| This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a tas kebap of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. Today's Agenda  Solid Impeachment Case Runs Into a Stone Wall Democrats have done everything they can to lead Republicans to the impeachment trough, but they cannot make them drink. Today's Impeachment Advent Calendar gift was a special one: two shiny new articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. Of course, greedy kids will demand more — Andrew Johnson got 11 articles, waaah! — but Noah Feldman writes Democrats are smart to keep the case simple. Trump's track record is a target-rich environment for Dems, but they don't want to confuse the public or the impeachment jury in the Senate with information overload. Like savvy prosecutors, they've got to pick the charges most likely to stick. And these charges — that Trump abused his office by pushing a foreign government to help him politically and then obstructed the investigation of that — are simple, and the facts about them aren't really in dispute. Over the course of several hearings, the Democrats have made a strong case for impeachment, Jonathan Bernstein writes, while the GOP has been reduced to throwing up chaff to confuse neutral viewers while appeasing its own base. If it were only about the facts, then this would be no contest. But one side is encasing "facts" in a barrel full of cement and rolling it over a cliff. Yesterday, for example, the Justice Department's inspector general shot down a favorite Republican conspiracy theory: that a wildly liberal FBI tried to derail Trump's 2016 campaign. But Trump and Republicans simply pretended the report had done the opposite, notes Jonathan Bernstein. This sort of fabulism keeps Trump supporters on board and Trump in office, but makes enforcing the rule of law basically impossible. Bonus Investigating-Trump Reading: Democrats can't ignore the FISA abuses detailed in that IG report. — Eli Lake It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like 2008 It's easy and entertaining to make fun of pundits who scoffed at warnings of a downturn right before the Great Recession struck. But in mid-2008 it wasn't a dead certainty the U.S. economy was headed for doom (spoiler alert: It was already there). That's something to keep in mind today, as markets and pundits sound the all-clear on recession worries that have haunted much of 2019. Friday's blowout jobs report reinforced their newfound confidence. Even the Federal Reserve will likely take a victory lap this week, Tim Duy writes, holding rates steady after engineering what seems to be a "soft landing" for the economy despite Trump's trade wars — which have hammered U.S. growth, as Matthew Winkler points out, more than undoing any positive effects of tax cuts. But something similar happened back in 2008, warns John Authers. A few ugly blowups early that year raised recession worries, but quick Fed action and decent economic data let everybody breathe a premature sigh of relief:  That relief turned to horror quickly. We're not likely to see a full repeat this time — another financial crisis is highly unlikely — but it's too early to sound the all-clear on recession:  Australia's Vow of Climate Silence For weeks now, Australians have been choking on the smoke from runaway wildfires fed by climate change. In fact, David Fickling notes, the air quality in Sydney is currently the worst in the world:  You'd think this sort of thing would be a topic of political conversation, but David writes there is bipartisan silence on the issue in Australia, and media there have taken an oath of omertà as well. The reason for this is coal: Australia exports a lot of it, and nobody wants to kill that carbon goose laying golden eggs. It's a reminder of how hard it will be for the rest of the world to set aside short-term concerns and make any real dent in climate change. Telltale Charts Online retail sales are jumping, but hiring associated with them hasn't been, notes Justin Fox. Could the robots be taking our jobs?  Further Reading Giving law enforcement back doors into encrypted data won't fight crime, while making data more vulnerable. — Michael Hayden New documents reveal the disruption Brexit will cause, and Boris Johnson isn't being honest about it. — Therese Raphael Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky made some progress in talks to end fighting in Ukraine. — Leonid Bershidsky In saving the U.S. economy, Paul Volcker helped hobble Latin American ones. — Tyler Cowen Deutsche Bank is having a hard time weaning itself of dependence on trading. — Elisa Martinuzzi Here are seven ways economics can save itself. — Noah Smith ICYMI Water levels at the world's biggest dam are at 23-year lows. Ray Dalio is mentoring Sean "Diddy" Combs. Apple Inc.'s new Mac Pro can cost $52,000. Kickers Amazon.com Inc. warehouse workers are suffering. Thieves are using Bluetooth scanners to target car break-ins. This was the decade the comic-book nerds took over the world. The 50 best albums of 2019, from Pitchfork. Note: Please send water and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. Sign up here and follow us on Twitter and Facebook. | 
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