September 29, 2018: Expect a Circus, To Question Privilege, Complete Contempt

“Elect a Clown; expect a circus”

                      ----from “The Quotations of Chairman Joe”

Mika Brzezinski is right. While hosting “Morning Joe'” on MSNBC she lamented that this is pure tRUMP. This is what he does. He loves pitting people against each other. It is how he operates. It is the swamp in which he swims.

“He'll piss in your fireplace

he'll drag you through turbulent indigo” ----Joni Mitchell

Thursday witnessed an ugliness not seen since the Clarence Thomas hearings, an event so ugly it is cited as one of the United States Senate's worst moments. Both Kavanaugh's accuser, Dr. Ford and the nominee for a position on the Supreme Court stood before the Senate Judiciary committee and testified to accusations brought by Ms. Ford about a sexual assault that had occurred nearly three decades ago.

The Senate panel, with stench of the way Strom Thurmond, Lindsay Graham, Chuck Grassley and Orin Hatch had treated Anita Hill still lingering in the room, decided that it would be best to hire a “female assistant” (note the tone-deafness here), that is a female legal counsel, to question Dr. Ford and Kavanaugh.

Dr. Ford, appearing apprehensive, fearful and indeed terrified spoke first. She was riveting and compelling recalling what she can remember, openly confessing to what she could not.

Then Kavanaugh took the stand. Squirming like a frog on a hot plate and in a tone of outright contempt he spoke of revenge, of vast conspiracy, of a hit-job by the Clinton's. Here, on display, is what happens when authority has the temerity to question privilege.

Then, just as the Republican legal counsel was honing on the details of a party held in the summer of 1982, when it might be revealed that Dr. Ford, who was not a close friend of Kavanaugh, could accurately name those present at the party as well as several other details listed on a calendar that Kavanaugh had produced from that year, Senator Lindsay Graham stepped out from behind the ladies skirts loudly protesting the man's innocence, casting aspersions upon the legitimacy of the woman's claims as well as those who demand a fair hearing. Of course, Graham was speaking to an audience of one. It is said that he wants to be the next attorney general.

The Senate Republicans legal counsel had no more to say and was not heard from again.

On September 21, Mitch McConnell while addressing a group of conservatives, pledged to 'plow through' the nomination. Like with Clarence Thomas, they are going to put Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court come hell or high water.

But yesterday, McConnell and Grassley hit a snag. Arizona Senator Jeff Flake had moments before announced he would vote to report the nomination favorably out of the committee to the Senate Floor. On his way to the committee chamber he was confronted by two woman who held the elevator door open and demanded to be heard. The Senator, shaken, stood and listened and when he joined the others he sat, pensively, as Senator Coon spoke from the Democratic side. Flake and Coon know and respect each other. They are said to be friends. Flake got up and walked across the room and asked Coon to step out into an adjoining conference room where, after a long meeting, a compromise emerged in which Flake voted to refer the nomination to the Senate floor but said he would vote against Kavanaugh if an F.B.I. Investigation was not done on these latest charges.

The nomination of Kavanaugh now hangs in the balance, pending a review by Federal Authorities.

But several things emerge from this wretched experience. First, it is clear from the proceedings that Kavanaugh has no business being on the federal bench, much less the Supreme Court of the United States. Like Disgustus, he doesn't have the necessary temperament for the job. Secondly, it is clear that he holds one of the major political parties as well as the legislative institutions of this country in complete contempt. Third, it is clear from the record and from these proceedings that he is nothing but a political hack prone to cherry-picking evidence in support of an ideological agenda (see previous post).

It remains to be seen, as of this writing, if this nomination will survive. Disgustus knows only to disgust. What is clear is that like everything else touched by Disgustus, this process has only served to further de-legitimize our institutions. By putting forward a deeply flawed nomination and by violating all the norms and procedures—including FBI inquiry into serious allegations of assault—and by rushing headlong to judgment evidence be damned, Disgustus and his Rescumlickan enablers have not only made a pig's breakfast of the process but have brought further disrepute to the Congress of the United States.

We are now faced with two possible scenarios. The first is that the FBI will issue a withering report of drunkenness, debauchery and cruelty that transcends Kavanaugh's life as a jock and a frat-rat, making it unmistakably clear that he has no business conducting any court of law. In this case our Caesar will lash out once again at the FBI for presumed bias. The second, and more likely, is that the ensuing FBI report will declare that the events cannot be definitively proved but that Kavanaugh has so misrepresented the details as well as his behaviors as to cast serious doubt as to his veracity. This will give both sides cover with the Rescumlickans declaring that he had been exonerated; the Democrats contending that his obvious character flaws disqualify him. The question will be left to those who have the courage to step out of the party line and act for decency.

Disgustus assures us that like Flynn, Cohen, Manafort et.al., Kavanaugh is a decent man. Disgustus doesn't attract decency. Disgustus defiles and besmirches everything he touches

Disgustus and his enablers have reliably brought further disrepute to the presidency and the halls of Congress. The question remains will they be able now to bring their vandalism to the Supreme Court?

Only time will tell. Win, lose or draw, we have already lost. This is what Disgustus' does.

“An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison.

September 28, 2018: Kavanaugh At Large, Pavlovian Response, Issue of Character.

The following was posted today by someone named Robin Wood on Facebook.  Note the fixation with the Clintons, his engaging in smear campaigns, his willful ignoring of evidence:

"David Brock on NBC: “I used to know Brett Kavanaugh pretty well. And, when I think of Brett now, in the midst of his hearings for a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, all I can think of is the old "Aesop's Fables" adage: "A man is known by the company he keeps." And that's why I want to tell any senator who cares about our democracy: Vote no. Twenty years ago, when I was a conservative movement stalwart, I got to know Brett Kavanaugh both professionally and personally. Brett actually makes a cameo appearance in my memoir of my time in the GOP, "Blinded By The Right." I describe him at a party full of zealous young conservatives gathered to watch President Bill Clinton's 1998 State of the Union address — just weeks after the story of his affair with a White House intern had broken. When the TV camera panned to Hillary Clinton, I saw Brett — at the time a key lieutenant of Ken Starr, the independent counsel investigating various Clinton scandals — mouth the word "bitch."

But there's a lot more to know about Kavanaugh than just his Pavlovian response to Hillary's image. Brett and I were part of a close circle of cold, cynical and ambitious hard-right operatives being groomed by GOP elders for much bigger roles in politics, government and media. And it’s those controversial associations that should give members of the Senate and the American public serious pause.

Call it Kavanaugh's cabal: There was his colleague on the Starr investigation, Alex Azar, now the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Mark Paoletta is now chief counsel to Vice President Mike Pence; House anti-Clinton gumshoe Barbara Comstock is now a Republican member of Congress. Future Fox News personalities Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson were there with Ann Coulter, now a best-selling author, and internet provocateur Matt Drudge.

At one time or another, each of them partied at my Georgetown townhouse amid much booze and a thick air of cigar smoke. In a rough division of labor, Kavanaugh played the role of lawyer — one of the sharp young minds recruited by the Federalist Society to infiltrate the federal judiciary with true believers. Through that network, Kavanaugh was mentored by D.C. Appeals Court Judge Laurence Silberman, known among his colleagues for planting leaks in the press for partisan advantage.

When, as I came to know, Kavanaugh took on the role of designated leaker to the press of sensitive information from Starr's operation, we all laughed that Larry had taught him well. (Of course, that sort of political opportunism by a prosecutor is at best unethical, if not illegal.)

Another compatriot was George Conway (now Kellyanne's husband), who led a secretive group of right-wing lawyers — we called them "the elves" — who worked behind the scenes directing the litigation team of Paula Jones, who had sued Clinton for sexual harassment. I knew then that information was flowing quietly from the Jones team via Conway to Starr's office — and also that Conway's go-to man was none other than Brett Kavanaugh.

That critical flow of inside information allowed Starr, in effect, to set a perjury trap for Clinton, laying the foundation for a crazed national political crisis and an unjust impeachment over a consensual affair.

But the cabal's godfather was Ted Olson, the then-future solicitor general for George W. Bush and now a sainted figure of the GOP establishment (and of some liberals for his role in legalizing same-sex marriage). Olson had a largely hidden role as a consigliere to the "Arkansas Project" — a multi-million dollar dirt-digging operation on the Clintons, funded by the eccentric right-wing billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife and run through The American Spectator magazine, where I worked at the time.

Both Ted and Brett had what one could only be called an unhealthy obsession with the Clintons — especially Hillary. While Ted was pushing through the Arkansas Project conspiracy theories claiming that Clinton White House lawyer and Hillary friend Vincent Foster was murdered (he committed suicide), Brett was costing taxpayers millions by peddling the same garbage at Starr's office.

A detailed analysis of Kavanaugh's own notes from the Starr Investigation reveals he was cherry-picking random bits of information from the Starr investigation — as well as the multiple previous investigations — attempting vainly to legitimize wild right-wing conspiracies. For years he chased down each one of them without regard to the emotional cost to Foster’s family and friends, or even common decency.

Kavanaugh was not a dispassionate finder of fact but rather an engineer of a political smear campaign. And after decades of that, he expects people to believe he's changed his stripes

.

Like millions of Americans this week, I tuned into Kavanaugh's hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee with great interest. In his opening statement and subsequent testimony, Kavanaugh presented himself as a "neutral and impartial arbiter" of the law. Judges, he said, were not players but akin to umpires — objectively calling balls and strikes. Again and again, he stressed his "independence" from partisan political influences.

But I don't need to see any documents to tell you who Kavanaugh is — because I've known him for years. And I'll leave it to all the lawyers to parse Kavanaugh's views on everything from privacy rights to gun rights.

But I can promise you that any pretense of simply being a fair arbiter of the constitutionality of any policy regardless of politics is simply a pretense. He made up his mind nearly a generation ago — and, if he's confirmed, he'll have nearly two generations to impose it upon the rest of us."

This goes directly to the issue of character.  We have seen in the hearings that he does not have the temperament to be on the federal bench, much less have a seat on the Supreme Court.  Kavanaugh has not only been a lifelong political hack, but he is a deeply committed ideologue prone to believing conspiracy theories.  Here is a man who will cherry pick evidence in order to construct out of thin air whatever the ideological imperative demands.  No justice can come from this.

"An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh"

Impeach and Imprison. 

September 27, 2018: Fundamental Misunderstanding, I Am In Error, A Demigod

“Real power is—I don't even want to use the word—fear.”

                                                          ----Candidate Donald tRUMP

The above quote is from Bob Woodward's new book “Fear” in which our emerging Caesar described how he views the nature of political power. The remark occurred in the course of an interview in which Woodward and Robert Costa questioned tRUMP at the Old Post Office Pavilion in the Trump International Hotel at the Nations capital. The interview occurred on March 31, 2016.

I must admit a fundamental misunderstanding the full implications of which I find myself slow to comprehend. I had somehow read Disgustus' personality disorder as being one, like Bill Clinton's, but more attenuated, as a child in search of love and acceptance. That he sought public notoriety in order to gain admittance into humanity; that his cravings for the attention and affections deprived him in youth is the motivation behind his unquenchable ambitions—ambitions wholly at odds with his real talents.

The thinking was that driven by the need for public acclaim he would soon be violating every Rescumlickan and neo-nationalist precept in a headlong quest to please the crowd. This would lead, inexorably, to the adoption of universal health care, gun control, environmental protections, regulation of the banking and energy industries and the organization of workers in the workplace. It had long been observed that Disgustus', like Willie Stark in Robert Penn Warren's “All The King's Men”, had simply taken to the stump and, responding to applause lines, had built a stock campaign speech around them venting the grievances of those assembled and whipping the crowd into a fury. In the process Disgustus had hijacked the pseudo-populist movement represented by the Koch-funded 'teabagger' movement and become the voice of the 'forgotten American'. Accordingly, I had hoped that once elected he would pivot to governance and, in the process, redefine Conservatism along populist lines. Why? Because he needed the love and affection of his following.

I am in error.

One can forgive oneself given that Disgustus had won the nomination and the presidency by running to the left of the entire Republican field and, it can be argued, his Democratic opponent. He, after all, promised the return of “good-paying jobs”, which one can reasonably conclude can only happen with the return of organized labor. He had promised cheaper and better “health care for everybody”, which is universal health care by definition. This, and the trade agreements, were why he carried Michigan and Wisconsin. Even Hillary wasn't prepared to go that far.

But that vision began to blur when he met with Paul Ryan on the eve of the convention and folded before the Ayn Rand acolyte like a cheap lawn chair and swallowed the supply-side nonsense whole.

It is clear now that this reading of Disgustus is based on fundamental misunderstanding. Disgustus did not seek power because he needs affection, he seeks it because he is a vicious little twit who needs to engender fear. He is not Santa Clause but Caligula.

Not since Nixon has a president used his office to 'punish' people. Not since Nixon has a president been so petty. Firing Assistant Attorney General Andrew McCabe just hours before he would have had enough seniority to collect a full pension is a case in point.

There were, certainly, some warning signs. Declaring at the Convention of the Scum, for instance, that “only I can solve this”, is certainly a statement of a megalomaniac. Recently in an interview with Faux News he openly declared, after once again telling the audience what a great job he is doing, that if he were removed the economy would collapse because the entire industrial and commercial empire is held together in his head. He has openly mused with the leader of China, who had just declared himself president-for-life, that it wouldn't be such a bad thing to have such an arrangement in this country. He has intimated to the leader of North Korea that he wished he could enjoy such adoration from Americans. This is beyond mere megalomania, we are now entering into the realm of extreme delusion. Like Caligula, Disgustus sees himself as a demigod.

Again, Disgustus did not create this. He did not emerge from whole cloth. Rescumlickans have for at least a decade projected their greatest yearnings upon others, accusing Obama of wanting to be a dictator by governing, for instance, through executive order. What they really mean is that, like tRUMP, this is how they want to govern.

As we speak the Scum are ramming through a Supreme Court nominee who loves executive power, who favors torture, who contends that a president is, in effect, above the law, who holds that a president can ignore laws passed by Congress if he finds them objectionable. They will have their way, come hell or high water, because they have no respect for proper procedure or the rule of law. Nothing, it appears will stand before them. This is the view of more than Caesar Disgustus.

We have misapprehended our Caesar Disgustus and the party he represents at our peril. They would have us trembling before our Supreme Leader, prostrate before a creature of our own creation. “A Republic, if you can keep it” declared Ben Franklin when asked by a woman on the street as he emerged from the Constitutional Convention "what form of government have we? A Republic...if you can keep it.

“An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison.

September 26, 2018: Whole World Is Laughing, Collapse of Global Security, The Wrecking Ball

“It was a lie that the world was laughing at us. It is now”

                                 ---from “The Quotations of Chairman Joe”

When Disgustus was merely a candidate he told the nation that the world was laughing at us. Like everything else coming from his fetid mouth it was a lie. Yesterday he stood before the United Nations General Assembly and bragged to the world that he has accomplished more in his time in office than nearly any other American president. The remark drew riotous laughter from the world assembled.

In the opening pages of “FEAR, Trump in the White House”, presidential chronicler Bob Woodward tells us that former tRUMP aides Gary Cohn and Rob Porter discovered to their shock a paper on the presidential desk, which Disgustus was about to sign, that would have withdrawn the United States from our current trade agreement with South Korea. Realizing how destabilizing such an action would be, undermining as it would not only our relationship with one of our most stalwart allies but threatening the security system throughout East Asia, they managed to purloin the document while the 'president' was unawares, knowing that he would have quickly forgotten about this item on his agenda having moved on to other subjects.

What this account demonstrates is not only the chaos in the room—for Porter was responsible for reviewing every document presented to our erstwhile maximum leader and somehow this paper appeared from seemingly out of nowhere—but that a band of men had somehow managed to assemble that work assiduously to keep our Caesar from going off the rails. These are, or were, the men that Senator Corker referred to when he compared the White House to an adult day care center. These were the adults in the room.

The account not only demonstrates what some have described as a palace coup de tat that is, unelected underlings are now effectively shaping policies, but by what narrow threads we now hang. Both Cohn and Porter are now gone. Defense Secretary Mattis and Chief of Staff Kelly remain, but the adults in the room are now becoming few and far between as men of reason like H.R. McMaster are replaced by the likes of the idiot firebrand John Bolton.

As has been observed previously in these columns (2), Disgustus cannot be seen as an aberration. The antecedents of all things Disgustus go back to at least Barry Goldwater and Richard Outhouse Nixon. What is relatively new is the unraveling of the commitment of the United States to the world order that it engineered at the end of the last World War, although that too predated the arrival of our Caesar upon the national and world stage.

In an essay published in The New York Times, Robert Kagan points out that both major political parties in the United States have effectively abandoned the idea of global security. (3)

“The old consensus ab out America's role as upholder of global security has collapsed in both parties. Russia may have committed territorial aggression against Ukraine. But Republican voters follow Mr. Trump in seeking better ties, accepting Moscow's forcible annexation of Crimea and expanding influence in the Middle East (even if some of the president's subordinates do not). They applaud Mr. Trump for seeking a dubious deal with North Korea just as they once condemned Democratic presidents for doing the same thing. They favor a trade war with China but have not consistently favored military spending to deter a real war.” (4)

Democrats, Kagan points out, have not taken to the ramparts in support of the world order established at Breton Woods and San Francisco. Americans have had an isolationist tradition since George Washington's admonitions in his Farewell Address to eschew diplomatic alliances. Indeed, Bernie Sanders taking up the populist cudgel forced Hillary to abandoned the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement laying the groundwork for Disgustus newly-minted trade wars. And, as Kagan points out, the Democrats have not rushed to the defense of either Mexico or Canada in the ongoing disputes, nor have they embraced outright liberal immigration policies, rendering protests and rhetoric hollow.

As the “America First” movement has gained traction in the wake of the fall of the old Soviet Empire, the country now finds itself gyrating back into a diplomatic cocoon reminiscent of the age of Coolidge, Hoover and the Smoot-Hawley tariffs. The kind of policies that “kept us on the sidelines while fascism and militarism almost conquered the world” (5).

Yesterday, after being nearly laughed off the podium by the assembled diplomatic community, Disgustus told the world that the United States was no longer going to go it alone. We are no longer going to serve as the underpinning for global security. This has to be unnerving for the international corporate conglomerates who have depended upon the global military presence of the United States, as well as the dollar, to maintain order.

The wrecking ball that our great Vandal-in-Chief has taken to every institution and every political and diplomatic norm is sending reverberations around the world as nations scurry for cover.

Let's return to South Korea as a case in point. It has not been lost on Seoul that this administration or, more precisely, this idiot in residence, wants to 'cut and run'. He has been crying about our trade deficit with South Korea as well as the cost of maintaining troops in the region—not understanding that the South Koreans pay to house these troops and that it would cost the United States more money to keep them home. He has also canceled joint military exercises with South Korea as a means of placating the North.

Perhaps anticipating this American shift, South Korean President Moon Jae-In ran for office promising an improved relationship with the North. The New York Times editors reviewing the scene had this to say:

“Mr. Moon and Mr. Kim appear committed to seeing how far they can go toward reconciling their two countries. One sign was Mr. Moon's address—the first ever in Pyongyang by a South Korean leader—promising a new era of peace and a 'future of common prosperity' to a stadium filled with 150,000 cheering North Koreans. Another was Mr. Kim's pledge to make a reciprocal visit in Seoul.

“Some American experts fear ties between the two Koreas are deepening too rapidly and will undermine the alliance between South Korea and the United States....” (5)

The editors of the Times suggest that perhaps it is because South Korean President Moon Jae-In was born in South Korea to refugees from the North in the wake of the Korean War that he has made the reunification of his country such an important part of his agenda. Perhaps. But is is more than likely that he is simply reading the political wind, picking up on the stench wafting from the East from over the ocean and knows that he must now look westward to China, Russia, and his counterpart in the North.

Disgustus will, as he always does, take credit for any progress to avert war on the peninsula; but the alliances are cracking; the old world is rapidly fading.

“An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”.

Impeach and Imprison.

________

(1). Woodward, Bob. “FEAR, Trump in the White House”. Copyright 2018. Simon and Schuster, New York. Pages xvii-xxii

(2). See: August 8, 2017: Roads to Hell, Long and Tortuous Path, Reap the Whirlwind.

3. Kagan, Robert. “'America First' Has Won”. The New York Times. Monday, September 24, 2018. Page A27
4. Ibid
5. Editors. “South Korea Opens a Door to the North” The New York Times. Monday, September 24, 2018: Page A26

September 25, 2018: Rotten Ruling Class, The Cost of Privilege, Entitlement Into Stone

Michelle Goldberg, in an opinion published in The New York Times, laid bare the culture of privilege that produces the likes of Caesar Disgustus and his understudy Brett Kavanaugh; a culture that produces a “rotten ruling class”. (1)

After detailing the latest allegation, from a second woman to come forward charging sexual assault, Goldberg goes to the heart of the matter. A culture of privilege and entitlement.

“Let's start with Kavanaugh's high school, Georgetown Prep, also the alma mater of Neil Gorsuch, Trump's first Supreme Court pick. There's now a wealth of reporting painting the private school as a bastion of heedless male entitlement. Kavanaugh's high school friend Mark Judge—who Christine Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh's first accuser, says was in the room when Kavanaugh allegedly assaulted her—has written aboiut his drunken teenage debauchery. According to The New Yorker, Judge confided in an ex-girlfriend, Elizabeth Rasor, about and incident where he and other boys took turns having sex with a drunken woman (Judge denies this).

“From Georgetown Prep, Kavanaugh went to Yale. There he joined the fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon, or DKE, which was, according to The Yale Daily News, 'notorious for disrespecting women.' (Long after Kavanaugh graduated, the fraternity was banned from campus after video emerged of pledges chanting 'No Means Yes! Yes Means Anal!) Kavanaugh was also a member of an all male secret society called Truth and Courage, which had an obscene nickname affirming its dedication to womanizing.” (2)

“There's no equivalent culture in which girls reap social capital for misbehaving. You rarely see a woman in politics or law who flaunt college reputations as party girls; the women who make it are expected t sow steely self-control” (3)

When I was young I was constantly reminded by adults that one is judged by the company one keeps. Still, Goldberg questions whether that standard should apply. I suggest that it should.

As Goldberg herself points out, there is little in Kavanaugh's subsequent career to suggest that anything has changed:

“Kavanaugh went on to become a protege of appeals court judge Alex Kozinski, for whom he clerked in the early 1990's. Last year, Kozinski resigned after multiple accusations of sexual harassment by former female clerks and junior staffers; two said he showed them porn in his office. The judge's lewd behavior was, by many accounts, an open secret. Kavanaugh has said he knew nothing...(4)

There may be more. Goldberg alludes to two Yale Law School professors who served as a “gateway” through which students would land jobs working under Kavanaugh, citing his preferences among females. 

There is probably much more. Michael Avellenti, “Stormy Daniels” attorney, has said that he has a witness ready to come forward. 

Whether the Judge stands guilty as charged remains to be seen. But what is certain, and what he stands convicted of is this sense of entitlement, born of privilege, that permeates the “process” fair or not. They nearly all come from comfortable backgrounds, go to the right schools and, when admitted, never fail, receiving at worst the gentleman's “C”. From there they go on the posh jobs and secure careers they all know await them. Study? Why? It's a waste of time. Better to invest the hours in drunken debauchery. 

Yale's response to the crimes and antics is all too revealing. Confronted with outrageous behavior that this time could not be swept under the rug they closed the Fraternity. That was a minimal response. What they should have done was expel every member of the Frat house on grounds of immaturity, if not criminality. But that would have put at risk millions of future donations.

I was admitted to a state college still in its formative years. When I arrived the Frat-rats had yet to descend upon the emerging institution and had not yet taken residence in the holds of the ship. I was saved the experience and, therefore, my populist convictions were not sullied by association.

For the rest of the nation, especially among her so-called 'elite' institutions, the cancer that these organizations represent have long since worked their way to the core of the enterprise. Privilege has long since become entitlement. 

Scum attracts scum. Caesar Disgustus attracts scum like a magnet attracts graphite. And so he goes to the same well from which he scraped Gorsuch, and yet another member of our Supreme Court emerges from the same dank swamps ready and eager to carve entitlement into stone

.

“An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison

__________________

1. Goldberg, Michelle. “Pigs All the Way Down” The New York Times. Tuesday, September 25, 2018. Page A27
2. Ibid
3. Ibid
4. Ibid

September 20, 2018: Onward Christian Soldiers, Collateral Damage, Easy Prey

One reaches the point in one's life when reflection takes over; when one finds oneself reminiscing about days now gone. In that vein I was moved to surf the “nets”, as “'Ol Two-Cows” used to say, to discover what had become of my long lost classmates.

Some are gone. Schoolboy friends like Ray Carlson and Roger Munch with whom I attended a Lutheran elementary school have long since shaken the mortal coil. Others haven't fared so well.

I am struck by how those of us trained to be “Christian soldiers” found life difficult, if not tragic. My class numbered about 13. About half of that class was boys. Of the half dozen a third of them had problems with the law.

What moved me was my inquiry into my first flame, my first crush. She was, if truth be told, the only bright spot in what was a miserable existence after I reached the age of 8 or so. My parents had and acrimonious divorce and, of course, I was placed in the tender care of Billy Sheers (see previous post*).

Beverly was, like me, small for her age. Platinum blonde, blue eyed, and gorgeous. She lit up my day and gave me the only reason to smile as I waited for the bus each morning. I've often wondered what became of her and my journey on the nets did nothing to illuminate. However, I did run across some information concerning her siblings. Her brother, who had been sent off, like Donald tRUMP to military school died at an early age. Her sister for the last two decades of her life fell into the influence of one Keith Raniere who, from accounts, is a charlatan who recruited young girls for sex under the guise of a cult. Posturing as a learned man, indeed a self-described 'genius', Raniere set about creating a religion-patterned after L. Ron Hubbard's Scientology--with himself, of course, as prophet. Raniere used his power, of course, to create his own harem, treating women like chattel property going so far as to burn his mark upon them with branding irons.  Beverly's sister, a year behind us in school, fell for it and, by some accounts ruined her life, becoming part of Raniere's harem and recruiting young girls for him.

This is what happens when you are taught that authority figures should be all controlling. This is what happens when one is taught not to question. This is what happens when one is taught to follow. Becoming the ultimate “follower” led to ruin.

This is the collateral damage of the 'Christian Soldier' marching off to war. One has to believe in something and when the old certainties no longer hold one becomes easy prey.

The record of my old parochial school is not a good one, either at the time or in the subsequent lives of my classmates. I understand how Holland Christian, a Christian Reformed institution, can produce the likes of Betsy DeVos and her brother Eric Prince. But I can't forgive them for it. This is the legacy of Billy Scheer, this is what child abuse and indoctrination produce. One moves from one cult to another finally, by degrees, finding oneself in tRUMP tower.

Meanwhile, each year, more and more of our public resources are poured into these institutions.

“An' Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison.

____________

* also see April 27, 2015: J. William Scheer,, Suffer the Little Children, American Madrasa
**https://frankreport.com/2017/10/08

September 19, 2018: Suffer the Children, Pornographic Priests, The Terror Remains

“When the pedophile priests aren't abusing the children the protestants are beating them”

                        ----from “The Quotations of Chairman Joe”

I have written about this before in posts detailing my personal experiences with the vicars of god. (1)

It is one of nature's great mistakes that we are brought into this world helpless and wholly dependent and, therefore, subject to the whim of fate. For we have no control over what our environment will be, or to whom we will bond. Stated simply, we have no control over who are parents are and into what extended family we find ourselves. The “church” falls into the latter category.

I've never understood how a woman can sit still in church, for the doctrine laid down in the Judeo-Christian tradition belittles them. Only recently, and then furtively, have the various denominations embraced the idea of female priests, for the most part the church is locked into the iron-age dictums laid down tens of thousands of years ago when women were treated as mere chattel property; daughters to be traded for livestock or land which in those days was their equivalent of social security.

Nowhere has this legacy lingered on with such vileness as the protestant penchant for beatings and the Catholic penchant for sexual deviancy. Earlier this month a report was issued by authorities in Pennsylvania that involved over 300 priests molesting and otherwise violating over 1,000 children (2) mostly boys. While this occurred over a time span of half a century the thinking is that all of the transgressions may not be accounted for.

My god—if you can forgive a declared atheist—how many priests are there in Pennsylvania? I mean this must be nearly all of them. And this went on for decades.

The good news, if there be any, is that those victimized are now organizing a class-action suit (3) against the church, hopefully involving enough in restitution to bankrupt the institution. But I doubt it.

The victims should also bring suit against the estates of their parents for putting them into harm's way.

Again, it is the luck of the draw, or the caprice of fate that determines in whose hands ones well being is placed. Why anyone would drag a child to church has always escaped me.

When the priests are not fondling and raping, and the sisters (talk to anyone who has gone to a Catholic school) are not joining the protestants in applying the rod, one is still left with the stark reality that even at its most benign the teachings of the church are designed to accomplish nothing other than to terrorize the young. Fill the child's head with sheer terror of burning for an eternity in hell if you don't tow the line, if you somehow don't measure up, if you don't make the grade.

Oh they gloss it over with tales of a loving god, who will drop out the sky like Caesar Disgustus and sweep you up but the underlying terror is at the base of what animates the soul to look to these myths in the first place. Rule by terror: an idea early perfected by the church and only recently adopted by every tin horn dictator on the planet. Without terror one has no need of 'salvation'.

Then there is the ever-present danger of 'backsliding'. In the Baptist tradition the child is taken, like in every other sect, to church well before the bastard is able to take his, or her, first step or utter the first word. A child is 'baptized', literally and figuratively, into the fold well before it has developed any capacity for critical thinking; cause and effect, empirical evidence, social understanding. Then, just before pubescence, a ritual is performed in which the 'elders' of the church, after due instruction, declare the young one 'saved' from the fate that would otherwise, inexorably, wait.

But there is always this nagging doubt. There is always this voice suggesting that perhaps, just perhaps, god is, after all, the god of Abraham. And so, the terror remains.

Let there be no mistake about it. Religion is a form of child abuse. The revelations of the misdeeds of the Catholic church are only a symptom—the latest manifestation as ugly as they are. But the priests are, from a wider perspective, simply doing what they are charged to do—terrorize the children. And who, after all, gave them permission?

_______________

1. See, for example the earlier post: April 27, 2015: The One and Only Billy Shears, Suffer the Little Children, American Madrasa

2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/08/14/pennsylvania-grand-jury-report-on-sex-abuse-in-catholic-church-will-list-hundreds-of-accused-predator-priests
3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2018/09/18/victims-abuse-by-pennsylvania-priests-file-class-action

September 18, 2018: Presidential Scoreboard, Criminal Proclivity, Welcome To The Deluge

In case there is any doubt as to the differences between the two major political parties, look at this scoreboard of criminal proclivity: 

Nixon, of course, gave us Watergate.  Reagan, Iran-Contra.  These two stand out as the most criminally inclined and best challenge the Harding and Grant Administrations for scandal, while 'W', also high on this list challenges Harding and Buchanan as the most incompetent.  Caesar Disgustus, in a mere 18 months has already left them in his dust.

Welcome to the deluge.

"An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh"

Impeach and Imprison. 

September 17, 2018: The Taxman Cometh, Rescumlickan Playbook, Coming and Going

As Caesar Disgustus leads his band of highwaymen into the midterm elections, his signature assault upon fiscal responsibility and good governance is about to be undermined by hidden tax increases. Tax increases in the form of billions collected under the guise of tariffs.

Disgustus has imposed—unilaterally and without Congressional authorization-- ten percent tariffs on 200 billion dollars worth of Chinese goods, rising to 25% by the end of the year. This is “in addition to the 25% tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports Trump imposed during the summer. So by election day in November, Trump will have placed new tariffs on $250 billion worth of stuff Americans buy every day. “ (1)

Rick Newman, writing for Yahoo News, continues, “The new tariffs will raise the cost of thousands of everyday items, including electronics, appliances, bicycles, tires, toys, clothing and footwear. Based on last year's level of imports, the new China tariffs amount to a tax hike of 32.5 billion per year. If the latest set of tariffs rises to 25% and stays in place for 2019, the total additional tax would be 62.5 billion next year. The Trump tax cuts, by contrast, lowered tax payments by about 130 billion per year. So by this simple math, the China tariffs would offset about one-fourth of the Trump tax cuts this year, nearly one-half next year” (2)

Note who is paying the taxes. The wealthiest and corporate interests, who usually eschew cheap Chinese imports unless they are manufacturing and selling them, are not paying these taxes. The working class—the Walmart folks—are paying them. It's the old Rescumlickan paybook. Pass a major tax cut that gives away the bank to the filthy rich and breadcrumbs to the middle class, and increase taxes through more hidden means to cover the cost. In the 80's that involved, for instance, eliminating deductions for interest paid on commercial debt—durable goods like autos and appliances for instance—and on credit cards and medical expenses. Hell the folks won't notice and by the time they do it will be too late. Now we have this obscene exercise in greed being paid for by paying through the nose at the check-out counter where it is hard to add up exactly what it will cost each of us.

But, as China shows no signs of capitulating to the pressure and as an open-ended trade war looms another dynamic take shape. Capital is fleeing the Chinese markets and moving to New York.

Again, as noted by Newman, the Shanghai stock index is down 21% this year, for instance, and it just hit the lowest level since 2014. The S&P 500, by contrast, is up nearly 7% and close to record highs.” (3)

This is a novel twist on the old theme demonstrating that the capitalist pigs are losing a lot of sleep keeping up at night scheming of ways to not only further plunder the middle class but help inflate the value of our stocks and bonds in the process. They win, coming and going. Heads they win; tails we lose.

How this will play in Peoria remains to be seen. Perhaps the pain will not be felt in time for the next election but already the “trade policy is already unpopular, with 61% of Americans saying they disapprove, in one poll. Anecdotal reports of collateral damage, such as farmers losing access to foreign markets or U.S. Companies hurting from higher costs related to tariffs, already seem to be hurting Republican as they fight to keep control of Congress in the upcoming midterms. Trump doesn't seem to care...” (4)

The Rescumlickan tax cut is already so unpopular that the Scum refuse to run on it. It remains to be seen whether the public will see the tariffs for what they are—a tax increase to pay for it—in time for the next election. Let us hope that there is an epiphany on the road to Damascus.

In the meantime...

”An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison.

_______________________

1. Newman, Rick. Https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/trump-tax-hikes-coming
2. Ibid
3. Ibid
4. Ibid

September 16, 2018: Crashing Broomsticks, A Coven of Witches, Black Magic

Former White House legal counsel John Dean went to 'Twitter'--Disgustus' weapon of choice—to express his unconstrained joy at the guilty plea by former tRUMP presidential campaign manager Paul Manafort to charges of conspiracy against the United States, failure to register as a foreign agent, and money-laundering. 

“Manafort has flipped! BOOM (the sound of broomsticks breaking the sound barrier crashing to earth-NO witches). The entire Trump family now in jeopardy. No pardon for Paul from Trump. No nice things to say about Manafort from Rudy. Nightmares at the White House will be unending”. (1)

Yes, the broomsticks have come crashing down as the Honorable Robert Mueller has bagged yet another. Indeed, the intrepid investigator has now rounded up a very coven of vixens guilty of working their black magic upon the republic and not a few business associates. 

With the 'flipping' of Cohn, Gates and now Manafort, the likelihood that this dragnet will scour up from the dregs the likes of Jared Kushner, Ivanka, Eric and Donald tRUMP Jr., and a host of others. Of course the country has been mesmerized by the Playboy Bunny and the Porn Star. But Cohn, for one, was also treasurer of the Republican National Committee. Manafort, with his Russian connections, was Disgustus' campaign manager. Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce, was an official of a Cypriot bank known for laundering Russian mob money. This scandal threatens to branch out into not only the tRUMP family but the highest echelons of the GOP. 

Of course, Disgustus will revert back to distancing himself from Manafort as he did earlier this year when Manafort was indicted. He will solemnly declare that, like Felix Slater and other underworld figures that feature prominently in his past, he hardly knew the man. Some will believe it. But no one in Washington, the legal community, or those who have gray matter between their ears will be convinced. 

The Walls around this bastard presidency are crumbling. The Broomsticks are crashing. The witches are being bagged and the flying monkeys are finding it harder and harder to distract. It's a house of cards and its about to come crashing down, threatening the very institutions of this country.

“An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison.

_________

(1). Dean, John. Twitter. Tweet of September 14^th 2018.

September 15, 2018: Insecure Teenage Girl, All About Facade, Defiles the Office

“He's got the maturity of an eight year old boy with the insecurity of a teenage girl. That's just who he is”.

              ----former Secretary of State and Senator John Kerry.

Former Secretary of State John Kerry summed it up in a barb delivered on the Bill Mahr Show. Disgustus is indeed an insecure teenage girl hopelessly lost in the coliseum and desperately trying to put on a brave face. But then it has always been about face, all about facade.

Never having the courage to confront anyone of substance, Disgustus has, as always, taken to the impersonal 'twitter' as the birdbrain-in-chief once again calls upon the anti-social media in which to air his grievances. It is always about his grievances.

He has taken to 'tweeting' about how the experts have it wrong and that the death toll in Puerto Rico was inflated as part of an orchestrated Democratic conspiracy to discredit him. Nothing about the suffering on the island, nothing about what might have been done better, nothing about the dead and dying, nothing about perhaps working harder to restore the island. No. It is always about him. It is always about his ego—about slights real and imagined; and much more imagined than real.

Now we have an exchange on 'Twitter' in which Disgustus criticized former Secretary of State Kerry for meetings with his Iranian counterparts, calling Kerry's actions “Illegal” , undercutting “our great work to the detriment of the American people”.  He went on to whine about the meetings saying that such back channel meetings were unprecedented. Of course this is complete nonsense. Former diplomats routinely maintain contact with their peers around the world, just ask Henry Kissinger. In any case Kerry had fully briefed the State Department about the meetings and their contents.

John Kerry fired back on 'Twitter' that Disgustus should be much more worried about Paul Manafort cooperating with Robert Mueller and his investigations than his meetings with Iranian diplomats.

Indeed he should. But this must be seen as yet another attempt at our bed-wetting president to cover the evidence. Today's distraction further eroding the credibility of this bastard presidency but damaging the institution nonetheless. Every day in every way Disgustus defiles the office.

“An' Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison.

September 14, 2018: Relentless Incompetence, Mendacious Purpose, Criminal Intent

As hurricane Florence bears down on the Carolina's reports surface that Disgustus has been about stripping our response agencies in order to construct concentration camps in which to hold immigrants heading to our shores.

Two nights ago, Rachel Maddow (1) reported that, citing a report made public by Senator Merkley of Oregon that the administration stripped nearly ten million dollars from FEMA in order to construct these facilities. Last night Maddow further reported that Disgustus and his wrecking crew had stripped an additional 29 and three quarters of a million dollars from the Coast Guard. Estimates are now circulating that 200 million has been diverted to building these camps. This is not a small operation.

Administration officials claim that this was just money lying about, administrative moneys that wouldn't interfere with rescue efforts. Those who understand emergency response know it is bullshit.

First, the records released by the senator clearly state in the line item adjustments that the money came from FEMA emergency preparedness funds. Secondly, the Coast Guard is a primary responder in any natural disaster or national emergency. Coast Guard helicopters, life boats, and personnel are always on the front line. Moreover, even if one isn't cutting these funds, the administration is clearly pillaging money that would be used to stock warehouses with needed supplies in order that the relief is available and ready to be delivered.

Last year, in these columns, in the wake of the triple-whammy this administration experienced with the storms in the Gulf Coast and in the Caribbean I pointed out that the disastrous response in Puerto Rico—in which FEMA officials have told the press that they were strapped for resources—would also have afflicted the federal response to the other hurricanes in Texas and along the Gulf Coast had they occurred later in this administration, as the tRUMP operatives would have had more time to make a pig's breakfast of federal administration.

And now we have it. Gutting the resources needed for these emergencies, hollowing out the Federal capabilities with another hurricane season upon us.

Relentless incompetence. Mendacious purpose. Criminal intent. Disgustus is nothing but a vandal. He knows not how to build, but knows only how to destroy.

“An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison.

____________________

1. “Rachel Maddow Show” MSNBC Wednesday, September 12 and Thursday September 13, 2018

September 13, 2018: Total Fabrication, National Humiliation, Paper Towel.

My wife and I are spending the week sailing. We've been blessed with some great September weather and the summer is fading fast. Nevertheless I beat back home to take care of our dogs and happened to check in on the latest 'tweetstorm'.

Disgustus cannot bring himself to take responsibility for anything. This time he is recoiling from the stinging criticisms regarding the completely incompetent federal response to last years' hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Now he's feeding conspiracy theories, to his unhinged bucket of deplorables, that the revised death total is a “total fabrication” put forward by the Democrats to discredit him.

He doesn't need the Democrats, or anyone else for that matter. Every time Disgustus opens his mouth or goes to 'twitter' the birdbrain defiles the office he holds while bringing about yet another national humiliation. This is no exception.

By this time in his presidency Barack Obama had taken full responsibility for the federal recovery following the crash of 2007-8, saying that now he owned it. By this time in his presidency John F. Kennedy suffering a serious setback at the Bay of Pigs said that “success has a thousand fathers; failure is an orphan” and took personal responsibility for it—even though the invasion was planned during the Eisenhower administration. This is how real presidents act, and these were the norms until this cringing, ignorant, self-anointed, sniveling little coward came to office.

I am currently reading a biography of Harry Truman written by his daughter Margaret. With all due allowance for obvious bias, her account of her father's forthrightness, courage, and consistency—as well as his life-long ability to reach out and learn shines through. Margaret's account of her fathers actions and the reasons for them correspond with many other reputable biographies of her father. Truman possessed courage and judgment and, yes manliness, and was not afraid to have close associates disagree with him...in fact he welcomed alternative points of view. Truman understood, as any good executive at any level understands, that in order to make the best decisions one must have as much information as one can reasonably assemble. One rarely, if ever, gets all the evidence before one can make a judgment, but if one does not act with at least the best evidence available one risks being 'blind-sided'. Being 'blind-sided' by events is one of the treacherous possibilities in any presidency. With the management style of Disgustus, relying exclusively on façade, and preempting nearly all criticisms, Disgustus runs the risk of being blind-sided by major events.

One of these was Hurricane Maria and its impact on Puerto Rico. Disgustus, as ever, rejects the facts on the ground, calling his performance extraordinary. Disgustus is always giving himself excellent grades regardless of the outcome. Only in his 'paper-doll' world can throwing paper towels to the afflicted paper over the suffering. Armed with his own set of 'alternative facts', he spins an 'alternative universe' that is becoming, by degrees, increasingly disconnected from the real world.

In this disconnect lie the underpinnings of looming disaster. Disgustus is no lion. Disgustus is no paper lion. Disgustus is a paper towel—in search of the next mess on the floor.

“An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison.

September 12, 2018: As The Worm Turns, Something's Amiss, The Curse is Cast

In a Gallup poll, taken between August 27^th and September 2^nd respondents were asked the two following questions regarding their opinions of the Russian and sex scandals swirling about the head of Disgustus.

Under the heading: “Something's Amiss” the first question was: Which of these statements best describes your view of Trump and Russian officials' involvement with his 2016 campaign?

What Trump did was....

Illegal---29%

Not illegal, but unethical—27%

Nothing seriously wrong—35%

No opinion—9%

The second question was: Which of these best describes your view of Trump and two women to whom money was paid during his 2016 presidential campaign?

What Trump did was...

Illegal—31%

Not illegal, but unethical—37%

Not anything seriously wrong—23%

No opinion—9% (1)

After giving due allowance for the nation's usual preoccupation with tits and ass, not to mention pornography, the data here suggesting that slightly more people view the pay-for-sex scandal as illegal compared to conspiring with a foreign adversary to rig a national election may be a bit misleading. Nevertheless, there is cause for concern—if not outright panic—in the White House.

Fully 56 percent of those polled think that the Russian scandal involves either unethical or outright illegal activity; while only 35 percent think that nothing seriously wrong transpired. One must keep in mind Robert Kennedy's astute observation that 25 percent of the people are against anything at any given moment; that is, a quarter of the population can never be brought to see the light. By this measure Disgustus, as his behavior regarding Russia is concerned, is withing ten percentage points of rock bottom.

The Sex scandal, of course, has a higher negative reading with fully 68 percent of the American people saying that the hush-money is either illegal or unethical. What catches the eye, however, is that a mere 23 percent now say that nothing was seriously wrong with the payments. This is two percentage points below the political 'Mendoza Line', depths heretofore thought to be, like the Marianas Trench, unreachable.

This quick snap-shot, taken at the end of August, was followed by subsequent polling broadcast on MSNBC this week showing that Disgustus, in the last month, has lost 8 percent Republican support, and has hemorrhaged a full 16 percent among independents.

Much is made of how the knuckle-dragging base of the Rescumlickan Party supports Disgustus. His support among Rescumlickans is at about 82 percent. But it 82 percent of a dwindling number, the party having hemorrhaged over six million members since he took office. Indeed independents outnumber both major political parties and it quickly follows that it is among the independents that elections will be decided.

“The line it is drawn

the curse it is cast

for the slow one now

will later be fast

and the present now

will later be past

the order is

rapidly fadin'.

And the first one now

will later be last

for the times they are a-changin'.

                     ---Bob Dylan “The Times They Are A-Changin” (2)

Perhaps the worm has turned. Perhaps Disgustus can feel the concrete beginning to set up about his feet as public disgust solidifies into outright contempt. America is beginning to see what Disgustus sees every time he looks into the mirror—a disgusting, petty and venal little man who defiles everything he touches.

“An' Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison.

______________

1. The New York Times. Monday, September 10, 2018. Page A23
2. Op Cit

September 11, 2018: Sabotage of ObamaCare, Violating His Oath, Impeachable Offenses

“From the moment he took office, President Trump has used all aspects of his executive power to sabotage the Affordable Care Act. He has issued executive orders, directed agencies to come up with new rules and used the public platform of the presidency in a blatant attempt to undermine the law. Indeed, he has repeatedly bragged about doing so, making statements like, 'Essentially, we are getting rid of Obamacare”.

In an opinion piece published by The New York Times, University of Michigan law professor Nicholas Bagley and Abbe R. Gluck, professor of law at Yale, detail the efforts by Disgustus to blatantly “attempt to undermine the law”. (1)

The president takes an oath prescribed in Article II of the Constitution to faithfully execute the laws of the land.

“Faithfully executing the laws requires the president to act in good faith. It does not countenance the deliberate sabotage of an act of congress. Put bluntly:” Bagley and Gluck assert, “Mr. Trump's assault on Obamacare is illegal. (2)

The assault on Obamacare by Disgustus and his minions has received some public profile, foremost the elimination of the requirement to have insurance or pay a penalty. This move threatens Affordable Care because it, on balance, frees the young and the healthy from having to participate leaving an older and less healthy pool of people in the system which, consequently, drives up health care insurance premiums. But he has done much more than that. In fact the actions by Disgustus have been nothing less that a repeated, persistent 'full-court press' to beat down the legacy of Obama by circumventing the law using whatever means at hand.

“Among Mr. Trump's first acts in office was to issue an executive order instructing his agencies 'to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation of' any part of the Affordable Care Act that they could. That order has prompted a series of administrative actions aimed at undermining the law.

“To make it harder for people to enroll in Obamacare plans, for example, the administration shortened the enrollment period on the health care exchanges from three months to six weeks; cut 90 percent of the funding that the exchanges had used to advertise open enrollment; and slashed the funding available to groups that help people navigate the complex enrollment process.

“To sow chaos in the insurance markets, Mr. Trump toyed for nine months with the idea of eliminating a crucial funding stream for Obamacare known as cost-sharing payments. After he cut off those funds, he boasted that Obamacare was 'being dismantled'.

“When Congress declined to repeal the Affordable Care Act, as Mr. Trump had requested, he said he was taking on that job himself: 'So we're going a little different route.'

“This month, the Trump administration dealt what may be its biggest blow yet to the insurance markets. In a new rule, it announced that insurers will have more latitude to sell 'short-term' health plans that are exempt from the Affordable Care Act's rules. These plans were designed to provide people insurance for small gaps in coverage, like those created when switching jobs. They had previously been limited to three months.

“Under Mr. Trump's new rule, however, such plans can last for 364 days and can be renewed for up to three years. That rule joins an earlier one that allowed businesses to join together to create 'association health plans' that also evade the Affordable Care Act's strictures. In effect, these rules are creating a cheap form of 'junk' coverage that does not have to meet the higher standards of Obamacare. This sort of splintering of the insurance markets is not allowed under the Affordable Care Act as Congress drafted it

“The Trump administration's goal is not only to weaken the Affordable Care Act but to also trick the public into thinking, as opponents of the law like to say, that Obamacare is 'collapsing under its own weight.' Let's be clear: If the Affordable Care Act collapses, it is because the president demolished it.”(3)

This is not only a violation of his oath of office constituting a “derogation of constitutional duties”, but, as Bagley and Gluck also point out, it is an “unconstitutional usurpation of power” (4).

Oh, if only we had sent Nixon off in chains to the fate he so richly deserved. If only we had strung Reagan up by his thumbs as he openly worried the people might do if they discovered to what they conspired in the Oval Office—trading arms for hostages and, in the process but taking monies paid for weapons and funding the Nicaraguan 'Contras”, thus violating the Bolen Amendment which made such support at the time illegal. Not only that but by so funding the “Contras” the Reagan Administration was guilty of circumventing the Congressional prerogative regarding funding. All appropriations are to originate in the House of Representatives. Funding a clandestine terrorist operation without congressional approval or oversight is a violation of the constitution, a violation for which Reagan should have had hell to pay. The fact that both of these scoundrels were let off lightly—Nixon with a pardon and Reagan with an unwillingness of the Democrats to press the issue—have led to some rather ugly consequences.

I'll say it again: If Nixon would have been led off in chains, Ollie North and Iran Contra would very likely not have happened. If Nixon had been tried for treason because of his sabotage of the Paris Peace Conference in 1968, Reagan's treason regarding the hostages in 1980 and Disgustus' treason with the Russians in 2016 would likely not have happened.

And, indeed, this total lack of good faith, these blatant acts to circumvent and sabotage an act of Congress which, in a republic, is the expressed will of the people— would also not likely have come to pass. But now we are presented with not only violations of his oath of office but an unconstitutional usurpation's of power. This time we cannot let them stand.

“An' Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison

_______________

1. Bagley, Nicholas and Gluck, Abbe R. “Trump's Illegal Sabotage of Obamacare” The New York Times. Wednesday, August 15, 2018. Page A21
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.