I don't know if they are still a thing, but when I was a kid, cut-out dolls were huge. You could buy kits with cardboard dolls plus magnetic stick-on clothing and accessories. They were kind of fun. When I read your comment, I saw Roberts as a cut-out doll with the judge's robe being placed on him. I don't think he's his own man now, if he ever has been since becoming CJ. He's there to be used to play a particular part. He'll be made to be what he is needed to be and he'll play along.
Ugh! That’s really disappointing. I hope some how and some way they all get a crisis of conscience and decide to rise to the seriousness of the moment. I keep leaving room for hope so good had a window to get through.
John Kelly, former Chief of Staff, who is someone who doesn't often speak out, just did - and he said he believes Bolton. This could be the beginning of many people finally deciding to speak out for the sake of our country.
This morning Joe Scarborough summed up T's legal defense team with the following observations:
“You had a confederacy of dunces defending him in impeachment,” Scarborough stated. “Their arguments were absolutely stunning.”
“If irony weren’t already dead and buried years ago, it was Ken Starr yesterday talking about how abuse of power is not sufficient to impeach a president, you need a crime,” Scarborough said. “He literally dragged the corpse of irony out of the grave, he meticulously tied the corpse’s neck bone to the back of a tractor, and he ran that tractor throughout the graveyard of stupidity and ran over every headstone. This, before once again kicking dirt on the corpse of irony, again.”
“These people lowered the collective I.Q. not only of America, but of the western world, by at least 24 points every hour they spoke on the Senate floor,” he concluded.
Looks like many here have been correct about a blow up. Reported 7 minutes ago: McConnell tells caucus he does not yet have the votes to prevent witnesses at the trial. Senator Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) on Tuesday said he doesn’t yet have the votes to block a resolution to allow witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial, according to multiple reports. - National Review. https://www.thedailybeast.com/sen-mitch-mcconnell-says-gop-leaders-dont-have-votes-yet-to-block-impeachment-witnesses-wsj
I heard former FBI Assistant Director of Counterintelligence, Frank Figliuzzi, comment this afternoon that when the R Senators were behind closed doors with Moscow M., MM was trying to push them away from the light. That’s not a direct quote, but I was struck by his use of the term “light.” I actually stopped what I was doing and felt a sense of peace. He said this before the news came out that MM didn’t yet have the votes he wanted against witnesses.
Then I received a message that MM’s gluttonous appetite for power will be his downfall. It gave me goosebumps.
I found your comment concerning McConnell intriguing. As I am writing this post, news is out that McConnell does not have the votes to demand that the trial ends without witnesses.
Obviously, this is a power play on McConnell's part. By announcing that he doesn't have the votes, he is relying on Trump and his media dogs (Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlton, Alex Jones, etc.) to stir up the base and threaten the Republican senators who dare defy Trump. The usual mix of yelling, conspiracy theories, and veiled threats.
If all goes well for Moscow Mitch, the Republicans will be brought to task in time for the vote for witnesses.
But there is a wildcard in all of this. John Bolton.
Now, I don't like John Bolton. He is nothing more that a war-mongering, power-hungry maniac who thrives on the darkness that drives him. However, his ego can't stomach the fact that he was driven out and is now being marginalized by another egomaniac.
But if there is one thing I know about Bolt0n is that he is strategic. He knows that he won't be protected by Trump in the form of pardons (something that most of Trump's former colleagues did not learn in time and what current allies are failing to recognize). Bolton knows that he may one day face criminal charges for what occurred, and his best strategy is to save himself.
I think we will see more "leaks" and "revelations" in the coming weeks. Republicans are now caught in a trap. If they vote to dismiss without witnesses, they will be punished by the moderates in their districts. Further, if more wrongdoing is uncovered, they can kiss public service goodbye. But if they vote for witnesses, then Trump will erupt.
I predicted earlier that Pelosi launched this impeachment as a means to trap the Republicans, not to actually impeach Trump. It looks like things are going to plan, and McConnell will soon learn that his turtle powers are no match for the light.
For the life of me, all this time I can't figure out WHY the attachment to the Orange $hitgibbon. They could remove him from office via the impeachment, and immediately install Mother Mike to the throne, which would still keep all their dark secrets hidden and which would even further the apocalyptic death agenda of the far right dominionists. Yes, there'd be a Twitter rage storm, but their biggest problem would be gone (and eligible for jail time). The base would be ok with Pence and then could vote for a Pence-Haley ticket, especially if they do this NOW rather than after the primaries. Remember, the GOP hasn't scheduled a convention for this year, they didn't want any primary competition. I guess just not enough brain cells to go around. Oh well, whatever hoists them by their own petards is fine with me.
@allyn, I agree that MM will eventually have the votes he needs. It came to me last night that although they really dislike each other and are two different people, at their core MM and T are united in their pathological lust for power. I saw this big black vortex, but I don't know what it means. But strangely, I'm not feeling fear when I see it. I still strongly believe that MM's insatiable power grab will be his downfall. Whatever power he/they have, will be removed from them.
@laura-f, I share your thoughts about getting what they want in legislation with Pence/Haley, without the scary drama. I now believe that some are terrified and even paralyzed by T's threats. Maybe not just for themselves, but also for their families. The guy is truly dangerous. And I also suspect that some of them are involved in some of T's illegal and overseas shenanigans.
About calling witnesses and their proposal to the Dems that Hunter B. should be called if they agree to Bolton -- that's total BS. The media and many of the Dems shouldn't be duped with that phony proposal. MM doesn't need the Dems permission to call witnesses. He has the votes and the nerve to call anyone, even Schiff if he wants to. No, MM doesn't want any witnesses. After the Senate trial is over, they would rather create this false narrative about the Bidens. Billy B. would probably gladly assist in spreading that narrative. That will be part of T's campaign strategy.
The narrative about the Biden's came from Steve Bannon & Brietbart. A Bolton for Biden deal? No, Bolton has info that's pertinent. Neither Biden does. If they insist on calling a Biden, then Cofer Black should be called too. He started working for Burisma while Biden was there & he's still on the Board. Would love to see some of the Senators question him about his Blackwater & Eric Prince/ Betsy DeVos ties.
I just saw that the senate could vote as early as this Friday (1/31) on witnesses, and am thinking that corresponds to what you saw in your meditation with Friday being a "big" day. I know several have indicated that they expect MM (MoscowMitch) to have the votes he needs and how unusual that was for him to "leak" that he doesn't have them - I had a vision of him literally panicking with his hands on his head...
For the life of me, all this time I can't figure out WHY the attachment to the Orange $hitgibbon. They could remove him from office via the impeachment, and immediately install Mother Mike to the throne, which would still keep all their dark secrets hidden and which would even further the apocalyptic death agenda of the far right dominionists. Yes, there'd be a Twitter rage storm, but their biggest problem would be gone (and eligible for jail time).
The base would be ok with Pence and then could vote for a Pence-Haley ticket, especially if they do this NOW rather than after the primaries.
Remember, the GOP hasn't scheduled a convention for this year, they didn't want any primary competition. I guess just not enough brain cells to go around. Oh well, whatever hoists them by their own petards is fine with me.
@laura-f, irrespective of what this absurd calamity is doing to our collective state of mind—much less to democracy and to our planet—I have to tell you that I enjoy the hell out of your acerbic wit. Thanks for making me laugh. (I mean, "Mother Mike"? lololol)
I've wondered this myself a thousand times. Here's what I've come up with so far:
What the majority of the base seems to share in common is its stage of consciousness development, which we could call tribal or warrior consciousness. Their primary value is might-is-right, and their primary fear is group survival. They're egocentric, vigilant, and aggressive, which is why they exclusively admire and follow "strong men" leaders. (Modern day gangs, cartels, and organized crime syndicates operate at this level.) This is why the far right base doesn't mind that their political mascot is a sociopathic narcissist who's emotionally arrested at age 3; they interpret it as strength. This stage has been in active operation for about 15,000 years.
Once people have become highly religious, they've taken on the next developmental stage, which cares about rules, roles, discipline, and order as provided by a higher authority. In individuals, we see this stage showing up at about age 7. In cultures, it appears on the scene sometime during the shift from small agrarian tribes or villages to city-states (hello Sumer). At this stage, people are highly ethnocentric. They are "right and good" because their God is right and good, and everyone else is a sinner or infidel and deserves to die. This is still the most dominant human expression across the world, and has been active for at least 5,000 years.
Pence represents the latter stage, so the evangelicals admire him, but he doesn't satisfy the might-is-right fury of the majority of T's base. He's flaccid, meek.
I think virtually every GOP political figure would prefer Pence, but knows that to keep the base in line (strictly for the votes), they have to stand behind the Toddler Tyrant in Chief. While he's been distracting the world and riling the MAGA crowd, they've managed to pull off an unholy coup against corporate and environmental regulations. They've disabled the State department, elected countless judges, and played T like a cleverly positioned king on the chess board of evangelical politics.
Still, tactically speaking, the queen is the most powerful piece on any board. And that's always the hardest lesson for these types to learn—which is why I think they've been resisting the Nikki Haley concept up to now. If they backed her, either to primary T directly or as a Pence running mate, it would be the single smartest thing they ever did.
For now anyway, I seriously hope they don't.
Note: I posted a vision here last summer about Haley angling behind the scenes to be president. I didn't like what I saw then and I still don't. Though, if we're talking about potential queens on the board, I've been seeing Kamala Harris's face again in the last ~two weeks. It feels like she might rise again somehow.
Alan Dershowitz just argued......with a straight face...... in public......that it does not matter what a President does to help his reelection because it is in the National interest.
I truly hope Epstein and Trump have some serious dirt on him because if he actually came up with this on his own free of distress, I'm at a complete loss.
@Vestralux - You had me at "Hello Sumer" - LMAO
These are great points you make. On social media, someone posted a map (unmarked), on it was a small dot in the middle east, and the caption read something like "Most of the trouble in this world has its root where the dot is, which is where small, ethnic, tribal bands have been fighting over who is right for millenia."
I think you and I have both seen Nikki Haley in visions, in mine it keeps flipping between her and Gabbard on the inauguration stage. Either way, in my visions the crowd at the inauguration feels betrayed. It gives me no joy to tear down other women, but these ladies are both evil, and Haley in particular may be unredeemable (which I don't say lightly).
They are all in it together... they... are the Swamp - Trump and his minions... and we knew they are going to find him guilty.. they said so before they convened. Our only hope is that as more continues to be revealed? the American people remember this and VOTE,VOTE,VOTE them all out in November.
@laura-f, great minds and all that. ;)
So true about the Middle East. We all know that region is the hottest, longest-standing conflict zone. Energetically, it's absolutely mired in the densest miasmic distortion, the type you find anywhere there's multi-generational and collective trauma. Trauma injures our ability to connect and relate, and it inhibits individual and cultural development. That makes it very, very difficult for the people of the region to move out of the tribal aggression of earlier times, even when many there long to do so.
As for what I'll call your 'Haley v. Gabbard scenario,' yeesh. I shivered.
Not sure what to make of this, but as I was reading your post, I saw the Three of Pentacles over Nikki Haley and the Eight of Swords over Tulsi Gabbard. Anyone care to offer an interpretation? (@allyn, I haven't seen whether you're a tarot person, but I know you're good at making symbolic connections on others' visions.)
@laura-f and @vestralux,
I saw Nikki Haley too, for some time, working behind the scenes with Rs. I can't recall the first time I posted about it. Funny, though, that I never saw Gabbard. I see her being calculating and creating mischief, but I don't see her as being significant. In much the same way I don't see Pence as significant (or as President). Haley feels more dangerous to me.
@mas1581, Dershowitz has a lot of people scratching their heads. Which makes you think that there's more to it than meets the eye.
Alan Dershowitz ...
I truly hope Epstein and Trump have some serious dirt on him because if he actually came up with this on his own free of distress, I'm at a complete loss.
My sense?
Dude made himself a Faustian bargain.
And whatever form it took—real or spiritual or both—it chained him to Epstein, which chained him to Drumpf, which chains him to Mogilevich and to Putin and god only knows who else. The slave trade of souls is a terrible business, but I hear the pay is phenomenal while it lasts.