Miscellaneous
Pelosi has been forced to surrender her useless bid to hold on to the impeachment articles. The strategy which Mitch McConnel characterized as lacking any real leverage collapsed as it became clear that the Senate leader wouldn't acquiesce to the lower chambers demands on Impeachment.Nancy proclaimed she would hold on to the articles contingent on the Senate conducting the impeachment trial in a way the Speaker approved. This, of course, is not how this process was designed to work. The House passes the articles of impeachment, and the Senate conducts the trial based on the contents of those articles.After weeks of holding on to the articles, it appears that Nancy is ready to send over the articles sometime this week. This is a victory for the Senate as an institution, and it further strengthens the notion that the higher chamber has sovereignty and won't be submissive to leaders in the lower chamber.The next battle in the Senate will center around the finer details of what a Senate trial will look like. There are a small group Republicans who want to call more witnesses. In contrast, the majority of the Republican caucus wants to tailer the witness count to something similar to the Clinton trial, which only had one witness. There was an amendment by Sen Josh Hawley that called for dismissing the articles outright, but reports have surfaced that there don't appear to be the votes for that. As the Impeachment gets underway, we will see how this plays out.New Peter Schweizer Book: Profiles in CorruptionPeter Schweizer the best selling author of the book Clinton Cash is poised to release his new book Profiles in Corruption. With the new book, the author promises to shine a light on what he calls the "Biden Five" a group of Bidens who he says siphoned off tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer cash and guaranteed loans.He says the Biden Ukraine corruption story is only the tip of the iceberg. The book is due to come out on Jan 21 and is currently embargoed.Bill to end Speed Traps: Oklahoma State Senator Nathan Dham ProposalSen Nathan Dham has introduced legislation to end speed traps in the state of Oklahoma. The bill SB1264 would target ticket quotas for peace officers. Speaking on the new proposal on Twitter the Sen said "Today I filed SB 1264 which would stop cities from creating traffic ticket quotas. Our peace officer should have the opportunity to serve and protect our communities without being threatened by their employers for it."There is sure to be stiff opposition from segments of the law enforcement in the state. Time will tell if this law can make it to the governor's pin.