With the almost totally party-line vote to acquit Donald John Trump last week we are now getting to see just what comes next. For starters we have seen the attacks on the one member of the Senate who was brave enough to vote his own conscious. What is truly amusing is Pres. Trump’s saying that Sen. Romney used his religion to hide behind.
Now I do not like or support Sen. Romney but I do respect him. I respect him when he says he was guided by his religious faith in his vote and I believe him. I have known quite a few Later Day Saints (LDS aka Mormons) in my life and they all took their faith both respectfully and honorably. Not to say there haven’t been LDS who didn’t, just that the one I have met did. I do know this, the Utah LDS will not take this kind of attack sitting down. I can not think of a more seriously wrong place to make such as an attack as where Pres. Trump picked. Pres. Trump has only succeeded in strengthIng Sen. Romney in his home state.
An, now, today, we have the reported resignation of a federal prosecutor involved in the Stone trial over the Pres. interference with the sentencing recommendation we have some more. It is bad enough that A.G. Barr has taken personal control of any authorizations of investigations of Presidential candidates by the JD. It is bad enough that a formal connection between Giuliani and the JD in regards to the Biden/Ukraine investigations. Now we have the ’ham handed’ attempt to influence the sentencing of a personal friend by the President.
What’s next, Pardons? If so I hope he does it before November.
So the Impeachment and Trial of Donald John Trump, President of the Unites States of America is over. So what can we expect now?
I am not going to talk about all the bad/dark things we can expect from Pres. Trump, MAGA or the GOP. This is already being discussed by others to ad nauseam. I’m going to talk about what we can do to counter act these actions.
The first thing is to stay positive. While MAGA and Pres. Trump has won this round the game is still on. The second thing is to not only VOTE yourself but to get out the vote of others. Unlike all of the elections I’ve been involved in since 1968 I’m going to say the vote to get out is the anti-Trump, anti-MAGA and anti-GOP. Get out the vote not only in the general election in November but also in your sate primary. Each and Every Vote is critical.
Why I’m saying this is not the usual election rhetoric. This election is the most important I’ve seen since 1968. Democrats need to put forward not only a candidate that represents out ideals but also can lead the way in a great anti-Trump/MAGA/GOP wave. The GOP needs to be shown the error of their ways in not only nominating and then electing this Orange KoolAid but their total lack of ethics and morals in rolling over for him.
What can we need to counter?
There are three thing we, as individual voters need to look out for and can actually be effective apposing.
Alt-Facts: When ever we come upon “Alt-Facts” (aka out right lies”) we need to call them out with actual facts. Don’t forget to cite your sources, this is critical. Yes, I know the MAGA will not be effected but MAGA is not even a majority in the GOP. Who we are doing this for is for the mass of ‘independents’.
Dirty Tricks: This should go without saying but I think it needs to be said. The GOP has been the past masters of Dirty Trick for the last 75 years and they now have a Leader who ‘Openly’ see nothing wrong with them. So it is up to every Voter who truly believes in open and fair elections to call out every instance of a Dirty Trick. It doesn’t mater Right, Left, or center, it is up to us to say we will not stand for Dirty Trick in our elections.
Keep the Faith: America is strong. She has been thru times as tough as this before and come out the other side better for the struggle. MAGA wants you to give up. It wants you to believe that it is too powerful, too Omnipresent, too omnipotent to fail. This is just another lie they tell us to keep us down.
So fear not! All is not lost, not yet. Each and everyone of us who love this country can do our little bit. First and foremost, don’t give into despair for that is exactly what Pres. Trump, MAGA and the GOP want. Next fight back, but fight back smart. As my Dad used to tell me “if you get back up after being knocked down. You have lost the fight.” We lost this round and they think they have us on the ropes. Now is the time to show MAGA and all the Trumpian bullies just what we are made of.
So Can We Do?
As I am a computer ‘geek’ I will start with the problem of the Internet and Social Media. Let’s not wait for the Government nor the big corps to address this problem. I’m calling on all the Techno-Geeks out there to attack the problem our not being able to accurately identify who is actually posting what. Let’s get apps out there that can quickly and clearly identify the ‘true’ point of origin of any posting on Facebook, or Twitter, or eMail.
I am calling on them to create apps that will allow users to identify ‘Deepfakes’ and all the other ways we were manipulated in 2016. We need apps that will prevent the kind of ‘Dirty Trick’ pulled in Iowa this past week. Let’s create apps that will help us counter all the voter suppression tactics so beloved by the GOP this past decade. Need I go on?
Some may say that this is an impossible task. Well, you be surprised on how many “impossible” things I’ve seen done with computers since 1969. So, to all the Techno-Geeks out there I say “Trump and MAGA say it is impossible for anyone to stop their miss information campaign.” I say “Are you going to take that lying down? Are you going to let people who have no idea what is meant by a ‘Sever’ tell you what you can do or not do?”
When I was younger we used to have a phrase “It’s all over but for the shouting.” Back then it was all over even if there was still time on the clock. In the late Sixties we started to say this at the start of something, like an election, to say the ‘fix was in’. An so it is now with the Impeachment of Donald John Trump.
Those of us who watch these kind of things knew that Pres. Trump and Senator McConnell were doing everything in their power to get the ‘Fix’ setup in the Senate. It now looks like it truly is ‘All over but for the Shouting”. In fact it seems the only question is will Donald Trump start the shouting at the “State of the Union” or not. I know not what others think, but for me, I’ll wait and see what happens. Also for me what comes after is much more important than the victory celebration of the MAGA.
One of the major arguments made by the GOP was that the “right and proper” place to decide the question posed in the Impeachment was actually the election In November. While I don’t agree with the argument I do agree that with the ‘Fixed’ trial the only place America can correct this travesty of justice is the election. But unlike either the GOP or their MAGA brethren it is not just the -re-election of Donald J Trump that is at stake here. We, the people, must show every one of the Senators who voted to suppress witnesses and then to not convict just what we think of their action.
What must be done is just what happened 46 yeas ago in the election of 1974. Only more so. Every one of the Senators who voted for the ‘Fix’ every Representative who played a part in the farcical actions in the investigation need to be voted out of office. While I do not expect this to happen I do hope and pray that we will witness a wallowing of both MAGA and GOP elected officials that will make the election of 1974 look like a close run thing.
That said I promise you here I will be doing everything in my power to get everyone out to vote. An unlike most election I will not say I don’t care how you vote, just vote. No! This election is much more important than any other in my life. This election is a vote for “Truth, Justice and the American Way”.
Just yesterday Pres. Trump brought up the “Attack on Thanksgiving”. He has ‘heard’ that some people, assuredly liberals, want to change the name of Thanksgiving Day. His assurance to MAGA that he will not let this happen got a huge ovation. It is also quite simple for him to do as I have not found a single instance out side of “Conspiracy Central” demanding any change.
I’m really not interested in the actual charge but rather the reaction to the charge. One of the key characteristics of MAGA’s is their belief that they are the victims, they are just defending themselves from the attacks of the ‘Left’. When dealing with a MAGA it is helpful to remember that no mater the situation they are the victims. It is the actions of others that are making them act the way they do and words of others that make them say what they say. An when they aren’t being victimized they will make things up.
I can hear you now saying “And just what does this have to do with Vulcans?” Just this, Mr. Spock is the most famous of Vulcans, and he showed just how to deal with the types of responses you will get from MAGAs when they confront you. Because MAGAs are almost always the victim in a confrontation and because they have learned in life that to attack is what they have to do, they will attempt to control the debate from the very beginning. We saw this set of tactics used in this months House Hearings on Impeachment and we saw how being a Vulcan is a great response to these tactics.
First you stick to the rules, as published. You do not allow anyone, your side, their side, nobody’s side, any leniency or wiggle room when following the rules. An more than anything else you don’t let their antics get under your skin. This is exactly what Chairman Schiff did in the hearings the past two weeks. It is what I hope Chairman Nadler does in the coming weeks.
It has taken me some time to come to grips with my feelings today after I heard about the ‘deal’ we have cut with Turkey over the lands of the Kurds in Syria. I was of many mixed emotions and was quite puzzled on what to say. Finally it hit me that for even poorer reasons than just hating ‘Injuns’ like Pres. Andrew Jackson, Pres. Trump has started on the way of having the USA to have a new ‘Trail of Tears’.
Like many many Sooners (or Okies), that is people born in Oklahoma and have much family still there. I have a strong family tradition of having Native American heritage. Also like them I have no sold ‘proof’ of this heritage. But I was raised by a wonderful woman who instilled in me a strong love my my mixed heritage. She thought me to take pride in my Scots heritage and, at the same time take pride in my Cherokee heritage. She instilled in me a bias against the wrongs done to all of the Native American peoples. A bias is so strong that I still consider Pres. Andrew Jackson a genocide in a time that he was looked upon as one of the ‘Great’ Presidents.
Like many Americans I thought that we had been making progress in not only acknowledging the wrongs done but making what little amends that can be made. I hope and prayed that we had left this kind of action behind us. Congratulations Pres. Trump, congratulations MAGA, you have ended that dream. With the agreement you have made with Turkey you are setting up a new trail of tears, this time for the Kurds. You have show once again just what the word of American is worth. It is worth nothing.
So my fellow Americans you now get to join our ancestors in bearing the guilt for the actions our government is doing in our name. An what do we, as a nation get out of it? NOTHING. What does Donald Trump get out of it? EVERYTHING. For that is the true America tragedy of the Indian Removals thru all our history. Be they land speculators, gold hunters, railroads, or Real estate developers, the many suffer and die for the benefit of the few. All we are missing are the classic Indian Agent and I’m sure the Russians are working on it as this is written.
So thanks you MAGA, thank you Pres. Trump for one more stain on American history. Your place in history is assured.
I take this time after Pres. Trumps speech yesterday (4 July 2019) to point out some things we all can learn from his presidency. I include not just Liberals and/or conservatives but all political persuasions. I also included those of us who study politics, either amateur or professional, practical or scholastic.
Just over 50 years ago, in my senior year in high school I started studying politics seriously. In four more years I got my B.A. in Political Science and had lived thru one of the greatest political events in history. It was at this time I first heard someone say that what we needed to do was elect a “Businessman” to be President. Someone who had demonstrated their abilities to get things done. Well we have elected a “Businessman”, so what can we say we’ve learned in the past two and a half years?
First off we can say for sure that most ‘Businessmen’ have no clue how to work in our political system. Be they Chairman of the Board of a mega corp or the president of a family owned mega business (as is Donald Trump) they only know how to give orders. They have no idea just how to make compromises. To not get everything they want from a deal. An when they try they usually do a very bad job of it.
Hypothesis One
One of the principal reason Mega Businessmen are so bad at working out political compromises is how responsibility and accountability work at the upper levels of management in Big Business. It is axiomatic in big business that “Credit flows up while shit flows down.” By this I mean that when something works well the credit for both the idea and it’s successful implementation will go to the highest manager who want’s it. While if something doesn’t work out the blame for the failure will go to the lowest working possible. I learned this early on in my career: “Mahogany Row is “NEVER” wrong.”
Is it any wonder that a person who has spent most of his/her working life in an environment of the person above you is always right and you never ask, but always command will not be skilled at bargaining? Also, given Hypothesis One, when ever an order is given it is given in such a way as to be always deniable if things go wrong but credit can always be claimed when they go right? If this is true we should be able to find evidence in how things are run in the current Administration. Look how many ‘acting’ key positions we have. Look at how they word orders. Indeed, just look how President Trump talks with his mediate staff. (That is when we can find out what was actually said.)
Hypothesis Two
Everything is a transactional deal. That is everything is Zero-Sum with a winner and a looser. Nothing is ever both sides win or both sides loose.
We are now going to get into something really heady here, Game Theory. It is one of the more advanced forms of mathematics loved by Political Science. If you want a fun way to understand just what Zero-Sum game theory is all about I recommend watching the old movie WarGames. I’m not sure when the great business schools of the west started teaching, or at least accepting, the idea that all business transactions are zero-sum transactions with only winners and looser. Any one who studies game theory knows that there are many games that are zero-sum that no-one can win. Just try Tic-Tac-Toe, if both sides make no mistakes no one can win. Their are also games where all players can win.
We now have businessmen leading us who have been brought up in the world of “If I don’t win, I’ve Lost” trying to make deals with others who know they think that way. So where is a question, why should they make a deal with us if they “know” they are going to loose?
Hypothesis Three
Everything can be ‘monetized’. Or what is the Danegeld? What is meant by this is everything has it’s price and if you are rich enough and/or famous enough you can do anything you want.
In the business world this is mostly true, because in the business world everything is mostly civil law. The problem is that you get into the habit of thinking everything has a price. That money will always solve the problem when things go south. In politics, not so much. In international politics even more so.
In business, if you are a corporation, if you do something that gets lots and lots of people ill or dead, you just dissolve the company, pay a relatively small penalty form company assets and go on your way. You are protected by the corporate vail if nothing else. If someone wants to hold an individual responsible for what happened you have to jump thru whoops to show the individual knew a lot of things before they can prosecuted. More often than not they can show they never ‘Meant’ it that way. They were ‘Misunderstood’ or the underling was ‘over zealous’ in there actions.
This what one of my old professors like to call the “Henry the 2nd” defense. Those Knight of his misunderstood him when he cried “Will no one ride me of this mettlesome priest?” And went off and killed the Archbishop Becket. (I’ve often wondered if the Pope would have be so upset if Becket had just been a parish priest?). Unfortunately for Henry the Pope didn’t buy it. The question now is will the electorate.
So what can we learn? Maybe not to elect an amateur to high office and most assuredly don’t elect a Mega Businessman. Or maybe not.
Today we saw two great enemies the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times have both taken Pres. Donald Trump to task for Saying that the New York Times committed treason. After reading both editorials, Pres. Trump’s response and the original comments by the New Your Time I have just a few words to say.
First, and foremost Treason is the only crime defined in the Constitution (see Article III Section 3) and what the New Your Times did does not pass this test. What was done by the Times was the crime of Lese-majesty. Or even sacrilege, depending on how you look at it. It was certainly disrespectful.
There was a good reason why the authors of the Constitution put such a limit on just what treason was in the United States. Every one of them had committed treason against the Crown (not counting open rebellion). If you want to see a document rampant with disrespect for the Monarch just read the American Declaration of Independence. So forget about the rebellion AKA Revolution, the treasonest act of Lese-majesty was also committed. But the President of the United States is not a Monarch, nor is he a divinely appointee representative of a God, nor a god Himself, nor a divinity. So we get to be as rude as we like to who ever holds the office.
So, Pres. Trump you need to get your lapdog, or is is lap-turtle, Sen. McConnell to get a new Constitutional Amendment passed making any act of Leses-majesty an act of treason. Maybe you can combine it with the one making the office hereditary in the house of Trump?
With all that has happened the past week and a half I thought it was good to point out how the Seldon Crisis I’ve been blogging about is progressing. For you who are still unclear on just what a Seldon Crisis is just follow the link. What I’m seeing now is part of a Seldon Crisis is one of the internal half of the crisis. With the release of the Mueller Report (redacted) and the demand of the House Judiciary Committee for both the complete report and all of the underlying data.
The action taken Pres. Trump to place everything and everyone dealing with the subject of the report under Executive Privilege I agree with Chairman Jerry Nadler that we are interning a Constitutional Crisis.
Time out for a disclaimer
I am not a Constitutiona scholar, nor lawyer. I am merely a long time student (49 years and counting). So anyone who is either a scholar or lawyer of the Constitution please jump in with your views, just be sure and identify your selves as such. I will listien very attentively. Everyone else be ready for possible snark.
Back to the blog
I have been thru two Presidential impeachment investigation, Nixon and Clinton. Neither was fun or the least bit enjoyable. One, Nixon, was successful even though Pres. Nixon was never tried in the Senate. An while the impeachment of Pres. Clinton was successful he was not convicted by the Senate. Also both were very different from each other. Both in how the investigations leading up to Impeachment and how the House voted on the impeachment. Also both Nixon and Clinton Impeachment’s are very different from the situation we are facing now.
I shan’t be going into all the details of the involved with Pres. Trump and the possible impeachment he is facing. Primary because I’m going to wait till actual impeachment hearings, if any, are being held to write several blogs here. I’m not even sure there will be hearings, much less a vote. But equally important to me is that we have a very important legal/political batter shaping up.
The battle is not the one you will see in the News/Media. It is none the less critical. I’m talking about the proper way for the congress to enforce it’s subpoena power. Historically we have two ways of enforcing a congressional subpoena. Once, over a hundred years ago the House, or Senate, would send out it’s Sargent at Arms to ‘arrest’ the person(s) who was defying subpoena. Now we turn everything over to the justice department. In the current situation this would come of nothing an be bothering more that a bit of Political Kabuki. Some think that this is just what the House Democrats are working for. Some people also think that this is just what the Trump White House is expecting. Me, I think some people are quite wrong.
If this whole battle ends up as a bit of political Kabuki I will be very disappointed in the House leadership (both parties) as this will lead to the effect end of congressional investigations and oversight. What I’m hoping for is that the actual people who are served with the subpoena(s) will defy the orders of the White House and will comply with the subpoena(s). I do not expect this. What I do expect is that the House will clean up it’s holding cell (I hear it is quite disreputable) and then send their Sargent at Arms out to arrest those person(s) who are defying them.
I wait with baited breath to see if we will have Kabuki or action.
Let me quite clear at the start; I am NOT a Legal scholar, nor a Jurist or Justice, nor even an attorney or lawyer. I am just a dedicated student of the both the Law, the Constitution and it’s history. I do take no little pride in having been this for almost 50 years now. Because of this I feel I can, with some trepidation put my two cents in. I also look forward to anyone who is any of those things I said I wasn’t above to jump in an correct any error or misstatements I make here. That said……
Given what the ‘new’ Attorney General Barr has said this week along with other persons in the Administration have said about turning over Pres. Trumps federal tax returns I am going to do something I haven’t done since November 2016. I’m going to make a prediction about what is going to happen politically. But first a little back story: 48 years ago when I started my study of the law (Business Law 101) on of the things Professor McNutt drilled into our heads was that words in the law often had very firm definition and usage. He started with two of the most, according to him, miss read words in the law. They are “will” and “shall”. I will not bother with all he told us about “will” as it is the word “Shall” that is going to be making all the news.
My prediction is this, that the IRS and/or the Treasury Dept. will refuse to supply the requested Tax returns of President Trump on one or mer grounds. The first, and I think most obvious, is that the Congress has no ‘ legitimate’ legislative purpose for see the documents. The second is that do to the separation of powers the law in question( 26 US Code 6103) can not be applied to the President. There maybe more but my knowledge of the subject is not great enough for me to venture deeper. Also just these two are more than enough to give SCOTUS a very severe case of heart burn.
I’m not going to even attempt to guess how the Court will rule, I’ll only say that both are set with many pitfalls and the Court is facing the real possibility of writing a decision to rival ‘Dread Scot’. As for myself I would like to see how things would evolve if the Court Rules that there are some laws that can not be applied to the President just because s/he is the President. Just what an author of apocalyptic SF needs to fill in the back story. I can just see it now, none of the executive branch needs to follow any of the laws passed by Congress because of the doctrine of the. Unitary Executive and no law can be applied to the President because of separations of powers.
I’m now going to make my prediction: it will take anywhere from 9 to 12 months for all of the challenges to the demand of the Congress to work it’s way up to the SCOTUS and the court will not issue anything till the last minute. I expect and hope the court will say Pres. Trump must comply and I expect Pres. Trump to stonewall it just like Pres. Andrew Jackson did. This would then give the House an actual impeachable act but not enough time before the election to actually impeach the President before the election.
Thought Experiment Time:
It is Wednesday 4 Nov 2020 and one of the following things has happened:
Donald Trump has lost the election
Donald Trump has won. The GOP has retaken the House and kept the Senate.
Donald Trump has won. The Dems have kept the house and the GOP has kept the Senate
Donald Trump has won and the Dems have taken both houses of Congress.
I am Back! Sorry to be absent for so long, no excuses I just didn’t feel like writing when I didn’t have much to say.
Before I start let me point out that I do not like/approve/support in anyway Pres. Donald J. Trump. I have disliked him long before he came down the ‘gold’ escalator. Mostly I disliked him because I saw too much of my Grandmother ‘S’ who suffered from the same mental disorder. So on with my thoughts on impeachment.
At this time I do not support the Impeachment of Pres. Trump at this time. My reasoning is simple, the 2020 is just about 20 months away and Impeachment takes a long time. Don’t be leave me, just look how long it took to impeach both Nixon and/or Clinton. In both cases the investigation to the House passing the Impeachment took almost as many months as we have left till the election. If the sole purpose of Impeachment is to remove from office Pres. Trump it is a great waste of time. It also could lead us into even bigger problem. Could an Impeached President be elected to the Presidency in a later election.
Thought Experiment:
It is September 2020 and the Senate votes conviction of Donald J Trump. On 3 November 2020 Donald J Trump is re-elected President. Now what? Do we have to go thru the whole Impeachment process once more? Do we hope (and pray) the Electoral College has the good since not to elect him President?
Some will say this is far fetched. I agree but in October 2016 Trump wining the election was far fetched. As was the blatant influence of our election by Russia. I keep remembering what my statistics professor kept telling us…”Low probably doesn’t mean No probably.” So when dealing with Pres. Trump we should always remember November 2016.
