The Purge Continues …

Posted on by under Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Rants

At a time when the people of this country are in dire circumstances, one might be forgiven for thinking that the single most important focus of the nation’s government, particularly the person in the highest position of authority, would be focused on the crisis at hand.  That is how we think of leadership, but it is time for those of us who reside in the United States to realize that we actually have no real leader.  Instead, we have a vindictive, cruel, narcissistic megalomaniac at the helm of this sinking ship.  And make no mistake — this ship is sinking.

Late last night, Trump sent this letter to Congress …Atkinson-letterMichael Atkinson, you may remember, is the Inspector General who alerted lawmakers to a whistleblower complaint last September that was at the center of allegations that led to Trump’s impeachment.  Michael Atkinson did his job – Donald Trump did not.  This is nothing more or less than revenge, pure and simple.  One would hope that the person in the highest office of government would be above petty revenge, but not here.

In the words of Representative Adam Schiff, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee …

“This is decapitating the leadership of the intelligence community in the middle of a national crisis.  It’s unconscionable. And of course, it sends a message throughout the federal government and in particular to other inspectors general that if they do their job as this professional did and Michael Atkinson was a complete professional, they too may be fired by a vindictive president. He’s settling scores. We’re in the middle of this pandemic and thousands of people are dying and he is retaliating against people who are on his enemies list and doing it in the dead of night.”

Trump claims that Atkinson was wrong to have taken his concerns to Congress, that Trump had the right to hide his own improper and illegal behaviour from both Congress and from We the People, who he is paid to serve.  He seems to have completely forgotten that he is, despite the fancy trappings that accompany his position, naught more than a public servant who serves at the pleasure of We the People.

“Whether it’s Lt. Col. Vindman, Captain Crozier, or Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson: President Trump fires people for telling the truth. Michael Atkinson is a man of integrity who has served our nation for almost two decades. Being fired for having the courage to speak truth to power makes him a patriot.” – Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer

Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman was a Ukraine specialist on the White House National Security Council who testified during the House impeachment about monitoring Trump’s July 25 telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. It was that call that raised concerns Trump was pressing Zelensky for a political favor. Vindman was removed from his White House post days after Trump was acquitted by the Senate.

Captain Brett Crozier was the commander of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt who was removed after the leaking of a blunt letter he wrote to his superiors about what he saw as insufficient measures to fight a coronavirus outbreak aboard the vessel.

At this, a time when we look to our heads of government to provide stability and leadership, we are getting slapped in the face, we have a madman with no conscience sitting in the chair in the Oval Office.  I call on Mike Pence and every other cabinet member to invoke the 25th Amendment NOW!  Donald Trump is clearly unfit to lead this nation, is clearly mentally unstable, and is clearly more interested in his own reputation, his own power and wealth, than he is in the people of this nation.  His narcissism is costing lives – OURS!

This is just the latest in a series of people he has fired, people who were doing their jobs, who were protecting this nation, but who refused to swear an oath of fealty to Donald Trump.  A public servant’s oath is to the people of the nation, not the person occupying the Oval Office.  No, I don’t expect that Mike Pence or any other member of Trump’s cabinet will have the cojones to put the people of this nation ahead of their own self-interest, for they are too afraid for their own futures.  But, I DO expect the people of this nation to open their eyes, take off the damned rose-coloured glasses through which you have been viewing the madman, and VOTE HIM OUT in November!  If we don’t then we will have the blood of future generations on our hands.

36 thoughts on “The Purge Continues …”

      • Yes, I am fine Jill. I think Britain is headed for total lockdown. We have positioned ourselves fairly well out in the countryside. It is a 3 1/2 mile walk to the nearest shops for food, but we have everything else. Our life off grid is not too affected by anything going off out there.
        Boris Johnson has just been admitted to hospital as he has had a fever for 10 days. Lots of people here have been ignoring the advise to stay at home, so think that some tough new measures will come in tomorrow. Spain has increased its lockdown but the deaths are mounting rapidly (something like a 25% death rate in those who have had outcomes so far). There is some good news. The Australia’s think that they have found a medicine for parasites (Ivermectin) that appears to break down the RNA in COVID19. This is hopeful news! 🤗

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        • I’m curious … what do you mean by a ‘total lockdown’? You would still be able to go to the grocery store, out walking, and to the pharmacy, right? Yes, I heard earlier that Boris was admitted to the hospital. I actually find myself pulling for him, because while I’ve never been a fan of Boris, in comparison to Trump these past few months, he comes out like a shining star! I did see the Queen’s speech and even posted it here … the contrast between her words and Trump’s … beyond belief. One reader wondered if she would take us back, and I second that motion! Last I heard, Spain’s death rate from coronavirus was just under 10%, still higher than the average. With our ineptitude and bungling, the U.S. will end up with more per capita, I have no doubt, and Trump continues to pat himself on the back and try to tell us what a great job he’s done. It makes me sick. Take care, my dear friend. ❤

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          • Right now, people are allowed to go out for a walk (supposed to be local and short) or excercise. However, the Government have not yet been tough enough on people driving to different places, to take that excercise, meeting others or going for 80km bike rides, etc. That will end. I am sure people who have gardens will not be allowed out at all and people who don’t will only be allowed a short distance from their home. I also think that people will be stopped from travelling beyond locally, for food. There may also be a restriction for only one person to do that shopping. It will be things like that. As for people travelling beyond their own town, it will be essential workers only and there will be restrictions on how they travel. While we have not been anywhere near shops more than once in the last three weeks, and we split up so each of us could shop at a different store, the amount of people out and about did shock us. There are ways to cut that even further… There are ways to bring in shopping days by surname letter (requiring proof of ID). This has not been mentioned, but I think it logical to assign days to cut the logjam in stores.
            I would not call what we currently have, a total lockdown. Even here (in a nature reserve), we are seeing at least a hundred people a day go by us… Walking or Cycling. It is probably more (and definitely more than we normally see near our boat).

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            • Er the 25% deaths in Spain, is only for current outcome statistics, not for total number of cases (many not resolved) and of course that figure will be even lower if taken as a percentage of population. Depends on what statistic is being looked at.

              The lock down in Spain is tougher. I have a friend, who earlier this week, opened his door to find military personnel in his street. They told him to return to his house. He was not allowed to go shopping for food. Many villages have been temporarily baracaded and the army sent in to deal with people being where they shouldn’t be (illegal bars or looting during the lockdown). My friend only goes to his local shop and back. He can be stopped any time. The Guardia are on all roads checking people. It is really more like a police state in Spain right now.

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              • In Thailand, another friend was supposed to rent his property and come back to UK with his wife in May. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get a hold of the Foreign Office to bring that date forward for her Visa. So he found that he would need to pay over 200 us dollars each to get a test and certificate to travel covid free to a Northern province where her family live. And then they would have to spend 14 days quarantine in army barracks (they are not salubrious). He is trapped and fighting desperately to postpone the rental of his house or he will not be able to afford to live. It is pretty tough for foreigners living abroad right now.

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                • Yes, I can only imagine. It’s tough enough for people living in their own homes, but living abroad would be very frightening. I hope your friend is able to get it all worked out!

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              • Draconian. If I opened my door to find military in front of my house telling me I had to go back inside, they would have to shoot me, for I’m not one to take orders. Probably a good thing I don’t live in Spain, but my fear is that our corrupt government may try the same. Sigh. I think I stayed in this world a bit too long.

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  2. Seems to me that a soft coup is taking place, Trump is replacing elected officials with sycophantic puppets loyal to his majesty. One less checks n balance, wonder who made up that rule “to serve at the pleasure of the President”?
    Four more years and Trump will become an unofficial monarch, which means he’ll follow what Putin did and declare unlimited terms until death. If we don’t stop him, he’ll own the courts, both houses and IC. He already has the military under control. US is truly becoming a banana republic, we already have the ignoramus pompous dictator!

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    • Hello 1EarthUnited. You are correct. tRump is following the model of Hungry, Turkey, Brazil, and now India. There are more but those just came to mind quickly. All places a person like tRump got into power, disregarded the laws, changed all the people in government to their followers, did the same to the courts and legislative bodies, and then installed themselves legally as dictators. I think Brazil is still a work in progress, but Hungry is fully lost as is Egypt. Once gone it is hard to get it back look at Russia and putin. The people had democracy but it was slowly taken away from them and now no matter how they fight they can not get it back. Hugs

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  3. Oh I saw this last night in the news and just shook my head in despair!! I also fully expected you to post about it! You worded it well, just so wish there was a magic wand to make someone disappear!

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  4. You’re right that these actions are bringing America down. I do wonder if there’s a concerted effort to remove the skills from some of the most vital departments like Intelligence and the FBI So those departments crumble under inept leadership.I wonder whether his friend from Breibart is back on the scene.
    Cwtch

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    • Hello David. Great point. The removing of the US from being a superpower is to the advantage of the most regressive countries around the world. In less than 4 years the US has gone from a world leader to a country no one consults or curries favor from. Heck even with the huge over bloated military we have no one really fears us anymore. Hugs

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      • Funny how in a short 3 years we have gone from being a trusted ally to the laughingstock of the world. Trump’s “America First” policy is putting us on the garbage heap and turning us into a third-world country … and yet still the damned republicans wear their rose-coloured glasses and applaud him. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Hugs!

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    • There’s something I hadn’t thought about … the goal of removing the skills from the intelligence community, and perhaps other areas as well. I definitely think part of the goal is to remove the integrity of the people running those departments. King Trump wants loyalty to HIM, not to the nation, but only to HIM. He is evil, David … not just bumbling and inept, though he is certainly those things too, but he is a cruel and evil ‘man’ who fully intends to become a despot. Bannon? Oh yeah, Bannon never actually left the scene, he’s just been working behind the scenes, out of the public eye.
      Cwtch

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  5. naught more than a public servant — WHAT??!?!? Oh. My. Gawd. Say it isn’t so. Our bigly smart leader is nothing more than a public servant? And all this time I thought he was the biggest A-Hole that ever served as the leader of this country — and now you’re telling me he’s been relegated to the role of simply a public servant a-hole? Oh the horror of it!

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  6. Hello Jill. I think the reason that the other members of the administration do not challenge tRump is they are just like him or want to be. I learned today that tRump is using the military to go all over the world to get needed critical supplies and return them to the US. Once in country you would think they are given to the government to hand out like they have been doing with the other national stockpile emergency equipment. Nope, they are turned over to private companies to sell to the highest bidder, sometimes to the countries overseas they were just brought from. tRump has turned the US in a pandemic into a banana republic profiteering country where the wealthy use every opportunity to bleed the countries wealth upwards and the lower incomes simply get sick … and die. Hugs

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    • I agree with you that some are just like him and hope to ride his coattails to their own little kingdom. Others, I think, are fearful of him. I’m curious, Scottie … where did you read that Trump is sending the military all over the world to retrieve supplies from other countries? I’d like to take a look at that and follow up on it, for I haven’t heard that one. You’re right … once we send supplies to another country, they belong to that country. If he is, in fact, doing that, it can only further damage our reputation abroad … a reputation that is already largely in tatters. I did hear about Jared Kushner’s asinine remarks about the stockpiles of ventilators and such not being for the states. Sheesh … what a fool! Daily I wish for Trump to be forced to resign, but … I know … a pipe dream. Hugs, my friend!

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  7. Jill, as you note a series of public servants did their job and raised issues, many under oath, and all at great risk due to the vindictive nature of the 70 + year old boy king. The boy king is the most corrupt and deceitful president in my lifetime, including Nixon who was a crook.

    It also pains me to see so many elected officials like Lindsey Graham, Jim Jordan, Devin Nunes beat up on far more honorable public servants. As I said to a staffer fot Nunes, it is my opinion that Nunes should be requirec to take sn oath.

    I expect such behavior from Hannity, Jones, Imgraham, Limbaugh et al, but is unsettling to see elected official rationalize corrupt behavior. Keith

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    • It seems that any public servant who does his job well, making the best interest of the country and the people his/her priority, is doomed under “king” Trump. You’re right … the mind of a child in the body of an adult. And i fully agree with you regarding Graham, Jordan, Nunes and others … it is my hope that they go down with their leader come November … fingers are crossed.

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  8. This action is pure Trump being Trump! It is, however, very clear that Trump himself did not author this letter…as it is beyond his elementary school skills (no offense intended to elementary school students). The author, undoubtedly, had to explain to Trump that in essence the letter says to Michael Atkinson “You’re Fired!”! It is also clear that during this pandemic the well-being of We the People is not Trump’s priority, actually, it never was! Whilst the entire country is trying to survive the far reaching effects of Covid-19, Trump & Co. are using every means at his disposal to covertly and openly destroy the norms that most of us hold dear. Things that at one time, not so very long ago, were thought to be impossible have become frighteningly possible. Our attention must be focused on the Trump administration’s every move, lest come November we find that there is no election. The unimaginable has become imaginable!! Thank-you!

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    • I thought the exact same when I read the letter! There were words with more than 4 letters, and the letter was gramatically correct, a feat that is beyond his intellectual capability. That said … he is a grade A jackass! If any government official attempts to do his job right and serve the people of this nation, he will be fired. Pure and simple, we are now living under an autocracy where we are fed disinformation on a daily basis. Newspeak, alternative facts … this is our life now. Thanks to every person who voted for Donald Trump in 2016. Yes, my friend, the unimaginable is our new reality. Welcome to 1984.

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