With nothing going on in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, I had to find a shiny object to draw my attention. And there it was on the wrist of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. It caught my eye as he moved his pen or tilted his glasses.
The Internet, an infallible source of truth, says Chief Justice Roberts is wearing a Patek Philippe 5205G. We’re talking well-equipped SUV money for that time piece, $49,780 according to Patek Philippe’s website. The yearly rate for chief justices nowadays is $267,000, so he can afford it without going total ramen. . .
Roberts’ watch is part of a category known as complications. Complications display more than one concept. The 5205G has an analog clock face, plus day, date and month in apertures (oh, that’s what they’re called) and a moon phase indicator.
The 5205G is a mechanical watch. It needs to be wound, but not by twisting a stem. The 5205G is self winding, meaning every motion stayed, every appeal denied, every bang of the gavel winds the mainspring.
No need to worry that Chief Justice Roberts might go on a signing or gavel banging spree and overwind the watch. Adrien Philippe (same family) patented the design that prevents that in 1863. (Read more from “Chief Justice John Roberts Wears a $50K Watch at Impeachment Proceedings” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/20050905_p090505pm-0066jpg-515h.jpg345515Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2020-01-31 21:57:582020-01-31 21:55:23Chief Justice John Roberts Wears a $50K Watch at Impeachment Proceedings
By Daily Wire. The U.S. Senate officially voted late on Friday to put an end to Senate Democrats’ attempts to prolong President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial by calling on new witnesses to testify and new documents to be brought into the trial.
The move to prolong the trial was shot down in a 51 to 49 vote, which saw establishment Republican Senators Mitt Romney (UT) and Susan Collins (ME) defect from the party and join the Democrats. . .
Democrats had suffered another defeat late on Thursday night when Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) announced that he was also not in favor of calling for additional witnesses and documents.
“I worked with other senators to make sure that we have the right to ask for more documents and witnesses, but there is no need for more evidence to prove something that has already been proven and that does not meet the U.S. Constitution’s high bar for an impeachable offense,” Alexander said, later adding, “But the Constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the president from office and ban him from this year’s ballot simply for actions that are inappropriate. The question then is not whether the president did it, but whether the United States Senate or the American people should decide what to do about what he did.” (Read more from “Senate Officially Votes to Stop Democrats’ Attempts to Prolong Trial” HERE)
Andrew McCarthy: In Trump Impeachment Trial, Senate Right to Block New Witness Testimony
By Fox News. The Senate was right to vote Friday against hearing new witness testimony at President Trump’s impeachment trial. The Democrats’ demand for new witnesses at the trial was a red herring – a talking point that had some surface appeal but, upon scrutiny, was nonsense.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and the other impeachment managers claim that there have been no witnesses in the trial. They said before the Senate voted 51-49 Friday to block more witnesses that if Republicans did note vote to approve subpoenas for former National Security Adviser John Bolton, among other top current and former administration officials, that the trial will be a “sham” – an exercise in “cover-up.” You can’t have a real trial, was their refrain, unless witnesses are called.
It is nonsense. There have been plenty of witnesses. Schiff’s problem is that the additional witnesses he wanted to call would not change what has already been proved in any meaningful way.
Obviously, what’s happening in the Senate is not a trial in any familiar sense. We are used to judicial trials. Impeachment presents something completely different, a Senate trial. The Senate is a political body, not a law court. (Read more from “Andrew Mccarthy: In Trump Impeachment Trial, Senate Right to Block New Witness Testimony” HERE)
A top al-Qaeda terror leader who previously mocked President Donald Trump has been killed in a US airstrike in Yemen according to top Pentagon sources.
Qassim al-Rimi ridiculed the president in 2017 after a failed US military strike in Yemen intended to target him.
“The fool of the White House got slapped at the beginning of his road in your lands,” al-Rimi said on a recording after the strike.
The New York Times reported that several American officials were confident that al-Rimi was killed in the January airstrike.
BREAKING: A senior DoD source tells me Al-Qaeda leader Qassim al-Rimi was the target of a strike by U.S led forces in Yemen today. Intelligence agencies currently working to confirm his death.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/49436159673_0c037dde9f_b.jpg6831024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2020-01-31 21:13:342020-01-31 21:11:36Top Al Qaeda Leader Who Taunted Trump Has Been Reportedly Killed in U.S. Airstrike (VIDEO)
As The Daily Wire previewed weeks ago and as has also been rumored for much of this current week, the Trump administration on Friday imposed travel restrictions on six new countries.
“President Donald Trump is expected to reveal an expansion of his controversial travel ban on Friday, the same day he could be acquitted in his impeachment trial and just days ahead of the president’s annual State of the Union address,” Politico reported yesterday. “The expected announcement — confirmed by two people familiar with the matter — had initially been planned for this past Monday to coincide with the three-year anniversary of the original order, which restricted travel from several majority-Muslim nations.”
On Friday afternoon, The Wall Street Journal confirmed the news. The six new countries to have various types of travel restrictions imposed upon them are Nigeria, Eritrea, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, Sudan, and Tanzania.
“Citizens from Nigeria, Eritrea, Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan won’t be allowed to apply for visas to immigrate to the U.S. under the policy, which the Trump administration said was designed to tighten security for countries that don’t comply with the U.S. minimum security standards or cooperate to prevent illegal immigration,” the Journal reports. “Two other countries, Sudan and Tanzania, will be barred from participating in the diversity visa lottery, which randomly awards green cards to 50,000 immigrants from underrepresented countries annually. Many of the recipients are from African countries.”
Specifically, Nigeria, Eritrea, Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan will have the issuance suspended of all visas that might lead to permanent residency, according to Reuters. (Read more from “Trump Admin Adds New Travel Restrictions For Six Countries” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/49461487086_2414988572_b.jpg6831024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2020-01-31 20:59:262020-01-31 20:58:01Trump Admin Adds New Travel Restrictions For Six Countries
By Fox News. Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander announced late Thursday night that he would not support additional witnesses in President Trump’s “shallow, hurried and wholly partisan” impeachment trial, seemingly ending Democrats’ hopes of hearing testimony from former National Security Advisor John Bolton and paving the way for the president’s imminent acquittal as soon as Friday night.
Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the chamber, and can afford up to three defections when the Senate considers whether to call additional witnesses on Friday. In the event of a 50-50 tie, by rule, the vote on witnesses would fail in the Senate. Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts is likely to abstain rather than assert his debatable power to cast a tie-breaking vote.
GOP Sen. Susan Collin has announced she wants to hear from a “limited” number of additional witnesses; Utah GOP Sen. Mitt Romney has strongly signaled he wants to hear from Bolton; and Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski told Fox News late Thursday she was still weighing the issue and would decide in the morning. (“I’m gonna go back to my office and put some eyedrops in so I can keep readig. That’s gonna be my job,” Murkowski told Fox News, adding that she anticipates a “long night.”)
BUT Alexander, in his dramatic late-night statement that came at the close of the Senate’s session Thursday, torpedoed Democrats’ hopes that he would be the fourth Republican defector they need. Alexander began by flat-out dismissing Democrats’ “obstruction of Congress” article of impeachment as “frivolous” given the president’s long-established principle of executive privilege. (Read more from “Key Swing-Vote Comes out Against Witnesses, Paving Way for Imminent Trump Acquittal” HERE)
Roberts Visibly Reacts to Warren’s Impeachment Question About His ‘Legitimacy’ Without Trial Witnesses
By Fox News. Chief Justice John Roberts seemed visibly irritated when Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., formally asked a question during President Trump’s impeachment trial Thursday that referenced him and questioned the legitimacy of the Supreme Court and Constitution in relation to the proceedings.
In accordance with Senate rules, the chief justice of the United States must read aloud the questions posed by senators to the impeachment managers and the president’s counsel. Roberts formally recognized Warren, a Democratic presidential candidate, who then submitted her written question to a clerk.
Roberts read her question from the card — which referenced him.
“At a time when large majorities of Americans have lost faith in government, does the fact that the chief justice is presiding over an impeachment trial in which Republican senators have thus far refused to allow witnesses or evidence contribute to the loss of legitimacy of the chief justice, the Supreme Court, and the Constitution?” Roberts read from the card handed to him by the clerk.
When he finished reading the question — explicitly posed to the House Impeachment managers — Roberts pursed his lips and shot a chagrined look.
(Read more from “Roberts Visibly Reacts to Warren’s Impeachment Question About His ‘Legitimacy’ Without Trial Witnesses” HERE)
Trump Impeachment Trial: Question Period Ends as GOP Swing Votes Emerge
By ABC News. Senators have returned Thursday for a second day of questions to House managers and President Donald Trump’s legal team in his impeachment trial as attempts by Democrats to rally votes for new witnesses appear to have stalled. . .
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a GOP senator who could vote in favor of calling witnesses, has just explicitly asked the president’s legal counsel why the senate should not call Bolton as a witness in this trial.
“You explain that Ambassador [Gordon] Sondland and Sen. [Ron] Johnson both said the president explicitly denied that he was looking for a quid pro quo with Ukraine,” Murkowski’s question read. “The reporting on Ambassador [John] Bolton’s book suggests the president told Bolton both directly and indirectly that the aid would not be released until Ukraine announced the investigations the president desired. This dispute about material facts weighs in favor of calling additional witnesses with direct knowledge. Why should this body not call Ambassador Bolton?”
White House counsel Pat Philbin’s response focused largely on the role that he argued the Senate ought to play in in an impeachment.
“I think the primary consideration here is understand that the House could have pursued Ambassador Bolton,” Philbin said, arguing that the House chose not to subpoena Bolton. (Read more from “Trump Impeachment Trial: Question Period Ends as GOP Swing Votes Emerge” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/48679737087_543ed6dd6e_b-4.jpg6831024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2020-01-30 20:04:592020-02-01 21:43:35Key Swing-Vote Comes out Against Witnesses, Paving Way for Imminent Trump Acquittal; Roberts Visibly Reacts to Warren’s Impeachment Question About His ‘Legitimacy’ Without Trial Witnesses; Murkowski Asks Point Blank: Why Not Call Bolton?
U.S. health officials confirmed on Thursday the nation’s first person-to-person transmission of the coronavirus, which has already killed at least 171 people in China and infected more than 8,200 since emerging less than a month ago.
The new patient is the husband of the Chicago woman who brought the infection back from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak, CDC and Illinois health officials said during a press briefing. Health officials said the man, in his 60s, has “some underlying medical conditions” but was in good condition. His wife was doing well but remained in isolation at a local hospital, they said. . .
“This is a very serious public health situation,” said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “Moving forward, we can expect to see more cases, and more cases means more potential for person-to-person spread.”
The virus, which emerged Dec. 31, has already spread to more people than the 2003 SARS epidemic, which sickened roughly 8,100 people across the globe over nine months. The transmission makes the U.S. at least the fifth country where the infection is now spreading through human-to-human contact, including China. Officials of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there are at least nine cases of human-to-human transmission outside of China, as of Thursday. . .
U.S. officials are working to contain the outbreak from spreading in the country, including by increasing travel warnings and expanding screening at 20 U.S. airports. Trump administration officials have said they are constantly evaluating the situation and could take more drastic action if needed. (Read more from “Cdc Confirms First Human-To-Human Transmission of Coronavirus in U.S.” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Belvoir-Community-Hospital-2.jpg428720Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2020-01-30 20:03:482020-01-30 20:03:34CDC Confirms First Human-To-Human Transmission of Coronavirus in U.S.
Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) vowed she will have the person she picks to be the Secretary of Education to be interviewed by a trans student and will only proceed with the nomination if they approve of her choice.
Warren said she came up with the idea when she was asked about the issue by 9-year-old trans student Jacob Lemay during CNN’s “Equality Town Hall” in October.
Betsy DeVos is the worst Secretary of Education we’ve seen. Instead of championing our students, she protects for-profit colleges that break the law. So I’m making a pledge: In a Warren administration, the Secretary of Education will be a former public school teacher. pic.twitter.com/fz4uiMQa7N
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/48006692607_a3ff154dc7_b-8.jpg6831024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2020-01-30 19:54:442020-01-30 19:52:42Elizabeth Warren Promises to Have a Trans Student Approve Her Education Secretary Pick (VIDEO)
Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, one of the House impeachment managers, argued Thursday that Democrats’ hiring of a former British spy to collect dirt from Russian sources about the Trump campaign does not constitute foreign interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The New York congressman’s argument was based on the puzzling logic that Democrats paid for the information from the retired spy, Christopher Steele, rather than simply obtaining it.
“The analogy is not applicable to the present situation because first, to the extent that opposition research was obtained, it was opposition research that was purchased,” Jeffries said in response to a question from Sen. Richard Burr and a group of Republican senators.
The Republicans had asked: “Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee hired a retired foreign spy to work with Russian contacts to build a dossier of opposition research against her political opponent, Donald Trump. Under the House managers’ standard would the dossier be considered as foreign interference in a U.S. election, a violation of the law, and/or an impeachable offense?”
The Clinton campaign and DNC, through their law firm, paid just over $1 million to opposition research firm Fusion GPS to investigate Donald Trump and members of his campaign. (Read more from “Hakeem Jeffries Says Steele Dossier Doesn’t Count as Foreign Interference Because It Was ‘Purchased’” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/6818971932_9083921eea_b-4.jpg6831024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2020-01-30 19:46:402020-01-30 19:44:20WATCH: Hakeem Jeffries Says Steele Dossier Doesn’t Count as Foreign Interference Because It Was ‘Purchased’
Life expectancy rose in the U.S. in 2018 for the first time in four years, according to data released Thursday by the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
Life expectancy increased that year from 78.6 to 78.7 years, according to the report. The decline in life expectancy over the past three years was largely due to a spike in overdose deaths, which declined in 2018.
67,367 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2018, down 4.1% from 2017. This marks the first time since 1999 that overdose related deaths declined in the U.S. (Read more from “U.S. Life Expectancy up for First Time in Four Years” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/hospital-1338584_960_720.jpg640960Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2020-01-30 19:41:232020-01-30 19:40:19U.S. Life Expectancy up for First Time in Four Years
By Breitbart. Joe Biden argued that additional witnesses were not necessary during the impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton.
Politico reported on Thursday that Biden, at the time a long-serving U.S. Senator from Delaware, penned a memo to his congressional colleagues ahead of Clinton’s impeachment trial in January 1999. In the memo, Biden argued that the Senate was not constitutionally required to hold an actual trial to examine Clinton’s alleged misdeeds.
“The Senate may dismiss articles of impeachment without holding a full trial or taking new evidence,” Biden wrote. “Put another way, the Constitution does not impose on the Senate the duty to hold a trial.”
Biden, who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, cited both historical and institutional precedent within the four-page memo. He also disputed the need for the Senate to call additional witnesses, claiming the “benefit … is not great enough to outweigh the public costs,” including the damage to national prestige and public institutions.
“In a number of previous impeachment trials, the Senate has reached the judgment that its constitutional role as a sole trier of impeachments does not require it to take new evidence or hear live witness testimony,” Biden wrote. (Read more from “Flashback: Biden Argued Additional Witnesses Were Unnecessary During Clinton Impeachment Trial” HERE)
High-Profile Sanders Supporter Revives Biden’s Plagiarism Scandal Days Before Iowa Caucuses
By Fox News. A surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign revived the plagiarism scandal that derailed former Vice President Joe Biden’s first presidential campaign in 1988 just days before the Iowa caucuses.
Liberal activist Shaun King shared a video showing media coverage of the plagiarism charges that were leveled against the then senator as he was vying for the Democratic nomination.
Biden was accused of lifting rhetoric from then-British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock in three separate instances at a Democratic debate at the Iowa State Fair. He later conceded that he should have said that he was “paraphrasing” Kinnock at the time he said those remarks. He was later accused of using statements from the late Robert F. Kennedy as his own in another speech. It was reported at the time that he either “quoted or paraphrased” John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey “without credit.”
The 1988 hopeful also admitted to plagiarism for a paper in law school. (Read more from “High-Profile Sanders Supporter Revives Biden’s Plagiarism Scandal Days Before Iowa Caucuses” HERE)
