Annotated Articles of Impeachment

Unlike the humungous Mueller report, this document's an eminently manageable read - only nine pages.  Its text is pretty well evenly divided between the two Articles - Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress.  Pay particular attention to page eight, and the following summation.

President Trump has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government.

Impeachable?

If arrogance and stupidity were impeachable, Donald Trump would long since have been removed from office.

Reportedly, it came as a surprise to Mr. Trump that Seoul, the capital of South Korea, and its 10 million residents, were only about 30 miles from the border with North Korea.  Despite having been briefed to that effect, Mr. Trump persisted in saying They have to move.  Those attending the briefing weren't sure if Trump was joking, since he'd been informed several times on the dangers Seoul faces.

Subsequent to this sequence of events, some within the Administration say that Mr. Trump asked advice on how to deal with North Korea from - wait for it - Vladimir Putin.

Three Questions

Why do the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee:

1. continue to deny facts, testified to by numerous individuals, that incriminate Donald Trump in the context of impeachment, and instead offer the canard of nullifying an election?
2. when they ruin out of other ways to undermine the positions taken by Democrats, impugn Barack Obama, overlooking the very real  probability of racist violence resulting?
3. insist on shouting; is their command of facts so thin that they feel they must substitute decibel level for cogency?

Place Your Bets

... on either or both of the following:

• how long Christopher Wray will keep his job as Director of the FBI
• how much bistha Donal;d Trump will unleash via tweet against Adam Schiff, who's rumored to be named as House Manager (AKA lead prosecutor) in Trump's upcoming Senate impeachment trial

10 ... 9 ... 8 ... 7 ... 6 ...

We appear, as a nation, to be on a countdown to chaos in governance.  If you can compile it, the example below will work.  It counts down in much the same manner as, and will produce output similar to, this post's title.

for (int i = 10; i > 0; i--) {
  cout << i << " ... " << "\n";
}

It's being widely reported tonight that articles of impeachment against Donald Trump have been prepared and will be released tomorrow, probably relatively early in the morning.  Most reports refer to two Articles - Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress.

It's also reported that there will be a vote on those Articles - that is, a vote to impeach - as early as Thursday.

Constitution 101: Pop Quiz 2

Article 1, Section 5, Clause 2 of our Constitution states:

Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings ...

That being the case, what do you think Senator Mitch McConnell (R - KY), currently leader of the Republican majority in the Senate, plans to do regarding a framework for the Senate's anticipated trial of Donald Trump's impeachment?

McConnell is considered a master at manipulating rules, so don't assume that you'll agree with or approve of his decision.