contours of the Constitution. He also expects us to believe he cannot understand a clear and simple instruction on a disclosure form; that he sees no distinction between “personal hospitality” and trips halfway around the world by private jet; and that he sees nothing wrong about having a member of the board of the conservative American Enterprise Institute purchase and fix up his mother’s house.

Clarence Thomas's disclosure form explanations are laughable

Thomas is thoroughly corrupt, not impartial at all. He is an activist judge who has abused his power on SCOTUS to exact revenge against an endless list of people he hates, the law and the constitution be damned. He is married to a seditious activist who participated in a coup against the very government and country her husband swore an oath to protect.

They both belong in prison for the rest of their lives. At the very least, Thomas should be impeached and removed from SCOTUS. He never should have been confirmed, and President Biden should acknowledge his role in allowing Thomas to be seated. President Biden should make amends to America for this by expanding the Court to nullify Thomas and the illegitimate justices nominated by and seated during Trump’s stolen presidency.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

USA’s ‘long coup’ in Brazil used anti-corruption movement to oust left government and imprison its leaders

Left and democratic as well as working class forces in world suffered a big setback with the impeachment of Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff in 2016, the imprisonment of frontline Presidential candidate Lula da Silva in 2018 and the loss of PT (Workers Party) in 2018 elections.

A recent study has confirmed widespread allegations appearing time and again in Brazil and elsewhere that the USA played an important part in these events through its highly opportunistic use of anti-corruption movement, involving also illegal actions directed against these leaders and their political party.

This study is titled ‘Anti- Corruption and Imperialist Blind Spots—the Role of the US in Brazil’s Long Coup’ and is authored by Brian Mier, Bryan Pitts and Sean T.Mitchell. This has been published recently in Latin American Perspectives.

This study says—A comprehensive examination of the evidence available, contained in US government statements, English language media accounts and hacked telegram chats among Brazilian prosecutors indicates that the US was widely involved in the ‘long coup’ that removed the left from power in Brazil in 2016 and secured the elections for the far right in 2018.

Continue reading.

[madwriter-youalreadyknowme]

I fucking despise elon musk. He wants to give terrorists, who attempted a coup and tried to explode an airport in my country, freedom of speech.

Elon Musk, A fucking gringo, wants the impeachment of one of judges of the Supreme Court(note: a judge can't even get impeached, but why am I expecting braincells from elon?)

Why can't gringos respect another country's laws? Why does Elon musk think that he is above a country?

You have the right for freedom of speech, however, it ends when someone else's rights began.

You don't have the right to threaten someone's life.

You don't have the right to be racist, homophobic, sexist, or transphobic (since you are hurting someone's identity or part of it).

And, *gasp*, you don't have the right to support nazi propaganda. Stuff like this, needs to be censored.

Cope and cry about it.

And if elon musk is so enthusiastic about giving terrorists freedom of speech, I wonder why he didn't give it to the Islamic State? I mean, if you want to fuck up a country, fuck up yours.

Edit: I fixed some grammar errors.

[personal-blog243]

Am I the only one who is still frustrated by how long and drawn out this process is?

A “subpoena” is nothing. He’s not going to care and he’s not going to obey it. It’s been almost 2 YEARS since January 6th and they are just getting around to POLITELY asking him to submit paperwork???? Are you fucking stupid??

I’m afraid the media and the democrats want to set him up to make a 2024 comeback 😭. Notice how they purposely gave him a deadline AFTER the midterms 🙄. Keep in mind this is just a subpoena, they STILL need to get around to charging him, arresting him, taking him to court, and then he will only get a few months and a small fine like Steve Bannon got🙄.

These people need to hurry the fuck and sentence him to real jail time up or he WILL be in office again by 2024. This is what happens when you think you can only stop fascism by patiently awaiting legal proceedings 🙄.