👓 Impeach Donald Trump | The Atlantic

Read Impeach Donald Trump by Yoni ApplebaumYoni Applebaum (The Atlantic)
Starting the process will rein in a president who is undermining American ideals—and bring the debate about his fitness for office into Congress, where it belongs.
Just the sort of great, historic writing that The Atlantic is well known for creating.

Highlights, Quotes, Annotations, & Marginalia

As a House Judiciary Committee staff report put it in 1974, in the midst of the Watergate investigation: “The purpose of impeachment is not personal punishment; its function is primarily to maintain constitutional government.” Impeachable offenses, it found, included “undermining the integrity of office, disregard of constitutional duties and oath of office, arrogation of power, abuse of the governmental process, adverse impact on the system of government.”  

January 18, 2019 at 07:36PM

The question of whether impeachment is justified should not be confused with the question of whether it is likely to succeed in removing a president from office.  

January 18, 2019 at 07:41PM

Here is how impeachment would work in practice.  

January 18, 2019 at 08:01PM

The Nixon impeachment spurred Charles L. Black, a Yale law professor, to write Impeachment: A Handbook, a slender volume that remains a defining work on the question.  

January 18, 2019 at 08:07PM

In fact, the Nixon impeachment left Weld with a renewed faith in the American system of government: “The wheels may grind slowly,” he later reflected, “but they grind pretty well.”  

January 18, 2019 at 08:12PM

🎧 I Don’t Think I Can Do Anything to Fix It | The Daily – New York Times

Listened to Listen to ‘The Daily’: ‘I Don’t Think I Can Do Anything to Fix It’ by Michael Barbaro from nytimes.com
Representative Tom Rooney, a Florida Republican, talks about the Russia investigation, gun control and his decision not to run for re-election.

This gives me some interesting ideas about how things might be fixed via game theory. In some sense it may also help if we all (both parties) had a common enemy to fight against. During the Cold War it was Communism we fought against which helped us be on the same side, and as a result we were more united. Now with nothing to “fight against” we’re fighting each other.

This is one of the most interesting episodes of this podcast I’ve come across yet.

👓 Anti-abortion Rep. Tim Murphy plans to retire amid sex scandal | USA Today

Read Anti-abortion Rep. Tim Murphy plans to retire amid sex scandal (USA TODAY)
The announcement comes a day after the pro-life lawmaker allegedly asked his mistress to get an abortion.
The inconsistency of most Republicans and the anti-abortion crowd really kills me. It’s fine for them when the situation presents itself, but isn’t appropriate for anyone else?

If only the people who protest so vociferously and who spend money to fight abortion would instead spend their time and money to support the adoption and care of all these unwanted children, the problem would be so drastically different. You have to care about the lives after they are born or you’re just being hypocritical, otherwise, just what are you really saving? Do they want to save and add to the suffering in the world? Should they be called pro-suffering activists instead of anti-abortion?

The Daily 202: Key dates to put on your calendar for 2017 | The Washington Post

Read The Daily 202: Key dates to put on your calendar for 2017 by James Hohmann (Washington Post)
Summits, elections, anniversaries and other momentous dates for Trump’s first year