Poor Little Reep Senators "Bored" Having To Sit Still & Listen During Trial - Maybe It's Time These Useless Imps Get Real Jobs

"What a bunch of entitled complainers. Thousands of Americans do precisely this each day serving in jury duty, yet some of these elected officials -- elected precisely to serve their constituents and pay attention in one of the rarest Senate proceedings to take place -- cannot muster the self-discipline and stamina to actually sit still, pay attention, and reach an impartial determination. My 10 and 12 year old sons have better discipline, self-control, and manners than these clowns." - 'Chloe' - commenting about bored GOP Senators (NY Times)


We learned Friday (WSJ, 'Marathon Days Make Many Senators Antsy', p. A4)  that Senators (mostly Repukes),  required to sit through the Trump impeachment trial in silence and without their smart phones, have "grown increasingly comfortable testing those rules" as the trial wears on.

According to Senator Kevin Cramer, Republican of North Dakota.:

"We’re doing our best.  With each break and with each disruption if you will, to the sitting in the chair, there becomes a little less discipline."

Awww...boo hoo and hoo.  Cry me a river you worthless little imp. An historical Senate trial is under way requiring your rapt attention and you choose to make excuses to fritter away time.

Incredibly, despite impeachment trial rules that require them to sit silently at their desks when the proceeding is in session, senators have increasingly been wandering out for short or long breaks, to accommodate bathroom stops, telephone calls and even cable television appearances. On Thursday afternoon, as the Democratic impeachment managers took turns speaking during their second full day of presentations, at least 19 Reepo senators could briefly be seen out of their seats.

Some rose from their chairs and crossed the chamber to whisper to one another, while others exited the chamber entirely for 15- to 20-minute stretches and could be seen in the cloakrooms on their phones.

Those who remained in their seats often took up some elaborate distractions. Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, who was noodling over a crossword puzzle on Wednesday, could be seen on Thursday laboring over a detailed sketch of the Capitol. Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, twice appeared to swipe at an Apple watch on his wrist, despite the ban on electronics. Multiple senators, in an apparent attempt to rouse themselves, could be seen vigorously chomping on gum- including Tom Cotton and Joni Ernst.

Meanwhile, Ben Sasse brought in a tin of Red Man  chewing tobacco, right onto the Senate floor. (If you've ever dealt with this stuff - as I have had to  with AK students in space physics labs- and seen the spittle left behind you'd know it ain't cool.)  Well, at least he had to bury it when the sergeant-at -arms chastised him.

During the lunch break on Thursday, Senator Richard M. Burr, Republican of North Carolina, passed out fidget spinners for his 52 Republican colleagues, the better to pass the time.

Fidget spinners?   NO wonder so many refer to you morons as Reeptards.  Don't you bozos have the minimal focus to pay attention for the time - excepting lunch, dinner and restroom breaks?    The plague of inattention and ploys to avoid doing their duty reached such a point that Barry Black - the Senate chaplain- opened Thursday's session with the following prayer (WSJ, ibid.):

"Lord, help them to remember that listening is often more than hearing. It can be an empathetic attentiveness that builds bridges and unites."

The WSJ piece goes on to try to portray the difficulty of conducting an historic Senate trial in the modern world - beset as it is with millions of distractions, social media intrusions etc.:

"The wandering attention of some lawmakers reflects the challenge of holding antiquated trial proceedings in the smart phone era, when most Americans reflexively scroll and click through periods of tedium.

Unlike their counterparts in 1789, who set the parameters for impeachment in the Constitution, Senators today rarely sit and listen to complex oral presentations for hours on end.""

Well, maybe it's past time that changed.  Perhaps - if these cretins possess the attention span of slugs- they aren't truly qualified to be in the Senate. Maybe they ought to leave and form their own 'old boys' club somewhere - a place they can fidget spin, do crosswords, chew gum, chomp Red Man, and blow farts to their heart's content. Perhaps they simply aren't up to the cerebral stature of their forbears and the founders. 

Among the lamest of excuses is one offered by Sen. John Barrasso (WY) who opined (ibid.):

"If you really want to play close attention, you can't do it from your seat. You have to do from either standing in front of the video screens or in the cloakroom watching the CSPAN video."

Which is total horse pockey that wouldn't be tolerated by any judge worth his salt in any jury trial.  Imagine an ordinary juror in a criminal case whining to the judge that he can pay better attention outside watching a closed circuit TV screen than seated in the jury box.  The judge would issue a contempt warning on the spot, as Justice Roberts ought to have done once this imbecile's BS was made public.  But it shows the degree to which Roberts has allowed flouting of the rules to escape sanction.

The irony is that the whole process might have been truncated had the Reep Senators simply allowed witnesses as the Dems proposed, and also just voted Trump to be removed from office as the leprous, vile orange ape he is.

Of course, then Trump's base of losers would have ensured their senate reps be primaried. But at least then they'd no longer have to suffer the evident scourge of "boredom" in listening to complex oral presentations.

Here are some of the choice comments from NY Times readers about these losers:

"SENATORS: DO YOUR JOBS! Wake up or get a new job. You are now jurors in a sordid bribery case involving the most openly corrupt POTUS ever. " "The American people are watching. The world and our allies are watching. History is watching. This is not a game."

"Pathetic. Remember when you thought Senators were professional serious people who knew what their job was knew how to do their job and actually did serious work for the American public? It was fun to be a kid."

"For every minute a senator is not engrossed in listening, we should dock their salaries. Shameful. The fate of our nation, indeed our planet, lies in the hands of these people who have blinders on and refuse to face facts. I hope details of attendance and attentiveness is reported back to their constituents and each one vote they may cast should be reduced by fractions based on undivided attention."

"Undisciplined rule-breakers and cheaters. It's how they run their lives; it's how they "do their jobs." Throw the bums out. Make them get real jobs, where their employer is actually watching them, and holding them to account."

I personally am all in with the last two comments especially, in respect of: 1) docking their salaries for every minute they're not at their desks listening, and 2) engineering and pushing for the loss of  their seats to qualified  Dems - to at least make them look for real jobs. Since they clearly don't treat the Senate as such.

See also:

Impeachment | Republicans

Republican Senators Are Betraying Their Oaths and Embarrassing Themselves Before Our Eyes

Should Andrew McCabe Take Over FBI Investigation? Probably Not

Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe - probably has lots of 'splainin' to do about why he went to the White House on Feb. 15 and blabbed that a fully confirmed NY Times story was "BS".

With the "thuggish firing" of former FBI Director James Comey, ambushed while he was giving a speech in LA, the Deputy Director Andrew G. McCabe has taken his place. It is also understood that he will be grilled by Senators before being allowed to take over the investigation into the Trump-Russia links and collusion.

McCabe by all appearances seems to conform to the straight up, "respectable Bureau man" as portrayed in much of the media. On the face of it he'd also appear to be a shoo-in to not only take over Comey's job as Director but also to lead the FBI investigation into Trump's surrogates and their contacts with the Russkies.

But first he has a lot of explaining to do regarding an improper visit to the White House on February 15th and in a five minute session with Reince Priebus definitely not acting like a respected Bureau man. Unless that means undermining your Director's investigation into the collusion of the Trumpies with the Russkies.

Recall that on February 14th the Times broke a block buster story with the header:

"Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts With Russian Intelligence"

With the intro emphasis:

"The National Security Agency, which monitors the communications of foreign intelligence services, initially captured the calls between Mr. Trump's associates and the Russians as part of routine foreign surveillance. ....After that, the FBI asked the NSA to collect as much information as possible about the Russian operatives on the phone calls, and to search through troves of previous intercepted communications that had not been analyzed."

This bombshell news came out one day after the Mike Flynn resignation and ought to have stopped news -reading citizens in their tracks.

Then, on February 15th, an anomalous event occurred that now seems to have been swept under the deluge of recent news stories. That is, the then deputy director of the FBI - Andrew McCabe - went to the White House for a 7:30 a.m. meeting on what was reportedly an "unrelated intelligence matter'. At the end of the meeting, McCabe - according to reports from observers- had a private "pull aside" with the WH chief of staff, Reince Priebus.  The chat lasted five minutes. According to senior administration officials who briefed reporters on the meeting, McCabe told Priebus "I want you to know that story in the New York Times is BS."

That doesn't conform to a respectable official or "20 year Bureau man"  who has to know there's an ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign's contacts with Russian intelligence.  Indeed, in many quarters it'd not only be called improper but obstruction of justice - because he's putting the kibosh on the investigation.  In fact, no one in the FBI,, and especially the deputy director, should be talking to the White House staff about already confirmed reports that now compromise the investigation.

Indeed, the McCabe contact led to compromises of the two other (House and Senate) investigations into Trump and Russia.  To wit, the White House then enlisted the services of the respective Intel chairs - Devin Nunez and Richard Burr - to start calling reporters of all the major news outlets to steer other reporters away from the Times' bombshell story.  That was significant because the pair weren't merely run of the mill members of congress but actual heads of the respective intelligence committees.

In addition, the pair were leading their own investigations into the White House- Russian connections.

So McCabe's blabbery had untold negative consequences that in truth and fact, seen in hindsight, really did reach the level of obstruction of justice because it diverted the resources - especially informational -from the prime focus where it should have been. So yeah, Andy Mc Cabe has a lot to explain in any hearings - before being handed the throttle for Comey's investigation. A 20-year vet he may be, but his actions were those of a rank, greenhorn new be just out of Quantico.

The bottom line is that McCabe's mischief did untold harm, especially as the NY Times' story was emphatically not "BS' but also confirmed by CNN later that night, e.g.

"Trump Aides were in constant touch with senior Russian officials during campaign"

And the Washington Post was next: "U.S. Intelligence sources cite multiple contacts between members of Trump's team and Russians with links to the Kremlin."

By March multiple source confirmation had manifest, much of them forthcoming from U.S. allies, including the British and the Dutch. These had provided compendious information, data describing meetings in European cities between Russian officials and associates of then President-elect Donald Trump. This is the "shoe' - a titanic one - waiting to drop, and the GOP congress critters and others (McCabe?) resisting or undermining the investigations better make sure they're on the right side of things when it does.

As for McCabe, if he can't provide substantial answers to questions in any forthcoming hearings, then he can't be allowed to direct the FBI investigation.  He will especially have to perform at an A-plus level in addressing why he told Priebus the Times story was BS, effectively obstructing 3 ongoing investigations- including the FBI's, the House and the Senate's - for months. And indeed, we will need to consider an independent approach (special prosecutor?)  for the other investigations if  McCabe's answers leave much to be desired. Also, if GOP cooperative solutions aren't possible, most of which will require GOP members' full cooperation as opposed to stonewalling or chasing "leaks" to deflect the focus. As for McCabe, it will now be up to him to demonstrate  he isn't a Trump toady.  I am not at all certain that he can, given the damage his big mouth has already caused.

See also:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/bill-moyers/72733/donald-trump-is-attempting-a-coup-we-must-have-a-special-prosecutor