“James Madison said that “impeachment… was indispensable” to defend the community against “the incapacity, negligence or perfidy of the chief Magistrate.” With a single executive, Madison argued, unlike a legislature whose collective nature provided security, “loss of capacity or corruption was more within the compass of probable events, and either of them might be fatal to the Republic.”
“High,” in the legal and common parlance of the 17th and 18th centuries of “high crimes,” is activity by or against those who have special duties acquired by taking an oath of office that are not shared with common persons.5 A high crime is one that can be done only by someone in a unique position of authority, which is political in character, who does things to circumvent justice. The phrase “high crimes and misdemeanors,” used together, was a common phrase when the U.S. Constitution was written and did not require any stringent or difficult criteria for determining guilt but meant the opposite. The phrase was historically used to cover a very broad range of crimes."
Kinda the same reason that the Founding Fathers put in the 2nd. Amendment, because they could have NEVER foreseen morons running around with weapons that could shred a deer in 5 seconds, as opposed to a single shot muzzle loader with a rate of fire of about one a minute!
How many lawyers can dance on the head of a pin? All this tangled legal wrangling: As my mind wanders, I look at the marble wall behind the speakers and imagine the white marble veins on black are spider webs all tangled like their arguments. Not well-ordered webs as with yellow-and-black Golden Orb spiders — but the messy webs of Black Widows.
I think the gravest fault that can be found with the framers is that they thought that future generations would take the Constitution and be smart enough to figure out how to make it work despite changing times and cultural shifts. It’s almost as if you have a house built on a strong foundation and over the years you add on to the house but insist on keeping the original foundation without any concern of newer construction methods or how much more that existing foundation must now support. Amendments are great, but sometimes you need to refurbish that original foundation or you risk the entire structure falling in on itself.
You cannot believe the lying corrupt selfish Republicans.
Over the last 40 years or so over 200 Republicans associated with the WH have gone to jail or prison. Five dems have gone to jail or prison over the same time period, the parties are not the same.
No phrasing could capture all possible permutations of wrongdoing. I have always thought the “high” phrase captured it as well as any could have. It implies an offense by one in power misusing the unique authority of the office. The ingenuity of the evil doer requires no more specificity than this.
In this case, I am certain that Trump was told by, say, someone such as Rudy, that the beauty of this scheme is that after you screw Biden, if you get caught in this act of extortion (using funds of the public treasury, and impairing national security), they won’t lay a glove on you, because we’ll all say all what you were doing was carrying out US policy to root out corruption in Ukraine. A classic example of an idea that is too clever by half.
The witnesses and evidence we have, and the surrounding circumstances we know, put the lie to this defense, but the administration thought that with the investigation of corruption excuse it could blast its way of of the impeachment box if they got caught. It might be ugly, but workable.
John Bolton has made this way of escape much more bloody that the Trumpers had thought. When the Senate ultimately acquits, it will be up to the patriots among us to crucify (figuratively, of course) the plotters and their abetters, and cleanse this stain from the soul of America.
I was baffled when the House only issued TWO Articles of Impeachment. Without half trying, I could come up with at least ten—but then again, I’ve been paying attention.
NeuralCapsule about 4 years ago
“James Madison said that “impeachment… was indispensable” to defend the community against “the incapacity, negligence or perfidy of the chief Magistrate.” With a single executive, Madison argued, unlike a legislature whose collective nature provided security, “loss of capacity or corruption was more within the compass of probable events, and either of them might be fatal to the Republic.”
“High,” in the legal and common parlance of the 17th and 18th centuries of “high crimes,” is activity by or against those who have special duties acquired by taking an oath of office that are not shared with common persons.5 A high crime is one that can be done only by someone in a unique position of authority, which is political in character, who does things to circumvent justice. The phrase “high crimes and misdemeanors,” used together, was a common phrase when the U.S. Constitution was written and did not require any stringent or difficult criteria for determining guilt but meant the opposite. The phrase was historically used to cover a very broad range of crimes."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_crimes_and_misdemeanors#United_States
Pretty sure Madison would be at the forefront in calling for the senate to remove Rump..
Masterskrain Premium Member about 4 years ago
Kinda the same reason that the Founding Fathers put in the 2nd. Amendment, because they could have NEVER foreseen morons running around with weapons that could shred a deer in 5 seconds, as opposed to a single shot muzzle loader with a rate of fire of about one a minute!
PraiseofFolly about 4 years ago
How many lawyers can dance on the head of a pin? All this tangled legal wrangling: As my mind wanders, I look at the marble wall behind the speakers and imagine the white marble veins on black are spider webs all tangled like their arguments. Not well-ordered webs as with yellow-and-black Golden Orb spiders — but the messy webs of Black Widows.
Znox11 about 4 years ago
I think the gravest fault that can be found with the framers is that they thought that future generations would take the Constitution and be smart enough to figure out how to make it work despite changing times and cultural shifts. It’s almost as if you have a house built on a strong foundation and over the years you add on to the house but insist on keeping the original foundation without any concern of newer construction methods or how much more that existing foundation must now support. Amendments are great, but sometimes you need to refurbish that original foundation or you risk the entire structure falling in on itself.
Radish the wordsmith about 4 years ago
You cannot believe the lying corrupt selfish Republicans.
Over the last 40 years or so over 200 Republicans associated with the WH have gone to jail or prison. Five dems have gone to jail or prison over the same time period, the parties are not the same.
CW Stevenson about 4 years ago
Well said!
Diamond Lil about 4 years ago
Love you Brian. You are always worth the wait!
Smitty about 4 years ago
finally! the much-anticipated Nixon appearance we’ve been waiting for. Thanks Brian!
braindead Premium Member about 4 years ago
Well, of course Trump cannot be impeached.
The Constitution never even mentions Ukraine.
.
#TraitorTrump
charliekane about 4 years ago
No phrasing could capture all possible permutations of wrongdoing. I have always thought the “high” phrase captured it as well as any could have. It implies an offense by one in power misusing the unique authority of the office. The ingenuity of the evil doer requires no more specificity than this.
In this case, I am certain that Trump was told by, say, someone such as Rudy, that the beauty of this scheme is that after you screw Biden, if you get caught in this act of extortion (using funds of the public treasury, and impairing national security), they won’t lay a glove on you, because we’ll all say all what you were doing was carrying out US policy to root out corruption in Ukraine. A classic example of an idea that is too clever by half.
The witnesses and evidence we have, and the surrounding circumstances we know, put the lie to this defense, but the administration thought that with the investigation of corruption excuse it could blast its way of of the impeachment box if they got caught. It might be ugly, but workable.
John Bolton has made this way of escape much more bloody that the Trumpers had thought. When the Senate ultimately acquits, it will be up to the patriots among us to crucify (figuratively, of course) the plotters and their abetters, and cleanse this stain from the soul of America.
Godfreydaniel about 4 years ago
I was baffled when the House only issued TWO Articles of Impeachment. Without half trying, I could come up with at least ten—but then again, I’ve been paying attention.