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30 September 19
RSN: Marc Ash | Making the Rule of Law a Reality Show
Marc Ash, Reader Supported News
Ash writes: "The problem for the Democrats is that although Ukraine-gate gives them plenty of good cause for impeachment, and it does, it is difficult to divorce from previous Trump transgressions."
EXCERPT:
But they also have a rogue and criminal president who is emboldened by his ability to flout the law and the Constitution and strengthened by additional time to marshal the resources of the American presidency to consolidate his grip on power. This is the danger of subjugating the rule of law to public opinion and political expediency. The rule of law becomes a reality TV show, literally.
Defending the Constitution is not guaranteed to be clean, fun, or politically convenient, but the alternatives are the stuff of fascist revolution.
It would probably be a sound strategy for the Democrats not to forgive through omission Trump’s previous illegal conduct. They may choose to focus on Ukraine-gate, which depending upon what is on the super-secret NSC server may be only be getting started, but they should not lose sight of or trivialize the conduct that set the stage for the call with Zelensky.
The Democrats need to keep all options on the table at this stage.
Rep. Mark Amodei. (photo: Getty Images)
EXCERPT:
In a statement issued by his office following the call, Amodei said that while he supported the inquiry, he was not in favor of impeachment, reserving judgment on whether the president violated the law.
“I’m a big fan of oversight, so let’s let the committees get to work and see where it goes,” Amodei said during the conference call. “Using government agencies to, if it’s proven, to put your finger on the scale of an election, I don’t think that’s right. If it turns out that it’s something along those lines, then there’s a problem.”
Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, who left the Republican Party in July, is the only member of Congress not in the Democratic Party to support actual impeachment, publicly announcing in May that the president has committed “impeachable conduct.”
'The abuse of presidential power to conceal the president's conduct is reason enough for impeachment.' (photo: Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast/Getty Images)
Alexander Hamilton Warned Us About Trump and Barr
Brad Miller, The Daily Beast
Miller writes: "Trump's exercise of the powers of the presidency under a claim of right to obstruct every effort to inform the American people of the president's conduct is the single greatest danger to our democracy."
EXCERPT:
A Justice Department internal memo argues that the whistleblower’s complaint does not fall within that statutory requirement. But Barr has argued for more than 30 years that “dual reporting requirements” like the provisions of the IG statutes are an unconstitutional “encroachment on executive branch authority.” Barr was a senior official in the Department of Justice at the start of the George H.W. Bush administration. Barr argued in a militant 1989 memorandum widely distributed throughout government that “appropriate supervisors” should approve any information provided Congress. Barr said that the President had the power to “withhold in the public interest information” demanded by Congress, especially with respect to foreign relations and national security, but really with respect to all presidential action. “Only by consistently and forcefully resisting such congressional incursions can executive branch prerogatives be preserved,” Barr wrote.
Trump promised a “warlike” response to congressional investigations as soon as Democrats won control of the House in the 2018 election, and to fight all congressional subpoenas. The Department of Justice claims discretion whether to prosecute criminal charges for defiance of congressional subpoenas that the House refers, and has not prosecuted. The Trump administration denies that Congress has any power to enforce subpoenas on their own, a power recognized by courts for centuries.
Senators Mike Rounds, Shelley Moore Capito, Roy Blunt, John Hoeven, Jim Inhofe, Joe Manchin and Steve Daines in 2015. Senators are far wealthier than most constituents, and in a prime position to increase wealth via policymaking. (photo: Tom Williams/Getty Images)
JUST A FEW EXCERPTS - SEE THE MUST READ REPORT:
Overall, the senators are invested in 338 companies – including tech firms such as Apple and Microsoft, oil and gas giants including ExxonMobil and Antero Midstream, telecom companies including Verizon, and major defense contractors such as Boeing – in the five sectors as categorized by Sludge.
Congressional financial disclosures present investments in dollar ranges, not exact amounts, so all data in this report comes in ranges, some very wide. The median stock investment range in the five sectors for the 51 senators is between $100,000 and $365,000, while the average range of the investments is between $551,000 and nearly $1,874,000.
Not only are the senators far wealthier than most of their constituents, but they’re in a prime position to increase their wealth via policymaking.
Senator Joe Manchin, the ranking member on the Senate energy and natural resources committee, owns between $1m and $5m worth of non-public stock in his family coal business, Enersystems, making him the only Democratic senator who is directly profiting from the environmentally devastating coal business.
Despite pressure from the left, the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, made Manchin the ranking member of the committee, and Manchin did not divest his coal holdings.
Senators own between $28.1m and $95.6m worth of stock in the five sectors examined by Sludge and the Guardian. They have the most money invested in the finance, insurance and real estate sector due in part to the Republican senator John Hoeven’s investment in Westbrand, Inc, a private holding company that owns multiple banks, worth between roughly $5m and $25m.
Altogether, 37 senators and their spouses own between $12.8m and $48.2m worth of stock in the finance, insurance and real estate sector. They have the most money invested in the commercial banking industry, between $8.3m and $32.9m.
Senator Richard Shelby, a Republican member of the Senate banking, housing and urban affairs committee, owns between $1m and $5m worth of stock in private real estate insurance firm Tuscaloosa Title Company. Shelby sits on the housing, transportation and community development subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, affordable housing, foreclosure mitigation and other housing matters, and the securities, insurance and investment subcommittee, which oversees the insurance industry.
Nine other banking committee members are personally invested in the financial companies they oversee including the Republican John Kennedy and the Democrats Doug Jones, Robert Menendez and Tina Smith.
Senators have between $8.3m and $22m invested in the communications and electronics sector, including up to $4.2m in internet companies and as much as $4.1m in computer software businesses. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, a member of the commerce, science, and transportation committee’s subcommittee on communications, technology, innovation and the internet and the subcommittee on manufacturing, trade and consumer protection, owns between $53,000 and $194,000 worth of Microsoft stock, as much as $99,000 of Intel stock and up to $30,000 each in AT&T and Verizon stock.
Senator Jacky Rosen, who is also on both subcommittees, owns between $310,000 and $1m worth of communications and electronics stock. Her largest potential investments are as much as $265,000 in Amazon, up to $115,000 in AT&T and $100,000 in software company Adobe.
Wayne LaPierre, the chief executive of the National Rifle Association. He has been a leader in an aggressive campaign by gun rights advocates to influence the White House. (photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
Trump Meets With NRA Head LaPierre to Plan Impeachment Defense Strategy
Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni, The New York Times
Excerpt: "President Trump met in the White House on Friday with Wayne LaPierre, the chief executive of the National Rifle Association, and discussed prospective gun legislation and whether the N.R.A. could provide support for the president as he faces impeachment and a more difficult re-election campaign, according to two people familiar with the meeting."
READ MORE
Vice President Pence and his entourage spent two nights at the Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg, a small town on Ireland's southwest coast. (photo: Charles Mcquillan/Getty Images)
Teaching kids about climate change. (photo: Grist/Miyo McGinn)
