How do you impeach a president of the United States?
January 8th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
Who’s asking? Well, almost everyone after the fierce controversy stimulated by the book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” by Michael Wolff.
The short answer is: it’s not easy (and I guess it shouldn’t be).
The longer answer is:
The House of Representatives has the sole power of initiating impeachment charges, while the Senate has the sole power to try all such impeachments. Two U.S. Presidents have been impeached by the House of Representatives but acquitted at the trials held by the Senate: Andrew Johnson (1868) and Bill Clinton (1999). Richard Nixon resigned before he would certainly have been impeached (1974).
In the case of the decisions of the House and the Senate respectively, a majority vote is sufficient. But the problem is that, when the Founding Fathers devised the U.S. Constitution, there were no established political parties and it was assumed that, in any debates on impeachment, elected representatives would vote on the evidence and not simply on party political lines.
Today the Republican and Democratic Parties are tight caucuses and, in any impeachment debate, almost certainly almost everyone would vote on party lines.
Currently the Republicans control both the House and the Senate. There are mid-term elections in November when all of the House seats and a third of the Senate seats will be up for re-election. So, what are the prospects of the Democrats winning control of the two chambers?
To regain control of the House, Democrats have to win back 24 of the 435 seats. But to do this, they have to overcome both gerrymandering which favours the Republicans and the tendency of Democratic voters to cluster in liberal cities which also favours the Republicans.
In the Senate elections, 25 of the 33 seats up for re-election are already held by Democrats or independents who caucus with them. Even if they all hold their seats and the Democrats manage to take Nevada and Arizona, that would still leave the Republicans with 50 seats, enough to maintain control, thanks to Vice-Presdient Mike Pence having the casting vote. If the Democrats could take Tennessee or Texas, that would be different …
So statistically the chances are that, post November, Republicans will still control both Houses or at least the Senate which makes impeachment any time soon an outside possibility. That leaves the option of removal through incapacity (the 25th amendment) or resignation by Trump who is famously impetuous and a notorious flip-flopper. But don’t bank on any of these options. Sorry …
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (2)
A review of the film “Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle”
January 7th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
This is an action comedy with equal parts adventure and humour providing appeal to a wide age range of viewers.
Four American teenagers on detention are sucked into an old video game where they find themselves inhabiting avatars with special skills but very different personalities (and, in once case, gender) than their real selves with lots of opportunties for personal growth. It’s all very predictable (spoiler alert: the nerd gets the girl), but it works well, which is largely attributable to the very varied styles of each of the lead characters, both from each other and from his or her out-of-game self.
So credit to Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, diminutive comic Kevin Hart, gender-bending Jack Black, and Britain’s own Karen Gillan.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (2)
What are the prospects for Africa in 2018 – and does anyone care?
January 3rd, 2018 by Roger Darlington
Over the years, I’ve been to Africa 8 times and visited eight countries (Kenya four times). But the continent is home to no less than 54 nations and, in. terms of the world’s media, very under-reported.
In this short article, the Africa correspondent of the “Guardian” newspaper briefly reviews the state of the continent and the position in some major countries. He concludes:
“Washington’s interest in Africa is minimal, with scores of top official policy-making and ambassadorial posts still unfilled.
China, though its attitudes and interventions are frequently misrepresented, retains a strong focus on the continent. France is likely to try to expand outside its traditional sphere of influence – as signalled by President Emmanuel Macron in November.
The UK will look to historic ties in places like Zimbabwe or Nigeria to project influence post-Brexit, though it may find imperial nostalgia or the advantages of the anglosphere have less attraction in Bulawayo or Abuja than in Tunbridge Wells.”
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the 1928 film classic “October 1917”
January 3rd, 2018 by Roger Darlington
This is the black & white silent movie, written and directed by Grigoriy Aleksandrov and Sergei Eisenstein, which was produced to mark the tenth anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and covers the dramatic events of February to November 1917. Famously it was created on such a grand scale – many scenes were shot on the actual sites of the events portrayed and 11,000 extras were used for the storming of the Winter Palace – that there were more injuries in the making of the film than in the actual revolution.
If one does not know the details of the period and event, the narrative is a bit confusing and the messaging is simplistic and polemical, but this is a well-regarded classic because of the stunning cinematography with unusual angles, striking compositions and innovative use of montage plus the appearance of some wonderful faces. All the scenes involving Trotsky had to be cut out and Lenin has a surprisingly low profile, while Kerensky and Kornilov are vilified.
For a more accurate and balanced account of the revolution, read “Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991” by Orlando Figes – my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues, History | Comments (0)
35 films to look out for in the first months of 2018
January 2nd, 2018 by Roger Darlington
As a keen movie fan, I was attracted to a list put together today by the “Guardian” critic of 35 films that will be released in the UK in the first four months of this year.
In the first weeks, I’ll be especially keen to see “Darkest Hour” and “The Post”. A little later down the line, there are some promising superhero movies such as “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War“. And, as a fan of Jennifer Lawrence and Alice Vikander, I’ll be looking out for “Red Sparrow” and “Tomb Raider” respectively.
You can see the full list here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
What is it like to be in Iran?
January 1st, 2018 by Roger Darlington
At the turn of the year, the major news from the Middle East is the wave of demonstrations in Iran. We’re not sure how these have spread so rapidly and how things will develop. But I visited Iran shortly after the last major wave of protests organised by the Green Movement and indeed made contact with the Movement.
In my web site account of the trip, I wrote:
“The most striking feature of Iran is its people.
On the one hand, it is constantly apparent that one is in an Islamic republic because all the men are in long-sleeved shirts but no ties, while all the woman are completely covered in dark garb except for their face and hands. It is remarkable how striking the women’s faces appear in these circumstances. They start with the benefit of clear brown eyes, but all the young women apply mascara to their eyelashes and mould their eyebrows into impressive arches which makes their faces all the more appealling. One young woman told us that attempts to make the most of the one part of their body on show represented “a mascara revolution”.
On the buses, women have to sit at the back while the men sit at the front, an arrangement that Roger & Vee had only previously witnessed in Jerusalem. From time to time, we would see someone with a plaster on the nose. Apparently Tehran is the plastic surgery capital of the world and so many people pay a fortune for a nose job.
On the other hand, everyone was astonishingly friendly, more so that any other country that Roger & Vee had visited. We would greet passers-by with “Salam!” and they would unfailingly smile back. They would approach us constantly with combinations of the following phrases in broken English: “Hello. How are you? Where you from? How you like Iran?” They were so keen to meet us and talk with us and even to be photographed with us. They would explain that their Government told them that Westerns were enemies, but insisted that they were delighted that we were visiting Iran and always wished us a good trip.”
You can read the full account of my 2009 trip here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
My 15 best films of 2017
December 31st, 2017 by Roger Darlington
As readers will know, I’m a massive movie fan and review all the films I see for this site. I’ve been encouraged to pick out my top ten movies of 2017. I find this so difficult, but I tried and came up with these 15 that I list simply in alphabetical order:
- “The Big Sick” – my review here
- “Blade Runner 2049”- my review here
- “Breathe”- my review here
- “Detroit”- my review here
- “Dunkirk”- my review here
- “Get Out” – my review here
- “Ghost In The Shell” – my review here
- “I, Daniel Blake”- my review here
- “La La Land” – my review here
- “Logan” – my review here
- “Maggie’s Plan” – my review here
- “Manchester By The Sea” – my review here
- “Moonlight” – my review here
- “Paddington 2” -my review here
- “Wonder Woman” – my review here
If pressed to defend this eclectic choice, I would point out that there are representatives of all the major genres – drama, sci-fi, super-hero, comedy, horror, musical – and there are films from female and black directors with some fine women and black actors. I thoroughly admired all of them and would recommend any of them.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Three of the most likely technological advances of 2018
December 31st, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Professor Jim Al-Khalili is one of my favourite scientists – able to explain complex ideas in simple and accessible form, especially quantum physics.
In today’s ‘Observer” colour supplement, he writes: “What about 2018? Surely the world won’t look too different? All I can say for certain is there are three technologies we’re going hear much more about next year, even more than we have done this year.”
The three technologies that he identifies in this short article are gene editing, artificial intelligence and advances in energy.
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
Why sadly we’ll have to wait at least another year before President Trump can be impeached
December 30th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
“In 2017 we saw with new clarity that the strength of the US constitution depends entirely on the willingness of those charged with enforcing it to do their duty. And today’s Republicans refuse to fulfil that obligation. They, like Trump, are without shame. This was a fatal oversight by Hamilton, James Madison and their fellow framers of the constitution. They did not reckon on a partisanship so intense it would blind elected representatives to the national interest – so that they would, repeatedly, put party ahead of country. The founders did not conceive of a force like today’s Republican party, willing to indulge a president nakedly hostile to ideals Americans once held sacred.”
Extract from a column in today’s “Guardian” newspaper
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
Why sadly we’ll have to wait at least another year for a Labour Government
December 29th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
“The problem is that there is an obstacle: the Fixed-term Parliaments Act. This 2011 law says that, in order for there to be an election, the government has to lose a confidence vote or the prime minister has to persuade two-thirds of MPs to vote for one. Both are possible in theory in 2018, but not likely. Not even Heseltine has advocated bringing the government down, while few Tory MPs would vote for an early poll after 2017’s election disaster. A third option, the formation of a Labour minority government without an election, is a fascinating possibility but still improbable.”
Extract from a column in today’s “Guardian” newspaper
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)