by Bob Barr | Oct 3, 2019 | Uncategorized |
Morning Consult by BOB BARR & JASON PYE Well, after months of back-and-forth, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has finally caved to the radical base of the Democrat Party and authorized a formal Inquiry of Impeachment. Or, maybe not. It was less than one month ago that the House Judiciary Committee actually did approve a resolution, strictly along party lines, that began what some Democrats claim is an “impeachment investigation” and others call an “impeachment inquiry.” Pelosi recently seemed to agree with both assessments in launching what might best be viewed as a “faux impeachment” process – verbally labeling it an “inquiry” but without a House resolution formally doing so on the record. During an interview last month, Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said that the investigation his committee is conducting “is not necessarily called an impeachment inquiry. That’s a made-up term without legal significance. It is, however, what we are doing.” Clear as mud. Although there is nothing in the rules of the House that requires a formal vote by that chamber in order to authorize the initiation of a presidential impeachment inquiry, in modern practice the House of Representatives votes as a body to instruct the Judiciary Committee to begin such an important process. This also establishes the parameters for such an investigation. The committee then would review information relevant to the inquiry and, if necessary, produce articles of impeachment, which then would be considered by the House as a whole. That was precisely what occurred in the most recent impeachment – that of President Bill Clinton in 1998. That procedure that yielded four very focused and well-documented articles of impeachment (two of which passed the...
by Bob Barr | Oct 2, 2019 | Uncategorized |
CBNNEWS.COM Gary Lane Before President Trump started taking on the “Deep State” and members of the US intelligence community, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) warned him that intelligence officials have “six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.” Now, the former congressman who managed the US House of Representatives impeachment hearings on President Bill Clinton admits US intelligence operatives are playing a serious game of “gotcha” with a “whistleblower” complaint regarding a presidential phone call. The complaint is the foundation of a House of Representatives impeachment inquiry against the president. Former Rep. Bob Barr, a Republican from Georgia, says there has been tension between President Trump and the intelligence community – particularly career intelligence operatives within the intelligence community – since even before Trump was sworn into office in January 2017. Related “So, it’s not surprising in a sense that it would be intelligence operatives that are behind this sabotage of the Trump administration.” And Barr told CBN News the person Democrats and the mainstream media characterize as a “whistleblower” who exposed President Trump’s phone call to the Ukrainian president is not a whistleblower at all. Barr said House Democrats depict the complainant as a true patriot – someone who is protecting America and the Constitution from abuse, but he or she is actually a saboteur. “This is not a patriot, this is not somebody that has pure motives such as was characterized by the Director of National Intelligence (Joseph Maguire) last week,” Barr insisted. “The whole notion of a whistleblower – particularly in the intelligence business – is someone who uncovers something that is an urgent matter...
by Bob Barr | Oct 2, 2019 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com Today’s Democratic Party resembles less the days of John F. Kennedy and the romanticism of Camelot than it does the set of “Kids Say the Darndest Things.” Long gone are stirring speeches encouraging the best from Americans regardless of their political persuasion. Instead we now are treated to profanity-laced riffs from teenagers scolding the rest of us about everything from school shootings to global warming. Today’s Democrats have dived head-first into the shallow end of the Fountain of Youth. From the foul-mouthed David Hogg as the Left’s new voice of gun control, to the shrill scolding of Swedish 16-year old Greta Thunberg as their new global warming cheerleader, Democrats have pushed radical-minded children to the Party’s vanguard. Adult Democrats, of course, would like us to believe this is an organic transformation; with talented young people flourishing in the zeitgeist of the moment. The reality is that this movement represents a deliberate and cynical tactic by Democrats, that more than anything else illustrates the shallowness of their “progressive” platform. There is a reason why the adults of the Party, including Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, are noticeably in the background when kids take the microphone and call for policy positions so extreme they can be taken seriously only by the most rabid activists. This tactic affords Party leaders the benefit but not the risk of being directly associated with an extremist platform that in earlier times would have been laughed out of the halls of Congress. These teenagers are essentially serving as human shields for politicians who love the fervor the kids create, while allowing plausible deniability...
by Bob Barr | Sep 30, 2019 | Uncategorized |
The Daily Caller The spectacle of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff reading a made-up script of the July 25 phone call between President Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky would make it easy to dismiss the entire “Ukrainegate” matter as comic relief. But it appears to be the vehicle by which Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her House majority have decided to begin impeachment of a sitting president of the United States. There is a stench emanating from this episode that reveals it to be something far more sinister than the well-intentioned and patriotic move described by the acting director of the Office of National Intelligence (DNI) in his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee. The person — more accurately, persons — behind the Aug. 12 “whistleblower” complaint sent to the chairmen of both the House and Senate Intelligence committees that has fueled this drive, is not in any reasoned manner a true “whistleblower” complaint. The lead complainant reportedly is employed by the CIA, but clearly is working in cahoots with others embedded in the intelligence community who feed him or her information and corroborate his or her conclusions. Collectively, they are saboteurs; intent on bringing down a duly elected president of the United States of America. While these conspirators hide behind the cloak of “whistleblowers,” theirs is not an effort to simply bring to light evidence of government “fraud, waste or abuse.” Theirs is a cleverly calculated plan, hatched over a period of at least several months, and with the assistance of outside forces, including a so-called “public interest” law firm. The façade here is one of a...
by Bob Barr | Sep 25, 2019 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com It is the end of the world, and progressives are dancing in the streets. If this seems a rather curious, if not bizarre response to a fast-approaching global calamity, you probably do not understand today’s “progressives.” This week’s #ShutDownDC global warming demonstrations have been less a protest than a public exhibition of costumes, dance moves, and pet political causes, many of which are only at-best tangentially related to environmental stewardship. There were LGBT activists gyrating in the streets as confetti rained over them. There were Black Lives Matter advocates and assorted anti-capitalists. Most notably, of course, there were plenty of cameras to capture the pageantry. You would hardly know mankind was only a few “impossible burgers” away from global calamity. Farcical is the only way to accurately describe this circus of a “protest.” No mature and rational person would view the menagerie and think to himself, “You know, this event convinces me that I must do more to protect the environment.” Fundamental changes to public policy, much less sweeping cultural shifts, requires years, if not decades, of hard work – marshalling data, building coalitions, and developing long-term strategies and workable tactics; with the entire endeavor predicated on clearly defined and realistic goals. Ideally, policy changes occur in tandem with private sector advancements. In contrast to the mainstream media’s treatment of the week’s climate change protests as a serious, if not game-changing event, it appears to be more of an opportunity by many participants to see and be seen; an undertaking where the more outrageous the antics, the greater social credibility one gains in the eyes of one’s peers. ...
by Bob Barr | Sep 18, 2019 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com In a world not that long ago, a newspaper’s “Editor’s Note” was used primarily to address minor, factual errors; mistakes like a wrong date or misspelling of a name. Today, however, it increasingly appears to be the only place where actual journalism is transacted; albeit, only after the original article has been published. “Report, thenverify” should be the new masthead motto for The New York Times and other news outlets that have lost all semblance of balance and professionalism. This phenomenon is especially prominent in articles about President Trump and his administration. A “blockbuster” scoop about the president, or Republicans in general, seems to be followed shortly by an editor’s note clarifying the “facts” of the story; and, in many cases, repudiating it altogether. Recall the infamous BuzzFeed article from January, reporting what would have been a devastating blow to Trump, but which was quickly debunked by Robert Mueller himself. And, this week, we see the Times going once again after Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on alleged past sexual misconduct, only to have the crux of the article dunked by a follow-up editor’s note detailing the accuser has no memory of – wait for it – the accusations on which the hit piece is based. Editors blame weak fact checks in the rush to publish first in today’s 24/7 news cycle, but the Mainstream Media’s abhorrent treatment of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh made clear the much more disturbing truth; that when it comes to weaponizing bylines against political enemies, facts are irrelevant when the damage of accusations alone will serve nicely. To cover themselves and their precious “ethics” in this repulsive practice, the Mainstream Media...
