Ah, c'mon, Blue!
Oct. 23rd, 2019 04:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gridloreAn umpire for Major League Baseball is in hot water after Tweeting that if Trump is impeached he's going buy an AR-15 to fight in the "Cival War."
MLB looking into longtime umpire Rob Drake's tweet
His Twitter account has since been deleted. But aside from the "Cival War" tweet, there's something more important going on here: the embedded ignorance of the American Right.
An earlier tweet, also quoted in the article reads:
"You can't do an impeachment inquiry from the basement of Capital Hill without even a vote! What is going on in this country?"
It's "Capitol Hill" first of all. But the ignorance is what follows.
"from the basement" The Capitol building was completed in 1800, with the House and Senate wings being added in the 1850s. Today, the building is packed. Many smaller hearing rooms are indeed in the basement. Among these are several hearing rooms that are rated as Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIF.)
These are rooms that are as secure from eavesdropping as we can make them. Recording devices are banned. They are turned into Faraday cages when in use. Having them in the basement means no windows to bounce lasers off of. Even the janitorial staff have to receive security clearances. They are used for hearings that impact on issues of national security that might reveal methods, sources, or information that would damage the United States. The impeachment testimony being heard by the Intelligence Committee (which has both Democrats and Republicans on it) meets those criteria.
"without even a vote!" There is no Constitutional requirement for a vote of the House to begin impeachment hearings. There wasn't one for Clinton, Nixon, or Johnson. All that is required is for House committees to open hearings on potentially impeachable offenses, part of their duty in exercising oversight on the Executive.
All said, this umpire should be tossed from baseball.
MLB looking into longtime umpire Rob Drake's tweet
His Twitter account has since been deleted. But aside from the "Cival War" tweet, there's something more important going on here: the embedded ignorance of the American Right.
An earlier tweet, also quoted in the article reads:
"You can't do an impeachment inquiry from the basement of Capital Hill without even a vote! What is going on in this country?"
It's "Capitol Hill" first of all. But the ignorance is what follows.
"from the basement" The Capitol building was completed in 1800, with the House and Senate wings being added in the 1850s. Today, the building is packed. Many smaller hearing rooms are indeed in the basement. Among these are several hearing rooms that are rated as Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIF.)
These are rooms that are as secure from eavesdropping as we can make them. Recording devices are banned. They are turned into Faraday cages when in use. Having them in the basement means no windows to bounce lasers off of. Even the janitorial staff have to receive security clearances. They are used for hearings that impact on issues of national security that might reveal methods, sources, or information that would damage the United States. The impeachment testimony being heard by the Intelligence Committee (which has both Democrats and Republicans on it) meets those criteria.
"without even a vote!" There is no Constitutional requirement for a vote of the House to begin impeachment hearings. There wasn't one for Clinton, Nixon, or Johnson. All that is required is for House committees to open hearings on potentially impeachable offenses, part of their duty in exercising oversight on the Executive.
All said, this umpire should be tossed from baseball.
