Nightmares
Nightmares do not need darkness to graze. They can come loping in broad daylight.
My latest galloped in around noon Saturday. That is when I remembered or realized that Nancy Pelosi is the second in line for the Oval Office. If both the President and Vice President become disqualified or disabled, the Speaker of the House of Representatives becomes President.
Today, that is very scary. Try to imagine Nancy Pelosi at the reigns. There would be an immediate repeal of the hundreds of regulations recalled or replaced under the current administration. The “wall” would be replaced with welcome mats, and those waiting for asylum hearings in Mexico would be bused throughout the U.S. and dumped in sanctuary cities.
Simultaneously, letters of apology would be dispatched to Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran, we would rejoin the JCPOA (flawed Iran atom control agreement), and an interest free loan of billions of dollars would be showered on Tehran.
By the way, why was Obama not impeached for negotiating the JCPOA? Under international law, relations between and among nations are established and regulated by treaties.
Under Article II of our constitution, “He [the President] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur…”
Obama purposely negotiated and entered the JCPOA as an Executive Agreement to keep it from being reviewed as a treaty because he knew the Senate would not ratify it. If that is not obstruction of Congress, what is? Why was there not an Article of Impeachment for that giving of the finger to Congress?
But back to the nightmare of Nancy Pelosi as President. Look at her ideas of fairness.
She thinks the two track impeachment farce in her House—one partly in secret in the Intelligence Committee and the other in the Judiciary Committee-were proper and fair. She is so concerned about fairness, however, that she tried to interfere in the pending trial in the Senate until she was assured that the proceedings would be “fair.”
How could she keep a straight face when making those demands?
Now look at the Articles of Impeachment, of which she is so proud. There are only two. Article I is Abuse of Power and Article II is Obstuction of Congress.
Parenthetically, doesn’t abuse of power and obstruction of justice sound like Obama’s negotiating and signing the JCPOA?
Finally, as noted here previously, Section 4 of Article II of the Constitution provides, .“The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Crimes and misdemeanors are defined and described in Title 18 of the U.S. Code, the so called Criminal Code.
Section 39.02 of that Code provides: “ABUSE OF OFFICIAL CAPACITY. (a) A public servant commits an offense if, with intent to obtain a benefit or with intent to harm or defraud another, he intentionally or knowingly:
(1) violates a law relating to the public servant's office or employment; or (2) misuses government property, services, personnel, or any other thing of value belonging to the government that has come into the public servant's custody or possession by virtue of the public servant's office or employment.”
A violation of this law is a misdemeanor.
Section 1395 of the Penal Code is titled “Obstruction of proceedings before departments, agencies, and committees.” The violations described are much too long to quote here, but they do define felonies.
Of the two articles, the obstruction of Congress may have more substance. That, however, is not saying much, as Article I has no substance.
So here’s the perspective.
To repeat, this impeachment is a farce. It is the baby of Nancy Pelosi. That she willingly gave birth to such a farce and then claims to be concerned about our President getting a fair trial is a nightmare.
Impeachment was begun even before our President took the oath of office and are best described in a cartoon in the December 18, 2019, edition of the Austin American Statesman, a liberal newspaper, this way:
“Article of Impeachment
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1.Defeating Hillary Clinton
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2.Being Mean
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3.Usage of bad language
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4.Excessive tweeting
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5.Refusal to crater to Congress
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6.Bad Hair
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7.Cheating at golf
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8.Altering Obama foreign policy
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9.Altering Obama domestic policy
That cartoon’s list is a pretty good summary of Pelosi’s reign as Speaker of the House.
Now imagine her running the Oval Office. That is a nightmare.
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