O, what a train wreck this is bound to be! What this nation absolutely needs just now is further divisiveness, as AOC calls for more funding to deprogram white supremacists and other D-related woke McCarthyite blacklists, MAGA-voters re-education camps and such. Never mind Joe Biden’s supremely dubious record on Black Civil Rights resembles…white supremacy. But hey, he’s assembled a most diverse cabinet of neo-cons and warmongers, and desires to Unify the Nation! Sure, he and Ms. Pelosi want help from Republicans to further their own stated agendas, but Trump must be held accountable!
Will it further piss off the 74,000+ Trump voters, some 9 million of whom had voted for President Wall Street and War, Inc. Obomba in 2012? No, the working class was sold out wholesale by that Nobel Peace Prize recipient weren’t we?
Will those of us who’d like to make Common Cause with some MAGA voters be able to after this already Domed to Fail debacle? I’d needed to Bingle for what’s been up with the Impeachment and had found these facts at a couple different sites:
“Although a majority of the Senate voted this week to proceed with a trial, the 55-45 vote falls short of the two-thirds that would be required to convict.
On Tuesday, 45 GOP senators backed a motion from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to argue that that the chamber’s impending trial was unconstitutional.
It is unlikely once again that Trump will be convicted in the upper chamber, as the Democrats would need 17 Republicans to vote for conviction.
The Democrats and Republicans currently control 50 seats each in the Senate, meaning at least 17 Republicans would have to vote with all 50 Democrats in order for Trump to be convicted.
Chuck Schumer has announced that the Senate trial will being on Feb., allowing time for the newish Defense attorneys to get up to speed, and both sides to read their briefs.”
Aha! Bingling further on the order of ‘then what the hell’s the point?’ I’d discovered:
‘PLAN D: Backup plan to have Donald Trump ‘BLOCKED from holding office ever again’ pushed as impeachment appears ‘doomed’, 28 Jan 2021, thesun.co.uk
“The seemingly doomed impeachment trial has prompted Senators Kaine and Collins to propose a vote to censure the former president as an alternative punishment, reports NBC News.
Now you may or may not remember Tim Kaine, but he was Hellary Clinton’s invisible Milquetoast non-controversial running mate…
“Virginia’s Kaine said adoption of the censure resolution could prevent Trump from holding future office, but legal scholars aren’t so sure.
A censure by either or both houses of Congress has no force of law if the person being censured is not a member of Congress, NBC reported.
But, Trump could be blocked from holding future federal office based on the notion he committed “insurrection or rebellion” against the United States under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
Kaine told CNN on Wednesday the resolution will declare that the January 6 riot at the Capitol building “was an insurrection against the Constitution of the United States.”
It also will state the finding that Trump “gave aid and comfort to those who carried out the insurrection by repeatedly lying about the election, slandering election officials,” and pressuring people to come to Washington during the electoral count.”
Pete Williams, NBC News, Jan. 28, 2021:
“The notion that a censure could block Trump from holding future federal office is based on how Kaine and his supporters are reading Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which says: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.”
Strange as it may seem, said professor Steve Vladeck of the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, there is a continuing legal question about whether the president is, in fact, “an officer of the United States.” That phrase appears often in the law, but the courts have yet to nail down the meaning when it comes to the person at the top of the executive branch.” […]
“Vladeck suggests that because there are so many unknowns, the most prudent course would be for both houses of Congress to approve a censure resolution, to give it extra heft. Unlike a vote to convict Trump in an impeachment trial, a vote to censure him would require only a simple majority, which is another reason some senators might find it more likely to succeed. But for now, the Senate’s majority leader, Chuck Schumer, is focused on the House impeachment article.” […]
“”There will be a trial,” the New York Democrat said, “And the evidence against the former president will be presented in living color for the nation and every one of us to see once again.”
Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley weighs in: ‘Senate is playing the dangerous game with the 14th Amendment’, Jan. 30, 2021 (in part)
“Kaine is open about his motivation for “an alternative that would impose, in my view, a similar consequence” without a trial and supermajority vote. But that is why this tactic is so dangerous. The party in control could bar dozens of its opponents from running for federal office. Some Democrats are now demanding such action against Republicans who challenged the election of Joe Biden.”
Agitprop Imperialist Project Alert:
“This is common in authoritarian countries such as Iran, where leaders often bar their opponents from office.” […]
“It would be a first impression for a court, but Trump would have a credible case. If he were to prevail, he could cite the decision as vindication and perhaps enhance his claims of being an establishment target. When the 14th Amendment was ratified, it was easy to see its applicability to those who swore allegiance to the confederacy or fought for it. A court today would face the issue of whether Congress has total discretion to make such a finding or if, as I believe, it is subject to judicial review.
Using the 14th Amendment is too clever by half. Our raging politics blinds many to what could be a dangerous precedent of barring opponents from office. When many people call for blacklists [one such] and retaliation against anyone “complicit” with Trump in the last four years, such a power would be ripe for abuse. There is an alternative, which is a censure resolution that can garner overwhelming support as a bipartisan condemnation rather than a circumvention of impeachment. We can then leave the Constitution alone, and leave the future of Trump to voters and to history.”
Another: ‘CNN airs guide to DEPROGRAM MAGA SUPPORTERS as cult expert claims ENTIRE country needs post-Trump help’, Jan. 19, 2021
But it’s okay, Joe; Washington DeeCee is a still a fortress with thousands of National Guard troops, as is the Capitol Building not unlike the Hellary’s Green Zone in Bagdhad. What comes next after this suckitude, Joe: martial law?
(cross-posted at caucus99percent.com)
café babylon 
Well, now it has all at once ended, and I don’t have anything worthy to say about the proceedings, sorry; I didn’t watch, didn’t listen, did just read a bit. My poor understanding of the whole charade: I couldn’t forget Nancy standing on the table, or was it that she grabbed the tablecloth? Something about the icecream melting? Nah, I remember, it was off the table, said the Red Queen… “Off the table!!!” But now, quelle horreur! It’s back on — twice! Nancy! What could you have been thinking? Really, dear, all that icecream has probably frozen your brain; it’s dangerous stuff, you know.
Well, all those witnesses we won’t now get to hear from, or in my case read about. Tant pis! (Or is it tante pis, never could get those genders right.) Please just wave the wand, deliver the relief funds, and we will love you all the way home. “The moral test of a government…” oh sorry, I already said that.