https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/lindsey-graham-just-gave-trump-what-he-wanted-all-along-an-investigation-into-biden/

Just as the House of Representatives is gathering a mountain of evidence implicating President Donald Trump in a scheme to bribe a foreign country into smearing former Vice President Joe Biden with a criminal investigation, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina announced Thursday that he’ll do what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky didn’t.

He has launched an inquiry as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee of the Bidens, Ukraine, and the oil company Burisma.

In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Graham requested records his department has related to Biden, his son Hunter, contacts with Ukrainian officials, and Burisma, whose board Hunter Biden served on. It’s not clear what jurisdiction the Judiciary Committee has to look into these matters, and Graham cites no legislative purpose for the request. It will be interesting to see how compliant the Trump administration is with these demands, given that it has repeatedly obstructed Democrat-led probes and questioned the motivations behind similar asks.

But there’s no mystery about what’s going on here. Republicans are furious that Democrats are trying to hold Trump accountable for his Ukraine scheme, and they’ve been trying to use allegations that Biden was improperly involved in Ukraine as vice president to benefit his son, even though the evidence suggests the opposite and even though Republicans seemed uninterested in Biden’s conduct at the time.

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I would love to know what Leningrad Lindsay is being blackmailed with.

https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/revenge-of-the-billionaires-how-an-oligarchy-of-the-morbidly-rich-can-take-down-democracy/

Great read by Thom Hartmann

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If we are, indeed, on the brink of a second Civil War, it’s already being waged as a “cold war,” with the occasional armed skirmish being provoked by the so-called alt-right movement. And, as in the past, this will be a war by the very, very rich against the rest of America.

This is not the first time we’ve faced such a crisis as a nation.

Each time, forces of massive accumulated or inherited wealth have nearly succeeded in taking full control of our nation, replacing a democracy, where the will of the people is accomplished through their elected representatives, with a form of government where most government functions reinforce the power, wealth and control of the morbidly rich.

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For oligarchy to totally take down democracy, only three things are initially needed:

- Control of (or substantial influence over) a critical portion of the media
- Legalization of bribery of public officials, so oligarchs can achieve majority control of the legislative process
- Control of the most critical parts of the court system so they can control legal processes

A fourth element, once the oligarchy is well established, is the formation of a police state, principally using selective prosecution against those agitating for a return to democracy.

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Please correct me if I'm wrong, but if there were to be a scenario where 45 wants to resign and have Pence pardon him, then given that Sondlund implicated him (Pence) in this conspiracy, Pence wouldn't be able to grant said pardon.

Am I out in left field???

https://www.salon.com/2019/11/18/bill-barrs-fascist-manifesto-is-this-man-the-real-threat-to-american-democracy/

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It turns out, of course, that Barr is more radical than anyone could have imagined. I've written about his adherence to the "unitary executive" theory quite a bit. But last Friday night he gave a speech to the Federalist Society that makes clear his pet constitutional theory is only a part of the problem. This is not just about presidential power. It is about a deep loathing for his political opposition on such a visceral level that it's frightening to think about such a man having so much power and being answerable only to the inept bully in the White House. It was frankly authoritarian.


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Barr seeks to make the conservative movement see Trump's alleged victimization as a reflection of their own. They must see themselves as easy prey, hunted by the ruthless leftist "resistance," which seems to include all members of the legislative branch, "disloyal" federal employees and any member of the judiciary who may have ruled against Trump's policies.

The speech was frightening both in its arrogance and its lack of self-awareness. Right now, Barr is in the midst of an investigation into the "origins" of the Russia investigation during the 2016 campaign. He has strongly suggested he believes it was improper to investigate a Republican presidential campaign, and the fact that the DOJ and the intelligence community, which undertook that investigation, are themselves part of the executive branch he now venerates as a repository of unlimited power doesn't seem to have occurred to him.

Barr's speech has come under a lot of public criticism. But the members of the Federalist Society in attendance on Friday night gave his rousing call to arms a standing ovation. The supposedly brilliant legal minds of the conservative movement ecstatically applauded a demagogic, partisan speech by the most powerful law enforcement officer in the nation, setting forth the idea that America should be ruled by a succession of dictators who will keep the nation's true enemies — the political terrorists of the left — in line.

If we're lucky, Donald Trump will not be president much longer. But this is the Republican Party he will be leaving behind. Rather than being chagrined by this experience, they seem to be evolving into a new level of authoritarianism.