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route22ny · 4 years

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The impeachment trial of Donald Trump see-sawed between the heights of soaring rhetoric from the Democratic managers and the lows of crackpot lawyering from the president’s team — against the background of craven submission by the Republicans to the president’s demand for no witnesses and an acquittal.

The bright spot in the proceedings was the eloquence and intelligence of the House managers. Some were standouts, but everyone was extremely well prepared and professional. This stood in stark contrast to the president’s team.

As a former member of the House Judiciary Committee during the Nixon impeachment, which has long been called the gold standard for such proceedings, I know that some of the arguments made by Alan Dershowitz and the rest of the Trump team were utterly false. Their claim that abuse of power does not constitute an impeachable offense and that the president must engage in criminal conduct to be impeached would have been laughed at 45 years ago when we voted three articles of impeachment against Nixon.

In fact, those articles of impeachment never charged Nixon with a crime and never referenced a criminal statute. The second article of impeachment was entirely framed as one involving an abuse of power — and we called it the abuse of power article at the time. Dershowitz and the rest of the president’s team dishonestly ignored the Nixon precedent.

Even worse, Dershowitz claimed that presidential actions undertaken for the purpose of getting re-elected are not impeachable. In other words, the ends justify the means. So, it’s okay for a president to use the powers of office to bully a foreign country into interfering in an election to help the president win. Is it then okay for the president to shoot political opponents to win an election?

Of course, re-election doesn’t excuse presidential abuses. We proved that in the Nixon impeachment. Nixon’s abuses mainly involved his efforts to win re-election by covering up the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters by his campaign. Nixon was impeached by the Judiciary Committee — and would have been convicted in the Senate if he hadn’t resigned. Again, astonishingly, the Trump team deceptively ignored this obvious precedent.

They have rewritten history in a way that would make Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Putin proud.

It was also disappointing, but not surprising, to see the Trump team and the Republican senators resort to distractions. One of those distractions was the whistleblower, who first brought Trump’s misconduct to light. The whistleblower had no firsthand information about Trump and Ukraine, and the whistleblower’s testimony would not be relevant. Still, one of the senators tried to out the whistleblower.

It was impressive to see Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts refuse to ask the senator’s question that would have named the whistleblower. The chief justice understood the vindictiveness and inappropriateness of the question.

Finally, the issue of witnesses. While the Trump articles of impeachment were backed with substantial evidence, additional witnesses would have provided a fuller picture of Trump’s misconduct. But Trump covered up, refusing to make key witnesses and documents public. Trump’s team couldn’t — or wouldn’t — even say when Trump first imposed a halt on the military aid to Ukraine. They repeated the false mantra that there was no evidence that Trump connected the cutoff in military aid to the political investigations, despite evidence to the contrary.

John Bolton, the former national security adviser, and Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s acting chief of staff, could have further demolished that claim. They and others should have been subpoenaed to testify.

Ironically, despite fighting off every request for additional facts, the Trump team had no qualms about smearing Joe Biden and his son, disregarding facts to the contrary. Like their client, they showed little regard for the truth.

The see-no-evil, hear-no-evil approach when it comes to Donald Trump is bad for the Senate and bad for America. The public is entitled to the truth about presidential misconduct. But when a president abuses his power and hides the facts, the public must rely on the other institutions of government to reveal them. If the Senate refuses to discover the facts, it lets our country down. It makes it possible for this president to continue to abuse his power to interfere with our elections and engage in other abuses. It sends a similar signal of impunity to future presidents. That undermines our democracy and puts us on the road to tyranny. This, it seems, will be the unfortunate lesson of this Trump impeachment trial.

Holtzman, a former member of Congress, served on the House Judiciary Committee that voted to impeach President Richard Nixon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Holtzman

#trump impeachment #mockery of justice #republican coverup #elizabeth holtzman #NYDN

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congressarchives · 6 years

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The Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues, originally known as the Congresswomen’s Caucus, was founded in 1977 as a bipartisan membership organization committed to championing women’s issues. The Caucus was originally co-chaired by Rep. Margaret M. Heckler (R-MA, 1967-1982) and Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman (D-NY, 1973-1980).

On July 10, 1979, the Caucus wrote a formal letter recommending the nomination of Ruth Bader Ginsburg for a position on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Ginsburg was not nominated for the seat referenced in the letter, but was shortly thereafter nominated by President Carter to a seat previously held by Judge Harold Leventhal. Ginsburg was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by the Senate on June 18, 1980. She went on to be nominated as Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States by President Clinton in 1993.

General Correspondence, Records of the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues, U.S. House of Representatives, Record Group 233

#RBG #Ruth Bader Ginsburg #the notorious rbg #women #congressional caucus for women's issues #US National Archives #US Congress #bipartisan #margaret heckler #elizabeth holtzman #us supreme court #Jimmy Carter #US Court of Appeals #district of columbia #US Senate #Bill Clinton

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rockislandadultreads · 2 years

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Light Reads: Book Recs

The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin

Forty-four-year-old Alice Holtzman is stuck in a dead-end job, bereft of family, and now reeling from the unexpected death of her husband. Alice has begun having panic attacks whenever she thinks about how her life hasn't turned out the way she dreamed. Even the beloved honeybees she raises in her spare time aren't helping her feel better these days. In the grip of a panic attack, she nearly collides with Jake--a troubled, paraplegic teenager with the tallest mohawk in Hood River County--while carrying 120,000 honeybees in the back of her pickup truck. Charmed by Jake's sincere interest in her bees and seeking to rescue him from his toxic home life, Alice surprises herself by inviting Jake to her farm. And then there's Harry, a twenty-four-year-old with debilitating social anxiety who is desperate for work. When he applies to Alice's ad for part-time farm help, he's shocked to find himself hired. As an unexpected friendship blossoms among Alice, Jake, and Harry, a nefarious pesticide company moves to town, threatening the local honeybee population and illuminating deep-seated corruption in the community. The unlikely trio must unite for the sake of the bees--and in the process, they just might forge a new future for themselves.

Chorus by Rebecca Kauffman

For readers of Alice Munro, Elizabeth Strout, and Claire Lombardo, Chorus shepherds seven siblings through two life-altering events—their mother's untimely death, and a shocking teenage pregnancy—that ultimately follow them through their lives as individuals and as a family. The seven Shaw siblings have long been haunted by two early and profoundly consequential events. Told in turn back and forth over time, from the early twentieth century through the 1950s, each sibling relays their own version of the memories that surround both their mother's mysterious death and the circumstances leading up to and beyond one sister's scandalous teenage pregnancy. As they move into adulthood, the siblings assume various new roles: caretaker to their aging father, addict, enabler, academic, decorated veteran, widow, and mothers and fathers to the next generation. Entangled in a family knot, each sibling encounters divorce, drama, and death, while haunted by a mother who was never truly there. Through this lens, they all seek not only to understand how her death shaped their family, but also to illuminate the insoluble nature of the many familial experiences we all encounter—the concept of home, the tenacity that is a family’s love, and the unexpected ways through which healing can occur.

Grown-Up Pose by Sonya Lalli

A delightfully modern look at what happens for a young woman when tradition, dating, and independence collide, from acclaimed author Sonya Lalli. Adulting shouldn’t be this hard. Especially in your thirties. Having been pressured by her tight-knit community to get married at a young age to her first serious boyfriend, Anu Desai is now on her own again and feels like she is starting from the beginning. But Anu doesn’t have time to start over. Telling her parents that she was separating from her husband was the hardest thing she’s ever done—and she’s still dealing with the fallout. She has her young daughter to support and when she invests all of her savings into running her own yoga studio, the feelings of irresponsibility send Anu reeling. She’ll be forced to look inside herself to learn what she truly wants.

Harry's Trees by Jon Cohen

The first thing you learn when you climb a tree is to hold on. Now it’s time for Harry to learn to let go… Thirty-four-year-old Harry Crane, lifelong lover of trees, works as an analyst in a treeless US Forest Service office. When his wife dies in a freak accident, devastated, he makes his way to the remote woods of northeastern Pennsylvania’s Endless Mountains, intent on losing himself. But fate intervenes in the form of a fiercely determined young girl named Oriana. She, too, has lost someone—her father. And in the magical, willful world of her reckoning, Oriana believes that Harry is the key to finding her way back to him. As Harry agrees to help the young girl, the unlikeliest of elements—a tree house, a Wolf, a small-town librarian and a book called The Grum’s Ledger—come together to create the biggest sensation ever to descend upon the Endless Mountains…a golden adventure that will fulfill Oriana’s wildest dreams and open the door to a new life for Harry.

#fiction #adult fiction #Book Recommendations #reading recommendations #booklr #book tumblr #book blog #library books #light reading #easy reads #contemporary fiction #to read #tbr #book recs

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usnatarchives · 4 years

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Shirley Chisholm “Unbought and unbossed”

President Ford signs the proclamation for Women's Equality Day 1974, with representatives: Yvonne Brathwait Burke, Barbara Jordan, Elizabeth Holtzman , Marjorie S. Holt, Leonor K. Sullivan, Cardiss Collins, Corinne C. Boggs (, Margaret M. Heckler, Bella S. Abzug, and Shirley Chisholm. 12082600

President Nixon meets with the Black Caucus, Augustus Hawkins, William Clay, Ronald Dellums, Robert Finch, George Romney, Ralph Metcalfe, George Collins, Robert Nix, Clark MacGregor, John Conyers, Louis Stokes, Charles Rangel, Donald Rumsfeld, James Hodgson, Parren Mitchell, Shirley Chisholm , Charles Diggs, Jr., 3/25/71. 7822054

President Clinton greets Shirley Chisholm, Ambassador-Designate to Jamaica, Image by Robert McNeely. 7/30/1993, 2842929

By Dena Lombardo, Intern, Office of Public and Media Communications.

Shirley Chisholm once said, “if they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”

Chisholm was a teacher, a co-founder of Unity Democratic Club in Brooklyn, an early member of the National Organization for Women (NOW), an active member of the NAACP, and a trailblazer.

In 1968, she became the first black congresswoman elected to the House of Representatives to represent New York State. She then ran for president in 1972, becoming first black person to seek the presidential nomination from one of the two major parties. She was the first black person and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. She was also the first woman to participate in a U.S. presidential debate.

Her campaign slogan, “unbought and unbossed,” emphasized her strength and independence.

Given Chisholm’s opposition to the Vietnam War, she faced opposition from outside and within the Democratic establishment. Many viewed her as a symbol, not a serious political candidate. Chisholm said that she faced more discrimination being as woman than for being black.

She won 152 delegates before she withdrew from the race.

In her book The Good Fight, Chisholm declared, “I ran for the presidency, despite hopeless odds, to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo… The next time a woman runs, or a Black, a Jew or anyone from a group that the country is ‘not ready’ to elect to its highest office, I believe that he or she will be taken seriously from the start.”

Chisholm retired to Florida in 1991. In 1993, President Clinton nominated her to be United States Ambassador to Jamaica, but she declined the nomination due to illness.

In 1993 Chisholm was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame, and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama in 2015.

#womens history month #african american women #jamaica #clinton library #obama library #presidential medal of freedom #naacp #national organization for women

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rabbitcruiser · 3 years

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Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn (No. 5)

The subway trains crossing the Manhattan Bridge had a major impact on its condition (see § Trackage history), and the bridge started to tilt to one side based on how many trains used that side. This had supposedly been a problem since the tracks opened in 1917. In 1956, the bridge was renovated in order to rectify this tilt. However, by 1978, the Manhattan Bridge had deteriorated to such a point that the United States Congress voted to allocate money to repair the bridge, as well as several others in New York City. Minor repair work started in 1982. A discretionary grant for $50 million was allocated to these bridges' repairs in 1985. The first phase of repairs started that year. The bridge's condition was blamed on the imbalance in the number of trains crossing the bridge, as well as deferred maintenance during the New York City fiscal crisis of the 1970s.

In April 1986, workers temporarily closed the Manhattan-bound roadway on the upper level in order to repair the deck there. The north-side subway tracks, underneath the Manhattan-bound roadway, were also closed during this time. In December 1987, inspectors also shut one lane of the lower level due to a crack in the deck. The New York City Department of Transportation published a list of 17 structurally deficient bridges in the city. Among them was the Manhattan Bridge, which needed $166 million in repairs to fix "cable anchors and torsion of steel members as subways cross". Repairs on the northern side of the Manhattan Bridge were complete by the end of 1988, and the subway tracks on the north side were reopened. Simultaneous with the reopening of the north side, the south-side tracks were closed. In 1991, trucks were banned from the lower level because they were too heavy for the decaying bridge.

"Major" repair work on the southern side began in 1992. The Yonkers Construction Company was awarded a $97.8 million contract for the repair project in August 1992. City Comptroller Elizabeth Holtzman originally denied the contract to the company because of concerns about corruption, but she was overridden by Mayor David Dinkins, who wanted to complete repairs quickly. At the same time, the NYCDOT increased the frequency of maintenance inspections for the bridge, after inspectors found holes in beams that had been deemed structurally sound during previous inspections. The Brooklyn-bound roadway on the upper level was closed from 1993 to 1996 so that side of the bridge could be repaired. The bridge repairs were repeatedly delayed as the renovation process uncovered more serious structural problems underlying the bridge. The original plans had been to complete the renovations by 1995 for $150 million, but by 1996, the renovation was slated to be complete in 2003 at a cost of $452 million. By 2001, it was estimated that the total cost of the renovations had reached half a billion dollars, including $260 million for the south side and another $175 million for the north side. At the time, the NYCDOT had set a January 2004 deadline for the renovation.

The arch and colonnade had also become deteriorated, having become covered with graffiti and dirt. The enclosed plaza within the colonnade had been used as a parking lot by the New York City Police Department, while the only remaining portion of the large park surrounding the arch and colonnade, at Canal and Forsyth Streets, had accumulated trees. The arch and colonnade themselves had open joints in the stonework, as well as weeds, bushes, and small trees growing at their top. The arch and colonnade were restored starting in the late 1990s, with the restoration being completed in April 2001 for $11 million. The project entailed cleaning the structures and installing 258 floodlights.

Source: Wikipedia

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fordlibrarymuseum · 4 years

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“As a Republic dedicated to liberty and justice for all, this Nation cannot deny equal status to women.”

President Ford signed a proclamation designating August 26 as Women’s Equality Day on August 22, 1974. That date honored the addition of the Nineteenth Amendment, which guaranteed women the right to vote, into the Constitution on August 26, 1920. Thirteen of the 16 women serving in the House of Representatives joined him for the signing ceremony.

In the proclamation President Ford noted his previous backing of the Equal Rights Amendment and his intention to continue supporting women’s fight against discriminatory barriers that held them back. “Today I want to reaffirm my personal commitment to that amendment,” he stated. “The time for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment has come just as surely as did the time for the 19th Amendment.”

President Ford would also issue proclamations for Women’s Equality Day in 1975 and 1976. Each year he called “upon those States who have not ratified the Equal Rights Amendment to give serious consideration to its ratification and the upholding of our Nation's heritage.”

View more posts from our 19th Amendment Centennial series.

Images: President Gerald R. Ford Signing the Proclamation on Women’s Equality Day 1974 in the Cabinet Room, 8/22/1974. Standing behind him are Representatives Yvonne Brathwait Burke (D-CA), Barbara Jordan (D-TX), Elizabeth Holtzman (D-NY), Marjorie S. Holt (R-MD), Leonor K. Sullivan (D-MO), Cardiss Collins (D -IL), Corinne C. Boggs (D-LA), Margaret M. Heckler (R-MA), Bella S. Abzug (D-NY), and Shirley Chisholm (D-NY). (National Archives Identifier 12082600)

President Gerald R. Ford’s Proclamation for Women’s Equality Day 1974, 8/22/1974 (National Archives Identifier 16637368)

#women's equality day #equal rights amendment #women's rights #history #women's history #presidents #Gerald Ford #women in congress #Archives19thAt100

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libertyfreak2014 · 3 years

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phroyd · 5 years

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Impeach The Fucking Bastard! - Phroyd

DEAR HOUSE DEMOCRATS,

You told us to be patient. You told us to be cautious. You told us to wait for Robert Mueller.

Well, the time for waiting is over. And the moment for impeachment hearings has arrived.

Forget the mendacious Attorney General William Barr, and his repeated — and repeatedly dishonest — attempts to summarize and spin the special counsel’s report prior to publication.

You now have access to the report itself, and even the “lightly redacted” 448 pages provide you with a clear and detailed road map for impeaching Donald Trump, in line with Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution: “The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Listen to special counsel Robert Mueller. “With respect to whether the President can be found to have obstructed justice by exercising his powers under Article II of the Constitution, we concluded that Congress has authority to prohibit a President’s corrupt use of his authority in order to protect the integrity of the administration of justice,” he writes, adding: “The conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the President’s corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law.”

Got that? The special counsel — who listed 11 instances of potential obstruction of justice in his report and refused to “exonerate” the president — placed the decision firmly in your court. This is the impeachment referral you claimed you were waiting for.

Trump, in Mueller’s view, may not have committed an “underlying crime” in relation to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election — but this is frankly irrelevant to the case for impeachment. Listen to one of the 13 managers sent from your august body to prosecute the case against President Bill Clinton in the Senate in 1999. “You don’t even have to be convicted of a crime to lose your job [as president] in this constitutional republic if this body determines your conduct as a public official is clearly out of bounds in your role,” said then Republican representative — and now senator — Lindsay Graham. The process of impeachment, he argued, “is about restoring honor and integrity to the office.”

This is your duty — your obligation! You must restore some sense of honor and integrity to the office of the presidency.

Listen to your Republican and Democratic predecessors, who served on the House Judiciary Committee in July 1974 and published three articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon. The first article focused on obstruction of justice and cited the president’s “false or misleading public statements for the purpose of deceiving the people of the United States.” It also cited Nixon’s efforts “to cause prospective defendants, and individuals duly tried and convicted, to expect favored treatment and consideration in return for their silence or false testimony, or rewarding individuals for their silence or false testimony.”

I defy any of you to read the special counsel’s report and conclude that this president did not lie, lie, and lie again. He lied about Russian interference in the 2016 election; he lied about his campaign’s contacts with Russians; he lied about the covering up of his campaign’s contacts with Russians. Take the infamous Trump Tower meeting in June 2016. The president personally dictated a statement on behalf of his son, Donald Trump Jr., which claimed that the latter and a Russian lawyer had met in Trump Tower to “primarily” discuss “a program about the adoption of Russian children.” Here is what Mueller says, however, about the purpose of that meeting: “The Campaign anticipated receiving information from Russia that could assist candidate Trump’s electoral prospects, but the Russian lawyer’s presentation did not provide such information.”

I also defy any of you to read the special counsel’s report and conclude that this president did not try and offer “favored treatment” and “rewards” to witnesses and defendants in the Russia investigation, à la Nixon. (Sample quote from Mueller: “Many of the President’s acts directed at witnesses, including discouragement of cooperation with the government and suggestions of possible future pardons, occurred in public view … And no principle of law excludes public acts from the scope of obstruction statutes.”)

Listen to former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman, who served on the House Judiciary Committee in 1974 and is author of the recent book, “The Case for Impeaching Trump.” “In light of the Nixon precedent,” she told me over the phone on Thursday, evidence from the Mueller report “strengthens the claim that Trump committed impeachable offenses.” The parallels between Trump and Nixon, Holztman said, “are much stronger than they were before.”

Look, I get it. You’re afraid. You’re afraid of the backlash from your Republican counterparts. You’re afraid of losing in the Senate, where — right now — you lack a majority to convict Trump. You’re afraid that impeachment hearings will distract from your party’s 2020 presidential campaign.

But your job, first and foremost, is to preserve democracy and protect the rule of law. That’s the job assigned to you by the Constitution and also what’s expected of you by the American people. You cannot walk away from it.

Your leader in the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said last month — prior to the publication of the Mueller report — that she believes impeaching Trump is “just not worth it.” Sorry, what? If a president who has repeatedly and brazenly misled the American people; welcomed the interference of a foreign government in the U.S. election process while also trying to benefit from it; obstructed justice on multiple occasions in order to try and cover it all up; and also — lest we forget! — praised neo-Nazis as “very fine people,” is not “worth” impeaching, then … which president is? When will it ever be “worth” it?

And what, then, is the point of Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution? If you’re not willing to remove this president from office, in the wake of this damning report, you might as well remove the impeachment clause from the Constitution. If not Trump, who?

According to the special counsel’s report, Trump’s response to Mueller’s appointment in May 2017 was to exclaim, “Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I’m fucked.”

Well, House Democrats, the truth is that he isn’t “fucked” until you do your job.

Sincerely,

Mehdi Hasan

Phroyd

#trump #mueller #impeachment

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bountyofbeads · 5 years

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Republicans Say Impeachment Will Backfire. History Says It Won’t

By Ryan Teague Beckwith | Published September 26, 2019 | Bloomberg | Posted September 26, 2019 1:05 PM ET

(Bloomberg) -- Citing their experience in the 1990s, Republicans warned Democrats this week that an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine would backfire politically.

History, however, doesn’t back up that assertion.

Only three U.S. presidents have ever faced a serious threat of removal by Congress – Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton -- and in each case the party that initiated the inquiry ended up benefiting in the next election.

“The idea that Democrats are going to have a political loss from this – maybe they will,” said Elizabeth Holtzman, a member of the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate scandal, which led to Nixon’s resignation. “But the Nixon impeachment doesn’t show that. It shows an amazing victory.”

In setting in motion the impeachment inquiry, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi runs the risk of voter backlash in 2020, especially for Democrats who wrested seats from Republicans last November.

Brenda Wineapple, author of “The Impeachers,” said that Republicans who impeached but failed to convict Johnson after the Civil War “didn’t suffer politically,” as they maintained control of Congress and their party’s candidate, Ulysses Grant, won the White House in the 1868 elections.

The same was true for the impeachment inquiry that led to Nixon’s resignation in 1974, as Democrats substantially increased their majority in Congress and won back the White House two years later.

And in 1998, amid the Republican drive to impeach Clinton for lying under oath and obstruction of justice, the GOP retained control of both chambers of Congress, and won the White House two years later.

Nonetheless, the conventional wisdom has long been that the Clinton impeachment effort hurt Republicans because they lost House seats in the 1998 midterm elections.

Former Representative Martin Frost, who led the Democratic House campaign effort in 1998, said that the main problem for House Republicans that year was that they made impeachment their “closing argument.”

“They overplayed their hand,” he said.

The timing was a key factor. The Republicans voted to start impeachment proceedings on Oct. 8, 1998, just weeks before the midterms. In late October, Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich engineered a TV advertising blitz in key House districts focusing on Clinton’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

Republicans thought the effort would bolster their House majority. When they instead lost five seats, Gingrich resigned. The Senate then failed to convict Clinton, and he finished his second term with high approval ratings.

For that reason, many Republicans have argued that a Trump impeachment would backfire.

After Pelosi announced her decision on Tuesday, Trump said it would be “a positive for me” and help him win re-election, while the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee argued that it would cost Democrats the House majority. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican who was in the Senate at the time, argued last year that the Clinton impeachment “improved the president’s approval rating and tanked ours.”

But political scientists say that leaves out the effect on the presidential election two years later. Impeachment and the scandal that brought it about complicated Vice President Al Gore’s presidential campaign, leading to a narrow victory by Republican George W. Bush, who pledged to “restore honor and dignity” to the White House.

Christopher Lawrence, a professor of political science at Middle Georgia State University who has studied Clinton’s impeachment, said Democrats are also in a much different position now. Polls show Republicans are already highly supportive of Trump and extremely enthusiastic about voting in 2020, so impeachment may not change much among those voters, especially when the election is still 13 months away.

“I don’t think at this point there’s anything that you can do to motivate Trump supporters more than they already are to vote for him in 2020,” he said. “Really, the question is whether” will motivate Democrats to vote.”

That’s not to say every lawmaker involved in impeachment escapes unscathed.

In the 2000 election, Democrats targeted House impeachment manager James Rogan, a California Republican, for defeat, and they later blocked him from a federal judicial nomination. Georgia Democrats redrew impeachment manager Bob Barr’s congressional district in a way that led to his loss in a Republican primary.

Yet those who have been on the front lines of past impeachments stressed that ultimately, political considerations shouldn’t matter.

“It ought to be irrelevant,” Barr said. “If a majority of the members of the House believe the president has committed an impeachable offense, then regardless of where the political chips may fall, they have an obligation to proceed.”

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shihtzuman · 4 years

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juniper-and-lamplight · 5 years

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2019 Femslash February Recs

It’s Femslash February! Which means it’s time for some RECS. Here you’ll find multifandom femslash fics, as well as a few not-quite-femslash fics that focus on female characters. My femslash reading is all over the place, and this list follows suit: some recs are new, some are collected from earlier rec posts; all are in alphabetical order by fandom, at least. Recs below the cut, and please remember to show your love with kudos and comments!

Code Name Verity Wind, Sand, Devotion - montparnasse, read by fire_juggler - 6k, 53min, T, Maddie/Julie "Empty spaces want for filling, and Maddie Brodatt is overflowing." A gorgeous, sensitive pod of a hauntingly lovely fic.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency A Moment of Clarity - electricteatime | @kieren-fucking-walker - 7k, G, Farah/Tina “Farah is saved from answering when Tricia promptly throws up on her own shoes. She would be more annoyed, but in the moment she finds herself too preoccupied to care. Girls with girls. There’s a thought." If you believe that Farah Adrienne Black deserves ALL the love and acceptance, from herself and from others, then you absolutely must read this fic.

real and okay and beautiful - embraidery | @blueandnoah - 2.8k, G, Farah/Tina/Amanda (but mostly just friendship) "Mona's feeling down in the dumps (body insecurities) and her friends try to help her feel better about it all!" Do you love awesome women supporting each other and feeling free? If so, read this!

Keep the Home Fires Burning - @flightinflame - 16k, M, Farah/Tina, AU "Bergsberg is a small town off the beaten track. For Project Vesta, a Blackwing runaway, it offers a fresh start and the chance of a friend in the town's sheriff." A painful, cathartic fic that gives Tina’s character some real attention, and gives Farah and Tina the happiness they deserve.

pray for the thunder and the rain - inkyfishes - 7k, T, Farah/Amanda "A Farah-centric slice of a possible future. Everything has gone wrong. Everything is broken. Farah works through her anxiety whilst beginning their lives on the run. Her place in the universe is, as yet, undecided." An excellent and all-too-brief glimpse into Farah’s psyche, with a steady undercurrent of Faranda.

i was born in a summer storm (i live there still) - janeseyre - 10k, G, Farah & Todd & Dirk "Farah confronts the vestiges of her past as she, Dirk, and Todd travel east to visit her mother. It turns out Farah isn’t as over her father’s death as she thought she was." A deeper look into Farah’s families, both biological and chosen; full of lovely little smile moments and Farah getting the closure she deserves.

Never Played It Cool - @lavellington - 1.8k, T, Farah/Amanda "Dude," Amanda says, squeezing her tight while her hair tickles Farah's face. "It's so good to see you." "You too," Farah says, meaning it, and when they break apart Amanda's hands linger on her shoulders for a second longer than they have to, and that's nice. That's enough to feed her borderline pathetic crush for a week, at least.” Short, sweet, a tiny bit steamy, and beautifully in-character.

Hold Her Fast - Lynds | @gold-from-straw - 11.9k, T, Farah/Amanda, AU "Farah Black is the new girl in Amanda's school, and she's captivating. Everyone has a story about her. Amanda just can't quite figure out why her entire being is so totally aware of her, why her skin prickles when she's around, why Farah looks more real than anyone else she's ever known." I’m not typically into high school AUs, but this one is funny, moving, angsty, and gloriously DEFIANT.

Firearms Proficiency 101 - @nekosmuse - 3k, T, Farah/Amanda "I can't believe you took me to your private shooting range on our first date. That is so punk." Do you enjoy awkward Faranda? ME TOO. Especially stuff like Farah saying: "I... I am... into you as well." These nerds <3

you will soothe my worried looks - orphan_account - 2k, T, Farah/Amanda “Farah sees a therapist. It's a strange journey, but not one she needs to take alone." I would read many thousands more words of Farah in therapy, honestly.

there's cell reception on this widow's walk - strix_alba - 2k, T, Farah/Tina "In which Tina sort-of-kind-of asks Farah to stay with her in Bergsberg, and Farah kind-of-sort-of wants to say yes." Clumsy flirting, Farina styles! Tina mentally describes the Jacket Team as a “bunch of hot, uptight weirdos,” which is p e r f e c t.

Coincidental - tastewithouttalent - 3.7k, M, Farah/Tina "It turns out that blue is a ridiculously good color against the dark of Farah’s skin, and also that that shirt fits her better than any shirt has any right to fit anyone, and also apparently Tina has more of a uniform kink than she realized she did." You just have to love a babbling, awkwardly-crushing Tina.

(Note: this rec list isn't meant to be About Me, buuuuut if you’re into DGHDA femslash, I’ve written a few Farina fics you might enjoy.)

Ghostbusters (2016) Celebrate the Me Yet To Come - Vera (Vera_DragonMuse), read by @revolutionaryjo - 6k, 37min, M, Jillian/Erin "She is deeply strange and strangely deep. She looks in the void and the void blinks first. This is how Jillian Holtzman makes herself." Holtzmann is such a fantastically odd character, it's so enjoyable to dig into her past and her passions.

i don't wanna give you up (i don't wanna let you love somebody else but me) - @notcaycepollard, read by RevolutionaryJo - 3k, 20min, E, Jillian/Erin "Erin Gilbert is not the second or even the fifth straight girl Jillian’s ever fallen for, and it’s kind of getting to be a problem, except when she sees Dr Erin Gilbert, she thinks, maybe, this woman might be a statistical outlier." Closely observed, funny, hot, and the narrative voice is perfect.

Gilmore Girls Suggestions (And Mallomars) - Mosca | @moscarific, 3.3k, T, Rory/Paris "Identity, chocolate, mother-daughter relations, and the importance of voting: scenes from the first 90 days." Hands down, this is a more plausible (and enjoyable) romance than any of the ones that actually occurred in canon.

Harry Potter Library Solicitation - @gracerene09 - 1k, G, Cho/Hermione "It's not as if it's unusual for a solicitor to spend so much time in the Law Library of the Ministry of Magic. Hermione has a lot of cases to prepare for, after all. It certainly has nothing to do with how helpful and interesting and surprisingly funny their newest librarian is." As a librarian, I'm verrrry picky about librarian fics, but this was adorable.

The violets and the bloodroot - @lbmisscharlie - 908 words, G, Hermione/Luna "Luna strokes the underside of one tentacle; the plant hums. Hermione’s skin feels warm, her breath humid. The Room of Requirement offers up many things." Short, but vivid and memorable.

Winter Like a Balm - Lomonaaeren - 2k, T, Ginny/Luna "The first winter after Fred's death, Ginny escapes into the Forbidden Forest with Luna and her unicorns." A gentle but deeply felt story about grief and loss that brings Ginny through to the other side, to the terror/joy of allowing herself to feel hopeful again.

Grazed Knees - montparnasse - 5k, T, Luna/Ginny "The war is over, except that it isn't, and Ginny is done fighting, except that she's not." The mood in this one is so evocative, and I love it so much.

Blood Magic and Rebirth (or, The One Where They Are All Feminist Academics) - notcaycepollard - 1k, G "Moon cups, Luna thinks. Moon cups and blood magic. And she remembers the old itch under her skin, and a music box fluttering into a flock of birds, and wonders just how powerful it could be." Not femslash, but this fic is 1000% headcanon for me now.

Trust A Few - @violetclarity - 13.2k, T, Hermione/Pansy "Hermione has a pregnant adopted sister, parents who don’t believe she’s bisexual, and a crush the size of the Great Lake on Pansy Parkinson. Taking Pansy up on her offer to be Hermione’s fake date to her parents’ Christmas dinner could solve at least one of those problems...but it could also make everything worse." Half holiday romcom, half character study of adult Hermione her relationships (both romantic and familial).

Independent Love Song - @writcraft - 6.2k, E, Ginny/Millie "Millicent Bulstrode is a tailor and Ginny is losing her mind over a woman in a tweed blazer and burgundy brogues." I saw the summary and thought “hell yes,” and then I read the fic and upgraded that to a “FUCK YES PLEASE.” I love dapper butch Millie, and just-out but all-in Ginny, and also I would like to own ALL of Millie’s clothes.

His Dark Materials Selected Moments in Introductory Symbology - @kaydeefalls - 5.6k, G, Lyra/OFC "Lyra in Oxford after the Fall, relearning the alethiometer and discovering a life of her own." A poignant yet hopeful follow-up to the original trilogy, with characterization that feels very authentic while still allowing for growth.

Merlin A Statue Strong Enough for Two - @theladyragnell, read by exmanhater - 39k, 3hrs 30min, E, Elena/Mithian "Elena is a street-level superhero. A visit from an old enemy forces her to step up and see what she might have to do with the Sidhe who invaded and were sent away twenty years ago. Luckily, she has fellow superheroes to back her up, and a new girlfriend in her regular life to make things feel more normal." I admit that I was skeptical going in, but the characterization and world-building in this AU is strong and absorbing.

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries Rise and reprove the insolent daylight - lbmisscharlie - 3k, E, Phryne/Mac "Mac takes a breath; Phryne exhales. The trailing skirt of Phryne’s shining dress – starlight and sparkle – brushes the backs of Mac’s hands as she slides them up to Phryne’s knees. Her stockings are soft; her thighs fall open, softly, under Mac’s hands, which clench, just slightly, with the heat that sends to her gut." Lush and laden with sensory details and weighty emotion

Every Day's Most Quiet Need - @tiltedsyllogism - 22k, unrated, Phryne/Mac, Phryne/Jack "Doctor Elizabeth Macmillan does not traffick in regrets...if Mac occasionally longs for a time before her friend became somehow distracted by the stiff shoe that is Inspector Jack Robinson— well, one must always endure some bad with the good." I love everything about this fic, but especially the closely observed characterization, of both individuals and relationships. There's a moment where Mac recognizes that she and Jack share a certain kind of "well-tailored" intensity...I almost shouted "YES THIS" when I read it.

et faisons la grasse matinée - mazily | @ylizam - 1k, M, Phryne/Mac, Phryne/Jack "'I do love you,' Mac says. She's not fond of saying it." Quiet, atmospheric, and sensual.

Sherlock How the mouth changes its shape - breathedout | @havingbeenbreathedout - 132k, E, Sherlock/Johnnie, AU “1955. A hidden London; the clandestine love between women. To Sherlock Holmes, struggling private detective and mistress of disguise, it’s a realm she renounced. To Johnnie Watson, daredevil ambulance driver turned auto mechanic, it’s too familiar.” Not only is this a deliciously plotty mystery with complex characterization, it’s also well-researched historical fiction. (Also recommended: HBBO’s Femslash and sex-writing essays.)

In the palms of the hands, invisible - lbmisscharlie - 3k, E, Sherlock/Jo "'I touch myself here, in this room, stretched out on the sofa, when you’re asleep, or showering, or – or in the kitchen –' Sherlock's breath hitches, almost imperceptibly, when Jo’s hand skitters, startled by the deep, rumbling rush of lust that pools low in her cunt at Sherlock’s words." The voice and characterization in this fic absolutely destroys me. It’s so uncomfortable and fascinating and real.

Diversionary Tactics - ShinySherlock, read by @fffinnagain- 2k, 16min, E, Molly/Irene, AU "Oh. This could be interesting. Irene’s fingers moved to the third button of the dress and paused. 'Shall I just . . . check the rest of you, then? Make sure you’re quite all right?'" A brief, hot, historical PWP, Mollrene style. UNF. Finnagain's performance is very...impassioned--maybe don't listen in public ;)

Supernatural To know what's under the floor - beckaandzac, read by exmanhater - 4k, 21min, G, Charlie/Jo, AU "No one here is like me, Jo thinks, and she knows it’s what every eighteen year old on the planet thinks. And she also knows in her case it’s completely justified. But then she meets Charlie." A college sorta-AU in which Charlie and Jo get something a lot closer to the lives they deserved.

Wonder Woman (2017) be yourself my ally - imperfectcircle - 15k, G, Diana/Etta 'That’s all very flattering,' Etta says when Diana has finally run out of steam, 'but surely you have more qualified candidates than me?' 'You are of the world of men.' Diana looks a little embarrassed. 'But not a man.' Diana and Etta go back to Themyscira." Did you wish for more Themyscira in the Wonder Woman movie? Did you think that Etta Candy was delightful and underutilized? ME TOO! Hence, my love for this fic.

Etta Candy's Last Stand - sanguinity - 2k, T, Diana/Etta "This is the way Etta is going to die: trapped between a bed and Diana Prince’s breasts." Bless Etta Candy and her dorky, romantic heart.

Beyond Belief - thingswithwings - 14k, E, Diana/Peggy, crossover "Diana finds her for the first time in 1947, underneath a rather heavy pile of fallen masonry." An unapologetically sexy crossover fic about camaraderie (and attraction) between two badass women.

Further fic recs | Fic bookmarks

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jkottke · 5 years

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Today in female representation

Knock Down The House follows four grassroots female candidates through their mission-driven campaigns to unseat incumbents during the 2018 midterm elections. The documentary, which won Festival Favorite at Sundance this January, will be released by Netflix on May 1. New Yorkers will be able to see it in an advance screening (including a Q&A with director Rachel Lears) at IFC Center on April 23.

Audrey Gelman takes us into the NY Times photo archives to tell the story of the women who brought power and voice to representative democracy long before AOC was a glimmer of hope for New Yorkers.

Time and again, women candidates have been met with derision or dismissed as "long shots" -- in many cases, both. Take Elizabeth Holtzman: In 1972, the then-31-year-old stunned the whole of Washington when she upset a powerful 50-year male incumbent in the Democratic primary, becoming the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. (Sound familiar?)

And, of course, you can't talk about women in politics without talking about Shirley Chisholm, a once-in-a-generation force for change who represented her Brooklyn district from 1969 to 1983. As she put it, "My greatest political asset, which professional politicians fear, is my mouth, out of which come all kinds of things one shouldn't always discuss for reasons of political expediency." Despite her fearlessness -- or, more aptly, because of it -- opponents dismissed her, she said, as just a "little schoolteacher." (She had been an educator before taking office.)

The photos alone are worth the click, but don't miss Gelman's sharp born-and-bred New Yorker observations.

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photographyedwards-blog · 5 years

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Eddie Adams’ Iconic “Saigon Execution”

This essay will investigate the backstory to one of the most iconic photographs of the Vietnam war “the Saigon Execution” taken by Eddie Adams in 1968. This photograph shocked the public and is an amazing representation of how a single image with no context can change the way the world perceives an event.

In order to gain the full context, I watched a video that graphically shows how the events unfold. The snub-nosed pistol is already recoiling in the man's extended arm as the prisoner's face contorts from the power of a bullet entering his skull. To the left of the frame, a watching soldier seems to be grimacing in shock. it's hard to not feel the same repulsion, with the knowledge while looking at the precise moment of death. Ballistic experts say the picture - which became known as Saigon Execution - shows the microsecond the bullet entered the man's head. Eddie Adams' photo of Brigadier General Nguyen Ngoc Loan shooting a Viet Cong prisoner is considered one of the most influential images of the Vietnam War. At the time, the image was reprinted around the world and came to symbolise for many the brutality and anarchy of the war, it also galvanised growing sentiment in America about the futility of the fight - that the war was unwinnable.

During Saigon’s fall Loan left South Vietnam and moved to the united states. Once he arrived, he lived in dale city, Virginia and opened up a restaurant in called “Les Trois Continents” in the Washington suburbs of burke, they served Vietnamese cuisine, and pizza, but was described as more of a pizzeria. Loan also worked as a secretary in a Washington. When interviewed, Loan stated "All we want to do is to forget and to be left alone." Eddie Adams: Saigon '68 2012

A House of Representatives member Elizabeth Holtzman showed a list of Vietnamese officials’ people that may have committed war crimes to Immigration and Naturalization Service which included Loan. House of Representatives member Harold S. Sawyer later requested the Library of Congress investigate Loan. The Immigration and naturalisation service declared that loan had committed war crimes following a report by the library of congress ( The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections) which concluded that the execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém was illegal under Vietnamese law in an attempt to stop his permanent residence to ensure that he could not become a United states citizen. Adams was approached to testify against Loan, but instead testified in Loans favour, eventually loans case was closed and he was allowed to stay. With the current president jimmy carter stated that “such historical revisionism was folly”. Eddie Adams: Saigon '68 Director: Douglas J. Sloan, 2012

Adams apologized in person to General Nguyễn and his family for the damage it did to his reputation. Nguyễn Ngọc Loan died of cancer on 14 of July 1998, aged 67, in burke, Virginia. After his death Adams praised him saying “the guy was a hero. America should be crying. I just hate to see him go this way, without people knowing anything about him.”

An amazing quote from Eddie Adams that really captured the power of an image and how an out of context image could change the world was “the general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera. Still photographs are the most powerful weapon in the world. People believe them, but photographs do lie, even without manipulation. They are only half-truths. What the photograph didn't say was, "What would you do if you were the general at that time and place.”(Eddie Adams: Saigon '68 2012)

This photograph is undoubtedly one of the most if not the most influential image to ever surface from photojournalism ; a staple of photographic history which changed the way in how the world perceived wars. This one photograph made the world and particularly the United states of America actually understand and digest the futility of fighting this war. without all the mindless killing ,Perhaps the outcome of the war would have been different? Perhaps certain laws of war wouldn’t have been put in place and regulated if the US citizens had not been outraged and protested on the grotesque brutality captured in Eddies Adams’ most powerful photograph.

Eddie Adams on an interview on the Saigon execution said that “ I had no idea of the impact and I still don’t understand it even today” he goes onto talk about general loan who at the time a colonel and how the “whole thing (implying the photograph and events unfolded) destroyed his life” describing how that was the one thing that bothered him more than anything else, he proceeds to say that Loan never blamed him for the picture he said “ he used a cliché that we hear all the time, he said you were doing your job and I was doing mine” he then declares that it was never his intention as a photographer. (Eddie Adams: Saigon '68 Director: Douglas J. Sloan)

Whether Lem was guilty or not, the callous disregard for human life captured in Adams’ image caused outrage around the world. Public demonstrations followed and many Americans began to seriously question their country’s military involvement in the region.

The Saigon Execution remains Eddie Adams most famous image, Adams himself was most proud of his photographs of 48 Vietnamese refugees who travelled to Thailand on a 30ft boat in 1977, but were not allowed to enter the country. The photographs are widely believed to have influenced the US government’s decision to give asylum to around 200,000 South Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s and 1980s. (Eddie Adams: Saigon '68 Director: Douglas J. Sloan)

Eddie Adams: Saigon '68 Director: Douglas J. Sloan, 2012

http://100photos.time.com/photos/eddie-adams-saigon-execution

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