I wrote the other day about the distinct possiblity Donald Trump will be indicted for SEDITION in regards to the ASSAULT of our nation’s Capitol on January 6th, 2021. In that piece I suggested the only way this could get worse (for him) would be if the charge became TREASON. Of course, at that point in time I had no idea what the government was dealing with as they were attempting to get Trump to return documents which SHOULD never have been taken from the “White House” and are subject to the “Presidential Records Act” which says that any records of ANY converstation, written document, etc. etc. MUST remain with the National Archives for a number of years after any president leaves office. They belong to “we the people.”

OK, so I KNEW Trump could potentially be in deep “doo doo” because he had returned 15 BOXES full of documents which belonged in the Archives several months ago. Well, lately we’ve learned there was – as there always seems to be – MORE. On Monday of this week (it’s 8/12 as I’m writing this) the FBI executed a search warrant on the resort home of Trump at Mar a Lago in Southern Florida. This, of course, set off the right wing “blogosphere” with all kinds of threats and recriminations toward the FBI and Justice Department. For example, Kevin McCarthy issued a THREAT to Merrick Garland for when republicans take back control of the House. (Heaven forbid!)

Those who belong in the “basket of deplorables” began issuing threats of VIOLENCE aimed at the FBI, the Judge in the case, Mr. Garland, and who knows who else. SO, Garland did what the republican enablers of Trump were requesting and that was to “unseal” the warrant along with the list of items taken by the FBI. Well, had they given this a little thought, they may have waited a few days before “popping off.” After all, the original 15 boxes included several which contained “classified documents.” Plus, there was much we didn’t know then – we know more now, but there’s still much we don’t know. Trump apparently believed this documents were “his.”

Here’s where the term “STUPID” seems to come back in to play – sadly, that’s often the case with these republicans and when you think about it their “ditto heads” who will believe anything they say. There were ANOTHER 20+ boxes of documents which SHOULD have been either where they originally came from (ie “TS/SCI” ie “Top Secret” file room) or in the National Archives. Some of this stuff has the highest level of classification and, as you would expect from Trump’s sycophants, they’re claiming he waved his magic fingers over each box of classified documents – at some point in time – and de-classified them. Considering he thinks he’s still the president, maybe he did this just the other day.

Naturally, none of that makes sense to anyone with a logically working brain – which apparently excludes Trump and his republican sycophants – and, consider this: We also found out Justice Department agents visited Mar a Lago back a few months ago and didn’t get the documents (for some unknown reason back then) and, then, in early June Trump was subpoenaed to return the documents. Of course, that wasn’t good enough for Trump – he refused to honor the subpoena, which would have ENDED this whole thing (apparently) – so, now here we are. In the interim something happened to cause the Justice Department to feel they had to act PROMPTLY – supposedly there was someone who reported something to the Department which set the process into high gear.

That sends all kind of questions into my head. Like, “why did Trump feel he wanted these documents, which included highly classified information?” – some reports are suggesting there are documents relating to our nuclear capability. Who helped him gather the documents in order to ship them to his Florida home? How many people have seen ANY of these documents in the 18 months they’ve been where they’re NOT supposed to be? Are there fingerprints on any of the documents? (I ask that because, undoubtedly, Trump will LIE when asked to answer any of those questions) And, finally, when are republicans to begin the process of pulling away from their sycophantic behavior supporting this common CRIMINAL? (Don’t hold your breath!)

Marjorie Taylor Green has already begun selling hats and shirts with “defund the FBI” written on them. Ted Cruz DEMANDED that the “warrant be made public” – likely, until the warrant was made public. Josh Hawley sent me an email – with a photo of him raising his fist to the January 6th rioters just prior to when he was seen RUNNING away from them – asking me to send him money. I think you know how that ended. The list goes on and on and, in virtually EVERY instance, whatever the republican speaking says just seems STUPID! When will they learn to keep their mouths SHUT until at least some of the FACTS have become known. Again, don’t hold your breath.

So, just this week, Trump pled the “fifth” over 440 times in a deposition to the AG of New York regarding an investigation of his “Trump Organization” – with some people suggesting his organization has been committing various forms of FRAUD over a number of years. This could cause the demise of his personal business (not including his grifting of the “ditto heads”). This issue with the documents in Mar a Lago which SHOULDN’T have been in Mar a Lago now appears to be a much MORE serious issue than MOST people thought – one of the CRIMES of which their was “probable cause” has to do with the ESPIONAGE Act – and, trust me, that’s a bad one to be facing. Even if you’re our TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING (ex) president.

Getting back to “Stupid” – it’s fairly obvious that is a “bipartisan” term. In the past couple of days, for example, I’ve been reading about Andrew Yang’s response to the FBI executing a Search Warrant on Trump’s estate. Remember, Yang was one of the candidates for the democratic nomination for president back in 2020. At the time, I had no idea where this guy came from and what should make me want to vote for him for president – but, soon after the primaries began he morphed back into obscurity. That is, UNTIL he decided to attempt starting a “third party” – the so-called Forward Party. In response to the FBI “visiting” Mar a Lago Yang apparently tweeted (I don’t do “Twitter” so I got this in a MSNBC blog post) “I fear we will look back on this as a day that activated extremism and not the opposite.”

That “tweet” puts Yang in the same category of a number of democrats who’ve come before him (apparently, Yang believes the democratic party is “too liberal”). Just look the other way when there’s misbehavior at the top, because we don’t want to make all these republicans angry. Here’s what I say to that type of thinking: “FOOEY!” (I hope that’s a word) In EVERY instance where lawbreaking by republican leaders has been IGNORED they’ve viewed the democratic response as weakness – and, the next time it ALWAYS gets worse.

Reagan and George HW Bush got away with their CLEAR involvement in the Iran/Contra affair because the Clinton administration apparently didn’t want the “distraction” – plus people felt sorry for Reagan because he had alzheimer’s. That emboldened George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, and others to feel perfectly “at ease” in authorizing TORTURE, claiming they could declare someone an “enemy combatant” by fiat, and that they could hold political prisoners indefinitely without charging them with a CRIME. That was BAD! But, obviously, Trump has been “exponentially” WORSE!

And, at this point in time, we don’t know how much WORSE Trump is? The reality, when you do a LITTLE checking is that Trump has been flouting the LAW for, well, forever. (Ok, most of his life would be a better way to put it) The New York AG is investigating alleged CRIMES which go way back in Trump’s “organization.” If you had read Robert Mueller’s report you would know Trump’s first couple of years in office were full of potential serious CRIMES – and, during the campaign of 2016 he not only solicited help from the Russians, but he paid off a couple women who he had illicit affairs with leading to him being given the monikker of “individual 1” by the Southern District of New York’s US Attorney’s office in a CRIME which led to Michael Cohen, Trump’s previous “fixer” going to prison for THREE years!

He topped all that off (he “got away” with all of it) by inciting an ASSAULT on our nation’s Capitol in a desperate attempt to remain in office despite the FACT he resoundingly LOST the election he was claiming he actually had won. Sadly, his followers seem to believe virtualy ANYTHING without a shred of evidence to support what has become a steady flow of LIES. Now, other “leaders” in the republican party have assumed they must spout the same LIES if they want to remain in POWER. (You could call today’s republican party a LYING hoard) And, now, it appears, Trump is facing a possible charge of violating the ESPIONAGE Act!

Yep, ESPIONAGE Act. That means the government suspects Trump has somehow threatened our national security – the thing republicans used to be most worried about. He had documents with the HIGHEST level of classification there is – sitting in Mar a Lago for the past 20 months. I listed some of the questions I have above, but I find it very interesting republicans are soiling themselves once again in a scurry of attempts to rationalize away the seriousnes of what Trump just might be up to. Once again, who else saw these documents?

Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, Elise Stefanik, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Marco Rubio are just some of the republicans who I’ve heard/read about attacking the FBI for having the “nerve” (my characterization) to search the home of a former president. Keeping in mind they appear to have lost contact with the reality Trump is simply another citizen at this point in time. It appears they all believe, as he portrays himself, that Trump is STILL president – therefore he can’t be “touched” for his lawbreaking. Well, I’ve got news for the whole bunch of them. This “ESPIONAGE” thing is just the “tip of the iceberg.” He’s facing a plethora of other potential CRIMINAL and civil charges which, as I’ve been predicting for at least 4 years now (since I read Mueller’s report), will keep him busy defending himself for MOST of the rest of his life.

If, as Yang fears, prosecuting Trump for his ILLEGAL behavior pulls the “right” together behind him, so be it. This “looking the other way” to CRIMES by leading politicians or powerful corporate leaders needs to be a thing of the past. As I’ve said in many of my previouis posts, there is so much “EVIDENCE” in the public realm that NOT prosecuting Trump will cause MORE division than doing what is right – which is PROVING to “we the people” that “no one is above the law.”

Final Thought: I believe this degeneration of the republican party showed itself in its FULL “glory” back with the emergence of the so-called “Tea Party.” This “wave” was what brought us Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows plus “a whole lot more.” Well Meadows, in my view, is facing some serious legal issues going forward, and I’m not even thinking about his election FRAUD in North Carolina (I’m still wondering how many times he voted in 2020?) Was Jordan involved in Trump’s conspiracy??? My point is, it was the “Tea Party” which brought all the white nationalists out from under their rocks in response to the election of Barack Obama. (You’ll notice Trump still mentions his middle name when referencing Obama – I wonder why?) Trump won their “hearts” by taking the lead in the “birther” movement.

I’ve written many times “we the people” have been “chasing our tails” in what has seemed like a futile attempt to keep up with the CORRUPTION – ie LAW BREAKING – of former president Donald Trump. Of course, the alleged CRIMES committed by Trump go way back prior to him taking (LYING about) the OATH of office, but the COLLUSION with Russia and all the OBSTRUCTION of Justice alleged during the Russia investigation was – for people like me who actually read the Mueller Report – clearly grounds for IMPEACHMENT.

Naturally, Trump couldn’t leave well enough alone – after William Barr obscured the TRUTH which was in Mueller’s report – so, the next day (I believe after Mueller testified to Congress) he decided to attempt a shakedown of Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, in order to force Zelensky to order an investigation of Joe Biden. Let me clarify if you don’t “get it:” Right after feeling he got off the hook for his LAWBREAKING regarding the “Russia thing” where he sought help in the 2016 election he tried to BRIBE Zelensky for help in the 2020 election. If you don’t know this – it’s against the LAW to seek help from any foreign entity in our elections. Full Stop!

I wrote that yesterday and, of course, as I’ve said, “It’s hard to keep up with all of Trump’s CORRUPTION.” So, soon after I saved and left those two paragraphs in order to “capture the thought” I was having at the time, Trump’s “home” at Mar a Lago was SEARCHED by a team of FBI agents who had a warrant to find ?????? Naturally, this caused Trump – who was in New York in order to deal with another of his legal headaches (testifying in the NY AG’s investigation of the Trump Organization) to get his depends “all in a bunch.” Apparently, he STILL believes he’s above the law as if he really is still president.

News Flash: Donald Trump really is NOT the president, he’s simply another “citizen” and he’s no longer protected by the now infamous OLC “memo” which saved his butt during the Russia Investigation from up to 10 instances of OBSTRUCTION of Justice. Naturally, the right wing message boards filled up with THREATS to – well, the FBI ???? or ????? from some of the same wack jobs who stormed the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. Was there anything in this world which was more predictable?

About three or four years ago I wrote about reading the book “Rising out of Hatred” about the transformation of Derek Black, the son of former KKK Grand Wizard Don Black and the heir apparent of the white nationalist movement which has a portal at Stormfront.com. After reading this book I did a little ‘poking’ around in the places frequented by Mr. Black and Derek’s God Father David Duke – another former Grand Wizard of the Klan. These people were enthusiastic supporters of Trump and considered him their “vehicle” into the mainstream of American politics. Them along with their brethren in the white nationalist movement represent a significant portion of the “patriots” (ie CRIMINALS) who attacked our Nation’s Capitol on 1/6 2021. Mr. Duke famously congratulated Trump after Trump’s infamous “very fine people on both sides” comment following the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville back in 2017 and they have been an important part of the republican base since Trump took over the party.

These people (the ones who marched on Charlottesville chanting “Jews will not replace us” while toting Tiki Torches and wearing Nazi armbands and carrying Nazi/Confederate flags) continue to demonstrate why Hillary Clinton referred to them as “a basket of deplorables” during the 2016 campaign. While those comments have been widely considered a major “gaffe” for Mrs. Clinton back then, I’m constantly reminded how prescient she was. When you consider republicans have always considered themselves the “party of law and order” it has almost become laughable – the only reason I would suggest I’m not laughing is because this all is very serious. Trump and his cowardly sycophants continue their staging of what has been called a “slow motion coup d’etat.”

I bring this up because, despite my declining years and difficulty with my memory, there are certain things/issues that come back “clear as a bell.” So, as I’m thinking about Trump having a search warrant executed on his property (remember, there MUST be probable cause a CRIME has been committed and a JUDGE must sign off on the warrant), all the times I listened to Trump claim he was a “law and order” president are flashing in front of my mind while I listen to him and his COWARDLY republican sycophants complaining about the FBI and the Justice Department. Do you find it ironic republicans like Majorie Taylor Green, Matt Gaetz, Marko Rubio, and others are calling for “defunding the FBI?” Kevin McCarthy, without having ANY idea why the FBI was in Mar a Lago, made a direct threat to Merrick Garland. And, the right wing message boards??? Yikes! For heaven’t sake, what are all these people going to be doing when Trump gets INDICTED for Sedition? (Along with, well, maybe some of these very people spouting off as if they’re “shocked” Trump could EVER be held accountable for his lawlessness)

Speaking of my memory being jogged. I’m pretty sure I remember Trump, back when he was suggesting Hillary Clinton should be jailed for using a personal email server while Secretary of State (just like Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell before her), commenting on his thoughts regarding those who “take the fifth” when in front of law enforcement questioning. I believe he said something along the lines of taking the “fifth” is something you do when you’re guilty of a crime and, as usual, there’s always more – he added that this is something “mobsters” do. Well, apparently, he’s confirming what I’ve been saying for years now – he’s a low level mob boss. I suggest that because, today, he took the “fifth” OVER 440 times in a deposition he was FORCED to give in the NY AG’s office investigation of the Trump Organization. I’m sure Trump will find a way to LIE about this to his base – like, in his case, taking the “fifth” is justified – because, well, because he’s Trump!

Now, there’s a good reason why “we the people” have the privilege of “taking the fifth” – it’s part of our constitutional guarantees – that you can’t be forced to give incriminating evidence against yourself – but, in the case of civil litigation, which was the case today regarding Trump’s 440+ times of taking the “fifth,” if this litigation goes to a trial there can be an “inference” of guilt because there are potentially only financial penalties opposed to criminal ones. What this means is, it appears to me, the Trump Organization could be on very shaky grounds at this point in time. If the reports of various kinds of FRAUD are true regarding Trump’s business the financial penalties could be significant enough to take down the entire business. (Shortly after he was elected I predicted there would come a day when he would “rue” the day he decided to run for president. That day may have finally arrived)

Remember, this is but ONE of MANY instances of legal liability our TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING (ex) president is facing. I suggested well before he was resoundingly defeated at the polls in November of 2020 (by well over 7 MILLION votes) he could be spending the rest of his life, once out of office, defending himself in court. Aside from the NY AG investigation and the FBI searching of his residence (which requires allegations of a CRIME) there is the CRIMINAL investigation happening in Fulton County, Georgia, there’s the January 6th, 2021 investigation (Sedition), There’s still the investigation by the Manhattan DA (which seems to be stalled) and there are NUMEROUS civil lawsuits regarding the January 6th, 2021 INSURRECTION where those initiating the lawsuits are seeking damages in excess of a BILLION dollars – I believe there’s a couple of those. And, that’s just off the top of my aging head!

The sad part in all of this is the NOISE being created by the most loony of his supporters on right wing websights – which I don’t follow, just hear about – where the threatening of – well – I guess it would be anyone who opposes Trump – is raging in “high gear.” As I questioned above, we don’t even know what prompted this search, but what are these people going to do when Trump is put in handcuffs and taken to a Federal Courthouse while being charged with one of the most egregious crimes on the books, Sedition? People I know who are part of Trump’s CULT didn’t pay any attention to the January 6th Committee’s hearings – despite the FACT almost EVERY witness who testified was a republican and, in MOST cases, someone who actually was working in the “White House” for Trump. In other words, first hand witnesses to “deplorable” CRIMINAL activity.

Some of those squawking the loudest – members of Congress like Marjorie Taylor Green, Jim Jordan, Scott Perry, Andy Biggs, Louie Ghomert, Paul Gosar, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and others maybe should be keeping their mouths SHUT because, in my view, Trump is part of a significant CONSPIRACY and based on my understanding of the laws they’ll all be liable for – the same CRIME. You’ll notice – if you’re paying attention – that you’re not hearing a “peep” out of people like. for example, Ginni Thomas. I believe she’s definitely part of the “alleged” CONSPIRACY and figures if she “lays low” maybe no one will notice her role in encouraging the coup d’etat. Oh yes, of course, I forgot to mention Mark Meadows, Peter Navarro, Steve Bannon, Mike Flynn, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis – and, I’m sure others, these are the ones I can pull off the top of my head – and, that’s not mentioning all the FAKE electors who “allegedly” committed FRAUD when signing the FAKE elector document which was sent to Congress.

These are the “leaders” of the republican party I’ve been lamenting about for nearly 20 years now. In fact, I almost can’t believe one of the republicans I actually admire is the daughter of Dick Cheney who, in my view, was laying the foundation for this “lurch” to the “right” back when he was hell bent on sending American troops, needlessly, into Iraq for a quagmire which had way too much resemblance with Viet Nam for me – which I stated at the time. And, the idea that an American president could label someone an “enemy combatant” – at his/her whim – and, hold them indefinitely without charges was anathema to every fiber of my being! To top it off, feeling comfortable authorizing TORTURE was what really set me off. So, I find it awkward, to say the least, that I’ve come to admire Liz Cheney – based only on her belief in the value of telling the TRUTH!

So, whatever the “probable cause” which initiated the FBI SEARCH of Trump’s Mar a Lago home/resort/???, I believe it will “pale” when compared to the impending CHARGES Trump is LIKELY to be facing in the coming months. Can he be charged with TWO federal CRIMES at the same time – I believe the answer to that is a resounding YES! However, I hope the Justice Department is tired of “chasing its tail” and will focus on the most EGREGIOUS of the CRIMES which, to me, is an easy call. SEDITION is at the head of the “class,” when it comes to EGREGIOUS crimes – in my mind, the only way to make this worse is if the charge would be TREASON – which, when you think about it could be the reason for the SEARCH of Trump’s Florida (illegal) residence. The ONLY charge more serious than SEDITION would, of course, be TREASON. I can see where Trump’s actions would constitute “Treason” (Treason: the betrayal of allegiance toward one’s own country, especially by committing hostile acts against it or aiding its enemies in committing such acts) but, I believe SEDITION will be easier to prove in court.

Final Thought: I live in a right wing section of a state considered to be “liberal.” My representative, republican Jaimie Herrera Beutler – who voted to IMPEACH Trump – lost her primary to one of the most disgusting candidates the republicans will put on the General election ballot this November. Sadly, this person, Joe Kent, is likely to “win” because the district I’m in was Gerrymandered a few years ago (2010) to almost guarantee a republican representative each election cycle. Kent is someone who listed Matt Gaetz as the member of Congress he most looks up to, someone who’s aligned with the white nationalist movement, and someone who continues LYING about the results of the 2020 election. (Remember, to these nut jobs, the ONLY election which was “rigged” was the one for president – not their own)

I’ve pointed out I’ve always been an “independent voter” – although in recent years I’ve found myself voting AGAINST republicans. For sure, I’ll be doing that this November, likely to no good. My hope is those republicans who supported Ms Beutler will NOT support Kent. There is little political advertising around these parts save for all the road SIGNS you pass when going into town (I live in a rural setting) so you can pretty much count on republicans voting for republicans, no matter what, and vice versa with democrats. The problem in this instance is there are more republicans than democrats where I live. I’m bracing myself to have to stomach a “marjorie Taylor Green” like candidate coming from my own district. I’m on my knees praying this will not come to pass. Kent is a favorite on Tucker Carlson’s show, Steve Bannon’s “war room,” and the like. Yikes!!!! Stay tuned………………..

I may have been wrong the MANY times I wrote about my frustration waiting for Merrick Garland to give me a “sign” he’s not afraid of the “division” which WILL be caused by INDICTING Trump! I can’t think of anything I’m more excited about being WRONG about! AG Garland has put the “onus” on Trump when it comes to the purpose of the SEARCH which happened earlier this week. Numerous of Trump’s sycophants have been clammoring for the Justice Department to “release the details” of what they seized and why they seized it. Well, what’s the old saying, “Be careful of what you wish for?” Today, AG Garland announced the Justice Department has requested the Florida Court where the search warrant originated to “unseal” the details in the warrant and what was seized – UNLESS Trump objects! The first thought I had when I listened to Garland announcing why the Justice Department was doing this was “check mate.” (How will Trump explain to all his “ditto heads” why he objects to making this all public?)

If you listen carefully to all the republicans explaining why they’re up in arms, you’ll hear them accuse the Justice Department of being like the “Gestapo” – I’ve explained republican “projection” on many occasions here – that’s a great example of it. “If we lose an election it must have been rigged!”

Today, in my email inbox I got a request for MONEY from none other than Josh Hawley – based on the SEARCH of Trump’s property. Of course, I suppose they’re ALL (meaning republican Trump sycophants) attempting to use their “outrage” that our government would SEARCH the home of a former (CRIMINAL) president to raise money. I just found it interesting Hawley somehow got my email address and thought I might fall for his shtick. Again, I would find this all laughable if these people weren’t so dangerous. And, to me, Hawley is right at the top of the list. (Hawley even included a photo of himself raising his fist to the January 6’th INSURRECTIONISTS – right before he was seen desperately RUNNING away from them.

Once again, my apologies for publishing without editing. You’re correct – I’m lazy!

I know many “conservatives” who are Trump supporters and who, likely, haven’t watched a minute of the Select Committee on the January 6th INSURRECTION and continue to believe the assault on our Capitol was “legitimate political discourse.” And, of course, they’ve spent the past 7 or so years believing the words coming from Trump’s mouth despite the FACT he’s a pathological LIAR. (OK, I’m not a psychologist – but, as a Middle School teacher I learned how to identify pathological LIARS) Here’s the bottom line; Merrick Garland, at this point in time, with all we KNOW about Trump’s attempted coup d’etat, has no choice but to INDICT our TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING (ex) president for one of the most SERIOUS crimes on the “books” – which is SEDITION.

And, when you consider the EVIDENCE of what Trump and his collaborators did in the 2016 election along with Trump’s fealty to Vladimir Putin over the past 6 years. When you look at his disregard for our constitution since the day he took the OATH to defend it against “all enemies foreign and domestic” and his willingness to disregard that OATH in order to CHEAT himself into a second term it’s not hard to come to the conclusion the MAIN crime he should be indicted for would be TREASON! I’ve been saying for five years now he’s going to end up right next to Benedict Arnold in our history books.

Trump will likely be indicted as the “linchpin” of a large conspiracy to overthrow the results of a “free and fair” election – the ONLY time in American histroy a president has attempted such a thing. Personally, I believe Trump COULD be charged with TREASON (as I just explained). Here’s the definition of TREASON: “The betrayal of allegiance toward one’s own country, especially by committing hostile acts against it or aiding its enemies in committing such acts.” I’m thankful he FAILED and I’ll be even more thankful when he’s defending himself in court. The evidence we KNOW about – that which is in the public domain already – suggests OVERWHELMING guilt.

That all being said, about 15% of America will be very unhappy when Trump is indicted and, of course, these are the kind of people you see driving their pickups around with American flags and Trump flags flying in the breeze – with AR-15’s cradled across the rear window of their rigs. Will this be the “flash point” some of these “deplorables” have been waiting for in order to pick up the steam on the so-called “slow moving coup” which has been spreading across the so-called “red states” since the day Joe Biden took the oath of office. Remember, the thugs who showed up on January 6th were ARMED and had every intention of KILLING members of Congress and, especially, Mike Pense.

As an aside, Pense continues to show his lack of courage – despite finding it on the 6th of January, 2021 – as he’s begun an attempt to grovell his way into the good graces of the MAGA world in an attempt to build a run for the republican nomination in 2024. When you listen to him you realize just how pitiful he’s capable of being – despite, at least in my case, wanting to give him some grace after he refused Trump’s orders to carry out his coup plans on January 6th, 2021. The reality is Pense will NOT do anything which might cause the republican base to shun him – although, that’s likely exactly what is going to happen. Pense SHOULD be acting more like Liz Cheney and showing at least a little amount of COURAGE. (Of course, it is hard for me to ignore the almost four full years of Pense acting like a robot around Trump.

Here’s a rub for me with pundits who I watch on TV (when I choose to do so) – they almost always talk about Trump in terms of him being the “frontrunner” for the republican nomination for president in 2024! OK, I have this question: Can he run for president from a jail cell or court room? Do they simply assume Merrick Garland won’t have the guts to indict “a former president?” I believe the evidence of Trump’s complicity in the most DANGEROUS conspiracy this country has faced – well, maybe EVER – makes it NOW likely he’s going to be indicted. There are many aspects of all this I’ve been “reporting” on for over four years now – that many in the so-called “liberal media” are finally catching on to. One of them is that Trump is a wannabe mob boss who thinks like an organized criminal. (ie – his disdain for people who tell the TRUTH – people he refers to as “rats”)

I started calling him a “mob boss” about four years ago (maybe five – it’s in the archives if you’ve got a lot of time on your hands) and I’ve been explaining the republican party has become a hotbed for FASCISM for several years now. Of course, I’ve had to point out to anyone who’s associated with republicans and who throw that word (fascist) around cavalierly what the meaning of the word actually is – and demonstrate what I mean. Well, now we have the republicans cozying up to Viktor Orban – the fascist leader of Hungary – as if he’s the new Ronald Reagan of the party. Orban is a fascist in the same vein as Vladimir Putin only without all the nukes – he has to be a bit more subtle. But it’s classic fascism as if it came directly from 1930’s Germany, complete with the “anit-immigrant” and “anit-semitic” dog whistles.

I’ve been pointing out for years the U.S. is ALREADY a borderline FASCIST state based on the definition which eminated from Mussolini’s time in Italy – a partnership of the government and corporate powers. We’ve seen this evolution since the Supreme Court intervened in the 2000 election in favor of Bush/Cheney, the power of the Supreme Court growing in the intervening years with decisions like “Citizens United,” the gutting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – both section 5 and section 2 – which has opened the door to the flood of voter suppression bills being passed in states across America since the 2020 election, the support of partisan gerrymandering (especially in republican states), the support for GUNS, and most recently, the issue of abortion – one decision after another which amounts to “legislating from the bench.”

The republicans have a friendly court which is going to be that way likely for at least a generation and should they retake control of Congress in the 2022 midterms they are planning to make it near impossible for democrats to return to power – no matter how the votes are cast. I mean, when you take a close look at who’s running on the republican side in MANY important statewide elections across the nation it’s a bunch of “election deniers.” That is, if the elections don’t go their way they’re going to “deny them.” Candidates for governor or Secretary of State in several “swing states” saying they won’t certify an election they don’t agree with. The republican nominee for governor in Arizona was recently claiming she wouldn’t accept the results of the election (she was LOSING at the time) but she “changed her tune.” Of course, you know the reason – it turned out she got the nomination – so the election was “no longer rigged.” Ye gads!

Will Americans vote for these wack jobs in large enough numbers for them to actually win in the general election? Well, we’ll have to stay tuned on that one – obviously, I hope not. Another area where I’ve been ACCURATELY pointing out the reality of republican CORRUPTION is be pointing out their penchant for PROJECTION! We’ve all spent about two years listening to the claim (without a shred of evidence) our “elections are rigged” and we’ve listened to the so-called “stop the steal” movement among these right wing “deplorables.” Well, here’s the TRUTH – it’s the republicans who are working OVERTIME in order to RIG the upcoming elections and, in essence, they are attempting to STEAL the 2022 mid-terms because Donald Trump failed to STEAL the 2020 election! (Although, many of them are still focused on doing just that – yah STILL!)

I’ve pointed out here it almost pains me to give kudos to Liz Cheney because there’s little she believes, politically, I agree with. However, the KEY thing I agree with her on is the importance of telling the TRUTH to the American people and politicians being TRUTHFUL with their own voters. I have come to look at her as a person of HONOR – in fact, at this point in time, I would suggest she would have the best chance to win in 2024 of any republican because, aside from Adam Kinsinger, we haven’t seen many republicans with the courage to speak the TRUTH to the American people and/or their voters.

Here’s where I agree with Liz Cheney – for the next two elections it is imperative that independents (like me – even though most people think I’m a democrat) and disaffected republicans coalesce around democrats to vote AGAINST republicans until the republican party is purged of these COWARDLY members who KNOW better but don’t have the guts to say so publicly because their job is more important to them than their country. This is why, in the long run, I believe Liz Cheney will be the “bedrock” of the republican party – once these right wing white nationalists are scurrying back under the rocks they were hiding when Barack Obama was elected and they hit the “white nationalist” panic button.

I don’t want to paint them all with a “broad brush” – but, to me, wilful ignorance is no excuse for a willingness to do to this country what Hitler failed to do in WW II. I’ve written about a former acquaintance who I used to have breakfast with regularly – someone who joined the “Trump train” – knowing what a low life Trump was at the time (I believe an “anti abortion” republican) and who I just got to the point where I couldn’t tolerate (in my mind) some of the things he said to me. And, after he became an election denier (he SHOULD be smarter than that, but……) I started remembering things he said to me over the past few years. The first thing which came to mind was him saying (several times) that he didn’t believe in “democracy.” And, at one time he implied he didn’t think “inner city” Blacks should be voting! Yikes!! I tolerated those remarks as “not serious” until after the election and the refusal to accept the results. (He had predicted a Trump “landslide”) Then……………………

On the night of the election, when – after the election day votes were counted and Trump had a lead of something like 600,000 votes in Pennsylvania he emailed me that Trump had “won” the election. I emailed him back “don’t get ahead of your ski’s – there’s something like 1.5 MILLION mail in votes to be counted and reports are about 80% of them were cast by democrats. My “prediction” proved to be correct – he even had predicted “when Trump wins ‘liberals’ are going to react violently in the streets” – and, I suggested the exact opposite was going to be true. (Of course, I did not anticipate right wing zealots would go so far as to ATTACK the CAPITOL of our great nation – but, well……………… that’s what happened, isn’t it?)

That get’s to the bottom of why Trump and his white nationalist followers are so dangerous – Trump was “grooming” these “ditto heads” (in the words of Rush Limbaugh) for the so-called “rigged election” well before the election happened – saying over and over again to his CULT “The only way I lose is if the election is rigged.” He encouraged republican voters to vote on election day – because those votes are counted first – in Pennsylvania, for example, they can’t even count the mail in votes until the next day – so he could “declare victory” and then claim the election was “stolen” after all the mail in votes were counted and Joe Biden was declared the WINNER! He KNEW what was going to happen all along – It was all planned out ahead of time. (In fact, he was planning the same shtick back in 2016 when Roger Stone coined the phrase “Stop the Steal” because he thought for sure he would lose to Hillary Clinton.)

And, speaking of the 2016 election – for those of you who don’t believe the Russians influenced the outcome of the 2016 election and haven’t read Robert Mueller’s two volume account of the “Russia Investigation” you should read “Collusion – Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win” by Luke Harding of “The Guardian.” I’ve had this book for a few years just sitting by my nightstand and have no idea why I waited until now to read it – but, it’s an “eye opener.” Suffice it to say, our “liberal media” didn’t do such a bang up job researching the credibility of Christopher Steele – he of the now infamous “dossier” – I’m sure much to his relief. He NEVER intended for his “dossier” to be made public and, to me, it’s a shame the parts of it which are clearly prescient have been lost in the FOG of all the CRAP (out of a reluctance to use a more appropriate noun) Trump pulled off in the interim. The “whirly dervish” of CORRUPTION was simply too much for “we the people” to keep up with.

Possibly the worst part of Steele’s “dossier” being published would be the Russians who were “frog marched” from the Kremlin with bags over their heads apparently because the information in the “dossier” implicated them as Steele’s sources. Steele went into hiding for a month or more in order to attempt to take the focus off him (possibly from the Russians – they are experts with poison after all) because he was genuinely worried about the safety of his sources. While much in the “dossier” was “unverified” Steele, himself put the likelihood it was true as very high – and, of course, much of it turned out to be true. What is undeniable is the COLLUSION between the Trump campaign and the Russians – we’ll never know the full effect it had on the outcome, but in my mind (with a little help by James Comey) it’s the reason we were all subjected to Trump’s reign in the “White House” and his continuing assault on our republic in absentia. Please Merrick Garlan, put an end to this nightmare!

Here’s the good news! The Select Committee on January 6th is going to have additional hearings – hopefully in prime time – and the democrats are going to have the opportunity to make republicans WEAR their COWARDICE and their support for UNPOPULAR public policy and political CORRUPTION between now and November. The bad news – I don’t have a lot of confidence in democrats to take this FIGHT directly to the people (and republicans) in EVERY district in this nation. I noticed today that gas prices are coming down for all those voters who would blame President Biden for them going up (that’s what I call “wilfull ignorance” – Biden’s attempting to head off WW III for those not paying attention to what’s going on in Ukraine – and, trust me, Ukraine’s not happening because Trump lost in 2020 – had he won, Putin would have annexed Ukraine in a matter of a few days – NATO would LIKELY be “no more,” and ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, suffice it to say, I thank God Joe Biden is president!

For anyone who believes abortion is an issue which is private between a woman, her doctor, and her faith they would need to be voting AGAINST republicans for the foreseeable future – because republicans already have a 6-3 majority on the Court and should republicans gain control of Congress once again they’ve already said NO Court appointments by a democratic president will be considered (Like Garland in 2015-2016) and they’ve pledged to pass legislation making abortion ILLEGAL in all 50 states. So, for those who are focused on that issue it’s “on the ballot” for the foreseeable future. If Kansas’ recent referendum on abortion is any indication, this could be an issue which hangs as a “heavy weight” around the necks of many republican candidates for office nationwide. After all, women make up more than HALF of this great nation!

And, as far as our democratic republic is concerened all you have to do is listen to the candidates for governor in Pennsylvania and Arizona on the republican side to realize they’re counting on democrats NOT voting come November and gaining a stronghold in our nation during a “mid-term” election with low voter turnout. Will it work? Well, as I just said above, it remains to be seen if democrats have the “will” (I was going to use a cruder term) for this FIGHT. However, we do have people like Liz Cheney, the Lincoln Project, and other republican affiliated groups who willingly want to coordinate with democrats in order to defeat republicans. To me, that makes it doable – but democrats MUST understand the CRITICAL aspects of this election and the importance of pulling this coordination together. Some of their (democrats) accomplishments have been significant, but the voters need to understand the STAKES of this election and why voters should support them. Yes, inflation is bad, but fascism is WORSE! That needs to be driven “home” in local election after local election! Stay tuned………………

Final Thought: One republican “trick” I keep thinking about as I read about local statewide legislation being proposed in various states which is worded almost identical to legislation in other states is how the organization ALEC works. ALEC (American Legislative Exchance Council) – a Koch funded group – writes legislation for state legislators around the country – going from one state to the next in order to simplify the process for right wing state legislators. That’s why many of these proposed statewide abortion bans seem so similar. I don’t believe democrats have a “competitive council” and they haven’t even made much of a “stink” around the nation that, in essence, Charles Koch is behind much of the local legislation at the statewide level. I’ve said this many times, the republican operation is “light years” more sophisticated than the democrats – which seems to lead to democrats seeming to be “reactive” in too many instances. People SHOULD know about ALEC and the extent of the DAMAGE they’re doing to our republic.

I have to add: One reason why I believe Trump’s indictment is a ways away is because he’s part (the head) of a HUGE conspiracy which COULD draw in over 100 “co-conspirators” – including several sitting members of Congress, the wife of a Supreme Court Justice, a gaggle of Trump’s “lawyers” (if they’re still lawyers by the time of the indictment) and a whole bunch of “suckers” in various states who signed FRAUDULENT documents claiming to be the “real electors” of their state. Additionally, there were people who were funding this, people on the periphery like Roger Stone, Mike Flynn, a recent lawsuit loser of about $50 MILLION Alex Jones, and who knows who else? I’ve written about what it takes to be part of a CONSPIRACY and it’s really not all complicated. Were you ANY part of the plan? Were you encouraging the plan? Probably really COMPLICATED from the standpoint of the Justice Department!

My apologies, I’m publishing this without re-reading and editing it – a “no no” for my 6th graders when I was still teaching!

I’m just getting so tired of “stupid” when I’m listening or watching Americans who manage to find themselves part of our “liberal media.” Yesterday, as I often do when I’m driving around, I was listening to MSNBC and one conversation after another was about the SCOTUS overturning Roe v Wade. One (unnamed – I don’t know the name) person being interviewed by someone (don’t know that name either) was lamenting the Court’s decision and she (actually) said, “This is the fault of the Biden Administration, they let this happen.” Thus confirming that “stupid” is bipartisan.

Here’s the problem with that kind of thinking – especially when there’s NO pushback by whoever was interviewing this lady – that’s exactly what those who are funding the republican assault on our republic want people to think. We are teetering on becoming the fascist state people like my father fought in WW II to prevent from happening. And, my concern is people like this woman will either NOT vote or, worse, vote for republicans to get back at Joe Biden! Of course, this decision was “baked” into the court’s docket once Amy Coney Barrett was “crammed” onto the court because Ruth Bader Ginsburg couldn’t manage to live until the 2020 election – although, she tried valiantly to do so. Ms. Ginsburg knew exactly what would happen if she couldn’t last – and, it did.

But, the ramifications of the Supreme Court my children and grandchildren must live with for a generation go well beyond the overturning of Roe. Are progressives going to blame Biden each time another “right” is overruled? Of course, that would be “stupid.” I’ve referred to our Twice Impeached so-called two time popular vote LOSING (ex) president as “individual 1” for a couple of years – I hate writing the name Donald Trump – but, obviously, America’s Justice Department doesn’t have the will to enforce our laws on a former president (and possibly his sycophants) so he’ll NEVER have to face justice for his role in the same FELONY which led to Michael Cohen going to PRISON for 3 years. So, I’m going to refer to our DISGRACED former president by his surname from hear on out. (I’ll probably forget occasionally)

And, I’m not necessarily going to blame Trump for the Court’s ruling on Roe despite him assuredly taking credit – but the decision has its roots well before Trump walked down the stairs at his god awful “Tower” in New York. This decision was “baked in” once Moscow Mitch “stole” a seat on the court from Merrick Garland – although, it’s reasonable to be perplexed by the inconsistency of the Senate confirmations of Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh and their so-called commitments to “stare decisis.” Yes, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh were critical parts of the decision to overturn Roe and they’re two of the three justices placed on the court by our DISGRACED former president. (That’s much easier to write)

This is exactly why so many evangelical “Christians” are rejoicing about the court’s decision and Trump’s role in it. (Of course, he IS taking credit for the ruling) So, why would anyone be blaming Joe Biden for “letting this happen.” In 2016 Hillary Clinton was running against Trump (and Russia and the FBI) and a majority of white women voted, inexpicably, for Trump – him, having ADMITTED to being a sexual pervert. These “Christians” made a “deal with the devil” because the “abortion” issue was the limit of their ability to think about politics – as if overturning Roe would stop abortions. So, my point is the people who “let this happen” (and who oppose this court’s egregious “legislating from the bench”) are all those “progressives” who sat out the 2016 election or voted for Trump or voted for one of the third party candidates allowing this two bit mob boss to become president.

Here’s why I (reluctantly) use the word “stupid” to characterize people like those mentioned above. Blaming Biden makes me think, as I said above, this woman will either FAIL to VOTE this November or will be SUCKERED into voting for a republican. There’s not a single republican in the Senate who voted to codify Roe when it was brought up for a vote a month or so back. The problem is there aren’t enough democrats in the Senate to get virtually ANYTHING of consequence done – so, why wouldn’t people (like the woman mentioned above) understand voting in MORE democrats is the ONLY hope people like her have. (Keep in mind, the abortion issue does not personally affect old people like me – other than grieving for our children and – mostly – grandchildren)

Democrats have been LOSING the messaging “battle” for as long back as I can remember. I’ve been pointing this out on this site for nearly 15 years. Democrats don’t understand – possibly STILL – what is going on in American politics – republicans surely do. This is a “war” for the heart and soul of this nation and we’re headed for the American version of apartheid if progressives fail to turn out in record numbers come November – presidential election numbers. (Which is highly unlikely – given the history of democratic apathy – in mid term elections) And, if the January 6th Select Committees public hearings AND (more than the Roe) Supreme Court decisions don’t get people’s attention, well, the foundation for republican CHEATING to win elections will have been “burnt in.”

I’ve lamented the timidity of Merrick Garland for over a year now and I don’t feel any more certain he will actually ENFORCE the existing laws without “fear or favor” regarding the INSURRECTION and the conspiracy by Trump and his “gang.” If AG Garland fails, then this nation will be unrecognizable. Trust me, indicting Trump will cause no more “division” to our nation than NOT indicting him – and, quite possibly a lot less. The results of well over 20 years of “manipulation” by a cabal of WEALTHY republicans – ie the “Koch brothers,” The DeVoss family, the Coors family, etc. etc. have been FUNDING a multitude of groups who’ve been working “from the bottom up” to create the situation where hard right republicans fill key places in one state after another. The group “ALEC” actually writes legislation for state legislatures all over the nation. And, of course, democrats act as if none of this is happening.

So, democrats don’t have much time to get their act together. And, of course, republicans know which democrats carry the most “weight” with the public, so – just as they did with Mrs. Clinton for 20+ years they are SMEARING anyone they consider a potential effective foe with MILLIONS in dirty money. As I’ve said here many times, with republicans the “end justifies the means.” Which is why Trump was so acceptable to the “base” – he’s the perfect leader – a pathological LYING two bit mob boss. And, of course, now you’ve got republican presidential wanabees all over the country trying to “out Trump” each other.

The bottom line, in America, is that the white nationalists are MUCH more numerous than I had imagined – having lived through the Civil Rights fights back in the 60’s on up to the election of Barack Obama as president in 2008. That was a seminal moment for two reasons – the first African American president AND the birthing of the “Tea Party” consisting of a group of racists who were more than willing to align themselves with the “basket of deplorables” menitoned by Mrs. Clinton in the 2016 campaign AND virtually take over the republican party during the next six years. Trump was auditioning for the role of “leader” while he was “pushing” the “Birther” movement.

Now you have people like Tucker Carlson with a voice on Fox “news” spewing out the “replacement theory” garbage to keep this group of white nationalists riled up and pretending they’re “conservative Christians.” The focal point of this movement, of course, as it has been for decades upon decades is in the American South. This was made ABUNDANTLY clear as states like Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, and Florida were at the forefron of what is being called “Jim Crow 2.0” – an attempt to prevent African Americans and other “minority groups” from voting in numbers high enough to effect the result of elections.

Naturally, this movement is not ONLY in the South – I know people in the Northwest who espouse the same garbage. I have a former acquaintance (I tried to get him to come to his senses at the breakfast table over a few years) who actually (with his wife) adopted and raised three African Americans who refer to him as “Dad.” I seriously doubt he says the same things to them which he said to me and I’m sure he can’t picture himself as being “racist.” But, you know, I don’t go by the theory that “I know a Black person so I can’t be racist.” His “daughter” was receiving subsistance the last time I talked to him and he was angry about it – said she deserved to be on the street. To me, when you align yourself with “white nationailsts” you can’t have it both ways. This guy even said things to me which I, at the time, thought were perplexing that an educated adult could think that, and later learned were QAnon conspiracy garbage.

We became acquainted via our Church (at the time) and I (actually) enjoy having dialogue with people who disagree with me (most people I know do :o) – but, I draw the line when I start hearing racist garbage. The last time I corresponded with him he referred to himself as a “conservative Christian.” I don’t think he has any idea what the actual definition of “conservative” is and, to me, when you jump on the Trump “bandwagon” and become part of the CULT I have to question the sincerity of the “Christian” self characterization. And, yes, I’m fully aware of the Bible saying “judge not less you be judged.” I just don’t believe the Trump version of “Christianity” comports with what I’ve learned over the past 20+ years. (I’m pretty sure I’ve “digressed”)

My point is, whether my former acquaintance is “right” or I’m “right” when it comes to what is best for this nation, him and those in the CULT with him will likely VOTE in huge numbers this coming November (for a midterm) so if democrats don’t get their acts together – and FAST – they will disappoint once again. And, I’m not talking about running on all the wonderful things they’ve accomplished in Biden’s first two years. They better start MESSAGING on the true threats we are facing as a nation coming from republicans. I can point out a key reason to vote for democrats right off the top of my aging head.

In fact, democrats need to win EVERY election for the foreseeable future because the 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court could get WORSE if they lose the Senate OR the “White House” anytime soon. I can conceive of, for example, Clarence Thomas getting caught up in the conspiracy to overthrow our government culminating in the January 6th, 2021 INSURRECTION. At this point it’s CLEAR his wife, Ginni Thomas, was right in the middle of a SEDITIONS conspiracy along with Trump, Meadows, Giuliani, Bannon, and a bunch of others (including about 100 suckers in various states who were led to sign fraudulent elector documents – which is AGAINST the law). Do you actually believe he had no idea what his wife was doing? OMG – republicans believe “we the people” are STUPID – if we believe that!

As soon as republicans gain control of the Senate or “White House” we are THREATENED with another LYING Gorsuch or Kavanaugh or Alito to add to the bunch already there. Well, democrats SHOULD have understood this back when Mrs. Clinton was on the ballot, but, well, ………………. The next reason why democrats need to get MORE Senators and retain control of the House is so Biden can get his “Build Back Better” agenda through Congress – bypassing Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. They have both relished the role of being in the public spotlight due to their willingness to “torpedo” Biden’s agenda – but, they can become irrelevant with just TWO more Democratic Senators – although, it would be better to have four or five more.

The democrats are defending about half as many seats as the republicans in this “go round” when it comes to the Senate – so, the opportunity is there. I believe in both Pennsylvania and Ohio democrats have a great chance to “flip” the seats. However, there are democrats who are vulnerable – including one of my favorites – Raphael Warnock in Georgia. He’s running against Hershel Walker – who is possibly the WORST candidate for the Senate I’ve EVER seen, but Walker’s running as a republican with Trump’s blessing so if he can avoid ANY public speaking engagements – including debating Warnock – who knows, republicans elected Trump after all.

As I said when I started this rant, my concern regarding the upcoming election is the STUPID stuff I’ve heard coming from the mouths of people who SHOULD be voting for democrats. It’s NOT Biden’s fault Roe got overturned, for example. And, the high gas prices and inflation are the result, largely of the war in Ukraine and the bottlenecks in supply chains – PLUS the GREED of multi-national corporations headquartered in America who are making obscene profits while our people are struggling to get by. Many of these corporations are donating MILLIONS to the republicans who were/are involved in the INSURRECTION. (It, of course, is ongoing)

If democrats can’t convince enough voters that the future of our republic is on the ballot this November, then, well, Yikes! I’ve been saying this for years – unfortunately, those of us who recognize the danger of the republican party which has gone over the right wing “edge” HAVE to depend on democrats to stop them. Honestly, I’m not sure MOST democrats in Congress understand the gravity of the situation. So far, what I’ve seen is “politics as usual” from them – many accepting that republicans will gain control of the Congress come November. That’s the problem I’ve been lamenting for years – where is the FIGHT?

For all those wondering, like me, why there has been NO investigation of former president Donald Trump regarding the coup d’etat he orchestrated back on January 6th, 2021 there’s overwhelming evidence as to why this investigation SHOULD take (have already taken) place. In fact, Trump continues to be a THREAT to our democratic republic and the SOONER he’s spending time in court defending his actions the SOONER all of us are better off. The idea he could declare himself a candidate for president in the 2024 election as a way to head off an indictment makes my stomach crawl. AG Garland has given me no reason to believe he has the “guts” to indict a former president – even one who acts like a cheap mob boss. Until Trump is stopped he’ll continue to believe he’s above the law.

Here’s why I believe his actions will only get worse until he’s stopped. First, Trump was “let off the hook” by William Barr’s LIES regarding the Mueller report regarding the “Russia thing” – the initial CHEATING connected to Trump demonstrating his mantra is “win at all costs.” Mueller “memorialized” 10 potential instances of OBSTRUCTRION of Justice which, clearly, AG Garland has chosen not to pursue. (Mueller pointed out the “mountain” of evidence was left for a future time when Trump was no longer covered by the OLC “memo”) Mueller made it clear the only reason they didn’t consider indicting Trump was because of that OLC “memo” which “suggests” a sitting president cannot be indicted. In Trump’s first couple of years in office it seemed as if he was involved in CRIMINAL conduct on almost a daily basis. It was almost dizzying. Once Barr shielded him from Mueller’s report (I read it TWICE) Trump claimed (erroneoously) he was fully vindicated. Clearly, he felt emboldened to continue disregarding our system of LAWS.

Second, Trump was “acquitted” in his NEXT attempt at CHEATING – this time to “win” the 2020 election when the Senate refused to convict him of “Abuse of Power” and “Obstruction of Congress” after being IMPEACHED for attempting to “shake down” (extort) Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelensky – trying to force him to start an investigation of Joe Biden and his son Hunter. (and ILLEGALY putting a “hold” on already appropriated military support for Ukraine as Ukraine was fighting off a Russian “intrusion” into the Donbas region) Trump figured just the opening of an investigation would be enough to sideline Biden as his most likely opponent in the 2020 election. We all saw why he wanted to do this with the results of Biden turning him out of office. Of course, LOSING the election was not sufficient for Trump to quietly move out of town.

The third reason he MUST be indicted is because he orchestrated the attempted coup d’etat America is learning more about virtually every day after he LOST the 2020 election. The House “Select Committee on the January 6th INSURRECTION” has been making the “story” of what happened obvious to MILLIONS of Americans who are watching their hearings – which may go beyond the previously scheduled final hearing scheduled for 7/21/2022. The Committee, since the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, points out that more evidence continues to “pour in.” It appears the testimony of Ms. Hutchinson has caused numerous others to gain the courage to come forth.

This attempted coup d’etat resulted in IMPEACHMENT number two for Trump and, of course, once again, the republicans in the Senate refused to “convict” the now TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING (ex) president. (Trump holds the record for MOST impeachments – EVER) Although there were several republicans who voted to convict, there was NOT the two thirds necessary for conviction – which would have made the concerns about Trump running again a moot point. I will remember (and, my 74 year old memory isn’t good) to my dying day Moscow Mitch voting to acquit and, almost immediately, once the “trial” was over making Trump’s responsibility for the attack on the Capitol “clear as a bell.” All he had to do was vote to CONVICT and there would likely have been enough republicans to remove Trump from our political scene once and for all. But, once again, Trump felt emboldened by the cowardice of republicans in the Senate.

In fact, putting on a classic display of where “today’s” republican party stands we need look no further than the republican leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy. On January 6th, while the INSURRECTIONISTS were bashing Capitol Police officers with their flags (many with tips turning them into dangerous spears), McCarthy called Trump pleading for him to call off the mob – and, according to others who were there and/or were told of Trump’s response – “Well, Kevin, I guess these people care more about the election than you do” – it is understandable why McCarthy was so angry and why he made a speech in the following days blasting Trump and putting the BLAME for the INSURRECTION squarely on Trump’s “shoulders.” Of course, given another week to think about his prospects to be Speaker of the House someday, McCarthy was soon at Mar a Lago kissing Trump’s (large) ass and (presumably) asking for forgiveness in regards to his previous speech! The trip ended in a disgusting “photo op” essentially showing Trump’s power over republican members of Congress. Do you like your job? Then, kiss my ass!

So, does anyone wonder what’s next if Merrick Garland fails to PROSECUTE Trump for ALL of his ILLEGAL behavior? And, what would failure to do that mean for other future leaders who don’t respect our constitution? Each time Trump has pushed himself OVER any reasonable view of the “limits” of presidential behavior and then gotten a “get out of jail free card” he has just pushed the boundaries further. And, his sycophants in the right wing of the republican party all around the country are attempting to “fix” the election process so that the next time Trump (or another right wing republican) attempts a coup d’etat, he/ahe will be able to pull it off. (Should Trump manage to find a way back into the “White House” he’ll know how to just surround himself with “loyalists”)

Therefore, it’s incumbent on VOTERS – and, I’m talking about democrats, independents, and disaffected republicans – to come together to vote out republicans in every place possible across the nation. At this point, I believe it’s more important to vote AGAINST republicans until this THREAT to the fundamentals of our constitution has been aleviated – when, once again, we can debate “conservative vs liberal” policy decisions – with the belief ANY leader in our country will HONOR their OATH to the constitution. I believe Merrick Garland has found himself in a critical place in American History – he’s “on the spot” whether he likes it or not. He’s worried about the division caused by prosecuting Trump – but appears to be BLIND to the consequences of NOT prosecuting our TWICE IMPEACHED loser of a former president. (I often wonder why republicans haven’t tired of all the LOSING) Not prosecuting Trump will be far worse than prosecuting him! (Garland is showing signs which provide people like me a ray of hope, but, for heaven’s sake these CRIMES happened over 18 months ago.)

Furthermore, I find it almost offensive that Garland is allowing the DA in Fulton County Georgia’s investigation of Trump to be leading the most serious legal issue Trump’s facing. It appears Fani Willis, Fulton’s DA, is targeting ALL those Georgians who are part of a large CONSPIRACY to overthrow the results of the presidential election in Georgia along with some of Trump’s sycophants who participated in the scheme to “find 11,780 votes one more than we need.” If you haven’t had your head in the “sand” you know about Trump’s now infamous call to Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Secretary of State, where he attempted to INTIMIDATE Raffensperger to “find” the votes necessary to change the outcome of Georgia’s election.

Trump made several other calls to various Georgia officials with the same intention – INTIMIDATION – causing them to join the conspiracy to “steal” the election in their state for him. Those who participated in this endeavor for Trump included Senator Lindsey Graham and Rudy Giuliani, among others. Ms. Willis is even targeting ALL 16 of the Georgia republicans who signed a fraudulent document claiming they were the “real” electors from the state – a document which was sent to the National Archives and to the Senate as part of the scheme which led to the January 6th INSURRECTION at the Captiol building in Washington D.C. Trump’s culpibility is as obvious in this attempt to defraud the voters of the state of Georgia as it is in the attempted coup d’etat of January 6th, 2021, to overthrow the naional election. Garland and the Justice Department SHOULD be leading this investigation as well!

I’m an old man with who knows how many years left on this (warming) planet, but I’ve been paying attention to politics since the days my Mom and Dad were arguing about Stevenson vs. Eisenhower back in the 1950’s. I was sent home from High School on November 22, 1963, the day JFK was assassinated (possibly with CIA complicity) and I watched RFK get murdered on TV after a primary “win” in California prior to the 1968 presidential election. The list goes on and on of political stuff I’ve witnessed, but I’ve NEVER seen anything like the THREAT to our nation caused by Trump and the extreme right – led by (of course) Trump, himself, and a plethora of white nationalist groups – essentially domestic terrorists – and, I fear that is what is causing the procrastination from AG Garland in regards to Trump’s OBVIOUS guilt in the lead up to the attemtped COUP and the day of the INSURRECTION itself. There’s a seemingly endless series of LAWS Trump has violated and Garland SHOULD be indicting him for. Just the thought Trump might, once again, INTIMIDATE his way out of accountability is depressing.

Final Thought: I’ve got a “bucket list” which, sadly, seems to be getting shorter due to my age related incapacity. One of the main parts of the list – shooting my age in golf – may have already passed me by due to medical issues which the insurance industry doesn’t seem to consider serious enough to support the diagnoses of the doctors involved. Many of my peers are perishing or have perished so I’m thankful every day when I wake up in the morning to one more day. Therefore, the number one thing on my bucket list, assuming my golfing days are over, is to live long enough to see Trump CONVICTED of his criminal behavior and sentenced to a fair number of years in prison – likely the rest of his life based on the fact he’s older than me and the list of crimes seems endless. (This all reminds me of “Watergate” – to which I was also “glued” to the hearings [Black and White TV back then] with the hope that Nixon’s criminal behavior would be exposed) Of Course, it was!

The January 6th Committee has PROVED beyond any reasonable person’s doubt Trump’s “intent” as he led a large conspiracy to overthrow a “free and fair election” – something right out of the Putin handbook. And, you might ask, why is he still adamant in claiming “the election was stolen” when he clearly KNOWS otherwise? Well, Trump is cunning, if nothing else and he’s fully AWARE of his criminal exposure. Further evidence of this is his looming announcement he’s running for president again this fall. He’s trying to head off any Justice Department indictment – although, as we saw with the Clinton investigation over emails – everytime I think back to that I shudder – do you remember all the “lock her up” chants led by Trump and his sycophants? – running for president doesn’t fall into the purvue of the OLC “memo” which prevents a SITTING president from indictment. Trump appears to be in “deep doo doo!”

And, I have to add: think of all the potential witnesses against Trump when you consider who might be caught up in this CONSPIRACY to overthrow the government. I’ll list the ones I can think of off the top of my head: John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, Jim Jordan, Scott Perry, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Mark Meadows, Ron Johnson, Mo Brooks, Ginni Thomas, Andy Biggs, Ali Alexander, Steve Bannon, Paul Gosar, Marjorie Taylor Green, Peter Navarro, Matt Gaetz, all the “alternate electors,” and, I’m sure, others. I’ll end this with the definition of a CONSPIRACY: “Conspiracy is governed by statute in federal courts and most state coursts. Before its Codification in state and federal statutes, the crime of conspiracy was simply an agreement to engage in an unlawful act with the intent to carry out the act. Federal statutes, and many state statutes, now require not only agreement and intent but also the commission of an Overt Act in furtherance of the agreement. If you would like more info on conspiracy, clidk HERE. Bingo! All those people mentioned above were involved in the scheme which was “unfolded” on January 6th, 2021. Sitting members of Congress and the WIFE of a Supreme Court Justice. Wow!

Now, it’s all up to the Justice Department and, in the end, Merrick Garland. There’s a bunch of “naughty” republicans who deserve to be TARGETS of an official investigation of SEDITION ending in indictments galore! We’re going to see the size of Garland’s “Balls” in the next few months!

Many Americans are wondering, “How did we get in this predicament?” as the tilt toward fascism continues. Well, I’ll attempt to consolidate much of what I’ve been writing about for the past 15 years and thinking about for much longer. To me, this all started in 1971 with the somewhat infamous “Powell memo” from soon to be (at the time) Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell laying the groundwork for the corporate takeover of America at the expense of America’s blue collar working class (and, in reality, her upper middle class at the time, as well).

Powell’s ideas were kind of “officially” put in place with the election of Ronald Reagan and the disastrous “trickle down economics scheme” which was unleashed on “we the people” in the early 1980’s. To me, that was the height of America’s great “middle class.” We’ve seen the superiority of the right wing’s message machine ever since as Reagan convinced enough Americans he was going to “cut your taxes and balance the budget.” Of course, the only time the budget’s been balanced since Reagan was when the Clinton administration created a quarter TRILLION surplus toward the end of their time in office. (After a tax increase) Sadly, Clinton’s presonal “failings” simply added fuel to that right wing “message machine” leading to the GW Bush/Dick Cheney regime and more of Reagan’s absurd promises.

In fact, it was the Bush/Cheney “victory” which was a precursor of things to come. (The motivator to all my writing) I’ll go to my grave believing Al Gore won Florida in the 2000 election which would have made him the winner (along with his “victory” in the “popular vote”). This was the first time the Supreme Court showed “inklings” of what it has transpired to over the past few days – absurd decisions on guns, abortion, climate, and “religion” – in the space of one working week. The 2000 Court got away with determining the outcome of the 2000 election and Gore accepted his defeat like a true “gentleman” – much to my chagrine. (Although, looking back, there was little he could have done – but, to me this was the first time I became aware of the Court’s untenable POWER.

This was followed by the Court showing its “legislating from the bench” prowess with the so-called “Citizen’s United” (v Clinton) decision (and soon to follow another one which I can’t remember off the top of my 74 year old head) unleashing MOUNTAINS of corporate money into our elections surreptitiously – opening the door to foreign money in our politics. I don’t think I’ll live long enough to forget watching Sam Alito shaking his head as if to disagree when, in President Obama’s first (I think) State of the Union address he pointed out this decision opened the floodgates to foreign (and corporate) money into our elections. (This was the decision leading to Mitt Romney’s famous “corporations are people my friends” statement and it also showed what an IDIOT Alito apparently is)

The court continued it’s right wing assault on America’s progress post WW II when it began the process of “gutting” the Voting Rights Act of 1965. First section 5 (which started the massive number of voter suppression bills now turning into laws aimed at curtailing the numbers of people of color – and other democratic leaning voters – from exercising their right to vote. Next came Section 2 and then obscene decisions regarding gerrymandering – with an obvious “bent” toward supporting “conservatives.”

I point this out because I believe this assault on our nation’s foundation began with that Powell memo and has been running “under the radar” ever since. The wealthy family interests like the “Koch Brothers,” The DeVoss family, the Coors family and others banded together to form alliances designed to undermine the aforementioned progress following WW II and they’ve been working on a sophisticated plan (compared to the democrats) since. I still remember David Koch (now deceased) running for Vice President on the libertarian “ticket” in 1980 (I believe) and getting about ONE percent of the vote. The thing about the Koch’s – they don’t give up. They’ve been building this alliance with other wealthy families since – forming groups like ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) and other grassroots alliances filling our state and local governments with right wing zealots. (Slowly engulfing our political process)

In the meantime, democrats have acted as if they have no idea what is happening to the heartland – seemingly oblivious to the “culture wars” they are losing BIGTIME. America has now evolved to a point where corporate interests, in essence, control the Congress and the messaging. There are some upstart democrats who cause me to have some hope democrats can figure this out before it’s too late – although, I fear November of this year (2022) could be determinate as to whether they figure it out in time.

Republicans have been winning the messaging “wars” ever since the 1970’s and the Powell memo (to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – I believe – it’s easy to find online – if interested click HERE) and my FEAR is that it’s not changing – although, the brazenous of the recent Court decisions give me pause for hope – women, for example, make up over half the country. (Are they going to VOTE?) The other “current events” which SHOULD help democrats to “turn the tide” on the messaging front are the hearings of the Select Committee on the January 6th INSURRECTION which are exposing the CORRUPTION of the republican party to those who choose to pay attention.

To me, this CORRUPTION is a direct result of SCOTUS decisions mentioned above – along with the passive democratic party which has shied away from holding republican leaders accountable for their lawlessness. (It only gets progressively worse each time the signal is sent “the president is above the law.” – Reagan and H W Bush were up to their eyeballs in Iran/Contra and GW Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld et al admitted to authorizing TORTURE with no accountability – and, of course, Trump is exponentially WORSE) I believe Trump STILL believes he’ll avoid accountability for Sedition because his choices for the Supreme Court will protect him. Will Americans VOTE this November based on the threat of the Court or will they be sidetracked by the issue of inflation?

In my lifetime there are two people I look to for guidance as I try to understand economics – which underlies virtually ALL the problems “we the people” are facing and they are Paul Krugman and Robert Reich. My thoughts above are simply the observations I’ve made over my lifetime as a “baby boomer” (who is concerned with the America we’re leaving our children and grandchildren) and both Krugman and Reich have me convinced the obscene actions of corporate America (actually, virtually ALL the main offenders are “multi-national corporations”) stashing their obscene PROFITS overseas to avoid American taxes while ripping off their American customers – especially, in this time of war, the fossil fuel corporations. (Mr. Reich explains this really well – he exposes the problems and provides potentilal solutions – and his writings are easily accessible online)

Actually, I believe I’ve been witnessing the CORRUPTION of these multi-national coporations since – well, the days of Reagan. Sadly, I believe “we the people” have grown to accept this CORRUPTION as simply the “way it is” – with nothing we can do about it. Of course, I’ve been writing (now) for about 15 years lamenting that the democratic party doesn’t appear to have the courage of their own convictions in fighting this CORRUPTION- and, that they are the ONLY realistic option for “we the people” in voting this (ever more) right wing republican party into the history books. For example, these obscene profits coming (to) from the oil companies is nothing new – like a lot of what is happening with corporations in general. Somehow, many Americans are (believing and) blaming democrats for this!

Lately, much of what I’ve been thinking (and writing) about is how the “circular firing squad” of the democratic party the most depressing part of all this – democrats attacking democrats – especially democrats attacking Joe Biden. I keep wondering, “what the hell were they expecting.” Biden faces the thinnest of “majorities” in Congress yet has managed to get TWO significant pieces of legislation passed and signed into law. The “American Rescue Plan” helped pull America out of the COVID-19 “abiss” with $1.9 TRILLION aimed at the middle class or those in economic danger. Additionally, the so-called “bipartisan infrastructure plan” is a “first step” in fixing the sagging infrastructure in America – which needs much more to bring it up to “world class” standards. A record number of jobs have been created in Biden’s first 18 months in office.

There are other successes as well – BUT, because of Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema’s recalcitrance the “Build Back Better” bill was NOT passed (and, likely, even a watered down version won’t be passed) AND bills to protect Voting Rights and the rights of WOMEN to control their own bodies became IMPOSSIBLE to pass. The downward trajectory of President Biden’s “approval” numbers began with the pullout of troops from Afghanistan – reported as a fiasco – as if there was any other option. In reality, getting over 120,000 Afghans out of the country along with our final number of troops was something to cheer. However, even outlets like MSNBC reported the pullout of troops as a disaster because of those Afghans who couldn’t make it ouit. I said it at the time, all these people complaining weren’t around when troops came home from Viet Nam – a much worse “disaster” than Afghanistan.

These democrats who continue to complain about President Biden seem to have nearly as short a memory as those who are not democrats and who actually favor republicans – after what has taken place over the previous 7 years – highlighted by the four years of the Trump administration. Republicans are seemingly ALL experts at projection which is why, lately, I’ve heard them calling democrats fascists. (as they deflect) Obviously, they “trust” their supporters to have NO idea what constitutes a fascist – but, the actual reality “we the people” face if democrats continue arguing amongst themselves – missing the MAIN point of this upcoming mid-term election – very well could be the makings of a fascist takeover of our nation’s government. (And, trust me, that won’t be because democrats win in the mid terms)

My father was in the U.S, Army during WW II as America prevented Hitler’s attempt to spread his FASCIST hate all across Europe and into (the then) Soviet Union. Even then, there were many Americans who had enabled Hitler and supported him BUT most Americans participated in the FIGHT to stop Hitler’s fascist regime. I find it ironic that a low level organized criminal – a second tier immigrant like Trump, might be the source of America becoming a fascist state. This is unthinkable to me, but as I watch the democrats “circular firing squad” it becomes clear this could be the result of republicans’ sophisticated control of our “mainstream media.”

Here’s what democrats SHOULD be “pounding” to their potential VOTERS over and over again. “As we go forward ANY time republicans gain control of the Senate the result will be either NO judges confirmed to the various federal courts if there’s a democrat president or MORE right wing judges if, somehow, “we the people” vote another republican into the ‘White House.'”

Additionally, democrats should be POUNDING it into people’s minds about what is being uncovered by the Select Committee to investigate January 6th, 2021 – the INCREDIBLE CORRUPTION which has permeated the entire republican party – and, democrats should be defining to “we the people” what a FASCIST actually is – by showing instances like the so-called “unite the right” march in Charlottesville where Trump said, “There’s good people on both sides.” Photos of the Nazi swastikas on the arms of many of those marchers who were chanting “Jews will not replace us.” Also, the Nazi references on the clothing of MANY of the INSURRECTIONISTS on January 6th, 2021. Just listening to the flow of LIES – via the “Big Lie Theory” adopted by republicans from the Nazi’s of the Third Reich SHOULD also be enough.

To me, these two realities are much more important than the issues of inflation and high gas prices (a major contributor of inflation). Of course, the source of this inflation seems to go right over the heads of most Americans – and, sadly, many members of the “liberal media.” There’s a WAR going on in Ukraine and President Biden has done a GREAT job pulling NATO together in a unified stand against Vladimir Putin and supporting Ukraine in an attempt to head off the possibility of WW III. Americans SHOULD be supporting Biden in all of this! That, along with the recovery from the pandemic which has exacerbated supply chain issues are at the root of the issue of inflation. It will come to pass, but electing republicans in November may be more than our democratic republic can withstand.

So, it seems that how we got here has been what many are calling a “slow motion coup d’etat” starting way back in 1971. To me, it’s evident our “liberal media” either doesn’t “get” this, or they are willfully complicit. It seems complicated, on the surface, but, in actuality, to me, it’s simple – the republican party won’t be satisfied until they have TOTAL control of “we the people” – that is, our most sacred “rights.” This Supreme Court is going to be there for long after I’m “pushing up daisies” and democrats better get busy educating voters on what the CRITICAL issues are right away. I’ve been saying “this upcoming election is the most important election in my lifetime” since Trump gained the “Oval Office.” Well, until this court somehow gets mitigated, I believe EVERY election going forward will be “the most important of our lifetimes.”

Are democrats up for this? Well, if they continue attacking each other the republicans will have them right where they want them. Just maybe they’ll learn from the “Lincoln Project” how to run a campaign AGAINST republicans. I’ve been saying now for around 20 years (about 15 here) there’s a WAR going on for the heart and soul of America and, sadly, I’ve questioned whether the democratic party actually even understands this. Somehow, they had better figure this out – and soon – because if republicans get control of Congress – and, then in 2024 are able to “win” back the “White House” (picture them succeeding at what Trump failed) – America could be in for one of the darkest periods in her history.

Final Thought: I read about the 10 year old girl who was raped in Ohio and had to travel to Indiana to get an abortion and, at the time, republicans made a HUGE show claiming this was a “made up story” – as if that kind of thing doesn’t happen in America. Well, of course, the story was very TRUE and, yet, yoiu won’t hear the talking heads on Fox “news” or in the other republican leaning media outlets admitting they were WRONG and apologizing for misleading their audiences. The stories of little girls being FORCED to give birth are going to be routine now that Roe v Wade was overturned.

I’m not someone who “believes” in abortion – I believe it’s not my “call.” This is the epitome of MEN going to extreme lengths to gain CONTROL of the women in our country. If this issue alone doesn’t motivate a MAJORITY of Americans to start the process of voting republicans out of office I’m not sure if any issue can. Of course, the “gun” issue is right behind the issue of abortion. Why on earth are ASSAULT weapons legal in America. Claiming the 2nd amendment gives people the right to own AR-15’s is absurd. The idea gun ownership cannot be regulated is just as absurd – the 2nd amendment does not block regulating guns. These two issues alone SHOULD motivate “progressives” to go to the polls in EVERY election for the foreseeable future.

As I pointed out in previous posts – those democrats blaming President Biden for the Supreme Court overturning Roe is pure idiocy. I even suggested many of them might be part of the large segment of democrats who didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton back in 2016. That is when it became clear Roe v Wade was likely going to be overturned – Trump’s legacy will be that of an organized CRIMINAL but his three appointees to the court will be doing their damage for a generation! (And, for evangelical Christians that makes their “deal with the devil” worth it) (Remember, rights are easier LOST than regained!) Stay tuned………………..

I was reading an article in the Washington Post by Dana Milbank which reminded me of a term which I’ve been wanting to use in describing the incredibly thoughtless attacks being directed at President Biden by, you guessed it, DEMOCRATS! Now, I have to add, I’ve NEVER “joined” the democratic party although for the past 30 or so years I’ve found myself regularly voting AGAINST republicans. If you believe the reporting coming from the so-called “liberal media” you’d think democrats have control of legislation coming out of Washington DC. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. To me, the result of this “mis-reporting” has led to what Milbank referred to as a “circular firing squad” – the term which has been on the tip of my almost 75 year old tongue – which I couldn’t manage to remember.

Milbank made several good and prescient points in his opinion piece titled “Give Biden a Break” which you can read, if you’re so inclined, by clicking HERE. I’m not going to get into details of what Milbank wrote other than to say I agree with his premise. I’ve stated here before that I was NOT a “Biden supporter” when he began his campaign, but I’ve come to appreciate, in my view, he’s the perfect president for the times we’re dealing with. The FIRST (and main) reason I’ve adopted that attitude is because he was probably the ONLY democrat who could have defeated Trump, which was “mission number one” in the 2020 election.

Of course, true to form, the democrats do seem to have trouble “walking and chewing gum at the same time” which came through “loud and clear” when they failed to win seats which SHOULD have been winnable in various races in both the House and Senate. The Biden election simply showed that MOST Americans were fed up with Trump and his cosa nostra type administration – even though the MOB references didn’t really appear too often in the “mainstream” media until the evidence of Trump’s cavalier disdain for our constitution and system of laws began to show itself as the House Select Committee on January 6th began to roll out some of the MASSIVE trove of evidence of the CRIMES committed by our TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING (ex) president and his sycomphants during the public hearings – which STILL have a long way to go.

Now you have large portions of America wondering why the Justice Department hasn’t stepped in to put a stop to the LAWBREAKING of an ex president – which includes SCAMMING hundreds of MILLIONS of dollars from his unsuspecting flock of “ditto heads” – telling them the money was intended to help him “fight (non existent) voter fraud” but funneling the money, instead, into his personal political campaign “war chest.” The non-existent political fund was titled “Official Election Defense Fund. Of course, just as he LIED to cause his “ditto heads” to storm the Capitol Building in D.C. he LIED about the existence of the fund. Instead, he’s allegedly been “pocketing” the money. (After all, the man has a lot of financial liabilities to attend to)

So, for people like me, getting RID of Trump was object number one in 2020. Now, what democrats SHOULD be focused on is providing President Biden with a significant INCREASE in the number of democrats in the Senate while – AT THE SAME TIME – focusing on keeping a majority in the House. The issues which they can RUN on are clear – ANY time in the coming decades when republicans control the Senate, for example, means it will be near impossible for President Biden to fill empty court openings – most importantly, the Supreme Court. And, this would go for whoever follows in Biden’s “footsteps” WHENEVER he leaves office. For all those people complaining about Biden’s lack of an aggressive response, for example, to the oveturning of Roe v Wade I have to say, “Take just a moment to think!”

These would be the same people who found that Hillary Clinton wasn’t worthy of their vote back in 2016. Well, that was the decision that led to the Dobbs decision overturning Roe. And, with a 50/50 split in the Senate – which includes Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema – there’s really NOTHING Biden can do – other than what he’s attempting, which are (will be) executive orders which either won’t stand up in court or which can simply be discarded as soon as another republican gains the “Oval Office.” And, to me, someone who pays fairly close attention to political news, EVERYTHING I’ve heard coming from President Biden’s mouth seems appropriate. For those who don’t like being reminded of the importance of VOTING I would say, “The republicans have you right where they want you!”

I’ve listened to endless complaints about the price of gas and inflation as the reasons “progressives” are disenchanted with President Biden. My first thought when listening to or reading these complaints is, again, “Give it some thought!” Neither the inflation nor the price of gas (being too high for some) is Biden’s fault. We live in a multi-national economy whether we like it or not and the efforts by Biden and his democratic predessors ALWAYS encounter the obstacle of “Moscow Mitch” when trying to mitigate these problems. I originally thought that Moniker fit Mitch McConnell to a “tee” after I had learned of the Russian money and influence intertwined into his campaign coffers – but, of late, I’ve been feeling McConnell is doing the “bidding” of Vladimir Putin – who is bound and determined to see America’s 240 year “experiment” with self government come “crashing down.” Every effort by the Biden administration (and democrats in Congress) to mitigate (with a longer term outlook) the root causes of inflation, for example, are BLOCKED by McConnell in the Senate via the outdated filibuster.

Once again, the ONLY solution to this problem, in my view, is providing Biden with MORE democratic Senators while maintaining democratic control of the House. This SHOULD be a singular message of democrats – yet, as usual, they’re “fighting amongst themselves” – the perfect antidote to what is needed to VOTE republicans into the history books. To me, and I’ve been paying attention to politics since the days of Dwight Eisenhower, Biden is the MOST progressive president – based on his political philosohy (ie “Buld Back Better”) – since the days of LBJ and the “Great Society.” As I remember Johnson’s time in office – a legacy virtually destroyed by the Viet Nam “war” – we got the “birth” of Medicare, we saw the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – monumental legislation moving this nation closer to her ideals. (And, there was more – as Johnson wanted to fight the “War on Poverty.”

Biden’t proposed “Build Back Better” legislation, which was first pared back by both Manchin and Sinema (by half) before they BLOCKED it (although there were 50 republicans who also voted to BLOCK it) – was based on the philosophy of “Bottom up Middle out.” This legislation was aimed right at the American people who needed it – single Moms (and Moms in general), children, young people aspiring to gain a higher education, and on and on – INVESTMENTS in the American people starting from the “bottom up.” To me, that SHOULD be the purpose of the federal government – aside from Judicial and Security issues – legislation aimed at the “Commons.” This is what happened during Eisenhower’s time in the “Oval Office,” it happened during JFK’s and LBJ’s time in office only to face years of a “right wing” backlash to INVESTING in our people beginning with the election of Ronald Reagan.

Actually, the idea of INVESTING in America’s infrastructure and her PEOPLE goes back to the days of FDR and the “New Deal.” To this day, you still hear of republicans complaining about the “New Deal” which was the fundamental source of the great American Middle Class which flourished until Reagan took the oath of office. I’m not going into the details here of why I believe Reagan was the pivotal point in “modern” American History leading to the discontent among her people which exists today – I’ve done so adnauseam in the Archives – I will simply say republicans have become expert at causing “we the people” to argue amongst ourselves over cultural issues which have little to do with what should be the focus of government. And, in this “light,” the saddest part, to me, would be “progressives” talking themselves out of what would actually lead to solutions to their issues.

Republicans succeeded in defeating Hillary Clinton in 2016 leading to the THREE judges who made the difference in the Dobbs decision to overturn Roe. Once again, it’s NOT Joe Biden’s fault – that was going to happen whether Biden defeated Trump or not. “Progressives” want to see democrats do something legislatively to “codify” Roe – but, that’s IMPOSSIBLE under the present structure of the Senate. So, does it make sense for them to be BLAMING President Biden? (Honestly, I have to wonder how many of those doing the complaining failed to vote for Mrs. Clinton in 2016) Once again, the SOLUTION will require MORE democratic Senators – and that would include Senators willing to either remove the filibuster all together or to “carve out” and exception for women’s health care. (For that matter, also an exception for VOTING RIGHTS)

Thinking about all of this (and more) is what had me searching my brain for the term “circular firing squad” – which seems to be all too appropriate in describing what’s going on in the democratic “message machine” these days. Watching this all play out – to me – is extremely frustrating – because it seems too obvious that just a little thought by some key people could lead to a UNIFIED democratic response to the “slow motion coup d’etat” going on in America – from the republican party – as I’m typing this. What is necessary seems so OBVIOUS to me I find myself, as I have for years, shaking my head at the “big tent” party those of us who shudder at the idea of this right wing, white nationalist republican party gaining power once again. Do American “progressives” really have such a short attention span they can’t remember the reign of Trump?

OMG – my instincts tell me, if “we the people” allow this to happen we DESERVE what we get. Another of my “pet peeves” – when it comes to the “circular firing squad” has to do with Biden’s decision to pull “we the people” out of Afghanistan. I’m still wondering, “what the hell were people expecting” when President Biden was faced with the choice of pulling the troops out based on an agreement made by Trump or putting in another SURGE of American troops to block the progress of the Taliban which resulted from Trump’s agreement. (I have to add, I agreed with Trump, the troops should come home) There was NO “smooth” way to make this withdrawal. (As I said earlier re: Reagan – I’ve explained this on numerous “rants” in the Archives) Too many Americans are either too young to remember the withdrawal from Viet Nam or weren’t paying attention back them – but, the bottom line is there’s no “smooth” way to exit a war you’ve LOST.

The PROOF America’s “adventure” in Afghanistan was futile was the speed with which the Afghan troops “dropped their weapons” in the face of the Taliban offensive. To me, Biden did the right thing in ending America’s FIASCO in Afghanistan and, instead of complaining about the Afghans who wanted to leave and weren’t able to do so, the focus SHOULD have been on the over 120 THOUSAND Afghans who were evacuated along with the last of the American troops. That was WAY BETTER than what happened in Viet Nam when the American troops were brought home. Sometimes I think to myself, republicans don’t need to make “attack ads” against their democratic foes – the democrats do it for them. Again, thanks to Dana Milbank for reminding me of the term “circular firiing squad.”

Final Thought: The issues which could be included in this “rant” seem almost endless. As a former teacher in a high poverty public (Middle) School I find all the attacks on our public education system and the dedicated teachers who work hard to educate America’s children offensive. Why aren’t democrats fighting back HARDER on issues such as “Critical Race theory?” for example. I spent the last 23 years of my working life teaching sixth graders and I never heard that term – nor knew what it meant – until this past couple of years. I’m still not totally sure what it means. My guess is the fight against “CRT” somewhat mirrors the so-called “lost cause” which permeated (permeates?) America’s South post the Civil War.

Are we not supposed, now, to teach our children the TRUTH when they’re studying American history? Are we worried that the TRUTH will make students (especially white students) uncomfortable? My experience tells me being “uncomfortable” can lead to some amazing LEARNING experiences. I grew up reading text books which HID the TRUTH about the issue of racism in America and I felt a sense of relief everytime I learned MORE about our TRUE history. It’s NOTHING to fear – the purpose of studying HISTORY is to prevent repeating the same mistakes which came before “us.”

To me, this SHOULD be an easy issue which to find UNISON among “progressives” in the messaging designed to motivate more people (especially young people) to participate in their privilege of VOTING this November. Democrats will need an overwhelming response to overcome some of the voting restrictions republicans have passed in the past 18 months. This is NO time for the “circular firing squad.” The FAULT here, and in almost EVERY issue, lies with the republican party. The UNIFIED message SHOULD be focused on the importance of voting them out of office. (As many as possible)

I wrote recently that individual 1, referred to as a MORON by at least two of his original cabinet appointees, is much more “cunning” than many of us realized. His SCHEME to overthrow our government had been “birthed” well before the November 3rd, 2020 election and, as those of us who are watching the hearings of the Select January 6th Committee can clearly see, he ALMOST succeeded. I’ve been pointing out America has long had a corporate/government partnership (since the days of Reagan – which followed the infamous “Powell memo”) – the definition of Musolini fascism – but, of course, that’s never good enough for republicans so they enlisted our TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING (ex) president to do what Adolf Hitler failed to do back in the 1940’s. He nearly pulled it off and still could – because he won’t be deterred unless Merrick Garland decides to deter him.

Cunning, you ask? Yep! So, if you’re watching the 1/6 hearings there can be NO doubt in your mind individual 1 is “GUILTY as sin” No here’s my point: Clearly, individual 1 is watching the hearings and he realizes he’s in “deep doo doo.” Naturally, his reaction is, well, NO surprise. Tonight, I read a post he put in his “Truth” Social – Twitter rip off. In it he made a point to claim he actually BELIEVED he’d “won” the election – despite the OVERWHELMING evidence he was told otherwise NUMEROUS times. (And, of course, he said he still believes it) Why would he make such a preposterous claim?

I’ve heard numerous RESPECTED former prosecutors point out the hardest thing to prove in cases like the MANY individual 1 may be defending himself in is “intent.” Some have asked, “Did he really believe” what Bill Barr called bullshit? Now, I’m suggesting he’s “cunning” not STUPID. (He thrives because he knows his supporters are STUPID – to the point they’ve grifted him about a quarter BILLION dollars since he LOST the 2020 election) The reality is our TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING (ex) president is preparing his DEFENSE in advance of what I’m certain he BELIEVES will be his indictment for NUMEROUS felonies.

There’s so many possible charges individual 1 SHOULD be facing it’s hard to keep up. The judge in California who ruled John Eastman’s emails had to be given to the 1/6 Committee said it’s “likely” both Eastman and individual 1 committed the FELONIES of OBSTRUCTING an official proceeding of Congress and FRAUD against the United States of America. That’s for starters. Of course, the charge of “Seditious Conspiracy’ is much more serious and, to me, it appears obvious individual 1 and a plethora of his associates committed that offense.

We don’t hear much about the legal issues he COULD be facing in New York – where, apparently, the successor to Cy Vance as Manhattan’s DA has decided NOT to proceed with an indictment of individual 1 (and his children) because, well, who knows. Two prosecutors who were on the case for over a year resigned in protest saying, “our former president committed several FELONIES.” Will that case get revived? Who knows, But, individual 1, his eldest son, and his daughter Ivanka are going to be questioned under oath in mid July. The entire family “organization” could be in danger if New York’s AG wins a civi lawsuit alleging FRAUD by individual 1 and his children.

And, remember, his organization is already facing 15 FELONY charges which were already filed along with his former top aide being charged with FELONIES as well. Do you understand why I’ve been calling him a low level MOB boss for several years now? And, none of this even mentions Fani Willis in Fulton County Georgia who has a “Special Grand Jury” going on right now, as I’m writing this, which potentially could result in a RICO charge – meaning people like Mark Meadows and Lindsey Graham could get caught up in individual 1’s illegal behavior.

RICO stands for “The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.”  The law was brought in to help tackle large scale criminal organizations in the US. That would allow Ms. Willis to indict individual 1 and those who participated in his attempt to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia in one felled “swoop.” When you listen to the 67 minute recording of individual 1 berating Brad Raffensperger – Georgia’s Secretary of State – attempting to get him to “find 11,780” votes – well, you’d have to be STUPID not to understand THAT is actual “election fraud.” (Fraud seems to be a common adverb when looking at individual 1’s behavior)

I read a column in the Washington Post tonight by Eugene Robinson titled “It will be bad if Merrick Garland prosecutes (individual 1 – he, of course, used his surname), and worse if he doesn’t.” If you’ve been on this site in the past you likely know I’m a firm believer in “no one is above the law.” Richard Nixon proved (I thought) “we the people” DON’T believe “if a president does it, it must be legal.” However, since the days of Watergate, our justice system has progressively proved maybe Nixon was correct.

For example, Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush were in, up to their eyeballs, in the Iran/Contra fiasco. In “Iran/Contr” the Reagan administration was secretly selling ARMS to Iran, which was subject to an arms embargo (The Iranians had captured a large group of Americans out of the American Embassy and held them hostage – ironically until Reagan took office – raising other questions), and used the money to fund the Nicaragua “Contras” in an effort to topple Nicaragua’s “leftist” government – a CLEAR violation of Congress’ “Boland Amendment” which prohibited funding of the Contras.

Both Reagan and Bush (HW) went without punishment while several others in the Reagan administration were convicted of serious FELONIES. All were eventually pardoned by HW Bush in the latter days of his administration. This set the stage for the NEXT republican administration, that of GW Bush and Dick Cheney. Both GW Bush and Cheney admitted on national TV to authorizing TORTURE for their so-called “enemy combatants” (determined by them – or their “assigns”) and one of the first things Barack Obama did once he became president was to STOP all the investigations into the WAR CRIMES of the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld administration. (Donald Rumsfeld was Sec. of Defense) I stated at the time, this would just be another “signal” to republicans that democrats didn’t have the stomach to stop their lawlessness. And, I said it will just get progressively worse.

I still FIRMLY believe that and, just imagine, how much worse can it get? Well, if you’ve paid attention to individual 1 since he was BOOTED out of the nation’s capital with his “tail between his legs,” he believes he’ll be back in POWER if he “chooses.” His lackeys have been busy changing election laws in numerous states since his failed coup d’etat. Apparently, there are a lot more Americans who don’t believe in our democratic republic than I thought. These “lackeys” are still busy and they’ve got their sights set on the offices of Governor, Secretay of State, and House of Representatives in various key states. IT CAN GET A LOT WORSE!

Here’s the reality: If republicans gain control of Congress (they already CLEARY have control of the courts) it won’t matter who the American people VOTE for in 2024 because republicans in Congress showed their “hand” in 2020. They will simply “object” to the results in states they “need” in order to control the Electoral Vote count and have the POWER to “overturn” the 2024 election – completing what they failed to do in 2020. As many people have said, 2020 was simply the “trial run.” And, sadly, MOST Americans have no idea what is going on. Of course, we can count on democrats to FAIL in pointing this out – if history is any gauge.

I talk to as many people as I can and most of them believe I’vel lost my “marbles.” It just doesn’t seem fathomable to them this could be true. Hopefully, they’re watching the 1/6 hearings which are pointing out what myself (and many others) have been saying for several years now. This republican party continues to tilt strongly to the “right” and it appears to have adopted out and out fascism at this point in time.

Remember, the “base” of the republican party is comprised significantly of outright white nationalists who are, at a minimum, neo-Nazi’s. If you don’t believe me, take another look (online) at the so-called “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia back in 2017 – with the “good people on both sides.” You tell me who the “good people” were carrying the Tiki Torches and chanting “Jews will not replace us” while wearing swastika armbands and/or carrying confederate flags. David Duke was there and praised individual 1 for his “good people on both sides” comment. Yikes!!!

My point here is that while it may be true that when it comes to governing individual 1 is a MORON, when it comes to his self preservation he’s not only “cunning” but he’s simply put DANGEROUS. He appears to be void of any moral compass – he’s a MASTER con man a MOB boss. The “conservative Christian” community made the classic “deal with the devil” because individual 1 allowed Moscow Mitch and Don McGahn to flood the court system with right wing judges. And, individual 1 placed THREE right wing (and dishonest) judges on the Supreme Court – which will be a problem for a generation (unless progressive succeed in expanding the Court)

The issue with the Court, in fact, SHOULD motivate progressives to VOTE against republicans for the next MANY MANY elections – and, of course, to vote AGAINST individual 1 or those trying to take his “place.” I firmly believe if democrats lose control of Congress in the 2022 mid-term elections the republicans will have succeeded in achieving what Karl Rove called the “permanent republican ‘majority.'” It will be a kind of the American version of apartheid. As I’ve stated here before, Merrick Garland is, historically, on the spot. He had to decide if he has the stomach for prosecuting individual 1 – and the rest of us can do nothing but “sit on the edge of our seats” in anticipation. He will be roundly criticized one way or the other! And, prosecuting individual 1 will be the first step in salvaging this nation’s principles.

Final Thought: Every day I try to read something about what is going on in Ukraine – I do NOT want to allow myself to get tired of paying attention to Putin’s war of aggression there – a clear view of fascism (Putin’s Russia). I would just point out to anyone reading this that Putin’s war with America has not slowed down and you can be as sure as the sun rising in the East that Putin will have his “paws” all over the upcoming election in America. The last thing he wants to see is President Biden having success – kind of like republicans. How much they’re working in “unison” we may never know – but, rest assured they’re working toward the same end. My hope is the American people will FINALLY see through this “deplorable” partnership.

It didn’t work for Putin in 2020 because, likely, many more Americans were aware of what he’s up to, but the reality is while there were MILLIONS more people voting for democrats, there were also MILLIONS more voting republican. In fact, something I found interesting in watching the 1/6 hearings was something Brad Raffensperger said regarding why individual 1 LOST in Georgia. There were at least 28,000 Georgians who didn’t cast a vote for persident but voted everything else down ballot. So, had all Georgia’s republicans cast a ballot for individual 1 he would have carried the state by around 15,000 votes. So, good on all thos Georgians who had the audacity to refrain from voting for a CRIMINAL and I hope we see more of that in 2022. Individual 1 is a CANCER on this nation – the “cure” is in the hands of AG Garland!

I wrote the above yesterday – the day the Supreme Court overturned 100 years of gun safety laws in New York – now an “open carry” state (with more states likely to follow) and, today, they did what most have been watitng for and overturned Roe v Wade. Judges who had pledged in confirmation hearings they would honor precedence in this matter were, well, LYING. They were ruling on a case from Mississippi which severely limited Roe, but instead of agreeing to that case they decided to “go the full nine yards.” I know “Christians” who are very happy about this, but the reality is abortions will still happen – this ruling will simply create serious health care issues for an untold number of women in America. I have to wonder how many of them are planning to VOTE come November.

Several months ago, when I first allowed myself to use the word STUPID (a word I loathe) regarding republican leaders (and sadly many of their followers) I pointed out the results of some of their decisions. First was the so-called “HEROES Act” the democrats in the House “gave” to individual 1 (and republicans) during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. As Nancy Pelosi said, this will help us “crush the virus.” Of course, Moscow Mitch (republicans controlled the Senate) labled it “dead on arrival” with individual 1’s blessing. Passing that piece of legislation likely would have led to another (disastrous) four years of our now TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING (ex) president.

Naturally, that decision led to the January 6th, 2021 INSURRECTION the result of individual 1 being the world’s WORST loser. And, of course, the INSURRECTION and MORE republican STUPIDITY led to the January 6th Select Committee. Republicans had the option of a 9/11 type “Commission” with equal representation and, not surprisingly, voted it down. (As usual, thinking is not a characteristic of republican leaders – and, the “flock” almost always does what they are “told”) The result of this STUPIDITY is very possibly going to be what, in conjunction with Supreme Court decisions which get the attention of just about EVERYONE, very well could be a massive move to the polls in November by people who don’t want America to be a fascist state (anymore than it already is).

Time will tell. I’ve always thought democrats were expert at pulling DEFEAT from the “jaws of victory” – but 2022 could very well see the shoe on the other foot. Of course, republicans have a decided advantage due to gerrymandered districts in determining the control of the House, but I just have a feeling democrats could gain a few seats in the Senate – enough to counter Manchin and Sinema – and, if they can keep control of the House it could be possible legislation aimed at “we the people” might actually happen. Make no mistake, I believe Joe Biden is pushing the most progressive agenda since LBJ. He believes in the “Bottom up Middle out” approach to governing. Let’s hope the Roe decision and the 1/6 hearings get enough people’s attention for them to realize what is at stake going forward for our nation!

Here’s the alarming reality as I see it – looking at the “West” while I’m thinking about Ukraine. Way too many people who live in Europe and the United States are either part of the right wing lurch toward authoritarianism OR apathetic when it comes to what is taking place in Ukraine. It’s as if we don’t want our sweet lives affected by anything going on in far away places (Although, Ukraine is a part of Europe). Kind of reminds me of what I’ve read about the beginnings of WW II. I’ve pointed out here my total support of President Biden who, I believe, is fully attempting to prevent WW III. (At least regarding his commitment to Ukraine)

I’ve read recently where the promises of support for Ukraine from countries in Europe borders on emptiness. Weapons Germany has promised are going to be delivered “by the end of July.” My thought when I read that was, “Are you kidding me?” The Ukrainian people are putting up a valiant FIGHT in order to save their democracy from the world’s leading menace, Vladimir Putin, and members of NATO are “going to be sending aid” at the end of next month. (After further reading, the Germans have to train the Ukrainians how to use the weapon I referred to above)

I read today where Biden has authorized another $1 BILLION in military hardware to be sent (immediately, I believe) – but, if I understand the recent appropriation from Congress, there’s $54 BILLION allocated. To me, let’s get on with it. How are the French and the Germans and the other members of NATO going to react once Putin pushes beyond the boundaries of Ukraine? Or, do they believe they can simply allow the Ukrainian people to be slaughtered and that will be the end of it? Do we have some “Neville Chamberlains” out there? My hope is the Ukrainians push the Russians OUT of their country – and, that includes Crimea. But, clearly, it won’t happen without a solidified response from NATO.

We’re seeing in America, as the January 6th Select Committee is releasing the information it has collected in its inquiry of what actually happened on 1/6, 2021 and the months leading up to the INSURRECTION – that, individual 1, who in many ways comes across as a “moron” (to use a description from a couple of his cabinet officials), was actually very CUNNING in his plan to upend nearly 240 years of American democracy. And, obviously, he’s not finished with his attempted coup d’etat. You can check out my previous posts for my thoughts about that AND the role Merrick Garland has as democracies around the world are under assault.

But, as I watch Putin’s actions and I compare them to the actions of individual 1 while he had the reigns of POWER in America, the similarities are striking. While both seem deranged, I’ve come to conclude that both are sinister orgainzed CRIMINALS. Putin, who has Russia “by her short hairs,” and individual 1 who has cast a “spell” on maybe 20 – 25% of the American public seem like “two peas from the same pod.” In both cases it appears they have managed to pull together CULT followings by abusing social media – most notebly, Facebook. Yikes!

Much of what I read about regarding the Russian people and how they believe the words coming from Putin’s mouth – a LIAR on the same magnitude as individual 1 – demonstrates the intoxicating power of media outlets focused on pure propaganda and social media outlets more concerned with MONEY than mis/disinformation on their sites. In America there’s Fox “news,” “Newsmax,” and various other right wing outlets keeping the “ditto heads” in order along with Facebook, where mis/disinformation quickly becomes “viral” – but, in America there are choices and some of the media outlets are actually attempting to do investigative journalism – something which is outlawed in Russia.

So, you look at the one fourth of Americans who’ve “bought the cool-aid” of individual 1’s blathering you see something resembling the Russian people. To me, it’s a much sadder phenomenon because of the “choices” people have when looking at the Americans who continue to support the so-called “big LIE” – most of them KNOWING it’s exactly what William Barr called it in his 1/6 testimony – “Bullshit” – but, many of them can’t pull themselves away from information they (SHOULD) know is, well, “Bullshit.” It’s called “willful ignorance.”

On a more positive note, there ARE those in Russia who understand what Putin is doing is MURDERINGG, in many instances, their relatives and LEVELING Ukraine in a brutal attempt to prevent the people of Ukraine from choosing their own leaders. Reports have Russians sympathic to Ukraine’s plight involved in sabotaging various strategic targets inside Russia. Kind of like the “underground” which developed during WW II in places like France.

In my view, too many people are worried about the cost of gas and groceries – which clearly are affected by the WAR in Ukraine – with little concern to the possibility this WAR could metastisize outside of Ukraine’s borders. What if Putin decided to push into Poland? Are “we the people” (I’m talking about Americans, of course) going to keep complaining about the price of gas instead of putting our support toward stopping Putin’s aggression? Honestly, I’m seeing Putin in a Hitler like “light” and I hope enough people in the “West” have studied their History books relating to WW II. This could get very ugly very fast – especially, if Putin has some rock solid agreement with China. I remember he went to Beijing right before he ordered the invasion.

My son is 32 and very perceptive and we discuss the Ukraine situation virtually every day – he is much more pessimistic than me about Ukraine’s chances for “success.” (Probably a more realistic position – especially, as I become aware of the “casual” response from the major European countries in getting arms to the Ukrainian “front”) The more concerning part to me is his disdain for politics – he doesn’t like politics to enter into any of our conversations. I tell him that’s exactly where the people I’m apposing want you to be. Disgusted with politics to the point where he doesn’t vote. To him, the cost of filling his tank while most jobs don’t pay enough to make even having an apartment where we live “affordable” is the result of “politics.” (And, largely, I don’t believe he’s wrong)

To a degree, it’s hard for me to argue with that – but, by my way of thinking, that’s because not enough people vote AGAINST republicans – too many Americans don’t vote. And, in the upcoming elections in America – critical for many reasons – the pundits believe republicans will retake control of Congress – in an election which may be the key to preserving America’s republic as it has stood for those 240, or so, years. As Benjamin Franklin famously said, “you’ve got a republic, if you can keep it.”

All of this is tied together and it’s incumbent on the American people to take the next step in pushing this nation closer to its “ideal” and that will require voting the vast majority of republicans in Congress out of office. This is a challenge in one country after another in the so-called “West.” The one “democracy” which clearly believes in their right of self government enough to FIGHT for it is Ukraine – from where I’m sitting. Which almost breaks my heart.

The optimist in my says enough Americans will tune into the January 6th Committee’s hearings and enough will be paying attention to several upcoming Supreme Court decisions to understand the gavity of the situation the MAJORITY of Americans are facing. Solving the problem will require VOTING in large enough numbers to overwhelm the voter suppression tactics put forth by republicans in one state after another. It will require enough democratic Senators willing to get rid of the filibuster to, well, get rid of the filibuster.

Getting rid of the filibuster will require democrats to have enough confidence in their own beliefs to actually codify them into law. And, it will require democrats to be WILLING to fully defend the “bottom up middle out” approach to their domestic agenda. It will require them to have the courage to implement a progressive agenda, should they somehow retain control of Congress with enough Senators to actually pass Biden’s agenda this November. And, it will require them to LEARN how to compete in the world of “messaging” – where they’ve been woefully inadequate for as long as I can remember.

Not only is America’s domestic agenda at stake this coming November, but, additionally, our position as a leader in regard to NATO and relationships with Europe. I believe the Europeans are understandably cautious in their dealings with the U.S. because they are smart enough to see individual 1 “laying in the weeds” with the intention of retaking POWER in 2024. I’ve said this many times before on this site, but I believe individual 1 is more of a threat to the U.S.’s republic than Hitler was in WW II. I do not question he will attempt to align America with Russia and China should we be STUPID enough to vote him back into POWER again – and, the likes of the other republican “hopefuls” don’t offer a much brighter, if as bright, a “picture.”

I pray that “we the people” – in our short attention spans – don’t grow weary of supporting Ukraine, especially if Congress is “flipped” come November (as most “experts” predict) To me, the valiant FIGHT being put forth by the Ukrainian people has been inspiring. I’m no fan of America’s “war machine” – but, Ukraine has made it clear Putin has been attempting to undermine the world’s “democracies” for the past couple decades and he believes his “active measures” campaign designed to destablize America has created this opportunity for his “wet dream” of reconstituting the Soviet Union – starting with Ukraine. Very few people believed Ukraine was willing or able to put up the FIGHT which so far has exposed the weakness of the Russian military – but, one thing remains clear – Putin is a ruthless tirant who will stop at nothing in order to achieve his goals. Stay tuned……………….

Final Thought: I don’t agree with the consensus that President Biden blundered the U.S. out of Afghanistan – to me, there was no “easy way out” and Biden was “hamstrung” by the agreement individual 1 made in 2020 with the Taliban. The bottom line, to me, was: 20 years was nearly 20 years too long for America to have been entrenched in Afghanistan. The fact their “army” folded in a matter of days prior to our exit just confirmed that reality. I clearly remember America’s exit from Viet Nam, also with her “tail between her legs” and there’s just no way to “smoothly” exit a “war” you’ve clearly lost.

That being said, I don’t agree with President Biden on everything, just as I didn’t agree with President Obama on everything. Of course, I didn’t agree with individual 1 on almost anything although there have been things I’ve agreed with regarding republican presidents in the past – my evolution to voting AGAINST republicans began with Bush/Cheney and their LYING “we the people” into Iraq and their INCOMPETENT actions leading to the 20 year fiasco in Afghanistan. Biden’s soon to embark on a trip to Saudi Arabia which seems to be flashing a few “red flags” – and, I hope and pray it’s not a desperate attempt to get them to pump more oil – at the expense of some kind of long term defense agreement.

However, it’s not hard for me to think of reasons why it’s imperative for “we the people” to vote in a Congress with enough democrats for Biden to enact his domestic agenda not to mention the importance of protecting against key parts of the republican agenda – which I can’t believe I have to write about after four years of individual 1. For example, most progressives I know are alarmed at the makeup of the Supreme Court. Well, it should be obvious to ANYONE that if republicans gain control of the Senate there could be ADDITIONAL right wing judges added to the court. Right now it’s 6 – 3 – just imagine 7 – 2 or worse. There would be no way to even consider expanding the court in that case.

The court will be an issue for EVERY election going forward for well beyond my lifetime. Democrats should HAMMER that point ALL the time – every election. But, that, of course, is not all. Voting rights legislation was blocked because of two recalcitrant democratic Senators – progressives need MORE democrats in the Senate – which means they MUST vote in substantial numbers this November – there are several good options to flip seats – but, there are also contested seats for Senators already there. And, controlling the House is imperative is ANYTHING is going to be accomplished. Not only voting rights but CLIMATE legislation is critical, MORE infrastructure legislation is necessary to bring America into competition with other countries around the world, student loan debt should be addressed as well as reasonable gun legislation (like BANNING assault weapons and high capacity magazines)

The cost of higher education, making health care a right instead of a privilege, and balancing the budget via tax increases on the wealthy – including a “wealth tax” on the “wealth” of the billionarie class – are just a few more of the issues which COULD be addressed by YOUNGER and more PROGRESSIVE members of the House and Senate. My hope is young Americans will vote in record numbers despite republican attempts to prevent them from doing so. The future is theirs and I believe there are too many CORRUPT members of Congress (mostly republican) and too many who are way too old. Republicans don’t want young Americans and “Black and Brown” Americans to vote and they’re doing everything in their power to discourage them from voting. I can tell you this, if they allow republicans to take control in 2022 it won’t become any easier – and the stakes will be astronimically higher – posiibly too high for our constitution to withstand the right wing assault!

I’ve shared often here I’m a 74 year old retired 6th grade school teacher. I’ve been paying attention to politics since my earliest days when I clearly remember my Mom and Dad arguing over Eisenhower and Stevenson – my Dad the republican and my Mom the democrat. As I look back, Dwight Eisenhower was, in my view, a very positive president. Most Americans take the Interstate Hiway system, for examle, for granted. I still remember my Dad driving my brother, my two sisters, and my Mom and me, from our home in Vancouver, Washington to visit our grandparents in Ohio. There were a lot of two lane roads and the trip took several more days than it would on the Hiways which resulted from the investment pushed by Eisenhower.

As I look back to my early childhood there were some key “assumptions” which made it possible for “baby boomers” (especially those of us who were white) to move into the middle class and above without mortgaging our futures with heavy debt. I graduated from High School in 1965 and the cost of going to college was almost incidental (I did have to borrow $3000) during my first “run” at becoming “educated” – which, for me, didn’t result in a diploma – I left school during my final quarter due to family issues. As they say, “The times they are a changin.”

Of course, they’ve been constantly changing and what’s on my mind today is the culmination of the so-called “Powell memo” written back in 1971 by soon to be Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell laying out the “roadmap” for the overwhelming of America’s republic by corporate interests. Ronald Reagan put Powell’s plan into ful force and we’ve seen over 40 years since then of MONEYED interests taking the reins of POWER in this country I was born in and have loved since my earliest days. Honestly, some of the “stuff” going on in today’s America is DISGUSTING! (I thought maybe “deplorable” was a more appropriate term)

I’m going to start this with a situation close to my heart in my personal life, I love to play golf, which is undergoing an issue that kind of encapsulates today’s America – which I can sum up with one word – MONEY. If you follow professional golf at all you KNOW the Saudi’s are attempting to start a competing “tour” with the professional tours in the U.S. and Europe – among other “tours.” They are offering staggering “bonuses” to lure top golfers onto their “circuit” – reportedly $200 MILLION to Phil Mickelson and $100 MILLION to Dustin Johnson (along with others) – to get them to abandon the PGA tour where they’ve made MILLIONS of dollars competing and untold more MILLIONS with their endorsement deals. Personally, I’m disgusted by these – what I’ll call – “turncoats.”

However, that’s simply the way of today’s “world.” Go with the MONEY! If I had hundreds of MILLIONS in the bank would I be able to turn down an offer of another hundred? – especially based on knowing where it came from? I would hope so, but, who knows. (Tonight I made a $5 donation to Beto O’Rourke’s camaign for governor in Texas – to give a bit of perspective) Personally, I’ll NEVER watch a moment of this new tour on TV and I definitely won’t attend – the second round of their season will happen just a few miles from where I live. This simply reminds me of what has become “normal” in America.

Everyone knows we’re in the THIRD year of a once in a century pandemic where BILLIONAIRES have seen their wealth increas exponentially. Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and a bunch more have become even FILTHIER rich and, yet, still do whatever they can to avoid TAXES. And, Musk – who spends a lot of time pulling his foot from his mouth – has now offered $44 BILLION of his “play money” in an attempt to purchase “Twitter.” Interestingly, “Twitter’s” stock price has dropped about 20% since his offer and, by all accounts I’ve read, Musk is fighting an epidemic of “cold feet” – which could cost him a “cool BILLION.”

I recently finished reading a book about Facebook and, in it, Mr. Zuckerberg was portrayed as a complete asshole – focused on making as MUCH MONEY as he possibly can no matter the consequences to “we the people.” January 6th, 2021 was helped along by various Facebook groups who actually did their scheming right on that platform. Zuckerberg (likely continues to) hestitates to allow “hate speech” to be taken down on Facebook under the guise of “free speech.” (Similar to Musk’s stated intention to allow individual 1 back on Twitter) – This is all “poppycock.” Simpy put, it’s about the MONEY!

Why should this be surprising? Since Mr. Powell’s memo, the corporate takeover of America has been very sophisticated and, apparently, near complete. Where’s the outrage for Musk “investing” money which SHOULD be going into his own companies to buy Twitter. Oh yes, that’s been the American way since Reagan – larger corporations buying up smaller entities and gaining even MORE POWER. (While spending MILLIONS to avoid paying taxes) It’s happened in one industry after another. I mentioned Zuckerberg, and he’s a good example. A company appears to be COMPETING with his, well, the solution is to BUY it. Solves the problem. In Musk’s case, it appears to be simply a RICH man who is somewhat out of control.

When I was in my formative years (pre Reagan) the income tax structure was set up to FIGHT exactly what we’re seeing routinely these days. Corporations and executives were encouraged to put PROFITS back into their own businesses – or otherwise pay tax rates which at one time were about 90% for excess profits. Reagan took this “theory” on with his so-called “trickle down” economic SCAM leading to two MAJOR outcomes. HUGE increases in both the income inequality in America AND the Federal budget deficits and ultimately, of course, the national debt exploding. Yikes!

Republican policies have been so draconian they’ve needed to find ways to convince America’s voters to keep supporting this lurch toward outright fascism. Their solution, which has worked famously, is to focus on “wedge issues.” And, of course, republicans are much better at the messaging necessary to make this strategy work because they WILLINGLY adopted the “Big Lie Theory” of the Third Reich in the 1980’s and have been getting away with it ever since. Then, along comes individual 1 and it’s possible the prolific number of LIES – while numbing to people like me – may be getting the attention of enough Americans to put an end to this political carnage once and for all. We can hope. (I have to add, I have an acquaintance who’s part of the CULT who I couldn’t convince he was wrong supporting individual 1 with OVER 4 years of occasional breakfrasts together.)

We won’t know until the mid terms of 2022 are complete – and, trust me, many – including most republicans – believe it’s a foregone conclusion that republicans will retake control of Congress this coming November. Will the American people allow this to happen? If I said I wasn’t a bit worried I’d be LYING. I’ve written recently about how discouraged I am that so many Americans seem to be more worried about the price of gas than the future of our republic. To them, inflation is more important than the war in Ukraine. There are a couple events which I believe may mitigate that situation.

First, tonight was the first night of the January 6th Committee’s public hearings. (After listening to Liz Cheney’s opening remarks I couldn’t help but think of the saying: “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”) Will that change the political narrative? I hope so. Will it lead to individual 1’s indictment? Again, I hope so (along with a bunch of others – see below for starters.) Secondly, soon the Supreme Court is expected to OVERTURN Roe v Wade – another egregious example of republican justices “legislating from the bench.” That one very well could get the attention of enough women who VOTE to cause a bit of alarm with Moscow Mitch – who has promised to attempt to take the anti abortion issue to full blown legislation as a way to get republicans to the polls. Should be interesting. I’m 74 – my concern is for my children and grandchildren – and, it’s a real concern. Is America going to become a full blown fascist state? (It could be argued we’re already a “Mussolini fascist state” – corporate/government partnership) Stay tuned…………….

Final Thought: Tonight was the first night of the January 6th, 2021 Select Committee’s report and there was footing showing the “legitimate political discourse” perpetrated by individual 1’s followers as they STORMED the Capitol – supposedly in a “tourist visit” – bludgeoning members of the Capitol Police and defacating on the walls of our nation’s Capitol (along with much more destruction and theft) – this was NO normal group of constituents filing through the Capitol “taking pictures.” Not only were the INSURRECTIONISTS portrayed HONESTLY, but there was information which came out we didn’t know prior to this evening.

One example I noticed was when Liz Cheney pointed out there were a group of republican lawmakers who lobbied for PARDONS from individual 1 prior to him leaving office. Why would a member of the House believe he or she needed a pardon? (OK, you know the answer to that question, don’t you?) Here’s something I picked up on – Ms. Cheney identified ONE of the members seeking a pardon and that was Scott Perry of Pennsylvania. The others we were led to believe we may or may not find out who they are.

Well, after the hearing, on MSNBC, Adam Schiff was interviewed and asked specifically to “name names” regarding the PARDON seeking members. He said he was unable to name anyone, but then slipped by saying something like the Committee subpoenaed a group of Congress members who chose not to comply with the Subpoenas – implying that was the group who were seeking the PARDONS. (Were they the ones leading surveillance tours?) We’ll see in the days to come, but, I believe, that would suggest we’re talking about Jim Jordan, Mo Brooks, Kevin McCarthy, Andy Biggs, and, of course, Mr. Perry. I don’t believe Mr. McCarthy, from what I’ve heard, was involved in the PLANNING of the INSURRECTION, but, the others, “not so much.” Cheney gave the line of the evening: “Trump will be gone, (I hate writing that word) but the republican dishonor will remain.” Things SHOULD get more interesting by the day! Stay tuned!!!

OK, I’ve got to ask this question: “Are you paying attention Merrick Garland?” (Update, HE IS! He said he’s watching every minute of every session)

OMG – I forced myself to tune into Tucker Carlson tonight as he was BRAGGING that Fox was the only “news” organization not showing the January 6th Committee’s hearing. He questioned, “why aren’t these channels focused on $5 a gallon gas, or inflation which is higher than at anytime in most American’s lives” – and, I can’t remember what else. Pure BULLS#$T (In the words of William Barr), deflection, and dishonesty. We know he’s speaking to about 3 – 4 MILLION “ditto heads” and, had they been tuned in it likely wouldn’t have made any difference. Remember, Carlson has lamented “why can’t we be like Hungary?” Where Viktor Orban, Hungary’s dictator, is the perfect role model for individual 1 loving republicans. Creeping fascism! Yikes!!! Fox “news” is an American trajedy!