Rikkitic:  ... Um, don't evangelicals believe in things like not coveting, not stealing, and not lying?

 

Schiff speaks.

Rikkitic:

 

Schiff speaks.

 

Behind firewall. Can you summarise what he said?

The Washington Post - Adam Schiff: An open letter to my Republican colleagues

Quoted in full as this is behind a paywall:

By Adam B. Schiff

February 21 at 6:06 PM

Adam B. Schiff, a Democrat, represents California’s 28th Congressional District in the House and is chairman of the Intelligence Committee.

This is a moment of great peril for our democracy. Our country is deeply divided. Our national discourse has become coarse, indeed, poisonous. Disunity and dysfunction have paralyzed Congress.

 

And while our attention is focused inward, the world spins on, new authoritarian regimes are born, old rivals spread their pernicious ideologies, and the space for freedom-loving peoples begins to contract violently. At last week’s Munich Security Conference, the prevailing sentiment among our closest allies is that the United States can no longer be counted on to champion liberal democracy or defend the world order we built.

 

For the past two years, we have examined Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and its attempts to influence the 2018 midterms. Moscow’s effort to undermine our democracy was spectacularly successful in inflaming racial, ethnic and other divides in our society and turning American against American.

 

But the attack on our democracy had its limits. Russian President Vladimir Putin could not lead us to distrust our own intelligence agencies or the FBI. He could not cause us to view our own free press as an enemy of the people. He could not undermine the independence of the Justice Department or denigrate judges. Only we could do that to ourselves. Although many forces have contributed to the decline in public confidence in our institutions, one force stands out as an accelerant, like gas on a fire. And try as some of us might to avoid invoking the arsonist’s name, we must say it.

 

I speak, of course, of our president, Donald Trump.

 

How to prove obstruction of justice: Did the suspect have corrupt intent, and would the actions, if successful, be likely to obstruct the proceeding? (Joshua Carroll/The Washington Post)

 

The president has just declared a national emergency to subvert the will of Congress and appropriate billions of dollars for a border wall that Congress has explicitly refused to fund. Whether you support the border wall or oppose it, you should be deeply troubled by the president’s intent to obtain it through a plainly unconstitutional abuse of power.

 

To my Republican colleagues:

 

When the president attacked the independence of the Justice Department by intervening in a case in which he is implicated, you did not speak out. When he attacked the press as the enemy of the people, you again were silent. When he targeted the judiciary, labeling judges and decisions he didn’t like as illegitimate, we heard not a word. And now he comes for Congress, the first branch of government, seeking to strip it of its greatest power, that of the purse.

 

Many of you have acknowledged your deep misgivings about the president in quiet conversations over the past two years. You have bemoaned his lack of decency, character and integrity. You have deplored his fundamental inability to tell the truth. But for reasons that are all too easy to comprehend, you have chosen to keep your misgivings and your rising alarm private.

 

That must end. The time for silent disagreement is over. You must speak out.

 

This will require courage. The president is popular among your base, which revels in his vindictive and personal attacks on members of his own party, even giants such as the late senator John McCain. Speaking up risks a primary challenge or accusations of disloyalty. But such acts of independence are the most profound demonstrations of loyalty to country.

 

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III may soon conclude his investigation and report. Depending on what is in that report and what we find in our own investigations, our nation may face an even greater challenge. While I am alarmed at what we have already seen and found of the president’s conduct and that of his campaign, I continue to reserve judgment about what consequences should flow from our eventual findings. I ask you to do the same.

 

If we cannot rise to the defense of our democracy now, in the face of a plainly unconstitutional aggrandizement of presidential power, what hope can we have that we will do so with the far greater decisions that could be yet to come?

 

Although these times pose unprecedented challenges, we have been through worse. The divisions during the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement were just as grave and far more deadly. The Depression and World War II were far more consequential. And nothing can compare to the searing experience of the Civil War.

 

If Abraham Lincoln, the father of the Republican Party, could be hopeful that our bonds of affection would be strained but not broken by a war that pitted brother against brother, surely America can come together once more. But as long as we must endure the present trial, history compels us to speak, and act, our conscience, Republicans and Democrats alike.

 

END

 

Wow, what a grand speech. Thanks, Sideface, for allowing us to read it.

Interestingly, as I read it, I thought, gee, that is exactly what we here have been saying here.

Now, we will see what the GOP is made of. Unfortunately, I don't have much confidence in their morality or guts.

If I wasn't an atheist, I would say God help America (and the rest of the western world).

Trump tells the truth

The Morowits Report: As Robert Mueller begins to wrap up his investigation, lawyers who have seen a preliminary draft of his report say it contains a shocking revelation. Speaking under condition of anonymity because they know perfectly well they should keep their blabbing mouths shut, they say that Donald Trump once told the truth as a little boy!

Although Trump is not noted for historical accuracy or even any historical knowledge, he insisted during a rambling interview that he did not chop down that cherry tree. “They didn’t call me honest Abe for nothing,” he exclaimed. Actually, they didn’t call him honest Abe at all, but no-one from the White House dared point that out.

In a village of liars and truth-tellers, asking what someone is will always produce the same reply. The truth-teller will admit to being one, while the liar will lie by claming to be a truth-teller. Hence the answer to the question, “which are you?”, will always be the same.

This is Trump’s dilemma. As a born liar, he must always claim to tell the truth. Yet if he actually does tell the truth, it must be a lie. When this was pointed out to him, he sputtered several times, feebly tried to tweet, rang Hannity for advice, and then went to bed complaining he was dizzy. “I have never told the tooth about anything”, he whimpered, gazing longingly at a portrait of a smiling Vladimir Putin.

Rikkitic:

 

Trump tells the truth ...

 

The Washington Post - Pelosi just challenged Trump’s corruption and lies.

February 22 at 10:20 AM

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and her fellow House Democrats just introduced a resolution to terminate President Trump’s national emergency.

 

In coming days, the resolution will likely pass the House, setting in motion a process that will force a Senate vote.

 

Either Senate Republicans will side with Trump, or they’ll pass the measure, after which Trump will veto it. ...

 

The move probably won’t succeed in terminating the emergency.

 

But it points to something we need to see a lot more of: discussion of concrete proposals and actions designed to fortify our institutions and democracy against Trump’s ongoing degradations of them, and to restore confidence in them once Trump is gone. ...

 

The New York Times - Manafort Is Expected to Face Charges in New York, Even if Trump Pardons Him

Feb. 22, 2019

The Manhattan district attorney’s office is preparing state criminal charges against Paul J. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, in an effort to ensure he will still face prison time even if the president pardons him for his federal crimes ...

 

Mr. Manafort is scheduled to be sentenced next month for convictions in two federal cases brought by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

 

He faces up to 25 years in prison for tax and bank fraud and additional time for conspiracy counts in a related case.

 

It could effectively be a life sentence for Mr. Manafort, who turns 70 in April.

 

The president has broad power to issue pardons for federal crimes, but no such authority in state cases. ...

 

Great work, Sideface! 😍

A fictional future Wikipedia entry for Donald Trump ...

Back to the future.

Sums it up nicely, Sideface!!