FIRST IMPEACHMENT
Last week we wrote the vote would be either 50/50 or 51-49 to end the trial, and then the vote to remove would be larger, like 55-45 to not remove from office. The first part was right and the second will be too. We just didn’t anticipate a four day delay until Wednesday. Why did that occur and what was the motivation and deal for it?
Makes you wonder what new surprises might be forthcoming tomorrow before the State of The Union and what plans the President’s opponents might have for that.
Today there will be four hours of closing arguments (two hours for each side). Then the 100 senators, today and tomorrow, get 10 minutes each to spout their thoughts. Finally on Wednesday they vote to end this. All the Republicans will vote not to impeach and at least two, if not more, Democrats will vote with them.
So we will end up with a House vote to bring the charges that was Democratic only, with the only bipartisanship being votes with the Republicans. The Senate will end up the same way. Only Democrats voting against their leadership.
Now, will the MSM play it up that way?
NOW COME THE PRIMARIES
We’re off and running tonight with the Iowa Caucus. From all appearances here is what we see. The top two are Sanders and Biden, with a second tier of Warren and Buttigieg. Hanging just outside with a chance to crack the top four is Amy Klobuchar.
Usually coming out of Iowa are three tickets forward. There may be four tonight.
The process is you come and stand with your fellow candidate supporters. Anyone without a minimum 15% is eliminated and those candidates’ supporters get a chance to join another group.
We know the Sanders supporters are fervent and will be out there. We’re not as sure about the Biden ones. So in a traditional primary Biden would likely prevail. In this environment Sanders may well beat him. Wouldn’t that be interesting with New Hampshire next and Bernie favored?
Senators Warren, Klobuchar and Mayor Pete will be fighting to stay alive.
Wait for the second round to be over tonight before declaring a winner.
If Bernie does prevail in the first two, we would move on to Nevada and then SC. Biden can recover there. Then comes an interesting day. Super Tuesday. Though a long shot, but with divided results until then, Mike Bloomberg emerges, and with all he is spending that day looms interesting to say the least.
The other thing about this scenario is this. That would leave three white males standing — in the Democratic primary that would be a moral sin! Add this, all three would be 77 years old or older.
some news you might have missed
Speaking of Bloomberg, did you see he released his tax plan?
He unveiled $5 trillion in proposed new taxes as part of his sweeping program. They would pay for infrastructure projects, as well as investments in green energy, affordable housing, education and health care.
Among the proposals is rolling back President Trump’s corporate tax cuts, additional taxes on capital gains and lowering the threshold for the estate tax, and restoring top rates back to 39.6 percent.
Why do people not realize the lowering of corporate taxes brought jobs back and made us competitive?
Bloomberg also was the beneficiary of debate rules changes that will get him on the stage in the next debate. The revamped DNC debate criteria eliminates the individual donor threshold used for the first eight debates and doubles the polling threshold to qualify for future debates. Since Mike is funding his own campaign he is eligible now.
The Sanders team had an immediate reaction, even calling the change “rigged.” They felt cheated in 2016 and won’t like losing to Bloomberg this time.
There was much talk of the date yesterday 020220. Then the coach of the Chiefs won his first Superbowl while coaching his 222nd game. Here’s an important memory of this day, February 3rd.
The Income Tax Amendment Was Ratified in 1913.
The 16th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified by a majority of U.S. states, allowing Congress to levy an income tax on both corporate and individual incomes.
Think about that. A 1% tax went into effect on high incomes.
Yup we won the Revolutionary and Civil Wars and built America with no income tax until 1913. Those opposing at the time said if you pass this, someday the government will take 10% of a person’s pay. They were laughed at.
Did you see one of the squad (Rep. Rashida Tlaib) voiced her personal displeasure by booing Hillary Clinton in an Iowa interview Friday? Why? She is backing Bernie and Hillary’s comments about him angered her.
Hmm, internal strife, not good.
Here’s some news from Elizabeth Warren you may have missed:
“In her latest effort to court the transsexual vote, Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren reminded Iowa voters Thursday she would cede control of picking her secretary of education to a “young trans person.”
Put this one in the column we don’t get it.
Pete Buttigieg was under fire as a racist, after he claimed that the country’s next president needs to embody the values of “the American Heartland.”
Why does Heartland Values make him racist?
In the never ending President Trump stories there’s this one:
Lawyers for a woman who accuses President Donald Trump of raping her in the 1990s are asking for a DNA sample, seeking to determine whether his genetic material is on a dress she says she wore during the encounter. Advice columnist E. Jean Carroll’s lawyers served notice to a Trump attorney Thursday for Trump to submit a sample on March 2 in Washington for “analysis and comparison against unidentified male DNA present on the dress.”
I read that twice to make sure I had it right. You mean you haven’t cleaned the dress in the last 30 years? Hope you didn’t wear it, and hope you clean closets.
What are people watching? These ratings released.
Fox News officially has remained the No. 1 cable news channel in the nation for 18 consecutive years, besting rivals MSNBC and CNN nonstop, according to Nielsen Media Research. The network took the lead in January 2002 and has remained there since. Prime-time audience numbers rose by 33% at Fox News in the past year; they were down by 13% at MSNBC and 2% at CNN, according to Nielsen.
Wonder why?
Mike Flynn made news last week.
His attorneys asked a federal judge to toss his guilty plea for lying to the FBI and dismiss the case against him. The attorneys cited “outrageous misconduct” by prosecutors uncovered by Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz.
In his report last month, Mr. Horowitz detailed a series of FBI missteps, including withholding and doctoring evidence in its probe of alleged ties between Trump campaign figures, including Flynn, and Russia.