SOME PEOPLE SHOULD SHUT UP – AT 12:15 P.M. ET:  There is no more obnoxious character around Washington these days than Adam Schiff, Dem congressman from the People's Republic of California, and next chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. 

Schiff is a major talker.  Not a major thinker.  Just a major talker.  But his latest comments about the president are not only vulgar, they are dangerous.  The president's authority, especially when dealing with foreign nations, is undercut, even though Mr. Trump has not been seriously charged with anything.  From The Hill:

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Sunday said that President Trump might "face the real prospect of jail time" after prosecutors indicated last week that he directed illegal payments during his 2016 presidential campaign.

"There’s a very real prospect that on the day Donald Trump leaves office, the Justice Department may indict him. That he may be the first president in quite some time to face the real prospect of jail time," he said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

.@AdamSchiff on the Russia Investigation: My takeaway is there's a very real prospect that on the day Donald Trump leaves office the justice department may indict him. That he may be the first president in quite some time to face the real prospect of jail time. pic.twitter.com/3kfwumFkh7
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation)

Schiff's comments come after federal prosecutors said in a legal filing Friday that referred to Trump as Individual-1 that Trump coordinated with and directed his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, during the 2016 campaign to make illegal payments to two women claiming they had affairs with Trump. It was the first time prosecutors made those accusations against Trump.

Schiff, who is likely to be the next chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, added that the next president may have to determine whether to pardon Trump.

"We have been discussing the issue of pardons the president may offer to people or dangle in front of people," Schiff said. "The bigger pardon question may come down the road, as the next president has to determine whether to pardon Donald Trump."

COMMENT:  Democrats might be advised to zip it before all the facts are known.  They've just been given control of the House of Representatives.  The American people will expect action on matters of concern to them, not simply to the Democratic base.

But, already, we hear the new landlords of the House actively discussing impeachment, jail time for the president, and all the things that will make life for American families better.  I'm being sarcastic.

I'm afraid the Democratic mindset may be set in stone, and that we're in for a rough and depressing two years.

December 9,  2018