I’ve written to you in the past in this form of an open letter. (Promise Me, Joe) and I am compelled to write once more.
The time has come for a new generation to rise to the occasion. You have said this yourself as I will remind you in this piece. Now is the time to put those words into actions.
Now is the time, Mr. President, now is the time.
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted;
Pete Seeger, Turn, Turn, Turn! (or Ecclesiastes 3-1 if you prefer)
But first, let me say this.
Thank you. Thank you for restoring sensibilities in government. Thank you for rebuilding America’s standing in the world. Thank you for leading the world coalition supporting the Ukraine.
Thank you for leading the country out of the disaster of the pandemic. And thank you for putting an end to our presence in Afghanistan. Anyone who understands the reality of that commitment knows it was the right thing to do no matter how ugly it may have appeared.
Thank you for what you have done for this country. I only wish your opportunity had come sooner.
But there is what we want and what we have and that reality is what we deal with.
I heard you speak once after the release of your book, Promise Me, Dad. One thing you said, that brought to mind the Camelot of the Kennedy years, was it is time for a new generation to assume the mantle.
You were right.
Yet when circumstances arose, with no one stepping up, you did. Again.
You were there in our time of desperate need for a return to stability. And while the danger has not fully passed, time has.
Now is the moment for you to make your mark as one of our greatest Presidents. One who rose to the occasion as history demanded then recognized the limitations of that commitment.
Go out, find that new blood, and push them to meet destiny as you have.
Turn your words into more than a speech. Encourage this new generation, following your example, to set a new course with a new leader at the helm.
Don’t let the country merely vote against the disaster from our past, give them a choice with a limitless future.
Do this, and there is no doubt that future historians will mark this moment as another example of true American courage.
Please share on social media, the more we discuss the better we understand each other
From the years 1973 and 1974, I have vivid memories of watching the Watergate Hearings with friends (on a black & white TV where we had to plan our time to be there, no such thing as DVR or on demand.)
The story, by its very nature, was all-consuming of the public’s attention. These were the days before a continuous 24/7 Breaking News cycle when the words “We interrupt the broadcast” actually meant something.
Today, every lead story, even if it is a continuation of the previous day’s news cycle, is breaking news.
The drama of a sitting US President being subjected to the possibility of impeachment—the idea of criminal charges wasn’t even a thought outside of impeachment—was an enormously troubling consideration.
No matter how one felt about Nixon—there was plenty besides Watergate to cause such feelings, there were also some significant accomplishments by him—his actions caused him to lose what should have been rock solid support in the Senate and the House.
There’s a story, perhaps apocryphal, perhaps not, about Sen. Barry Goldwater—a more stalwart Republican would be hard to find—that illustrates the serious jeopardy Nixon was in.
Goldwater met with Nixon and told him, “You have maybe six votes in the Senate. I’m not one of them.” Whether or not the story is true—Goldwater later claimed he never discussed Nixon resigning—the President did just that the next day.
Watching Nixon waving in front of Marine One before they flew him from the White House was high drama.
The person who violated his oath of office, no matter how powerful that office might be, was forced to resign in the face of not political willpower but by the force of law supporting the continuity of the American government. We thought we were watching a once in a lifetime disaster averted in America.
Oh, how wrong we were.
Now, impeaching a President has become another exercise in partisanship. It is thrown around like leaving legislation in committee to die with little thought of the impact on the country, both domestic and foreign. Today we have Senators acting like petulant children by holding up critical military appointments for nothing more than cheap headlines, grandstanding, and a smokescreen to their lack of legislative effectiveness.
Our government has fumbled on the one yard line.
A sitting President’s actions may deserve impeachment, but today the vote almost always falls along party lines with few exceptions, making it a poor way to address the issue. And a dangerous one if party affiliation is the only deciding factor.
It would paralyze the country. When politicians speak about weaponizing the government against opponents they seem to forget they are the ones buying the weapons and the ammunition.
Now we face the specter of a former President indicted on ninety-one felony charges, and a host of misdemeanors, with trials looming amid an election cycle. Something even in our wildest imaginations we could never have conjured.
This is not a piece about the validity of the grand jury system used to investigate and issue indictments. Nor is it about the validity of the charges. Opinions have no place in the administration of justice. That is why we have trials.
This is about the trajectory of the county. Because if we cannot have faith in the justice system, we are teetering on the edge of anarchy.
In 1974, we witnessed history. A man who once won 49 of 50 states in the 1972 electoral college orchestrated and committed crimes while in office. He was forced to resign because there was a system in motion that would remove him because he committed crimes while in office. (Who remembers the Don’t Blame Me I’m From Massachusetts bumper stickers reminding everyone it was the one state McGovern won in that Presidential election?)
In 1974, we thought we would never witness such turmoil again. Yet here we are.
I find it amusing that those steadfast supporters of the indicted former president also are the most vocal about strong criminal justice. They bemoan the relaxation or elimination of pre-trial cash bail provisions ignoring the presumption of innocence.
Strange they remain silent while the former President, facing ninety-one felony counts, walks in an out of court with limited restrictions. The outrage about releasing any other person facing a similar catalog of felonies before trial, particularly one with the means to flee the jurisdiction, would be thunderous.
Or is it they suddenly understood what innocent until proven guilty means?
Here, there is not even a whimper out of fear of offending their idol. They seem unaffected by the fact we are funding Secret Service protection for a defendant and standing by while he uses the very charges he faces as fund raising tools. Disingenuous has reached new heights. The former president is benefitting from the eleemosynary generosity of Americans blinded to reality. (Long story about the word most of you are feverishly searching for the meaning, but it involves a former nun, recently deceased, who happens to be my aunt, and her disdain for lazy writing.)
Their other argument is one about fairness. The fact that the trial Judge in one of the cases is an Obama appointee automatically confers bias on her rulings. This country’s judicial system is supposed to be as free of bias as is humanly possible. Yet the former president’s supporters would argue that, absent a complete dismissal, only a Trump appointee could be expected to be fair.
I wonder if, had Hillary Clinton actually committed crimes, they would have been equally vocal if she faced a Trump appointed judge?
Of course, fair in their mind means the case gets tossed regardless of the evidence. Again, not how the system is supposed to work. We, the people, are entitled to hear the evidence and let a jury decide. That is the only way to ensure justice is carried out.
Under the Constitution and the laws of the United States, the Nation is entitled to and deserves an expeditious resolution of the criminal prosecution of the former president for his alleged election interference and his prevention of the peaceful transition of power…
But if partisanship is important, than let me quote from a Amicus brief filed in the United States V. Donald J. Trump CRIMINAL NO. 23-cr-257 (TSC) matter. For those of you having trouble keeping all the cases straight, this is the one where the President allegedly tried to unlawfully overturn the results of the election, incited a riot, and tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. I’ve included the list of those who signed the brief in the appendix below and the link to the document.
The brief supporting the trial date of January 2, 2024 for the case is signed by eleven former US Attorneys, current and former Judges, former Attorneys General (both state and federal), and every one of them is a Republican.
EVERY ONE IS A REPUBLICAN for those who may have skipped over, ignored, or otherwise missed the statement.
INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE The criminal prosecution in United States v. Donald J. Trump will be an historic trial of a former American president of surpassing public interest to the American People. This trial will present for decision by a jury of the former president’s peers the momentous question of whether a President of the United States of America committed grave crimes against the United States when he attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election by conspiring to defraud the United States of the lawful results of an American election, conspiring to obstruct the Joint Session of the Congress of the United States as it counted the electoral votes for the presidency of the United States, and conspiring to deprive millions of Americans of their constitutional right to have their votes counted. That attempt is further alleged to have precipitated the violent attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, a vicious and unparalleled attack and assault on the temple of American democracy and on American democracy itself.
Under the Constitution and the laws of the United States, the Nation is entitled to and deserves an expeditious resolution of the criminal prosecution of the former president for his alleged election interference and his prevention of the peaceful transition of power for the first time in American history. That national imperative corresponds with the former president’s own constitutional entitlement to a speedy resolution of the grave charges that have now been leveled against him by the United States.
If we are to survive as a country, these case must be tried as fairly and expeditiously as possible. No defendant’s outside interests, with the exception of medical conditions, is ever a consideration in setting a trial date. That such matters may impede the former President’s pursuit of another term is irrelevant. No defendant is excused because they are too busy to attend trial.
And in the end, we need to accept the verdicts. If we rise to criticize those who would subvert the system we cannot then criticize that very same system for the verdicts rendered. It is the way American Justice works and the only way it can survive.
What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now! But not a resolution at the point of a gun, the threat of a mob, or swayed by the weight of public opinion.
A-1 APPENDIX: LIST OF AMICI The amici listed below join this brief as individuals and do not represent or advise any party in the matter; institutional affiliation is noted for informational purposes only and does not indicate endorsement by institutional employers of the positions advocated in this brief. Donald B. Ayer served as Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice from 1989 to 1990; Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States from 1986 to 1989; and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California from 1981 to 1986. Steven G. Calabresi worked as a Special Assistant to Attorney General Ed Meese from 1985- 1987 and in the West Wing of the White House as the Chief Aide to the Hon. T. Kenneth Cribb, Assistant to President Reagan for Domestic Affairs. He is currently the Clayton J. & Henry R. Barber Professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. John J. Farmer Jr. served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, New Jersey Attorney General, Senior Counsel to the 9/11 Commission, and Dean of Rutgers Law School, and is currently Director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics. Stuart M. Gerson served as Acting Attorney General of the United States during the early Clinton Administration, as President George H.W. Bush’s Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Justice Department, as an advisor to several Presidents, and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia (1972–1975). Alberto R. Gonzales served as the 80th Attorney General of the United States from 2005–2007, as White House Counsel from 2001–2005, and as an Associate Justice of the Texas Supreme Court from 1999–2001. J. Michael Luttig served as a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1991–2006, as Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel and Counselor to the Attorney General from 1990–1991, and as Assistant Counsel to the President, The White House from 1980–1981. Richard W. Painter served as the chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush from 2005– 2007. He is currently the S. Walter Richey Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Minnesota Law School. Jonathan C. Rose served as Special Assistant to President Nixon from 1971 to 1973, Associate Deputy Attorney General from 1973 to 1975, and Assistant Attorney General at the Office of Legal Policy from 1981 to 1984. Paul Rosenzweig served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Department of Homeland Security from 2005-2009, in the Office of Independent Counsel from 1998-1999, and in the United States Department of Justice from 1986-1991. Stanley A. Twardy, Jr. served as a United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut and Chief of Staff to Connecticut Governor Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. William F. Weld served as the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts from 1981 to 1986; as the Assistant U.S. Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division from 1986 to 1988; and as Governor of Massachusetts from 1991 until 1997.
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Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind. William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act 5, Sc. 4
Who knew?
All these years, I believed the First Amendment protected the right to publish or say anything you like without government interference. And while implicit in that is the “right” to lie, I always believed the First Amendment does not protect one from the consequences of false statements.
Some attorneys believe it does and have argued such in motions in court.
Where was this defense when I was a kid growing up and got caught doing something I shouldn’t?
It seems some would have us accept that the First Amendment is the ultimate shield to bearing any responsibility for their actions. If we accept that lying about anything is a constitutional right, it does not mean immunity from any criminal acts resulting from those lies.
Here’s a hypothetical. Let’s say someone in a position to know tells me my vote was changed. Based on that, I attack the institution named as responsible. Since I believed this person, even if they were lying about it for their own gain, I must be immune from any responsibility.
They had the right to lie, I had the right to accept the delusion and act on it.
Really?
To refresh everyone’s concepts of the two major forms of writing or stating false statements, we have these definitions in the English language.
Defamation: the act of defaming; false or unjustified injury of the good reputation of another, as by slander or libel; calumny:
Libel: defamation by written, printed, or broadcast words or pictures.
Thus, the government, under most circumstances, cannot stop anyone from writing or saying anything before they publish or proclaim it—there is no prior restraint—with very few exceptions. Let’s say a government official who claims to have Top Secret material and intends to show it to individuals without clearance in locations incapable of providing adequate protections. Some would have us believe this is perfectly acceptable even if they were lying about it.
But there are some practical and ethical limitations here which any mature adult would recognize as reasonable given their positions and experience.
For example,
If I were to publish a blog piece saying I intended to launch a nuclear attack on some country, no one would be alarmed or concerned.
If a sitting President were to do the same thing—perfectly lawful in the eyes of some legal counsel and others—it might be more problematic.
If I were to claim the US Government is orchestrating a wide-ranging conspiracy to conceal a child sex trafficking ring from an obscure Pizza Parlor controlled by current and former government officials, most people would believe I had been over-served in a bar, experimented with some mind-altering substances, or just was plain Loonie-tunes. I mean, come on, who would believe it?
If the Attorney General of the United States were to make a similar claim, people would be up in arms demanding an investigation and criminal proceedings. That the Attorney General has a First Amendment right to lie hardly mitigates the damage such a statement, from a person in that position, causes.
And so it is with the current situation we find ourselves in America. The public relations campaign is attempting to find a believable, and lawfully defensible, rationale for claiming the election of 2020 was tainted, despite all evidence to the contrary.
Yet the best they can come up with is a First Amendment right to say or write anything, including lies.
How that mitigates the criminality arising from such lies is beyond comprehension.
Next time some ten-year-old is standing near a broken window and says “Wasn’t me” keep in mind a former President and a significant number of Americans believe he has every right to do so. They conveniently leave out the part that, under the First Amendment, while you may lie about anything and everything, it does not mitigate the truth or the consequences.
Shakespeare said it best.
To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man. William Shakespeare, Hamlet' (1601) act 1, sc. 3, l. 58
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The events of the last few months—the classified document hoard recovered by search warrant at Mar-E-Lunacy, the indictment (indicatament) from NYC decades in the making if one knows anything of history, and the more than likely upcoming indictments of a much more severe nature if there is any justice in this world—have led me to a cataclysmic decision (to borrow the wise words of the Wizard of OZ.)
I will not waste another moment, make any brain effort, construct another syllable, or expend even one iota on writing about the albatross around America’s neck, the permanently Ex President Donald J. Trump. Mr. Trump, more accurately represented as a cuckoo bird, acts similarly by placing his ideas and deranged concepts in the nests that are the fertile minds of America’s uneducated, uninformed, false patriots and bigots, in the hopes they would nurture them as their own and abandon any rationality to the infectious and dangerous rhetoric. Sadly, many did. But things are changing.
Mr. Trump has had his moment. He took four years and forever demeaned and destroyed any semblance of rationality and honor in politics. He sullied the once imperfect but admirable reputation and political process that served this country well. He destroyed our international reputation for reliability and gave an opening to our enemies in the fascist and communist governments that have always sought to weaken us.
Instead of Making America Great Again—we had never lost our greatness until 2016—he made us vulnerable.
But he also may have inadvertently done us a service. America’s youth as a country is over. We are no longer the new democracy leading the world as we became after World War II. We are now transitioning from the self-centered hormone-ravaged puberty of the country into adulthood. We now have to face the reality of a global economy where other countries follow what used to be almost exclusively American; scientific and intellectual innovation and domination.
Those who still bask in Mr. Trump’s orange glow will soon realize—except, perhaps, the hardcore delusional—the light is fading. The Tsunami of 2016, the MAGA movement, crashed on the rocky shore of Justice and shattered into fragments of itself.
Whether or not Mr. Trump serves even a moment in prison if convicted of these charges will not matter. History is a cruel and merciless judge, and the judgment of Mr. Trump’s place in history will not be kind.
And even if Mr. Trump finds a way to “walk”on these charges, those who truly care about this country will accept the verdict yet holdfast to the reality that ‘not guilty’ does not mean the same thing as innocent.
So, take this to heart. Even though I know it will be hard to ignore the trial antics, grammatically error-prone rants, and the death throes of the MAGA infection, I will not write another word about the man.
It is a very good riddance, sir. Time for us to Move On!
The Mariner, whose eye is bright, “Whose beard with age is hoar, Is gone: and now the Wedding-Guest Turned from the bridegroom’s door.
He went like one that hath been stunned, And is of sense forlorn: A sadder and a wiser man, He rose the morrow morn.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
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Apparently those who remain blinded to the defeated former President still cannot differentiate between truth and a lie.
We are forced to use the Keep It Simple Stupid approach to explain this rather obvious yet critical difference.
The DFPOTUS (Defeated Former President of the United State) said this, which is an example of a lie,
“I will tell you they know who shot Ashli Babbitt. They’re protecting that person. I have heard also that it was the head of security for a certain high official, a Democrat. And we will see because it’s going to come out. It’s going to come out.” — on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Here’s another example of a lie from DFPOTUS on another Fox Show
“The defeated president’s comments come as he and many of his supporters recast the pro-Trump insurrection as a patriotic display of “spirit and faith and love,” as he put it Sunday on Fox News Channel.”
Fox News
“There must be some way outta here, said the Joker to the Thief”
All Along the Watchtower, Jimi Hendrix version (written by Bob Dylan)
Here are a couple of images from the Capitol that infamous day which illustrates the truth, unless your idea of “spirit, faith, and love” is quite different than most rational Americans.
NBC4 Washington ImageImage Rolling Stone Magazine
Here’s an image from EDM.com which shows a gathering of almost 400,000 Americans at a true celebration of America’s “spirit, faith, and love” as comparison.
Woodstock Image EDM.com
At Woodstock, there were less than a dozen police officers for the enormous crowd and none were injured.
On January 6th, where several officers died and hundreds were injured, the DFPOTUS would have you believe this was a celebration of “spirit, faith, and love” in the finest tradition of American patriotism.
From Woodstock we got the most memorable music and one rather crude but harmless chant.
“Gimme an F…Gimme a U…”
From January 6, 2021, we got this gem.
“Hang Mike Pence, Hang Mike Pence.”
I’ll leave it to you to choose which chant you want to recall with some sense of fondness, and which one comes closest to reflecting the worst of America.
The truly sad part about the DFPOTUS rants is that not one leader of the Republican Party called him for what he is, a liar. Not Mitch McConnell, not Kevin McCarthy, none of the so-called Republican leadership has the courage or the sense of honor to call the DFPOTUS to task for his lies.
So, Mr. DFPOTUS, I have a new chant for you.
Gimme a S… Gimme a T…Gimme a F…GImme a U…” What’s that spell? STFU! What’s that spell? STFU!
Please, Mr. DFPOTUS S.T.F.U. (Cue Jimi Hendrix “There must be some way out of here, said the Joker to the Thief”)
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This is Q2-anon ( a new and improved Q-anon with most of the bugs worked out) and your Q2-anon tip of the day.
It has taken us time, but Q2-anon has uncovered the truth behind the Vaccine conspiracy. We all suspected how evil the Deep State could be, but even your Q2 -anon wasn’t prepared for what we have uncovered.
The Vaccine does contain tracking bots, but we are loathe to report they are there to identify the Q-anon believers. By inoculating the masses, with the side benefit of preventing COVID, the deep state will have an easy way to cull the herd of the Q2 -anon faithful.
The dark lord B’ha R’oc O Ba Mah decreed his acolytes Fah’ucci and Ga’tes to spread the word among the faithful by – and this is truly evil- spreading the truth about the disease.
They wanted us to think it was evil, so they could find out who we were since we would believe it was evil when all it along it wasn’t evil but their plan was evil and they knew we would fight against them despite the facts which was even more evil and this evil was really not evil which made it more evil by not really being evil.
Such sinister not evil evil was never before unleashed upon the world and we missed it.
It should have been evident from the beginning. But we failed to understand the level of depravity the evil ones would sink to in their quest for dominance.
The rise of the evangelists—those in whom we saw hope—should have been a clue. For why would such clueless ones be so successful?
Marjorie Taylor Greene? Come on, think about it. Deep state plant. Who else could think someone so intellectually challenged would be a good fit for Congress?
And Gaetz? With an appetite for the young stuff he could only be a plant (although most plants are brighter and at least rot and return something to the earth.)
Isn’t it obvious? Trump received the vaccine. He who pretended to be our leader is among the inoculated. Perhaps he knew and bravely took the shot to preserve our cause once the culling began, but such courage has never been shown by this obvious stooge.
The deep state has out-conspiracy-theoried the conspiracy theoried and we have almost fallen for it.
But, alas, your Q2 -anon—in our new and improved format—have uncovered the truth. So burn your Say No to the Prick T-shirts, remove the aluminum foil from your heads, and run to the nearest vaccination location and get the shot.
Let’s beat them at their own game.
And to Marjorie Taylor Greene we say, nice try moron. Here’s a bit of advice for you as well, you are way too old for Gaetz..
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I hereby present an open invitation to someone, anyone, who can articulate, present, or show one iota of verifiable evidence that voter fraud had any effect on the outcome of the Presidential Election.
I will put it here and shout it to the world should anyone succeed in this effort,
Here’s your chance to prove the allegation and rehabilitate the floundering, sniveling, lying, Carnival barker, former President of the United States who, lacking the bully pulpit of the Presidency and the implied (although in his case, misplaced) credibility of the office, now wanders the country seeking out his fellow “delusionistas” and wailing how the election was stolen.
Show me one scintilla of evidence fraudulent votes changed this election.
The Greek Chorus
I’ll wait.
Until then, muzzle the former POTUS (Prevaricator of the United States.) He is an international embarrassment acting like a spoiled child.
Bonus points if you can explain Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz, the maniac and the molester tag team running amuck in Congress. Trump, Greene, and Gaetz are a boil on America’s rear end and they need to be lanced.
When we teach kids that anyone in this country can go to Congress or become President, I am certain this is not what we had in mind.
Dragon: dragon is a large, serpentine, legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide.
A recent cartoon by Maddie Dai in the New Yorker Magazine depicted a man dressed as a Knight, holding a sword, while reclining on a therapist’s couch. The caption read, “There was a time—back before people found out that dragons were made up—when I would’ve gotten a hell of a lot more respect for being a dragon slayer.”
I realized this was a perfect illustration of the Trump phenomenon—belief in myths and imaginary dangerous creatures and a charlatan claiming he can slay such beasts to garner the admiration (or votes) of those who believe such nonsense.
Dragons are wonderful creatures for books, movies, and storytelling, but when turned into real threats requiring us to put our faith in both their reality and the necessity for a “hero” to confront them, we border on the abyss of insanity.
Mr. Trump in his time in the public light has created many dragons—hordes of rapists and murderers surging over the border, Muslims, Q-Anon complicit politicians, deep state actors, and the latest and most dangerous of them all, voter fraud.
That each Trump dragon is no more real than the one slain by the legendary Saint George matters little. They are dragons needing vanquishing and Mr. Trump with his mighty sword of prevarication is the only one capable of slaying them.
There is one thing you must give Saint Trump credit for, his powers of persuasion to convince millions of the reality of what is complete fabrication. In his battle with the dragon of voter fraud, fought on the battlefield in the courts, Mr. Trump suffered defeat after defeat when the dragon was shown to be a myth, yet the myth lives on.
When Mr. Trump whipped his hordes of dragon-fearing followers into a frenzy and sent them to the lair of the Dragon itself, the US Capitol, once again they were defeated, not by a fire-breathing dragon but by truth.
Myths are persistent things, like the concept of white supremacy. They are based on tales dreamt up in the minds of those who need an enemy to explain their own inadequacies. Trump’s dragons may be real in his mind. They may be real in the minds of his followers. But they are not real. They are a child’s story run amuck. And, like an out-of-control child, those who embrace such myths need be sent to their room until they regain their senses.
In Mr. Trump’s case, that will be a long, long, long time coming. Maybe he should try to convince us the flying monkey army has been unleashed by the witch, give us a new myth to fear.
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Here’s a simple explanation against the argument that the impeachment hearing violates the former President’s First Amendment rights.
If a police officer says, in a speech, that he only arrests black people because they commit the most crimes, he may have a first amendment right to say it, but it would clearly violate his duties as a sworn officer.
If a doctor says, in a speech, that he won’t treat Jews because they killed Jesus Christ he may have a first amendment right to say it, but it would clearly violate his Hippocratic oath and licensure as a doctor.
If I say, in a speech, all women should obey the men in their lives because men know better (I would, of course, say this silently in the presence of my wife and daughter) I may have a first amendment right to say it, but it would clearly violate common sense.
Each example may be constitutionally protected and, more important, few people would pay attention to the point of the pronouncements, but they would be rightfully concerned about the context and position of the person making them. (Except mine, of course, my wife and daughter would just ignore me.)
The difference is a police officer, doctor, or any other person can hold and express anything they like when acting as private citizens if they act within the law. If they translate these protected speech statements into actions in their employment or position, there are legal consequences.
The President of the United States is never a private citizen while he holds the office. Everything he says, he says as the President and it implies infinitely more significance than statements from ordinary American citizens.
If the President enjoyed unfettered First Amendment rights, then he could announce an intention to fire nuclear weapons against the county of East Japeepee with no concern for the reaction of the East Japeepeeians.
If they launched a pre-emptive strike against us, it would be because they hate our freedom and our First Amendment rights.
Which leads us to the Impeachment trial. Getting past the raw emotions of what happened that day (as a former police officer I felt only rage for the attack on those officers and, frankly, I am in awe of their restraint. Some officers I know might have opened fire at such a threat) we need examine the President’s speech in the context of not just that moment but with the understanding of what led the crowd there in the first place.
A Lie
A bold faced fabrication intended to subvert the Constitution.
And more critically, a lie spread by the President of the United States that the election was stolen from him. And if one wants to argue the President of the United States can lie to the American public because he has a First Amendment right to do so, one risks the consequences.
Consequences that played out in the halls of Congress.
Or if one argues that it is not a lie if the President believed it to be true, somehow delusional does not seem a good characteristic for the President of the United States.
The speech by the President on January 6th wasn’t the reason the mob attacked the Capitol; it was merely the starter’s gun signaling the beginning. Mr. Trump lit the fuse on the artillery he had primed, loaded, and aimed at our country.
One last point, and this is telling, from the moment the mob stormed the Capitol until the President made any effort to dissuade the mob, he did nothing for hours. Hours while US Capitol Police officers were being attacked, assaulted, and murdered by a mob he unleashed.
Even if one accepts the premise that the President never intended his speech to spark an attack, he did nothing to mitigate it once it began. Actions, or in this case inactions, speak volumes. If he never intended them to attack Congress, why did he do nothing?
One can draw a reasonable inference from the President’s failure to take swift and bold action.
Can you imagine what would have happened had not the US Capitol Police and the Secret Service acted as quickly as they did to protect the Vice President and the members of Congress? There is no doubt in my mind that the frenzied crowd—driven by weeks of the President’s own exhortations that the Vice President could change the results of the election, had they seized Mr. Pence (after the Secret Service ran out of ammunition killing who knows how many)—would have executed the Vice President and anyone else the President sent them after.
Now there’s a legacy of Making America Great Again one could point to with pride.
As part optimist, I believe there is a chance that enough Senators will do what’s right as opposed to what is politically expedient. As part realist, I have little reason to believe it will happen.
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It would seem we have another story like Genesis on our hands. Joe Biden has been President for just about seven days and, according to those stalwart supporters of the “good ‘ole days” when Mr. Trump was President, and everything was perfect—kind of like Eden before the snake arrived and stole the election—Mr. Biden has singlehandedly ruined the country.
IN JUST 7 DAYS. (I gave him inauguration day off since it took time for him to get inside, find pens, and create these proclamations for disaster.) The last time something this dramatic took seven days…well, never mind.
This is a quote from one response to a Facebook post I made (“That sound was a collective sigh of relief echoing across the country…”) after the inauguration, but it reflects the tone of many.
It would seem those who didn’t support Mr. Biden see a looming disaster that began January 20th, 2021, at 12:00 P.M. (unlike the previous exit from paradise, we know the exact time this apocalypse began.) According to these visionaries of the future, Mr. Biden has caused the following,
“…gas and heating oil are on the rise, the stock market is going down, not tanking, but going down. Women’s sports will now be dominated by men, taxes are on the rise, China can now control our power grid if they feel like it, for Joey gave the access, the cost for a family to purchase an EpiPen for their child will now double thanks to Biden’s EO so that Senator Manchin’s (D- W. Virginia) daughter can go back to scalping those that need it. Add insulin to that equation, I don’t know who benefits from that, and there are others, but I think we’ve done enough sighing in relief for now…”
Facebook reponses
These are statements lacking context, supporting evidence, or any actual proof, just conjecture, opposition talking points, or expectations based on innate disagreement with anything in opposition to their position.
I have no idea what the future holds, although I am more optimistic about it, but I thought I’d address each item as best I could and see if there was any truth to the assumptions.
Gas and heating oil are on the rise
February 17, 2020 the retail average price of gas was $2.518/gallon (at the cusp of the pandemic) April 27, 2020 the retail average price of gas was $1.87/gallon (Low point for the year) January 25, 2021 the retail average price of gas was $2.478/gallon
Using the same benchmark (adjusted for seasonal changes) for oil,
So this contention is correct, gas and oil prices (adjusted for seasonal use) have been rising since Spring 2020 (pre-Biden) which means little. There is a glut on the market because of falling demand related to the pandemic, production by OPEC countries is in flux, uncertainty in the Gulf creates price variations.
In other words, it ain’t that simple.
It remains to be seen what effect Mr. Biden’s Executive Orders regarding oil and gas leases on Federal Land and offshore will have on the economy. I would argue the overall risk to the environment outweighs the negative economic costs. Existing markets will adapt, or new ones arise.
In an interesting development, General Motors announced they would eliminate gas powered automobiles from the production line by 2035 and all their vehicles would be carbon neutral by 2040. Nothing says America like Baseball, Hotdogs, Apple Pie, and Green-energy Chevrolet.
Economics 101 says gains will mitigate losses. Mr. Trump once touted the return of the coal industry as a gem of his economic plan. But the realities of the market mitigated any huge growth. It wouldn’t work because it couldn’t work economically. (https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_coal_production)
Stock market is going down, not tanking, but going down
So if we look at the chart below, the market has been trending up—Gasp! Say it ain’t so—since 2009 under President Obama and Vice President Biden when they came into office after the crash of 2008. This trend continued under Mr. Trump.
It is a bit premature to write the obituary on the economy and I would caution, as I often have, that much of what happens in the market does so despite any actions by the President not because of them.
Dow Jones Industrial Average – Historical Annual Data
“What I came to learn is transgender is a more colloquial term for a wide-ranging variety of conditions. One specific condition, which it would seem is the heart of such protective actions, and the foundation for a Supreme Court case which I will mention shortly, is Gender Dysphoria.
“Gender dysphoria is the feeling of discomfort or distress that might occur in people whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth or sex-related physical characteristics.
Transgender and gender-nonconforming people might experience gender dysphoria at some point in their lives. But not everyone is affected. Some transgender and gender-nonconforming people feel at ease with their bodies, either with or without medical intervention.
Gender dysphoria is a diagnosis listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5); a manual published by the American Psychiatric Association to diagnose mental conditions. This term is intended to be more descriptive than the one that was previously used, gender identity disorder. The term gender dysphoria focuses on one’s discomfort as the problem, rather than identity. A diagnosis for gender dysphoria was created to help people get access to necessary health care and effective treatment.” (https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gender-dysphoria/symptoms-causes/syc-20475255#:)”
I am fairly certain we won’t see the next Lebron James in a dress heading into a WNBA locker room or a women’s soccer team needing a shave any time soon.
Taxes are on the rise
Taxes for some segment of the population may increase. Mr. Trump’s tax cuts have done little to stimulate the economy, allowed the wealthy and companies to buy back stocks and increase the share prices (which of course positively affects the stock market though not equitably), and increased the national debt.
Compounded by the pandemic—something not caused by Mr. Trump, but I would argue so poorly handled that the problem was amplified—and the need for the economic stimulus bills, revenue has to come from somewhere and a revision of the Tax code may be necessary.
China can now control our power grid if they feel like it, for Joey gave them access
A bold, daring, apocalyptic, and factually inaccurate description of what Biden’s Executive Order does. The order does impact Mr. Trump’ earlier executive order entitled, Executive Order 13920 of May 1, 2020 Securing the United States Bulk-Power System. The superseding order suspends the prior order for 90 days. It doesn’t revoke it, but includes the following provision,
“…the cost for a family to purchase an EpiPen for their child will now double thanks to Biden’s EO so that Senator Manchin’s (D- W. Virginia) daughter can go back to scalping those that need it. Add insulin to that equation, I don’t know who benefits from that, and there are others…”
Facebook post response
Here is a link to the Executive Order which does no such thing as raise the price on anything. Instead, it freezes for review any such prior orders to insure they comply with the policies of the new administration and their goal of a reinstatement of the Affordable Care Act and improvement or adjustments to the program as part of their overall strategy. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/regulatory-freeze-pending-review/
You may think this will fail, but that’s different than contending it already has.
This leads us predictably to a discussion about why US drug prices are so much higher than other countries.
Key Findings: U.S. Drug Prices Significantly Higher than All 11 Other Countries • The U.S. pays the most for drugs, though prices varied widely. • U.S. drug prices were nearly four times higher than average prices compared to similar countries. • U.S. consumers pay significantly more for drugs than other countries, even when accounting for rebates. • The U.S. could save $49 billion annually on Medicare Part D alone by using average drug prices for comparator countries. (House Document)
Once again, this is a complex topic and, it would seem, Republicans have been leading the charge in blocking any meaningful changes to address the issue. As usual, the devil lies in the details.
“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said he won’t hold a vote on a House-passed bill supported by Democrats that would require the federal government to negotiate lower prices for some drugs covered by Medicare. He is also reluctant to hold a vote on a separate bipartisan bill, sponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), that would limit the price increases drug companies typically make every year.” https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/477604-drug-price-outrage-threatens-to-be-liability-for-gop
In the interest of full disclosure, the Democrats walked away from negotiations on the bi-partisan legislation for purely political reasons. They saw the Republican reluctance to address the issue as a political liability and election vulnerability they could exploit. Politics can be an ignoble endeavor, but it doesn’t alter the fact that Biden’s Executive Order didn’t cause the price of EpiPen or insulin to rise. Rather, the EO seeks to consolidate their policy goals into crafting an effective universal health plan for all Americans and addressing price of prescription drugs.
Now before the usual attack on the source of this information ensues, a search of senate.gov. and house.gov and the Federal Register reveals no significant legislation affecting drug costs. Interestingly enough, one of the few Republicans pushing for such legislation was none other than former President Donald J. Trump.
So there you have it, my take on each of the “issues” raised by the comments about my post. Challenge each point and I’ll be happy to post it to my blog for all to review and comment.
P.S. If this is perceived as being divisive, I apologize. My intent is to spur rational discussion not rabid reactions. (No, really, it is.)
JEBWizard Publishing (www.jebwizardpublishing.com) is a hybrid publishing company focusing on new and emerging authors. We offer a full range of customized publishing services.
Everyone has a story to tell, let us help you share it with the world. We turn publishing dreams into a reality. For more information and manuscript submission guidelines contact us at info@jebwizardpublishing.com or 401-533-3988.
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