The History of American Impeachment

Theres a precedent that its not just for presidents

In April 1970, Congressman Gerald Ford, the minority leader of the House in those years, responded to an old question:
What is an impeachable crime? Ford said it is to be at a given moment in history. At that time, he was spearheading the
charge of indicting Supreme Court Judge William O. Douglas, an unconditional liberal accused of financial misconduct.
That definition certainly sums up the spirit of American political judgments. As the drafters of the Constitution worried
about the summer of Philadelphia 230 years ago, when Benjamin Franklin was accused. He feared that without a means
to remove a corrupt or incompetent official, the only recourse would be murder. As Franklin said, this would leave the
political official "not only deprived of his life, but the opportunity to vindicate his character. Extracted from the
previous British parliamentary, the constitution in charge of the impeachment would be the last check of the executive
and judicial authority of the legislature. As the Legislature, Congress was granted the power to remove the president,
vice president, and all of its civilian officials. There was a debate about crimes that could be challenged, but the
pollsters left us with "treason, bribery or other high crimes and minor Offences". There is, first of all, an important
difference between impeachment and conviction. There is a difference between an accusation and being found guilty of
that crime. The process begins in the House of Representatives, which has the sole power to impeach. In modern times,
this begins in the House Judiciary Committee; this can produce a removal resolution that usually contains contentious
articles based on specific charges. After a vote you can impeach by a simple majority. Then comes judgment. The
Senate has exclusive power to hear the case, with House members acting as prosecutors. The defendants' attorneys may
file a defense and question the witnesses. The accused can testify. If the president or vice president has been charged,
the president of the United States Supreme Court chairs the trial. At the end of the hearing, the Senate discusses the
case, each limited to 15 minutes of debate. The conviction requires a two-thirds majority-67 of the 100 senators. To
date, the Senate has conducted prosecution proceedings 19 times. Gerald Ford knew how difficult it was. In 1970, it
failed in its attempt to accuse Douglas. He had already survived an earlier indictment attempt by convicted spy Ethel
Rosenberg. This time, the alleged offense was financial improbability, but Ford and others also clearly rejected
Douglas's liberal views. The majority of the House did not agree. So far, only two American presidents have been
charged and tried in the Senate: the successor of Andrew Johnson-Lincoln and Bill Clinton. Both were acquitted.
Richard Nixon may have been charged but resigned in August 1974. Most of the other cases of dismissal have involved
federal judges, eight of whom have been convicted, including Samuel Chase of the Supreme Court. In 1805, the Senate
acquitted Chase after a notorious trial for his partisan politics. Vice President Aaron Burr was praised for his impartial
conduct during the trial. Burr had recently killed former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in a duel. He returned
to Washington to oversee the hunt for the murder while himself accused of murder in New York and New Jersey. Never
arrested or tried in Hamilton's death, Burr escaped recall when his term expired. Gerald Ford became the first man
commander in chief without being elected president or vice president. Ford's opinion on prosecution policy continues to
reflect the reality of Washington.

The Forgotten Man Who Transformed Journalism in America

Lowell Thomas was the first host of a TV broadcast news program, and adopted a number of other new
technologies to make his mark in the 20th century
When he turned 25, he had already worked as a journalist, obtained several degrees and had found a place in Princeton
University faculty. But for life's sake during World War I he transformed from a young superintendent to a mediocre
weight. During that conflict he met T.E. Lawrence in which he played an important role, so he gave him fame and
became "Lawrence of Arabia". In addition, this gave Thomas a steady media importance with an innovative multimedia
presentation that captivated millions of people. Lawrence provided a young man, but Thomas continued to live a long
and remarkable life. He traveled through Europe, the Middle East, India, Afghanistan, New Guinea and Tibet, even
knowing the Dalai Lama. He made fans of Queen Elizabeth and Winston Churchill and led a great career in the news.
He made reports through print, radio and television, transformed them into more formal and serious media. However,
because of his hyperbolic life, his legacy has been largely forgotten in the public memory. Mitchell Stephens, a
professor of journalism at New York University, set out to remedy it. He wrote a new biography: The Voice of
America: Lowell Thomas and the Invention of 20th Century Journalism.
Sensationalism was a major part of journalism in the early 20th century, but Thomas helped reshape this. How
did he manage that? Tendency of some media to present the news highlighting its most striking aspects, even if they
are secondary, with the commercial purpose of provoking astonishment or scandal. During those years the stories were
"improved", was a world was less obsessed by the facts. Lowell was a pretty sensational journalist in Chicago. When he
got a large audience on a network radio newscast, he was aware of the responsibilities that this would generate. He
generated a more sober, moderate and discreet journalism. Lowell quickly realized that if he was wrong, much of what
he heard would write letters to him and complain in his network. Because he had so many listeners and was such a
dominant figure. This way of working was extended to other radio iterations, to television, then to newspapers. Lowell
contributed to the obsession with the fact that journalists have today. He also achieved non-partisanship. Journalism in
the United States has been extremely partisan throughout its history. Horace Greeley, the great newspaper publisher of
the nineteenth century, was one of the founders of the Republican Party. Lowell Thomas, a Republican, realized he
could not make a Republican newscast because he would lose a lot of listeners. I wanted to be heard by both groups.
Thus became the news spread in the US.
Thomas is maybe best known for making T.E. Lawrence famous, but he also doesnt seem to have understood
him. Lawrence was a man with a very entangled inner life, complicated attitudes, maybe he was gay in a time where he
was not allowed. Lowell was just the opposite, he was very comfortable with himself, with the fame he finally achieved.
So they were a strange combination. Lawrence was disturbed by the fame that this journalist was giving him. Lawrence
was one of the first stars of the media. That was very difficult for a man with complications.
Something else that comes up with both World Wars is the thin line between journalism and propaganda. How
did Thomas navigate that line? That line did not differ well to propaganda journalism in the early twentieth century.
Lowell covered World War I, he always wanted to be where the action was. He was there in part to publicize his
support for the war, something we do not want journalists to do today. He had the support of the United States
government. Today's journalists do not distinguish between supporting and covering war. He was a patriot and did not
hide it. During World War II, one in five adults in the United States was receiving news of this man, his voice was
reassuring in those days.
Another element of his success is his willingness to adapt to new technologies. As the most important medium was
radio, the people of the United States bought their first radio sets, they could hear Lowell's voice. It was an era of new
technology, just as journalists now use Twitter, Reddit and Snapchat and Instagram. However, Lowell was more
advanced in his use of technology than he is now. He was early to use a typewriter, he was early in the radio, and he
was one of the first to combine the voice with the film before the sound film actually caught on. And then, when the
sound film caught up, he hosted the dominant newsreels that were shown in theaters twice a week. He was the first to
make real documentary material of the war, and used airplanes and automobiles. In the early 1940s, when television had
just been invented and NBC was making its first television experiments, it hosted Lowell Thomas.
His wife Fran traveled with him for much of his work and tried to write her own books, but never succeeded.
What was their relationship like? Like most women of the time, she suffered from sexism. She was very bright,
polite. She became a teacher, but Lowell's fame was greater. She had a very exciting life surrounded by famous people,
but she did not really use her talent. She tried to write, with Lowell's support, but she was unsuccessful.
What can we learn from Lowell Thomass story today? Lowell was the first of those voices that is known and
trusted by such a large percentage of Americans. There is no one who has that status today, that trust for so many
people from different parties. He was one of America's most famous men. Now there are many points of view available.

Cave Dragons ExistAnd Saving Them Could Be Key to Protecting

Drinking Water
New DNA techniques are letting researchers track down the largest, strangest cave animals in the world.
Gregor Aljani is head of the Tular Cave Laboratory which is run by the Slovenian Society of Cave Biology. He
almost died chasing cave dragons when he was diving by the Cave of Planina, because he got trapped in a small air
pocket. After nearly four hours, he found his colleagues, just before the rescuers arrived. According to Stanley Sessions,
professor of biology at Hartwick College in New York (where he and Aljani studied cave dragons), it was that air
pocket that he found in one of the cracks the only reason he is alive. The blind cave dragon, as it is called, has been
endeared by biologists for long time by its unparalleled weirdness. Their gills that are as antler set back from his long
snout and translucent, pinkish-white skin that is similar to human flesh. It has 12 inches long, it could be the largest
cave animal of the world. It can live up to 70 years and passes deep underground in the Dinaric Alps, which includes
parts of Slovenia, Italy, Croatia and Herzegovina. Gergely Balzs, a doctoral student in cave biology at Etvs Lornd
University in Budapest who explores the caves where these dragons live; he is fascinated by his exceptional adaptation
to the extreme environment of the caves. In the past, due to the floods that brought unusual amphibians to the shores,
the locals believed these were baby dragons, hence the nickname. You might think that the caves of these creatures
would protect them from human destruction, but their watery ecosystems collect drainage from the surface. That means
dealing with habitat destruction due to the development and hydroelectric projects that drain and redirect groundwater
supplies. Today they are facing the worst threats of contamination by agricultural runoff, the chemical residues that the
plants receive. Aljani says that Karst is one of the most vulnerable landscapes on the planet where cave dragons make
their homes. So worrying about the conservation of these can also conserve water for Slovenes and neighboring
countries. Because the water that reaches the world olm, tropical forests, is the source of drinking water for 96 percent
of Slovenes. Sessions says that if they pollute water and kill these individuals, it will be the greatest catastrophe of all
time. In addition, proteus are the top of a different food chain that could also be eliminated by contamination. To help
save a dragon, you must first find it. And that is difficult, as he lives in a vast subterranean labyrinth of limestone
passages. The search for dragons should be simplified and the scientists' ability to detect them be enhanced. Aljani
and his colleagues are using new techniques of environmental DNA sampling, which identify tiny traces of genetic
material in the water to determine where they are hiding. Their underground insulation has protected them from threats
such as climate change, invasive fungal diseases. But now, it seems that the problems of the world above have reached
the world below. Aljani says that if we want it to last in the future, we must know more about its habitat. So this new
technique will not only prevent accidents in cave diving, but also increase the quality of the data collected in nature.
Aljani and his colleagues recently published one of the most extensive studies of dragon caves. They took water
samples from hidden cave systems to identify a number of new populations in Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Montenegro. To do this, they used a refined DNA technique that allows them to identify the strands of DNA proteus
mixed between a large amount of other genetic material in water. The technique also allowed them to detect rare-
colored black proteus in southern Slovenia. Despite the threats they face, the number of proteus can be enormous.
Sessions tells a story about biologists who were exploring part of the Postojna Cave when they found a huge
subterranean cavern. The bottom of the lake was completely white, but as they approached, the color suddenly
dispersed. They were olms. The cave dragons belong to a food chain that includes cave shrimp, spiders, arthropods,
wood lice type creatures and more. These eat almost anything that gets into your mouth and does not always have an
appetite, since they have a very low metabolism. Sessions says that some researchers recently found evidence that a
captive individual had not eaten for a decade. Sessions, which did not participate in the recent Aljani study, says the
new technique of eDNA is a good way to detect proteus. This is not invasive or destructive, it only takes water samples
to find for fingerprint DNA, genetic traces of proteus. When the water is cloudy it is difficult for divers to see; So it can
help these moments. It is necessary to know how strong the population is, if they are healthy, if we can find juveniles.
There is no information of what they do in real life, in nature. It is very difficult to observe. It is not likely that these
new techniques will not make balzs cave diving obsolete, as it only gives biologists a rough idea of where there are
dragons, and divers still need to hunt them down. If cave diving for exploration reasons can be difficult, cave diving to
look for proteus is even more difficult as they can take refuge in tiny cracks in rock that are difficult to access by
humans. According to Balzs these live in strange places, without moving for years. There is a lot to find out.