Tag Archives: accountability

An Open Letter to the Republican Party

Posted on by under Election 2020, Law and justice, Political commentary, Rants, Re-blogs, Social commentary

In my head, I was composing an “Open Letter to Republicans in Congress” that would have eventually become a post here on Filosofa’s Word.  But this morning, our friend TokyoSand beat me to the punch, and since her thoughts echo my own, I decided not to re-invent the wheel, but rather to share hers with you.  Thank you, TS!

An Open Letter to the Republican Party

By TokyoSand on

writing-letter

Dear Republican Party members,

No, we will not be moving on.

We reject your attempts to change the subject and calls for “unity” because we see them for what they are: You’re desperately trying to escape accountability for the role you played in Trump’s Insurrection this past Wednesday.

As Thomas Paine said, “A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.” And until you take responsibility, we do not trust you to do the job you were elected to do.

Lest anyone think I am only talking to Republicans in Congress, I am not. I am also pointing my fingers at Republicans in state legislatures as well.

For 4+ years, you either actively pushed lies spewed by Trump and his allies, or stayed silent in the face of those lies, which perhaps you now realize allowed them to take root and spread.

Taking only the most recent lie as an example — Trump pushing the lie that he won the November election in a landslide — you all helped him push that lie, and that took root in tens of millions of Americans, and radicalized many of them as you personally bore witness to on Wednesday.

Read entire letter …

Something To Think About …

Posted on by under Election 2020, Law and justice, Political commentary, Trump's Staff Picks

If you speak the truth, tell the facts, but your facts are not what Trump wants the people of this country to believe, you will be punished.  If your position is within Trump’s reach, you will be fired.  At the very least, your voice will be stifled, and you will be publicly denigrated by Trump.  This is the new reality in our government … you either agree with all that Trump says or pay the price.

The latest casualty of Trump’s war against We the People is Christi A. Grimm, the inspector general with the Department of Health and Human Services.  Her ‘crime’?  She told the truth.  She issued a report chronicling testing delays — up to seven days in some cases — as well as severe shortages of supplies in hospitals amid the coronavirus pandemic.  Part of her report states …

“Hospitals reported that they were unable to keep up with COVID-19 testing demands because they lacked complete kits and/or the individual components and supplies needed to complete tests. When patient stays were extended while awaiting test results, this strained bed availability, personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies, and staffing.”

Trump’s response was to falsely claim that the report was not only wrong but was politically motivated.  Say WHAT???  He demanded to know the name of the Inspector General who wrote the report, then demeaned her on his favourite venue, Twitter …

“Why didn’t the I.G., who spent 8 years with the Obama Administration (Did she Report on the failed H1N1 Swine Flu debacle where 17,000 people died?), want to talk to the Admirals, Generals, V.P. & others in charge, before doing her report. Another Fake Dossier!”

Just as an aside, if 17,000 people died from the H1N1 flu, how does that compare to the 70,000+ dead already in the U.S. alone, with another 100,000 or more projected in the next few months?  Not even in the same ballpark.

Ms. Grimm is a career official, not a political appointee, and began serving in the Office of the Inspector General in 1999, ten years before President Obama took office.  She is the third inspector general that Trump has fired in just over a month.  In early April he fired Michael Atkinson for his proper handling of the whistleblower complaint that led to Trump’s impeachment.  Then just a few days later, he fired Glenn Fine, the inspector general at the Department of Defense, who had been chosen to lead the newly formed Pandemic Response Accountability Committee.  The committee was to oversee the disbursement of the $2.3 trillion stimulus package approved by Congress.

Three inspectors general fired in a month’s time.  A U.S. federal inspector general (IG) is the head of an independent, non-partisan organization established within each executive branch agency assigned to audit the agency’s operation in order to discover and investigate cases of misconduct, waste, fraud and other abuse of government procedures.  So, in essence, Trump is removing all oversight of his administration, replacing men and women of conscience with his own hand-picked people.  This is akin to the fox guarding the henhouse.  And it poses a danger to this nation, for it evades all accountability by this administration.

Who will be next on his hit list?  When the U.S. Senate failed miserably to do their job on February 5th, they unleashed a monster.  They essentially told Trump just what Attorney General William Barr told him last year, that there is no law that applies to Donald Trump, that he is free to do as he wishes.  He began his purge with Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman and his brother, then Admiral Joseph Maguire.  There may have been others that just didn’t cross my radar … almost certainly were.  And there will be more.

To date, every single senate-confirmed person has been removed from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.  All that remain are appointees or ‘acting’ officials, none approved by anyone other than Trump himself.  It is also worth noting that Trump’s purging isn’t just retaliatory, it’s forward-looking, too. By removing officials who committed the sin of trying to defend the rule of law from his efforts to corrupt it, Trump sends a message to others about what awaits them if they try to stand in the way.

These are the moves of an autocrat, folks.  This reeks of corruption, and it sets off warning bells, at least in my head, that Trump is setting the stage, making sure there are none left who will stand in his way.  His way of what?  Think about it.

Bastards! R.I.P. United States

Posted on by under Law and justice, Personal, Political commentary, Rants, Social commentary

The vote began shortly after 4:00 p.m. and by 4:20 this afternoon, the Senate had decided that Donald Trump should be given the keys to the kingdom, should not be held accountable for his crimes, and should be henceforth allowed to run the nation as he pleases, without interference from either the Courts or the U.S. Congress.

I was writing a letter to a friend when the verdicts flashed across my screen.  Sure, I expected it, knew the final outcome would be that the GOP members of the U.S. Senate — those whose salaries and luxurious lifestyle WE support — would have neither conscience nor male-parts enough to do the right thing, to hold the excuse for a man who sits in the Oval Office accountable for his actions.  I was prepared, right?  No surprises.  And yet, when I saw those news briefs cross my screen, I honestly felt as if I had been punched in the stomach.

I gasped for air, but there was none.  I felt tears welling, yet my struggle to breath precluded all else.

This is what the bastards we have elected and whose salaries we pay have done to us.  They have laughed at the idea of holding the “president” of the nation accountable for his actions.  They scoff at the notion of values or ethics.  And, they have decided that the time has come to burn the Constitution that was ratified in 1787, some 233 years ago.  How many of them could even quote from the Constitution they swore to uphold, I wonder?  Few, I think.

We have, in the last few hours, traded in a democratic republic for an autocracy with a cruel dictator who has no conscience, no moral compass, and no compassion for any who are not his equal in wealth and stature.  And now, permit me to blow off just a bit of steam before I screw my head back on straight …

I hope … sincerely hope … that Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and every other republican in Congress, as well as those who put them there, contract the Coronavirus and die a very long, slow, and painful death, equal to the one they have just cast upon this nation.

crying

Good faith dealings

Posted on by under Political commentary, Re-blogs, Social commentary

Last week saw the funeral of the 41st President of the United States, George H.W. Bush. While he was certainly not perfect – who is? – the contrast between him and the current occupant of the White House is stunning. It makes me long for the day when character and integrity were expected and admired. Our friend Keith has done a terrific job pointing out some of the finer traits of President Bush, Sr., and leaves us to draw our own comparisons. Thank you, Keith, for an excellent post and for your permission to share it.

musingsofanoldfart

The passing of former President George H.W. Bush has highlighted the many positive attributes of the imperfect 41st President. Of course, we are all “fixer uppers,” and our willingness to know this about ourselves keeps us humble and in a constant state of self-improvement.

Many positive things have been highlighted about the elder Bush this past week, with many of us nostalgic to how we all should conduct ourselves, especially our leaders. Here are a few things I took away:

– a communication advisor to an early campaign noted he made a big mistake from which he could not hide. Thinking he would be fired, he recalled Bush telling him “I know you will knock the next opportunity out of the park.”

– a friend noted he played golf often with Bush when he was President. He noted the clubs Bush played would invariably try to “comp” his green and…

View original post 447 more words