The Wolf in a Bunny Suit

 TMFKAP (the man formerly known as president) is not stupid, he is not ignorant, he is simply uneducated, and perhaps incapable of being educated.  But he has a remarkable sense of survival.  He is the cockroach of mankind, the cayote who lives by his wits, adapting his lifestyle whether it be open prairie or urban sprawl.  

Failure is but a minor setback, and always someone else's fault.  He rebounds from personal disasters like the ball in an arcade game; bouncing from one collapsed venture to another, always running up the score, but leaving a wake of carnage behind him.  Smiling all the way to the banks, the banks that continue to back his play for fear of calling in loans on worthless properties and looking like the fools they were.  The banks that can't hedge their bets, throwing good money after bad, betting on the strength of a name.  A true pyramid scheme, one built on illusion, and rotten at its base. 

TMFKAP does know one thing, if he runs for president, he will never be indicted - for anything.  Why you ask; because the United States fears looking like a third-world country that imprisons popular dissidents who challenge the the incumbent government.  There are dozens of scenarios that bear that out; the latest being Manual Ortega of Nicaragua.  Ortega jailed any contenders to his election, but in doing so, encountered the wrath of democracies around the world, including the U.S. 

Russia's Vladimir Putin routinely imprisons populists who garner support from the populace, if they are lucky.  If they aren't so lucky nerve gas has a more permanent effect.  TMFKAP absorbed that lesson well.  He couldn't find Nicaragua on a map with GPS, but he does know that Ortega and Putin will be 'president for life'.  

Imagine if you will, even bringing TMFKAP to trial.  It would be impossible to empanel a jury, unless the panelists had a death wish.  Whatever the outcome would be, it would be untenable.

As it is the country is close to a breaking point, there is talk of another Civil War, and there are enough loose canons on TMFKAP's side willing to fire the first shot.  Merrick Garland has the unenviable job of playing Solomon meting out justice in an unjust world.  The Federal Justice Department  is charged with prosecuting those persons involved with the January 6th insurrection; and make no mistake it was an insurrection.  Most of the sentences have been for minor offenses; trespassing, and illegal entry - misdemeanors at best - and involve no jail time.  

Did I not see these people charging the building, beating police officers, breaking windows and doors, and ransacking the interior of the Capitol Building?  Is it me that is delusional?  Or was it as some people say, just tourists visiting their congresspersons?  Is it the wisdom of Solomon to turn a blind eye and pretend that none of this happened?  Or are the Democrats supposed to acquiesce for the sake of the union? 

Six years ago, many Republicans, most Democrats the Press and most of the world scoffed at the idea of a buffoon becoming president of the United States.  We did so at our peril and we paid a dear price for our foolishness.  The Press, especially, has been ridiculed and reduced in prominence as a source of what is true and factual.  They are relegated to defend themselves from the stigma of 'fake news'. 

Our choices now are standing up for what is right and just, or appeasing the unruly mob.  Can we prove to the world and to ourselves that TMFKAP is guilty of attempting to to tear down our democracy and should never be given the power of the presidency again?  Can we look into the face of mutiny and say this will not stand?  Or will we tell ourselves  'this can't happen again'.   The odds of being killed by a bunny are very low; but they are not zero.

                                                                       I'm just sayin'   

And So Begins the Post Mortem

 Today I tore my membership card to the Democratic Party in two and sent it back in the envelope that  the party had sent me to renew said membership.  They have become the party of fools - clowns.  Patsies, all of them, mollycoddling a charlatan parading as a fiscal conservative all the while lining his pockets with tens of thousands of dollars from those who might be harmed by the legislation he has been blocking for months.

And then the Dems are giving credence to the ditsy junior senator from Arizona, who couldn't find her hat with two hands. She is seeking her fifteen minutes of fame, and now wants to extend it to an hour.  She knows it will cost her her senate seat, most probably to a Republican, the next time she runs.  Does she care - not a wit.  She has her eye on the seat of a Fox News panel as a political commentator.  She knows she can outdo anyone on Fox for just plain idiocy.  I can kiss good-by to the money I sent to the Arizona senate race  last year.  Fool that I am. 

When Liz Chaney turned her back on the Republican Party's devotion to trump, the party knew how to punish her.  The party faithful stripped her of her power as second in command and installed Elise Stefanic in her place - a woman whose one-eighty made my head spin.  But Lizzy recites the party's mantra.  That's how you keep everyone in lock-step.

Joe Manchin is the chairman of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources - a joke without a punch line as the only natural resource he protects is coal and the only energy source he knows is coal.  To kill two birds with one stone, the Dems could remove him from the committee and install a conservator in his place.  That's how you teach people to play nice.

The Virginia governor's race was McAuliffe's to lose.  He bet that by hanging the trump name on Younkin he could ride Biden's coattails to victory.  Except Biden has no coattails, why, because everything he has tried to accomplish has been derailed by party in-fighting and the help, or lack of it, of those two fools who think more about themselves then about the country or their party.

The Republicans are willing to lie, cheat and strongarm their way back to power.  And make no mistake they will do it, and when they do imagine the damage they will do this time.  Imagine, if you will, an unleashed trump with the congress behind him all the way.  I would rather not, but I fear it is coming.  And the Democrats are too busy fighting amongst themselves to even care.

The pundit can say that Biden lost big yesterday, I say America lost even more.

                                                                I'm just sayin   

No Such Thing as a Free Netflix

 A day or two ago workers at Netflix walked off the job in protest of Netflix airing the Dave Chapelle show.  It is a monologue, supposedly funny, which featured jokes about transgender persons.  The strikers  considered it transphobic, I cannot say as I didn't see it.  Not because I don't consider Chapelle funny - which I don't - but because I don't subscribe to Netflix.

Netflix offered me three free months of their programming some time ago.  I accepted their gracious offer and in the ensuing three months I could not find one single thing that I felt was worth my time to watch.  At the end of the three months, I thanked them politely and cancelled the contract.  They seemed genuinely surprised, I would guess most folks just forget to cancel and keep paying the $8.95 a month forever.  And since these same folks never check their credit card statement except to find out what the minimum payment is, they don't realize it.  It keeps the folks at Netflix happy and it also keeps their teen and pre-teen children happy. 

But I digress.  What was so egregious about the Chapelle monologue as to cause a boycott at Netflix, in my opinion, cannot hold a candle to the South Korean series Squid Games.  It is without a doubt the biggest hit Netflix has had in years.  From what I have read, the series is set in a futuristic society where there is a monumental divide between social classes - the haves and the have-nots.  For entertainment purposes, the haves offer a life changing amount of money to the survivors of a children's game.  The losers are dispatched in various horrific ways; the viler and more gruesome the better.

Their biggest audience, teenagers.  Impressionable young adults who are becoming inured to these horrid acts.  They discuss the torture at school and over social media.  All this is done at a time when there is a trial of Nikolas Cruz happening.  Cruz pleaded guilty to murdering seventeen students and injuring seventeen others on February 14, 2018 at Marjory Stoneman High School in Parkland Florida.  Perhaps we should ask the survivors of the shooting spree on that awful day what their opinion of the Squid Games is.

I am not belittling the feelings of transgender or cisgender people, I believe the feelings of disrespect are justified.   I am asking where is the moral indignation that should surround the Squid Games? Have we become so callous, so emotionally unfeeling, so insensitive that we can watch this depth of depravity and enjoy it with popcorn and a beer?  I am glad I walked away from Netflix when I did and I wish more people would join me.  Companies like Netflix respond more to the bottom line than to the picket line. 

                                                                I'm just sayin'

Lest We Foget

Deuteronomy4:9

However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, not let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children's children.

 On January 6, 2021 I sat down early in the day, turned on the television - which I never do before the five o'clock news - and with pen in hand I was prepared to watch the official end to the Trump era and to record my thoughts for this, my blog. 

  That morning the Congress was to meet and the Senate was to certify the votes and proclaim Joseph Biden the next president of the United States.  There was talk that certain Senators were going to object to certifying the votes from several states where Biden had won.  It was going to be an interesting morning.  The ceremony began with the clerk opening the sealed boxes and so the count began.  The count from the first state was read and a Senator stood to object. There were no grounds for the objection, just a procedural objection.  Pretty boring stuff, really.

The channel I was watching then cut away to Donald Trump making a speech in front of a large crowd.  He was giving it his all, and the crowd was enthusiastic in its response.  Trump was calling on the crowd to march down to the capitol, he would lead them, and they were to stop 'the steal' as he called it.

What followed next was inconceivable to me. Thousands of people were storming the Capitol Building, while their leader, Trump, was securely ensconced in the dining room at the White House watching the events unfold on television.

This past September we marked the twentieth anniversary of another momentous occurrence, September 11th.  I know people who still ask 'what were you doing when...' and its been twenty years on.  It supplanted the same question asked about November 22, 1963.

September 11th will enter the history books along-side November 11, December 7, and November 22.  These days have one thing in common, they involve a foreign force attacking our institution  of government.  But what occurred on January 6th, was home-grown.  We as a nation turned on ourselves. We became the ouroboro destroying ourselves.

I do remember feeling intense sadness when Kennedy was assassinated, and sadness mixed with horror when I watched the twin towers fall.  However, watching the assault on the Capitol filled me with overwhelming sadness, but also anger, and lastly a feeling of despair.  I have written this blog for several years now.  My next entry was to be about the official closure of the Trump presidency.  But I found I could not put pen to paper, could not sit at this computer and relate to you what I felt, there were no words to express what I felt.  

And so it remains and will remain unwritten.  One day when I can make sense of what is happening perhaps I can find the words.  Until then this remembrance will have to do.

Do not forget the things your eyes have seen...

                                                                         I'm just saying

What Any Fifth Grader Knows

 1/4 - 2/3 - 4/6 - 1/2 - 8/12: just a random series of numbers that seem totally unrelated, but back in fifth grade you learned something very important; you learned about common denominators.  The one thing that brought all these numbers together, they all had the same root the number twelve.  To add them, subtract them, or multiply them you must first find the common denominator.

Today, April 19, 2021, in three different United States cities, in three different states, at three different times, twelve people were murdered, and several more were injured.  Totally random unrelated killings until you look for the common denominator; a gun.  Since the beginning of this year, 2021, in less than four months, there have been 154 mass shootings, mass shootings defined as killing of four or more people.  In one hundred and ten days at least 616 people have been shot to death.

That number does not include other shooting victims and suicides with a gun; the most prevalent method of suicide.  And yet there are people who say it is their constitutional right to own a gun, to carry it on their person, in their car, in their house.  Some people own several guns, they hang them on the wall, display them like works of art.  They say that guns don't kill people, people kill people, I say, no, people with guns kill people.

In 2020, almost 19,380 people were killed by guns, excluding those who died of suicide with a gun, another 24,000.  And gun related injuries totaled 39,425.  Americans account for 393million guns, or 46%  of the world-wide privately held guns; there are 120 firearms for every 100 residents in the U.S.  So, if I own zero firearms, someone has enough fire power for a small army.  Why?!

The cost of this human carnage is staggering, but to look at it another way; the firearms impact on our health system is enormous.  The cost of fatalities and injuries caused by guns amount to $300 a year for each and every citizen.  You, I and every man, woman and child coughs up $300 a year to pay for the vanity of someone owning a gun.  These figures are compiled by independent groups because since 1966, when Congress passed the Dickey amendment, it has been illegal to use government funds to advocate for gun control.

But to combat the problem of out-of-control proliferation of firearms in this country, we need data, numbers, hard facts, and we need to spend more money to get that data than the advocates for gun ownership spend.  And we need up-to-date data bases and files on who has guns, how many, and for what use.  If  every person who kills a another person with a gun is mentally ill, I would say we have a lot of crazies walking the streets in America.

Let's take a look at our neighbor to the north, Canada.  Canada, the home of the rugged individual, where men are men and so are the women.  Canada has some common sense gun laws.  Americans would consider them draconian but they are middle of the road when compared with the rest of the world.  In Canada, firearms are classified; non-restricted, restricted, and prohibited.  To purchase and own a firearm you must have a government issued permit.  To get the permit, you must complete a firearms course given by the Canadian Mounted Police.  Fifteen hours of training with non-operative guns and blank ammunition.  To get a permit to fire the gun, you must attend an additional class.  Then you must fill out a four-page application of why you wish to own a gun; note: self-defense is not a valid reason for owning a gun and it will get your request denied.  At any point you may be denied a permit if the instructor feels you should not have a firearm.  After all this, you have to wait at least 28 days before getting the permit.  And you must renew the permit every five years.

In the latest figures available (2019), Canada had a population of 37-million people, 2,219,000 were permit holders, or about 35 guns per 100 people.  Their gun homicide rate was 249 that year.  The United States had a population of 327-million people and 13,958 gun homicides that year.   

It took me a very long time to write this piece, there have been thousands, no hundreds of thousands of words written on this subject.  I have had the facts and figures for several weeks, I was just hoping things would get better, but they are getting worse.  I don't have an answer to why my country stands alone in gun violence.  People say you can't get rid of all the guns in this country, really?  Stranger things have happened, but the people must be the ones to cry out for change.  In 1996, there was a terrible mass shooting in Australia, and a groundswell of Australians said 'enough'.  In twelve days the government enacted the strictest gun laws of any country, and they began a buy-back of firearms.  Over 700,000 guns were initially collected and destroyed and now the number is over one million.  Australia has not had another mass shooting since.

Yes I know one million guns is just a drop in the bucket in the United States, but it would be a start.  The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, and the first step is always the hardest.

                                                                        I'm just sayin'

Who Are You Calling Old?

 With another birthday occurring the week past, I have been thinking just how old is old?  It has been several election cycles since I voted for a president older than I, and 2020 was no exception.  In recent days there has a hue and cry about the age of some persons in our government.  The President, Joseph Biden is the oldest man ever elected, but he is a spring chicken when compared to some Congresspersons.  For example:  Dianne Feinstein - 87, Charles Grassley - 87, Pat Leahy - 80, James Inhofe - 86, Bernie Sanders - 79.

Some of these people have been in Congress for decades; Bernie Sanders has spent 8 terms in the House and 3 terms in the Senate, Pat Leahy has been in the Senate since 1974, Charles Grassley has served 7 terms in the Senate, the rest have been in Congress between five and seven terms, terms which are 6 years long.  That is longer than the majority of Americans  have been alive.

You may ask what these septuagenarians have in common with the people they represent?  Most do not remember what it was like to put in forty hours for a pittance, and then cough up 25% of that for a health care plan that is marginal at best.  They don't remember fighting rush-hour traffic, standing in a line, washing and ironing, scrubbing floors and toilet bowls.  Yet they pass the laws that affect all our lives,  is it any wonder that there is a call for term limits for Congress.

The United States Constitution establishes the Congress in Article I.  I believe the framers felt that the congress would be the true representatives of the people and thus be the most important branch of government.  They, in fact make the laws that set the direction of the country.

Article I, Section 2 sets the qualifications for a member of the House of Representatives to wit; their term of office shall be for two years and they shall be at least 25 years of age at the time they are sworn in.

Article I, Section 3 sets the qualifications for the United States Senate to wit;  their term of office shall be for six years and a candidate must be 35 years of age at the time they are sworn in.

The House of Representatives, the larger of the two bodies, initiates laws and spending bills, but the Senate , that is thought to be the more deliberate of the two bodies, may revise those laws and spending bills and return them to the House for another vote.

The framers obviously thought that a maturation rate of ten years should give the Senate a more nuanced and pragmatic view of the world.  The Senate would be the cool debater to the heat of the House rhetoric.  Perhaps, when the life span was somewhat short of sixty years, ten years experience had more impact.  The framers gave credence to age and maturity.

I know I am not the person I was at age 35, and I dare to say neither are you, dear readers.  The passions that drove my actions then, are laughable now.  What I thought so important a half a lifetime ago, has been relegated to the dustbin of history.  But many of the things that I fought and marched for are still in the forefront today; civil rights, women's rights, health care.  They were were problems then and they remain unsolved yet today.

Cold wars have been replaced by hot wars in places I could not have located on a map back then.  The world is a much more complicated place now, the lines are blurred between friend and foe. We have had good presidents and truly bad presidents in the ensuing years,  We have always had gridlock in Congress before but I cannot remember it being this bad.  But I do think if you asked most people how their elected officials are doing, they would not or could not tell you.  I for one, being a resident of Wisconsin have more than enough call to say that I will work very hard to get rid of our Senator, Ron Johnson.  He is an embarrassment to our state, and yet he has a wide contingency that just loves him.

And that is why the same people keep returning to Congress year after year.  Because my Senator is really great and your Senator is real ass.  So the next time someone tells you there should be term limits on Senators and Representatives, tell there are.  It is written in the Constitution.

                                        I'm just sayin'

 

Mama Was Right, You Know

 We've all done it, I know I have and our daughter did it more times than I care to remember; dated a real loser.  You know the one; he dropped out of school or was doing so poorly that they were on the verge of expelling him.  His hair was greasy and unkept, his clothes were grubby and ill-fitting - before that was fashionable - his manners weren't just bad they were lacking entirely.  But none of this was his fault, no one understood him, they picked on him, he was his own man, he marched to his own drummer,

Mama reacted with horror when you brought him home, dad just grunted and buried his head in the newspaper.  Your brother laughed and your sister just stared, as your beau looked at his shoes and mumbled something unintelligible.  You were undeterred, and with a big smile off you went.  When your friends found out they were appalled.  Are you kidding they asked; he's nothing but trouble, he picks fights with everyone, he failed at school, and he can't hold a job. 

But you  were sure he wasn't that bad, he told you it was everyone else's fault.  So what if he a string of girlfriends before you, that only proved how popular he was.  He told you everyone was jealous of him.  He introduced you to his friends, they seemed to be just like him, drop-outs too, a few of them had been in trouble with the law.  How exciting!

You were all of sixteen and looking for someone who would take you away from the hum-drum existence of small-town life.  Get up, go to school, babysit on weekends, hang with your girlfriends gossip; nothing ever changed.  Here was someone who showed you the other side of life, who told you that the two of you were all that was needed to take on the world. 

Then one day you looked around and you saw what everyone else had seen all along,  Your hero was just a lying bum, and you dumped him.  Easier said than done, he hung around outside your house, until one day your dad  went out and had a little talk with him.  Then he wasn't so big and bad and he just went away.  But he didn't go far, he still hung around the schoolyard surrounded by the fawning crowd who basked in his reflected reputation.  Sad!

Sound familiar?  Yup, the world is full of lying bums.  Most don't go very far, but a few, those whose fathers substituted money for loving guidance, had a boost up the ladder.  They were no  better than the ne'er-do-wells who never had a dime, in fact, some don't even dress better.  The one thing they do have is daddy's name to trade on until they can go it alone.  There is a name for them in Arkansas; All hat, no cattle.

I, like so many others, had an excuse.  I was young and dumb and devoid of worldly acumen, even though everyone told me, I had to find out for myself.  I grew up, and got smarter, I found those who cared about me were right all along.  But that fellow, he never changed, his lies got bigger, I hear he is facing jail time, but the hangers-on; they are still there, hoping to profit from the crumbs he tosses them, still believing his lies because they are afraid not to believe.

America succumbed to a fast-talking grifter, who promised he would make her great again.  What he meant was that he would make her white again.  He would take America back to when white men ruled the world, and women and minorities knew their place.  Some people laughed at the thought of a snake-oil salesman pulling the wool over enough people's eyes to make a difference.  My family and friends cared enough to set me straight, but who fought for America?  Not the media, or the party, and America came close to losing her most precious possession - democracy.  

We are slowly stepping back from the precipice of destruction, but the followers who pushed us to that brink are still fighting, as incredible as it may seem.  Yes, some have seen the danger and have stood up to say that they were wrong.  And now they are being punished and shunned by the cowards who were afraid to face the evil before them.  Some still think they can control the monster; they think they have defanged him and he will play nice.  Wasn't it less than a year ago when they thought the same thing?

The menace was a long time in coming and it will not disappear in a few short months, not when the followers are so devoted. Speaker, Nancy Pelosi said it right, "the enemy is within".  Cults, like Q-Anon, have representatives in Congress now, and they are spreading their venomous lies unhindered.  They believe that America's 'values are being destroyed by socialism, multiculturalism, and pedophiles' and these things are destroying American society.  More than half of the GOP agree "traditional American way of life is disappearing so fast that they may have to use force to save it".                              More than 40% say "a time will come when American Patriots will have to take the law into their own hands".                                                                                                                                                     57% of Republicans think of Democrats as enemies.                                                                                   More than 75% of the GOP rate the past four years as favorable and 60% want the ex-president to have a major role in the party.                                                                                                                                 And 91% of the people who voted for the ex-president would vote for him again, even after the insurrection of January 6th.

 What can be said in the face of such convoluted logic?  What terrible wrong can be done before more minds will change?  The death of six people, one was a police officer who died defending the lives of the people who later voted to set his murderer free, didn't do it.  The attempted violent overthrow  of the government had no effect.  There is only one thing more powerful than all of this - the vote!  We must keep up the fight, be ever vigilant, never again let complacency keep us from the polling place.  The other side will try, they will change the rules, make it even more difficult to cast our ballot.  But if they win; we will lose more than an election, we will lose America.

                                                                                                     I'm just sayin'                                                                                        

A Tale of Two Parties

 February 8, 2021

This morning came the news that George P. Shultz had died at age 100.  It is funny that he should pass just before the death knell of the party he represented so valiantly.  George Shultz is one of the last of the Republican lions, men who served the country, not themselves.  Men who believed in the ideals of the country and who felt duty bound to do their best for it out of love for America, not personal profit. 

George Shultz was a Captain in the Marine Corps and served in World War II.  He earned a PHD in economics when he returned home.  He was only one of two men who held four different cabinet positions under various presidents.  Shultz worked for Eisenhower, Nixon and Reagan in one capacity or another.  But his greatest accomplishments came as Reagan's Secretary of State.  It was then that he convinced Reagan that the United States could work with the new leader of Russia, Mikhail Gorbachev.  That was the beginning of the end of the cold war.  

Shultz wasn't a great orator, but when he did speak people listened, unlike the empty vessels who make the rounds of the Sunday talk shows today. He had the ear of every president he worked with, and he spoke truth to power.  Compare that to the politicians of today. 

Tomorrow the Congress is going to begin the impeachment trial, for the second time in a year, of ex-president Trump.  There was in recent memory, another Republican president who was going to be impeached, and for wrong doing no where near as as odious as the Trump presidency.  The difference, the Republican members  of Congress knew their duty to the country and the Constitution and they were willing to find Richard M. Nixon guilty.  Three prominent Republican leaders, Hugh Scott, Barry Goldwater, and John Rhodes, went to the White House and told Nixon he had lost the support of his party.  In the end, Nixon did what was right for the country and he resigned.

Donald J. Trump ran a campaign based on the premise that his re-election was going to be stolen from him and was illegal and corrupt if he did not win.  During the debates he signaled to those followers on the far right, including The Proud Boys, "to stand down and stand by".  That was the beginning, in speech after speech he told the crowd that the far-left was going to steal the election from them.  On the night of the election he proclaimed victory, and everyday after that.  Trump refused to admit he lost the election, he filed court case after court case - sixty-four of them - losing all but one.  He demanded recounts and then recounts of the recounts.  And when all the states had certified the election results, he called the Secretary of State in Georgia and cajoled and threatened him to change the vote tally.

Faced with certain loss if the Electoral College met and counted the votes, Trump rallied his supporters by saying come to Washington DC "it will be wild". The day before the count Trump threatened the Vice-President, Mike Pence, to throw out the ballots and declare him the winner.  Pence refused.  Trump did all of this out in the open, so certain was he that the Republicans would back him, and he was right.

On the day of the counting of the ballots, Trump addressed a mob of thousands of his minions, he told them that Pence was a traitor, he said Pelosi had to go, he whipped them up into a frenzy saying he would lead them, and then he directed them down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol, while he slunk away, to much a coward to actually lead them.

Yes, the mob attacked the Capitol, searching for Mike Pence, shouting, "hang Pence" and looking for Nancy Pelosi to 'put a bullet in her brain'.  Congressmen hid in their offices, barricaded against the invaders, cowered on the floor of the House chamber, called their families to say good-bye.  After the insurrectionists had been beaten back, many Republican denounced the President for his speech.  But of course, cooler heads now prevail.

With the threat of imminent danger behind them, the Republicans now say that it wasn't Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol, but maybe it was antifa.  Trumps speech had no bearing on the crowd.  It was no more fiery than any other political speech.  It's over, it's time to move on, nothing to see here.   

The Democrats and ten Republicans signed onto an impeachment document charging Donald Trump with 'inciting an insurrection', and the trial begins tomorrow.  The defense will say first that it is unconstitutional to impeach a man who is no longer in office, when in fact he was impeached while he was president, this is just the trial, the impeachment is a done deal.  Failing that, the defense will say that Trump actually believed that he won the election and was only saying what he believed to be true.  Failing that, the defense will say that the crowd acted on its own and not at the urging of the president.

So, the first argument is this trial is a sham, and if it isn't a sham then he didn't do it, and if he did do it, it isn't his fault.  Wow, that's a stretch, millions of people saw, on live television what was occurring, in fact half the world saw it also.   And make no mistake the world will be watching tomorrow also.  Our allies and our enemies are already saying that America has given up the moral high ground.  We cannot dictate to others what is democratic when we cannot uphold our own democracy.

The Republicans will acquit Donald Trump, and not because he didn't commit the crime of inciting insurrection, but because they are spineless cowards who are afraid to stand up to a dictator.  And when they do acquit, they will have put an end to the Republican Party.  Shame on them!  I believe George Shultz would rather have died then to watch what he gave his live effort to, turn to dust.

                            I'm just sayin'

Justice!

 "Esi mola tarda dei, verum molit minutim"  The mills of the gods are late to grind, but they grind small.

The wheels are in motion at last, Monday this, the House of Representatives transported the article of impeachment to the US Senate.  The trial is set to begin in two weeks.  It is expected to be over rather quickly.  After all most of the Senators and most of America and half of the world were watching the events  of January 6, 2021as they took place, live, on television.  There doesn't appear to be any question of what occurred, or is there?

The ex-president is being charged with 'incitement of insurrection', there is only one charge against Trump.  There needs to be only one charge.  Trump gathered a crowd, called them to Washington DC told them to 'Be there, it will be wild", addressed them using inflammatory language,  and he told them to go down to the Capitol. And even after they stormed the Capitol, Trump did nothing to stop it.  When he did again address the crowd, he told the 'they were special and he loved them".

Now the Republicans are saying that there is no need to punish Trump, he is out of office and it is time to move on.  Any more action against the ex-president will only cause a deeper division in the country.  What they mean is that it will cause a deeper division in the Republican Party.  Marco Rubio said impeachment would be "like pouring gasoline on a fire".  But not impeaching Trump is like letting the arsonist go unpunished because his friends would be unhappy if he were prosecuted.

Donald Trump is a cancer in the Republican Party, a malignancy that is destroying the party from within.  But he is not doing it alone.  he is abetted by half of the  GOP Congressmen, and the other half are too afraid to stand up and say Trump must go, so they sit in silence.  Their fear; the party will split in two and the Republicans will never win another election.  They fear that Trump will leave and take what...two million people with him?  But how many people will return to the party of small government and fiscal responsibility if Trump is gone?

   When Trump was running in 2016, the party members called him out.  They could see what kind of person he was and they spoke out.  A two-bit flim-flam man, a snake oil salesman, a television personality, Trump was no Republican and he surely was no conservative.  From the beginning Trump showed his true colors; the chants of 'lock her up', his assertions that the election was a fraud, his lies, one on top of another, Trump was showing us who he was, why didn't we believe him? Was it because no one thought he could ever win, is that why the press followed him relentlessly?  It is said that Trump got over a billion dollars in free press coverage by his outrageous behavior.

  And when Trump was impeached the first time, the Senators simply stuck their collective heads in the sand, or up their butts, and refused to even consider the evidence before finding Trump not guilty.  Susan Collins said that "he has learned his lesson".  True, he did.  The lesson he learned was that he could do whatever he wanted; he had a 'Get Out of Jail Free Card' signed by every member of the Republican Party.

Trump went on to make a mockery of the United States Presidency, and the Republican Party.  He broke every convention and rule of decorum.  He was like a spoiled brat having a tantrum.  An op-ed in the Toronto Newspaper said that: "Canada feels like its shackled to a Meth-head on a bender". The Republican convention became the Trump convention, featuring the whole family.  It was like watching The Beverly Hillbillies or Duck Dynasty, one didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  The Republican Party didn't even have the guts to write a platform, they just bowed to whatever Trump wanted.  To use one of Trumps own phrase: SAD!

And now when the time has come again to show their true colors, the Senators are flashing, not red, but yellow.  They have been spineless for the past four years, and in his final act Trump has castrated them.  They excuse themselves by saying it is to unify the country, but there can be no unity if there is no justice.  There must be accountability for the destruction of the nation's Capitol, and there must be punishment for the deaths of five people.

All that is left is a festering wound, it will be painful to debride it, but it must be done or the infection will continue to spread.  The antiseptic is the truth, and it is time that the Republicans own up to it.  We had a free and fair election and they backed a loser, and if they continue to back him, they will never be free from his tyranny.

                                           Swift footed is the approach of fate,                                                                                                              And none can justice violate.                                                                                                                       But feels its stern hand,                                                                                                                                   Soon or late.                                                                                                                                                                             Aeschylus

                                                                                    I'm just sayin'

                                            

                                    

                                                  

The Nightmare is Almost Over

 This morning Donald John Trump left the White House and flew away on Air Force One , to the friendly confines of Mar-a-Lago, where he will throw himself a big going away party.  He insisted on a red carpet as he left the White House and then a twenty-one gun salute at the airport.  I wonder who will show up at his going away party?  Pence won't be there, neither will McConnell, they will be at the inauguration, but you can be sure Lindsey Graham will be.  Maybe Ted Cruz will come.  Who knows, who cares? 

Do you really think any of those 74-million people who voted for Trump will change their minds and embrace the Biden presidency?  And what about the one-hundred and some members of the House of Representatives, do you think they will stand and cheer for Joe and Kamala?  And Senators like Johnson and Hawley, Cruz and Tuberville, will they lead the applause?  Not a chance.

But each in his way, now wants to forgive and forget the past and get down to business.  They say impeachment and a trial will only sow the seeds of dissention.  We surely don't want to anger the Trump supporters, now do we. I say no, no, a thousand times no.  Trump told the country for months that the election would be rigged if he lost.  He also proclaimed it in every speech he gave since 2016.  He vowed he would never concede, never recognize the Biden/Harris win.

So, Trump went to court, every court in every disputed state, and he lost again and again, sixty-four times.  But that made no difference to Trump, his rhetoric became more volatile; His crowds became more excitable.  His defenders in Congress made excuse after excuse humoring him saying he had every right to examine the election results.  And after recount, and recounting the recount each of the fifty states certified the votes and proclaimed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris the winners.  In the face of all this, when it came time for the Congress to count the votes, over one-hundred Representatives and seven Senators objected to the vote count.

While this was going on, down the street, Trump was whipping a crowd of over thirty-thousand into a frenzy.  Telling them he would lead them to the Capitol and demand that he be declared president because the election was stolen from him.  Of course he lied once again, he was a coward, he wouldn't go with those rabble-rousers.  He retreated to his private dining room in the White House to watch the carnage.  Five people died that day including a police officer who was beaten with a fire extinguisher.

What we all witnessed that day on live television was a coup d' tat.  But since the United States criminal codes do not recognize that as a legal term, we have instead it's equivalent, 'advocating the overthrow of the government'.  The Criminal Codes applies to "whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or property of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District, or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government."

I think that is fairly clear, what occurred on the morning of January 6, 2021 was Trump advocating the overthrow of the government of the United States of America.  And he was abetted by those Senators and Representatives who helped incite the crowd by their lies.  The house of Representatives has begun impeachment proceedings against Donald J Trump for the second time.  The charge, "incitement of insurrection".  The Senate wants to hear the proof before proceeding with the trial.  Where the hell were they while this was being broadcast on live Television.

This is not a game of follow the bouncing ball of clues that lead to a phone call to the Ukraine, maybe he did, maybe he didn't.  This played out in real time for all of America, and the world for that matter, to see.  What more proof does one need?  Now, Republicans in Congress want us to move on.  Forget what you saw, and the farther away from what happened the easier it will be to forget.  I don't think so.  Those images are engraved on my mind, just like the falling towers of 9/11.

But a full 75% of Republicans still support Donald Trump.  I find that incredible! I guess Trump was right when he said he could shoot someone on Fifth Ave. and not lose a vote.  He killed five people in an insurrection that he organized, and incited into action and he hasn't lost a vote.  Tell me, how do you reach out to these people?

President Abraham Lincoln used a nom de plume Rebecca, when writing about the Civil War during his presidency.  Now someone has taken up the name Rebecca and writes in 2021.  "Division in the United States is extraordinary and irreconcilable.  Appeals to unity from both side have sounded less sincere, like disclaimers at the end of an advertisement.  The hard question is not  "How do these two Americas live together?" They don't. The hard question, the right question is; "How do they live apart?""

Alexander Dumas said,  ...the difference between treason and patriotism is but a matter of dates.

Good luck and god bless Joe Biden, he will need the wisdom of King Solomon to extricate the country from the melange that is America today, and do it equitability. But before that happens, there must be justice.

                                                   I'm just sayin'

Now is the Time for All Good Men to Come to the Aid of Their Country

 Like so many of you, I watched in disbelief as the images of violence kept unfolding, live, on my TV screen last Wednesday.  I had begun watching the counting of the electoral votes, a simple procedural ceremony.  It was a seminal moment for me and I wanted to savor it.

I had worked hard on this election; it was personal for me.  Joe Biden was not my first choice, he wasn't even my second choice, but once he was the candidate  I worked as hard for him as I had for my favorite.  I liked Biden but I didn't think he could win, and if the truth be told, if Trump was running against a can of soup, I would have voted for the soup. 

I really wanted Elizabeth Warren to be the candidate, I want to see a woman president before I die.  Not just any woman, but a strong and capable, and intelligent woman.  Well I think we have that in Kamala Harris and if she has to sneak into the presidency through the back door, so be it.

And so it was Wednesday, that I turned the TV on and settled in to enjoy the fruit of my labors.  As the counting began, the objections began with Arizona; recess almost immediately.  It will be a long day I thought, I had no idea how long.

I was all of fourteen the first time I went to Washington DC, it was on vacation with my family.  Back then all the buildings were open to the public.  The Capitol, the White House (although that visit required standing in line to get the tour), the museums and the monuments.  It took us four long days to see it all.  But I remember being struck at the size of the Capitol building.  We had been to the White House the day before and I was underwhelmed, it was not the mansion I had imagined it to be.  But the Capitol was huge.  We did all the tourist things; gazed up at the dome from the rotunda, sat in the gallery, visited statuary hall, rode the underground train that traversed the width  from the Senate to the House, and ate in the dining room because we had to have the famous Navy bean soup (my mom's bean soup was much better and I wasn't the only one to say so).

I can't describe the feeling of awe my parents, siblings and I experienced in those four days.  This is  why my grandparents came to this country, why they left everything and started again with small children in a new land, a land where their children and their children's children could grow up to be whatever they wanted to be.  I know my folks didn't have much money for vacations then, but they wanted to give us this, this citadel of democracy, this fortress of freedom.

I am glad I got to see Washington then, as so much has changed.  Pennsylvania Ave. is closed off, tours of the White House are a perfunctory visit of the first floor and only a few rooms.  You can no longer visit the gallery in the Capitol, or ride the train if it is even there.  Many of the areas are roped off, but then we did this to ourselves, by actions unbecoming...

So when I witnessed that mob storming the Capitol building, I was physically ill, tears filled my eyes.  The only thing that I can think of that affected me like that before was watching the Twin Towers fall on 9/11.  Only the we were being attacked by an enemy,  These were Americans who were destroying the greatest symbol of our democracy.  And they were urged on by the President, a man who should hold this building with reverence. 

I watched, feeling sicker by the minute as the hoodlums shattered windows, trashed furniture, threw papers about, taking 'souvenirs' from the offices, and took selfies while sitting at Speaker Pelosi's desk. They attempted to break onto the floor of the House of Representatives, and one insurrectionist was shot and killed.  I was sad, and I was angry, very angry.  And I am still having problems processing what happened. 

There are those who say we should put this behind us for the sake of unity. I disagree and disagree vehemently.  I will not forgive and forget.  Appeasement doesn't work.  Look at Great Britain and Chamberlain; they thought if they gave Germany a little, Hitler would be happy, so they gave him Czechoslovakia, and Hitler took all of Europe.

These insurrectionists must be hunted down and punished, and that starts at the very top, and then the Senate should refuse to seat Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz.  Those instigators in the House of Representatives should be censured, all of them.  As for Donald Trump, he should be impeached - again.  The Senate will most probably abdicate its responsibilities again, and refuse to convict, but the list of Trumps crimes should go down in  writing for all of history.

These are a gang of thugs who tried to take down out government, if we look the other way it will only give them permission to try again.  These people are not reasonable, they do not respond to the truth.  The latest YouGov poll found that 45% of Republicans support the assault on the Capitol and 35% of them blame Biden for it.  Right now Trump's idolators are saying that it was leftist agitators who did the damage to the Capitol, nor Trump loyalists.  When madness is your only logic, madness becomes your only argument.

Sixty years ago, I stood in the US Capitol and marveled at its beauty and majesty.  I still brings a lump to my throat, this is my country and I love it.  I will not let any band of redneck terrorists take it from me.  Ariel Durant, the Russian born American writer said:  "A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within."   Stand up for our country.

                                                                               I'm just sayin'      

Yes, Virginia, If You Read It on Facebook It Must Be True

 The dumpster-fire that was 2020 is in the rearview mirror and millions of us are looking forward to the new year.  A brand-new calendar, a tabula rasa, here's hoping that it will be filled with luncheons, dinners out, movie dates, sporting events and everything we had to give up in the past year.   I am looking forward to seeing my great-grandson, born last February, that I have yet to hold, hugging my son, and grandchildren and jumping in the car and going somewhere, anywhere.  But until then, here is something that may bring a smile to your face.

In 2005, the 'Prophet' Bobby Henderson, wrote a letter protesting the teaching of Intelligent Design - another way of say Creationism - as an alternative to evolution, in the Kansas school system.  The School Board ignored his letter and his suggestion, undeterred, Henderson sent the letter to several news organizations and TV stations.  And many of them ran with it - though tongue-in-cheek - the word spread rapidly and the letters and emails of support began pouring in.  And what started as a small protest turned into something much bigger.

Bobby Henderson called his religion Pastafarianism - a portmanteau of pasta and Rastafarianism.  And he called his church, The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the church satirizes organized religion in a somewhat light-hearted way.  The cornerstone of Henderson's church states that the universe was created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster after a night of heavy drinking, that, he says accounts for mistakes made in creation; i.e., the platypus.

Since Intelligent Design uses ambiguous references to a designer, it stands to reason any conceivable entity might fulfill that role, including the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM).

The basic tenet of the religion is that heaven, in the FSM, is a fountain that spews beer and a factory that produces strippers.  In FSM hell, the beer is stale and the strippers all have STDs.  This is opposed to sitting around forever with an old man who spied on you all your life; creepy when you think about it.

Pirates are the original Pastafarians and are considered 'divine beings'.  They were persecuted in the Middle-Ages by Christian theologians and the Hare Krishna.  They were in actuality, peace-loving explorers and spreaders of good will.  Pastafarians believe that the ghosts of persecuted and murdered pirates are responsible for the Bermuda Triangle.  So, to honor all the pirates of the FSM, adherents celebrate the Holy Day of September 19, 'Talk Like a Pirate Day'.  Arrrgh!

The prevalence of global warming. earthquakes, and hurricanes are the result of fewer and fewer pirates.  The growing number of pirates in the Gulf of Aden is why Somalia has the lowest carbon emissions in the world.  Correlation does not imply causation.  But then...

The Flying Spaghetti Monster has been described by those who claim to have seen the invisible creature, as a large heap of pasta atop two enormous meatballs, with eyes perched on stems and protruding from his top.  And he has been portrayed as such, much like the icons of other prominent religions.

It is said that the Spaghetti Monster created the universe in 4-days (Monday - Thursday) and thus Friday is a Holy Day.  Their religious holiday is called 'Holiday' and is celebrated in December somewhere during the time of Christmas, Chanukah, and Kwanza, but since it is a movable holiday it has no definite date.  However, more and more people are acknowledging the Holiday as more and more people are now saying "Happy Holiday" during December.

In place of commandments the FSM church has eight 'I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts'. also known as 'The Flying Spaghetti Condiments':

            1)  I'd really rather you didn't act like a sanctimonious holier-than-thou ass when describing my noodly goodness. If some people don't believe in me, that's okay, really, I'm not that vain.  Besides this isn't about them so don't change the subject.                                                                                                             2) I'd really rather you didn't use my existence as a means to oppress, subjugate, eviscerate and/or, you know be mean to others.  I don't require sacrifices, and purity is for water not people.                          3)I really rather you didn't judge people for the way they look, or how they dress, or the way they talk.  Or well, just play nice, okay? And get this in your thick heads; Woman=Person, Man=Person.  Samey, Samey.  One is not better than the other, unless we are talking about fashion and I'm sorry ,but I gave that to women and some guys who know the difference between teal and fuchia.                     4) I'd really rather you didn't indulge in conduct that offends yourself, or your willing, consenting partner of legal age AND mental maturity.  As for anyone who might object, I think the expression is;  "Go fuck yourself", unless they find that offensive in which case, they can turn off the TV for once and go for a walk for a change.                                                                                                                5) I'd really rather you didn't challenge the bigoted, misogynist, hateful ideas of others on an empty stomach. Eat, then go after the bastards.                                                                                                            6) I'd really rather you didn't build multimillion-dollar churches/temples/mosques/shrines to my noodly goodness when the money could be better spent (take your pick):                                                                   * ending poverty                                                                                                                                           * curing diseases                                                                                                                                           * living in peace                                                                                                                                             * loving with passion                                                                                                                                     * and lowering the cost of cable                                                                                             I might be a complex-carbohydrate omniscient Being, but I enjoy the simple things in life.  I ought to know.  I AM the creator.                                                                                                                                          7) I'd really rather you didn't go around telling people I talk to you.  You're not that interesting,  get over yourself.  And I told you to love your fellow man. Can't you take a hint?                                                  8) I'd really rather you didn't do unto others as you would have them do to you if you are into, umm, stuff that uses a lot of leather/lubricant/Las Vegas.  If the other person is into it, however (pursuant to #4) then have at it.  And take pictures, and for the love of Mike, wear a CONDOM!  Honestly, it's a piece of rubber.  If I didn't want it to feel good when you did IT, I would have added spikes or something.   

It didn't say if these were handed down on stone tablets, but they make a lot of sense to me.  To those of you doubting Thomas' who still don't believe, I refer you to Russell's Teapot, (look it up). 

But to be a true religion, it helps to be recognized by countries world-wide, and here the FSM church is making some headway, the following countries have given some condescension to the church: Ireland, Russia, Austria, Germany, New Zealand, Israel, the Czech Republic, and the United States.  The U.S. Army allows that the ID 'dog' tags can be inscribed - Atheist-FSM.

The following states have allowed FSM believers to be photographed for Drivers Licenses wearing their religious headgear - a colander: Texas, Utah, New York, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Illinois, Arizona, California, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Nevada.

But, to achieve true recognition in the world, the FSM church must be recognized by the leading authority; Facebook!  In the latest list of religions protected from hate-speech on Facebook is Pastifarianism, to wit:                                                                                                                                       "With millions, if not thousands of devoted worshippers, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti  Monster is widely considered a legitimate religion even by its opponents - mostly fundamental Christians, who have accepted that our God has bigger balls than theirs."

You heard it here first, Virginia, Believe it!

                                                                          I'm just sayin'      

Those Whom the Gods Would Destroy...

           If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it , people will eventually come to believe it.                        The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the                           political, economic, and military  consequences of the lie... the truth is the mortal enemy                         of the lie, and thus by extension the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.                                                                                                                     Joseph Goebbels

Today marks one month until the inauguration of a new president, and the beginning of a new era.  But between now and then we still have to deal with the lies and posturing of the old president.  Trump is braying like the jackass he is, still promising that he will overturn the results of the election.  Still claiming the election was stolen from him and he is the rightful winner and deserves another term as president.  The saddest part of all, is he has convinced sixty million people that what he is saying is true.

Sixty million people!  It boggles the mind. But the Trump administration is ending just the way it began; with lies.  He proclaimed that he had a bigger crowd at his inauguration than his predecessor, Barack Obama, though photographs by the Park Service showed far fewer people were in attendance.  Thus, began a barrage of daily lies, exaggerations, blatant misinformation, and alternative facts.  Now four years later, the total of those lies is a staggering 200,247.

But if you asked those who voted for Trump, all 74,111,400+ of them, you will get an argument that it is just the liberal 'fake news' trying to make Trump look bad.  How did 74-million people not see the results of four years of mismanagement, mishandling, misdirection, maladministration, and mayhem.  The revolving door of White House aides, and inept Cabinet Heads, who then penned tell-all books detailing the dumpster-fire that was the West Wing.  They couldn't all be disgruntled employees.

And now in an article in The London Times comes word that in an oval office meeting on Friday, there was a proposal to activate the military, declare Marshall Law, and seize the voting machines in the four largest states that voted for Biden though they had voted for Trump in 2016.  The idea was put forth by no less than Michael Flynn, whom Trump had pardoned last month, and Sidney Powell, an attorney so out of touch with reality that Rudy Julianne dismissed her from his team.

Trump is toying with the idea of making Ms. Powell lead attorney in his bid to overturn the election, and he wants her to get security clearance.  The idea so preposterous that Mark Meadows, chief of staff, argued vociferously against it.  The meeting ended in a shouting match, with saner heads prevailing.  But how long can we count on being delivered from the edge of doom by the so called 'adults in the room'?

Trump is getting further away from reality the closer his eviction from the White house gets. His supporters are calling for a mass rally at the Capitol on January 6th, the day that Congress counts the votes from the Electoral college, with Trumps blessing .  One can only surmise what will that will devolve into.

Trump is still supported by fanatical Republicans who are banking on using that support to bolster their election chances in 2022.  And as long as these outliers continue beating this dead horse, the longer Trump will continue with his fantasies.  The fear of those close to Trump is that he is beginning to believe his own lies, he has become detached from reality, and that is dangerous.  Not just for our country, but for the world in general.

This man holds the code to the nuclear arsenal, one wonder if the military would refuse a direct order from their Commander-in Chief.  More than one foreign county is wondering the same thing, and not under their breath anymore, but aloud in their parliaments.  The reputation of the United States is diminishing by the day, except in countries such as China and Russia, who are gleefully making the best of this circus, in their newspapers.  How demeaning to be laughed at by our avowed enemies, and mocked by our allies.

All the while, when this is going on, we are in the grip of a pandemic and the life-saving vaccines which have been given the green light are being held up because of a total screw-up by the government.  States are being shorted delivery amounts, the manufacturer is complaining of a backlog of shipments from its factories, as precious doses are unclaimed at the warehouses.

Then comes news of a massive cyberattack on several government agencies, the scope of which will take years to unravel.  What information was taken and to whom was it given may never be known. Those in the know say it has Russia's fingerprints all over it.  But Trump says it was China; it's always China - China, China, China.  Trump also denies that the break-in was anything to worry about, just a little computer problem.  And he knows better than anyone because he was briefed on the affair.   

Trump is our very own Nero, totally distracted while our problems keep mounting, thousands of people are dying on a daily basis - as many everyday as were killed on 9/11.  Trump takes credit for the development of the vaccine, yet he won't take it for himself.  He does nothing to correct the SNAFU in the delivery of the vaccine, he is too busy plotting his revenge on those people he feels deserted him.  To those Republicans who dared to admit that he lost the election, he vows retribution. 

The cure for all this is for the public and the press to cut him off from the attention he craves.  When a two-year old throws a tantrum, reasoning does not work, but walking away does.  Without an audience, Trump will be preaching only to the believers, but even they will tire of his tantrums, and soon will walk away.  One cannot sustain that level of outrage for very long, eventually the furor will subside and Trump will be just another false prophet, relegated to the dustbin of history.

But someone else will take his place.  We must be constantly on guard, now that we know the results of such sycophancy and unchecked devotion from the fringe element.  We must defend our democracy or we stand to lose it, we came so close to disaster this time.

Those whom the gods wish to destroy; they first make mad.  Nothing has proved this point clearer than the rise of Donald J. Trump.

                                                                     I'm just sayin'                   

I Cry for My Country

 These are names that should live in in infamy and disgrace.  They are the names of the 126 Republican members of Congress who should forever be remembered as cowards, men and women, who when it came to choosing between the oath that they swore, to defend the Constitution, and fear of some charlatan poser, they chose to disavow that oath and sign on to a court action that boarders on sedition.

Sedition is conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of the state.  The petition before the Supreme Court was asking that the votes of twenty million Americans be thrown out and the state legislature of four states then select the electorates to the Electoral College.  The four states all voted in support of Joe Biden and coincidently, all have Republican legislatures.  In Wisconsin one representative was asking that the people in his state be disenfranchised.  The petition was brought by the state of Texas and signed on to by 18 states that voted for Trump, and the aforementioned 126 members of Congress. 

Wiser heads prevailed and the Supreme Court unanimously decided that Texas had no standing to bring forth the petition.  The decision included the three jurists that Trump had nominated to the court, the last being; Amy Coney Barrett.  

If this doesn't send chills down your spine, I don't know what would.  Some Congressmen are poo-pooing this as just theatrics; it is not!  They say the law suit never stood a chance anyway and this was all for show.  Perhaps if I waved a gun around the Senate chamber and then said I didn't meaning anything by it, and it was all for show, do you think the Senators laugh and say, well met?  I heartedly doubt it.  Yet what they are doing is worse; I would be threatening perhaps 100 people at best, these fools are threatening the entire nation.

When citizens of a country lose faith in their government, it is not long before the country is torn asunder.  We have seen it too many times, so what would make these Congresspersons think that what they are doing is different.  The bedrock of our democracy is the election every four years for president and then the peaceful transition of power to the winner.  The loser offers a concession and congratulations to the winner, not necessary, but right thing to do.

No one likes eating cow, defeat is demoralizing, and difficult to accept.  It takes a big person to accept defeat graciously - outwardly anyway - and move on with life.  George H. W. Bush did it, Jimmy Carter did also, and both went on to be well respected and thought of as elder statesmen of their party.  Americans of both parties, and countries around the globe,  admired them and their service to the country.  But that is the one thing that Trump will never have, the one thing that all his supposed money cannot buy; Class.  He wants, craves, respect but all he gets is notoriety, it's not the same thing.  And he could not buy class for his children either.  There is an old saying; 'You don't get a thoroughbred when you cross two jackasses.'   

The comparison of the previous administration and the Trump administration are as different as porterhouse to hamburger.  Donald knows that, and as hard as he tries he cannot pull off that stature, that poise.  So, if he can't raise himself up, he tears down everything he can.  It galls him that the one thing he wanted to destroy was 'Obama Care' and he failed, he failed miserably.  Now he is salting the earth; if he can't have the power, he will do his best to make sure the new administration is impotent.

He is pardoning his cohorts and may extend pardons to anyone who does or doesn't ask.  And he has begun executing federal criminals on an accelerated schedule because he knows it will upset the liberals who don't support, or believe in Capitol punishment. What kind of person does that?

There are those who are comparing this election to the election of 1860, it was then that our country was divided also, and that division destroyed the Union and it led to the deaths of 618,000 Americans.  Is this what it is coming to?  There are elected officials asking if their constituents are ready to die for 'the cause', calling for open and armed rebellion.  If so. 600,000 deaths will look like a Sunday picnic.  With the weaponry available to anyone today, we could surpass that figure in six months.  And as the Proud Boys brag, they have all the guns.  

Someone must be the adult in the room, the president has abdicated that responsibility.  Cooler heads must prevail,  we must stop this march to oblivion.  I fear for my country, I never thought it could come to this.  We must stop the madness before it has gone too far, if it hasn't already.

                                                                   I'm just sayin'

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

I am afraid that America is becoming an authoritarian state.  I do not say this lightly, this is my country and I love it, but I am worried.  And I am not alone. So many outside the United States - opinion writers, political leaders, and just plain folks - are appalled by what they are witnessing.  They are comparing America to the likes of Hungary, Poland and Turkey, and yes, Hitler's rise in Germany and Mussolini in Italy.

They believed, as I did, that once the election was over and done, the braggadocio, would finally give way to resolute acceptance.  But several recent opinion polls show that a majority of Republican voters, egged on by Donald Trump, believe that he rightfully won the election and they support his decision not to concede.  All this after almost 30 days since the election, and where Joe Biden garnered 306 electoral votes and a national voter plurality of more than 6-million votes, a number that is still growing with the recounts.  And after state by state reported that there was no evidence of election fraud.  

This. Is. Not. Normal.

That the Republican leadership in Congress are going along with charade, is doubly disturbing.  They began the year by displaying their lack of principles when the voted, almost to a person, not to convict Trump or even hear evidence during the impeachment trial.  They emboldened him and they have supported him no matter what assaults on the precepts of democracy, what violations of the Constitution, what blatant disregard for the office of the presidency, what trashing of political norms he has shown. 

Author, Matthew Mac Williams, who wrote The Rise of Trump; America's Authoritarian Spring , among other books on authoritarianism, has said what has happened in the Trump era is not at all shocking. In a poll he had conducted prior to the 2016 election, he found that roughly 40% of Americans were highly or moderately predisposed to authoritarian government.  Trump played into these beliefs and he drew huge crowds with a cult-like following, and he continues a hold on these believers that is growing in size and strength.  These Americans appreciate Trump's so called strength and power in the executive office, they love his distain and mocking of the press, and his strong nationalistic stance of take no prisoners with other countries, friend or foe. 

Trump was able to rapidly rise to such heights because he is a charlatan, a snake oil salesman, a prevaricator of the highest degree. And his use of social media, such as Twitter, gave him a platform of unfiltered communication, a media where grievance politics, fear-mongering, and rumor and innuendo flourish.  The right-wing media continued the polarization, keeping those believers wrapped in a cocoon of 'alternate facts' presented to them as the truth.  These faithful followers have grabbed on to what Trump is selling because the American Dream has failed them all too often.  Yet they fail to see the disaster looming before them, the rise of authoritarianism - they welcome it instead.

There have been plenty of signs pointing to Trump's authoritarian stance:

         *the mollification of the Putin's take-over of the Ukraine                                                                             * the total disregard of the emolument clause in the Constitution                                                               * using the Justice Department to investigate his enemies                                                                           * calling the press 'the enemy of the people'                                                                                                 * packing the courts - making them a political branch of government                                                         * using fear to keep his party, the GOP, from defying him                                                                           *using federal forces against peaceful demonstrators                                                                                   *personally profiting from the presidency

Taking these individually they are egregious enough, collectively they represent a pattern that leads to destruction.  And the Republican leadership has refused to move against Trump in his bid to over-turn a free and fair election, Trump has gone so far as to attempt to strong-arm individual states against certifying their election results.  All the while the Congress is consenting to Trump's nomination of judges and approving his selections of department appointees, as if there is nothing awry.  This has never happened in any previous administration.  This lame duck has not lost his wings, Congress has lost its collective mind.  Is this where we want to go as a country?  Even if all the current Trump shenanigans fail to stop the transfer of power on January 20, 2021, his supporters will never accept the legitimacy of the Biden presidency.     And, it appears, neither will the Republicans in Congress, insuring four more years of stalemate and non-governance.

These are dangerous times we live in currently; the president cannot defend America with his hands tied.  Our enemies are already celebrating the divisiveness and chaos, and our allies don't understand it.  America has lost its place as leader and example of a democratic government.  Biden has promised to bring that back but he cannot do it alone.    

Trumpism has become the new political party, the party that espouses authoritarian power.  And if the true Republicans don't take their party back, I fear it will mark the end of the greatest experiment in democracy the world has known.  We are half way there already. 

                                                                          I'm just sayin'

Are We Really a Third World Country?

 It has now been two weeks since Biden was declared the winner and we are no closer to settling the Presidential election than we were on November 3rd.  The votes have been counted and recounted, the attorneys have plead their cases and have been summarily dismissed, charges of fraud have been levied, and it has all come to naught.  And everyday that passes, America loses more respect in the eyes of the world. 

At first I was angry, but sustaining that kind of anger began to eat away at my soul. Then I was depressed watching the comedy of errors play out; the lies and the personal attacks.  Now I am simply sad.  It is so sad to see what my country has come to.  We all knew the president was a vicious megalomaniac, he told us as much in words and actions.   And there were those who didn't care, those who would follow him to hell, and they have.  Their cult-like devotion to a man who has nothing but distain for them is difficult to comprehend.  

Even though I don't understand, nor do I care to understand such idiocy, I can look past those who lack the vision and intelligence to see beyond today.  I cannot forgive them their ignorance, for there is none so blind as those who will not see.  They choose to deny the truth and indulge in their fantasies, because it is easier than the lives that they have, lives of desperation with no future except the past.  So they look to the man who told them he would restore their jobs, the towns, their dignity.  But he lied, he used them, but to keep believing is better than facing the truth.

The most egregious of these sycophants are those who swore an oath to the United States Constitution to 'support and defend it against all enemies foreign and domestic and bear true faith and allegiance to the same'.  I know that oath, I took it more than once, as anyone who has worked for the federal government has.  It means something to those who swear to it.  My husband took it when he joined the Marine Corp and so did my brother when joined forty years later.  They knew they might be asked to lay down their life for that Constitution.

Yet the Republicans Congressmen are defiling that oath.  The are refusing to honor the results of an election for the president of the United States.  They are choosing to disavow the oath that took freely, and turn their backs in their country.  That I cannot countenance, it grieves me, it makes me furious.  I cannot imagine what the brave men and women who are serving the country in the armed forces feel about this.  They are putting their lives on the line everyday and their representatives have broken their oath, and for what?  Because they are afraid to face the ire of a toothless has-been. I am loath to say his name, but that man who has caused so much turmoil in the past four years, now is threatening to undermine our democracy.  And these lackeys are abetting him. 

In 1974, another Republican president was dishonoring the office of the presidency.  However, at that time his party rose up against him.  The Republican Senators and Representatives felt they must take action to save the party, the presidency and the country.  Three of the highest-ranking members of Congress; Barry Goldwater who had run for president himself, John Rhodes minority whip of the House, and Hugh Scott, minority leader of the Senate, went down from the Capitol to the White House.  They told Richard Nixon he needed to resign the presidency.  They told him he was facing impeachment and his party would vote to convict him.  Those three men were men of honor, there re none like them in Congress today. 

Today's president may not have taken up arms against the United States, but his actions are having the same effect.  He is seeking to destroy the framework of the Constitution, if this be so, I call it treason.  The intent is the same, the method is different, the effect is to undermine the belief in the presidency, to make  the incoming president impotent.  We saw it with the Obama presidency when Senator Mitch McConnel said he would thwart anything that Obama worked to get passed.  It has now gone far beyond that. 

Congress is watching as the president is meeting with individual state officials to try to get them to overturn the outcome of the election held in their state.  In doing so he is subverting the will of the electorate.  I cannot imagine anything more dangerous to the Constitution.  And the Republicans in Congress are his co-conspirators.  If one is guilty of treason, then so are they all.

Imagine if you will, what these pompous legislators would say if this was being done in a third -world country.  Why they would rise up and say the presidency was being stolen. Matter of fact, the United States has done so, numerous times; in Central America, South America, and in many small countries in Asia and Africa.  Funny how one cannot recognize their own failings, or maybe they can, they just don't give a damn.  They don't give a damn about the country and they don't give a damn about we the people.  They only care that they were re-elected and now they can do what they will.

I love my country, I fly her flag proudly, and I rise for the national anthem.  The Fourth of July festivities bring a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat, but my Senator, Ron Johnson, brings bile to my mouth.  I loath him and find him reprehensible.  I will remember always his choice to follow a traitor and forsake his country.  And you can bet when he is up for reelection, I will be working for his defeat. 

                                                                     I'm just sayin'

Its Time for the Obese Women's Aria - or my tip of the hat to PC

I have not written anything in quite awhile, I have been holed up in my home trying to make sense of something that makes no sense.  I fervently wished I could shut out the world and just return to normal, except I no longer know what normal is.  But no one can hide forever, even trump had to come out yesterday. So I take to my keyboard and offer this humble opinion.

  I was, like many of you, either glued to the television checking election returns, or monitoring my phone or computer from work on a regular basis.  It was an anxious time.  For those of us who were glad to see November 3rd finally arrive, it is now anticlimactic.  Nothing is settled, nothing is certain, nothing has changed.  It is as if the nation is caught in a time warp, some sort of worm hole in space, where we wake each day and face the same uncertainty.

One thing that is certain, the Covid-19 virus is winning.  Everyday there is news of record-breaking new cases, and new deaths.  The daily average of new cases is averaging over 100,000.  Donald Trump was wrong about so many things, but the biggest thing he was wrong about was that the pandemic was going away, it is not going away.  He said we wouldn't talk about it after November 3rd, but it seems that is all we do talk about, that and when will he give his concession speech. 

This election, Republicans turned out in record numbers to vote, many for the first time and they voted for Republican Senators, Republican House Members, and their GOP state ticket, but they voted against the President.  Republicans of all persuasions were tired of the lies and the constant drama,  They were exhausted by the turmoil in the White House, so they joined with Democrats and Independents, and they put an end to the Trump dynasty.

I was jubilant, like so many others, and tears of joy came to my eyes, and I could feel the weight of Trump's four years of lies, racism, and bigotry being lifted from my spirit.  I got out my American flag and displayed it on my patio.  I reveled in the joy that so many people were exhibiting in the streets all across our country.  The election was still close, but it grew more certain by the hour that Biden was going to win, and in the end he did win.  

He restored the 'blue wall' across the Great Lakes, he won Arizona, Nevada, and he won Pennsylvania. Sure it would have been nice to have taken control of the Senate, but the nation showed that they still believe in certain conservative values.  And I respect that.  It means that the two parties will have to work together to get the job done,  And Joe Biden is the man who can get that done.  

Well, so much for the euphoria of the election outcome.  It is more than a week hence and still the law suits and the accusations of fraud keep coming.  Now Trump is doing what he accused Biden of doing, that is hiding in his basement (does the White House have a basement?).  He is busy tweeting though, he is still proclaiming victory, and his loyal minions are encouraging him; the mad-dog Republican Senators, the bloviated right-wing broadcasters, and the wild-eyed militia.

And as all this carries forth, the nation is still gripped in the clutches of a silent killer that is stalking the countryside.  In many states in the mid-west there are no more ICU beds and Covid-19 cases are being stacked in operating rooms.  And where is our fearless leader, the president?  He is playing golf, and avoiding the public and the press.  Meanwhile president-elect Biden is drafting a virus taskforce, and putting together his transition team.  Even as Trump has instructed the White House and the Cabinet Departments not to give any information to the Biden team.

This is beyond reason, it is unconscionable, the trump administration is risking national security for petty vengeance.  There less than 10 weeks until January 20,2021, when the new administration will be sworn in to take up the reins of government.  They, unlike the Trump administration, must hit the ground running.  The have more to deal with than any administration in recent memory; the pandemic, the faltering economy, record unemployment, racial injustice, climate crisis, medical insurance, and rebuilding America's image around the world.

So what is the hold up?  Speculation is running rampant that Trump is planning a coup of sorts.  He is planning for his second term in office, unperturbed with the results of the election.  He is firing and hiring cabinet members, and staffing the presidential office and proceeding as normal, well normal for Trump.  Perhaps it is true that he is in full denial, but if that is true, someone close to him should break it to him, instead of placating him and playing along with his delusions and silly games.  It is time for an intervention.  Or are the people closest to him in on the plot?

Everyday that this goes on the knot in my stomach gets a little tighter, and the jubilation of last Saturday is losing its glow.  We are talking about the end of our country, and I am not the only one supposing this outcome.  The foreign press is fife with article purporting the downfall of democracy in America. Perhaps that is just petty jealousy, but there is something in the fact that the world's most despotic leaders have yet to accept a Biden win.

I am not a conspiracy nut, or a chicken little sure that the sky is falling.  I am just a poor writer who sees things that I have never seen before, and I venture to say that no one else in this country has either.  Not since 1860, then, for the first time since its founding, the country stood on the precipice and 775,000 Americans lost their lives.  Are we there again?  I pray to god we are not.   But... 

                                                         I'm just sayin