A naughty child runs amok

Since beginning his second term, Donald Trump crossed the line into unacceptable legal and behavioral territory on multiple occasions. But his supporters weren’t watching that border. Instead they moved the line.

That has to stop. The line can’t move any further.

On January 18, Trump texted Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre:

“Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”

Consider:

1. 1 Norway’s government does not select Nobel winners.
2. 2 Trump desires Greenland which belongs to Denmark, not Norway.
3. 3 Trump admits he wasn’t thinking solely about the good of the United States while coveting the Nobel Prize.

Trump’s thoughts were for himself. He thought of peace because he wanted a prize. He acted like a naughty child feigning goodness to avoid being put on Santa’s shit list. Just as the child becomes naughty again once Christmas passes, Trump feels no, “obligation to think purely of Peace.” after not winning the Nobel Peace Prize. These words alone reveal Trump’s character. A leader who puts his own interests before his country’s is unfit to lead. He’s crossed one line too many and now lawmakers need to restrain him from acting harmfully or remove him from office. So far, most members of the majority party have been unwilling to hold him accountable for his actions and international threats.

A few days later, Trump spoke about Greenland at Davos:

So, we want a piece of ice for world protection. And they won't give it. We've never asked for anything else, and we could have kept that piece of land, and we didn't. So,they have a choice. You can say ‘yes ‘and we will be very appreciative, or you can say ‘no’ and we will remember. A strong and secure America means a strong NATO, and that's one reason why I'm working every day to ensure our military is very powerful.

He’s mistaken. Greenland was never ours to keep. The oil in Venezuela never belonged to us either, but Trump’s claiming that it did helped him justify illegal attacks on that country and its citizens. Some legal experts consider those attacks murder, and therefore the president is a murderer.

When NATO was formed in 1949 its mission was to protect the national sovereignty of its members. If one member country were attacked, other member countries would help defend it. The United States already has a military presence in Greenland and can enlarge that presence should need arise. We don’t need to own Greenland to defend it, nor do Greenlanders wish to be governed by the United States. Denmark, which owns Greenland, won’t sell it to us. Trump’s tough stance caused consternation among Davos meeting attendees and European leaders. By day’s end, Trump had backed off saying he’d achieved a concept of an agreement. But this didn’t erase the damage he’d done. European leaders mobilized both to oppose and mollify Trump. His position convinces many Europeans that their long-standing ally is no longer trustworthy.

But Trump hasn’t just damaged our international relations. Here in the USA, ICE agents killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Administration spokespeople and other ICE fans claimed that Good brought her death upon herself. After ICE killed Alex Pretti the administration was quick to label him a domestic terrorist, claiming the ICE agents who killed him were merely defending themselves. Camera and phone video show the administration’s story is false. As Chico Marx once said, “Well, who ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?” I believe my eyes.

Although over two dozen Republican law makers expressed their displeasure with ICE, far too few have done so. There are 218 Republicans in the House of Representatives alone. More need to speak up to offset President Trump’s bad behavior.

President Trump made 30,573 misleading or false statements during his first term the Washington Post reported. That’s a lot of lies. Since then, lying has gone viral. Many politicians lie frequently now. Lying in the service of power is replacing power in the service of the public good.

Recent journalism shows that Homeland Security uses neo-Nazi dog whistles to recruit ICE agents. Are we becoming a racist nation? Just the other day Donald Trump said that the upcoming mid-term election should be placed under federal control in at least 15 states. The Constitution allows the states primary authority in conducting elections, while Congress may make secondary modifications such as choosing a national election day for all states. The president has no authority here. But the Constitution hasn’t stopped Trump from usurping Congressional authority in other instances. Federalizing elections under Republican supervision is a sure fire way to rig them. It would invalidate the Constitution, just as invading Greenland would invalidate NATO. Does our nation no longer respect its agreements and laws?

I believe Donald Trump should either be restrained from acting outside norms or removed from office. This would be best for the country, but it is not an easy thing to do. It would require a change of heart from a majority of Republicans. They would need to realize that cooperation excels rivalry in solving problems, and this goes against their competitive nature.

It’s a shame our country has political parties at all, but the two who hold the majority have ceased to function cooperatively. Without cooperation little gets done as much gets destroyed. Something – an invasion from space – or something else needs to jar us into cooperating. What’s going on now isn’t working.

Finding job satisfaction while unemployed

 Dear Senator;

I'm sorry you lost your job responsibilities. But you allowed it to happen. First you said nothing while DOGE fired hundreds of government employees. Now that the government is unfunded, the president is firing even more. You abandoned your right to control the purse strings. It's no wonder the Democrats haven't budged on the shutdown: they can't be certain that the money they voted to spend will actually be spent. Firing employees saves money, but it also keeps government services from being provided. Citizens suffer when governments stop providing services.

You currently control both houses of congress as well as the executive branch. And you've wasted this opportunity by allowing the president to rule by his whims instead of by respecting constitutional norms. Since you have the power, why don't you use it instead of handing it over to the executive branch without a whimper of resistance? 

By doing nothing, what gets damaged? Only the very integrity and authority of the Constitution itself. Earlier in October, the president informed Congress that the United States is at war. Only Congress, not the president, has authority to declare a war, yet you've remained silent as Trump usurps your authority. Worse than silent, in fact. When Democrats put forth a measure to block the president from sinking boats in the Caribbean Sea, the Republicans blocked it. Rand Paul was one of the only two Republican senators supporting the measure. He wondered why we sank boats instead of intercepting them, “If anyone gave a you-know-what about justice, perhaps those in charge of deciding whom to kill might let us know their names, present proof of their guilt and show evidence of their crimes.”

You know even less than names and evidence. You only have the presidents statements that he's going after drug smuggling terrorists. The problem is Venezuela plays a minimal role as a source of smuggled drugs. So why is Trump really sinking Venezuelan boats? Some argue that the president is trying to unseat Nicolás Maduro from power. So why doesn't he say so? Moreover why can't you be bothered to find out what his illegally declared war is really about?

It's a shame that flights are cancelled and delayed because unpaid flight traffic controllers call in sick. You senators do the least you can to end the shutdown while continuing to draw your salaries. Perhaps you should be investigated for impersonating lawmakers.

Quiet quitters of Congress

 Dear Representative;

On three occasions this September, President Trump authorized the sinking of Venezuelan boats. No evidence of drug smuggling was provided. There were no survivors.  In years past we've arrested and prosecuted smugglers, not sunk their boats. Guilt is established in law courts, not by lynch mobs or presidents. Our government has never before behaved like this. America can't be great again by doing what it's never done before. Killing untried alleged foreign criminals is not justice. — It's an act of warfare. Only Congress has the authority to declare war, yet Trump has silently declared war just as you have remained silent instead of confronting him. An unauthorized act of war is essentially murder. By not restraining President Trump, Congress becomes accomplices to murder.

You've also authorized spending and then allowed Trump to withhold it. Only Congress can declare war. Only Congress controls the purse strings. Although you've taken an oath to uphold the Constitution, you've sat by idly when it was violated. Failing to uphold your oath demonstrates an absence of patriotism and a surfeit of self-serving greed. Don't allow your president to bend laws. Either step up or step down.   

The “radical left” left

When Charlie Kirk was killed in Utah, Donald Trump blamed it on the “radical left”. He blames the radical left for other things too.

During the week Kirk was killed I heard an episode of “Today Explained.” In this Episode, “Trump’s chief culture warrior”, Noel King interviewed Christopher Rufo author of the book, “America's Cultural Revolution: How the Radical Left Conquered Everything.”

Everything conquered, Wow! So just who is the radical left? In his interview, Rufo talked about the Smithsonian and other institutions. They have been, “totally captured by left winged ideologies.”

Trans-genderism is an ideology according to Rufo – I consider it more of an identity, but Rufo insists. Historically, native American groups acknowledged three to five sexual identities or roles. Rufo insists there are only two sexes. However, different cultures have different views of such things.

Rufo also insists that that there are agreed upon aesthetic standards and that polemical art fails to meet those standards. Todays museums are “curators of anti-cultural nihilism” instead of acceptable art. While some say art can be political or have subjective appeal, Rufo claims this is not the case. Adolf Hitler had personal standards for acceptable art and imposed them on his fellow Germans. Perhaps Rufo would also like to do this.

 In his book, Rufo claims that Herbert Marcuse promoted a plan for covertly indoctrinating the masses in socialist ideology. I was still in high school when Marcuse did this. That was more than five decades ago. I asked some lefties I know. Two had heard of Marcuse – none knew anything about him or his ideas. None had ever heard a college professor mention his name. However, the right leaning Cato institute mentions him in several of its articles. Apparently Cato considers his ideas a threat, or perhaps they’re enamored with his covert indoctrination plan.

I have a different theory. The radical left was a fringe movement during the 1960s and 1970s. They are no longer even that. No Democratic president since Lyndon Johnson has promoted policies to the left of his. In fact, Americans have been shifting to the right for half a century now. The radical left has left. They’ve marched off into a black hole. They’re so rare now that they can be considered cyrtids like Big Foot or Nessie. Some report seeing them, but there’s little proof that they actually exist.

Except in the minds of right-winged thinkers including Christopher Rufo and the Cato Institute.

 Most Americans support Social Security and Medicare, yet both have been linked to socialism. Neither Social Security or Medicare meet actual definitions of socialism yet that hasn’t stopped some from so maligning those programs. Similarly, not all on the left can be considered radical. Few, in fact, can be. Yet that doesn’t stop some voices from demonizing imaginary enemies. This does great harm because it stifles the free expression of different views and useful dialogues. When all must think the same and blame imaginary enemies, social progress ceases. Dirty tricks beget soiled and spoiled societies.

As long as we do politics by blaming instead of cooperating we progress toward an Orwellian society.

  

Dear Representative:

If I told you to jump off a cliff you wouldn't do it — so why are you willing to jump off a (fiscal) cliff when Donald Trump tells you to? The dollar's value has dropped this year to an extent not seen in over 50 years. This will greatly increase the cost and difficulty of servicing our enormous national debt. And yet Congress is considering a Bad Bullshit Bill that will increase the deficit by 3.3 trillion dollars. There's no hiding this no matter how much magical math is used.

And speaking of magic — you argued on three prior occasions that tax breaks for the wealthy get pissed down the social ladder to rain abundance on average Joes. It didn't happen then. It won't happen now. Maybe you should stick with facts and logic instead of misinformation when you argue your points. We've known this was a lie for 40 years. If you pass this bill your voters will know as well. And then you'll get voted out of office — perhaps even ridden out of town on a rail. Good luck with all that.

Sincerely,

Voters with open eyes.

If you don’t like how things are going, contact your Congress person and Senator.

Robin Hood and the King

Reverse Robin Hood
According to legend, Robin Hood robbed the wealthy and distributed booty to the poor. Robin Hood in reverse (RHR) works differently. This method is favored by kleptocrats and oligarchs and seeks to enhance the holdings of the wealthiest at the expense of the most impoverished. Let’s talk about the tax bill now approaching the Senate. Read to the end where I unveil its poison pill.

Like the tax bill of 2017, this one also holds out the promise that money will trickle down to those who can use it more. And also like that bill, it puts more money in the hands of those who don’t really need it.

The big difference this time around is that the national debt has ballooned since 2017. This time lawmakers are looking at offsets. They’re considering cuts in programs for people who need them to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy.

For years Republicans have complained about taxes while the government spent. Somebody needs to pay to run the government but magical thinkers believe that tax cuts pay for themselves by invoking some vague and implausible principal. It never happens.

Meanwhile the government continues to borrow as the cost of doing so is becoming unwieldy. Moody’s recently downgraded the country’s credit worthiness. This hurts our nations’s reputation and increases our borrowing costs.

During Eisenhower’s days the highest marginal tax rate was 91 percent. It’s much less now. If the wealthy could tolerate high taxes back then, why can’t they help lower the deficit now? Our current lawmakers will never willingly ask the wealthy to pay their fair share.

The King
The tax bill contains a clause which reads: “No court of the United States may use appropriated funds to enforce a contempt citation for failure to comply with an injunction or temporary restraining order if no security was given when the injunction or order was issued.”

This is intended to prevent federal courts from from imposing consequences for contempt of court on top government officials. It would give Donald Trump king-like immunity for violating the Constitution. Though perhaps it's unreasonable to suggest that a twice impeached convicted felon would ever think about violating the Constitution.

If you don’t like how things are going contact your Congress person and Senator.