Slapstick impeachment

 The verdict in the Trump Organization fraud trial was expected this week but is likely to be delayed yet again. Judge Arthur Engoron wants more information from the Manhattan DA's office about a deal with CFO Allen Weisselberg on a perjury charge.  Weisselberg is a key witness in both the fraud and the hush-money cases.  There was a time when this amount of legal baggage would sink a campaign for city council, much less the presidency.  We do not live in such a time.

Here's the time we live in:  Mayor Carolyn Goodman of Las Vegas thinks the Oakland A's should remain in Oakland.  The current plan is for the A's (meaning Nevada taxpayers) to build a $1.5 billion stadium on the Las Vegas Strip, which is not under the mayor's jurisdiction.  She proposes a larger parcel of land in north Las Vegas which would be less congested.  Failing that, stay home.  Many cities would crawl over broken glass to attract major league baseball but Vegas is doing fine, thanks.

Rep. Al Green is today's official badass.  He arrived in the Capitol yesterday wearing scrubs and riding in a wheelchair to vote against the impeachment of Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, which failed by two votes.  (One Republican changed his vote at the last minute to prevent a tie, so this time-waster could be re-introduced later.)  Since Steve Scalise was also absent for medical treatment, Johnson thought he could slip it through.  I guess it wasn't the Lord's will, Mike.  

Runner up:  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who's amused at Republicans' inability to accomplish anything besides appeasing Trump.  When an unnamed Republican hinted it might be time for another Speaker change, AOC tweeted, "Would certainly take the pressure off them scrambling to find new post offices to rename each week since that's the only thing they can seem to get the votes for."  She's not wrong.  They can't pass legislation (not that they try), they can't impeach anyone, they can't even come up with a budget.  In an attempt to get Trump on the ballot in Colorado and Maine (before the Supreme Court rules), Gaetz and Stefanik cobbled together a (non-binding) resolution that says Trump "did not engage in insurrection" when he sent a mob to invade the Capitol; it remains to be seen if that will pass.  Their one achievement was expelling George Santos.  I'd love to hear about the post offices some time.

As he often does, Jamie Raskin summed up this month's wasted time in the People's House:

"So the Trump Putin MAGA faction, headed up by the distinguished gentlelady from Georgia, has been given this worthless trinket of a consolation prize:  the opportunity to bring this slapstick impeachment drive against a Cabinet member of unimpeachable integrity who has obviously committed no treason, no bribery, no high crime, no misdemeanors, nothing indictable or even in-DICK-table if you prefer."

[snip] 

"Donald Trump doesn't want a border solution.  He wants a border problem, nothing else to run on.  And Vladimir Putin certainly doesn't want $60 billion going to the heroic people of Ukraine, defying his filthy imperialist invasion.  All over the world, democracy and freedom are under siege today, and all our colleagues can think to do is to sell out our democratic allies and sell out the cause of human rights...I yield back."

Never yield back, Congressman. 

On the Sean Hannity Variety Show, Curtis Sliwa was denouncing New York's program of distributing prepaid food cards to migrant families, live from Times Square, when his wingmen suddenly rushed out of the frame.  As Sliwa excitedly narrated, "Our guys have just taken down one of the migrant guys."  He claimed the "migrant guy" had been shoplifting.  "The Guardian Angels spotted him, stopped him, he resisted and let's just say we gave him a little pain compliance.  His mother back in Venezuela felt the vibrations.  He's sucking concrete.  The cops scraped him off the asphalt...We've got to take 42nd Street back, Sean."  I assume they cut to a commercial while Sliwa ejaculated.

Eric Adams wears a special bracelet that enables him to draw power from crystals deep in the ground and claims God wants him to be mayor, but he is not a sadistic jerk.  Maybe that's why New Yorkers decided, however reluctantly, to elect him instead of this thug.  Find better candidates.  Please.

WHAT IS HE HIDING??!?

Spc. Kennedy L. Sanders was one of three American soldiers who were killed last week in Jordan, and Joe Biden made the obligatory call to her parents.  All presidents but one manage to convey sympathy at this time, but listen to Biden describe the sensory experience of "smelling the clothes in her closet...you'll smile before you cry."  He's been there.  In a recent article Fintan O'Toole called him "The Man of Sorrows."