Below is my column on Fox.com for the hearing this week on the corruption scandal involving the Biden family. For years, the Democrats have opposed any effort to investigate the Bidens, including as part of the current impeachment inquiry. Various members misrepresented my earlier testimony during the hearing on the basis for the impeachment inquiry. Members like Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md.) stated that I joined other witnesses in saying that there was nothing that could remotely be impeachable in these allegations. That is demonstrably untrue. My testimony stated the opposite. I refused to pre-judge the evidence, but stated that there was ample basis for the inquiry and laid out various impeachable offenses that could be brought if ultimately supported by evidence. I also discussed those potential offenses in columns. The purpose of the hearing was not to declare an impeachment on the first day of the inquiry. Unlike the two prior impeachments by many of these same Democratic members, this impeachment inquiry sought to create a record of evidence and testimony to support any action that the House might take.
Here is the column:
In the 1966 movie “A Man for All Seasons,” Sir Thomas More faces Richard Rich, an ambitious office seeker who would ultimately lie and betray him. In this British historical drama, More warns Rich that “when a man takes an oath, he’s holding his own self in his own hands like water, and if he opens his fingers then, he needn’t hope to find himself again.”
This week, Democrats appear to have finally drained away what remained of themselves and their party. For years, Democratic members and the media have demanded any evidence of the direct involvement or knowledge of President Joe Biden of the influence-peddling operation of his son, Hunter, and his brothers, James and Frank.
In the hearing, witnesses testified under oath about specific meetings with Joe Biden discussing these foreign dealings and the family business interests. Bank records were introduced showing the transfers of millions going to Hunter and various Biden family members.
Faced with the evidence that the president lied about his lack of any knowledge or involvement in the influence peddling, the Democrats opened their fingers wider.
Rep. Dan Goldman, D., N.Y., captured the problem for Democrats in even addressing any of the mounting evidence contradicting the president. Yet, Goldman has long shown a willingness to rush in where angels fear to tread.
In previous attacks, Goldman repeatedly hit the Bidens with friendly fire when eliciting damaging answers from witnesses. Goldman has a habit of raising the worst evidence that his colleagues have avoided. In one hearing, he stumbled badly in raising the WhatsApp message where Hunter told a Chinese businessman that his father was sitting next to him and would not be pleased unless he sent him money. On another occasion, he prompted an IRS whistleblower to note that an email Goldman read into the record was actually a direct contradiction of the denials of the president.
In the latest misstep, Goldman pressed former Biden partner Tony Bobulinski on a proposal shared with Hunter and others to reserve 10% for “the Big Guy.” In other emails, Bobulinski was told to use such codes to avoid mentioning Joe Biden’s name. He was expressly identified as “the Big Guy.”
Goldman snapped at Bobulinski, “Did anyone ever respond to that email?”
Bobulinski responded “Yes, they did numerous times. Hunter himself did.”
Goldman blurted out “you’re right” before angrily reclaiming his time to cut him off.
Things did not prove any easier for other members. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D., N.Y., imploded by mocking Bobulinski and challenging him “It is simple, you name the crime. Did you watch him steal something?”
Bobulinski proceeded to rattle off a series of possible criminal acts and Ocasio-Cortez cut him off. She then bizarrely pretended that he did not just list the crimes and barked “What is the crime, sir? Specifically?”
Bobulinski was not the only one confused and noted “you ask and answer the question, I answered the question, RICO, you’re obviously not familiar with…”
That is when Ocasio-Cortez again cut him off with “Excuse me, sir. Excuse me, sir. Excuse me, sir. RICO is not a crime, it is a category. What is the crime?”
With that, it appears that Trump has now been cleared of charges in Atlanta by no one other than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Racketeering is a crime and some of the crimes referenced by Bobulinski are commonly part of such conspiracies.
The exchange captured the lunacy of the hearing as Democrats demanded evidence and then ignored it when it was repeatedly offered by witnesses and members.
Yet, Ocasio-Cortez was illuminating on one point. Neither she nor her colleagues were willing to admit the obvious. Few people now disagree that Hunter was openly engaging in influence peddling, which is a form of corruption that the government has long fought around the world. It is also clear that Joe Biden knew of that influence peddling not just from his son but newspaper accounts. He had knowledge of the corruption and facilitated it.However, Ocasio-Cortez wanted to ignore the millions of dollars acquired in influence peddling to press a witness on whether he saw the president steal something like a purse or a hubcap.
The Democrats have allowed their very identity to drip through their open fingers. They have become a party that calls for censorship, ballot cleansing, and court packing. Now they are dismissing allegations of raw influence peddling after opposing every effort to investigate it.
Those who raise free speech or free press concerns now face a McCarthy-like mantra from Democratic members that they are nothing more than fellow travelers of Russia as we head into yet another election. Some Democratic members have called for criminal charges against reporters or demanded the names of sources. MSNBC contributor and former Sen. Claire McCaskill even attacked former and current members testifying in favor of free speech as “Putin apologists” and Putin lovers.
As a lifelong Democrat from a politically active Chicago family, I can no longer recognize the party from my youth. We once stood for something other than the next election or hating others.
By the end of the hearing, virtually every Democratic member had attacked the witnesses and denied the obvious corruption surrounding the Biden family. They had become a party of Richard Riches. Of course, this unified effort to deny the obvious left little time to look down at what remained in their hands. They had owned the moment when the party fought to shield one of the most extensive and lucrative influence peddling operations in history.
After that ignoble effort, there was little reason to look down since they “needn’t hope to find [themselves] again.”
Jonathan: Woops again! I forgot to add my e-mail address to get credit for my last comment (3/22@1:23pm). But everyone knows it was me. That said, did you see DJT’s post today on Truth Social: “THROUGH HARD WORK, TALENT, AND LUCK [you mean the $450 million your dad gave you?] I CURRENTLY HAVE ALMOST FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS IN CASH…”
What? If that’s true why did DJT file court statements that he had been rejected by 30 bond companies? Why has he told the NY Appellate Division in his appeal that the $450 million judgement should be stayed without having to post a bond? If DJT is to be believed, he has the cash to immediately stay the enforcement of AG James judgment by just putting the cash in an escrow account with the court. So why all the complaining and jerking around the courts?
Either of two things are happening here. Either DJT has the cash and is playing games with the courts or he is lying. With DJT’s long history of lying about everything I would bet on the latter. Or could it be DJT is suffering from dementia–maybe he still bizarrely thinks he still has all the money his father gave him? Either way by Monday we’ll find out the truth.
Pres. Biden mocked DJT and his complaints of financial difficulties. Biden quipped: “Just the other day a defeated-looking man came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, I have crushing debt, and I’m completely wiped out’. And I had to look at him and say ‘Donald, I’m sorry. I can’t help you'”.
Lawyers have a favorite expression for DJT’s behavior: A criminal defendant is convicted of murdering his parents but then asks for mercy from the court because he is now a destitute orphan!
Someone who makes money be selling his office through family members should not mock a man who made his money honestly and, along the way, created work for thousands of people.
Cassidy to McIntyre: It looks like the SPAC transaction is going through. Perhaps the typical “lock up” period on Trump’s shares will be waived or he might be able to use a portion of his holdings as collateral.
Catherine Cassidy: Nice to see I am not the only one to use by real name. Now, the SPAC did go through. But don’t hold your breath. The “lock up” provision won’t be waived for DJT because if he tried to use his shares as collateral for the bond it most likely would depress the value of the shares. No sensible shareholder would agree to that.
Here’s more of the Kunstler piece, the first part of which Floyd graced us with this morning. As he said, the Kunstler blog is unlinkable due to a certain four-letter word in its name. Bolding is added by me.
The insane do not care about public health. Everything that is known about the Covid-19 vaccinations tells you that they are unsafe and don’t prevent infection or transmission of a flu-like illness that might not even be what it was officially labeled as. Our public health officials in the FDA, the CDC, and in other corners of the Department of health and Human Services, lie about everything they’re responsible for. This week, the CDC (under Director Mandy Cohen) released a 148-page study on myocarditis reactions to mRNA shots. Every word on every page of the document was redacted. The CDC printed countless copies of the report with 148 utterly blank pages, and then proffered them to the news media. How is that not insane?
The insane do not care about the rule of law. The conduct of “Lawfare” is the subversion of the law by dishonest means. It is a species of racketeering. And that is why Lawfare rogues such Marc Elias, Norm Eisen, Andrew Weissmann, Mary McCord, Lisa Monaco, Matthew Graves, and Merrick Garland, should be charged under the federal RICO statutes for conspiring to deprive sane citizens of their rights and property in the many cases related to the 1/6/21 riot at the US Capitol.
It is, so far, an abiding mystery of contemporary history as to how New York Attorney General Letitia James managed to get away with prosecuting a real estate case against Donald Trump that was no more than victimless business-as-usual between a borrower and his lenders. Ms. James ran for that elected office promising to “get” Mr. Trump on something, anything. That is not how the rule of law works. Under the rule of law, first you determine that there is a crime and then look for who did the crime.
. . .
The war in Ukraine is insane. We certainly didn’t ignite it in the service of “democracy.” Our pawn there, Mr. Zelensky, canceled the national elections last year. The war was arguably an effort by our CIA to deprive Russia of its market for natgas in Europe, and thus deprive Russia of a great deal of money, that is, of prosperity. The project failed. Russia overcame NATO’s proxy army and found other markets for its gas. Blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines only served to impoverish and weaken our NATO allies, who no longer have affordable gas to run their industries. The leaders of those allies were too insane to recognize that the Nord Stream op was an act-of-war against them. They were also busy destroying themselves, like the USA, with open borders. They will end up in a new medievalism, ruled by savages. You’d have to be insane to arrange that for yourself.
What’s most obviously insane in our country is that the insane party is pretending to nominate the mentally unfit White House place-keeper, “Joe Biden,” for reelection. You would think that if this party wanted to retain power, they would run a candidate who, though insane, was not also visibly senile. But the rank and file of this party are too insane to see that this dodge is not working. They are pretending with all their might that this is okay, that the growing faction of the sane don’t notice.
Sensing the growing impatience with insanity among the voters, the insane party has reached its point of terminal desperation. What will they try next? Murder? Why not? Nothing else seemed to work. They are too far gone in their insanity to understand that winter is over. We’ve entered the season of rebirth and renewal, starting with a renewed appreciation for being sane and for that indispensable ingredient that makes liberty in a free society possible: good faith. . . .
old man…….Great piece…thank you for posting it.
Kansas, wonderful commentary, especially the part that classifies Lawfare as RICO!
It’s always fun to see Turley raging about Democrats when the Republicans 2024 Presidential candidate has spent the past 3 1/2 years relentlessly claiming he won the 2020 election “by a lot” & called Bill Barr “Dumb, Weak, Slow Moving, Lethargic, Gutless, and Lazy.”
At the House Oversight Committee hearing Turley testified at last September, Nancy Mace captured the sentiments of Republicans when she proclaimed “We already know the president took bribes from Burisma.”
At a Senate Oversight Committee hearing last July, Ted Cruz proclaimed that “a whistleblower brought to light the existence in the FBI of an FD-1023 in which the informant alledges that President Biden & his family members engaged in a $5 million bribery scheme during his time as Vice President.”
Then after Trump appointed US Attorney, David Weiss, charged that FBI informant, Smirnov, with lying about “the alleged bribe worth millions paid to Joe Biden by a Ukrainian businessman” as reported in the FD-1023, Republicans began attacking the FBI for calling Smirnov a liar & discrediting him.
Keep us posted about what those dastardly Democrats are saying durng Congressional hearings, Professor Turley.
“Trump appointed US Attorney David Weiss” As has been said on this blog commentary many times, it is not very meaningfull, from a polticial point of view, which President appoints a US Attorney. By custom, which Trump followed, these appointments are made from a list of potential candidates drawn up by the Senators of a State and subsequently green-lit by those Senators. See https://www.americanprogress.org/article/comes-u-s-attorneys-americans-need-seat-table/
(“Senators have an important role in the process of selecting U.S. attorneys. Whenever there is a vacant U.S. attorney position, senators from that state select potential nominees for the open seat. The president traditionally reviews the list and chooses a nominee, typically from that same list. After a nominee is chosen by the president, senators from the home state of that nominee must sign off on their blue slips, signaling their approval of the president’s nominee.”)
At the time in question, both of Delaware’s Senators were Democrats. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that a U S Attorney on their list would be a partisan Republican.
What is Weiss’s real political beliefs? That is hard to know. Although he is described as a Republican by Wkikpedia, the WP noted:
“Although Democrats point to Weiss’s appointment by President Donald Trump as evidence of his independence, the full story of his career is more nuanced, as he spent two years as acting U.S. attorney under President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden and then remained as a top deputy for the remainder of their term.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/08/20/hunter-biden-david-weiss-special-prosecutor-delaware/
Even if he were a registered Republican that would not say much. Liz Cheney is a registered Republican. Anyone in the federal government should be assumed to be anti-Trump unless proved to the contrary.
Jonathan: Speaking of “dripping away”, the time is dripping away for DJT to post the $464 million bond. Where will he get the cash? It’s still a mystery. What is pretty clear is that Judge Engoron is not finished with the Trumpster. What’s this about?
Yesterday, Engoron nailed DJT with a new “Monitorship Order” that will oversee the Trump org. for the next 3 years. Retired Judge Barbara Jones has been given dramatically expanded “super-powers” to monitor and supervise DJT’s companies as of yesterday. Included in the new Order is a provision that DJT must provide Jones with all info. related to “any proposed transfer , dissolution or restructuring of assets”. That means DJT can’t secretly move assets to FL or some other “red” state, or to his kids without reporting that to Jones. If she detects any fraud she is to immediately report that to Judge Engoron, who can then impose monetary sanctions or even put DJT in jail as a remedy for further fraud.
In addition, DJT has to inform Jones of all efforts to get the $464 million surety bond. That means DJT has to provide info related to all his negotiations with bonding companies, individuals or entities and what assets are pledged to secure a bond. In court filings DJT said he had approached a number of companies for a bond but was unsuccessful–but he did not name the companies. Now he will have to do that–including the negotiations with Chubb and what assets he pledged to secure the $90 million bond for the E. Jean Carroll judgment.
What does this mean for DJT going forward? He is now in a straight jacket. He can’t do anything without reporting it to Barbara Jones. If DJT tries to get money for the bond from the Saudis, a Russian oligarch or some other wealthy person Barbara Jones will know about it and report it back to Judge Engoron immediately. And all of that will be on the public record so we will learn how and to whom DJT is compromised.
So Monday is the drop dead date for DJT to secure the $464 million judgment with a bond. But AG James is not waiting around to see what happens. On March 6 she registered her judgment with the Westchester County clerk’s office. If DJT can’t come up with the bond money by Monday James will probably file liens on Trump National golf club and the 212-acre Seven Springs estate. And James doesn’t need to register her judgment in New York county. She can simply immediately file liens on Trump Tower and 40 Wall St.
For all the supporters of DJT on this blog you better hope and pray your leader comes up with the money for the bond. Because, otherwise, you might see a sheriff putting a pad lock on the entrance to Trump Tower very soon!
What do you suppose this means?
What do you suppose this means to the judicial branch, with emphasis on the Supreme Court?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
8th Amendment
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
See Timbs v. Indiana which applies the 8th Amendment to state civil cases. Did Letitia read the case? Did Engeron read it he case?
America is in her last days and one of the reasons is minutia distracts us.
Do you intend to look back and say we could have stopped it?
Or do we want to tell our grandchildren we became tough and turned Amerca around for you.
“WHAT THE —- DID YOU IRRESOLUTE, DASTARDLY, BLEEDING-HEART MILQUETOASTS DO WITH OUR COUNTRY?”,
George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, George Mason, John Adams, Richard
Henry Lee, John Hancock, Roger Sherman, Samuel Adams, Peyton Randolph, Robert Morris, Robert Livingston et al.
Provocative people like those Turley bemoans in his article are at the core of what is the worst about our politics and how it is practiced by those who are demagogic and illiberal. Not to acknowledge there is basis enough for investigations to uncover evidence that may support impeachable offenses and yet do whatever is required within one’s position and power to disrupt critical investigations is the very worst of what we should expect of all our political leaders regardless of party affiliations.
It was quite telling that, in this public hearing that Hunter Biden demanded to have but then failed to show for, a couple of the Dems made statements about how the hearing was such a waste of time when there were much more serious issues to be dealing with. Such as the bad economy, crime, violence, wars, etc. When it’s their guy in the White House who is supposedly making things better, not worse (even though they just admitted that things have gotten worse, not better).
Jonathan: The Wednesday hearing by Jim Comer was a joke! From a three-ring circus his investigation has now turned into the “Three Stooges”.
And who were the witnesses Comer called to testify on Wednesday to prove what you call “the obvious corruption surrounding the Biden family”? Tony Bobulinski and Jason Galanis. One a disgruntled former business associate of Hunter and the other now serving a 15 yr. sentence for defrauding union pension funds and a Native American tribe. Neither could offer any credible evidence to support your claim of “corruption”.
What you ignore in your column is the testimony of Lev Parnas–who worked for Rudy Giuliani and DJT to dig up dirt on the Biden family in Ukraine. And what did Parnas tell the Committee? “In nearly a year of traveling the world, interviewing officials in different countries, I found precisely zero evidence of the Biden’s corruption in Ukraine. No credible sources ever provided proof of criminal activity”. Parnas went on to say the “American people have been lied to” by DJT, Giuliani and the MAGA Republicans. And inconvenient truth you ignore.
Conservative Charlie Sykes put Comer’s Wednesday hearing this way: “It is one thing to say that this thing is falling apart, , but that actually understates how horrifically bad this is,…I mean, this was dumb and dumber. Lev Parnas coming out and just humiliating this committee”.
So what is Comer left with now? Nothing. No proof of “high crimes and misdemeanors”. His key witness, Alexander Smirnov, has admitted he lied to the FBI and is now in jail. Comer knows he will never convince the House to impeach Biden. Comer is down to one card. He wants to call Pres. Biden to testify. Biden will refuse because he doesn’t want to dignify what has descending into a mosh pit of unfounded and spurious allegations without any proof.
And where does that leave your year of attempts to smear the Biden family? Dead in the water! Frankly, I think your mom and dad would be rolling over in their graves–to think their son would turn his back on the Democratic traditions of the family and now fully embrace the MAGA agenda.
At last report, Prof. Turley still visits his mom at Christmas, you cretin.
“In nearly a year of traveling the world, interviewing officials in different countries, I found precisely zero evidence of the Biden’s corruption in Ukraine
You claim to be a lawyer, then think this has some relevance?
As a lawyer do often present evidence claiming there is no evidence?
It easier to believe you are a Leprechaun than a lawyer
A lot of communist hot wind. You should have to pay extra taxes for your part of global warming for blowing smoke up our collective posteriors.
DeMac,
I think this statement of yours is psychologically revealing –
“Frankly, I think your mom and dad would be rolling over in their graves–to think their son would turn his back on the Democratic traditions of the family and now fully embrace the MAGA agenda.”
That nails you, as someone who thinks supporting the Democrat party is a “tradition.” Huh? To normal people, a political party has a platform of ideas, and you vote for them based on those ideas, and whether they work or not. But when you turn a political party into something more than that, then you end up where you are – a brain dead cult member – who will support the sexual mutilation of children because the Party is for it. Welcome to Good Little Nazi 2.0!
You, assuming you are not just a paid shill, are like the Ford man! My granddaddy drove a Ford, and my daddy drove a Ford, and I am going to drive a Ford, too! But, the Toyota lasts longer, and gets better gas mileage! I don’t care! My granddaddy drove a Ford, etc.
In other words, you have unintentionally revealed your own stupidity.
Denis suffers not only from Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) but from Turley Envy (TE), as well. Professor Turley is a somebody. Denis is a nobody.
“a brain dead cult member”
BINGO.
Floyd,
Great comment and observation.
I have commented in the past, when a party does not represent their voters, the voters have the right to vote for another party that does or a person who does.
Someone who just blindly votes for a party, even when that party obviously does not represent their voters or even abuse their voters as the Democrat party has, that person is a cultist.
Can you answer this, Dennis?
What is wrong with you?
Do you know how f’d up your thinking process sounds?
Literally insane.
I mean, really.
Karl Marx was a disease-ridden drunk.
“I found precisely zero evidence of the Biden’s corruption in Ukraine.”
LOL. Lev Parnas is a liar.
The dupes who cannot see this, like Dennis here, are the “brain dead cult members” of the DemoKKKrat Party.
Yes, Dennis, you are correct. There are Three Stooges on that Committee: AOC; Jamie Raskin; and Dan Goldman.
Good one, Edwardmahl! 😂😂😂
I need another cup of coffee to help me parse phrases like “The dripping away”. Is that something that happens gradually, then suddenly?
Or “then bizarrely pretend”. When pretense becomes another day at the office (or in it), can anything truly be said to be bizarre?
If AOC can’t see RICO racketeering, we need Rikki-Tikki-Tavi to ferret out the snakes in the grass.
“The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence” Aldous Huxley. And Turley is at it again, the chicken little story is getting old Turley.
No, FishWings, your constant attacks on Prof. Turley are getting old and tiresome.
Turley was once a respected lawyer who would be invited on any talk or political show. Now he hacks for Trump and for whoever is paying him.
Turley is one of the very few remaining legal analysts who is still respected, and deserves respect, for standing up, with integrity, in the face of this media landscape that has devolved into a pathetic trash heap spewing nothing more than leftwing lunatic propaganda, brainwashing and lies.
Fishstick, the good professor is a highly respected lawyer with a great reputation of those who still adhere to the Constitution, rule of law and decency.
All things that are anathema to you, and the Democrat party.
He does not hack for Trump.
He stands for the Constitution, the rule of law and decency.
Things you and the Democrat party have abandoned.
“This week, Democrats appear to have finally drained away what remained of themselves and their party. For years, Democratic members and the media have demanded any evidence of the direct involvement or knowledge of President Joe Biden of the influence-peddling operation of his son, Hunter, and his brothers, James and Frank. In the hearing, witnesses testified under oath about specific meetings with Joe Biden discussing these foreign dealings and the family business interests. Bank records were introduced showing the transfers of millions going to Hunter and various Biden family members. Faced with the evidence that the president lied about his lack of any knowledge or involvement in the influence peddling, the Democrats opened their fingers wider. ”
***************************
Truth is they were damned when the Party adopted the counterculture ideas of the 60s and later reversed course selling out to the corporate interests that dominate it today. They’ve become the epitome of a death cult latching on to every morbid cause like abortion, feminism, sexual freedom, recreational drug use and every other licentious notion that brings only misery to the partakers and sometimes death. They may not be classically evil but from where they’re standing they surely can feel the heat and see the flames. Let’s hope they reverse course but given the contingent of perverts, freaks, and just plain sociopaths in their midst I don’t think its likely.
“Let’s hope they reverse course but given the contingent of perverts, freaks, and just plain sociopaths in their midst I don’t think its likely.”
I agree. There is an inertial effect to rot. If we suddenly snapped out of it, and say we ended welfare, as we know it – what about the 3 or 4 generations of undereducated and under-socialized people, more often than not, black. If Tyrone stops selling drugs, because we have begun fast-tracking executions of drug dealers (which ain’t gonna happen, but assume it did) what is Tyrone going to do for a living? Sweep floors? Wash dishes? He can’t make enough to live decently off that. It’s not like housing prices are headed down, and if there is depression-like deflation, then wages will go down too. He will hit retirement age with super low social security wages. His poverty will continue to the day he dies. Multiple Tyrone by tens of millions.
I have been watching Nick Johnson youtube videos, where he tours bad areas of the country. Depressing, and no way some of these towns are coming back. I actually grew up in one of the worst towns. It was not always that way. School integration killed the town back in the 1970s, but nobody knew it at the time. The white middle class moved away, and the schools went to hell. The poorer, middle-class neighborhoods, where you could safely walk all around the neighborhood at night – gone as soon as blacks started moving in. I used to live in a 900 sq ft wood frame house, but the neighborhood was clean and safe when it was all white. That changed in a big way. And, that seemed to happen across the country. Detroit is dead. Chicago is dead. Baltimore is dead. Any city or area where there is a large number of blacks, and thus a lot of poor blacks, has suffered the same fate. There are not enough good black people to overcome the problems caused by the bad black people. So, the good blacks get out of Dodge, too.
If the Great Society rot is ended tomorrow, the problems are going to linger on for another 100 years. Even if we bring jobs back to the country, many of these blacks are not going to be able to benefit, because of poor educational skills, and poor work ethics. There are solutions, but as a practical matter, those solutions can not be enacted in a democracy. Defunding the source of the problems will work to some degree, but slowly, and it will take a long, long time to wash the toxins out of the system.
Ah another who doesn’t believe in personal responsibility. It’s all society’s fault..
Whaaaaaaaaaa!
Watching this video, now. Depressing.
Would anyone believe that the mayor of Jackson MS is a Democrat with an African name? https://ballotpedia.org/Jackson,_Mississippi#City_council
“From the 60s to today?”
So Lincoln, throwing the baby out with the bathwater—the Constitution out with reprehensible slavery—did not bear?
Since Lincoln, the Constitution and Bill of Rights have morphed into the Communist Manifesto.
Look around you at the central planning, control of the means of production (unconstitutional regulation), redistribution of wealth, and social engineering, all imposed by the “dictatorship of the proletariat” per Karl Marx’s motto: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs,” oh, and the foreign illegal alien invasion, literally.
Of course, Lincoln was the monumental historic inflection point.
…just sayin’.
Selected Babylon Bee headlines:
– Checkmate: Trump sneaks back into White House, invokes squatters’ rights
– Dozens injured at Capitol after omnibus bill tips over
– Planet Fitness adds ‘bigot alarm’ to shame women who don’t want men in their locker room
– Media says border crisis not an invasion, it’s simply a group of military-age males using force against our military to enter and occupy the country
– Hamas scientists struggling to figure out how to make emergency food rations explode like a rocket
– NYC homeowners arrested for not providing squatters with WiFi password
– Court flips coin to see if Texas allowed to enforce laws today
– Mexico begins constructing wall to keep illegal immigrants from coming back
– AOC says RICO not a crime, he’s the guy who delivers her food
– New Boeing 737 toy features wings that really fall off
– Ketanji Brown Jackson warns right to free speech could lead to people speaking freely
– Op-ed: to end racism, we need more racism
– Pharisees accuse Jesus of threatening to capture his enemies in nets and kill them with latest ‘fishers of men’ comment
– Unborn baby terrified as Olivia Rodrigo music starts playing
– Unhinged Trump threatens more violence by promising to trigger a ‘landslide’ on election day
– Democrats clarify they are okay with a bloodbath if it’s just from killing the unborn
– All murderers released from death row after Biden declares no one is illegal
– Illegal immigrants politely decline flight on a Boeing
– Media reports Trump threatened nuclear war after he said ‘this guacamole is the bomb’
Thank you!
Priceless. Thanks.
I hate to correct the inestimable John Turley, but the More’s comment about an oath taker’s life in his fingers is directed to his loving daughter Margaret, who has been pressured to convince him to swear the Oath crafted by Cromwell which More refuses to take. She urges him to say the oath with his lips and keep his moral conviction of its wrongness in his heart. More cannot do so, and thus explains the moral implication of the oath. It is the most painful scene in a great drama, illustrating the enormous cost of remaining true to your convictions.
Like Solzhenitsyn, More refuses to participate in the Big Lie which the the brutal pragmatist Cromwell seeks to impose. Richard Rich is indeed an apt stand-in for the Democratic Party as a whole from Biden on down: an opportunist willing to forswear everything and everyone in grabbing the transitory gains of political office, in Rich’s case the Crown’s Attorney for Wales.
More’s final rebuke is a rueful reproach:
“But Richard, it profits a man nothing to gain the whole world at the cost of his soul.
But for Wales?”
Today, from another ex-Democrat, J H Kunstler – whose blog is not linkable:
The two traditional political divisions, liberal and conservative died with Covid. Now there are simply the sane versus the insane. The sane have had enough of being pushed around by the insane. The insane don’t register much of what reality tries to tell them. They have a body of insane ideas to comfort and protect them from the reality’s rigors. To call that body of ideas an “ideology” is way too polite.
That the insane call themselves “progressive,” is a signature of their insanity. Progress toward what better state of things? Toward a supremacy of fiends, sadists, degenerates, and morons seizing riches and power by every dishonest means possible outside the rule of law and common decency? It’s not even suitable to call them “communists.” They lack the necessary idealism for that. They don’t expect to put their shoulders to the wheel with their fellow man. They just want to grab your stuff and then kill you so they don’t have to hear any complaints.
The insane do not believe any of the theoretical bullsh!t they want to force you to swallow. They don’t care about climate change. It’s just a cudgel they use to beat everyone over the head so they can steal your stuff. They don’t care about “democracy.” It’s just a line of bullsh!t to cover up their election-stealing.
I’ll tell you something that all sane people now know but won’t talk about for fear of being crushed by the levers of Lawfare: this looks like a concerted effort by people-of-color to railroad people of non-color. If you think that is a good thing for race relations in our country, then you are insane.
Here are a bunch of other things that are insane: Re-litigating the first amendment is insane. It means what it says, and states it plainly. The open border is insane. No credible sovereign polity would allow it. It would be opposed with force, if necessary. Turning children into transsexuals on a wholesale basis is insane, and fiendishly so. Everybody knows that it is not good for the children or for our society as a whole. But fiends got to fiend, and if you try to deprive them of being fiends then you are guilty of “hate.”
Floyd, I’m with you except for the people of color part. It seems to me that plenty of non-blacks are insane, devious, lawless crooks. Where we got screwed is this was supposed to be a Constitutional Republic (any bets on members of congress even being able to define that?). In a Democracy, the fatal flaw is majority rule…when the “majority” figures out they can take the money of the others, it’s all over. In a Republic, the goal is protection of Individual Rights. That scares the hell out of communists, Marxists, socialists, professional politicians and Democrats. See Dan Smoot’s YouTube video for a great explanation of the difference. Dems want to ignore the Constitution, and that is treason.
I agree. Those were Kunstler’s words. Raskin, Nadler, Goldman, Tribe, Schiff, etc. are just as crooked as Fani Will, Alvin Bragg, and Letitia James. And with less reason, because they are probably better educated than Fani, Alvin and Letitia.
To those attacking Turley for supporting Democrats in the Past.
Can we not cut off our noses to spite our face ?
It takes some longer to get there.
While there are radical differences between past and current democrats.
The core to the democrat ideology since Wilson inevitably leads to something resembling the current democratic party.
But give Turley time – he will get there.
John Say,
Our right to vote is also the right of privacy.
But I would think the good professor will be thinking long and hard this November when at the polls, who to vote for or seriously consider to register as Independent.
If you don’t think that the Democrat party left you then just realize that not too long ago:
Obama supported a border and also deported many, many illegals;
Obama, Clinton et al were against gay marriage;
Not one Democrat (or anyone in public life) supported men playing in woman’s sports;
Not one Democrat would have supported gyms forcing women to change in front of men;
Democrats supported English as a national language;
Harvard et al didn’t have black graduations or dorms;
The NFL didn’t have a black national anthem;
Democrats didn’t support DAs that weren’t prosecutors but instead work as defense attorneys;
Democrats supported our energy industry and not some globalist insanity that helps China;
Democrats would never have paid of the loans of students…and only students;
Democrats wouldn’t have wanted to fire you for not getting a new vaccine;
Democrats weren’t against gun ownership;
Democrats didn’t support abortion up to the 9th month;
Democrats weren’t trying to eliminate gas cars to make China great.
JFK, HHH, Scoop Jackson, Sam Nunn, Bill Clinton and prior Joe Biden would be thrown out of the party today.
Yes! Instead of weaponizing the government so it is now the enemy of the sane, guys like Frank Church called them to account. Gone are those days. That is what happens when you cannot win on your ideas and platform and character. They have become evil and pathetic, trying to take us all down to their level. Resist!
Bob, I remember the Church Committee and cringe when I think that we have the Dan Goldman’s and Jamie Raskins’ defending any corrupt thing that the FBI does to protect Biden. It is mind blowing.
Great piece, though some of us have always thought the dems were aristocratic jerks. Younger folks don’t have any idea what the DNC used to look like, and such is their ignorance and vitriol, they don’t care.
And truly, AOC is THE poster child for her generation. A box of rocks is embarrassed by her. There is no way other dems on the floor don’t cringe; she’s just useful in enticing the demographic she embodies. Clown show. Sigh.
AOC, Democrat-Socialist (Tic Toc).
Nothing I enjoy less than being lectured to by a sing-song teenager more worried about her hair than her facts.
Did anyone else see the rep that ranted on for minutes and when Bobulinski asked if there was a question in there she harangued “I will let you know when there is a question and then you can speak”.
In the immortal words of Dan “open the door” Goldman, “this is my time”.
James, seems to me she is the Democrat George Santos. At least we got rid our ours…Your move Dems. Shouldn’t be hard with such a stable of idiots as Nadler, Schiff, Swalwell, Pelosi, Schumer, Goldman, Raskin…just pick one and get started…
>> I can no longer recognize the party from my youth. <<
Are you kidding me? The corrupt party of the Daley machine of your youth is different from the corrupt party of today? No, you just chose to be blind to the corruption and misguided policies in your youth.
As I've said before, the way I see history your party relied on explicitly racist politics for power from 1787 until roughly the '60s. By then it had become crystal clear that American values had changed and there was no longer a market for the explicitly racist politics Democrats had relied on for power. So they had to build a new coalition. They chose to embrace every radical fringe nut from the '60s: male-hating feminists; homosexual activists and other sexual perverts; black nationalists; academic socialists and Marxists; environmental whacknuts; and all the rest. That was the coalition they built between the '60s and 1980. Then they lost three consecutive presidential election between 1980 thru 1984.
Your party was in a pickle. It could no longer win elections based on the explicitly racist politics it had relied on for power from 1787 to about 1960ish, and now with the three consecutive presidential losses from 1980 thru 1988, it was clear there was no market for the radicalism it had chosen to replace its racism.
Rather than revert back to normalcy, it seems to have decided the strategy of embracing radicalism was good but it needed to change tactics. 1) One tactic it chose is to constantly and perpetually monkey with state voter, ballot and election laws until they can create an electoral advantage for themselves; 2) turn a blind eye to the illegal invasion of immigrants until the numbers reach into the multi-millions and become so large there is no way to deal with it except an amnesty. the idea is to create several million new (presumably grateful) Democrat voters out of the illegals to dilute the votes of actual American citizens and taxpayers. 3) Another tactic is to no longer participate in good faith in ANY investigations that involve Democrats. This has been gradual. Some Democrats DID participate in good faith in the Clinton investigations. But by the time we got to Obama, they treated him as a saint and refused to participate in good faith in legitimate investigations involving his administration. For example, they mocked the Fast and Furious scandal where the government lost hundreds or perhaps thousands of firearms. Some ended up in the hands of Mexican cartels resulting in who knows how many deaths. But investigations into that government incompetence was mocked. Same with Benghazi. A corollary to the "failure to participate in good faith in investigations involving Democrats" tactic is to literally manufacture fake scandals involving Trump and Republicans as they did with Russiagate. A fourth prong related to #3 is to have corrupt Democrat prosecutors stretch laws beyond recognition. This has the advantage of using taxpayer money to tie up their political opponents in court; create damaging headlines; and if they get unethical judges and juries then they can not only bankrupt Republican opponents but imprison them.
Sorry, but your party has ALWAYS been evil and corrupt. You were blind to it in your youth, presumably because you liked the radical results. It's no secret you agree with most or the '60s radicalism that is now mainstream: you support environmental zealotry; support the endless promotion of homosexuality and other sexual perversions; support government highjacking of healthcare; oppose the death penalty, and so on.
You said this, and it is so to the point!
+++
Another tactic is to no longer participate in good faith in ANY investigations that involve Democrats. This has been gradual. Some Democrats DID participate in good faith in the Clinton investigations. But by the time we got to Obama, they treated him as a saint and refused to participate in good faith in legitimate investigations involving his administration. For example, they mocked the Fast and Furious scandal where the government lost hundreds or perhaps thousands of firearms. Some ended up in the hands of Mexican cartels resulting in who knows how many deaths. But investigations into that government incompetence was mocked. Same with Benghazi. A corollary to the “failure to participate in good faith in investigations involving Democrats” tactic is to literally manufacture fake scandals involving Trump and Republicans as they did with Russiagate.
Anonymous: Well said. The question now is what can we do about it? This is most certainly out of control and destructive. They are trying to overwhelm our systems so they collapse and can be replaced with more draconian structures, just as we saw with Covid. I’m not a big Trump fan, but right now he seems to be the only person committed to stopping this madness. I am willing to put up with his mean tweets and his overbearing and narcissistic personality if that’s the only way to restore our government. Democracy on the ballot? Hardly. AMERICA is on the ballot. God help us.
Yet today, the Paid Shills will show up here, en masse, and pretend that none of what Prof. Turley wrote is true. I watched one clip yesterday, where Jeremy Rascal was wanting Bobulinski to obey the rules of house decorum, and not call members like him, liars. Thankfully, witnesses do not have to follow those rules. This is a good clip where The Young Turks are even beginning to distinguish between the Liberal Left and the Lunatic Left. I think the source of the “bad money”, might be Soros, but who knows?
Bobolinsky’s attack on Raskin and Goldman was a RESPONSE to their publicly calling him a liar.
This was NOT an unprovoked attack on members of congress by a witness.
It was a witness responding to being publicly attacked in a public forum where Both could argue their charges.