A Note to the NYT-- Final Thoughts -- The Obama in whom I fell in love

The dignity of the president and his entire family cannot be overstated. I was with him politically from the beginning in 2008 and said so. The New York Times at that time printed my enthusiastic opinion of him from the start of his campaign because I was in awe of his brilliance and in love with his grace, charm and humanity.

I am more solidly enveloped in those Obama characteristics now than I was even then. I want to hang on to every moment there is left of his administration and hope he continues to spread his kindness, eloquence and warmth in the days ahead helping to breathe life into the Democratic Party once again.

His successor would do well to study the Obama legacy as Mr. Trump's modus operandi has been quite the opposite of President Obama's. Trump's crudity, rudeness, coarseness and mendacity is an embarrassment to the nation and the world.

I agree with John Lewis, Trump is an illegitimate president, in whose shadow team Trump cannot even walk. The start of Trump's presidency is marked with controversy dedicated, as the Republicans have been all along, to doing everything possible to thwart the humane legacy Barack Obama has bestowed upon this nation in the shadow of a treasonous alliance with a Russian butcher, Putin, to steal an election so Putin can run roughshod over Eastern and maybe even Western Europe. Trump refuses to show his tax filings and we know auditing is not the reason why. This shadow on Trump's presidency will NOT disappear into morning's light unless authoritative non partisan investigations take place and uncover buried business secrets perhaps on Russian soil and about which Russia knows something or a videotape of vile activity emerges. It would not shock me if it did as past is prelude.

I lament the passage of time allowing a crudeness of character to enter the White House. May our nation survive the onslaught of the next four years. Barack Obama, this Jewish woman loves you today and she will love you if she could live forever. Thank you, Michelle and your children for giving us the best that humanity has to offer. I will miss you all very much!

Obama Ends Exemption for Cubans Who Arrive Without Visas

According to the NYT-- LINK to the story below: "[The President] Thursday said that he was terminating the 22-year-old policy that has allowed Cubans who arrived on United States soil without visas to remain in the country and gain legal residency, an unexpected move long sought by the Cuban government."

“Effective immediately, Cuban nationals who attempt to enter the United States illegally and do not qualify for humanitarian relief will be subject to removal, consistent with U.S. law and enforcement priorities,” By taking this step, we are treating Cuban migrants the same way we treat migrants from other countries.”

"The move places a finishing touch on Mr. Obama’s efforts as president to end a half-century of hostility between the United States and Cuba and to establish normalized relations and diplomatic ties with a government American presidents have long sought to isolate and punish."

MY COMMENT

I am not Christian BUT I love the humane side of the New Testament and also love the Beatitudes alleged to have been said by Christ. Again, born Jewish and matured into a significant agnostic my thoughts on this are NOT about religious dogma but they are about a standard I have set for myself many years ago. The Golden Rule is something I strive to live by as is Rabbi Hillel's teaching “That which is hateful unto you do not do to your neighbor. This is the whole of the Torah, The rest is commentary." Those two religious sages for me cement my humane ideological bent. I run into difficulty when my belief runs up against, on this issue, the pitfalls of reality. 

Can the US accept all those carte blanch who need to escape national brutality or the forces of nature? Half the world would want to come to our shores and what nation could support those millions who are desperately in need of help. I want to help everyone who needs it but to grant that just to Cubans fleeing a miserable dictatorship if nothing else is unfair to those millions in, for example, Haiti who are devastated by grinding poverty, natural disasters and dying from medical neglect. 

This is, of course, for Obama a political decision relaxing decades of US alienation toward the Cuban government which I support. I try always to walk in another's shoes to see how they fit but if the shoes do not fit I am sometimes prohibited by reality to change them. Cuba is changing. Life, I hope, for Cubans will improve in their own nation!

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/12/world/americas/cuba-obama-wet-foot-dry-foot-policy.html?emc=edit_na_20170112&nlid=75028030&ref=headline&_r=0

The Trumpian Tunnel

In the evening when I am the most upset about all of the Trumpian madness I get into a nice warm flannel sheet bed with a microwaved warmer and just lie there feeling the enveloping heat and try to shed my uber sadness about things political and worries about things to come.  I throw off the 500 pound weights that sit on my shoulders letting go all of the fear sweeping my mind free of it.  It works ... for me. That's my way of dealing with this political nightmare and the rest of the international nightmares I feel hovering overhead from it.

I turn on the news in the a.m. to learn Republicons, with pieces of stone for hearts, began to repeal Obamacare.  My heart sinks and I want to go back to bed and pull the covers over my head.  20 MILLION will be kicked off healthcare and, of course, the rancid Trump said yesterday that he will have the "best plan" to replace it. He is the best of everything and those who help him manufacture his evil, of course, are the best and the most wonderful of everything the Midasman of hyperbole says he touches.  It is his usual hyperbolic exaggeration and, naturally, he never gives the details of policy.  His dogs swallow the Trump steaks whole.  They love it no matter how hurtful or odious it will be for the country.  Those clapping allegedly were members of his team and not a horde of average fawners of everything Trump. It was no surprise brilliantly staged like his emergence onto the political scene by riding down the escalator of Emerald City.  The Wizard of Oz employed his cronies working behind the curtain to pay those who knew nothing of him and the utter racist divisiveness he would bring.  They stood then in ignorance, clapping and carrying Trump signs not understanding the extremist right wing terror he would unleash.  There are no words angry enough I can use to indict him or hostile enough to spew my contempt for this Beelzebub curse invading our nation.

I get tired of fighting, I get tired of the constant opposition and anger, tired of listening to racist deplorables regurgitating constant lies and stupid things.  Laughing, if it were not so sad, Trump rails about fake news but, in fact, he began the fake news of lies when he told for years of Obama's non-citizenship and said he had investigators all over the world finding, of course what else, "amazing" things about it. It was ALL lies.  He lies ALL the time.  He spews a blizzard of lies making it a whiteout of impossibility to challenge him on any of it IF he will even let media, whom he deems unfriendly or critical of him, utter a question to him about anything.  Even when he does answer his cerebral robotic computer is in campaign mode flooding us with staged volcanic feel-good-to-his-base non-answers but now the difference is he soon will be president.

I actually feel bad for the press.  He wants to negate the truth-telling many do well.  Some of the reporters covering him look tired.  Yesterday, one Republican representative collapsed and Senator Diane Feinstein needed a pacemaker placed in her chest.  Many, covering this Republican lunacy of Trump and the non stop Senate consent hearings for his often unqualified cabinet posts, look sad and fatigued, perhaps, even scared, at least to me. But part of our electorate -- millions -- follow him no matter how hurtful and mendacious he is. Now we know how Hitler arose ... no he's not Hitler ... but the comparisons to Fascism's advance in Europe dispel the incredulity I always had for its emergence in Germany.  If one controls dissent one controls everything and the Nazi Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's henchman, stated just that and I quote: 

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

Yes, it can happen here.

I am sitting here, between writing, staring into space because I do not know what to do or how best to resist but continuing to write more of the many opinions I have written since 2004.  The nation, I fear, is dying, and trying to save it from so many Trumpian lies and conflicts assaulting it by the Master of Mendacious is difficult to perfect.  Perfect it, though, we MUST by any and all means legally necessary.  I plod on hoping beyond hope that the fire Trump sparked to kill our nation will eat itself and burn out.  We MUST RESIST even when the end of this dark Trumpian tunnel seems so far away. 

The Latest Trumpian Vesuvian Eruption

The latest conflicts horror of the Trumpian Russia mess is pockmarked with salacious perverted details of a Russian set up of Trump for blackmail to achieve Russia's international ends. I cannot write about it .... yet. 1) We need proof and 2) The salacious details are too embarrassing to me. Buzzfeed has reported all 35 pages of it because that is what Buzzfeed does. It is easy enough to google but disgusting to read.

Below is the Huffington Post reporting which in my opinion is a more believable source without salacious details. Still we need to know the truth and there are 10 days until inauguration. If guilty of any of it the tragedy will become, in epic form, Shakespearian.


How To Understand The Bombshell Report On Trump And Russia... REPORT: FBI Sought Warrant To Monitor Trump Aides...

6 MORE SENATORS SAY SLOW DOWN ON OBAMACARE! -- WHAT YOU CAN DO TO STOP OTHER MADNESS

6 MORE SENATORS SAY SLOW DOWN ON OBAMACARE

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/gop-senators-obamacare-repe…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/gop-senators-obamacare-repe…

Oh my god I think I'm going to faint. This is the first positive news (outside of the Ethics Office reversal) I have read in it seems years but let's say weeks since Drumpf won something he never should have won and to which he is unfit -- the presidency (See link above.) As the reversal of the shutdown of the Ethics Office by Republicons shows WE CAN SEE THAT RESISTANCE WORKS, CALLING WORKS, BECOMING INVOLVED WORKS!! Never give up, never give in, keep the pressure on this unethical rancid administration and the GOP controlled House and Senate who seem to fall in line and are frightened of Drumpf. Make sure they do NOT fall in line by making your opposition known, heard and felt!!!!! AND OH BY THE WAY JOIN THE MILLION WOMAN (AND MEN) MARCH IN WASHINGTON A DAY AFTER THE NOT-TO-BE-WATCHED-INAUGURATION OF THE WORST PRESIDENT IN POST CIVIL WAR AMERICA HISTORY.

Other insane, mean, ridiculous GOP bills that MUST be stopped: An end to the CFPB (Consumer Protection Financial Bureau), and The Reins Act:

The Reins Act By David Roberts of the Gist written in 2013 and oh so relevant today:

[REINS] would require that every “economically significant” federal regulation (one that has an annual impact of $100 million or more) be affirmatively approved by Congress. Again: no rule would go into effect until it has been voted through by both houses of Congress and signed by the president. If a regulation is not voted on within seventy legislative working days of being sent to Congress, it is “tabled.” That is, it dies.

It’s difficult to overstate how radical a change this would represent for U.S. government. It would subject fifty to a hundred regulations a year to the partisanship, rancor, and gridlock of Congress. Every rule would be a new opportunity for lobbying and industry influence. Worse, legal observers say the bill does not clearly prohibit a filibuster in the Senate, raising the possibility that a determined minority of forty senators could effectively shut down federal rule making. REINS would not overturn the Clean Air Act or shutter the EPA, but it would end forward momentum in environmental law, freezing it in place.

Obviously Republicans are FLOODING Democrats with a plethora of outrageous legislation to overwhelm us and try to force us into retreat. NEVER RETREAT, NEVER BACK DOWN, NEVER SURRENDER your life to legislation designed to hurt the middle class and the poor and hand even more outrageous power to Republicons. DO NOT LET THEM. KEEP CALLING, KEEP BLOGGING, KEEP WRITING AND KEEP PROTESTING THEIR disgusting attempt to hurt us and help the 1% billionaires to gargantuan sums of cash but who need no help. They occupy all the seats of tremendous power. They have entered the halls of power in overwhelming numbers by lying to the American public about what they intended to do. They are NOT here to help you. They are here to take all FROM you. 

There are no words for Republican mendacity and their planned eradication of the middle class while taking all we possess with them killing America and its American Dream!

Thank you for being you -- Sheer Poetry

http://www.dailykos.com/…/-Meryl-Streep-gives-anti-Trump-sp…

Meryl Streep gives astounding anti-Trump speech during Golden Globes—with note to media (Video)

"Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose." — Meryl Streep Always forthright, elegant and…

dailykos.com

The woman is GORGEOUS inside and out. She is a BRILLIANT genius in motion and her words at the Golden Globe, an indictment of Trump without stating the swamp creature's name, were STUNNING. I could have listened to her into the wee hours of the morning. She is a shining light of humanity. When we get down and think the world and those who own it make humane change impossible think of Meryl Streep. She buoyed my soul!! Thank you, Dame Streep, for being you! Click on the video link if you have not heard her magnificent words!

Poor Trump: TRUMP IS POOR AND PUTIN KNOWS IT + My Comment

Newsweek

The following report is a reprint from Daily Kos; My Comment is at the end

DAILY KOS

We tend to flag, or at least strongly resist speculation here, especially when one speculates as to facts that might support a theory. But, with respect to key aspects of Trump’s business status, and the potential conflicts with the Office of the President, we must speculate, because he simply won’t provide the facts to questions that must get asked.

So, I’m going to speculate, thus;

Trump is not only, “not a billionaire,” he carries so much debt that, relative to his hard assets, he’s poor, especially with respect to cash flow through cash intensive investments such as resorts, etc, where one has to pay large monthly bills to keep the lights on and the greens, well — green. In any given quarter, Trump faces situations where he doesn’t have the cash to keep up “appearances” and must borrow cash, at whatever rate, to maintain the cloak of worth, I mean wealth … I mean, the wealth that makes up his self-worth.

I’m not a CPA. I’m a lawyer, but not one with any business experience. This is truly a layman’s “speculation” and experts here can tell me that I’m wildly wrong – which would be good. I look forward to learning. But, let’s start putting some real easy facts all in one place, ones we all agree don’t even need citation at this point.

1. We know that he promised to “self-fund” his campaign, and yet not only did he not “self-fund” it, he charged HUGE fees to his campaign to use Trump property. We also know that he never had anywhere near enough campaign money. From the beginning, the “billionaire” had the “poorest” campaign.

2. He promised to donate all that money made in one evening to veterans groups, and had not done so when checked-in on, months later. (This is part of the larger pattern, a “Foundation” that he never paid money into, and hadn’t paid a lot of real money out of, one under criminal investigation. Most true billionaires have real foundations with real people who really help various causes because it helps business. It’s more polite to be worth billions if one can point to the appearance of “doing good” and yet Trump can’t even do that).

3. Upon winning the presidency, one of the first things he did was set up cash cow, meet/greets with his sons and various other tawdry behavior.

4. Even as President-%ucking-Elect he sells tickets to his New Years Eve party. Yet another potential conflict boil-up.

4. We know he took risks that could get a guy thrown in jail — paying off the Florida Attorney General $20,000 to drop the investigation into his Trump University and when he did it, he did so in yet another way that could get a guy thrown in jail — having his “charity” pay for it.

5. By the way, just what the %uck is a “billionaire international real estate developer” doing even setting up something as stupid as a “U” to begin with? Never mind “Trump Steaks” – Unless one simply needs easy cash?

My point is, at every single point where he could have simply made his life easier by “not charging” or “avoiding a conflict” or “staying out of jail,” he’s gone with the move that carried the most risk but picked up five figures, over and over. No, I don’t think it all can be blamed on being short-fingered.

Which leads to two relevant questions. Speculation: What if, the real reason that Trump can’t “divest” himself of his business interests is because “divestment” would leave bare that he still owes more money than he has? He’s insolvent. What if he’s willing to put up with dancing the “Presidents can’t have conflicts” line because the alternative is “My debts outweigh my assets. I’m not rich, once one has stripped away the 757 jet and gold toilet, and I’m not willing to do that.”

Of course, I’m speculating, and I’m not a CPA or CFP. And, of course, you can simply read what people who are, actually, CPAs and valuation experts, people at Bloomberg, and see what they think (they still think he’s rich, but note his debt doubled). But, Bloomberg basis its findings on something I’m not willing to trust — Trump’s reports, and specifically, they trust he’s accurately reported his debts. I find my lying eyes far more trustworthy. I scan the landscape and cannot escape one fact. Trump takes ruinous risks, monthly, to pick up $10K here or $20K there.

He has to. He’s poor.

And Putin knows it, and can prove it.

I’m speculating. Our President-Elect is free to “prove” me wrong.
_________

My Comment: What I have been talking -- no screaming -- about for weeks, the Daily Kos opinion basically sums up! There is a method to the Trump/Putin bromance. I'll make it easy: Trump is into Russia through Russian bank loans he desperately needs that US banks often will not loan to him. Beyond Russian banks he has business dealings with Russian oligarchs and allegedly, even, from what I have read the Russian Mafia whoever they may be. We need Trump's tax returns we will, of course, never get.

Putin wants sanctions lifted and he wants the Russian empire back as it was before the fall of Communism. Having a US president on Putin's side helps IMMENSELY to achieve his goal by first, the weakening if not destroying NATO. This would allow Russia a free hand to go anywhere it wants and usurp power especially in the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia AND it could again annex the Ukraine all part of the old Soviet empire without worrying that the US backed by NATO would step in to save the day. With NO US interference it would, indeed, be so much easier to achieve at least one of Putin's goals while becoming a hero to his people as well. Moreover, with NATO weakened or extinct, the destabilizing of Western Europe possibly is in Putin's cross-hairs. He supports right wing Parties in western Europe fighting against Europe's left or center left he knows will weaken her. And what does Trump get? I am alleging he gets forgiveness of hundreds of millions of dollars of debt he owes to Russian banks, oligarchs and more. It will allow him free rein to operate his businesses without Russian interference anywhere. It's pay to play on a GRAND scale allowing for the expansion of Trump's many many conflicts of interest because no one has the fortitude or the power to stop him.

This is who the American electorate because of some know nothing voters in three states has unleashed upon the world. For good measure he will allowing corporations to keep drilling that oil in the Arctic and denying climate change. Watch sea temperatures rise some more. We will soon see what happens when part of the Antarctic ice shelf continues to break off ultimately raising sea levels that will someday soon drown coastal areas and take cities with it!! What Trump will do to avoid it all? Answer: NOTHING! What will we do? Answer: RESIST!

The Insulter in Chief -- the Attack on Meryl Streep

The beast Trump criticized Meryl Streep who was awarded a lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes. She, without mentioning him by name, elegantly shot a verbal arrow into Trump's thin skinned heart. Needless to say the fact that he critiqued her is a COMPLIMENT to Ms. Streep one of the nation's premier and greatest actresses of all time. He insultingly called her "overrated" when she reacted to his abrasive and rude mocking of a disabled reporter. I say, au contraire, Donald Trump, you are the most overrated jerk who damnably will occupy the sacred office of this nation's presidency.

Meryl, I love you and I know the wide majority of this nation loves you for the acting you do performing in works that elevate the plight of those who are different or who were not blessed with life's good fortune. She articulated brilliantly the undeserved money and position into which Drumpf has conned the entire nation to usurp his way into power that should not be his! Damn you, Trump, for the curse you have bestowed upon the nation that gave you gifts you wholly do not deserve!

RESIST

I wish I could attend the million woman (person) march on Washington the day after the jerk's inauguration to show my contempt and utter disgust for Trump and his band of immoral thieves but I cannot.

Still, my heart will be there amid the thousands who will go because they MUST go to stop this wolf in wolf's clothing demagogue (apologies to wolves whom I love) from occupying the seats of immense power and destroying not only our nation but our planet. It is the greatest con of this vermin Trump's life. I loathe him more than there are words to say how much! One word does it: RESIST!

STAND UP FOR US--ETHICS POLITICS AND THE POWER OF RESISTANCE

I urge you to watch the video.

https://vimeo.com/197790310

#StandUpForUS

Comment: The overturning of the Republican efforts to eradicate the neutral ethics office shows one just how much influence the grass roots can have IF they overwhelm these immorals with phone calls, sit ins, and organized protest. WE CAN DO IT if we overwhelm them with protest. Those who supported Hillary are persons of empathy and understanding.  

Never forget and never cease to tell our opposition that she received 3 MILLION more votes than Trump. That says something.  The anachronistic electoral college is obsolete and should be repealed.  We know Republicans will not repeal it. Republicans can ONLY win by nefarious means because their opposition is the TRUE majority.   IF there were no such thing as gerrymandered districts and voter suppression think how different the electoral results would have been.  Republicans can only win when they cheat.  Democrats, progressives and others of good will do NOT give up.  As Keith Olbermann says:  RESIST!

 The PSA stars Chris Burbank (Center for Policing Equity), Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire), Lea DeLaria (Orange is the New Black), Sally Field (Lincoln), Tavi Gevinson (Rookie Magazine), Yasmeen Hassan (Equality Now), Rabbi David Ingber, Zoe Kazan (Olive Kittredge), Keegan-Michael Key (Keanu), Naeem Khan (designer), Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, Imam Khalid Latif (University Chaplain, NYU), Reverend Dr. Jacqui Lewis, Janet Mock (MSNBC), Rosie Perez (Search Party), Ai-jen Poo (National Domestic Workers Alliance), Bruce Ratner (New York city developer), Bishop Gene Robinson, Toure (author), and Jeffrey Wright (Westworld). Directed by Liz Garbus, who made our “It’s Not Okay” video, with a script by Liz and Laura Dawn, produced by Tanya Selvaratnam with Sarah Sophie Flicker, Mikaela Beardsley, and Laura Michalchyshyn. Edited by Eric Rockey.

House Republicans Back Down on Bid to Gut Ethics Office

In a pair of postings on Twitter, President-elect Donald J. Trump called the Office of Congressional Ethics “unfair,” but said focusing on it now was a case of misplaced priorities. Credit Kevin Hagen for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — House Republicans, facing a storm of bipartisan criticism, including from President-elect Donald J. Trump, moved early Tuesday afternoon to reverse their plan to kill the Office of Congressional Ethics. It was an embarrassing turnabout on the first day of business for the new Congress, a day when party leaders were hoping for a show of force to reverse policies of the Obama administration.

The reversal came less than 24 hours after House Republicans, meeting in a secret session, voted, over the objections of Speaker Paul D. Ryan, to eliminate the independent ethics office. It was created in 2008 in the aftermath of a series of scandals involving House lawmakers, including three who were sent to jail.

Mr. Trump criticized House Republicans on Tuesday for their move to gut the office, saying they should focus instead on domestic policy priorities such as health care and a tax overhaul.

In a pair of postings on Twitter, Mr. Trump called the Office of Congressional Ethics “unfair,” but he said focusing on it now was a case of misplaced priorities. He appended the hashtag “DTS,” an apparent allusion to his promise to “drain the swamp” in Washington.


My comment:  So now there is new news. They put back the ethics office as Trump was furious. Question is why was he furious? Did he all of a sudden become ethical? I THINK NOT. Here's what I think was the method to his madness. He wanted a neutral ethics office as the Republicans have PLENTY on him and hold PLENTY of grudges so he did not want to be beholden to even the Party of which he is a part. Just a guess. It was NOT because all of a sudden he saw god! OR in the alternative perhaps that analysis of mine does not hold credence.  Maybe in the end he knew it simply did not look good especially in view of his dubious ethical conduct and his myriad of conflicts of interest!

Too Much

Because of the staggering voluminousness of the Trump corruption and how he is draining the swamp -- NOT -- I link multiple posts of equally important issues now on the horizon for Drumpf.  You should take each VERY seriously and at the end I have a suggestion.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/trump-north-korea-tweets_us…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/house-office-congressional-…

House Republicans To Gut Ethics Watchdog

Drain the ... womp womp!

huffingtonpost.com

Blogger Sandy Levy:  No words! It's happening. Everything we feared.

Trump Threatens North Korea, Insults China In 140-Character Snippets

The tweeter in chief wades into the fray over Kim Jong Un's remarks on his country's nuclear capabilities.

huffingtonpost.com

Yes, we all know Republicrats are SO concerned with unbiased ethics. BS....they gut the ONLY unbiased ethics office in the land to be taken over by Republican majority ethics committee. What could possibly go wrong and WHY does the other INSANE half of this nation think Republicrats will do something for them? They won't!

RECOMMENDATION

 I urge you if you have not seen it already watched Rachel re: the Indonesian massive copper, silver and gold mine story. Indonesians were at one of Trump's rallies and now it becomes clear why. You will not believe it or yes, you will believe it. The owner of this massive massive copper mine is the major stock holder Karl Ichan, Trump's buddy. The Indonesian House leader was caught ON TAPE in a shakedown for extending the mining rights 20 or more years BUT the tape suddenly disappeared by a judge declaring it irrelevant. So the speaker stays and Karl Ichon is the major stockholder of the most massive copper mine in Indonesia will get his 20 or whatever more mining rights. Watch Rachel for better clarification. Your jaw will drop OR maybe it won't because again nothing surprises me. How utterly MORONIC has it been for the people to put into power the uber corrupt Republican Party in not only the House but the Senate and with its phenomenally conflict of interest President Drumpf -- but scuttle the neutral ethics office and don't get Trump on his MASSIVE conflict of interest realities. Yeah, take away health insurance for 20 million middle class and poor who need it, ditch the neutral ethics office but let the conflicts grow. Where to start writing on that? I throw up my hands or just throw up!

Impeach Trump. The Process Begins Now -- Robert Kutner

Donald Trump is wildly unfit to be president, and he will demonstrate that in ways that break the law and violate the Constitution. Since the election, there have been three wishful efforts to keep Trump from the presidency: a recount doomed by a lack of evidence; a futile campaign to flip Trump electors; and an even more improbable drive to get the Supreme Court to annul the 2016 election.

These moves, indicative of magical thinking, make Trump’s opposition look a lot weaker than it is―at a time when the stakes for the Republic could not be higher. There will also be marches and demonstrations, but they will also look weak unless they have a strategic focus.

There is only one constitutional way to remove a president, and that is via impeachment.

What’s needed is a citizens’ impeachment inquiry, to begin on Trump’s first day in office.

The inquiry should keep a running dossier, and forward updates at least weekly to the House Judiciary Committee. There will be no lack of evidence.

The materials should be made public via a website. The inquiry should be conducted by a distinguished panel whose high-mindedness and credentials are, well, unimpeachable.

There needs to be a parallel public campaign, pressing for an official investigation. For those appalled by Trump, who wonder where to focus their efforts, here is something concrete―and more realistic than it may seem.

Trump has already committed grave misdeeds of the kind that the Constitutional founders described as high crimes and misdemeanors. With his commingling of his official duties and his personal enrichment, Trump will be in violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which unambiguously prohibits any person holding public office from profiting from gifts or financial benefits from “any king, prince or Foreign state.”

Trump, who has entangled his business interests with his political connections at home and abroad, has already declared his contempt for these Constitutional protections. He declared, “The law is totally on my side, meaning the president can’t have a conflict of interest.” Oh, yes he can, and this president will.

In his dalliance with Vladimir Putin, Trump’s actions are skirting treason. John Shattuck, former Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and former Washington legal director of the ACLU has pointed to the constitutional definition of treason: a crime committed by a person “owing allegiance to the United States who... adheres to their enemies, giving them aid or comfort.” By undermining further investigation or sanctions against the Russian manipulation of the 2016 election, Trump as president would be giving aid and comfort to Russian interference with American democracy.

There will be a lot more once Trump takes office. Trump will make grievous mistakes. If we are lucky, they will be political and policy mistakes, not the sort of nuclear miscalculation that leaves the planet a cinder. If the blunders and assaults against the Constitution are serious enough, even Republicans in the House, which needs to originate an impeachment inquiry, will begin having second thoughts.

For instance, Trump will very likely use agencies of government to punish political enemies. The Articles of Impeachment against Richard Nixon explicitly cited Nixon’s political misuse of the CIA, the FBI and the IRS.

It’s worth recalling the Nixon chronology. In two years, the idea of impeaching Nixon went from loony-left fantasy, to mainstream, to inevitable.

On May 9, 1972—before the Watergate break-in―my former boss, Congressman William Fitts Ryan of Manhattan, submitted the first resolution to impeach Nixon, H.Res. 975, mainly for the illegal bombing of Cambodia, other war crimes, and spying against American citizens.

The break-in occurred in June 1972. Woodward and Bernstein got busy that summer and fall. The Senate Watergate Committee did not start hearings until May 1973, and the official House impeachment inquiry only began in May 1974. It took time for evidence, public pressure, and political courage to build. Nixon finally resigned in August 1974, more than two years after the break-in.

In October 1973, when removing Nixon from office still seemed a fantasy, the ACLU’s Chuck Morgan published a book-length bill of particulars urging Nixon’s impeachment. It bore a remarkable resemblance to the eventual Articles of Impeachment nearly a year later.

Nixon was a vile president with a creepy personality, but he was also a student of history and a serious person. In the end, even Nixon acceded to court orders to turn over evidence.

Trump is far more of a menace than Nixon. Trump will commit impeachable offenses. There is no way to contain him other than removing him from office, before the damage to our democracy is irrevocable. The process of building the impeachment case needs to begin now.


Robert Kuttner is co-editor of The American Prospect and professor at Brandeis University’s Heller School.




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Donald Trump is my ex-husband

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/10/14/1580837/-Donald-Trump-is-my-ex-husband?detail=emailclassic&link_id=3&can_id=ea7a82e12e8e6d519ea471f1107c4381&source=email-trumps-wife-posing-with-gun-thong-and-boots-and-they-had-a-problem-with-michelles-bare-arms-3&email_referrer=trumps-wife-posing-with-gun-thong-and-boots-and-they-had-a-problem-with-michelles-bare-arms-3&email_subject=trumps-wife-posing-with-gun-thong-and-boots-and-they-had-a-problem-with-michelles-bare-arms


This will tear your heart out. How on god's earth did this happen? This is SO dangerous. It was dangerous to Trump's ex-wife certainly but it will be worse for a nation and the world. He needs to GET OUT. Yes, even Pence is better. He's horrible policy wise but at least I think he will not start a nuclear war!

While Democrats Slept

I suggest Republican politics in our time is dangerous to those who are the poorest and most vulnerable in our nation. It is even dangerous to the world by its denial of human contribution to climate change to which 98% of all scientists who are not part of the fossil fuel industry agree. Our parties have diverged in polar opposite directions -- Republican policy favors the 1% richest, dedicated to eliminating Wall Street oversight and regulation, erasing healthcare and the elimination of the so called entitlements of Social Security, Medicare (Medicaid) privatizing them risking middle class economic well being to economic recessions and depressions which history shows are the pitfalls of capitalism and are sure to come. The Democratic Party is dedicated to helping the poor, the disabled and the dispossessed to achieve our nation's promise of justice within the American Dream that has been denied them for so long. It is dedicated since FDR, when the economic times dictate, to allowing a needed government assist and hand up when necessary. The Democratic Party is dedicated to ensuring the civil rights of all of its citizens and is dedicated to reducing climate change by advocating not only for more fossil fuels but by strongly advocating for alternative energies and planet saving fuels which in turn will create a plethora of jobs. The Democratic Party is the Party of science. We believe in science and its ability to improve and save lives.

In view of that I believe we must strengthen the Democratic Party nationally by employing a 50 state strategy and by electing both young and experienced Democrats with academic and political ability like a Keith Ellison to shore up our base leading the Democratic National Committee and support a charismatic and articulate Tim Ryan from the all-important state of Ohio to, at some point, win the job as Speaker of the House. We MUST have solid leadership and Democrats must be ORGANIZED in a non argumentative style committed to even compromise among ourselves while never letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Moreover, we must, I think, mirror the modus operandi of our opposition and that is fill governorships as well as state and local legislatures with our own. Democrats should copy the Republican Party's playbook which depleted Democratic ranks through the gerrymandering of districts thereby filling them with Republican majorities. It was done with little notice or caring by Democrats across the nation. Now, we should, ourselves, stand strong and deny those Republicans in power EVERYTHING they want. Republicans in the numbers minority nationwide have won it all while Democrats slept. Republicans own the governors' seats, the state legislatures and even the courts all across the nation. Worse, they own the federal legislature of both houses of Congress and soon will hold the majority in the Supreme Court because of our nation's temporary insanity electing the least qualified and even a possibly mentally ill Republican candidate to the presidency. It is all hazardous to all of our health. 

Worse, still, Republicans, used nefarious new Jim Crow tactics of voter suppression aimed against those persons who usually vote Democratic. These states that do that must be brought swiftly to justice by any and all legal means necessary even with SCOTUS weakening the Voting Rights Act. We must find a way. Republicans cannot and must not be allowed to get away with these tactics of injustice used against those who do not have the means to fight them. All Democrats in power and of means must do the fighting for our bretherin's rights that they cannot do on their own. Most of all Democrats need to ensure our constituency GETS OUT TO VOTE. Opposing racism and access to economic ascendance is our Party's promise and we should fulfill it in our time. Doing anything less is unacceptable as our nation's democratic survival depends upon it. RESISTANCE to Republican Trumpian crackpot politics of demagoguery is mandatory.

Trump Taps His Race-Baiting Propagandist To Write Inauguration Speech

It just keeps getting better and better .... UGH disgusting. So this is what this nation has become?

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/12/26/1614612/-Trump-Taps-His-Race-Baiting-Propagandist-To-Write-Inauguration-Speech?detail=email&link_id=5&can_id=ea7a82e12e8e6d519ea471f1107c4381&source=email-why-trump-voters-are-not-welcome-in-my-house-this-holiday&email_referrer=why-trump-voters-are-not-welcome-in-my-house-this-holiday___146631&email_subject=trump-taps-his-race-baiting-propagandist-to-write-inauguration-speech

Praying for Time

"Because of the media, the way the world is perceived is as a place where resources and time are running out. We’re taught that you have to grab what you can before it’s gone. It’s almost as if there isn’t time for compassion. ... No event inspired the song, just life in general,’’ Michael said at the time. “It’s my way of trying to figure out why it’s so hard for people to be good to each other.”-- GEORGE MICHAEL

While discussing “Praying for Time,” in Huffington Post the writer states "Michael’s first single off the album, which included the line “the rich declare themselves poor” and talked of people trying desperately to keep hold of their possessions, Michael expressed his fear that the modern media were making people paranoid of one another, rather than worried about one another." The interview of George Michael articulates some of the most profound thoughts -- linked below -- that present, I believe, apt descriptions of our time. He gives, I think, credible rationales for the sorry state of man and iterates profound truths about our human condition in our time better than I ever could. I urge you to read it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/george-michael-media_us_586198cbe4b0eb586486fa38?ewro0iivfdxs3v7vi

A Thank You Note to Hillary -- and My Comment

Stuff that Needed to be Said by John Pavlovitz -- see link below

http://johnpavlovitz.com/

My Comment:
This makes me cry. I am STILL so sad, so sickened, so angry about the object of my hate and disgust that I wish so I could shake off the shackles of this nation's racist chains and leave but in truth there is nowhere for me to go even IF I physically could. This is an exceptional nation? I suspect not at least not now.

I am scared, filled with rage and fear that each day becomes a challenge to endure when I read things like Trump will have 100 judicial appointments to fill and he plans to change the trajectory of the judiciary for at least the amount of time I have on earth. Our cause was SO close; it was SO close I could taste it snatched from my tongue by a poisonous asp. If I personally feel this way I cannot even imagine how Hillary must feel. Her life's dream gone in a nightmarish insane instant by thug, a bully, a malevolent maggot and do overs impossible to attain.

Yes, I thank her and hope she keeps in mind the 3 million more of us who loathe the character of Trump and his success but would have rather loved a win for her!

Happy Hanukah -- on my new keyboard

Yes, I am sending this on my new keyboard my very generous partner gave me for Hanukah.  Apropos to that this is my first post on it and I link it below to a Hanukah song.

I happen to love Jewish music because invariably it is composed in a minor key even when the song is about joyous celebration as this one is.  A minor key has a sadness woven into it and I believe it translates to the difficult and often sad journey the Jewish people have had to take throughout a long and tortured history. 

Although I am not religious I love my people who have endured so much sadness even unto this day.  It is why I support peace in Israel with the Palestinian people who,too, have endured through difficulty.  If I have heart for one I can have heart for the other and for ALL people who suffer.

Happy Hanukah, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.  If you pray for anything pray for peace!

https://youtu.be/XTdcLe0btiY

The Real History Of Hanukkah Is More Complicated Than You Thought

I thought this link below that was on Huffington was so interesting. It gives what I think is a true historical account of the rationale of Hanukah over and above the religious myth that is perpetrated and surrounds ALL religious holidays. It gives one an intellectual perspective and the ability to discern fact from fiction.

One can surely do the same for Christianity and all other religious faiths. Faith means that one must accept stories handed down from generation to generation that have absolutely no proof of their veracity. I cannot do that and it is why though I love my own Jewish culture and its symbols I am a cultural and secular Jew but not a ritualistically religious one.

I cannot accept things without proof simply because one "authority" says one has to. I say no I do not have to. Faith obviates ones quest for truth by alleviating the perpetrator of faith the burden of proving what he says exists because he, of course, cannot prove it.

I link the history around Hanukah which is to me much more fascinating than merely the traditional celebration of the Hanukah story and involves Hellenistic or Greek culture spreading its influence into Jerusalem. It had a profound affect on many Jews of that age much like assimilation has done to Jews in our era. We absorb the culture in which we live, we intermarry and the faith becomes diluted. We can see from this account that is exactly what ultimately the more traditional Jews of that age feared and why they went to war over it with those Jews in their community who took on Greek culture and even its deities. It is, I think, a historically truer and realistic explanation of the holiday celebrated today.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/real-history-of-hanukkah_us_585ea38ae4b0d9a594587fd3