ROGER KIMBALL ON THE REAL IMPEACHMENT SCANDAL:

I am so glad that Nancy Pelosi has finally come to her senses and declared — on the floor of the House no less — that impeachment is ‘a hatchet job on the presidency’. Yes, that’s right. The House, said Pelosi, is ‘not judging the president with fairness, but impeaching him with a vengeance’. Nicely phrased! The whole circus, she said, violates ‘fundamental principles that Americans hold dear: privacy, fairness, checks and balances’. Go, Nancy! Not only that, the impeachment process is taking place only because one party is ‘paralyzed with hatred’ of the president, and until they ‘free themselves of this hatred, our country will suffer’. I couldn’t agree more. Indeed, Pelosi was right again that the spectacle of impeachment is ‘about punishment searching for a crime that doesn’t exist’.

SCREECH!! The needle goes scudding across the vinyl disk: wrong impeachment!

That was Nancy Pelosi in 1998 when a Democrat was being impeached, not Pelosi in 2019 when a Republican is in the dock.

Because that’s different, somehow. Read the whole thing.

TO BE FAIR, IF OHIO WERE A COUNTRY, ITS ECONOMY WOUILD BE MUCH BIGGER THAN MOST OTHERS: Ohio gas well blowout leaked more than many countries do in a year.

Ohio’s economy is about the size of Poland’s, which is ranked 21st in the world by GDP.

DECEMBER 20TH:  On this day in 1902, philosopher Sidney Hook was born.  Once a Marxist himself, he became one the world’s fiercest critics of communism and totalitarianism in all its manifestations.  Of his change of heart, he wrote:  “I was guilty of judging capitalism by its operations and socialism by its hopes and aspirations; capitalism by its works and socialism by its literature.” 

SEGREGATION NOW, SEGREGATION TOMORROW, SEGREGATION FOREVER: CU-Boulder hosts minority-only STEM career development retreat.

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KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Democratic Wine Cave Whiteout Edition. “If Biden is the nominee they’re going to need someone who isn’t a living, breathing cry for help every time he or she opens his or her mouth.”

CHINA: Balance of Terror.

The trade war with the Americans has prompted China to accelerate its plan to eliminate dependence on American technology. This includes abandoning the U.S. dominated SWIFT bank transfer system, computer operating systems and the Internet. China is also hustling to replace all the American computer hardware (mainly key components) and software. This won’t happen quickly and may cost the economy more than expected.

More:

Ignoring the official optimism of the Chinese government, a growing number of Chinese government and business leaders believe China is headed for the same fate as Japan in the 1990s, when a real estate bubble triggered a violent and continuing halt in economic growth. The Japanese had allowed a huge real estate bubble to develop and, when economic growth stalled for a bit, a lot of the real estate loans became bad debt and that created an economic crisis Japan is still dealing with. Japanese were angry and being a democracy they elected new politicians. China is not a democracy and a banking crisis like the Japanese went through in the 1990s will create a lot of angry Chinese who cannot, as the saying goes, “vote the rascals out (of office)”.

Inquiring minds will read the entire post.

ROK SUB VISITS GUAM: South Korean sailors aboard the ROKS Yun Bonggil prepare to conduct line handling duties as the submarine arrives at Naval Base Guam. Photo taken June 5, 2019.

ANALYSIS: TRUE.

TAX ALL THE THINGS! Elizabeth Warren: Economists ‘Are Just Wrong’ When They Say $8 Trillion Tax Hike Will Stifle Economy.

STUNNING ADMISSION, CONSIDERING THE SOURCE: Intel Community Blog Founder Admits Nunes Was Right About Spygate From The Beginning.

THIS TRUMP-WEAKENING IMPEACHMENT SCHTICK IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Poll: Trump leads Biden by 6, Sanders by 26, Warren by 30, Buttigieg by 41.

UPDATE: I should note that this is a poll of who people think will win, not necessarily who they themselves support. But that doesn’t undercut the point in the headline.

SPACE: Did you see this in the sky this morning? Boeing’s Starliner capsule makes launch debut, but hits snag. “Everything went flawlessly as the Atlas V rocket soared with the Starliner just before sunrise. But a half-hour into the flight, Boeing reported that the capsule’s insertion into orbit was not normal. Officials said flight controllers were looking into all their options and stressed that the capsule was in a stable orbit, at least for now.”

NOT THE BABYLON BEE: ‘I’m White As Well!’ Bernie Sanders Yells When Debate Moderator Points Out He’s An Old Man.

SO I GOT AN ADVANCE COPY OF STEVE (S.M.) STIRLING’S Shadows of Annihilation. It’s the third book in this series, and from my perspective the best. My complaint about the first one was that he created a really interesting alternate history, but so much of the action was up-close that you didn’t really get to see much of that world. Each of the successor volumes had gotten better in that regard, and the protagonists have become more three dimensional. (I won’t say “realistic,” because this is spy fiction — James Bond isn’t realistic either, though these characters are a bit more realistic than Bond.) At any rate, I very much enjoyed it, and look forward to the next book coming out soon. Highly recommended.

WELL, WHEN YOU PUT IT THAT WAY…

The author of the Vox article, Aja Romano, complains that “Vox is getting totally ratioed by Nazis over my JKR article.” Because anyone who thinks that a woman has the right to speak her mind is obviously a Nazi.

THAT IMPEACHMENT THING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Jeff Van Drew Switches Parties, Pledging ‘Undying Support’ for Trump.

WHY IS HIGHER EDUCATION SUCH A CESSPIT OF SEXISM? Linda Mullenix Files Federal Lawsuit Against University Of Texas Law School Alleging Sex Discrimination, Retaliation, And Violation Of Equal Pay Act.

IT’S COME TO THIS:

UPDATE: House Democratic Whip Willing To Never Send Articles Of Impeachment To Senate. Dems are really showing the courage of their convictions here.

PARTY OF RACISM: African-American Dem Slams DSCC for Tipping the Scales to White Candidates.

UGH: Three unvaccinated children potentially exposed Denver and Los Angeles airport travelers to measles, health officials say.

PHOTO ESSAY: The Hungry Generation. “Malnutrition curses the children of Venezuela.”

Heartbreaking images.