Guilty until proven innocent
Six of the seven impeachment managers selected by U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-California, wanted President Donald Trump impeached before anyone ever heard of the Ukraine whistleblower, whose complaint was made public in late September.
The first was Democratic House Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who voted against tabling an impeachment resolution offered by U.S. Rep. Al Green of Texas in January 2018. U.S. Rep. Val Demings of Florida, following the president's exoneration for collusion with Russia by the Mueller report, said in April 2019, according to Politico, "we are still struggling to justify why we aren't beginning impeachment proceedings."
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York said in June 2019, according to CNN, he wanted to open an impeachment inquiry. Both U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia of Texas and U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California voted against tabling another impeachment resolution by Green on July 17, 2019.
And Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado said in Medium on July 30, 2019, that we "must complete the work started" by Mueller and there should be an impeachment inquiry.
And now they claim they want to sit as fair prosecutors in presenting the impeachment articles to the Senate.
Money, money, money
Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is continuing his attempt to buy his way into the White House, but Texas, for one, is not playing.
At a San Antonio rally where he was to show off his high level endorsement - Judge Judy (Sheindlin), a fellow 77-year-old - fewer than 50 people showed up, according to several sources.
"Unlike everyone else in this race," he said, "I think what's important is beating Donald Trump." In other words, elect me and then I'll tell you my plans.
Indeed, Bloomberg has his own strategy: enter the race late, eschew the pre-Iowa debates, put hundreds of millions of dollars of his own money in the race, and focus on the later state primaries in hopes of winning.
His advertising already blankets Chattanooga television, and he has bought a $10 million spot in this year's Super Bowl. His digital ad buys reportedly are set to outnumber President Donald Trump's 4-to-1.
As of late last week, Bloomberg had bought his way to the support of 6.6% of national Democrats.
Iran, Iraq, potato, patato
When you're 77, "Jeopardy" knowledge doesn't come to the fore quite as quickly. In yet another foreign policy gaffe, Democratic presidential front runner Joe Biden recently allowed as to how millions of people were fleeing from Venezuela into Bolivia.
The only problem is that 700 miles of Brazil separates Venezuela from Bolivia, and the countries do not border each other.
"I'm the guy that put together the plan in Colombia, straightening that government out for a long while," he told the editorial board of the Des Moines Register while on a discourse of how he'd impose a stronger United States presence in South America. "Now what's happening? Millions of people are crossing the border and destabilizing Bolivia. Already destabilizing the Amazon, but, you know, Brazil. Dealing with what's going on in Colombia."
Before the Bolivia comment, he allowed in a New York City speech how "Iran's parliament" recently "voted to eject all Americans and coalition forces from the country."
The country was Iraq, and the vote was nonbinding, but this was the Democratic polling leader being himself.
Ah, details
Former Obama-era Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan takes his role as a Trump hater and Obama administration shill seriously, but he often gets his facts wrong. Such was the case last week in his haste to gin up evidence against the president in his impeachment trial.
In an MSNBC interview, he accused the president of writing a note which suggested the president of Ukraine announce an investigation into the dealings of former Vice President Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter, in a controversial Ukraine energy company.
Brennan was incorrect, apparently was called on it and so sent out a tweet to correct the record. He said the note was written by "Les Parnas," but he still wasn't right. It apparently was written by Lev Parnas, a Soviet-born businessman who is an associate of Trump attorney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. One again chastened, Brennan sent out another tweet: "Lev Parnas / not Les".
Twitter critics had a field day, but one veteran newsman, Brit Hume of Fox News, may have summed it up with his one-word tweet: "Sloppy."