YOU DO WHAT YOU GOTTA DO

Sometimes you just have to relieve the tension with a little trolling.  Earlier this afternoon I looked up Jim Jordan’s website and then called one of his Ohio offices.  I said to the woman who answered the phone:

“Hello.  I am looking at the Congressman’s impressive website, and I read his bio.  I could not find any mention of his military service, but I felt sure he served.  Can you tell me which branch of the military he served in?”

She replied, rather curtly, “He did not serve.  He went to college.”

“Oh,” I said, “I guess he had bone spurs” and hung up.

MEMORY TRICKS

Earlier today, while my wife and I were out shopping, we tried without success to recall the name of a very familiar restaurant in the nearby town of Carrboro.  We were having what folks in our retirement community call a “senior moment,” a familiar occurrence, alas.  Not of itself a notable event.  But as we drove on, I reflected that I could easily and precisely recall where the restaurant is, how to drive to it, what it looks like, what is on the menu, several times when we have been there – virtually everything about it but its name.

This is characteristic of such senior moments.  Several years ago I was unable for some time to recall the name of a famous operatic soprano, Kathleen Battle. I would go and get the CD I have of her singing arias with Winton Marsalis accompanying her, I would say to myself “Kathleen Battle, Kathleen Battle, KB, KB” and yet ten minutes later I could not recall her name, even though I could hear her in my head and even sing along with some of the arias.

So today I started to wonder, where in the brain are stored all the details I can recall of the restaurant, and where is stored its name?  Has anyone done research on this phenomenon? 

Is there someone out there reading this who knows?

LIGHT READING

Well, I have now read the "transcript" of the phone call and also the whistleblower's report.  It is worth reading the transcript for one reason:  to get the flavor of the Ukraine President's cringe-worthy sycophantic sucking up to Trump.  It is over the top.  I now understand why Trump thinks the phone call was "perfect."

A LITTLE SCHADENFREUDE IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL

I admit it, I am a little giddy with the developments of the past week.  I am allowing myself to take pleasure in the discomfiture of my enemies, fully aware that I may be disappointed.  As Paul Newman says to Robert Redford in The Sting, it won't be everything I want, but I have to be satisfied and walk away.

I agree with Ed Barreras that we really need one more significant defection to put a cherry on it, but these are early days, and Trump does not inspire to-the-death loyalty, so I am hopeful.  There are all the people the whistleblower talked to in the White House.  One or more of them may be feeling a trifle queasy at this point and wondering whether they really want to go down with the ship.

It is clear that the Trump White House is a leaking badly, and every reporter from New York to Washington is working non-stop to catch any drops that fall from the sieve, so I expect more revelations, even as I type these words.

Now I think I will relax and read the full texts of the phone call and the whistleblower report, which I deferred until my Marx lecture was complete [I have some sense of priorities!]

GAME ON

The House of Representatives will vote Articles of Impeachment, almost certainly before Thanksgiving.  How can I be so sure?  For three reasons:

First, a majority of the members of the House have announced that they are for impeachment.

Second, the Democrats have stated that if the Administration fails to honor subpoenas, the first of which went out yesterday, they will construe that failure as Obstruction of Congress and add it to the other Articles, thus depriving the Administration of any opportunity to stall.

And Third, because Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Schiff have openly identified Thanksgiving as their target date, something they would not do unless they believed they could meet it.

This will be only the third time a President has been impeached [Nixon resigned before he could be impeached], and it is worth pausing to note the speed with which the ground has shifted beneath Trump's feet.  It is also a time to tip one's hat to Nancy Pelosi, who has played this flawlessly, with of course massive help from Trump.

When the Articles of Impeachment land with a thud on Mitch McConnell's desk, they will present an impossible choice to half a dozen Republican Senators up for reelection, including McConnell himself.

Will Trump serve out his full term of office?  It is too soon to judge, but if one or several of the White House officials who served as the whistleblower's sources decide to save themselves and come forward, there is no telling.

THIS IS MOVING SO FAST

It is hard to keep up.  Key figures in the House are now talking about completing the impeachment investigation and House vote before Thanksgiving!!  As someone old enough to remember Watergate, I am astonished by the speed with which secret information leaks out.  It took thirty years or so for Mark Felt to be identified as Deep Throat, the source for Woodward and Bernstein.  It has taken days for the NY TIMES to publish identifying characteristics of the whistleblower.  

I sit at my desk working up lecture notes for Tuesday's class and periodically nipping into the kitchen to check MSNBC or CNN for late-breaking developments.

This is the class in which I quote from the script of the Burt Reynolds movie Stick by way of explaining what capitalists do.  Those with short memories or who are new to this blog can check my post for June 1, 2015.

FOR THE FIRST TIME

I think it is genuinely possible that Trump will not serve out his entire first term.  He will not be convicted in the Senate [impeachment is now certain], but at some point he may resign, if he can secure the assurance of a plenary pardon from President Pence.]