Consortium News‘ Patrick Lawrence will be daily covering the U.S. House inquiry into the impeachment of President Joe Biden. This is his first report.
Rep. Jim Jordan at impeachment inquiry on Thursday. (PBS/YouTube/screenshot.)
For many weeks the Democratic Party and the media that cravenly serve it have dismissed House investigations into the Biden family’s potentially corrupt overseas business dealings as frivolous, ungrounded, and wholly partisan. Consortium News takes the allegations of presidential involvement in numerous bribery and influence-peddling schemes to be comparable in magnitude with those against President Nixon during the Watergate crisis. With the opening of formal hearings Thursday, CN begins regular coverage and analysis of the proceedings. What follows is our inaugural report.
By Patrick Lawrence
Special to Consortium News
Ten months after Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives and eight months after the House Oversight Committee began to investigate the Biden family’s foreign business dealings and the president’s role in them, the Committee formally opened an inquiry Thursday into what House Speaker Kevin McCarthy termed at the outset “a culture of corruption” in which, mounting evidence suggests, Joe Biden is in all likelihood criminally implicated.
Thursday’s nearly seven-hour proceedings, which can be viewed here, were a tour d’horizon — introductory as against substantive. Ranking members of the Oversight Committee, chaired by James Comer, the four-term Kentucky Republican, offered an overview of the evidence so far derived from investigators, written records, and witness testimonies. The opening remarks of Comer, Rep. Jason Smith, and Rep. Jim Jordan suggest two things:
- One, committee members appear determined to see this process through to its just conclusion. This is unlikely to prove a waste of time.
- Two, the House is likely to develop enough evidence in coming months to bring Articles of Impeachment to the floor for a vote, and if passed — underscore “if” — send the Articles on to the Senate.
A Moment in History
BREAKING: Let me try to simplify Biden corruption scheme to the American people, Republican Congressman William @RepTimmons says in EXPLOSIVELY DETAILED remarks. WATCH pic.twitter.com/NLIrc4GH3P
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) September 28, 2023
What began Thursday is formally named The Basis for an Impeachment Inquiry of President Joseph Biden. Note the nomenclature. This is not in itself an impeachment proceeding.
If the past eight months were preliminary to the start of these hearings, these hearings are preliminary to a finding that there are grounds to impeach Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. An impeachment proceeding would follow when the House sends its Articles to the upper chamber.
If impeached by the House, the Senate would then determine by way of a trial whether or not to remove Biden from office.
Comer and his colleagues presented a compelling review of what Oversight already has in hand — Hunter Biden’s email trails and texts, “the Big Guy’s” long record of lying about his involvement in the family’s grifting, the Justice Department’s coverups and obstructions, the documentary evidence of the Bidens’ shakedown, père et fils, of Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian gas company at the heart of the story.
The Burisma case seems to be the strongest against the dissembling president and, by-all-evidence, his bottomlessly unprincipled son. What happened between the Bidens and Burisma is not merely a matter of impropriety or immorality, or otherwise poor conduct: If proven, and the hard evidence seems to be there, it should be major jail-time against the law.
Comer announced during the hearing that the committee has subpoenaed the banking records of both Hunter Biden and James Biden, the president’s brother. They must be produced by Oct. 12.
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New evidence arrives at Oversight’s offices daily now, it seems, and among the more interesting features of Thursday’s opening hearings were broad details of material that came in just the previous few days.
This includes two more incriminating wire communications from Chinese nationals, an email in which Hunter Biden boasts of a deal worth $10 million from one company “for introductions alone,” and more testimony from IRS whistleblowers, saying that one Leslie Wolf, a U.S. attorney, barred the tax agency from mentioning “Political Figure No. 1” as it sought an investigative warrant. Wolf is, with her husband, a longtime Democratic partisan and donor in multiple election cycles.
Reduced to Calling it ‘Foolish’ & ‘Pathetic’
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the Oversight Committee, bloviated for considerable minutes — not once engaging any of the evidence outlined. The proceedings were “pathetic,” they were “foolishness,” they were “based on a long debunked and discredited lie.” This impeachment inquiry, Raskin said, “is the result, directly or indirectly, of Donald Trumps’s pressure.”
Raskin would not be worth mentioning but for what he implicitly signaled Thursday. Democrats are not going to address the grave matters to hand on the evidence: They seem to know they cannot.
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As The New York Times reported a few weeks ago, Democrats will go to the public and wage their war by way of a propaganda blitz of exceptional proportions on the thought — and they are correct in this — that you can fool some of the people all of the time if they are liberal authoritarians, otherwise known as loyal Democrats.
This is what we saw when Raskin spoke Thursday, neither more nor less. He had nothing to offer other than theater and spectacle.
This strategy is all the Democrats seem to have. It will be excruciatingly difficult to carry it out as evidence mounts until it is so high it is impossible for anyone but robotic loyalists to turn their eyes from it. You can’t fool all of the people all of the time, after all. Especially, it seems, as Raskin serves as the Democrats’ point man on the House floor.
A Major Battle of the Information War
We have lived through information wars before. The Russiagate years can be so described. But we are in for one now that may prove the most invasive and totalized of all. The question raised is, Can incessant repetition of lies and misrepresentations triumph in the American consciousness over perfectly discernible realities?
Those who follow this process will be invited seven times on seven days a week to read it as sheer partisan politics and nothing more. I consider it imperative, in the cause of clear sight, to set aside all such urgings. The truth does not belong to a political party.
Comer was attentive to this question in his opening statement. “In recent history, Democrats inflicted much damage on the credibility of special investigations by peddling the Russian collusion hoax,” he said. “But this Committee under this majority will not pursue such witch hunts based on unfounded allegations, innuendo, and no real evidence.”
“This majority” is Republican, yes. Republicans, or many of them, are eager to take down Joe Biden, yes. But at the outset, at least, we must set aside party affiliation and ambition and take statements such as this as valid expressions of intent until it is demonstrated otherwise.
The Democrats’ biggest problem after the opening day of hearings: Based on what we have so far seen, what is to come will have a lot more than unfounded allegations and innuendo to it.
The hearings continue.
Patrick Lawrence, a correspondent abroad for many years, chiefly for the International Herald Tribune, is a columnist, essayist, lecturer and author, most recently of Journalists and Their Shadows. Other books include Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century. His Twitter account, @thefloutist, has been permanently censored.
To my readers: Independent publications and those who write for them reach a moment that is difficult and full of promise all at once. On one hand, we assume ever greater responsibilities in the face of mainstream media’s mounting derelictions. On the other, we have found no sustaining revenue model and so must turn directly to our readers for support. I am committed to independent journalism for the duration: I see no other future for American media. But the path grows steeper, and as it does I need your help. This grows urgent now. If you are already a supporter, big thanks. If you aren’t, please, to sustain my continued contributions to Consortium News and in recognition of the commitment to independent journalism I share with this bedrock publication, join in by subscribing to The Floutist, or via my Patreon account.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
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Here’s something I haven’t heard anybody talk about yet.
Background: We know Biden told Ukraine to call Obama over the $1 billion quid pro quo if they don’t believe him, because Obama has agreed to back him on it – Biden later brags about that in interviews.
Connecting the Dots: There’s no way Biden could get away with lying about Obama being in on withholding $1 billion in public interviews if Obama wasn’t in on it. I doubt Obama was getting paid, it could have been just a professional courtesy between corrupt bedfellows. Or conceivably, Biden may have tried to tell Obama that Shokin needed to go because he was corrupt. But it’s hard to believe Obama is that naive.
Regardless, we need to know why Obama had given Biden the green light to do these kinds of things.
It’s All theatrics.
Sadly, too many journalists fail to understand, especially in the US, that all politics, legislative acts, impeachments hearings, etc.are ALL orchestrated by many wealthy billionaires; The Elites in Finance/Banking, Real Estate, etc.
It’s those people who actually need to be brought before a Justice System that is fair honest, but, unfortunately, we don’t even have that anymore.
They don’t call The US FINANCIAL HEGEMON for nothing.
Thank you, Mr Lawrence, for clearly delineating where you stand, vis a vis the Bidens. Your hatred of them is clear, complete with ad hominem statements. I, along with the rest of the country, will be looking for facts forthcoming concerning the impeachment process. Joe Biden has no corner on the market for having a ne’r do well son. Hunter Biden’s bucket must sit on its own bottom, unless and until clear connections to others in his actions is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. At least you have been honest enough to show your bias.
No one “hates” the Biden’s by default. No one cares about Joe’s son getting $80,000 for paintings, nor do they care about Biden killing people for no reason in Afghanistan, or writing laws incarcerating the largest population of people per capita in the world. You’re safe in your blind obedience to a corrupt party and a president who does nothing he claimed he was going to do. The media will support you in your delusions until the cows come home, but that doesn’t change the facts. Biden is following the neocon agenda in his foreign policy without question. If you think this is a family matter, chew on that.
No argument with your cataloging of many things Biden is responsible for, but none of those were the point of the article. Stay on point.
FACT: Hunter Biden was paid $1 million by Burisma for no apparent reason and FACT: Joe Biden withheld $1 billion to Ukraine until Shokin was fired. Nobody can say that’s not tremendously suspicious.
Mr. Zeigler, in reality, investigations start with suspicion which leads to proof. Police investigate crimes for years, until they get hard proof to take something to court. It’s not like you either you have definitive proof, or you have nothing at all. You seem to be saying no amount of suspicion no matter how overwhelming carries any weight. That’s not how crimes are ever investigated.
You can hang on to the fantasy that Biden replaced Shokin with somebody who would do more to prosecute Burisma, proving Biden’s integrity.
Shokin indeed was fired and replaced by a guy named Yuriy Lutsenko. The democrats universally believe Shokin was replaced by somebody “solid” (Biden’s word). So, let’s see what solid means to Biden. First off, Lutsenko had done several years of hard time in prison for the exact kind of corruption he was supposed to now be prosecuting. He was pardoned at some point, for health reasons, not because he was absolved of the corruption. His crimes were abuse of office, forgery, embezzlement. If that wasn’t enough, the real kicker is that Lutsenko wasn’t a lawyer and in fact he had no education whatsoever in law and no prior experience as a prosecutor. It wasn’t even legal for him to be named chief prosecutor with no qualifications. They had to literally change the law to allow a person without a law degree or any law experience to hold the office of prosecutor. So a corrupt businessman with no law experience is apparently is what “solid” means to Biden. Shokin on the other hand was a lifelong law professional and prosecutor.
But credentials aside, maybe Lutsenko really did step up the investigation against Burisma. They already had $23 million frozen, and assets seized. So, what did Lutsenko do to take that to the next level?
Lutsenko had Burisma pay pack a token $3 million of the $23 million they had obtained corruptly, he gave them back $20 million of it, and returned the seized assets and set them free to go, absolved of all crimes. Then he gave a speech proudly proclaiming he had recovered $3 million and declaring it a great victory for all that is good and right. So, after three short months he closed a complex criminal investigation that had been going on for several years and was increasingly turning the screws on Burisma under Shokin. He let them off the hook, save a token fine and green-lighted them to continue business as usual.
None of this seems to matter to Democrats, which betrays phenomenal bias. Mr. Zeigler you are on the wrong side of history.
Well, it’s impeachment season again – getting to be a regular tradition – Clinton in the ’90’s – ostensibly for lying under oath for having sex with Lewinsky, Bush should have been impeached for lying us into war, Obama seems to have escaped – then Trump for God knows what, not once but twice – now it’s Biden’s turn …
Let’s face it, just about all our Pres. are crooks and self dealers – committing multiple crimes against the American people, and the world, for that matter – but we keep electing them, taking turns between Ds and Rs … and impeaching the ones we’ve elected, taking turns …
Notice, however, that none of these folks, being indicted (impeached) by the House, ever gets convicted at trial in the Sen …
So what’s the point … To demonstrate “No one is above the law!” Seriously? Just which law? Apparently any one they can get their hands on to serve their purpose …
I, personally, don’t care how it turns out, I made up my mind some time ago re the serial offenders that populate the D/Rs and have chosen elsewhere, since ’96 – castigated for “spoiling” it for the Ds, but isn’t that what any opposition Party wants and intends – to “spoil” it for the opposition?
In this case, the point is to show how the Biden family has been making $10’s of millions selling nothing but access to Joe Biden’s power and influence as VP. It matters not whether the Senate will convict Biden. The point is to shine the light of day on the sleazy selling out of of our country by 3 half-wits who think they can fool all of the people all of the time. Pelosi and the Clintons are likewise criminals. But you have to start somewhere and the Biden’s are too dim to have left no trail for their crimes. They should all be locked up and have their ill-gotten gains confiscated. A lifetime of lying, faking and pretenses is about to come crashing down on Joey but also co-conspirators Jimmy and Hunt.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, lotsa static to disguise the fact that Another Year’s PatAct renewal is One More Year our US Bill of Rights remains suspended!
Not for nothing; but, “Mr. Lawrence, your “inaugural report” is 100% Spot-On!!!”
“What did Joey Biden know; and, When?!?” At the least, “How did “$enator” Joey Biden get classified docs outta the SCIF?!?” “What’s in your wallet?!?” I digress….
“Those who follow this process will be invited seven times on seven days a week to read it as sheer partisan politics and nothing more. I consider it imperative, in the cause of clear sight, to set aside all such urgings. The truth does not belong to a political party.” (Patrick Lawrence)
Onward & Upwards!!! Sincerely, appreciated. Thank You, Patrick Lawrence, CN, et al!! “KEEP IT LIT!”
There is no fear of a Senate going along so it is just political. So was Nixon, he resigned due to republican urging and to escape the Vietnam curse they inherited from Kennedy and LBJ for religious protection of the Vietnam 10% ruling colonial religion. They might even get a Ford one or two new terms save to rule on. Plus with Agnew out and a new rule the President can appoint a VP Rockefeller get in over Bush. Then Ford faces assassination attempt sn Betty face alcoholism like Nancy Reagan resorted to astrology.
Now Biden works for the Roman orthodox versus the Russian Orthodox now that the godless communist issue of the 20th century has been put to rest and we can regress to Napoleonic ventures.
What about Bush version of profiteering as well as most other Presidents of our history. Profit motives rule.
How does the entire corporate media brazenly lie so synchronously? Who can afford to be pulling all those strings at once? And who can afford to install so many puppets in Congress? And on both sides of the aisle? And who is willing to back up their bribery with blackmail? And death threats?
This does not look like run of the mill corruption. It looks more like a comprehensive institutional takeover.
Didn’t you know that six multinational corporations own 95 percent of the media?
There are about five corporations which own all media thanks to the Communications Act of 96, which removed ownership restrictions. The Constitution gave us a free press to keep the government honest. We don’t have that free press anymore.
The TransPacificPartnership, which Obama supported and Trump stopped, would have subordinated our laws to the will of the TPA.
It’s called the CIA.
Thankyou Lois for the laugh you instigated with that gem of reality.
Paraphrasing Matt Taibbi in one of his Substack posts, this could be the first presidential debate with both candidates wearing ankle bracelets. Could there be a better metaphor for late stage US empire?
I cannot think of anyone more suited to undertake this challenging assignment—other than JL himself. Patrick’s breadth of experience is as well not marred by any discernible weary cynicism that could so easily (if not rightfully) color another reporter’s take on this.
The fact Biden’s actions in any other time of the past one hundred years would have him running for the hills while making plea deals left and right serve to show how complete is the corruption of the public political spectrum / spectacle. As if Christopher Wray’s example of a knowing and showing of aplomb during hard questioning did not indicate anything but the fix has truly been in in D.C. for all to see since at a minimum, 2015.
If one has eyes and employs them in their essential function, that is. Hopefully, and at its essence a reasonable notion at that, this will finally lead to taking down these dangerous un-elected ‘crats who hold so much undeserved and ill-used power over the citizenry and the moribund political processes in this nation. A crack in the dam of the damned. Bring it.
And thanks for being there, PL.
Reading Dark Quadrant which begins with Harry Truman’s mob connections, then on to LBJ’s mob connections, and I have Nixon et al to look forward to. What happened in the past is that the Democrats were powerful enough to shut down investigations.
Why the proxy war in Ukraine swiftly after leaving Afghanistan….several reasons….U.S. endless wars abroad …..deep state…arms industry etc. But is it a coincidence that Vice Presi Biden’s assigned Ukraine….where son Hunter made millions at Burisma….. 2 + 2 – ?
Demonizing Putin and Trump….calling anyone against this war “right wing” by MSM…..at least some members of Congress are acting (indirectly/ unconsciously?) to raise questions about why the U.S. has delved full force in money, weapons and pressure on NATO to wage this war in Ukraine. With Biden wanting reelection in 2024 and majority of Dems behind him….obvious this committee’s case will never be heard on the floor of Congress. / Thanks Patrick L. May a miracle of peace happen.
I recall during the Democratic Party’s two impeachments of then President Donald Trump that, according to them, impeachment was a political act not bound by rules pertaining to crimes. Apparently, that opinion has changed rather drastically. Of course, the evidence in this case is likely to prove much more clear and much more compelling and, ironically, directly related to the first impeachment of Mr. Trump.
Sadly most people have very short memories.
Paulo Freire (Pedagogy of the Oppressed): “The oppressed, having internalized the image of the oppressor and adopted his guidelines, are fearful of freedom.”
I want to hear and consider all the evidence before making an opinion. Mr. Lawrence should do the same. US elected officials lie at every opportunity because they have no idea what the truth might be on any issue. They have aids with specific knowledge of issues. Congress people and Senators consider fund raising important and staying on the right side of American ignorance.
George Orwell: “A people that elects corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors aren’t victims…but accomplices.”
Orwell was right – so why do we keep electing D/Rs?
Stupidity? Ignorance? Fear? Take your pick.
Oh America:
We still have to get rid of the old Bush crap, before we can believe anyone about the Biden crap. We still seem to be living in Crapmerica.
Love it: Crapmerica! What more needs to be said?
Bush crap, Obama crap, Biden crap…next crap…good old US/Royal Crown roundup of Usual Suspects and Criminals.
Lands of the Oppressed, Lands of Regime Change … Nazis Final Rule. Planet Earth., Self Destruction. Amen.
Wonderful, Patrick Lawrence, that you are on point! Few would have the grits and the guts to do that. Much success!
Jamie Raskin pounds the table as he does not have the law or the facts. In time, he will be left with pounding the judge.
The corruption is voluminous .Political,judicial and now medical with big pharma death program .Not sure if I am living a nightmare
in slow motion .By the time ,the big guy , gets what he truly deserves ,he might very well be on his death bed .
Last one out ,please shut off the lights.
Invariably, some partisan hack will attempt to convince us that there are only two teams in this debacle–that if you want to see Biden brought down a notch by these proceedings you must be in the Republican camp; that otherwise you must be in the Democrat camp. Before they attempt to do so, now is a good time to remind people that the percentage of Americans that identify as “independent” has been tracking upwards since 2009, such that it’s now a strong plurality of all voters and getting dangerously close to 50%.
Yup! So let them raise their voice at the polls …
Thanks Patrick, you are much more professional, tolerant and patient than I. I can’t stand listening to a bunch of crooked kakistocrats go through their phony charades. It just makes me angry and disgusted. IMO, the corruption is not just on a personal level, it is institutionalized. In order to participate in a corrupt system, one must be corrupt to a certain degree. Many think this view is cynical, but I believe there is tons of evidence to support such a view.
Reading Dark Quadrant confirms everything you say. Good old Truman who was known as an “honest fixer” because he always charged the same $5,000 price. He was in bed with the Pendergast machine, St Louis’s organized crime group.
If justice is served, the American people can begin to have faith in their government again.
It’s been a long time..!
Thank you Consortium News for covering this vital topic.
While I believe there is much fact the Burisma story — and to it’s inseparability from the Ukraine debacle — a war for natural gas hegemony — what stands out is the blatant hypocrisy of Republicans who continue to support Trump and his families over-the top gifting bringing charges against Biden. Utter corruption is a bipartisan basic to our system of corporate oligarchy.
The United States continues to be a juggernaut of global chaos and destruction. Why has this become so? Primarily because the rampant corporate corruption that has made a hollow joke of our representative democracy is driven by an obsession for global control of resources and economic hegemony at any expense. At this point in history, every military action and every war is a war against the planet and against the future of life on earth. This insanity of ecocidal warmongering is the direct result of bipartisan corporate dominance.
Trump is not on trial here.
Those with TDS will continue to drag in stinky red herrings that make this about Trump.
The truth is that Trump was impeached on stitched-up charges of doing pretty much exactly what the Bidens were actually doing.
Whatever. Trump and Biden are equally despicable in different ways, and Trump also still has an influence on a large chunk of the voting constituency, some who believe he is actually still president. So I wouldn’t dismiss anything concerning this-derangement or that-derangement, the whole goddamned country’s been semi-deranged since 9/11.
Yup! You are right on!
Thx Mr Lawrence! (that sounds almost like the movie title with David Bowie ;-)
It´s funny that there are possible impeachments threatening the leaders of two major Western states at the same time for similiar reasons:
Biden in the US, German Chancellor Scholz in Germany:
reminder: in the Scholz case – known a “Cum-ex” scandal – the question is, did he cover up the Warburg Bank defrauding 12 billion Euros in taxes not paid when Scholz was still mayor of Hamburg where this bank is located?
So not only POTUS can juggle with billions. We´re good at this too. Remains to be seen how long so.
See German paper Junge Welt on the Scholz Case:
hxxps://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/460045.entmachtung-von-anne-brorhilker-aufkl%C3%A4rung-unerw%C3%BCnscht.html
(deepl.com will do)
This week apparently the investigator Anne Brorhilker leading the investigation against Scholz will be deprived of her powers by sharing her investigation with someone assigned to her now with only little experience (again sounds like from a movie) – presumably because Mrs. Anne Brorhilker is too good in her job (she was able to get convictions in 5 other similiar cases in the past) and could really dig out a case against Scholz that would lead to him being charged in court.
So now she will be “supported” since she has “too much other work to do”. As the Press release goes.
Investigator Anne Brorhilker btw called this a “blatant lie”.
Looking forward to your upcoming reports.
See you soon Mr. Lawrence!
Thanks for posting this.
I didn’t know anything about the Scholz scandal.
Danke!
Thanks for your otherwise-unknown-to-me very important information, AG.
Litchfield & David Otness
I´m no expert on the Cum-ex case.
But I doubt it will lead to anything substantial.
Too much fear against AfD (who haven´t ever passed a single law in the Bundestag simply lacking size and seats) will be instigated and thus used to manipulate the SPD base to keep “loyal” to Olaf. (I could joke about Disney´s Olaf the Snowman here….).
Likewise we will witness moral pressure on law enforcement.
Just consider what happened afte the NSU affair? Nothing.
What did the German Constitutional Court do on Covid issues? Nothing.
Just last week Hans-Jürgen Papier frm. head of that Highest German Court criticized it himself.
in case here, 50 min. German speech:
hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQr3nkpXObo
What will happen to the revised §130 regarding hate speech? Nothing.
There are so far 2 attorneys who have filed complaints against that revision of §130 to the Constitutional Court. 2 attorneys! Out of Hundreds.
And almost nobody reported. Both attorneys of course are representatives of the German Marxists, naturally, since they are the ones who better be equipped in questions of law and lawful powers of the state and their limitation.
So German democratic standards are defended in court by two marxist lawyers. Isnt that fun!
editors: sry the off-topic and German focus.
Thankyou, PLawrence.
One can admire your pursuit of justice.
However, your reportage iterates the desperate and profound divisions — political and social — in the usa.
Because a Biden Investigation that follows expotus45’s investigations [plural] throws the entire polical world into stagnation, representation and presentation of important Infrastructure, Economic, Education and Social debates get smothered too.
Dire straits indeed.
“Dire straits indeed”
Oh yes Dfnslblty – “Money for nothing and your chicks for free”.
The clique of rats steering “the ship of fools” are now turning on their self-anointed captain while they’re heading straight for the ice berg, frozen, unseen, in a sea of lies, lying just ahead in 2024.
The ‘unsinkable’ ship is irretrievably – without immediate systemic adjustment, on course for a catastrophic collision with global reality.
The question: Will the ‘SS Exceptionalist Country’ (pun intended) finally sink in the ocean of frenzied, bipartisan cannibalism, with all on-board perishing in the revolutions of time’s propellers?
That’s a good question Em. We appear to be waiting with bated breath to watch the downfall of the world bully. And after having just watched John Pilger’s film “The War on Democracy”, i can only hope it’s sooner, rather than later.
I say impeach the lot – crooks, war mongers, evil doers, liars and do nothings in Washington DC. This country needs a fresh start…
“Can incessant repetition of lies and misrepresentations triumph in the American consciousness over perfectly discernible realities?” Obviously Russiagate has, lingering on as gospel in many Americans’ minds going on seven years. Domestic propaganda is now the cornerstone of the Biden administration’s policies. State (dept/ CIA) Media and social media Official Narratives were established with the abolition (“modernization”) of Smith Mundt in 2013 and the Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act of 2016. Alt media alone still questions many official narratives, but uncomfortably.
The multi-unlimited prosecutions of Trump provide nice templates to go after Biden and also many other ex-Presidents. Only wish some of the charges were for war crimes.
I am an independent voter, and can’t believe for a minute, that Republicans instead of working for the American people, shut down the government and started a ridiculous impeachment inquiry that is nothing short of a waste of time, and even worse, money, lots of money just to do Trump’s bidding…
A person facing a long prison term, and the GOP just doesn’t care. Soldiers, veterans, old people, students, etc., will all suffer with a shutdown.
What part of Patrick Lawrence’s article or the very succinct explanation in the video by Rep. Timmons did you not understand?
Demoralization can be harder to overcome than drug addiction. Imagine trying to kick the habit in an environment where the drugs are available and offered everywhere you turn.
So, the fake threat of a government shutdown is enough for you to accept rampant crimes by the president? Not for me.
Even the witnesses called by the Republicans on the committee could not say that whatever happened rose to the level of criminality. The threat of a government shutdown certainly does not seem “fake” at this point.
No fan of biden or his war but this is complete nonsense and the people who are promoting it are the absolute worst of the worst. A collection of christofascists, fascists, halfwits, crazies, bigots and assorted lunatics. There own witnesses have said there is no evidence biden was involved. By pronoting this you discredit all your reportage
I have never heard an Independent voter express an opinion such as yours. I have witnessed diehard liberals who ignore reality (those mentioned in the article), ignore blatant criminality by Biden Inc. while preposterously lying about Trump. Anyone paying attention knows that the potential shutdown is due to runaway spending via continuing resolutions. It is years past time to get back to regular order on budgeting through 12 separate bills. BTW: I once was a Democrat until they based everything on lies, racism, perversion, fearmongering and the like. Your comment on who will suffer from a shutdown demonstrates your lack of knowledge on the totality of a shutdown.
Thank you Lonnie for stating this.
Except there is no need for these semi-shutdowns, nor the theater that is put on by this tools. They are playing power-games. It’s juvenile and unproductive, and there is no excuse. Clearly the two parties’ members seem more occupied with playing games than giving a toss about the most important issues-at-hand. Stop voting for them.
“… and started a ridiculous impeachment inquiry that is nothing short of a waste of time…”
Seems to me you checked your “values” at the door, Mr Araujo. Your statement reminds me of nothing more than Paul Simon’s song “The Boxer” wherein the classic line “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest” so well describes your personal and even petulant angst. What is most evident is your refusal to even peek at the actual big (and much bigger) picture.