February 20, 2020: Scrubbing History, Rot Runs Deep, Fundamental Hygiene

In an essay published in The New York Times, Matthew Connelly warns that the National Archives is currently scrubbing the historical record. It was bad enough, writes Connelly, that the Archives found itself embroiled in a scandal in which photos of the Women's March had been doctored, but the rot seems to have gone much deeper. (1)

Connelly writes that “(T)his is only the latest example of a growing threat to our nation's capacity to protect and learn from history. The press and public have focused on the immediate, obvious problems, like this president's exaggerated claims of executive privilege and national security to conceal information. But less appreciated is the fact that vital information is being deleted or destroyed, so that no one—neither the press and government watchdogs today, nor historians tomorrow—will have a chance to see it.” (2)

Our Caesar Disgustus has long made it a practice, Connelly points out, to tear up notes on meetings and bury transcripts and other records. The recent example of deep-sixing telephone transcripts, the failure to keep White House appointment and telephone logs are notorious examples, as are tearing up notes and records, all violations—as Connelly notes—of the Presidential Records Act. This was another act made into law by Congress in the wake of Watergate to prevent another cover-up. But, like so many other laws passed by Congress to protect us from national scandal and abuses of power (the 1974 act preventing the President from thwarting the will of the Congress as to how money is to be spent, the 1924 act requiring the President to produce his tax returns to duly authorized committees of Congress, both measures passed in wake of scandal) this is just another nuisance brushed aside by our golden swine.

But the rot seeps out of the White House at it makes its way into the sinews of governance. And here the rather nondescript offices of The National Archives—yes The National Archives—come into scrutiny.

Evidently, a document released in 2017 revealed that “Archivists had agreed that officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement could delete or destroy documents detailing the sexual abuse and death of undocumented immigrants. Tens of thousands of people posted critical comments, and dozens of senators and representatives objected. The National Archives made some changes to the plan, but last month it announced that ICE could start destroying records from Mr. Trump's first year, including detainees' complaints about civil rights violations and shoddy medical care.” (3)

Rest assured there is more. The Interior Department and the Archives “have decided to delete files on endangered species, offshore drilling inspections and the safety of drinking water. The Interior Department even claimed that papers from a case where it mismanaged Native American land and assets—resulting in a multibillion-dollar legal settlement—would be of no interest to future historians (or anyone else). Virtually all the papers of the undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and environment are also being designated ass 'temporary.

It is hard to know why the government is not holding on to records about antidumping efforts, or the protection of intellectual property, which fall under the new temporary status. It is perhaps easier to understand why the Trump administration wants to delete other records from the under secretary's office, including documents regarding the enforcement (or non-enforcement) of 'health, safety and environmental laws'” (4)

There has been little, if any Congressional oversight. “Not so much as a Congressional hearing”. (5) Indeed, the State Department is planning to cut out archivists altogether, going instead to some computerized algorithm to decide what is “historical” and what isn't.

“Going forward,” writes Connelly, “it is not even planning to turn these records over to the National Archives—a clear violation of the Federal Records Act. (6)

Like everything else tRUMPian, this has been a development some time in the making. The CIA has turned over less than 10 per cent of it's records according to Connelly, and is providing less and less compliance as time goes on; and, given its record, this is deeply troubling.

What's driving this is, in Connelly's view, is both the volume of records and the unwillingness to fund the record keeping. In 1985, for instance, there were 13 million records. Now there are more than 21 billion. But the National Archives, Connelly notes, has few employees now than it had in 1985, and Congress continues to cut it's budget as it has for the last three years.

Indeed, it has become so bad that the National Archives has announced that it will no longer maintain any more presidential libraries.

Every organization rots from the head down. The ship of state is so dysfunctional that even fundamental housekeeping is being abandoned. What was once an imposing Man-of-War has been hollowed out and transformed into a garbage scow. With Caesar Disgustus now firmly at the helm, the rot—at increased speed—is spreading over the deck into every nook and crevice. Yes, the failure to observe elementary hygiene has produced a stench now fouling every port-of call, the nation and every foreign capital. The rot runs deep, threatening the very historical record.

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

Impeach and Imprison.

_____________

1. Connelly, Matthew. “Closing the Court of History” The New York Times. Wednesday, February 5, 2020. Page A27.
2. Ibid
3. ibid
4. ibid
5. ibid
6. ibid

February 19, 2020: The Federal Purse, To Faithfully Execute, Capricious and Arbitrary

Melissa Quinn, of CBS News, is reporting that the Pentagon official responsible for certifying that Ukraine had complied with federal guidelines, is being removed from his post. (1) According to Quinn, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, acting on instructions from the White House, has requested the resignation of John Rood because, according to a reporter from Bloomberg News the White House had lost confidence in Rood's ability to carry out the president's *(I) agenda.

Translated it means that Rood, who signed off on Ukraine's campaign to fight corruption, had been the one who sanctioned the sending of assistance that our Caesar Disgustus wanted to withhold. By demonstrating that the government in Kiev had complied with Congressional requirements the withholding of such aid would be a violation of the 1974 law prohibiting the president*(I) from sequestering duly appropriated funds and unilaterally deciding how much would be spent and for what purposes. This was a law, passed in the wake of Watergate, that re-asserted the constitutional prerogative of Congress to control the federal purse; a function, which if infringed, would neuter the the power of the legislative branch of government.

Rood had determined that Ukraine had complied with all the requirements laid out by Congress in order to receive the 391 million dollars in assistance and that, therefore, the funds must be dispersed. This caused much consternation as memo's circulated at the highest levels, including among the agency heads and the various inspector general's that withholding these funds violated the law. Accordingly, the action to withhold, until September of last year as the action by our Caesar was about to become public, became the basis of the impeachment probe; a point lost in the ensuing prosecution. Yes, our Caesar Disgustus had violated law, had failed to faithfully execute the law, and had violated his oath of office by failure to do so. Case closed.

But the Senate refused to fulfill it's responsibility and remove the swine, instead granting him carte Blanche to run riot. And this is precisely what he has done in the week since his 'vindication.'. Vindication has brought vindictiveness'; not repentance, nor remorse. In the week since the Senate turned its back on justice he has removed Col. Vindman for his testimony giving lie to the 'perfect' call with President Zelensky, as well as Vindman's brother from his White House post. He has removed ambassador Sondland for his role in describing how 'everyone was in the loop', demonstrating not only that a million dollar contribution to this White House will get you and ambassadorship, but that it won't be enough to protect you if truth be told. Disgustus is hell-bent on scrubbing the White House of anyone who dares speak truth to power.

And, as to demonstrate how he can act capriciously and arbitrarily, Disgustus yesterday commuted the sentences of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, pardoned junk-bond king Michael Milken and several others. The common denominator seems to be clemency for those prosecuted by James Comey's team at the F.B.I., and convicted of white collar crimes. All this was done in the dead of night, without the customary review procedure. Capricious and arbitrary, doing it not because it is right and just, but because he can.

Moscow Mitch and his cohorts have not chastened the adolescent in the White House. They have simply taught him what he can do. And so, Disgustus, ever the vandal, continues to deface everything within reach.

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

Impeach and Imprison

_________________

1. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-ousts-top-pentagon-official-who-signed-off-on-ukraine-aid

February 12, 2020: The Granite State, Bernie Bashing, O.K. Boomer

Yesterday was election day in the state of New Hampshire. As the good citizens of the granite state went to the polls, in the first in the nation primary election, to choose delegates to their respective national conventions, the excitement was palpable. Seeking signs of the times, MSNBC's Ari Melber left his studio desk in search of tea leaves. Happening upon a cafe in Manchester, New Hampshire, he fell upon a lady who had just cast her ballot. When he asked her which candidate she voted for she told him Bernie Sanders.

Melber asked her why Bernie?, to which she responded that she had considered voting for others, and was about to cast her ballot for someone else, but the vituperation directed at Bernie and his supporters on MSNBC had made the decision for her. You see, she informed the MSNBC host, she watches the 'network' all the time, demonstrating her liberal bona fides. But she felt that Bernie was being unfairly treated and, in protest, voted for him.

Indeed he has. As Sanders, recovering from a heart attack last fall, has risen in the polls, the reaction at the so-called megaphone of the American 'left', has been near apocalyptic. The panel on “Morning Joe” hosted by former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough, is routinely disparaging of Sanders, his platform and his followers. The 'round table' discussions, when they turn to Sanders at all, routinely tell the audience that Bernie can't win and that his nomination would surely give our Caesar Disgustus four more years. Throughout the day, former Clinton minions are dragged out to complain about the “Bernie Bros” who, they maintain, are the core of his supporters.  Doctrinaire idiologues, white, hostile, young males: unreasonable, unable to compromise and in search of political mischief. He has no support among 'people of color' they complain. He cannot possibly win. Last week they dragged out the aging James Carville, the Louisiana hound who has spent his life under the Clinton's front porch. Carville, predictably, pronounced his 'judgment' that Bernie is a prescription for disaster, telling his audience that the best candidate in the field is Senator Bennet, who, after last night's showing, has now bowed out of the race. So much for the prognostications of Bill Clinton's old political brain. O.K. Boomer. So 20^th century. 

This is what happens when a generation is raised reading Ayn Rand and Orwell's Animal Farm not knowing that Rand collected her Social Security and Orwell was a Socialist. 

Then there is Chris Matthews, whose “Hardball” program has become a veritable platform for Bernie Bashing. After the Iowa results, which Bernie won, and looking down the barrel of the polls coming not only from New Hampshire, but Nevada, California and the rest of the 'super Tuesday' contests, Matthews went into full panic. “If someone were to fall by the side of the road”, he asked his audience, “who do you think would stop and help? I can see Biden do it. Warren? Maybe. I can't see Bernie doing it, can you? When presented video of Bernie responding to people in his audience collapsing and his running from the podium to their assistance, Matthews retracted. Yes he retracted, momentarily, only to assert with a straight face a few nights later that Bernie, like some Commissar would have no problems rounding people up in central park and shooting them. 

"And don't criticize 
what you can't understand"    \
            ----Bob Dylan The Times They Are A-Changin

What causes this hysteria is the word 'socialism', which in less troubled times and among less troubled minds, is quickly defended. Hosts on MSNBC have defended socialism, Lawrence O'Donnell among them, rightly pointing out that Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment benefits, workers-compensation, education and transportation spending, farm subsidies, and hundreds of other programs are a form of socialism. But for Matthews and his ilk, card-carrying members of The Generation of Swine, the mere mention of the word is enough for them to soil themselves. O.K. Boomer.

The smear of Sanders is nearly complete on the very media that should be rushing to his defense and trumpeting his success. The fact is that Sanders' support is hardly limited to “Bernie's Bros”. Indeed, his support in the black community is second only to Biden's. And, with Joe's support among blacks down 22% in the week following the Iowa debacle, South Carolina no longer looks like a refuge. Further, Sanders has more support among Latino's than any other candidate further giving lie to the charge that Sanders support is strong but inelastic. Moreover, the very label “Bernie's Bros” is a slander, implying as it does a sexist taint. The fact is that more women than men under 35 support Sanders. The truth is that Bernie is building a diverse coalition of supporters that will carry him to convention and, perhaps, the nomination. In fact, Bernie finished first among blacks and Latino's in the New Hampshire primary.   Inconvenient facts that the talking heads on 'liberal' media find disconcerting.

MSNBC, CNN and the rest of the media chose to focus on the delegate count instead of the actual votes cast in Iowa, which gave Buttigieg the narrow 'lead', in essence robbing Sanders of his victory. The Mayor of South Bend achieved this because of the way the raw vote at each caucus was rounded up or down. For instance: let's say the jurisdiction would choose 6 delegates to the state convention. Bernie gets 2.48 and Buttigieg and Warren get 1.67 each. When the numbers are rounded, each is apportioned 2. So, when worked out state wide, you see how it is possible to win the popular vote and come in second in actual delegates.

So using the most favorable outcome for any challenger to Sanders—in this case Buttigieg—the media set upon the delegate count in order to report the result, declaring the Mayor the front-runner. Now, after New Hampshire they scurry about, like rats on a ship, seeking a way to diminish Sanders' victory by telling their audience that he got only half the support he had against Clinton 4 years ago, ignoring the fact that there are many more in the race and it is a much more divided field.

If you want to get the truth about Bernie you will have to look past the broadcast media which are, after all, corporate conglomerates. Bernie scares the hell out of them, and for good reason. Sanders is the one candidate in the race that isn't a corporate shill.

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

Impeach and Imprison

February 10, 2020: Pony Soldier, Dead Man Walking, Pick The Carcass

“You're a lying, dog-faced pony soldier”

              ----former Vice President Joe Biden

Yes, he said it. In a scene that has now 'gone viral', Joe Biden has once again insulted one who may very well have voted for him.

It has become an all-too-frequent occurrence out on the campaign trail as Biden, frustrated and angry, lashes out at those who brave the cold and the night to turn out and demonstrate their support.

That his supporters are now few and full of labor has cruelly revealed in last week's Iowa Caucus where the intrepid presidential wannabe is finding this campaign cycle the same as his two previous trips through the washing machine. The results are still being contested, with Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg in a virtual tie for first place, but the real story was the winnowing of the Democratic field that Iowa produces. In this case more than half a dozen presidential hopefuls had left the field before the first citizens showed up at caucus sites. Then Iowa delivered a near fatal blow to Biden and his rational for being in the race in the first place. With nearly all the votes counted, Biden is mired deep in fourth place in the Iowa results and the polls coming out of New Hampshire are not more encouraging.

The truth is that Biden a dead man walking. He is the ghost of the old DLC, a shadow of a figure about which the tattered remnants of the old order have chosen to rally about.

“And the first one now

will later be last
for the times they are a-changin”

The polls from New Hampshire have Biden running in a close third to Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and the Biden campaign is now in full panic mode. Staff has been reshuffled, ads have been pulled from Nevada and South Carolina, the candidate is running out of money as the big time donors his campaign relies upon are now hedging their bets.

Biden has never been a political thoroughbred, not the horse one would bet on at the derby, indeed not the kind of horse that has any business being at the track. His long congressional record, voting for the war in Iraq, supporting credit card companies, repeal of Glass-Steagal, pushing for cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, supporting the Telecommunications act of 1996, his deplorable handling of the Clarence Thomas hearings...not much of what he declares to be 'accomplishment' resonates with those who must vote to choose a standard-bearer of this party.

But all that is secondary to the overriding fact that Joe Biden is simply an awful candidate. To put it bluntly, he just isn't very good at campaigning.

There are many examples of Biden, when questioning his record, of telling those who have turned out to meet him to vote for someone else. There is a splendid little video of Biden calling a supporter a god-damned liar, when he had the temerity to ask the former Vice President, what his son was doing in Ukraine. Revealingly, Biden didn't answer the question. He simply cursed at the man in his audience and walked back toward the podium. It was an ugly scene.

This weekend, Biden, his campaign unraveling before his eyes, had this exchange with a woman from Georgia who, as a student, finds herself participating in the New Hampshire campaign. According to Yahoo News this exchange took place:

“Manchester (United States) (AFP) - Former US vice president Joe Biden drew criticism Sunday after he called a woman a "lying dog-faced pony soldier" at a campaign event in New Hampshire.
In an exchange that was widely shared on social media, 21-year-old Georgia college student Madison Moore asked the presidential hopeful to explain his poor performance in the Iowa caucus last week.

"It's a good question," replied Biden, whose status as national frontrunner for the Democratic nomination was shaken by a damaging fourth-place showing in Iowa's caucuses.
"Have you ever been to a caucus?" he asked the Mercer University student, who nodded.
"No, you haven't," Biden said. "You're a lying, dog-faced pony soldier."

Biden's campaign press secretary Remi Yamamoto tweeted the comment was a joke: "It's from a John Wayne movie and he's made it plenty of times before." (1)

As Moore pointed out, it doesn't matter if she had ever been to a caucus. Biden's campaign, as Clinton's before him is predicated on the proposition of electability. Nothing about his record recommends him to the assembled, he even fabricates a civil rights involvement more than fifty years ago that simply does not exist. Like Clinton, his only justification is electability, and that facade was shattered in Iowa.


Biden has always had a tin ear. He has always been out of sync with the Democratic electorate. He was the DLC before the Clinton's created the DLC. He has always been a Republican-in-drag who has never resonated. Now as he writhes in agony in the snows of New Hampshire, he lashes out at the dwindling few who come to bear witness to his passing. By South Carolina, he will be toast.


And, as the mossbacks of the party begin casting about for an alternative to Bernie Sanders, Mike Bloomberg waits in the wings ready to pick the carcass of Joe Biden clean. 

____________

1. https://news.yahoo.com/biden-jokingly-calls-woman-lying-145401374.html

February 7, 2020: Honor to Whitewash, Oh! Piss Boy!,, Bleating Sheep.

“Are you now, or have you every been, a member of the Democratic Party?”

It is readily apparent to even the most casual observer that the impeachment was a whitewash. Not since Tom Sawyer convinced his friend Ben Rogers that it was indeed an 'honor' to whitewash his Aunt Polly's picket fence have we seen such levitation of purpose.

Indeed, the chinless bastard convinced nearly his entire caucus that it is indeed an honor to whitewash the record for his aunt Polly. That would be the best face one could put upon this iniquity. More likely, a measure of duress was employed. More likely, fear and terror.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), appearing on The Rachel Maddow Show the week before the verdict, revealed that the entire Republican Caucus in the Senate lives in terror—not so much of tRUMP, whom they despise—but of the oligarchs who fund the Republican Party. What terrorizes them is not so much the threat of primary challenge—many of them won't face reelection until after Disgustus leaves office and several are retiring—but having the financial spigot turned off if they oppose the chinless bastard. The awful truth is that McConnell controls the money donated to Senate campaigns by the Billionaires—the Mercers, the Adelsons, the Kochs of this world. Republican Senators are terrorized not only by the vituperation of Fixed Noise and hate radio, but that they will be left twisting in the wind, penniless, like homeless vagabonds. And, since they have little indigenous support among the rank-and-file of their party, they have nowhere to turn. They are simple water-carriers for their paymasters, piss-boys as it were tending the urgent needs of the aristocracy as they stroll their manicured domain, posing as actors of substance—indeed posing as the very representatives of the nation.

“Oh Piss Boy!” the aristocrat calls out, as in some Mel Brooks comedy, and they come running—chamber pot in hand.

Terror. The reign of terror. Disgustus holding court in the East Room, ranting and railing against his adversaries, threatening revenge. Disgustus at the White House Prayer Breakfast venting his spleen. Everyone watching nervously, everyone looking straight ahead, not knowing how to react. Muffled laughter snakes through the room as it scurries out the door. Everyone terrorized that they will react inappropriately and become the object of King Midas' scorn.

Watching the scenes unfold as Disgustus attempts his victory laps, one is reminded of the obscene demonstrations of servility displayed in his first cabinet meeting where each department head was called upon to display undying gratitude for his beneficence and undying loyalty to his person; each in turn pledging fealty to the sovereign, each prostrate before the Golden Swine.

Images of Iraq also leap to mind, the Iraqi Parliament in terror as Saddam Hussein speaks, nobody wants to be seen not applauding, each trying to outdo the other in demonstrations of support as members are being hauled out before their eyes never to be seen again. Flash now to the East Room of the White House as grown men and women drawn into a pit of terror, with Disgustus orchestrating and feeding on the fear, in full-throated rage, as he threatens retribution.

“Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Democratic Party?”

This is how you castrate manliness. This is how you create a nation of bleating sheep. This is how you destroy a republic.

An Br'er Putin, he just laugh and laugh.

Impeach and Imprison

February 6, 2020: Justice Be Damned, Pre-existing Factions, Congressional Failure,

“In many cases it [impeachment] will connect itself with the pre-existing factions, all will enlist all their animosities, partialities, influence, and interest on one side or on the other; and in such cases there will always be the greatest danger that the decision will be regulated more by the comparative strength of parties than by the real demonstrations of innocence or guilt.”

        ----Alexander Hamilton Federalist No. 65

The founders, as noted in previous posts (1), were no wild-eyed idealists. They understood the passions of men and were fully aware that should, in cases as these, the Senate fail in its responsibilities, to be the 'deliberative' body that it was clearly intended to be, then the institutions would fail.

Several Republican Senators famously announced their verdict before the proceedings even began. All of them voted against bringing witnesses or additional materials before the body before the opening arguments. All but two voted against hearing witnesses or admitting further evidence after the opening arguments. Only Senators Romney of Utah and Collins of Maine voted with the Democrats and Independents (there are two independent United States Senators), to admit further testimony or evidence, and Collins only did it because she got permission from the slack-jawed, chinless bastard heading her caucus. McConnell had the votes and he could afford to let Collins, who is facing fierce backlash for her equivocations, vote to save her political ass. Collins is a towering example of a profile in cowardice.

Murkowski of Alaska is another matter. She openly declared that she would vote against any continuation of the proceeding because it wouldn't make any difference; that the Senate had made up its mind. In what stands as perhaps the most stark revelation she declared—without any sense of irony—that she would sweep the whole mess under the rug because the Congress had failed.

Yes, the Congress has failed and she is one big reason why. It was the Republican minority in the House and the Republican majority in the Senate that kept justice from being visited upon the head of our Caesar Disgustus. Had they been faithful to their oaths to render impartial justice, as well as to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, the outcome would have been much more bipartisan and the fate of our Scum-In-Chief, much more in doubt. But they shamelessly violated both oaths as well as the public trust in their headlong effort to maintain their tenuous hold on political power.

The damage done to the constitution by this act of acquittal is demonstrable. The Congress is declaring, in effect, that the President*(I) can hold the Congress in open contempt; that he is no longer required to account to the people, and that he can spend appropriations however he wishes, no longer bound by the heretofore constitutional power of the House of Representatives to determine spending.

Once again, damage has been done to our institutions, as Congress is here declaring itself to be a subordinate branch of government—a rubber-stamp—an idea that had no currency at the Constitutional Convention. With these acts of acquittal, and with the process that bought it about, the Republican Party has declared itself above the constitution; that the power of the executive extends absolutely throughout the upper chamber of the Congress, which, one may recall, was evidenced by McConnell declaring at the onset that the majority would be walking in lock-step with Disgustus, that, in effect, the White House would be directing the proceeding. This is a violation of not only the letter but the spirit of the constitution. What has happened is that the Congress, acting with nearly unanimous Republican votes have voted to give massive power to the executive; acts reminiscent of the Roman Senate and the Reichstag in creating historical Caesars. What transpired was the hollowing out of the people's Congress, now representing the people in name only. What transpired was Hamilton's worst nightmare: the failure of Congress to deliberate creating the ascendancy of executive power.

Once again, serious damage has been done to our constitution. Once again serious damage has been done to our institutions. Once again, The Generation of Swine have been tested and found wanting...The Republican Party has now declared itself to be the voice of the people, has declared itself to be the nation; a mantle that our Caesar Disgustus will soon declare to be his own.

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

Impeach and Imprison.

_____________

1. See previous post: “January 4, 2020: Hamilton on Impeachments, Federalist No. 65,

No Illusions”, for a discussion on the subject of impeachments.

February 5, 2020: Your Father's Romney, From The Shadows, His Father's Son

“Romney wrestled with his conscience and his conscience won”.

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

It was a desperate struggle, and by all accounts a close thing. But in the end, the inner soul of the Mormon from Utah finally pinned 'Mitt' to the mat. Mitt Romney then rose and stood in the well of the senate and announced that he would be the first Senator in the history of this republic to vote to convict a sitting president of his own party. At long last, the well-greased weather vane had found true truth, and it was a majestic sight to see.

Willard 'Mitt' Romney is the former Governor of Massachusetts and now Republican Senator from Utah. He is also the son of former Governor of Michigan, George Romney. George came to national prominence as the Chairman and CEO of American Motors which, in the late 1950's, was the third largest manufacturer of automobiles in the United States. He parlayed that profile into a political career, first leading the convention that re-wrote the Michigan constitution and then becoming Governor of the state by defeating the Democratic incumbent in 1962. By 1968 he was serving his third term when he announced that he would seek the Republican presidential nomination. At the time he was considered to be the most serious challenger to former Vice President Richard Nixon. He had the backing of Nelson Rockefeller and the 'eastern establishment'. He was rightly seen as a heavyweight contender for the nomination.

Then, a reporter asked him about Viet Nam. He had growing doubts about the war and didn't see it ending soon. He didn't accept that the 'corner had been turned', that there was 'light at the end of the tunnel.' He responded not with the stock soundbites of assurance, nor the call for greater military action but instead told the nation that he had been misled; that he had been 'brainwashed' by the war hawks, diplomatic establishment and the pentagon. The remark, genuine and true, provoked a firestorm of ridicule and drove him from the national stage. But in the aftermath, there has always been this nagging doubt that weren't we all brainwashed?

George Romney always had the courage of his convictions. He knew when he said it what the response would be. The country lifted the word brainwashed from it's context and a firestorm of ridicule ensued. His best defense was that it was an unfortunate choice of words, but what other words would have sufficed? Had he said that he was misled made any difference? For the nation asked, incredulously, how can a man who has been brainwashed be president? Asking the same question by substituting the word 'misled' would hardly have made a difference.

You see, George Romney knew that to speak the truth required that the truth be confronted. There is no way to sugarcoat it. One must recognize when mistakes have been made. There are political risks involved, especially on the high wire of presidential politics. But George decided, in the wake of The Tet Offensive, to do the honorable thing. He declared that he had been misled.

George's son Willard, now known as 'Mitt', witnessed the calumny visited upon his father's head. He saw up close the cost of principle. He knows the vituperation and abuse that will almost certainly follow.  He had  watched the firestorm consume his father's career; he watched helplessly as his father was driven from the forum. Nevertheless, George has cast a long shadow, for as the din of battle receded a nagging doubt emerged that perhaps all of us were misled, perhaps we all had been brainwashed.

For each of us it is a long journey to emerge from the shadows cast by our fathers, to stand outside the comforting shade of convention, to find ourselves alone in the sunlight.

At long last, 'Mitt' has emerged from beneath the shadow of his father: a man who refused on principle to embrace the madness of Aynn Rand fictions and throw his arms around Goldwater; a man who campaigned on principle against the troglodytes of his own party in order to fashion a platform upon which he could govern his home state of Michigan; a man who could on principle admit a mistake and further admit that he could be and was misled on Viet Nam knowing that ridicule awaited; A man who could on principle put the interests of the polity ahead of personal ambition. George Romney was a statesman, his son a mere politician.

Until today. As Mitt struggled with himself his conscience whispered “what would your father do?” and therein Willard knew his answer. Today, 'Mitt' found his bearings and moved out of the shadow. Today, 'Mitt' became his father's son.

It is and will remain an act of extraordinary valor; an act for which he should and will be long venerated. To date we have had three impeachments and hundreds of votes for and against removing a president from office. Mitt Romney stands alone as the only Senator to oppose his own party and vote to convict. In a process wherein the Generation of Swine once again vandalizes our constitution and the institutions that it created, Mitt Romney stands alone, a true profile in courage.

Willard is your father's Romney. It wasn't the voice of his conscience or his god that he heard as he struggled. It was the voice of his father whispering in his ears.  George would be proud of his son.

February 3, 2020: Time Has Come, Democratic Mossbacks,Iowa Can Choose

The time has come. Tonight Democrats gather at over 1600 locations throughout the state of Iowa to begin choosing delegates to the next Democratic National Convention. By most polls, Bernie Sanders has a slight edge, followed by Biden, Buttigieg and Warren and Klobuchar.

The caucus is a strange animal. It is not the same as going to the polls, casting your vote and going home. You must commit to caucus: be prepared to spend several hours in which you go to a designated place in your area and literally stand with your friends and neighbors who support your candidate. You must publicly demonstrate your support.

Then, if your candidate does not reach a threshold of 15 percent of those present, you can either go home or shift your support to someone else. Joe Biden is hoping, against all hope, that perhaps Mayor Pete will fade and he can pick up his supporters, or perhaps someone else's supporters who fail to reach the threshold (there are still a dozen or more in the race) will race to the 'safe' side and join his effort.

But the underlying trends don't bode well. According to msn. Com (1).

“Roughly two-thirds of Iowa caucus-goers said supporting a candidate who would fundamentally change how the system in Washington works was important to their vote, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of voters who said they planned to take part in Monday’s Democratic caucuses.

That compares to about a third of caucus-goers who said it was more important to support a 

candidate who would restore the political system to how it was before Trump’s election in 2016.” (2)

If that's the case, Biden's goose is cooked. 

As it stands, we are groping in the dark, not only because of the nature of the process but the quadrennial gold standard of opinion measurement leading into this event, the poll taken by CNN and the Desmoines Register, was pulled from the news stands. Incredibly, one supporter of Buttigieg said that when he or she was called by the pollster, they didn't mention Mayor Pete's name, a flaw evidently serious enough to cancel its publication. 

CNN is a notable supporter of the Clintons and the DLC mossbacks in the Democratic Party. In 2016 they gave massive coverage of tRUMP because the corporate bigwigs ciphered that he would be the easiest Republican for the most unpopular and least trusted Democrat (Clinton) to beat. We have seen how this strategic move worked out. 

Now, it appears, the corporatists—who, having failed to prop up a viable candidate—are determined to supress the news of the revolt. With two-thirds of those going to caucus having no stomach to return to the good old days, it is difficult to see how Biden and his ilk will tonight find justification. 

Tonight, Iowa decides whether progressive politics breaths life or whether it gets strangled in the crib. 

_______________

1. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections-2020/iowans-head-to-caucuses-may-clarify-democratic-field/
2. Ibid. 

February 2, 2020: The Greasy Pole, Past the Graveyard, A Generational Upheaval

Walter Shapiro, a staff writer for The New Republic has reported on 10 previous presidential campaigns, dating back to the days of Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. He has seen the many come and go, with many an aspirant falling by the wayside. Many climb the greasy pole, but only a few grasp the brass ring.

In the latest edition of The New Republic, Shapiro turns his attention to the darling of the Democratic mossbacks, Joe Biden. “Speaking to about 130 people at a late November town meeting in rural Knoxville, Iowa, 40 miles southeast of Des Moines, Biden gave an 11 minute stump speech without a single burst of applause until he finished. Then, for the first 20 minutes of the question period, Biden spoke to the sound of no hands clapping. It was hard not to recall the plea of Jeb Bush—another thoroughbred hopeful in the crowded 2016 GOP field: Please Clap. Amid all the many polling surprises, debate bumps, and unanticipated reversals of the 2020 Democratic campaign, there has been an unalterable truth: You never have to worry about finding parking at a Joe Biden event.” (1) Indeed, Shapiro reports that chairs are often re-arranged so that gaping holes do not appear in the audience.

Biden's campaign has tried to excuse what is so painfully apparent by telling themselves—and anyone who happens to stop by—that people already know Joe and don't need to come out to see him. A curious posture, kind of like whistling past the grave yard.

Shapiro writes that “[N]o other presidential candidate in modern times has had to defend a Washington career that stretched over hear half-century” (2) , comparing Biden to a general with over-extended and vulnerable supply lines. That he is. With the possible lone exception of the Violence Against Women Act, Joe has been remarkably consistent in his firm stands on the wrong side of every issue. From supporting the credit-card industry's financial rapes to championing NAFTA and other trade agreements, to being a cheerleader for the repeal of Glass-Steagall, and the telecommunications Act, to supporting Bill Clinton's war on “welfare as we know it”, to his support to freeze Social Security—in his words, not once, not twice, not three times...but four times—he is indeed vulnerable. An that's not even mentioning his disgraceful management of the Anita Hill hearings.

Biden's sole justification, be there any at all, is that he is here. His only rationale is that he thinks, and the Democratic establishment has so far deluded themselves into agreeing, that he is the only man who can beat Donald J. tRUMP.

But something has happened on the way to the forum. The fact is that since announcing his candidacy he has campaigned his way Down. A year ago, he was polling in the mid sixties, as a percentage of Democrats who favored Biden over the others. Today he is in a statistical dead heat with Bernie Sanders as Democrats throughout the country are casting about for another alternative. Among Democrats, only black voters still support Joe, and that may soon change as returns from Iowa and New Hampshire come in.

What we have here is more than a populist revolt. We have also a generational upheaval, the likes of which we have not seen since 1968. The young are in open revolt against The Generation of Swine,with Bernie Sanders surging in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada and California, taking leads in all these states, save South Carolina where a prominent conservative black county chairwoman has recently switched from Biden to Sanders. The ground beneath the 'establishment' is beginning to shake. A television advertisement has been produced, not by the Sanders campaign but by some people who support him, using the voice over of Bob Dylan's anthem “The Times They Are A-Changin”, in a delicious turn of the tables. The young are saying “You better start swimming, or you'll sink like a stone”, “Your old road is rapidly aging”. Indeed it is beginning to resemble the drawn aging lines on Joe Biden's face.

The Party mossbacks are now in panic. Biden is imploding before their very eyes, the ship is taking water, and they are beginning to cast about for a lifeboat. Indeed, when the votes in New Hampshire are counted, it will be the deepest Joe Biden has gone in any of this now three presidential campaigns.

Mike Bloomberg stands waiting in the wings. He has spent over a quarter of a billion dollars and is now polling around 9 per cent. The mossbacks, sensing the quick dispatch of Biden, have changed the rules so that Mike can get on the debate stage leading up to the California primary. Here the tattered remnants of the old DLC are at last showing their true colors by rallying behind a former Republican and current tycoon of Wall Street.

Imagine, if you will, a Bloomberg/tRUMP contest. One genuine facing off against one fake billionaire. The horde of deplorables pounding the table, the Democratic base yawning and staying home.

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

Convict and Imprison.

______________

1. Shapiro, Walter. “A Man in Full” The New Republic. January-February . Pages 16-17
2. Ibid. Pg 16

February 1, 2020: Travesty and Disgusting, Enormous Stain, A Wasteland

“It's a travesty, It's disgusting”, former Missouri Senator Clare McCaskill said last night on MSNBC as the Senate, holding its nose, refused to inquire as to the origin of the stench. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker referred to the 'Moral Vandal' in the White House, Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele called the Senate “A Wasteland”, and Senator Chris Murphy anticipates an eventual acquittal leaving an “enormous stain” on the institution (Senate) he serves and the people he represents.

The votes last night rightly earn the calumny of the nation. Never in the history of this republic has the Senate displayed such a disgusting sacrifice of honor, dignity, and trust.

Oh, we can still hear the arguments of the president's* defense rattling 'round the equally vacuous chamber. The House didn't do full diligence, and presented a truncated case, blithely ignoring that the White House refused all cooperation with the House, stonewalled the investigations, and refused to send legal counsel to cross-examine witnesses. The entire line of reasoning meant only to create sound bites so that Seen Hannity and Fox and Fiends can now broadcast the lies ad nauseum.

Then there is the boldface lie that the Senate must be presented with a complete investigation, and that it is not the duty of the body to probe further, ignoring every previous impeachment, including those of Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. In Johnson's case, the Senate impeachment went on for weeks as new evidence came forward and witnesses testified. Oh, but that was so 19^th century. Strange coming from a party that in other matters would happily drag us back to an era that produced the civil war. Nevertheless, this twisting of the historical record, likewise makes great fodder for Murdoch's state television.

One could see justice circling the drain when Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander announced late the night before the vote that he would not support the calling of any additional witnesses. He is not interested in seeing any new evidence, despite the revelations earlier in the week by former White House National Security Advisor John Bolton, as well as revelations by Giuliani operative Lev Parnas implicating tRUMP, Pence, Mulvaney, Perry, Giuliani, Barr and others. Indeed, Parnas maintains that He, his partner Igor and Giuliani were being paid not by tRUMP but by Russian oligarchs. None of this will be dragged out in the daylight for the nation to witness. Every effort is being made to sweep these turds under the rug. You may hide the turd, but you can't disguise the stench.

Here is what Alexander decided in the face of these revelations as well as reports surfacing that the Russians had hacked the Ukrainian gas company Barisma where Hunter Biden served on the board.

"It was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation," Alexander said.

"When elected officials inappropriately interfere with such investigations, it undermines the principle of equal justice under the law. But the Constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the president from office and ban him from this year's ballot simply for actions that are inappropriate."

"Even if the House charges were true, they do not meet the Constitution's 'treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors' standard for an impeachable offense," he added, saying voters should decide at the ballot box.” (1)

There you have it: The fig leaf, the thinnest of reeds. The president's*(I) actions are not impeachable, illegal, simply 'inappropriate'. That's the defense. Never mind that federal election law as well as the 1974 sequestration law has been violated. Never mind the definition of 'High Crimes' as understood and delineated by Hamilton, Madison and others as well as handed down—as so much of our jurisprudence—from English Common Law. Never mind the modern definition of Misdemeanors for these too—in black and white—are enumerated in the Constitution. There are ample reasons to convict: High Crimes being a violation of public trust; bribery, for here Disgustus was caught shaking down a foreign government with public money; and, because we are not technically at war, Treason may not apply, but certainly conspiracy and sedition would.

We know he's guilty, they know he's guilty, but protect them he must. Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska cast the vote that gave Moscow Mitch his 51-49 majority incredulously stating:

“The House chose to send articles of impeachment that are rushed and flawed. I carefully considered the need for additional witnesses and documents, to cure the shortcomings of its process, but ultimately decided that I will vote against considering motions to subpoena,” Murkowski said in a statement, NBC News reports.

“Given the partisan nature of this impeachment from the very beginning and throughout, I have come to the conclusion that there will be no fair trial in the Senate. I don’t believe the continuation of this process will change anything. It is sad for me to admit that, as an institution, the Congress has failed.”(2)

First, the House impeachment was neither rushed nor flawed. House manager Adam Schiff, laid out the facts, as the facts have come to light. That all the facts are not in evidence is due to White House stonewalling and not the fault of the People's house. That the action taken by the House was done on near party-line vote is not dismissive of the evidence but rather points to the degree to which her political party will go to prevent any further evidence from coming forward; the degree it has gone and will go to obstruct justice; and obstruction which, by her very action, she is now a willing participant.

The only part of her statement that bears any resemblance to the truth is her conclusion that there will be no fair trial in the Senate. About that she is quite right.

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

Convict and Imprison

____________

1. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/gop-sen-lamar-alexander-key-impeachment-vote-reveal-decision-witnesses-n1127056

     2. https://www.advocate.com/politics/2020/1/31/moderate-lisa-murkowski-sells-out-impeachmen