WOBIK Blog

Lawmakers haven’t decided yet whether they should focus solely on Ukraine—or write a broader indictment of the president.

The Atlantic, by Elaine Godfrey — October 22, 2019

Excerpt:

When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave her blessing to an impeachment inquiry three weeks ago, she also laid down a marker: The investigation wouldn’t center on any of the issues that Democrats have obsessed over for the past three years. Not Russian interference, or emoluments, or security clearances, or family separation. Impeachment would be about Ukraine—and only about Ukraine.

But while that decision helped quell years of frantic debate over whether and why and how Democrats might seek to remove the president, it also foreshadowed the coming battle among House Democrats about what the actual articles of impeachment should look like. Democrats seem to have made strides in their investigation in recent weeks, but they still have this major hurdle to resolve—a hurdle that could have significant implications not just for the success of the inquiry, but for Democrats’ ability to keep control of the House in 2020.

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View the complete article including image and links at:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/10/impeachment-trump-democrats/600448/

NEW YORK POST, by Bob Fredericks and Nikki Schwab — October 23, 2019

Excerpts:

Fed up with the lack of public access to an impeachment inquiry they likened to a “Soviet-style process,” dozens of House Republicans stormed into a closed-door Intelligence Committee hearing, refused to leave — and even ordered pizza.

The pro-Trump lawmakers, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, barged into the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, where Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Laura Cooper was preparing to give a deposition.

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“Voting members of Congress are being denied access from being able to see what’s happening behind these closed doors, where they’re trying to impeach the president of the United States with a one-sided set of rules. They call the witnesses,” declared Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), who later ordered Dominos pizza for reporters and New York-style pies from a shop called We the Pizza for lawmakers.

“This is a Soviet-style process. It should not be allowed in the United States of America,” Scalise went on. “Every member of Congress ought to be allowed in that room. The press ought to be allowed in that room.”

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View the complete article including image, video and links at:

https://nypost.com/2019/10/23/house-republicans-storm-closed-door-trump-impeachment-hearing/

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SHARYL ATTKISSON — October 24, 2019

Excerpt:

The following is an excerpt from my latest column in The Hill.

Quid pro no.

The current impeachment debate is being framed in terms of whether or not there was a “quid pro quo”— as if that is the bar that will determine whether or not President Trump did something egregious.

There are big flaws with this framing, as well as with the use of the term. 

Diplomatic quid pro quo — requiring certain actions, behavior or “conditions,” in return for U.S. aid — is common, according to current and former diplomats I spoke with, and foreign policy guidance. “Under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the President may determine the terms and conditions under which most forms of assistance are provided.”

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View the article including comments at:

https://sharylattkisson.com/2019/10/quid-pro-no-in-ukraine/

SATIRE: The Babylon Bee — October 22, 2019

Excerpt:

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has been pressed a lot on how she plans to pay for Medicare for All — a plan that could require $34 trillion in additional federal spending over ten years — without raising taxes on the middle class. Today, she finally revealed her plan: a new Canon color printer she purchased.

“Look at this,” Senator Warren told the press as she held up a standard letter-sized piece of paper on which she had printed eight one hundred dollar bills. “They look real. We just print enough of these, and we can pay for it all. And by the time anyone realizes they’re not real, we’ll be running away with all our Medicare.”

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View the complete article including image at:

https://babylonbee.com/news/elizabeth-warren-reveals-plan-to-pay-for-medicare-for-all-a-color-printer-that-prints-realistic-looking-100-bills

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Long-serving Dem congressional incumbents imperiled by the very forces they helped create.

LibertyNation, by Joe Schaeffer — October 23, 2019

Excerpt:

It’s not much of a secret that Democrats have ceased even trying to be a truly national party anymore. Tacking ever further to the left, the party continues to distance itself from entire geographic regions of the United States – most notably the Heartland and the northwestern mountain states. The dire ramifications for an Electoral College race are plain to see. But another growing menace faces veteran Dem elected officials. With the party isolating its appeal to urban and coastal blue fortresses, these pols are at the mercy of a progressive base of voters that grows ever more extreme and unsatisfied as the confines of the party’s bubble become more tightly constricted.

As the Diversity Turns

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) is the latest example of a powerful congressional Democrat incumbent facing the very real threat of being hoisted on his own petard. The 16-term veteran, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, represents a heavily urbanized district in the Bronx. There are numerous reasons dense urban areas tend to be progressive havens: Leftist college-educated young professionals flock to large cities, urban living seems to induce a belief in big government providing solutions, and buzzwords such as “diversity” and “multiculturalism” are easily embraced in more cosmopolitan domains.

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View the complete article including images, links and comments at:

https://www.libertynation.com/dem-on-dem-warfare-set-to-burst-blue-bubble/

SATIRE: The Babylon Bee, October 21, 2019

Excerpt:

WASHINGTON, D.C.—According to sources close to Hillary Clinton, the failed presidential candidate was gently returned to her padded cell disguised as the Oval Office over the weekend.

After the failed presidential candidate had escaped from the premises again and accused thousands of people of being Russian agents, orderlies were finally able to catch her and guide her back to her cell. She had escaped through the ventilation ducts, apparently, and quickly gave deranged interviews in which she seemed not to understand that she hadn’t won the 2016 election. She also found a smartphone and tweeted troubling things, causing asylum personnel to put out a call for her safe return.

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View the complete article including image at:

https://babylonbee.com/news/asylum-orderlies-return-hillary-clinton-to-padded-cell-disguised-as-oval-office

BREITBART, by Neil Munro — October 19, 2019

Excerpt:

President Donald Trump is converting the former “country club” GOP to the party of blue-collar Americans, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal:

Mr. Trump accelerated the movement of working-class voters into the Republican Party, creating a GOP that now represents more middle- and lower-income Americans … He has reframed much of the Republican agenda to appeal to these voters, particularly on trade, immigration and foreign affairs, in many cases upending 40 years of GOP policy.

In turn, the Democrats are increasingly the party of America’s wealthiest cities, post-industrial business leaders, and the “woke” professional class.

This political transformation, however, means that U.S. college graduates have few friends in Washington, D.C., to protect their economic interests in a shifting economy.

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View the complete article including image, links and comments at:

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/10/19/wsj-trump-is-converting-gop-to-populist-pro-employee-party