A very Happy New Year to all. I wish you all a year filled with joy, good health, inner peace and success at whatever personal journeys you embark on.

And may we all survive another year of the Carnival Barker-in-Chief who is standing by the entrance of the roller coaster ride, hawking half-price tickets while promising us the ride of our lives. We have all been forced to enter and take a seat. As the rocky and erratic ride begins, we know all too well there will be no getting off for at least another year. [More...]

The Democrats had another debate tonight. I'm watching the re-run now. I wonder, after the thrill yesterday of watching the news chirons and papers scream"Impeached", how much interest is there in a Democratic debate -- especially when none of the frontronners have any control over the most immediate and important duty at hand: Removing Trump from office.

My thoughts in advance of watching this debate: Neither Biden nor Bernie will be the nominee. The public has had enough of septugenarian white men. Warren and Pete B. are real possibilities.

Your thoughts on the debate?

Donald Trump was in Michigan today at one of his rallies when the impeachment vote came in. Mike Pence came out for him at first, telling the crowd Trump was watching the vote.

He had plenty to say about the impeachment when he took the stage for over an hour and half. I cannot believe Trump actually said these things, but I'm taking them off the twitter feed of WAPO White House reporter Josh Dawsey who is in Michigan and live-tweeting. He's doing a terrific job. Donald Trump's mental deficiencies have never been as obvious. In no particular order:

Trump is now onto attacking Hillary Clinton, acting out the affair and comments between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, Jim Comey. "Comey, who's another beauty, did I do a great job when I fired his ass?" he says. Loud "Lock Her Up" chant about Clinton, after he mocked her stamina.

"Whoa, wow," he says announcing the vote. "We didn't lose one Republican vote." Then says he got 3 Democrats to support him. "That's unheard of."

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Update: 6:43 MT: Donald Trump has now been impeached on both counts: Abuse of Power and Obsturction of Justice.

People are dancing in the streets tonight. With 398 days left in his term, Donald Trump has been impeached on one count of Abuse of Power and a second count of Obstruction of Congress.

Regardless of what the Senate does, Donald Trump's legacy will be forever stained.[More...]

Paul Manafort's New York mortgage fraud case has been tossed by the Judge on double jeopardy grounds. The judge said he found the factual overlap between this case and his federal case to be "extensive, if not identical."

Manafort wasn't in court to hear the ruling because he's been in the hospital for a "cardiac event."

Rick Gates, a former Trump deputy campaign chairman who cooperated with the Government against his former boss Paul Manafort and others, and who was charged in the same federal Indictments as Manafort before making his cooperation deal, has been sentenced to 45 days in jail and three years probation.

The House Rules Committee has announced that the Impeachment Debate will begin Wednesday morning. There will be 6 hours of argument allowed.

The vote is expected around 6:30 to 7:30 this evening. You can watch live here.

The impeachment bill is House Resolution 755. text is here.

The 658 page Impeachment Report by the House Judiciary Committee is here.

The only proposed pending amendment is a non-starter hair-brain proposal not worth the time to read. Only a Republican in a place like Alabama would come up with this. Like a child who gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar and tells his mother "But he did it too", the amendment seeks a statement by Congress that by the standard being used for Trump, Obama and Holder should have been impeached as well for refusing a subpoena in Fast and Furious. Like I said, a non-starter not worth giving its author attention by naming him.

Congratulations to Sir Rod Stewart for becoming the oldest male solo artis to have a number one album in the UK. He is about to turn 75. Who had the distinction until now? Paul Simon.

Sir Rod, who is 74 years and 11 months old, has taken the accolade from American singer Paul Simon. He beat Simon by three months, the Official Charts Company said.

[More...]

Everybody knows the boat is leaking
Everybody knows the captain lied
Everybody's got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

The New York Times has published its annual "Year in Pictures". The majority of the photos, many of which are visually stunning, range from sad to tragic. The best thing about the collection: Out of 116 photos, Donald Trump only appears in a handful. Is the message that he had very little impact on the year's events, especially abroad? Or, since all but one or two of the photos in which he appears pertain to his leaving and arriving at his own campaign events, that he had no significant accomplishments, and his only relevance is to his die-hard base of supporters?

The Times' editors say they looked at 500, 000 pictures to arrive at their final 116. [More...]

The Judiciary Committee has voted to impeach Donald Trump on two impeachment charges: Abuse of power and Obstruction of Congress. Next week there will be a full House vote.

The articles of impeachment are here.

Republicans seem to be straining their vocal cords in vain as they advance a bunch of crackpot nonsense -- like insisting the impeachment charges must match a specific federal offense. Or the charges aren't serious enough to topple Trump. (But lying about sex with an eager and willing intern is enough for a full house impeachment vote?)

The Senate is unlikely to impeach Donald Trump, but he will forever have a well-deserved big ugly stain on his blue suits that no cleaner on the planet will be able to remove.

"Discredited, unpopular, dishonest, ineffective, and crass" will be just some of the adjectives the history books will use to describe him.

A federal appeals court has ruled Deutsche Bank and Capital One must comply with a congressional subpoena seeking years of Donald Trump's business records. The AP has more here.

The case is likely to go to the Supreme Court. Will packing the Court help Donald personally? What a shame, if it does.

Sen. Kamala Harris has dropped out of the Democratic race to be the Presidential nominee.

Will she be the VP candidate?

She will be delivering a speech soon.

Personally, I'm glad. She is a career law enforcement officer and she peppers too many phrases with references to putting people in jail.

Who will be next to drop?

Donald Trump faces two deadlines this week.

On Monday, the House Judiciary Committee will begin holding impeachment hearings on what charges to include in the Articles of Impeachment.

The Ukraine report is expected to make up the core of Democrats’ likely articles of impeachment against Trump. Lawmakers leading the inquiry have suggested Trump could face an article alleging abuse of power for withholding military aid and a White House meeting from Ukraine while Trump and his allies pressured the country’s new president to investigate Democrats.

The Committee has given Trump a deadline of today for notifying them as to whether his counsel will participate. [More]