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Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee will oppose calling more witnesses in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, all but dashing Democratic efforts to hear more testimony and boosting odds the Senate will vote imminently to acquit without new testimony, in a matter of days. Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said late Thursday she would vote to allow witnesses in the impeachment trial, building momentum for the Democrats’ effort. But Alexander then said in a statement there was “no need for more evidence,” giving the Trump team the likelihood of a Senate vote in its direction. […] A vote on...

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-WI) and other Republican senators asked lead House impeachment manager Adam Schiff (D-CA) during the Senate impeachment trial Thursday why his committee hired Sean Misko, a former National Security Council staffer who was reportedly close to the alleged whistleblower, a day after the July 25 phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Chief Justice John Roberts said, reading the question submitted by Johnson and others: Recent reporting described two NSC staff holdovers from the Obama administration attending an all-hands meeting of NSC staff held about two weeks...

The national narrators of our politics love brandishing the word "historic" to describe the Trump impeachment process. But by now it feels unexceptional, more like Chapter 27 of the Same Old Saga. In their overdramatic Trump narrative, the president is always a democracy-killing villain who is about to get his comeuppance. Month after month, network evening-news coverage of Donald Trump's presidency has been notable mostly for its perpetual negativity. The Senate impeachment trial isn't the slightest bit different. They spent more than two years "reporting" that a Russian collusion conspiracy would be exposed and prematurely end the Trump presidency. Now...

The saints tell us that the Catholic Church is the soul of the world. Above all what sustains the Church is the Most Holy Eucharist (Vat. II: LG 11; CCC 1324). Even though the great majority of the baptized Catholics have lost their faith in the Eucharist, Satan knows very well what the Eucharist is and that it is the Eucharist above all which “restrains” Satan (2Thess 2:3-4). Satan already deprived the Protestants of the Eucharist 400 years ago, just as Satan did for many disciples of Jesus (Jn 6:66) 2000 years ago. Thus we are finally quickly arriving to...

Is this the Jerry Springer Show? Mark reviews the Grammys.

EXCLUSIVE: The Republican National Committee reported its best-ever non-presidential year on Thursday -- the latest signal that the party is outpacing Democrats as they race towards the 2020 elections and battle over impeachment. Data provided to Fox News showed that Republicans collected $26.5 million in December, a record for the month and a roughly $6 million increase from November. While the party has repeatedly surpassed fundraising records under Trump, December's numbers indicated that Republican donor enthusiasm was undeterred by Democrats pushing an impeachment inquiry. “Americans are investing in a party and a president that are fighting for them," RNC Chairwoman...

Attending a meeting near Union Station in Washington, D.C., requires me to park a few blocks away and then walk under a bridge to an office building. People in business attire, like me, step carefully around the homeless men and women who have pitched tents under the bridge. They look filthy and miserable, especially in winter. The persistence of large numbers of homeless Americans is one of the signal policy failures of the past two generations. A 2015 survey found that more than half a million people are homeless on any given night. According to Mentalillnesspolicy.org, about 45 percent of...

WAUKEE, Iowa — Voters usually want to know what a presidential candidate believes. Joe Biden is defining himself to Iowa caucus-goers by what he doesn't believe. "I do not believe we're the dark, angry nation that Donald Trump sees in his tweets," the former vice president said as he unveiled his stretch-run pitch in a school gym here Thursday morning. "I don't believe we're the nation that rips babies from the arms of their mothers and thinks that's OK. I don't believe we're the nation that builds walls and whips up hysteria about an invasion of immigrants that's going to...

Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble told the Funke media group of regional newspapers on Friday that Germany needed to take more responsibility in military affairs with its allies. “We can’t hide. If Europe is to play a stronger role, then we must play our part,” Schäuble said. “We cannot leave everything to the French and the Americans.” The veteran lawmaker and long-time minister in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinets said he supported German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer’s plans to streamline the Bundeswehr and boost defense spending to reach NATO’s target of 2% of GDP. “When France asks us to do more about...

In this day in which society is traveling at EXPONENTIAL speeds, man's EXPONENTIAL advances in technology, abounding resources and abundance for the majority of the common man have advanced EXPONENTIALLY! The majority of Americans today think that they have no need for the ETERNAL things that their Creator offers them in RIGHTEOUSNESS and have deceived themselves into believing that their dead works are sufficient for the redemption of their souls (Rom. 3:23, 6:23, 10:2-4, Eph. 2:8-9, Rev. 3:14-22) Today's EXPERIENTIAL advances have opened wide the door for apostate Christian Americans and the West to gorge themselves on their basest desires,...

My friend, the insanity of Hollywood and its reprobate mind has been on parade for the last few weeks for the whole world to see in light of the Weinstein trial! Sexual harassment in any form is absolutely wrong and violates the personal rights given by Almighty God to both men and women. However, what is very hypocritical about those harassed by Harvey Weinstein is the majority of these women make their living and millions promoting and selling the very smut they accuse Mr. Weinstien of! Oh, the HYPOCRISY! The overwhelming majority of these woman victims have sold and prostituted...

German Field Marshal Fredrick Paulus surrenders to Soviet forces in Stalingrad. Two days later, the last remnants of the German 6th Army would also surrender to the Soviets. The 6 month Battle of Stalingrad was over. The cost of the Soviet victory was staggering. Over 1,129,000 Soviet soldiers killed missing or wounded. Also lost, 2,700 aircraft, 4,300 tanks and 15,000 artillery pieces. The Germans and their allies lost 868,000 men, 900 aircraft, 3,100 tanks and 5,700 artillery pieces. Of the 91,000 German prisoners captured by the Soviets, fewer than 6,000 would live to return to Germany. The Wikipedia article on...

The European Union's decision to accept "Brexit," the United Kingdom's exit from the EU, has not left House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ready to support a potential trade deal between the United States and U.K. “I don’t think we’ll know for a while,” she said in response to a question from The Hill about a potential deal. Pelosi said last year that she would oppose a U.K. trade deal if Brexit harmed the Good Friday Accords, an agreement that led to power-sharing in Northern Ireland, and which was ratified in elections in Ireland and Northern Ireland. The agreement was reached...

American soap operas are not popular these days. And yet, the Senate trial to remove President Donald Trump from office is currently garnering fewer viewers than the soaps. The conservative online magazine The Federalist consulted Nielsen ratings and used them to argue: “More people would rather watch the predictable, fake melodrama offered by soap operas than the predictable, fake melodrama currently being peddled by the Democrats.” Just over 4 million people, in a country of 320 million-plus, tuned in for the opening arguments on the three big networks last week. That’s well less than the 11 million people who regularly...

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One of the most revealing things about the leftist mindset is the usual leftist's lack of self-awareness about his own intolerance, hatefulness and inclusiveness -- unless you distort all those terms to whitewash the reality. I will never forget reading (and writing about) the unfortunate experience of Professor Janice Price, an education instructor at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. The school suspended Price and cut her salary for subjecting her students to a "hostile environment." Her sin was placing issues of Teachers in Focus magazine on the table in the back of her classroom that contained articles written from a...

Wait.. is he mocking Nancy?

TGIFF! Its Fiddle Friday and we have Roy Russell playing Dance Around Molly (1978). THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

Bert and Ernie may not be a same-sex couple, but the long-running children’s franchise Sesame Street is about to get an infusion of LGBT “vibes” with an upcoming guest appearance by actor and LGBT activist Billy Porter. Porter, best known as Pray Tell in the FX’s LGBT ballroom drama Pose and for wearing extravagant dresses, will appear during the 51st season of the beloved children’s show, according to Sesame Street’s official Facebook page. “Billy Porter bringing those fierce vibes to Sesame Street,” the post declares, accompanied by photos of Porter on the classic set, wearing a tuxedo gown. Comments on the post were largely positive, though some readers expressed concern....

A Michigan family removed from an American Airlines flight in Miami when staff claimed they had body odour are suing the airline. Yehuda Yosef Adler, his wife Jennie and their young daughter were removed from the flight to Detroit last January. They claim staff made comments about their Orthodox Jewish faith. American Airlines said the decision to remove the family was not based on religion. They claim customers complained about Mr Adler's odour. The lawsuit, filed in Texas, cites defamation, emotional distress and discrimination relating to religion. Mr Adler claims his family had been sitting on the plane for no...