So now, [i]Il Duce[/i] has made a bogus(*) "National Emergency" declaration so he can raid the defense budget to build his stupid wall.

(*) How bogus? He said himself, "I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster."

Unfortunately, Ann Coulter is incorrect in saying the [i]only[/i] national emergency is that the president is an idiot. We've got the likes of Mitch McConnell, who recently advised [i]Il Duce[/i] not to make this declaration, saying he'd support it. This is important, because, as Senate Majority Leader, he can block the Senate from voting on a joint resolution to rescind it.

Of course, in practice it would take veto-proof majorities (greater than 2/3) in both Houses of Congress to make such a resolution stick, and the Republicans are so craven and unprincipled, my guess is, it ain't gonna happen.

The whole system of checks and balances written into the Constitution is collapsing in front of our eyes. And precious few of us give a goddam. If [i]that's[/i] not a national emergency, I don't know what is.

Ann Coulter has vowed that she is "going to spend the rest of my columns denouncing the president, for the rest of my life."

Well, at least she's is satisfied that [i]Il Duce[/i] is packing the Federal judiciary with right-wing morons. Otherwise, she'd be screeching like a banshee. So at least that's [i]one[/i] national emergency averted.

If she chooses to denounce him, then I wonder how she will do that without looking like a hypocrite.

I would expect the Republicans to change the rules (again) so that a simple majority is needed instead of a super majority.

[QUOTE=rogue;508701]If she chooses to denounce him, then I wonder how she will do that without [U]looking like a hypocrite[/U]......[/QUOTE]
Hypocrisy is a null concept to such as Coulter, especially if trashing someone is involved. In the case of Il Douche, it would be trash trashing trash, anyway.

[QUOTE=rogue;508701]<snip>
I would expect the Republicans to change the rules (again) so that a simple majority is needed instead of a super majority.[/QUOTE]
Not in this case. [i]This[/i] rule is written into the Constitution. It requires a 2/3 majority vote in both houses of Congress to override a Presidential veto.

[YOUTUBE]066WAeG5muE[/YOUTUBE]

[i]Il Duce[/i] has pretty well insured that "Saint" Nicolas Maduro will stay in power, at least for the time being, by presuming to order the Venezuelan military around:

[url=http://time.com/5532143/donald-trump-miami-venezuela/]'You'll Lose Everything.' President Trump Warns Venezuelan Military to Abandon Nicolas Maduro[/url]

I'm sure some, if not most of the generals have been seriously thinking of giving Maduro the boot, but now, they simply can't. They would be seen as acting at [i]Il Duce[/i]'s and the US's behest. Well, maybe [i]Il Duce[/i] is simply indulging his desire to see people suffer.

Meanwhile, Nicaragua's Once and Present Supreme Commander -- the one Ronnie Ray-gun tried to remove from power -- has his own vanity project that, like [i]Il Duce[/i]'s border wall, has led to a bit of popular discontent.

[url=https://www.apnews.com/28099049175a4468860480a054cfa181]Nicaragua: Hefty prison terms for farm leaders in protests[/url][quote]MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — A judge on Monday gave lengthy prison terms to three farmers’ leaders who participated in protests against President Daniel Ortega’s government, citing them for terrorism and other alleged crimes that their defenders consider political and trumped-up.

Julio Montenegro, defense lawyer for Medardo Mairena, said his client, who represented the opposition Civic Alliance in failed peace talks last year, received 216 years while Pedro Mena got 210 and Luis Orlando Pineda 159.
<snip>
Nicaraguan law caps prison time actually served at 30 years, however.

The three men are leaders of a rural movement opposed to an inter-oceanic canal that the Ortega government proposed to build with Chinese help as a rival to the Panama Canal, a project that has gone nowhere four years after a symbolic ground-breaking.
<snip>
Authorities accused them and others of promoting a “failed coup” against the government of Ortega, a 73-year-old former guerrilla leader who was first in power from 1985 to 1990 and returned to the presidency in 2007.

Since then, critics say, he has consolidated a vice-like grip on power and governed in an increasingly authoritarian manner, including a crackdown on the 2018 protests by security forces and armed pro-government civilian militias in which more than 300 people were killed.[/quote][i]Il Duce[/i] must be green with envy.

Meanwhile, as described [url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nobel-prize-peace/no-need-for-shinzo-abe-trump-already-nominated-for-nobel-peace-prize-idUSKCN1Q71IS]here[/url], Japan's [strike]Honest[/strike] Shinzo Abe is busily non-denying that he has put forward [i]Il Duce[/i]'s name for the Nobel Peace Prize, for his efforts to [strike]surrender to[/strike] improve relations with North Korea. However, as the story points out, whether he has or not, a couple of Norwegian politicians have said that they have done so. Imagine [i]Il Duce[/i] giving his acceptance speech...

Well, there are people who want Russia's Ivan IV, known as "The Formidable," "The Dread," and "The Terrible," made a [i]saint.[/i]

“Sir, I’m sorry,” said Cohen. “Are you referring to me or the president?”
 

[URL]https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/27/loyalty-trump-cost-michael-cohen-republicans[/URL]
[QUOTE]To be clear, the House [URL="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/republicans"]Republicans[/URL] thought they were doing a fine job for their Great Leader by trashing his former lawyer at every turn. Cohen is undoubtedly a proven liar who lied to Congress: we know this because he confessed to doing just that in his guilty plea last year.

Trump’s loyalists in the House seemed to think that was the end of the story. Who could believe a proven liar like Michael Cohen? The only snag is that he was lying on behalf of his client, one Donald Trump. So the more they talked about his lies, the more he talked about his lying client.

Like so many things in Trumpworld, this line of questioning is several diopters worse than shortsighted. It is the kind of brilliant argument dreamed up after several beers: a bar-room brawl masquerading as political strategy.
[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=kladner;509672][URL]https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/27/loyalty-trump-cost-michael-cohen-republicans[/URL][/QUOTE]

I have already commented on the Theater of the Absurd hearings [url=https://www.mersenneforum.org/showpost.php?p=509621&postcount=350]here[/url]. The use of Lynn Patton as a prop is being derided in the media, e.g. [url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/to-smear-cohens-claim-that-trump-is-a-racist-republican-mark-meadows-used-lynne-patton-as-a-silent-prop]here[/url]. The part I found especially disgusting was, Mr. Meadows pointing to the woman and -- quite literally -- putting words in her mouth, while she stood mutely. It occurred to me to wonder whether she might have been under some form of compulsion. She does, after all, have a government job, which could summarily be taken away. Then, prospective employers could be pressed not to hire her.

She could also have been threatened with being made the object of public vilification. However, in the opinion of your humble servant, any prospective vilification by others pales in comparison to the self-imposed degradation from allowing herself to be used as she was at the hearing. In my estimation, the woman has already publicly forfeited her own dignity absolutely, without remedy.

As to [i]Il Duce[/i] being a racist, every racist/anti-Jewish group from the KKK, to the National Policy Institute, to all the "fine people" who carried tiki torches at the "Unite the Right" rally, enthusiastically embrace [i]Il Duce[/i] as one of their own. That's good enough for me!

[b]EDIT:[/b] As to the warning about the possible fate of [i]Il Duce[/i]'s enablers, a historical example comes to mind: Stalin.

Re. the Cohen hearings: My, what a lot of MSM kerfuffle, moaning and groaning to please-let-this-time-be-the-real-deal-and-not-another-tease-ing over a giant nothingburger. So, let’s recap: (allegedly) knowing in advance about Wikileaks filedump? Not a crime. Continuing to pursue business ventures in Russia while campaigning? Not a crime. Paying hush money to p0rn actress? Possible violation of campaign finance laws, not exactly an impeachable offense, historically speaking. Being an all-around unlikable narcissist? DC, NYC and the oligarchy in general are full of them. Cohen “having his suspicions” re. collusion with Teh EvilPutin? Utterly meaningless PR-whoring. I see a lot of hueing and crying and oodles of FBI resources spent on what amounts to “we got nothing.” Possible title for future movie-fication of the drama: “Ferris Mueller’s Way Off”. Would have to be an indie film, clearly, as Hollywood is much too wedded the heroic-CIA-and-FBI-agent-hagiography meme.

Tangential: Anyone here been watching the special A&E Biography series on the "Trump Dynasty"? Some interesting stuff amidst the silly gradstanding by various interviewees. Watching the shmoozing between the Big Money oligarchy, politicians and MSM figures brings to mind the saying "it's a small club, and you ain't in it."

Cohen did mention one thing that would be a serious crime, though not campaign- or official actions-related: He alleged that [i]Il Duce[/i] had inflated his worth on, IIRC, loan applications. Lying about his net worth publicly, not a crime. But on financial statements like a loan application -- that would be bank fraud.

Apart from that, though, not much that could be called even potentially probative from a criminal, or "high crimes and misdemeanors" standpoint. The histrionics of the Republicans -- [i]that[/i] was the [i]real[/i] crime
:-D

[b]EDIT:[/b] Oops, I forgot:[QUOTE=ewmayer;509699]Tangential: Anyone here been watching the special A&E Biography series on the "Trump Dynasty"?[/quote]Not I. I suspect the viewership may be a small club, and I ain't in it.

Mueller Says He Has Obtained Trump's SAT Scores
 

[URL]https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/55246-mueller-says-he-has-obtained-trumps-sat-scores[/URL]
[QUOTE]The special counsel’s office has obtained Donald J. Trump’s long-suppressed SAT scores, Robert Mueller confirmed on Thursday.

After the SAT results were retrieved, a forensics lab examined the microscopic scores and positively identified them as Trump’s, the special counsel explained.[/QUOTE]
I had to add the picture of Mueller, even though it is at the head of the article. I have never seen any representation of this guy smiling, and it's scary!