Exactly what the Ukrainian president said

Quid pro no.  Federalist: "NSC Official Tim Morrison To Schiff: ‘I Was Not Concerned That Anything Illegal Was Discussed’ In Trump-Ukraine Phone Call"

Morrison testified that Ukrainian officials were not even aware that certain military funding had been delayed by the Trump administration until late August 2019, more than a month after the Trump-Zelensky call, casting doubt on allegations that Trump somehow conveyed an illegal quid pro quo demand during the July 25 call.

Which is exactly what Ukrainian President Zelensky said in an October 10th press conference.

The NY Times is trash

Twitchy: "Media hardest hit: The hero Photoshopped out of that doctored photo ‘was not offended and laughed’."

Extra - Jim Acosta is a clown.

Of all the drama queens, this is the drama queeniest

Poor Dahlia Lithwick just can't.  "Why I Haven’t Gone Back to SCOTUS Since Kavanaugh."

The enduring memory, a year later, is that my 15-year-old son texted—he was watching it in school—to ask if I was “perfectly safe” in the Senate chamber. He was afraid for the judge’s mental health and my physical health. I had to patiently explain that I was in no physical danger of any kind, that there were dozens of people in the room, and that I was at the very back, with the phalanx of reporters.

Good lord.  Passing it on to the next generation is a form of child abuse.

"Obviously, I'm a top-tier candidate"

Not anymore sister: "Kamala Harris Falls to 3% and Is In Danger of Not Making November Debate, While Tulsi Gabbard Needs One More Good Poll to Make It."

Let's all enjoy this flashback where Kamala dismissed Tulsi because of her poll numbers.  How the turntables have turned!

I'm calling it now

Prediction: Joe Biden will finish in third place in both Iowa and New Hampshire.

There is just zero enthusiasm for this guy.

Sham impeachment roundup

Hot Air: "Draft Resolution Authorizing Impeachment Inquiry Will Let Republicans Call Witnesses — Subject To Adam Schiff’s Approval." 

What could go wrong with that plan?  "Schiff Directing Witnesses Not To Answer GOP Questions."

Twitchy: "Nancy Pelosi and House Dems are playing games."  They can't authorize a real investigation now because that would be a tacit acknowledgment of the current clown show.

But here comes the groundswell "meh": "Poll: only 36% say House should impeach Trump"
And this: "Impeaching Trump not popular in swing states."
Which is why: "Don’t have the votes? House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer won’t commit to a floor vote Thursday."

This Pelosi non-impeachment resolution is hilarious. It goes out of its way to avoid authorizing a specific investigation and delegation of authority and instead repeatedly references an "investigation" that under the rules of the House doesn't even exist. https://t.co/KYIoKkL31J

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) October 29, 2019

The sham impeachment continues apace

Really good article in the WSJ: "This Impeachment Subverts the Constitution" - "It’s nakedly political and procedurally defective, and so far there’s no public evidence of high crimes."

But wait, Nancy Pelosi is here to remedy this: "Finally: House Dems To Vote On Resolution Formalizing Impeachment Proceedings."

Except this is not an impeachment vote: it's merely an ass-covering resolution by the Democrats saying they're allowed to run their Star Chamber.  The jig was up when a reporter committed an act of journalism and tracked down Nancy Pelosi who admitted: "‘It’s Not An Impeachment Resolution’."

Extra - The Last Refuge: "Pelosi is not delivering a House “Resolution on Impeachment” for a vote, because if she did hold a vote on an impeachment resolution, the minority and the Executive branch would gain rights therein."  We can't have that.

More - Althouse: "The vote will take place on Thursday, and it will be presented as whether to “affirm” the inquiry... which seems to say that they don't want to admit that they were doing it wrong, just asking for an affirmation."

ISIS leader dead

This is a breaking story: "Trump describes al-Baghdadi as 'whimpering and crying' before dying in U.S. operation: 'He died like a coward'."

I heard on NPR that the only American casualty was a dog.

Reminder - Trump is scheduled to attend the World Series game tonight.  Should be interesting.  (Whoops: original post said he was going to throw out the first pitch)

Extra - Let's watch the mainstream media spin.  Red State: "CNBC Hack John Harwood Is Really, Really Upset That Al-Baghdadi Was Killed."  "The tweets you are about to see are an absolute clown show."

And this - Glenn Greenwald tweet: "It's genuinely fascinating watching Democrats in real time struggle to figure out what to say about this. They want to be patriotic and anti-ISIS, but also need a way to malign Trump without contradicting their gushing Obama praise over OBL: not an easy balancing act. Good luck!"

Let's never forget the pain of this actual hate crime

Western Massachusetts update: there was a horrible hate crime at (checks notes) Smith College.

NORTHAMPTON - Smith College announced Friday an investigation is underway to find those responsible for drawing swastikas on multiple buildings on the Northampton campus.

Yes, some Nazi sympathizers broke into the elite all-female college deep in the Berkeley of the eastern seaboard.  Most assuredly, this was the work of Massachusetts rednecks and not a Jussie Smolett-style cry for attention.  We shall not rest until these very real perpetrators are brought to justice.

Here comes Hillary 2.0

This quip from Andrew Sullivan made me laugh:

For what it’s worth, I suspect Warren will win the nomination and dutifully lose the election just like Mondale, Dukakis, Gore, Kerry, and the second Clinton. She has that quintessential perfume of smug, well-meaning, mediocre doom that Democrats simply cannot resist.

If I've learned anything from 2016, it's that Americans love a shrill, supercilious, East Coast liberal who lies constantly about things large and small.

Where have I heard this before?

Let's flashback to 1988:

Democratic presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden Jr., a U.S. senator from Delaware, was driven from the nomination battle after delivering, without attribution, passages from a speech by British Labor party leader Neil Kinnock. A barrage of subsidiary revelations by the press also contributed to Biden's withdrawal: a serious plagiarism incident involving Biden during his law school years; the senator's boastful exaggerations of his academic record at a New Hampshire campaign event; and the discovery of other quotations in Biden's speeches pilfered from past Democratic politicians.

The old boy is still at it:

Dude can't even come up with his own lies. https://t.co/r6AbrhbURd

— Dwayne Schneider 🛠 (@DwaynesStache) October 24, 2019

That news isn't fit to print

Victory Girls: "Russia Probe Is Now A Criminal Investigation And New York Times Is Not A Fan."

Never go full Mondale

The Bulwark: "Why Elizabeth Warren Is Never Going to Do Medicare For All."

She's backed herself into a corner where she can't possibly go into the next debate (November 20th) repeating that exhausted mendacity about costs, but she also can't be honest and admit that the middle class will be taxed back into the Stone Age.

How depressing

Hot Air: "Poll: 51% Think The First Amendment Goes Too Far By Allowing Hate Speech And Should Be “Updated” To Reflect Cultural Norms." 

Worst quid pro quo ever

And they tell me that Trump is a master deal maker.  Deroy Murdock: "Pelosi’s Impeachment Express"

Zelensky repeatedly insists that he felt no such pressure to investigate alleged Biden-family corruption in Ukraine. At a joint September 25 news conference with President Trump at the United Nations, Zelensky said, “nobody pushed me.” Zelensky said on October 10, “There was no pressure or blackmail from the U.S.” He spoke during a 14-hour “press marathon” in Kiev, in which he answered unscripted questions from some 300 journalists who interviewed him in 20- to 30-minute sessions, in seven- to ten-member squads. “This call influenced only one thing. We needed to secure a meeting, that it was necessary to meet with the president,” Zelensky added, referring to Trump. “I wanted to show him our team, our young team. I wanted to get him into Ukraine.”

Likewise, Trump did not threaten to withhold U.S. military aid, absent a Ukrainian probe of the Bidens. Though such assets were being withheld at the time, Ukrainian officials were reportedly unaware of this during the July 25 Trump/Zelensky phone call. Zelensky told journalists in Kiev on October 10: “I had no idea the military aid was held up.” These weapons — which Obama never even offered — arrived not long after Trump and Zelensky conversed. Specifically, Zelensky and Vice President Mike Pence spoke in Warsaw on September 1. Zelensky explained: “And after this meeting, the U.S. unlocked the aid and added $140 million. That’s why there was no blackmail.”

So over and over, the Ukrainian President said there was no pressure, he didn't know the aid was delayed, the aid was released, and Trump never got the "quo" to this alleged "quid."  No wonder Adam Schiff has to put on parody shows.

Then magically, the rich handed over their money

Reason Online: "Elizabeth Warren Is Running Out of Fake Money to Pay for Her Terrible Ideas" - "Warren says her wealth tax math "clearly" adds up. It doesn't."

Fauxcahontas was rising in the national polls before the last debate but she's dropped back down since then.  I think her slippery answer on middle-class taxes - if you can call it that - didn't help her.  Now she insists she's developing a plan to fill the $30 trillion hole in Medicare for All.

But, c'mon, she isn't.

It's for your own good, citizen

Your unelected betters are valiantly trying to save you from your choices, and you bumpkins don't even have the decency to say thank you. https://t.co/CRsvNixWi0

— The Partyman (@PartymanRandy) October 21, 2019

That emoluments clause

Volokh Conspiracy: "George Washington and the Emoluments Clauses" - "The Practices of our First President Suggest That President Trump is not violating the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses."

Can you feel the Joe-thusiasm?

Hot Air: "Inquirer Minds Want To Know: What If You Threw A Biden Debate Party And No One Came?"

He was hosting a presidential debate-watching party for Joe Biden supporters just blocks from the former vice president’s national campaign headquarters. He didn’t expect a big crowd, but in the end only one other person showed up.

The two men watched in silence and both left before the three-hour debate ended.

Many months ago, I thought that Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris were candidate who could beat Trump.  I was very, very wrong about the latter.  Mayor Pete?  He's on the rise.

Medicare for all!

Two from Peter Suderman: "Medicare for All Is All Democrats Want To Talk About" - "Health care policy has dominated the early 2020 debates, and Obamacare has few defenders left."

"On Medicare for All, Elizabeth Warren Is Fundamentally Dishonest" - "Her refusal to answer a question about taxes isn’t just dodgy; it’s designed to mislead."