The Antithesis

Trump is evil incarnate -- the anti-Christ. He ropes in the Evangelicals and I aver is not even a believer himself and, indeed, he probably mocks religion when no one is within ear shot. I have never seen him attend a church service, have never seen him praying, in fact, says he has never asked for forgiveness. The irony being he probably has broken every commandment 9000 times and does so every day. I will go out on a limb and say he has never read specifically the New Testament from which Christianity takes its belief.

I concentrate on New Testament thought because Trump says he is a Christian.  When one thinks on Christian verse, taken from various online sites, Trump falls woefully short. When asked his favorite Bible verse Trump said that was too personal to answer. That was too personal to answer because he has never read any and knows nothing of its thought: 

Jesus said "What profit a man if he gain the whole world but lose his soul (Mark 8:36); or "Inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these my brethren you have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:40); or “many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first” (Matthew 19:30); “Woe to you who are rich!” Luke (6:24); " it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”(Matthew 19:24).^{Most importantly Jesus goes on to say:} "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,  I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.^"  

^{In the Beatitudes Christ says: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" ; "Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted"; "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth"; "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied"; "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy"; "Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God"; "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God"; "Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." 
 
To which of these verses does Trump adhere?  Answer: None.  He is the antithesis of them all!}

My letter to Senator Warren

Senator Warren:   I am one of your ardent supporters, worked and wrote letters for you in your election as senator. Whoever runs on the Democratic ticket this is what I believe is important on which Democrats should campaign because Trump will boast, gloat and generally become obnoxious touting his "great" economy. It is not great and that needs to be hammered home: Bret Stephens Op Ed for the NYT in part said:  "... an economy that continues to struggle with painfully slow wage growth, spiraling budget deficits and multiplying trade wars that have hurt businesses as diverse as Ohio soybean farmers and California chip makers" must be enunciated loud and clear. “What do Democrats stand for?” he asked. “Lawlessness or liberality? Policy making or virtue signaling? Gender-neutral pronouns and bathrooms or good jobs and higher wages?” I believe we must stand for everything that makes the Democratic Party humane and great. Most especially we need to realize "it's the economy stupid" that wins elections. Yes, don't forget that while we remember this lawless administration and a president who deserves impeachment and not reelection. Yes, remember it's the economy but do not forget so many other moral things on which Democrats can and should run!!

Stephens said: "As is his way, Mr. Trump wasted little time rubbing salt into Democratic wounds. “Democrats used to stand with the Working Man,” he tweeted Wednesday morning. “Now it’s the party of Abortion and Amnesty. All that’s missing is Acid. Sad!” Go get him, Democrats, by standing for something not just against Trump. 

Tariffs and huge deficits Republican born and bred should make him and Republicans vulnerable! Do not lose this message but do not lose everything else as well!

IF TRUE

In my zeal to get something out about the latest egregious behavior of Trump I neglect good grammar and pristine syntax; I reworked my thoughts below.

If Trump knew about the Trump meeting with the Russians in advance is true this is not only treason but high treason beyond the wildest dreams of anyone who has sent one to the presidency. I am rocked and I am stunned.

For high treason nations execute the guilty but to have a president of the United States -- a president -- to have committed undisputed treasonous acts is mind exploding. Is this the Manchurian candidate and Benedict Arnold who live still in historical ignominy as traitors? If true the unthinkable has come to life.

If true this era in our history is as ugly as Trump is. If true is all the money in the world worth it? Will Trump, when he dies, put all that money in his coffin and literally take it with him? I use Christian quotes often not because I am Christian or even a believer but because Christ's thoughts have created a road map of humane profundity. Truly,"What profit a man if he gain the whole world but lose his soul?"

Trump, you have sinned great sins. You have separated mothers from their children; you have allegedly committed financial frauds; you have regurgitated incessant lies, you are a man of incessant mendacity; you have broken all your marital vows; you have left crumbling infrastructure; you have given permanent tax cuts to the top 2% wealthy and have given the rest a pittance; you have not only failed to do anything about global climate change you have refused to do anything about it so the west is now on fire with triple digit temperatures the norm. People's homes and their lives are destroyed; you have repealed regulations which means you have given sanction to corporations which put sewage, lead and other poisonous chemical waste into streams that provide drinking water; you are sowing division and with profanity are pitting brother against brother; you glorify racist behavior and called some Nazis good people when none of them is; you are destroying a nation.

Trump, you are a curse on this country. You are a plague that will kill it unless in November the people rise up and electorally crush you and all those who have given you sanctuary. If all that is said is true, if there is a hell, may you rot in it for the egregious things you have allegedly done with those who have assisted you and those who have stood by in silent acquiescence doing nothing to stop you.

Shame on some in this nation who have been fooled not once, not twice but many times. Let's hope they do not get fooled again.

AMERICA, RISE UP AND RESIST THIS PLAGUE.  DO IT FOR YOU, DO IT FOR YOUR CHILDREN AND DO IT FOR THE PERPETUATION OF OUR NATION!

Send this to anyone you choose!

Trump Doesn't Have the Skill to Pull Off His Most Nefarious Plots + My Comment

My Comment: If you want to learn the essence of our current administration I strongly suggest you take the time to read a summary of the inept, incompetent and dangerous reality show of Donald J. Trump linked below. It is one of the most extraordinarily thoughtful opinions that contains more than one page of astute analysis of Trumpist policy, events circling you and our globe which will have an impact on all of our lives and not positively so. I urge you to read this summary of the worst, most dangerous, most cruel, most ignorant, most corrupt, most unfit presidency and its side car administration in US history.  The opinion is written by Thom Hartmann, one of the most thoughtful and intelligent author of news commentary today. 

NB:  There are, even on progressive sites, the insufferable advertisements.  I suggest you ignore them.  It has been my experience that some things if they sound too good to be true usually

are!

https://www.opednews.com/articles/1/Trump-Doesn-t-Have-the-Ski-by-Thom-Hartmann-Incompetence_Trump-And-Putin_Trump-Broken-Promises_Trump-Ego-180725-323.html

The game just fundamentally changed + My Comment

My Comment:  Take that you bunch of evil liars.  Trump, et als gaming the system will soon end in monumental failure and Trump will be the first president not to be impeached but to be convicted and impeached.  The utter saturated stupidity of Trump lies not in his vying for the presidency but actually believing that with so much of his international money corruption, money laundering and other schemes as well as surrounding himself with the most dishonest, craven, greedy bastard Russian oligarchs and billionaires who would steal their grandmother's eyeballs to make a buck that he actually could, by becoming president, steal the American taxpayer blind and get away with it. 

The enemy of the people he called the press is in reality the enemy of him because to create the gargantuan schemes while president the national and world press would have to be silenced.  So far we are NOT the banana Republic of Trump and guess what, you evil unstable moron, the United States of America never will be.  Nice try though but you cannot win an election by merely capturing the deplorables of your base.  The rest of us with the nation's national security patriotic force who put their lives on the line for us remain vigilant to your unconstitutional emoluments, to all your other illegal money schemes and to your support of an adversarial power, Russia with your arms around its murderous leader Putin.  You, Mr. Trump, will have to declare bankruptcy yet again and this time you may ultimately be measured for red, white and blue pin stripes made in China!

By Murfster35 -- Daily Kos

Let's start our Saturday rime together off on a lighter note. By far and away, my choice for "Comment of the Week" goes to Chuck Rosenberg, a former federal prosecutor. Talking on MSNBC about Trump's invitation for Vlad the Imp to pop over this fall and plant some bugs in the Oval Office, Rosenberg quipped, "I just hope that Mr Putin doesn't decide to bring his children with him,  because they'll be forcibly separated at the border." Priceless.

No matter how you cut it, this was a disastrous week for Trump. Starting with his "The Gimp from Pulp Fiction" performance, publicly fondling Putin in Helsinki, to his invitation for Putin to darken our shores before he even told us if he had ceded Alaska because "Putin can see Alaska from his back porch," to committing legal suicide by releasing a Michael Cohen secretly recorded tape, this week had it all. And bless his little heart, Rudy Ghouliani desperately tried to keep up with his boss. Only a drooling dotard can say that Donald Trump discussing with Michael Cohen about whether to pay Karen McDougle directly to shut her up, or repaying AMI for doing it for them with a check rather than cash was somehow exculpatory. Personally, I think it just meant that Trump didn't trust Cohen with 150 large. He learned from Paul Manafort that giving his kind of friends oodles of walking around cash wasn't a great idea.
But, watching the events of this last, hectic week highlighted something that has been going on for over a month now. When you talk to a Trumpcake, their greatest admiration for Trump comes from the fact that he's "a mans man," and that he "never backs down, he always doubles down." Trump's success, going all the way back to the campaign was that he set the dynamic, he set the news cycle for the day. Trump called a morning show and said something stupid, and that became the topic for the day. Which is what Trump wanted. If something negative about Trump broke, Trump said or tweeted something stupid on a completely unrelated topic, and that became the story, drowning out the negative press. No matter what happened, it was Trump who was driving the conversation and coverage, and always to his advantage.
But that changed, more than a month ago. Trump had KKKeebler the Elf roll out his shiny new child abduction policy at the border, and in doing so, knocked over a hornets nest. The media latched onto this story like a lamprey on a shark, and wouldn't let go. Trump tried his normal tactic of doubling down, but that only doubled the recrimination, easily drowning out his supporters racist cheers. Even GOP incumbents who weren't slinking out the doors of congress next January criticized Trump. Even Trump's quick capitulation didn't stop the coverage of the basically nonexistent reunification plan, but the media gleefully chortled about His Lowness' humble capitulation, adding personal humiliation.
The same has happened with Trump's trade war. The reasoning for the action was so convoluted that even Trump supporters could see "Stupid" written all over it. Non retiring GOP incumbents like Jodi Ernst and even Mitch McConnell have directly criticized the tariffs, and there is even talk of legislative action to take Baby Trump's toy away from him. once again, Trump went to Old Faithful, and is threatening to double down with more sanctions on China and the EU.  And as a result, some of Trump's greatest supporters, Midwest soy farmers, are converging on Washington, to try to convince Republican lawmakers to give The Cheeto Prophet more of whatever it is that they use to keep him docile.
And now the debacle in Helsinki of disappearing into a closet for two hours to play a game of slap-and-tickle with Vladimir Putin. Robert Mueller rained on that particular parade before it even left the staging area, by indicting the 12 GRU intelligence officers. Now, not only is everybody screaming bloody murder about his press conference, but Putin is slyly sticking it to Trump by leaking some of the goodies that Trump may or may not have agreed to in that private meeting to the world. Trump has tried a twofer here. First, he had Sarah "Who's a pretty birdie" Sanders tweet out his invitation for Putin to the Casa Blanco. This idea is going over like a lead balloon, so he went to his backup, misdirection, leaking the story about the secret Cohen recording to change the subject. But, while the media is more than happy to remind everybody what a sex degenerate Trump is, there's plenty of time left in the hour to hammer the $1 Store Caligula about his black fishnet scene with Putin.
This is dangerous to Trump for two reasons. First, the events of the last month or so have shattered his invincibility with his base. Tough guys don't back down, and Trump had to back down on his immigrant kidnapping scheme. And he looked pathetically weak in doing so. And as much as invertebrates like Marco Rubio may grasp the "Should have been wouldn't instead of would" straw from Trump, nevertheless, it was the weak showing of a kid called to the principals office. And while Trumpaholics will continue to shout his praises from the rooftops, remember this, you can always tell when somebody bought a piece of shit car, by how loudly they proclaim what a great deal they got. With Trump's name not on the ballot in November, a Duck Dynasty marathon may prove to be a tantalizing reason to not bother driving over to the high school gym to pull a lever. The Democrats have already targeted at least 40 districts as being vulnerable, and each of those representatives on the GOP side has an uncomfortable decision to make regarding Glorious Bleater.
But more dangerous to Trump is the fact that GOP incumbents are slowly, and in some cases not very meekly, peel away from Trump. Texas GOP representative Will Hurd just wrote a blistering NY Times op-ed, saying that Trump had been openly "manipulated" by Putin on the world stage, embarrassing not only himself, but the US as a country and it's intelligence services. Hurd is not ensconced in some ruby red district, he's in a competitive swing district. If incumbents like Hurd start campaigning against Trump, no matter how gently, it is a disaster for Trump. If they run against him and lose, that means a Democrat in that seat, opposing Trump. And if they run against him and win, then they are on a short leash, and they are going to have to pay attention to constituent concerns, and oppose him when necessary in congress to be reelected again in 2020. Either way, his House caucus is weakened. And a sufficiently weakened Trump in the House may make some of the 20+ GOP Senators up for reelection in 2020 think twice about any articles of impeachment that may bubble up from the House in 2019.
Donald Trump could remain successful only as long as he could control the narrative. It didn't matter what the topic was, or how stupid Trump was, as long as he was the one standing on something, and everybody else was back on their heels opposing him, Trump was the "strong man," the guy in control, the man of his supporters dreams. But, even if he blusters and holds his ground, if Trump is the one responding to the narrative, and not the one driving the narrative, he no longer looks like the one in charge. And with Trump, image is everything, simply because there is no substance.
 I see no reason for this trend to reverse itself, Trump has lost control of the narrative for the foreseeable future. Trump-Russia will continue. Even if Mueller "goes dark" after Labor Day, Manafort's second trial is scheduled for mid September. And if Cohen is indicted before Labor Day, there will be court hearings between then and November. DHS and HHS have only reunited 437 out of 2,550 immigrant children, that will drag on, with continued media attention for months yet, especially when lawsuits start piling up. The rich shitpokes got their tax cuts, but John and Jane Q Public aren't feeling the love, it'll be Democrats running on Trump's tax cuts in November, instead of Republicans. The Trump tariffs will start to bite after Labor Day, and Democrats will gleefully remind everybody who to thank. And lo and behold, in mid October, only weeks before the election, the new health insurance premiums for 2019 will be announced.
Donald Trump lost the narrative for two reasons. First, through stupid and harmful actions taken purely to satisfy a base that isn't large enough to get elected to a school board seat. But more importantly, he lost the narrative because he ran out of easy, slam dunk GOP issues to trumpet. And there are no more of those to be found under the sofa cushions. The narrative is gone, and I don't see it coming back for him anytime soon.
The wait is over! Volume two of the trilogy, President Evil II: A Clodwork Orange is now available. Amazon is whining about me crashing their site, but the hell with them, I ain't in this for their health. You can also find volume one, President Evil as well. And fear not, work on volume three is just beginning.

Indulge me: In our perilous time The Battle Hymn of the Republic calls us to

remember the essence that drove our nation, to those who sacrificed their lives for it and the millions that sailed and trod through danger to get to it to see Lady Liberty's light.

My love for our union and the magnificent president Lincoln who saved it will never die as long as I live. I hope it is passed to the next generation who in turn will pass it to the next.

This Battle Hymn of the Republic has never had more meaning then it does today.  We must remember and never forget that light that lights our nation and has lit the world!

 

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy6AOGRsR80

NBC News poll: American attitudes toward Russia worsen under Trump -- Story + My Comment

I paste the link to these stories below.  Heed them for you, your children and your grandchildren!

My Comment: ELECTION DAY TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2018 -- MARK THIS ON YOUR CALENDAR AND BE 100% SURE TO GET OUT TO VOTE

FOR DEMOCRATS ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2018 TO RETURN THIS NATION TO A SEMBLANCE OF SANITY.  REPUBLICAN CONTROL OF

EVERYTHING MEANS THIS NATION'S DEMOCRACY IS AT GRAVE RISK BECAUSE OF TRUMP.  REPUBLICANS OF OLD ARE NO MORE. 

REPUBLICAN MEANS TRUMP AND TRUMP MEANS AN ERADICATION OF OUR DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCES ABROAD INCLUDING NATIONS

IN THE 70 YEAR OLD NATO ALLIANCE.  SINCE WWII NATO HAS WRAPPED ITS PROTECTIVE ARMS AROUND NATIONS TO PROTECT THEM FROM RUSSIAN AND TOTALITARIAN ENCROACHMENT.  IT HAS IN MODERN TIMES HELPED KEEP THE EASTERN EUROPEAN NATIONS FREE.  WITHOUT IT RUSSIA IS PREPARED TO RETURN TO SOVIET ERA STRONGMAN TACTICS AND RETURN TO A TAKEOVER BY AUTHORITARIAN RUSSIA OF EASTERN EUROPE. 

WORSE IT MEANS A RESURGENCE OF FASCISM IN EUROPE.  TRUMP IS TOXIC TO WORLD STABILITY AND ALL THE FREEDOMS THAT DEMOCRACY PROVIDES TO IT.  YES, YOUR VOTE IS THAT IMPORTANT.   WE AS A NATION MUST VOTE THIS TOXIC REPUBLICAN

PARTY OUT OF OFFICE SO BOTH FREEDOM ABROAD AND JUSTICE AT HOME WILL PREVAIL.  REMEMBER NOVEMBER 6, 2018 -- VOTE AND VOTE DEMOCRATIC!

DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT.  TAKE JAMES COMEY FORMER FBI DIRECTOR A LIFE LONG REPUBLICAN'S WORD  FOR IT: 

James Comey, Longtime Republican, Tells ‘All Who Care’ To Vote Democrat In November

“History has its eyes on us,” the former FBI director said after Trump’s remarks in Helsinki.  

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/james-comey-vote-democrat-november_us_5b4ea2ede4b0b15aba89c148

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/nbc-news-poll-american-attitudes-toward-russia-worsen-under-trump-n892196

SEND THIS EMAIL TO ANYONE YOU CHOOSE AND ESPECIALLY TO THOSE IN RED REPUBLICAN STATES AND SWING STATES.  TRUMP REPUBLICANISM MUST NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN!!

If this be treason -- Hell in Helsinki

I have, as many others have, suspected for a long time Trump's connection to Putin and the Russian meddling, indeed, swaying of the 2016 presidential election in Trump's favor.  Why would Trump not believe his own most trusted intelligence agencies -- the FBI, the CIA and the NSA -- choosing rather to believe Putin when he says simply Russia did not subvert the 2016 presidential election because Putin told him so. We know Russia did because we believe the crack American forensic intelligence agencies unequivocally through facts and evidence said Russia did.  With all the ugliness that Putin has committed from downing an airliner killing hundreds of innocents, occupying the country of Ukraine and taking over another, Crimea, why would Trump choose to wrap his arms around a thuggish Putin, believe all he says, never criticize him so Putin can crack the champagne on his journey home and toast his GSU intelligence agency for a job well done?

This allegedly America first nationalist in front of our western European allies, in front of NATO, in front of the world and in front of all our democratic republic holds dear sides with the autocratic Putin believing him whenever Putin tells him to.  Putin, the mendacious Trump says, had no reason to sway the 2016 election in Trump's favor.  Really, Mr. Trump, really?

One does not have to be the stable genius Trump thinks himself to be to realize why Russia would want a useful idiot in the presidency allied to him and not have a hard nose sophisticated smart former secretary of state like Hillary Clinton in the oval office.  Clinton would have held Putin's feet to the fire for downing Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Boeing 777 shot down by a surface-to-air missile from a region controlled by Russian-backed separatists, invading and taking Crimea as part of Russia, invading Ukraine, radioactive poisoning Alexander Litvinenko who lay in a London hospital bed in November 2006 and identified the man responsible for his impending demise: Vladimir Putin, murdering two other English citizens in England, supporting the monster Assad killing 10,000 human beings in Syria using poison gas, weakening stable democracies of western Europe, weakening NATO and swaying a US presidential election.

Instead Trump refuses to condemn Putin over Russian election hacking: " ‘We’re All To Blame’, Trump insists, for poor relations with Russia." The U.S. president continued to aver there was no collusion between his campaign and Moscow using his well worn epithet of "witch hunt" to describe it.

One does not have to believe Democratic voices critical of the Trump/Putin meeting in Helsinki.  One should read a statement just issued by Paul Ryan, Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, when he says:

"There is no question that Russia interfered in our election and continues attempts to undermine democracy here and around the world. That is not just the finding of the American intelligence community but also the House Committee on Intelligence. The president must appreciate that Russia is not our ally. There is no moral equivalence between the United States and Russia, which remains hostile to our most basic values and ideals. The United States must be focused on holding Russia accountable and putting an end to its vile attacks on democracy."

We who have a modicum of intelligence know well there is a rationale behind Trump's refusing never to wax critical of Putin instead supporting Putin no matter what he says.  This carries with it a rationale which has yet to be revealed by Special Counsel Mueller in his pristine investigation of the 2016 election collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.  Be patient, though it is hard to do, because it will soon be known.  I suspect, although I have not seen the evidence yet, that Putin must have something on Trump which Trump is so afraid to confront lest his presidency, his career, his family, even his life will be in legal and mortal jeopardy.  I suspect it has something to do with Rubles and billions of them held over Trump's fake orange head like the sword of Damocles.  We know no bank, at least no American bank, would loan money to Trump but Russian banks and oligarchs would and I suspect did.  Trump never pays money lent to him back.  It is one thing to do that in this country and declare bankruptcy but to owe Russian oligarchs and/or banks billions I suspect carries a much steeper penalty Trump simply cannot confront.  Mix a little sex in the stew and I suspect Russia could destroy Trump in a heartbeat and Trump knows Russia would.  

Special Counsel Robert Mueller, if this be treason make the most of it and expose the high crimes, misdemeanors and treason this president has allegedly and seemingly obviously committed.

Walkaway from the Democratic Party? Hell NO -- the Only Game in Town!!!

There are bots and real human beings in techno land that have their essence within the Republican Party.  They are trying to shutdown or damage the  Democratic party.   I do not trust anyone who bad mouths the Democratic Party trying to convince one to leave it. For those who care about not only economic issues but the all important civil liberties issues do not be swayed by those who want to destroy the Democratic Party from within.  They are often Trumpian loyalists.

Do we want abortion made not only not impossible but illegal for those who seek it relegating women -- often poor women -- to back alley abortions that will kill them? Do we want politics infused with religion abandoning the separation clause of the US Constitution? Do we want persons of color to return to 1850, 1870 or to 1950 when separate but equal was legal and Jim Crow laws were a black person's fate; his only crime to have been born black? Do we want gays to return to the days before Stonewall when they could not love openly whom they choose and marry as everyone else who gets the legal benefits of marriage? Do we want to return to the lunch counter politics of exclusion this time for homosexuals that will allow public businesses to discriminate and tell one to go somewhere else.  Do you want insurance companies to deny you health care because you had/have a preexisting condition of MS, muscular dystrophy, cancer, allergies and more as a child? Do you want everyone to be continually denied healthcare as a right? Do you care if people die because of a health care policy everyone should have but does not?

These are things on which Democrats will vote how most of us want but Republicans will vote money for the top 2% and war instead.  Republicans have not, do not, and will not give a damn about human rights. These are important differences between the Parties. Democrats vote humanely on them which is why I have stuck for decades within the Democratic Party.  In essence the Democratic base and Party despite its flaws vote for necessary human rights.  Republicans vote against them for the top 2% richest and for war.

We must do all we can to keep within Democratic Party structure because it is the one we have to get a minimum of what is just. Would Democrats commit the horrors that are happening now on our borders to powerless people? Would Democrats want to expunge Social Security and Medicare? HELL NO they wouldn't!! Republicans under Trump have zero heart and even less ethics. Be careful what you do with your vote. Do not throw it away.  VOTE and vote Democratic.  No, the Democratic Party is not perfect but for people of humanitarian conscience it is the ONLY game in town!!

The Life You Save

I could not agree more with Elizabeth Allen's July, 7, 2018 MetroWest News opinion "Threats to Reproduction"  (Linked below.) Upon learning of Justice Kennedy's retirement I could not believe this reliable swing justice who at times put that which was fair over ideological obstinacy and extremism giving a variety of political beliefs a fighting chance retired unable to wait a few months until after the November midterms when Congress may change its color. 

Justice Kennedy disappointed me. When I read his son  works for Deutsche Bank, from which bank Trump allegedly has extensive financial ties I wondered if there was a connection.  It is said American banks will not lend Trump money because of his failure to pay back loans.  There seemed to me then and now to be six degrees of separation between Justice Kennedy's rapid retirement slightly before of the 2018 midterms, his son's employment at Deutsche Bank giving Trump significant loans and Trump's chance to pick the next all important justice allowing him a "conservative" majority on the Court ready to swing every decision not only right but hard right potentially for decades.  Is this a quid pro quo?  I don't know but it arouses suspicion.

All minorities and all those who care about due process, civil rights and the separation of powers holding even the president accountable for his behavior and the rule of law now are at risk as Special Counsel Mueller's investigation closes the noose around Mr. Trump and his administration's neck.  We who are concerned with human rights, feel for those for whom discrimination is a daily experience, and value justice mourn the hostile era to that in which we live.  It is why the resistance against this right wing extremist unfit-for-the-presidency president is so important.  Resist and never give up. The life you save may be your own!

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinion/20180707/letter-threats-to-reproductive-freedom

Kavanaugh was a predictable choice, but could be an unpredictable justice--MY COMMENT: NOT SO SURE

 I believe, in general, Brett Kavanaugh will be the same reliable proponent of right wing extremist policy that Gorsuch has shown and Republicans know it. The Heritage ​Foundation and the Federalist Society​​, ultra conservative organizations, picked him among other ultra right wing justices. After all what does our dear Leader know about the history of the Supreme Court contemporary or otherwise? Answer: Nothing as he knows nothing about most of the ugly inhumane decisions he makes.

Donald J. Trump knows of one issue: Donald J. Trump. ​ ​
All Trump had to do was read Justice Kavenaugh's opinion o​f​
his opposition to inditing a sitting president Trump thought he died and went to prosecutorial heaven. Granted Kavanaugh said Congress is the branch to make law declaring an indictment of a sitting president not possible. When the time comes ​​to rule​,​ ​though, Kavanaugh ​will ignore ​the responsibility of Congress ​and simply rule the presidency above the law​ and that a president should not be indicted while in office​.

Unfortunately, the media, point in fact Morning Joe, even so-called liberals or moderate to left commentators wax oleaginous and unctuous in their praise of a man whose long noted record contains very ominous signs of a reliable social issue conservative justice. He has been an audience of one when the Federal lower courts have been nearly united on declaring certain Trump policies unconstitutional. Kavanaugh acts alone in opposition even to his own court.
​
I hope Democrats hold Justice Kavanaugh's feet to the fire and not let him off with weak opposition. When the verdicts fly as Kavanaugh becomes the fifth conservative justice on the Supreme Court overturning Roe, ruining the Affordable Healthcare Act, proclaiming this president above the law and protecting him from the massive illegalities he has committed, putting a stake in the heart of gay marriage, placing religion as an acceptable rationale to deny a human being service at a public business the fault dear Brutus will not be in the stars it will be in yourselves!


https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/kavanaugh-was-predictable-choice-could-be-unpredictable-justice-n890091

Just when you think it could not get any worse -- U.S. Army Reportedly Discharging Immigrants Who Enlisted With Promises Of Citizenship

 Just when you think it could not get any worse and that the Beast could not do anything more deadly than the cruelty and misery he has already put forth there is another incredulity lodged. This time Gen. Mattis lied when he said that immigrants looking for citizenship who were willing to give up their life for this country would be sheltered in place. Now we know through the headline above and the link below it was just another lie among thousands the administration has told and tells ALL the time to a base that either is not smart enough to do analysis on what the charlatan says or doesn't want to because they LOVE his racism. Either way there is one word for it: SAD!




https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/us-army-discharging-immigrants-report_us_5b3ed376e4b09e4a8b2b6c58

"Abraham Lincoln warned us about Donald Trump" -- Daily Kos+ My Comment

My Comment:    July 4th, Independence Day, is the perfect time, I thought, to expound on the meaning of its profundities while we exist now during the time of a depraved administration that separates mothers from their children, denying all Constitutional due process and other actions so base and so ugly I thought once would never happen here. It is, though, happening here and it is the perfect national holiday to perfect a theme that zeroes in on this corrupt of all presidencies; a presidency so malevolent, so mendacious and so evil that it beggars the mind and gives pregnant pause to a writer lest one not write something adequate to express one's disgust of it all. 

In 1776 our nation threw off the shackles of tyranny and powerlessness to become a beacon of light that would in time pave the way for millions of immigrants fleeing the dangers of the hostile lands in which they were born.  They crossed a perilous sea to an unknown place, steeped in a language they could not speak and customs they did not know.  They stared in awe onboard their ships, at Lady Liberty in New York Harbor as they approached their new life.   The inspiring 1883 poem "The New Colossus" written by Emma Lazarus and placed at the statue's pedestal translated to them a sense of awe, hope and freedom to the many who heretofore had none.  Those beautiful tear stained words beckoning the tempest tossed millions to seek safe arrival in Liberty's arms I write indented below.  The poem as many know says:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
MOTHER OF EXILES. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Happily I was sent an article by the Daily Kos, a progressive publication, climbed Liberty's Everest heights to reflect all that I believe and with laser like precision.  The writer entitled it "Abraham Lincoln warned us about Donald Trump" and says as follows:

"If the corruption and rot currently stinking up the Oval Office has had one salutary effect, it has been to force many Americans to actually think about their civic responsibility towards the nation. This 4th of July as we commemorate our country’s repudiation of British tyranny, many of us have found ourselves wondering what exactly this Holiday represents, and how it can be reconciled with the criminal Buffoon that our fellow Americans recklessly saddled us with in November of 2016.

Our 16th President, widely viewed as our best, explained in clear terms what this Holiday should mean to us, we who have inherited the legacy the authors of the Declaration of Independence sought to bestow upon future generations. It is not simply the rejection of British rule and the desire for self-governance, but the “universal” principles that justified our separation that matter. And as Lincoln warned, fealty to those principles must transcend any individual politician—including the President.

These of course are the precepts set forth at the outset of the Declaration, “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic, resurrects Abraham Lincoln’s words and sees in them a warning about today: 

“Now, my countrymen, if you have been taught doctrines in conflict with the great landmarks of the Declaration of Independence,” he declared in 1858, “if you have listened to suggestions which would take away from its grandeur and mutilate the fair symmetry of its proportions; if you have been inclined to believe that all men are not created equal in those inalienable rights enumerated in our charter of liberty, let me entreat you to come back. Return to the fountain whose waters spring close by the blood of the revolution. Think nothing of me—take no thought for the political fate of any man whomsoever—but come back to the truths that are in the Declaration of Independence. You may do anything with me you choose, if you will but heed these sacred principles.”

***

“Wise statesmen as they were, they knew the tendency of prosperity to breed tyrants, and so they established these great self-evident truths, that when in the distant future some man, some faction, some interest, should set up the doctrine that none but rich men, or none but white men, were entitled to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, their posterity might look up again to the Declaration of Independence and take courage to renew the battle which their fathers began — so that truth, and justice, and mercy, and all the humane and Christian virtues might not be extinguished from the land; so that no man would hereafter dare to limit and circumscribe the great principles on which the temple of liberty was being built.”

"Well that moment has arrived, and with it Lincoln’s challenge to all of us to uphold the country’s principles, now under assault not only by a malevolent autocrat, but by a thoroughly corrupt and slavish political party that sustains him"

The United States is now led by a man––bereft of Christian virtues, his own Twitter account a testament to his dearth of self-mastery or prudence––who extols the supposed strength of the Communists who suppressed lovers of liberty at Tiananmen Square, the authoritarian tyrant who leads Russia, and the thug who leads the Philippines. His political ideals would be a cancer to any body politic. It festers within ours and spreads daily. 

In his time, Lincoln warned that a country that continued to embrace slavery was at risk of damning itself not only because slavery in and of itself was a horrendous evil, but because by doing so it would necessarily abdicate the values set forth its own creed, exemplified in the Declaration. A nation that does this forfeits not only its legacy, but its right to any respect from the rest of the world. Of course, Donald Trump’s public embrace of corrupt, murderous dictators and disdain for our closest allies, those not only economically or militarily allied with us but also our ideological kin, has the same corrosive effect on this country as slavery once did: 

Citizen Trump’s entire public life was predicated on the unapologetic pursuit of self-interest, through lust, greed, lies, bankruptcies, and sordid behavior besides. The ethos that he carried into the White House is sufficiently similar as to risk America’s friendships with democratic peoples, whatever remains of its reputation for sincerity, and the moral character of its people in just the ways Lincoln warned, even if the particular injustices before us today are different.

On a 4th of July in which we find our Democratic norms under constant, unrelenting assault by an Administration that pays no heed or shows any interest in our country’s most cherished beliefs, it is an ideal time for the majority of Americans who do care about the country’s future to listen to the warning of a real President, one who through his words and deeds truly deserves the respect of all.

Death: How Long Can We Live? The Limit Hasn’t Been Reached, Study Finds: My Comment --NYT Pick

My Comment: Why do I loathe thinking about this subject? I think I loathe it because when parents give life to a child they usually do not belabor the fact that they have bestowed death on him/her as well. It's simply a fact we all die and in youth parents usually did not tell us that until we are much older so we are not horrified. Some couch the sting in religious myth. Sure Mrs. Calment, a subject of the reporting, can defy the odds by living to 122. So what? She died anyway and most will not live to that age.

Death is, I believe, nature's way of preserving life on the planet which could not sustain any species living forever. The myth is Ponce de Leon looked ever so hard for the Fountain of Youth and we have been looking ever since. The conundrum I face is this: I love to experience consciousness, I love learning, I fear suffering and the natural decomposition of the body. Since I do not know what death is I fear jumping into it and yet nature says not only that I will but I must. My mother never told me that or, perhaps, I would never have emerged from the womb.

Hobbs said life is nasty, brutish and short so why did my parents or does any parent bring a person into this world to face the natural often massive suffering of old age to its natural end while watching whatever hard-worked-for fortune we have left disintegrate into dust (especially in a Trumpian world) a metaphor for life. Our bodies impossible to recognize at even 90, or 80 are a shadow of the beauty we were at 21. It is reality but I don't have to like it and I don't.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/science/human-age-limit.html?em_pos=medium&emc=edit_sc_20180702&nl=science-times&nl_art=1&nlid=75028030emc%3Dedit_sc_20180702&ref=headline&te=1

Evidence Russia Tipped Election for Trump ‘Staggering,’ Says Former U.S. Intel Chief James Clapper + My comment: Evidence

Intel Chief Jame's Clapper's statement above and link above is chilling.  Still, the biggest bombshell lies in the answer to the question did TRUMP himself collude with the Russians.  The most profound question becomes is there EVIDENCE for Trump himself colluding with Russia or even working with the Trump campaign itself to elect him president with Russian help?

Trump deafeningly says he did not collude.  To us who loathe this presidency it surely does appear that he did collude but circumstantial evidence is NOT enough to use as evidence to impeach, most importantly to convict and remove him from office.  The biggest truth lies in the answer to the question was TRUMP himself involved with the Russians and is there EVIDENCE for Trump himself colluding with Russia or was he even involved with the forces of Trump to make him president with Russia's assistance. If there is no evidence as Trump deafeningly says then circumstantial evidence is not enough to convict and remove. The rule of law means EVIDENCE not merely the assumption he, in fact, did these dastardly acts that is necessary even if we just know in our bones he did.

It may be that Trump knew of the meeting in Trump Tower with the Russians; that he was fully aware because we conclude that Trump knew everything about his campaign and surely knew everything about what Donald Jr. did every day. That I postulate that is not enough even though it may be an obvious inference. It is not enough to conclude what it appears Trump probably -- emphasis on probably -- did know. Evidence, evidence, evidence; we must have the evidence to impeach and convict him of collusion which would be a high crime of treason. The rule of law means EVIDENCE not just assumption of evidence must be shown.  Mueller may have all the evidence he needs to show this inept unfit president did collude with the Russians or that he knew and approved of what his forces did with Russian help.  If so Mueller, will present that evidence to the American people in due time.   Please God let it be so!