I have been planning to write something “positive” in response to a request from my brother-in-law who lives in Pittsburgh and is, understandably, sick of all the negative news. Well, as I sit on the edge of my seat waiting for all the “shoes” to drop regarding the pending CRIMINAL indictments of Donald Trump – with the first one, apparently, happening in Manhattan, New York soon – and, after listening to Trump’s act of desperation sending another “clown” attorney (they seem to congregate in Trump’s circles) into the Grand Jury sitting in Manhattan and, again apparently, close to making a “charging” decision I’ve got to “follow my heart.” (Sorry Tony, but coming soon! There are some actual things to be thankful for “out there”)

This attorney was there to impune the testimony of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former “fixer” (isn’t that a mob term?), and seemed to potentially set himself up to possible CRIMINAL charges. I listened to Cohen’s response to this lawyer’s “claims” and the bottom line is “someone’s LYING.” I believe Trump’s lawyer thinks no one would believe it’s him (my memory tells me his last name is Costello) because Cohen was convicted of LYING to Congress – according to him at the behest of Trump (like the hush money payments) – although Cohen says there are “receipts” for everything he said and that Costello (?) was “making things up.” (OK, I checked, it’s Costello)

All of this tells me about the level of CORRUPTION we have in this nation totally due to the American people allowing themselves – in sufficient numbers – to believe a pathalogical LIAR (in the words of Ted Cruz) putting him into the “White House.” And, since the day this “kook” (in the words of Lindsey Graham) LIED about his “oath” of office republicans across America have cowed in fear that he will say something “nasty” about them and it will cost them their political careers with the republican’s White Nationalist base – a base which has proven to believe the laws are meant for others – especially, if the “other” happens to be a “person of color.”

For example, the Attorney General of the state of Texas has been re-elected TWICE while under indictment for securities fraud in Texas and, apparently, the people of Texas could care less. Now, members of Congress are threatening to call the DA of Manhattan – where they have no authority whatsoever (and, of course, they refer to him as the “Soros backed DA” – an anti-semitic dog whistle) – to testify should he have the temerity of indicting a “former president and present candidate for that office.” This threat, of course, is coming from Jim Jordan, he of the alleged refusal to honor his student athletes at Ohio State University’s complaints of sexual assault while he was the assistant coach – AND, he who may well have been part of Trump’s CONSPIRACY to overthrow the 2020 presidential election.) The “GOP” has always claimed to be “the party of law and order.” Well, you’d have to be – STUPID – to believe that today! (Jordan has shown his loud mouth cowardice on more than one occasion)

Trump clearly is desperate to do what he’s always done – and, that is to avoid the “law” catching up with his CRIMINAL conduct. Not far behind the Manhattan DA seems to be the Fulton County, Georgia DA, Fani Willis, who could be filing charges against Trump at any point in time. Today, Trump’s lawyers filed motions to get rid of the “Special Purpose Grand Jury’s report” along with both Ms. Willis AND the judge who is in charge of the case. Ridiculous, you might say – and, I would tend to agree. But, get this, in Georgia the state legislature has passed a bill (on its way to the Governor’s office) giving ITSELF the power to remove District Attorneys who THEY don’t agree with (especially if they’re Black). Are they planning to stop the “imminent” prosecutions in Georgia? (Keeping in mind one of the TARGETS of the investigation is a KEY member of Georgia’s legislature – due to the “fake elector” scheme in the 2020 election. (Republican CORRUPTION runs deep!)

I believe, if Trump is “saved” by this legislation, the potential charges very well ALL might become FEDERAL charges as I thought they should have been in the first place. In fact, I’ve complained here several times I’ve never understood why Merrick Garland left all this up to a DA in Fulton Co. when virtually EVERYONE who’s been paying attention has heard the infamous phone call from Trump to Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Secretary of State, DEMANDING Raffensperger “find 11,780 votes” which would have given Trump “one more” than he “needed.” (apparently, to win the state – YIKES!!!) Trump even went so far as to threaten Raffensperger and his assistants with CRIMINAL violations if they chose to ignore his pleas. (Who knows what would have happened had he actually “won” the election by STEALING it – with all the “Stop the Steal” demonstrations out there) Trump’s threats to Raffensperger were certainly FEDERAL crimes!

Which gets me back to the FEDERAL charges which SHOULD have come down LONG AGO regarding Trump’s INSTIGATING the INSURRECTION of January 6th, 2021 (In case you’ve forgotten the date) Maybe a year ago I started suggesting someone like myself could get a conviction of Trump for instigating the INSURRECTION simply with the public information which had “drip, drip, dripped” into a huge “puddle” of incriminating publicly available evidence. I still believe had the January 6th Committee not done such a great job Mr. Garland would have simply tried to let things “rest” because he was not up to indicting “a former president” – despite all his claims “no one is above the law” and they were following the evidence “wherever it leads.” By many accounts Jack Smith is making up for lost time as best he can, but anything he decides has to go through Mr. Garland and I don’t feel certain he’ll OK prosecutions during the campaign. (What that means is Smith is close to out of time. Depressing thoughts I have to say.

I’ve finished reading the 700 page report of the Select January 6th Committee and it goes to great lengths to provide evidence Trump committed up to 5 MAJOR felonies – including a suggestion at the end one of them would be SEDITION. The one thing I would tend to agree with those in the Committee who believed Liz Cheney was too targeted on Trump when there were many others involved in the CONSPIRACY. I was really disappointed that there wasn’t MORE of the evidence they collected suggesting, for example, that Jim Jordan was right in the middle of this CONSPIRACY along with several of his right wing Congressional peers – like Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, Mo Brooks, Scott Perry, Louie Gohmert, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and several others along with Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley. I was real disappointed they didn’t zero in on Ginni Thomas because she appears to have been right in the middle of the CONSPIRACY and her potential CRIMINAL conduct might very well be the way to get Clarence Thomas off the Supreme Court.

The more I watch all of this (and, I’m watching it as close as I can from 3000 miles away) it’s confirming to me that back when I started referring to Trump as a “lowlevel mob boss” (making that reference in various forms) I was exactly correct. During his reign in the “White House” I still remember an interview he gave (to someone I can’t remember who) where he referred to someone who would tell the truth about what was happening inside his administration as a “rat” it reminded me of watching the “Untouchables” on TV back when I was MUCH younger. Eliot Ness going after the mob and that was, I believe, where I first heard the word rat (dirty rat) used similarly to how Trump used it.

The using low level lawyers, the attempts to influence how witnesses are giving their testimony, the threats to anyone not going along with their “plan” (like in the case of Brad Raffensperger), the surrogates who use military style weapons to intimidate people, the “dog whistles” embedded in their speeches assuring the “base” they’re “staying strong,” and on and on – seems like the stuff of organized CRIMINALS. And, yet, here’s the republican party cowardly continuing to go along. I can assure you Liz Cheney was correct when she pointed out the republican members of Congress were going to be facing a really bad place in the history books for their cowardice in the face of all this LAWBREAKING. Now, most of them, say – well – nothing. And, that’s supposed to separate them from the “crazies” (as the MTG wing of the republican party is being referred to in “respectable” circles) and, I say, “No way!”

Today, I was driving around listening to MSNBC on my XM radio (which may soon be no more in my car) and one of MSNBC’s new “contributors,” John Kasich, came on for the discussion about Trump and the way the republicans are (foolishly) attacking the Manhattan DA and Kasich acknowledged the House is being run by a group of fringe right wing republicans who were “very loud” (or words to that affect) but, he then pivoted to members of the Senate, like Moscow Mitch, Mitt Romney, and John Thune and said something like “you’re not hearing anything from them.” My first instinct (although that wasn’t the host’s) was, yep, that’s the problem – we’re not hearing ANYTHING from any moderate republicans if there are any out there anymore. It seems to me, the bulk of the republican party are AFRAID to say anything in public about Trump – they’re just wishing he’ll go away.

And, if that happens, then what? The ONLY republicans I’ve seen who exhibit COURAGE are Ms. Cheney (and, keep in mind, I agree with little she says) and Adam Kinsinger. Based on what I saw during the January 6th Committee meetings I got the feeling I could at least TALK to Ms. Cheney and Mr. Kinsinger in an attempt to find agreeable solutions to problems. Of course, if they’re stuck on “no NEW taxes for the rich in America” our discussions would go nowhere. Of course, I’ll never be talking to any of these people. And, the reality is, anyone who has told the TRUTH about Trump has virtually NO chance, at this point in time, to gain leadership in the republican party. If Trump ends up in JAIL (:o) it appears Ron DeSantis, a real sleaze bag, is laying in the weeds to “out Trump Trump.”

Final Thought: I’m presently reading the book titled “Caste” (and, boy do I recommend this book – very HIGHLY). I’m only about a third of the way through the book, but the author, Isabel Wilkerson, gives a brutally truthful look back at the REAL American History from the time in 1619 when the first SLAVES were sold in Virginia. As I’m reading this book all I could think about was Ron DeSantis speaking with the “woke” dog whistle which simply makes him, in my mind, a rabid racist. Trump brought the white nationalists in America – in the words of former KKK Grand Wizards David Duke and Don Black who claimed Trump brought their “cause” into the political “mainstream.” (If you read the book “Rising out of Hatred” by Eli Saslow you’ll get a clear picture of these racists “hitching their wagon” to Trump.

And, it’s clear DeSantis is attempting to take over the “mantel” as “fuhrer” to a party which has allowed itself to be overrun by a bunch of white nationalist thugs. As I’m reading “Caste” it’s becoming clear I SHOULDN’T be surprised about what is happening with this right wing movement. The African Americans in America have been the bottom “layer” of the hierarchy in America – and, populist leaders have throughout our history managed to keep “low educated voters” (in the words of Trump) in FEAR of the “other.” And, of course, the “other” would be African Americans whose ancestry, in many instances, dates back into the 1600’s. (And, of course, Trump – who uses “immigration” as a “tool” in directing his “uneducated voters” – his words – to FEAR the possibility African Americans might be their “equal,” is a second generation “American.” (Married to an immigrant) In the words of DeSantis – anit “woke” this and “woke” that are what we should FEAR. (Woke is a term which originated as slang in the African American community.) That is why some of the best books in America’s libraries are being banned on one “red state” after another. Sad!!!