While sitting in a coffee shop earlier today, a TV monitor with its sound down was showing the official sending of articles of impeachment to the Senate. The video clip was short, and included several of the House members (all Democrats, presumably) in a procession moving along, with the lead member holding a dark folder in her hands. The video didn’t need any sound, I thought, as none of them was speaking, just walking to their destination, all looking drop dead serious about their business. The folder was being handled as if it were a priceless artifact to be encased and viewed with hushed reverence by observers. This must be really serious shit…I figured.

Serious, for sure! For only the 3rd time in our country’s history a President was being impeached. The most recent was Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998 (for, lets face it, basically receiving fellacio by an intern). Okay, then he LIED about it! Can you believe it?! A President of the United States lying! to Congress–and the American people (including one named Hillary). He was acquitted by the Senate, which the Republicans controlled at the time. Wow. Enough GOP-ers must have feared a backlash if they voted to convict Clinton, who had been elected twice and polls showed that the public mostly liked him, his scumbag behavior with that young woman notwithstanding.

The other impeachment trial involved Andrew Johnson. He, too, was acquitted by a Senate controlled by the GOP in 1868. It wasn’t about sex, but about post-Civil War slavery. Hmm. And Johnson was a Democrat, too. These two trials, in my mind, seem incredibly ironic in the context of today’s advancement of those articles sent to the Senate in order to place our current Republican POTUS on trial. Why? What are you kidding me? Look, I’m sure Bill Clinton told more than a few fibs in his eight years as POTUS, but the guy being put on trial next week, according to the award winning (for “Excellence in Political Reporting) Fact Checker team of journalists, has told (as of December 10, 2019) 15,413 verifiable falsehoods in just less than three full years in office. Sure, we all lie now and then, maybe just the “little white lies” as needed, but POTUS is accused of lying about some really important, very significant, incredibly self-serving matters, much of it being counter to our Constitution. You know, like colluding with foreign powers that seek to undermine our elections. Or the no evidence provided motivation for ordering the recent assassination of an Iranian General that caused concern about nothing less than escalating aggression between the two countries that could ultimately trigger nuclear World War 3. While that “mutual assured destruction” part of the nuclear bomb age still hasn’t happened (but is always a threat), the seemingly impulsive, unjustifiable drone killing of that general caused a retaliatory, misguided missile attack by Iran that killed 167 people on a commercial jet, it being mistaken for a U.S. military plane. Logic dictates that if the assassination wasn’t ordered, that passenger jet would not have become a tragic bit of collateral damage.

This isn’t just jharrin4 mouthing off here in a unsupportable rant on POTUS. It’s really serious stuff that has garnered bou coup consternation by not just Fact Checkers, but for anyone–be they in our government, or just John and Jane Doe citiizens-at-large who might A) want to keep adversarial foreign powers out of our elections, and/or B) not want to die by nuclear incineration or radiation poising after the nukes are unleashed. My previous posting on films that–among other critiques–ought to be viewed or re-watched now, alluded to the grim matter of nuclear war endgame. Did you know that, according to Ploughshares Fund, which strives to reduce the threat of nuclear war, there are 14,575 nuclear weapons out there, two-thirds of which are held by Russia and the U.S. Hmm. That’s almost one nuke for every fib told by POTUS since he was sworn in back in January of 2017. Not sure if that correlation has any gravitas, but it is ironic, is it not? In both numerical matters, a whole lot less would be a whole lot better.

Back to that procession of the senders of articles of impeachment. They are wanting to know and establish the facts, and nothing but the facts. And that’s a fact, Jack! (cudos to Bill Murray in Stripes). The House Democrats believe they have enough factual evidence of POTUS’ misfeasance and malfeasance to warrant conviction. And I’m sure they do, but unlike the Republican-controlled Senate during the Johnson and Clinton impeachment trials, each of which acquitted those respective Democrats, there’s one FACT that has been almost literally established by this GOP run Senate. And that is, POTUS isn’t going to get convicted. It just has zero chance of an outcome. Why? For starters, simply because they have a 53-47 seat advantage and the Senate needs two-thirds of its members to convict. The donkeys need 20 GOP defectors. And the GOP has clearly shown they see, hear and speak no evil regarding their Boss. Then, after that there’s this: the senate majority “leader” a Republican, has more than hinted that no witnesses will be allowed to testify. Hmmm, I wonder, then this is a rigged affair, no? A trial with no witnesses? Maybe this GOP senate “leader” is really the most powerful man in our government. I mean, can someone explain to me how this guy can say “no witnesses” and get away with it? But that’s for another posting…Then there’s’ this: he’s already assured anyone who asks him about the possibility of an impeachment even happening that he has “coordinated” with the White House about how that would play out. As in, don’t worry, dude, the outcome is a foregone conclusion: acquittal! Which means the 53 Republicans in the Senate are in lock-step with an assured acquittal, making it literally impossible to hear 67 members of that chamber voicing a vote for conviction.

The only way this impeachment trial has any chance of not being a mere fraudulent formality is if–even without a single witness–the charges, and the evidence that reasons its way to being truthful and alarmingly dangrous to the country, are given an objective consideration by at least 20 of those 53 Republican senators. Chances: slim and none and slim just took a hike.

I’ve been calling the GOP Murder, Inc for years and years owing to their nefarious policies that constantly place profit over people, even if that profit comes at the expense of some people not being able to afford food or medications, or the social “safety nets” that have been gutted over the past 40 years. Oh, trust me, the Democrats are implicit to a degree in the our filthy rich nation seeming to not give a fuck about anyone who cannot afford to get sick, or afford an education, or afford a place to live. Yeah, the donkeys are a clear combination of 2 parts incompetence, and one part colluding in the neo-con, trickle down economic voodooism that was ushered in by Ronald Reagan. Can you say “Reagan Democrats”? They put Ronnie over-the-top in that 1980 election. It’s been war on labor and unions, deregulation and the wet dreaming of privatizing Medicare and Social Security ever since.

Well, at least the House donkeys have used their current House power to impeach, so that’s an improvement, but they still lack the power to protect (by conviction in the Senate) the country from the chaos and sometimes the carnage wrought by this current criminal administration. Oh, well. We get the government we deserve. Make no mistake about that. If 20 Republican senators cannot place the people over profits, corruption, the reckless use of our military and so much more, then it’s up to we the people come November 3rd.

We do get the government we deserve, so we’ll see about 2020. Maybe,the electorate will perform in a more educated manner this time around. Hey, 2016 was an embarrassment of pervasive ignorance and apathy (and a toxic donkey candidate who assumed victory was assured). Those articles of impeachment walked over to the Senate today are likely to solve nothing that desperately needs solving, policy-wise (unless you are a millionaire many times over or in the billionaire stratosphere. But even then , do you not have any goddam morals or compassion for humankind, not to mention the natural world?). Education is expensive (thanks to profit mongering Reagonomics), but ignorance costs far more. And as for knowing an opinion, from an inference from a stone cold fact, here’s a quote from a well educated and really smart guy from back in the day:

Education is not simply the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.

Albert Einstein

Raise your hand if you THINK the 2020 election will this time, for real, drain one very fetid swamp.