Republicans: We refuse to hold an impeachment trial while Trump is still in office, even though he just incited a riot to illegally and violently overturn the election.

Also Republicans: Yes, several members of Congress are co-conspirators of the President’s attempt to illegally and violently overturn the election, but they should be allowed to serve on the jury for his impeachment anyway.

Also also Republicans: You know what? It’s the damndest thing, but we actually can’t hold an impeachment trial because Trump is no longer in office.

I hate these fucking lowlife liar hypocrite bastards in Congress more than I can adequately express.

Wow there sure are a fuckton of people willing to pay anything to live in Seattle while IT'S DYING (!!!!!!!!) OMG the terrified old white people are contorting themselves into pretzels to explain it, ha ha ha.

@1 schmacky for the WIN! I have nothing more to add.

@1, agreed.

The hypocrisy of the current republicans is extraordinary.

I'm sadly old enough to remember the Nixon impeachment hearings, barely. Nixon didn't resign out of a sense of duty or shame. He resigned because a significant number of senators from his own party refused to back a crook for president. Had he not resigned, he would have been removed from office, not just by democrats, but by a significant number of republicans as well. So Nixon resigned before they tossed his ass out on the street. But that was the 1970s, when at least some republicans still had a veneer of respect for the law and public service.

Today's Republican Party is all in with the Orange Shitstain. Grab 'em by the pussy? No problem; the evangelicals still back him. Separating children from their parents at the border and stuffing them in cages? No problem; as long as McTurtle gets his tax breaks for the ultra-rich. The muslim ban, the border wall, cozying up to Putin and Kim Jong-un, daily batshit insane rage tweets, Ukraine, shrugging off the worst pandemic in a century, spending months trying to gin up bullshit excuses to overturn the election... none of that mattered. Now most of them even seem willing to endorse Trump stirring up white supremacists and gun-fetishists until they rioted and invaded the US Capitol building. There is apparently no crime they aren't willing to ignore in craven furtherance in their quest to stay in power.

Agreed with auntie griz @5: schmacky FWT @1. Ah, this Senate vote certainly bodes well for all that unity and bipartisanship and compromise the Dems are going to need.

In response to the rare Original Andrew comment @4 that seems to have been posted like it's already been run through the Original Andrew Anger Translator...

My take on Seattle home prices still rising, despite its dying, has me paraphrasing Yogi Berra and Winston Churchill...

Nobody wants to live in Seattle anymore--the housing market is too hot.

Seattle is the most horrible city in America to live in, except for all the other cities.

@ 3 finding work when there was hardly any sounds pretty lucky to me

@6 Reverse Polarity: Wow. I just barely remember Nixon's official resignation on August 9, 1974, too I had turned 10 that summer. When school started in the fall I was in the 5th grade. All my classmates except one stared at me in wide-eyed wonder, demanding to know what I apparently knew about Richard Milhouse "Tricky Dicky" Nixon.
Our class back in the 3rd grade had conducted a "just for fun" in classroom election in November, 1972. Our 3rd grade teacher had pictures of the Republican incumbent, Richard Nixon, running for re-election, and his Democratic challenger, Senator George McGovern of South Dakota. Her question for each of us was, although we were too young to actually vote in the 1972 general election, who would we pick for President of the United States---Nixon or McGovern?
Everybody in our class except for me and another classmate had chosen Nixon, most likely because in our rural community their parents leaned Republican. The two of us voting Democrat got ribbed something fierce. My initial response at age eight, in midst of all the jeers and snickers: "I don't trust [Nixon'x] face."
Needless to day that two years later, the same classmates who had scorned my choice of President had I been eligible to vote in 1972 were surprisingly mum.

Agreed and seconded about the Republican party of the 21st century. They're the Party of Shameless Crooks who will stop at nothing to remain in power. They ecstatically cheered on Trump in 2016. They voted for him again in 2020. They should all be guillotined for obstructing justice, inciting violence and insurrection, and insisting that, despite two impeachments and an insurmountable number of criminal charges filed by the New York State Attorney General, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, and others, a mentally deranged white collar criminal go free! They support terrorists! They are batshit crazy! We shoot rabid dogs, don't we?

@9 scaredoldfart: You won't convince me. Steadily over the last four decades since Ronald Reagan, Republicans have proven themselves to be forever self-serving, heartless white collar criminals out to write their own rules, stack the deck, and rig the games. Do you actually think they READ the U.S. Constitution let alone abide by it?

Man, I'd long thought the Libertarians fancied themselves the more "thoughtful" and "independent" faction of the Republican base, and that they'd have no issues disavowing themselves of a blatantly corrupt, blindly partisan ideologue when presented with the opportunity. I guess Rand Paul pretty efficiently put thought to rest.

@1 FTW.

@1 FTW

@9 You do realize that a conviction of a president or former president by the senate after being impeached by the house in congress is not the same as a criminal law prosecution. why? because we are hold presidents to a higher standard of ethics. but trump has destroyed all of that. he has shit all over the entire government, smearing his shit all over everyone and everything that touched him that the republicans have chosen to sit in that shit, eat that shit, swallow that shit, and turn around and shit on this country like it has never been shit on before.

this process is NOT unconstitutional. doesn't matter how much or in what infinite number of ways you say it, it is NOT unconstitutional. period. full stop. he was impeached, therefore he can be tried by the senate.

don't understand? need it explained so you understand it? here it is:

a former president of the republic cannot be prosecuted for treason or serious and deliberate violation of the constitution when no legal proceedings in respect of that offense were brought against him or her while in office.

trump was impeached.
trump was impeached.
trump was impeached.
trump was impeached.
trump was impeached.
trump was impeached.

trump can be tried by the senate.
republicans refusing to convict him for his crimes is on them.
they are destroying the republic and setting up for a total and complete coup next time.
they simply do not give a shit and take great pleasure in the destruction of this country and the suffering and death of all people who live here.

Presidents are not above the law, not when they are in office, and not when they leave office.

https://www.justsecurity.org/74107/the-constitutions-option-for-impeachment-after-a-president-leaves-office/

The Constitution provides that the President “shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors,” but it says nothing about the timing of when the impeachment and trial may take place. That omission makes sense, since presidents – and any other impeachable officials – could commit impeachable offenses at any time while they are in office, including in their last months or days in their positions. It certainly makes no sense for presidents who commit misconduct late in their terms, or perhaps not discovered until late in their terms, to be immune from the one process the Constitution allows for barring them from serving in any other federal office or from receiving any federal pensions.

What’s more, litigation or prosecutions might not be able to get at the misconduct, since the scope of impeachable offenses extends to misconduct that is not an actual crime. And what if that misconduct is not discovered until after a president leaves office? There may be no practical means for holding him accountable for such misconduct, especially if he is regarded as having been immune from any criminal prosecution or inquiry while he was in office.

Being president is not a safe harbor from political and legal accountability.

The Republicans impeached Bill Clinton for getting a blow job. That blow job did no harm to the people of this country in any way. The only person it harmed was his wife. That blow job was NOT an impeachable offense.

Those Republicans investigated Clinton for FOUR YEARS. (And they investigated Hillary Clinton re: Benghazi for two years, but that is a digression). Oh and PS there was no pattern of corruption in the Clinton administration. There was nothing with regard to Whitewater. There was nothing with the death of Vince Foster (who committed suicide). There was absolutely nothing but lies and bullshit made up by the Republicans and all they came up with was a blow job. (and there was NOTHING found regarding Hillary Clinton. She has committed no crime and there has been no evidence found, ever, of any crime despite all of the lies Republicans have said about her).

Trump has stolen billions (most likely over a trillion) dollars from the American people.
Trump has not done one thing as resident of the White House that the oath he took on 1/20/2017 demanded he do.
Trump has raped over 26 women (and a 13 year old girl who looked, at the time, exactly like his daughter Ivanka).
Trump has murdered over half a million people.
Trump has incited white supremacist terrorism.
Trump very publicly and proudly tried to overturn the results of the free and fair election, that has been proven over 60 times to have NO FRAUD, by bullying state officials, firing the US Attorney General, and planning to solicit the Supreme Court of the United States to do his bidding.

And that is not even remotely a complete list. That's like a fraction of his crimes against this country, against the people of this country, and against humanity and the world at large.

And yet, Republicans, most of whom are complicit in the attempt to overturn the election and hold a coup of the federal government, want nothing to be done about Trump's crimes and for everyone to just forget everything that happened. They want unity and for Democrats to just do what they want - keep the filibuster, no more stimulus money or response to the COVID crisis, meet all their demands or else (they aren't planning on doing their jobs or running a functioning government under Biden/Harris anyway).

Fuck them. And fuck every last motherfucker who votes for them.

This country should be burned to the ground and the earth salted.

14, this makes no sense. time to take your pills again grampa

@18, @19, & @21 xina: Agreed and seconded. As usual you are SO spot on. Keep rocking the house!!!

The more work you do to improve your skills or capabilities the more likelier you are to be lucky.

@9,

It's actually pretty clear that donnie should be impeached. Did his words of the day of the insurrection directly incite it? That's arguable. However, it is plainly clear that he was speaking over the last several months that he would not agree to a peaceful transition of power should he lose, and when he did lose--and through his and others' investigations, certified that he lost--he began to talk sedition. He spoke of overturning a fair democratic election. He ignored the election and he urged his followers to ignore the election. Donnie very clearly was attempting to overthrow the government and encourage his followers to assist him. If that's not an impeachable offense, nothing is.

While it was right impeach him a second time, never expected a conviction.

We should hear all the facts and get these folks on record with their votes.

Politically if Trump spends the next 3-4 years grifting / teasing a run or actually running it will suck all the oxygen out of the GOP room.

Trump is roadkill at this point.

He has no chance of winning, most of those 14-18 year old new voters will not choose Trump. People who switched to Biden are not going back to Trump.

Corporate political donations will be off the table for GOP.

I've been looking to sell for the past year, but all the places I want to move are inundated with White Nationalist magas. And I'd rather live near some skinny "antifa" kiddies and a homeless camp than a crazy person who would storm the Capitol. Womp womp.

Sharp comment @26. There's no way Trump's getting convicted, but that doesn't mean the Democrats can throw up their hands and pass up their constitutional obligation to hold him accountable. The real political value, as you say, is to "get these folks on record with their votes." That's a vote some of these GOP senators really, really don't want to take.

And, as you say, not convicting Trump means he will continue to leave the GOP in limbo.

@20:

Perhaps you should peruse Sterling Johnson's "English as a Second F*cking Language", wherein he opines: “'Fuck' is a particularly impressive word, as it functions as almost all parts of speech. It can be a noun (as in “I don’t give a fuck.”), a verb (“We were fucking.”), an adjective (“Let me drive the fucking car!”), an adverb (“What are you fucking doing?”), and an interjection (“Fuck!”). It can be used to modify a sentence in both positive and negative contexts. It is, in short, a grammatical wonder."

That said, please take the following in the spirit in which is is presented: kindly reach down to thy nether regions, cradle thy enfeebled, pox ridden nut-hook, insert it between thine flexuous sitting-pillows, and proceed to use it For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge upon thine own self.

@24:

That is quite literally the opposite of luck:

"Luck - n:

The force that causes things, especially good things, to happen to you by chance and not as a result of your own efforts or abilities."

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/luck

@30 - My quip took liberties with the noun, but yes, you are correct.

@31:

Nice try backpedaling...

@32 - If that's the way you want to look at it, fine.

@26,

I wish I could believe that, but this country has no memory past about 30 seconds. Corporate donations will come back without word, and no one will care. Republicans will vote against conviction, and a republican will come close to, or be elected president in four years. Hell, every republican representative and senator who voted against impeachment or will vote against conviction will probably be re-elected when their next term comes due.

The US has been under complete control by the wealthy and by monied corporate interests for, um, its entire existence. They squeeze a little tighter every year and nobody does anything about it.

Nothing will change. Everyone will forget and go back to binging shitty nexflix shows.

Jack, it’s more difficult to buy a home than it was 30 years ago. Wages haven’t kept up with housing inflation. The cost of housing relative to income has gone from 2 to 3 times yearly income to 4 to 5 times yearly income. The once standard mortgage payment of 30% monthly take home pay is now 40% to 50% of take home pay. This isn’t just Seattle but in the US as a whole. Real estate is expected to appreciate but when it exceeds any wage gains it’s an issue.

Lord save us from the anger queens

@39:

Better to be an "anger queen" than a mealy-mouthed equivocator who can't plumb their vacuously limited emotional range to express anything more than an impotent shrug...

Nah, I'll take the the lower emotional rage and blood pressure - thank you very much.

@41:

That's why we invented ACE inhibitors - but you just keep on being the fatuous, irresolute fence-sitter who makes wishy-washy ole' Charlie Brown look like a paragon of decisiveness in comparison...

Yeah, it really takes a meandering contorted stretch to come up with a reply such as yours. ACE inhibitors, indeed. And you probably think you're being witty.

Yep, COMTE was far too emasculated to fire off a retort to @43.