19 January 2020

Is Adam Schiff Guilty Of Perjury?

As the Impeachment Trial of President Trump gets underway, Congressman Adam Schiff, the leader of the House Managers arguing the case for impeachment on behalf of the House Democrats, submitted to the Senate his "Trial Memorandum" laying out his theory of impeachment and the case he will be arguing on its behalf.

The memorandum has just one problem: It's a lie. Many of of Congressman Shiff's allegations are simply and demonstrably not true.

It is to Schiff's benefit that the memorandum appears to not have been filed under penalty of felony, for if it were Schiff would be guilty of perjury, instead of merely lying to the Senate. Yet let there be no misapprehension here: Congressman Adam Schiff has without a doubt lied to the Senate as he has lied to the American people throughout this impeachment inquiry. The only thing standing between Schiff and a perjury charge is the status of the Trial Memorandum as not being sworn and subscribed to.

17 January 2020

The Purpose Of Impeaching Donald Trump: Breaking Presidential Power

Nancy Pelosi finally completed the impeachment of the President, signing the articles of impeachment and transmitting them to the Senate. With articles in hand, the Senate officially swore in Chief Justice John Roberts to preside over the impeachment trial, and the senators themselves were sworn in as the impeachment jury--the Senate has now been converted into the Court of Impeachments described by Alexander Hamilton in Federalist 65.

After months of partisan wrangling over hyperpartisan inquiry and investigation by the House, the Senate finally will have its say on the merits and demerits of the case the Democrats have assembled, even as the true purpose of impeachment has already been revealed and acknowledge by those same Democrats: removing a President they do not like, or at least subordinating him to the whimsy of Congress.

11 January 2020

Profiles In Courage

It is rare for a single vote by a single Congressman to be noteworthy, or even remarkable. Recently we have seen several remarkable votes by individual Congressmen--those willing to buck demands for party loyalty and unity in defense of larger principles. With so many politicians of all stripes pandering to their particular political base, we should take a moment to consider those who decided to take step back from the partisan divide.

04 January 2020

Getting The Trump Presidency All Wrong

Within the span of two days, President Donald Trump reminded the world yet again the extent to which the legacy media has completely failed to grasp the essence of the Trump Administration. We are barely into 2020, and already the prevailing narratives surrounding Donald Trump have been completely shredded. Trump accomplished with just two highly surgical air strikes against pro-Iranian Iraqi militias and their Iranian sponsors, the first one resulting in the death of Qassim Suleimani, leader of Iran's Quds Force, and the second targeting part of the leadership of the pro-Iranian Popular Mobilization Forces militia.

(Note: Subsequent reporting suggests the PMF leadership was not killed in this second strike, with the PMF disputing Pentagon claims in this regard. As of this writing much of the reporting is unconfirmed with many details subject to change)

01 January 2020

Happy New Year. Let's Have (Another) War

The image is all too familiar: Anti-American protests in a Middle Eastern capital turn violent, with a US embassy--and the US civilians stationed there--becoming a convenient target of the protesters' rage. Too easily, it recalls the horrific 2012 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in which Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.  Thankfully, this attack on a US embassy had a somewhat better outcome, as no one was reported hurt during the attack.