Open-ended criteria: Dershowitz says next Democratic president will be impeached

Law scholar Alan Dershowitz predicted the next Democrat elected president of the United States will be impeached as a result of the same “open-ended” criteria the party is currently using to impeach President Trump.

“They have created open-ended criteria which bear no relationship to the word of the Constitution itself,” Dershowitz said Sunday on Fox News. “If President Trump is impeached, it will set a terrible precedent, which will weaponize impeachment, and the next Democrat who gets elected will be impeached.”

Dershowitz, who has been critical of Trump in the past and says he voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, has spent recent months criticizing the impeachment push led by House Democrats.

“It’s hard to find any president — modern president, old president — who can’t be accused of abuse of power,” he said.

Since the start of the inquiry, leading Republicans have attacked the impeachment process, complaining about access to classified briefings before public testimony and accusing leading Democrats of inappropriate communications with key witnesses.

The investigation centers on a July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump pressured the foreign leader to investigate a political rival.

Democrats say Trump abused the office of the presidency and have hung some of their impeachment effort on the charge of bribery.

“How many foreign policy decisions have been made by presidents over the years in order to help them get reelected?” Dershowitz asked. “If we start making that an impeachable offense, there will be no presidents left.”

The House is expected to vote on articles of impeachment before Christmas, triggering a jury trial in the Senate.

Source

Fake News Derails the Liberal Media But Not the Trump Train

8/20/2017,

by: Publius Tacitus on Twitter at @PCTacitus 

If I wrote an article in response to every time the mainstream media engages in fake news reporting about President Trump or conservatives in general, I would never stop writing. But some fake news is more jaw-dropping than normal, and deserves a stern rebuke from yours truly.

The most recent incident of fake news worth discussing is an incident involving another meme. A quick side note, I am always amazed by how thin skinned CNN and other liberal media outlets are when it comes to memes. You would think a news organization that constantly dishes out blistering criticism would be able to handle a little of their own type of heat yet all it takes is a single meme to get these national news organizations throwing fits like toddlers.

This incident all started with another anti-CNN meme that was making its rounds on the internet but it gained national fame when a Twitter user named “SLandInSoCal” tweeted it and was then retweeted by the President Trump. Trump quickly deleted it later however but not before a ravenous mob of reporters took screenshots and tried to make it viral with their sensational headlines. They includes descriptions as follows:

“President Trump has retweeted a cartoon of a train bearing the Trump logo killing a CNN reporter” ~The Daily Beast

“President Trump’s war with CNN went off the rails Tuesday morning after he retweeted an image of a Trump train running over a CNN reporter.”                   ~The Washington Post

“President Trump Tuesday morning retweeted a cartoon image of a Trump train running over a CNN reporter.” ~NY Daily News

“Trump re-tweets — then deletes — image of train smashing into a person with CNN logo over his face.” ~MSNBC

“Donald Trump re-tweeted then deleted a meme showing a train hitting a CNN logo.” ~CNN

“President Donald Trump retweeted an image of a “Trump train” running over a figure with its head replaced by the CNN logo, just three days after the death of Heather Heyer at a counterprotest against a white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia.” ~Newsweek

This, folks, is a perfect textbook example of sensational fake news reporting. From the get-go, I was skeptical about these reports and when I saw the actual meme, I realized only a three year old could’ve came to the same conclusion that CNN and others did. Heck, I am just an amateur blogger yet even I did a better job tracking down this meme to its source and uncovering its backstory than these full time journalists with their six figure salaries, who apparently just got their scoop from a quick careless glance.

First, let’s start with the source of the meme. This meme is actually a modified version of a cartoon created by cartoonist Gary Varvel and was published in the Indianapolis Star. The original cartoon depicted a donkey attempting to hold back the “Trump Train” and in no way depicted the donkey being “run over by a train” like so many of the media news outlets are falsely reporting. Furthermore, the meme that was created from the cartoon only changed the cartoon by placing a CNN logo over the face of the donkey, thereby changing the statement to claim that CNN was trying to hold back the “Trump Train.” At this point, if you still want to make the logically inaccurate jump to the idea that this meme promotes violence against CNN, you need help.

To the left is the original cartoon by Gary Varvel while to the right is the meme created by Joel Jarrett that was later retreated by President Trump briefly. As you can clearly see, the only difference is that the meme has a CNN logo over the face of the donkey and neither picture depicts anyone being run over by a train.

In an emailed statement, Gary Varvel told me that his cartoon had been altered without his knowledge and permission. He also told me that he did not know the individual who modified his cartoon. That individual, I have learned, is a Joel Jarrett. I discovered him while contacting “SLandinSoCal” who showed me a direct message she received from a supposed friend of Joel Jarrett, claiming Joel was the original author of the meme. Sure enough, I scoured Joel Jarrett’s Facebook page and found the meme, which he originally had created in July. I contacted Mr. Jarrett for his side of the story but he didn’t answer my emails and soon after I contacted him, he deleted the meme. I am not a total amateur though and suspected he would do that so I already had screenshots of that meme, pictured below.

Screenshot of Joel Jarrett’s Facebook post including a meme later retweeted by President Trump. This post was soon deleted or removed after I contacted Joel Jarrett and asked why he modified Gary Varvel’s cartoon. As you can see here and in the other picture above, the cartoonist’s signature has been deleted and replaced by Jarret’s Facebook URL, “/JoelJarrett”

After searching Joel Jarrett’s Facebook page, I noticed dozens and dozens of different political memes all with his name at the bottom. Apparently, he created this meme in July and it spread around the internet until “SLandInSoCal” came across it and posted it to her own Twitter. Obviously, Mr. Jarrett should’ve asked permission from Varvel to use his cartoon and even if he didn’t, he probably should’ve at least given the cartoonist credit by not editing out Varvel’s signature and replacing it with his own name.

So now we turn back to the Twitter user who made this meme famous. “SLandInSoCal” had posted the meme on her Twitter early in the morning on August 15 and she told me that she didn’t remember where she had originally seen it. Once President Trump retweeted it though, the media has quickly dug their claws into her, accusing her of being a white supremacist and a bot while broadcasting her profile to all their millions of views.

As a result, “SLandInSoCal” has been viciously attacked online as many falsely thought she was the source of the meme. “You deserve to hang at the neck until dead,” said one Twitter user named “LibertyS999”. “I hope your boyfriend beats the sh*t out of you and ultimately kills you,” said another commenter, who went on to say he/she hoped someone put a bullet in this Twitter user’s brain.

This was just a nauseating snapshot of the torrent of filth that poured into this woman’s inbox and is yet another example of just how tolerant the Left really is. Without the full story or even knowing this woman, people bombarded her with death threats and obscenities simply because they read a fake news article that claimed she posted a “violent” meme.

I asked this Twitter user about the allegations from the mainstream media that she was a “white supremacist.” She responded, “I am absolutely not a white supremacist” and went on to give some of her advice on how people should combat white supremacy.

“You aren’t going to conquer racism or ideas of racial superiority in this country by hate and violence. The only way to even begin to conquer racism is for the various races to show themselves as being decent to each other. The hate, violence and threats coming from the left [and the] Media sensationalism only fans the flames. It puts everyone on the defense. Then each of these so-called hate groups is emboldened to stand their ground. The actions of the media and far left groups are doing more damage than good.”    ~”SLandInSoCal” (Twitter user)

In a separate Facebook post, “SLandinSoCal” also stated: “I am quite aggravated with the way the news channels and news articles lied and maliciously defamed me. I’m even more disturbed that the media is inciting outrage and violence like this.” I heartily agree as well and this most recent incident just shows how ridiculous America’s mainstream media networks have become.”

I totally agree with “SLandInSoCal.” The liberal media’s pathetic response to this meme and their childish overreaction show just what is exactly wrong with the press in America. Today, news networks have abandoned their ethics in favor of sensationalism and partisan attacks against people or groups they detest. The misrepresentation of this meme coupled with linking it to the horrible tragedy in Charlottesville is shocking and shameful, even by CNN and The Daily Beast‘s standards.

I would demand the media apologizes to “SLandInSoCal”, Varvel, and Jarrett but I already know they won’t as they are probably too busy seeking another way to undermine and attack our President. I will always respect the First Amendment and the right to the freedom of press but this kind of irresponsible reporting is a sad abuse of this privilege. We don’t need fake news, we need real and honest news. We need real and honest journalists who are willing to present both sides and let their readers decide for themselves rather than writing with the intent to convince their readers of one side or the other. That’s the job for bloggers and opinion pieces.

Source