Thursday, November 21, 2019

Is sexual assault an impeachable offense?

Image result for image trump sexual assault  I have been wondering about a particular issue ever since Mr. trump became president.

Here is an article written by Megan Barber writing for The Atlantic about the issue I speak of.

"To watch the public impeachment hearings of Donald Trump is to experience a very particular form of whiplash. The House inquiry has featured a series of collisions, between Democrats and Republicans, yes, but also between accountability and its opposite. Here is a proceeding led in part by lawmakers who have, when it comes to the president, repeatedly prioritized fealty over facts. And here is the key question at hand—did Donald Trump extort a U.S. ally for his own political gain?—chafing against the other questionable matters not being addressed in the hearing: the reported frauds, the well-documented lies, the atmospheric fact of Trump’s bigotries. The precision guiding the House inquiry—bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors—is constitutionally mandated; it is a proportional response. Watching it play out, however, is a little like watching Hannibal Lecter getting tried for tax evasion.

Here is another matter left largely unaccounted for in the proceedings: Donald Trump, currently accused of bribery, has also been accused of rape. He has been accused of other forms of sexual misconduct as well, by more than 20 women, their allegations ranging from kissing to groping and grabbing, all against their will. If you include allegations of nonphysical forms of sexual harassment, the number of accusers grows even larger. The president has, in reply to these claims, issued a blanket denial: The people making accusations against him, he has said, are lying. (That list includes, ostensibly, Donald Trump himself, who has made his own claims about assaulting women: “It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait … Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”)

It is easy, in the impeachment hearings’ tumult—the testimonies, the twists, the history made in real time—to ignore those accusations. They are not, after all, a direct element of the inquiry. They are not among the alleged crimes that the House of Representatives has determined to be impeachable. A constellation of reasons, constitutional and political and cultural, explains why the impeachment inquiry is unfolding as it is—at this moment, rooted in this one particular incident of alleged abuse of power. It is nonetheless a sobering thing, to watch the hearings for the one alleged crime play out while the other alleged crimes are, effectively, ignored.

One function of presidential impeachment hearings, my colleague Yoni Appelbaum wrote in a rich and prescient essay earlier this year, is their ability to convene public attention. Americans are constitutionally distractible; the Constitution, it turns out, offers a way to mitigate that. Impeachment, on top of everything else, is a way of cutting through the noise of rumors and conspiracy theories, putting the truths of a president’s actions to the test and determining what, in presidential leadership, ultimately matters. There is a flip side to that power, though. When the question at hand is whether Trump engaged in an abuse of power with Ukraine, his alleged abuse of power with women becomes less relevant. All the other facts of unfitness—the families seeking refuge, torn apart at the American border; Trump’s insistence that the tragedies of Charlottesville, Virginia, featured “very fine people on both sides”; the bigotry; the cruelty; the offenses both casual and sweeping—get consigned to the background.

One function of presidential impeachment hearings, my colleague Yoni Appelbaum wrote in a rich and prescient essay earlier this year, is their ability to convene public attention. Americans are constitutionally distractible; the Constitution, it turns out, offers a way to mitigate that. Impeachment, on top of everything else, is a way of cutting through the noise of rumors and conspiracy theories, putting the truths of a president’s actions to the test and determining what, in presidential leadership, ultimately matters. There is a flip side to that power, though. When the question at hand is whether Trump engaged in an abuse of power with Ukraine, his alleged abuse of power with women becomes less relevant. All the other facts of unfitness—the families seeking refuge, torn apart at the American border; Trump’s insistence that the tragedies of Charlottesville, Virginia, featured “very fine people on both sides”; the bigotry; the cruelty; the offenses both casual and sweeping—get consigned to the background." [Source]

Ms. Barber, we can throw a newly appointed Supreme Court Justice in that mix as well.

*Image from bbc.com





60 comments:

Bloviating Ignoramus said...

Only dumbass fags with teeny tiny dicks sexually assault women. Guess what that makes Butt Trumpet? Same goes for his retarded supporters.

dinthebeast said...

What did they expect? He's Donald the fuck Trump. It's not like his corruption, venality, unscrupulousness, and hatred and objectification of women were some well hidden secrets. That is who and what he is, and always has been.

The issue we're dealing with here isn't really those qualities, but instead the people who love him specifically because of them, and the struggle for the control of the future of the republic going on between them and the sane majority of the population.

Which is why the machinations of his attempts at wresting said control away from the majority and handing it over to those aficionados of the worst of his misdeeds are the main focus of his impeachment: Sure, his crimes against women are horrible and deserve to be accounted for, but in the end he's just one pig in a sea of swine who are as we sit here doing their dead, level best to turn this country into a Margaret Atwood novel.

...And an Ayn Rand novel, and a dystopian hellscape with babies in cages, unbreathable air, undrinkable water, unsafe food and medicine, and a disdain for the human decency that must underlie any working civilization.

In short, these fucks have to go or the idea of America we've spent two centuries working on perfecting will be set so far back as to be unrecoverable, which may by then be a moot point if we don't do anything about climate change, which they are also cheerleading for.

-Doug in Oakland

The RMalConnection said...

You sound like a whiny entitled millennial fag. That’s one thing you negroids have in common with that shit generation. You should be thanking Trump for stopping illegal immigration taking jobs from your people. Hispanic aliens negativity affect blacks. A big reason is blacks and Hispanics always seem to find themselves working those worthless jobs anyway. You don’t ever see Chinese-Americans degrading themselves like that do you? Lol!

mike from iowa said...

thanking Trump for stopping illegal immigration taking jobs from your people.

Shit fer brains, you have not one iota of proof this is true. Been debunked time and time again and if you keep lying about this, your micro dick will shrink into a totally inverted state.

drumpf's face should be enough to get him a life sentence for assault.

mike from iowa said...

There will soon be a big Fake Noize brouhaha claiming russia investigation IG uncovered a single altetred document in run up to FISA warrant. Fake Noize claims it as a bombshell. Forget it. It was one irrelevant document altered by low level attorney who no longer workds for the FBI and had no bearing on outcome of the warrant.

Ignore the story that Hunter Biden was indicted by Ukraine, as well.

Miss Lindaey is going to investigate/smear Bidens for Ukraine stuff just to lick drumpf's balls. https://www.rawstory.com/2019/11/lindsey-graham-just-gave-trump-what-he-wanted-all-along-an-investigation-into-biden/

Anonymous said...

Jon Voight’s New Video Will Make Liberal’s Head Explode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MgHCBGtMpY

Anonymous said...

Today comes a reminder that it isn’t only white people beclowning themselves in the age of Trump. TV judge Joe Brown is mad that Harriet Tubman will appear on a dollar bill because (I swear I am not making this up) she is a woman and in his view, it’s disrespectful to black men if a black man doesn’t get to go first. Or something.

Anyway, he’s super sexist, and can probably get a job at the White House after making this announcement. He’d fit right in on Team Trump.

mike from iowa said...

To believe Jon Voight would be to completely disregard reality and truth. He is at least as unstable as the great orange shitkin in the kremlin annex.

mike from iowa said...

drumpf dredged the depths of the swamp to find Brown and Pirro as alleged judges. Just like they scrape the crust off meadow muffins to find drumpf's lawyers and spirituasl advisers.

Anonymous said...

“drumpf dredged the depths of the swamp to find Brown and Pirro as alleged judges.”

Well, so far as I know, Trump hasn’t tried to appoint either of them as federal judges. Although I don’t think it would surprise anyone if that did happen, after all the other crazy shenanigans he’s pulled.

But both Brown and Pirro were, in fact, real, bonafide state judges before appearing on TV, which is fairly horrifying.

Paradoctor said...

They got Capone for tax evasion instead of murder because he killed or intimidated any witnesses of his murders, but numbers on a form can't be killed. Governments take taxation seriously, but they wouldn't have prosecuted as hard against the tax evasion if it weren't for the murders as well; so there was justice of sorts after all.

Same with rape and extortion. The R's can she-said-he-said away any accusations, and the system's rigged for rich rapists; but the extortion was for personal gain rather than national interest, and therefore unprofessional. Governments take professionalism in its thuggery seriously, but they wouldn't be impeaching him if it weren't for the rapes as well. So again, justice of sorts.

jono said...

If Clinton could be impeached after lying about a blowjob, how can tRump not be put away for life plus 20 with his lies and offenses? Inquiring minds want to know.

Anonymous said...

I think impeaching Trump for his sexual predation is a reach, mainly because it’s stuff he’s accused of having done in his personal life, rather than abuses of his presidential power. And because these alleged crimes are not, strictly speaking, proven fact — he’s never been convicted in a court of law on any of them.

But this does raise the question: Why not? Why hasn’t he been prosecuted for any of them? Are they all too old and the statute of limitations have expired? Some of the accounts sound extremely credible and it seems like they should have led to charges.

mike from iowa said...

drumpf has paid out quite a bit of money to kill two stories he claimed were lies, but he settled them anyway. He doesn't settle is a famous last word, then he lied about it.Over and over again.

dinthebeast said...

So how does Don Jr. qualify for wingnut welfare? I thought Fergus just said he was much richer than we know or some such horse shit.

Well, for whatever reason (that the donors probably aren't too thrilled with) the RNC just spent more than $94,000 buying Jr.'s "book" in bulk to get it on the best seller list.

Which seems a little odd considering that few members can actually read, but that's OK because Jr. can't write either.

-Doug in Oakland

Anonymous said...

“Which seems a little odd considering that few members can actually read, but that's OK because Jr. can't write either.”

Somebody should take a look at who, exactly, is buying a bajillion copies of Junior’s book (but not reading it) and whether Junior’s dad has done anything as president that might benefit them. Because in that case, these bulk book purchases could constitute what is commonly known as a “bribe.”

Just ask former Baltimore mayor Catherine Pugh how this scam works.

Anonymous said...

Impeachment=Coup

mike from iowa said...

Impeachment=Coup=bigly lie.

Anonymous said...

Impeachment=Justice

mike from iowa said...

How about moar bribery for drumpf? https://the-immoral-minority.com/the-chinese-bribed-donald-trump-to-drop-sanctions-against-them/

PilotX said...

trump is easily the most incompetent President in recent history. In an interview with Fox he pushed easily disproven conspiracy theories. He stated that the DNC turned over a server to Crowd Strike after denying access to the FBI. That's expected from trump but here is the part that should give us all pause. In a rare feat of journalism trump is asked "are you sure that's what happened?" and he replies "that's the word on the street."
Are you F'ing kidding me??????? That's the word on the street?????? This clown has access to any information from any intelligence or law enforcement agency on the planet and he relies on rumor????? How is this acceptable to anyone? The leader of the free world peddles in rumor and conspiracy theories. How is the rest of the world ever going to trust us again?

PilotX said...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/2019/11/22/20977752/trump-fox-friends-crowdstrike-ukraine-impeachment-conspiracy-theory

PilotX said...

And the FBI did actually conduct an investigation but he doesn't know how computers work. Just great, we have somebody's goofy Fox news watching grandpa as President. 😖

mike from iowa said...

Scumbitch Marsha Blackballs, congress pos from Tennessee told Vindman to delete his accounts because he is a traitor. Too bad he can't sue her for libelous slander and defamation.

mike from iowa said...

“CNN is learning that Democrats are looking at multiple Articles of Impeachment against President Trump. they include abuse of power, obstruction of Congress, obstruction of justice, and bribery,” CNN’s Erin Burnett reported.

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile, in Chiraq, 17 employees of McDonalds sue to stop the chain from redesigining the stores to make it easier for "customers" to jump the counters and attack them.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mcdonald-s-corp-lawsuit/mcdonalds-employees-in-chicago-sue-over-workplace-violence-idUSKBN1XV1WE

s/customers/Africans/

dinthebeast said...

Walter Shaub on Twitter about Fergus raising money for GOP senators:

"Walter Shaub
‏Verified account @waltshaub

The accused is helping jurors raise money. Does it get any more preposterous than that?"

-Doug in Oakland

mike from iowa said...

How stoopid is drumpf? Glad you asked.

This is what the hordes of trolls here are fighting to save……..In a Friday interview on “Fox & Friends,” President Donald Trump admitted to holding up military aid to Ukraine to pressure the government to investigate a baseless conspiracy theory about Ukrainian election interference and Democratic collusion.
In other words, Trump acknowledged doing the very thing he has repeatedly denied and could be impeached for.

You can't fix that.

PilotX said...

"Meanwhile, in Chiraq, 17 employees of McDonalds sue to stop the chain from redesigining the stores to make it easier for "customers" to jump the counters and attack them."

Meanwhile in schools across the country students are required to have active shooter drills.
#incels

PilotX said...

Why is the President of the America promoting debunked conspiracy theories created by Russian intelligence sources.
#compromised?

Cross said...

Trump is the worst president since Herbert Hoover.

E said...

Super Bowl Prediction

New Orleans Saints vs. Baltimore Ravens

Ben said...

The fact that Trump is going to get re-elected next year makes this whole thing even more hilarious.

dinthebeast said...

Randy Rainbow weighs in on the impeachment process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mWTDI4aQZY

-Doug in Oakland

dinthebeast said...

Lev is singing:

“Lev Parnas, who was criminally charged last month in a sweeping campaign finance scheme that overlaps with the House impeachment inquiry, had so much evidence it had to be sent to House probers in several batches.”

-Doug in Oakland

Flying Junior said...

On one hand I agree with Anon at 2:32 PM. A president can only be impeached for crimes committed while in office. The most impeachable offenses appear to be the abuse of presidential power. The Ukrainian kerfluffle does have that angle. It surely would have been an abuse of power if it had even made any sense at all. The funny thing is that Trump stood to gain nothing from these silly investigations. They could never have been anything more than a complete waste of time.

Jordan and Nunez sound like they are reading from a fictitious script when they support the president's ridiculous fears about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election. It is difficult to believe that even Trump believes half of the shit that he is saying. But he is stupid and crazy enough that it could be true. Trump is a consumer of the same lies and right-wing talking points that Breitbart, The Daily Caller, American Thinker, FOX News et al publish for the conspiracy theory deranged American right-wing. The wilder and more outlandish the various fantasies and webs of lies appear to sane people, the more passionately the delusional defend their alternative reality. The lies are so persistent, I don't doubt that millions of otherwise sane and healthy Americans at times lend credence to this universe of lies, propaganda and think tank bilge-water. Trump is twisted enough to buy into it all right along-side the red-eyed crazies and their keyboard commando teachers and the dreamers who actually make all of this shit up from whole cloth. His Twitter feed is littered with it.

So this problem that Congress has seized upon as proof of malfeasance in office just seems like more of the same. Insanity and ill-will from a vicious and evil despot. Yet it is the one shred of evidence that we have that is provable and relevant. As such it is worthy of our attention.

To me there are many other obvious examples of his abuse of power in office. I would like to see some of these examined perhaps in additional articles of impeachment. It is dumbfounding that this is all we have to show three years in. Surely there are dozens if not scores of impeachable offenses already committed. The problem is that these deeds are done in dark secrecy. But where there is a money trail and telephone records, surveillance and espionage I know that we can dig up a lot more dirt on this corrupt POS, I mean POTUS.

Anonymous said...

Hey field, this is a pretty good summary of the impeachment show.

https://babylonbee.com/news/impeachment-inquiry-canceled-after-5-episodes-due-to-low-ratings

mike from iowa said...

Lev Parnas was Screwdy Rudy's date to Hitler Weasel Bushs funeral.

mike from iowa said...

Flying Junior, there are more hearings to come including one to cover the Mueller report, hopefully in unredacted form and the notes from the grand juries.

PilotX said...

"The fact that Trump is going to get re-elected next year makes this whole thing even more hilarious."

Sure, why not? If we're going to follow the Nixon script let's follow it to the end.

dinthebeast said...

"The funny thing is that Trump stood to gain nothing from these silly investigations. They could never have been anything more than a complete waste of time."

That is why they made it clear to the Ukrainians that they "didn't give a shit" about the investigations, or corruption in Ukraine (see also: Perry's campaign donor's 50 year Ukrainian oil drilling contract) and instead only cared about the "deliverable" that they COULD use, the public announcement of the investigations.

As for the "Ukraine did it, not Russia" bullshit being spread by the goddamn Republicans, Fiona Hill went out of her way to ask them to stop spreading the lie, as it is Russian propaganda specifically made to help Russia and harm us.

Also, the senate was recently briefed by our intelligence services about the Russian op that the lie originated from, meaning Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley don't have ignorance as an excuse for their attempts at validating this horse shit.

They do it because they are busted red handed and it's all they have.

And don't forget the obstruction of justice in the Mueller report and the obstruction of congress Fergus does every damn day he orders his henchmen to ignore congressional subpoenas. That was one article of impeachment they had on Nixon before he resigned.

-Doug in Oakland

PilotX said...

https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2019/11/22/tuskegee-airmen-charles-mcgee-birthday/?fbclid=IwAR1NrPSspOc52XhgNdsc-jjymHlo-GZM0VP9eBcJQJXQZ5GynUrP-1f1YYI

New Jersey is a shit state full of shit people said...

Get rid of Trump. Have President Pence for less than a year. Elect a Democrat next November. Sounds like a plan.

mike from iowa said...

Im guessing the impeachment is a done deal. Dems need 21 House Judiciary votes to send the impeachment articles to the full house for discussion and Dems control 24 judiciary seats. Then they need 218 house votes for impeachment. If Dems keep the major share of their own parties votes they should get 218 easily. Dems control at least 230 seats

Lt. Commander Johnson said...

Huh. You Dems have been preparing a big Shitff sandwich for 3 years now, and when it hits the Senate...enjoy it.

Then, once Trump steam-rolls your butts again, you can start your plans to impeach him again. And, don't gimme no crap about the "popular" vote...it's all about the Electoral College. I would have thought you would have gotten that from the last election.

That prune Ginsberg won't make it for another four years. Conservative SCOTUS for the next decades!

mike from iowa said...

Did a blast of hot air just blow through the blog?

mike from iowa said...

Commandeered Queensland, since you obviously missed it, drumpfuck the dumbfuck admitted on Fake Noize, in front of dog and everybody he not only intentionally withheld congressionally approved military aid, he did so expecting a Biden investigation in return. QUID PRO QUO. The very same subject he has denied and lied about for the past month.

Whatb the senate does or doesn't do is entirely on their heads. The evidence of high crimes is crystal clear to all except willfully ignorant drumpfuckers. If they don't do their constitutional duties and remove drumpf, its just further proof wingnuts place party ahead of nation and constitution.

PilotX said...

"That prune Ginsberg won't make it for another four years. Conservative SCOTUS for the next decades!"

Just make sure the Repubs hold on to the senate. That's the game right there. It won't matter if trump wins because if the Dems control the senate none of his far right nominees will sniff the WH. Also keep in mind that the senators running for re-election in purple states such as Colorado and Maine can't rubber stamp and phone in the impeachment trial. Once it gets to the senate Moscow Mitch loses all control over his people. Be careful what you wish for.

Anonymous said...

Fuck the gooks and chinks!

dinthebeast said...

"Huh. You Dems have been preparing a big Shitff sandwich for 3 years now, and when it hits the Senate...enjoy it."

When it hits the senate, we hang Republicans' votes to acquit around their necks and beat them with them in the 2020 election. 2018 was not an outlier, it was the ongoing national response to the obvious damage Fergus and his felons are doing to the country on a daily basis.

-Doug in Oakland

Anonymous said...

When your impeachment theater hits the Senate, McConnell will refuse to bring it to the floor.  "Not my circus, not my monkeys".

McConnell doesn't want to be primaried.  Neither do any of the other Republicans, even if the Swamp owns them lock, stock and barrel.

dinthebeast said...

Not bringing it to the floor is not an option, as McConnell has already admitted. Their current strategy, the one now favored by Fergus, is to drag the trial out long enough to interfere with the early caucuses and primaries for the Democratic senators running.
Which must mean that they no longer consider Biden to be their only credible challenger, or view him as weak enough to be their best choice for a general election opponent.

-Doug in Oakland

Gambler2 ASKA White Woman said...

Cross said...

Trump is the worst president since Herbert Hoover.

11:15 PM
No, Trump is the worst president of all. He's even worse that Buchanan.

Anonymous said...

TRUMP 2020!!

Anonymous said...

Gambler2 ASKA White Woman said...
Cross said...

Trump is the worst president since Herbert Hoover.

11:15 PM
No, Trump is the worst president of all. He's even worse that Buchanan.
6:34 PM


Both are wrong, its Obama!!! Jimmy Carter is off the hook.

Gambler2 ASKA White Woman said...

Anonymous said.....

Both are wrong, its Obama!!! Jimmy Carter is off the hook.
-------------------
Historians and political scientists disagree with you. If you Google presidential ranking you will find Obama listed as 8th best to 13th best in most of the surveys. On the other hand, Trump is rated dead last at number 44, supplanting James Buchanan as worst president ever. It seems they agree with me. LOL!

Anonymous said...

We don't care what lefturd academics think.

We especially don't care what academics who'd lose their careers if they didn't march in lockstep with lefturd dogma say that they think.

Gambler2 ASKA White Woman said...

Anonymous said...

"We don't care what lefturd academics think.

We especially don't care what academics who'd lose their careers if they didn't march in lockstep with lefturd dogma say that they think."

10:05 AM
--------------------
Well, we don't care what you ignorant, right-wing ignoramuses think either. And you language (lefturd) is third-grade stuff, just like you ignorant president.

Anonymous said...

As opposed to your Obamessiah, who ignited a surge in murders in many major cities through his knee-jerk opposition to the police and courts which had been putting a damper on the rampant violence in the "community"?

THAT was truly ignorant... unless his goal was to demoralize and defeat one of the last forces keeping civilization going in N. America.

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