January 20, 2019: Blood Wolf Moon, Age of Disgustus, No End In Sight.

"If the impeachment provision in the Constitution was not written for our Caesar Disgustus, then for whom?; and if the time to act is not now, then when?"
            --from "The Quotations of Chairman Joe"

Tonight as we witness one of the astronomical anomalies, a blood wolf moon, the nation suffers its second anniversary marking the “Age of Disgustus”. As the “Blood Moon” passes over a nation held hostage, it is long past time that the “Generation of Swine” take stock of the damage done.

It has been a month now, with no end in sight. Good governance, if not the national interest and common decency, require an urgent end to this madness. But to do so will require that we dump tRUMP.

“There's a strong case for waiting for the 2020 election”, (1) opined Michael Tomasky in The New York Times, a position echoed by former Democratic Congressman Barney Frank on the season's premier of Bill Maher's show late last week. He wasn't minimizing the principle, that the impeachment process was written with Donald J. tRUMP entirely in mind.  Tomasky was making the case that his removal from office by the voters would be seen as more 'legitimate', and inflict heavy electoral damage upon the Rescumlickan party in the bargain.

There is a case to made for this, but it overlooks a couple of salient points, the first of which is iterated by the quotation above from the Chairman. The fact is that the 'boomers' had made a mockery of impeachment in the 90's, not that our ancestors, in the Andrew Johnson imbroglio, hadn't done likewise. Remember, it was our fathers who moved to impeach Nixon, the electoral representation of the Generation of Swine was by then only half way toward full dominance. That is, the republic had, by the early to mid-seventies, swallowed only about half the rat. It was the nineties that gave us full-throated 'boomerism' when the likes of Clinton and Gingrich rose to power. And, true to form, we were 'entertained' with a political farce known as the “Clinton Scandals”; a seemingly unending demonstration of moral turpitude and lack of political as well as personal judgment; none of which rose to the level of the occasion; but all of which stunk up the public square—a stench that lingers to this day. Ergo: Benghazi and the missing emails.

It was the usual performance one has come to expect from the “Boomers”, who consistently get their kickers in a knot over nothing but let serious high crimes and misdemeanors go unpunished, if not unnoticed.

This, of course leads us to our present conundrum. How do we dump tRUMP?

First, it is important to understand that Disgustus will not go lightly into that good cell. No, the king-hell boar will go kicking and squealing, claiming that the office will have been stolen. This response has been amply demonstrated. In 2016, following suggestions by his Russian handlers, he laid down the gauntlet, openly declaring that he would recognize the electoral returns only if he won; that the election was being rigged; and that he would challenge any result that did not give him his god-given office and authority. This arrogance was further underscored in 2018 when the Rescumlickans openly questioned election recounts in Georgia and Florida as recounts were being done, even though their candidates were then in the lead and the outcome looked entirely favorable. The destruction of democratic norms demonstrate that there are no Nixon's, not to mention Al Gore's, men who put the republic ahead of party, present in the current cesspool that is the modern ReSCUMlickan Party.

Disgustus will squeal no matter how the coup de grace is administered.

To venture down the road of impeachment promises, then, to restore the legitimacy of this constitutional remedy and, incidentally, serve as warning to any future chief executive. It represents a last chance of the Generation of Swine to achieve at least a measure of self-respect.

Yes, I know, the chances of conviction in the Senate are slim, and the failure to convict and remove would be seen as a cleansing agent, seemingly removing the tar from our intrepid Br'er Fox. But this depends upon how this is done.

I am struck, at this point, by the fact that it has been a nearly a month since the Democrats have taken control of the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees and there have been no hearings on what everyone knows has to receive a thorough public airing. And the clock is ticking, for we do not want this to drag into next year. A resolution on Disgustus must come, and it must come quickly.

The dragnet must bring up this rogue's gallery  of bottom feeders before the kleig lights and grill them on the barbie. We must hold hearings and we must do it soon.

Secondly, each committee must forego the urge of members to engage in the questioning, for this will lead to grandstanding. Instead, each committee must leave questioning to appointed legal counsel where the likes of Manafort, Cohen, Gates, et.al., would suffer the inquisition by interrogators who, in a subdued monotone, would simply keep to the script. “Just the facts, Ma'am”, as Jack Webb's Joe Friday would say.

In this way day by day, on national television, the nation will witness just how corrupt is this administration. A thoroughgoing probe, beginning with the Russian connections and then branching into related subjects like Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' connections and corruptions, and then down through the cabinet and former cabinet members. As the curtain is pulled back to reveal the cheap carnival barker turned “Wizard of Oz”, the fraud that is our Disgustus will become evident to all but the most hopelessly deluded. His impeachment and conviction will achieve the legitimacy it deserves and the luster of the constitutional remedy will be restored.

And, as the probes continue it is certain that Rescumlican senators up for re-election will begin to feel the heat and join others in disowning this national embarrassment.

It is going to be dicey in any case, for Disgustus is no statesman. He will not resign, except to save his fortune and keep himself and his family from the penitentiary. We cannot allow this. It is time for this nation to see the chief political scoundrel, as well as his enablers, frog-marched from the corridors of power into long-awaiting confinement. This will have a salutary effect upon the nation, for it will restore confidence in the rule of law as justice  is visited upon the heads of the mighty.

We are not heading into a constitutional crisis. We have long been in one, for this marks the second anniversary of the national nightmare that is Donald J. tRUMP and all that he represents. If we fail to impeach and convict then another precedent will have been set, one that all of us are likely to rue. If Donald tRUMP cannot invoke the constitutional remedy then impeachment is no remedy at all. 

As we move to openly investigate, Disgustus, ever more paranoid and unhinged, is likely to do anything. We, as a nation, can recoil at the prospect or we can see it as an opportunity to restore the institutional norms intended by our forebears; that is re-establish meaningful and effective checks between the branches of government. I suggest that once this crisis reaches critical mass that responsible heads move to impose serious restrictions on presidential authority.

First, pertaining to the power the presidency has taken upon itself over command of the armed forces. Yes, the president is commander-in-chief, but this has been construed to mean that he can launch, on his own authority, offensive actions anywhere in the world; and, given the recent use of the armed forces during this fake crisis on the border at our last election, this aggrandizement of authority is being extended to the unchecked use of military force within the country as well.

The Congress needs to use this crisis to redefine this role by using the war power provision of the Constitution to restore some balance. Congress should act and declare that no use of the military will be undertaken unless Congress makes an open declaration of war or hostility. That is, the Congress should construe its sole authority to declare war to include any hostile action, leaving the president only the power to react to an overt attack upon the United States. The Congress should also construe this power to include the use of force against any domestic insurrection. In this day and age, the Congress can be quickly gathered for such response, or the body could be gathered electronically in order to provide authorization.

Secondly, the Congress should, in a bipartisan declaration, serve notice to the courts that if they overrule this legislation a judge or justice so ruling would be immediately impeached.

Third, the Legislative branch needs to gain more control of the Judiciary. Judges, including Supreme Court justices, should be appointed for fixed terms, say 6 years. Long enough to overlap presidential terms, but often enough for the Congress to exercise effective 'judicial review'. This would prevent the country from being saddled with the likes of Clarence Thomas and Antony Scalia leaving justice waiting in the wings until they mercifully pass on.

Fourth, as a further restraint upon the executive, the Senate and the Senate Judiciary Committee needs to establish the doctrine that the Constitutional provision that the role of the Senate is one of “advise and consent” when it comes to judicial nominees, is not one of tacit consent. Instead the Senate should present the executive with a list of nominees from which the president can choose. This would fall under a useful and workable definition of 'advise'. Any other names sent up to the hill for consideration would be dead on arrival.

It seems to me that these measures would breathe new life into the Constitution by reinvigorating the separation of powers by the assertion of the Congress in the balance. This way the renegade actions demonstrated in the ever-reemerging imperial presidency as well as an overly activist Supreme Court, would be brought into check and balance.

It is unlikely that the Democrats, judging from the remarks of Congressman Frank and others on the panel of Maher's show, will rise to the occasion. It is even more unlikely that the Rescumlickan Party, itself up to it's eyebrows in treachery and treason, will find it's spine. Of course, the chances of that are less than that tomorrow will bring another blood wolf moon.

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

Impeach and Imprison.

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1. Tomasky, Michael. “What's the Best Way to Dump Trump?” The New York Times. Monday, January 14, 2018. Page A24