IMPEACHMENT OF A U.S. PRESIDENT: Dear Madam Speaker, Sincerely yours, Donald J. Trump

Nineteen politicians/public officials were impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives before Donald J. Trump became the twentieth individual and the third president to be referred to the Senate.

All but one of these nineteen had a Senate trial. Seven were acquitted, eight found guilty, with another four jumping ship through pre-emptive resignation and jurisdiction lapsing in the matter of another.

Of the two presidents in this list, Andrew Johnson and William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton - both were acquitted.

Richard Milhous Nixon is not on this list as he was the only U.S. president to resign in order to avoid a formal Senate trial.

Impeachment charges ranged from: conspiring to assist in Great Britain’s attempt to seize Spanish-controlled territories; waging war against the U.S. Government; sexual assault, obstructing and impeding an official proceeding; making false and misleading statements; criminal disregard for the office and accepting payments in exchange for making official appointments; income tax evasion; abuse of contempt power and other misuses of office; and of remaining on the bench following criminal conviction; through to charges of intoxication on the bench.

On 19 December 2019 the House of Representatives impeached Trump for "high crimes and misdemeanors" on a 230 to 197 vote regarding "abuse of power" and a 229 to 198 vote regarding "obstruction of Congress".

One Democrat and two Republicans did not participate in either vote and one Democrat declared neutrality with a Present declaration.

The day before the vote Trump wrote to Speaker Nancy Pelosi.......

President Donald Trump’s le... by Digital Desk on Scribd

https://www.scribd.com/document/440211861/President-Donald-Trump-s-letter-to-Speaker-of-the-House-Nancy-Pelosi

After the impeachment vote Trump tweeted:

pic.twitter.com/DutxclyZw9

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2019

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison loses control of climate change and ecomomic narratives - bolts for a secret overseas location in December 2019

Australian Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese met with the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action (ELCA) group of 29 former emergency services chiefs. 

This is the same group that Australian Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison pointedly refused to meet in the months leading up to the current national climate emergency and still refuses to meet.

As widespread bushfire destruction grows like a cancer across the landscape, Morrison displayed a characteristic that is becoming a feature of his prime ministership - he bolted for cover without a word of warning on the evening of 15 December 2019. 

This time at some undisclosed overseas 'holiday' destination.

On that evening according to the NSW Rural Fire Service; At 11:30pm, more than 2,000 personnel continue work on the 108 bush and grass fires burning across NSW, with 57 not yet contained. One fire remains at Emergency Warning and a further two fires at the Watch and Act alert level.

On the evening Morrison slunk out of Australia, fires were also burning in Western Australia,South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland, according to official Twitter feeds of all five state firefighting services.

Statement by ELCA published in the Echo NetDaily, 17 December 2019:

Greg Mullins, former Commissioner, Fire & Rescue NSW, said the group are deeply concerned with the unprecedented scale and ferocity of the current bushfire crisis. ‘Summer has barely begun but record numbers of homes have been lost in Queensland and NSW, major cities have been shrouded in smoke and destructive fires are burning across Australia.

‘Climate change is the key driver to the worsening conditions but the Federal Government remains in denial as far as credible action on emissions goes......

On behalf of the group Mr Mullins said they feel a duty to fill Canberra’s leadership vacuum on the fires and will call our own national emergency summit after the current bushfire season to bring together a range of interested parties to look at how we can adapt to a far more dangerous environment. ‘The safety and well-being of communities, firefighters, and wildlife is on the line.

‘Our coalition of concerned leaders is growing, and we are not going away until we see action that matches the scale and urgency of the climate emergency and gives some hope for future generations,’ he said.

ELCA is releasing in full the list of recommendations it provided to Minister David Littleproud and Minister Angus Taylor in early December.....

It is also worth noting that Morrison left the country the evening before the negative MYEFO 2019 was released which clearly showed the national economy was a long way from being robust under his leadership.

Morrison was clearly enjoying himself when discovered on social media at Waikiki Beach in Hawaii.....

However his mood had obviously changed when public anger caused him to announce he was returning to Australia two days earlier than planned.....

Morrison's Hawaiian jaunt was his third holiday in 2019.

Google to pay $481.5m in win for Australian Tax Office bringing total collected from IT giants to $1.25 billion

The Guardian, 18 December 2019:

The search engine giant Google has agreed to pay $481.5m to the Australian Tax Office in a major win for the agency in its battle to force big technology companies to pay tax in Australia.

The settlement, which covers a decade’s worth of tax between 2008 and 2018, will also help bolster a federal budget surplus that has been undermined by weak economic growth and the collapse of the Morrison government’s robodebt scheme.

It follows a lengthy campaign to get multinationals, especially technology and resources giants, to pay tax in Australia that was launched in 2015 by the then treasurer, Joe Hockey, and spearheaded by the tax commissioner, Chris Jordan.

Moves included more audits of tech and resources companies through a special ATO taskforce and introducing a suite of laws designed to force tech companies to book sales made in Australia locally, rather than running them through a tax haven such as Singapore or Ireland.

Deputy commissioner Mark Konza, who has overseen much of the ATO’s work dealing with tax-shy multinationals, said the settlement was “another great outcome for the Australian tax system”.

The ATO said Google’s settlement, together with others made by companies including Microsoft, Apple and Facebook, brought the total extra amount of cash collected from ecommerce industry players to $1.25bn.....

Unfortunately as Australia's federal budget blackhole is currently $2.1 billion and will reach a cumulative total of at least $7 billion by June 2021, the back taxes paid to date by these multinational corporations will be only a slight, passing relief for the national economy.

FIGHTING BACK AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE DENIALISM: a hit, a palpable hit!

Putting the fallacious argument against lowering Australia's greenhouse gas emissions into perspective.......

The Age, letter to the editor,17 December 2019, p.20:

Best Feel Good Tweet of 2019

Do you remember Nina Jongen, whose family home burned down in the Nymboida fires? She just won a tiny house. #NSWFires pic.twitter.com/WOILmnxTx1

— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) December 18, 2019

The house, which arrived with a stocked pantry, a Christmas tree and presents, was moved to their family property at Nymboida on Wednesday. It will allow them to return home for Christmas.....The house was supplied by Aussie Tiny Houses.

Meme of the Year

Photoshop image: @janeyhasmoved

Cartoons for the Festive Season

@FionaKatauskas

@Broelman