Decoy73

Because I'm a middle aged family man with a minimal social life, on a Saturday night I Just read the House Impeachment Brief for the Senate. I have recently been getting fatigued with all of this "drama" from Washington regarding the impeachment mainly because I've been paying attention to it much more that I probably should have over the past several months. I even, regrettably, snapped at a dear family member the other day who chose to criticize Pelosi over holding onto the articles. I apologized and swore to myself to keep more of an open mind about other's political beliefs. After all, I'm more of a Centrist than a D or an R. That being said, after reading this tonight, I don't see how any non-Fox News/Rush brainwashed person could possibly conclude that Donald Trump should not be removed from office. This Brief absolutely destroys every single defense Trump and his defenders in congress have alleged while this process has unfolded. The case made for impeachment and removal could not have been made any better, IMO. I would sure hate to be a GOP Senator at the moment. Especially, one due for re-election. Talk about a no-win situation Trump has put them in.... The next couple of weeks will be of monumental historical significance to say the least.

Ultimately the voters will be what matters, but Devin will likely soon be facing his second ethics investigation. Probably when the Senate trial is over. I can't imagine him being acquitted this time around. I would imagine he will loose his seat as Ranking Member in the Intel Committee--I don't know how he couldn't, but I don't know what else the House can do to him to hold him accountable. This alone, however, should be enough to assure he won't get re-elected to the House when his time comes--unless of course, his district in CA is full of moronic Trump loving idiots. You have to love his fellow California Congressman's response to his latest threat of a lawsuit. I'm glad someone is standing up to this clown. https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/18/politics/ted-lieu-devin-nunes-lev-parnas-ukraine/index.html

I don't believe Roberts has much power as far as procedural things. He's in more of a moderator type role. It's basically up to the Senate and that is what will be voted on.

I really, really hope Nunes is in those records so he’ll finally have to answer the tough questions rather than just file a bogus lawsuit just to quiet legitimate questions.

The Senate rules are set by 51 or more votes. Not by just the majority party, which in the Senate is the GOP by a slimmer margin. The Dems have such an overwhelming majority in the house that essentially everything they wanted, they got. As mentioned earlier these “rules “ for majority voting were set up by a GOP controlled congress. Any claims by the GOP of this being an unfair impeachment process is nothing more than baseless whining.

I get the feeling a lot of political careers are at stake here. Not just Trumps.

I remember hearing when things weren’t going well Mike was at times, bo’s punching bag. Who knows if true.

I bet he was also tired of putting up with Bo.

I struggle to root for fellow big ten west brethren. I really don’t think their success helps us in any way. Am am I wrong?

I miss those days too. It’s hard to feel truly safe anywhere. Armed or not. It’s sad, but unfortunately it’s what we, as a country have done to ourselves.

Do you think the shooter would have stopped shooting after the first two if there hadn’t been anyone else with a gun in there? Defensive carry isn't meant to stop a shooting. It’s to defend yourself and others when they otherwise would essentially be sitting ducks to maniacs like this. Is this really that difficult for you to understand that? The only way way to prevent shootings is to get rid of all guns and that is impossible.

The recent church shooting in Texas illustrates the uselessness of “gun free “ zone laws. I don’t agree with everything that Texas does, but they were correct in changing their previous law concerning places of worship.

Please provide examples of what you would consider impeachable offenses by Bush and Obama. I’ve not liked Trump long before he got elected. However, I was willing to give him a chance to lead. He can’t. I’m not so much as angry at him as I am with those in Congress who baselessly defend him.

I feel like I can speak for many others by saying the outrage towards Trump is due to a culmination of countless examples of antisocial, narcissistic and generally poor behavior towards other human beings who in any way disagree with him or otherwise who he perceives as any degree of a threat to what he’s trying to accomplish. Simply stated, he’s a major league a$$h@!e. Those people don’t get the benefit of the doubt and are on a very short leash in the minds of those, like myself, who are fed up with it. To me this isn’t a political thing, but rather it is a basic human decency thing. The president of the most powerful country in the world has no business behaving this way towards others. So when he does anything even remotely questionable or impeachable, you get what we have here. No offense, but drawing any parallels to what Biden either did or may have done is completely irrelevant.

Hopefully he had other reasons for not doing this as well.

Let me guess. They all watch Fox News.

Not usually a conspiracy theorist, but here's one.... I've been thinking. These congressmen and congresswomen are generally smart and somewhat well educated people. They care deeply about their party and getting re-elected, etc, but at the end of the day they will maintain their oath and do what's best for the country first. How can so many of these folks (mostly GOP) possibly think another four years of the orange man and all of his antics is what this divided country needs right now. Even though they publicly defend Trump, deep down they actually despise him and what he has put everyone through. Let's face it. It just didn't work out. At least "Crooked Hillary" didn't get elected. Maybe Pelosi and McConnell had a covert meeting and are/have been on the same page with Trump being removed. McConnell knows that if any of the four that Schumer requested testify, it will bring more or confirm existing evidence that is just too damning for Trump and his supporters to overcome. There will eventually be an agreement between McConnell and Schumer to hold somewhat of an actual trial, but the voting will be behind closed doors. He secretly agreed to eventually allow 1 or 2 of the witnesses to testify in exchange for some concessions from the Dems like Hunter Biden or perhaps the Whistleblower to also testify. Meanwhile, he is putting up this facade of supporting Trump 100% and criticizing the House impeachment proceedings just so he and his fellow GOPer's from congress won't take heat from their constituents when Trump falls. They did all they could, but in the end, Trump did this to himself with poor judgement. This will be the popular narrative. Pelosi has also agreed to not pursue anything incriminating on Pence (like his Ukraine call transcript) and Pence will serve out what's left of Trump's term and after some good Fox News pub, will be the GOP nominee for 2020. This if, of course not ideal for the GOP, as Pence is viewed as a weak candidate, but ultimately the nation just cannot endure another four years of Trump. It's past time to do what's right. Ok, I guess I was just bored today, so this is a completely ridiculous conspiracy theory......Or is it??

I think the appeal is he’s not a Democrat. Sadly, the country (especially in the Midwest and rust belt, IMO) is full of minimally educated, blue collar type workers who have an enormous disdain for democrats. They are easily manipulated and adore blowhards like Hannity, Carlson and Limbaugh which, among other factors, make it nearly impossible for them to approach politics with an open mind.

Schumer has sent McConnell his requests. Pretty hard to claim anything unfair or unreasonable here. https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/15/politics/schumer-impeachment-trial-letter/index.html

Agree. That’s part of what needs to happen.

No data exists on your question. But using the scenario I previously described, would you rather be in bar A with no off duty cop? Or bar B with the armed “good guy”? Please assume no drunk, dancing FBI agents are present. You do an excellent job illustrating that police officers can be careless with firearms too.

I agree. We as a society need to be smarter with guns in general.

Some may want to know they stand a chance if faced with a mass shooter. I agree that there is a lot of over-paranoia out there with needing to carry a gun. This is in part fueled by the NRA and is one reason they don’t get my support.

Since we’re on this topic, it gives me an opportunity to get on my soapbox for a moment about CCW. Attention all CCW permit holders: PLEASE, don’t “pocket “ carry with a chambered round!! I get that it’s perhaps more comfortable or convenient than appendix or hip carry, but you are potentially pointing the barrel at others every time you are in a seated position!! This is an unacceptable practice in my opinion. Ok. Now I’m off the soapbox. Thank you for listening.

CCW is here to stay so we need to be smart about it and accept it. In a perfect world only police and military would have combat weapons (pistols, Rifles, etc). But that horse left the barn decades ago.