He was a Republican Senator who ran for governor of Rhode Island as an Independent, then switched to being a Democrat while in office, then joined the Libertarian Party after that. What party will he join next?

https://www.snopes.com/ap/2020/01/06/lincoln-chafee-files-to-run-for-president-as-libertarian/

Sorry if it’s already posted. Essentially, he thinks the House should impeach and not send it to the Senate, just add articles as information comes out. Please read this, it’s interesting, I think.

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/trump-senate-impeachment-trial-rigged-mitch-mcconnell-lindsey-graham-20191215.html

It just strikes me as creepy. The woman is super-thin to start with, but her husband (I presume he’s her husband) gives her a surprise gift that sends the message “you need to lose weight.” Then she looks horrified at having to use the bike, but at the end, she comes across as a Stepford wife, so happy that her life was changed because she dropped from 120 pounds to 110 pounds.

Maybe I’m overreacting? If so, I’m far from alone. Their stock has dropped as a result of the ad.

https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/12/3/20993432/peloton-new-commercial-horror-movie

Posting this, in part, because I didn’t know it until now, so it may be newsworthy to others as well.

Regardless of whether a sitting president can be indicted and convicted on such criminal charges, Trump will become liable to them at some point. But could he be pardoned, as Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon 45 years ago?

Article II, section 2 of the constitution gives a president the power to pardon anyone who has been convicted of offenses against the United States, with one exception: “in Cases of Impeachment.”

If Trump is impeached by the House, he can never be pardoned for these crimes. He cannot pardon himself (it’s dubious that a president has this self-pardoning power in any event), and he cannot be pardoned by a future president.

Even if a subsequent president wanted to pardon Trump in the interest of, say, domestic tranquility, she could not.

Gerald Ford wrote in his pardon of Nixon that if Nixon were indicted and subject to a criminal trial, “the tranquility to which this nation has been restored by the events of recent weeks could be irreparably lost”.

Had the House impeached Nixon, Ford’s hands would have been tied.

Trump is not going to be so lucky. The House will probably impeach him before Christmas and then his chance of getting a pardon for his many crimes will be gone.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/30/trump-impeachment-inquiry-removal

So, we’re considering driving from New Jersey to Chicago. No problem, I-80 goes all the way there, but I’m unfamiliar with the stretch through Pennsylvania and Ohio, which is the longest part of the drive. Just wondering if any of you have traveled that route. Any likely problems? Is it mountainous, is there a section that often shuts down due to bad weather, etc.? I’d appreciate your help, thanks.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/11/deadspins-senseless-death.html

Such a stupid decision. They had a cash cow that would have turned a profit for years, but they seem to be destroying it.

They initially thought the comments weren’t directed at the reporter, until they interviewed more people who said were there. Which put them in the unusual position of firing a coach in the middle of the World Series.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2859682-astros-fire-assistant-gm-brandon-taubman-after-roberto-osuna-comments

“As a nation, we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it 'all men are created equal, except negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty – to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.”

And a few minutes later, this quote, also from Lincoln...

"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God, cannot long retain it."

How sad that some Americans today still need to learn the lessons that Lincoln was trying to teach.

I suggest you show them Shokin’s Wikipedia page...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Shokin

Since 2012, the Ukrainian prosecutor general had been investigating oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky, owner of the oil and natural gas company Burisma Holdings, over allegations of money laundering, tax evasion, and corruption. In 2014, then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, joined the board of directors of Burisma Holdings. In 2015, Shokin became the prosecutor general, inheriting the investigation. The Obama administration and other governments and non-governmental organizations soon became concerned that Shokin was not adequately pursuing corruption in Ukraine, was protecting the political elite, and was regarded as "an obstacle to anti-corruption efforts". Among other issues, he was slow-walking the investigation into Zlochevsky and Burisma – to the extent that Obama officials were considering launching their own criminal investigation into the company for possible money laundering.

While visiting Kiev in December 2015, Joe Biden threatened Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that if he did not fire Shokin, that the US would hold back its $1 billion in loan guarantees. "I looked at them and said, 'I'm leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you're not getting the money.' [...] He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time." Shokin was dismissed by Parliament in late March 2016.

In a sworn notarized affidavit dated September 4, 2019, for a European court, Shokin testified that "On several occasions President Poroshenko asked me to have a look at the [criminal] case against Burisma and consider the possibility of winding down the investigative actions in respect of this company[,] but I refused to close this investigation."

Shokin claimed in May 2019 that he had been investigating Burisma Holdings. However, Vitaliy Kasko, who had been Shokin's deputy overseeing international cooperation before resigning in February 2016 citing corruption in the office, provided documents to Bloomberg News indicating that under Shokin, the investigation into Burisma had been dormant. Also, the investigation into Burisma only pertained to events happening before Hunter Biden joined the company.

So, to summarize...

The issues with Burisma happened before Hunter Biden joined the company.

The concerns with Shokin came from many countries, not just the US, and it concerned the fact that Shokin wasn’t prosecuting corruption. Trump’s assertion that he was doing too good a job is a flat-out lie.

Biden wasn’t trying to prevent an investigation, he was trying to encourage an investigation.

The subsequent investigation only happened after Shokin was removed, and no wrongdoing by either of the Bidens was found.

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/09/27/trump-impeachment-whistleblower-ukraine-004984

I found this particularly interesting...

Trump critics say the president’s habit of firing aides so habitually may hurt him as Congress looks for witnesses and the president tries to stay on message.

“The president’s HR practices are going to come back to haunt him here because he is uncomfortable apparently with truth-tellers in his inner circle,” said Timothy Naftali, a professor of public service at NYU and a co-author of “Impeachment: An American History.”

“He is likely to not get good advice from the acolytes who are left,” Naftali said. “He does not have Don McGahn anymore to tell him not to cross a trip cord.”