after a marathon 13+ hour session, things ended up pretty much expected, with few surprises or deviations from the predetermined scenarios. aside from schumer's epic slapdown that basically put the republicans on trial along side their hero, they stuck to the expected repetition of why they feel the president deserves impeachment and removal. in response, the defenders predictably fell back on the same talking points they've been spouting for the past several months, stretching back to when they sat on the panels of the house investigations, repeating that those investigations were unfair because they were allowed no input, apparently forgetting they had representatives on every committee. again claiming they weren't allowed to present witnesses and evidence, it's once more slipped their minds that witnesses, especially witnesses that may have been able to give exculpatory testimony, were forbidden to testify by the white house and documentation, even items which may have been beneficial to their 'client', were withheld by order of the oval office. the most egregious accusation, one which has been repeated time and time again, is that the house investigation was 'rushed'. this is especially ironic coming from the side that now, by denying the introduction of additional witnesses or evidence that has recently come to light (think lev parnas) is pushing for a 'trial' that they can get over with as quickly as possible.
the only thing that came as somewhat of a surprise was when uncle 'chins' capitulated on two of his rules, switching the allotted sessions from two to three and maxing them out at eight hours each. not exactly who he was trying to coddle with this change unless he got some push-back from some elderly bladders unsure of whether or not they'd be able to last between any breaks they might be allowed to take. he also made it possible for evidence previously gathered during the house investigations to be introduced. that, of course, still means that anything new will need to be voted on after opening arguments are completed and, though the specifics still aren't clear, under his rules any new witnesses may have to be deposed in closed session before being allowed to publicly testify, which will most likely be vehemently opposed by the democrats. despite several republicans indicating they would at least be open to hearing new witnesses, the rules were adopted along party lines, proving more or less that when push-comes-to-shove it's still party-over-honest-inquiry.
one more thing: these are 100 men and women who are expected to hear and weigh evidence that may result in the removal of the president. one should be able to expect they'd take this seriously and pay attention in order to render a unbiased decision. however, there were at least two incidences making it appear as if some aren't taking this quite as seriously as others. one senator (party affiliation unknown) was seen, apparently napping and another was witnessed 'allegedly' working on a crossword puzzle. while i've already openly admitted i find the proceedings to be quite boring (so far), i'm not a senator in the room, so WAKE UP!!! PUT DOWN THE DAMN PUZZLE!!! PAY ATTENTION!!!
once again, i don't intend to watch since odds are today will again be not much more than what was said yesterday. if anything ground-breaking happens i'm sure it'll show up on someone's highlight reel. besides, i'm out of popcorn.
(to be continued)
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