Lookin’ Good, Merrick Garland!

Posted on February 23, 2021 by jilldennison under Biden's Staff Picks, Law and justice, Political commentary

Yesterday was the first of the two-day confirmation hearings for Merrick Garland, President Biden’s choice to head the Department of Justice. I have felt for weeks that Garland would be confirmed by the Senate, for he is both liked and respected by those on both sides of the aisle. According to an article in The Washington Post …

“… there was little acrimony and many Democrats and Republicans on the panel appeared to treat his confirmation almost as a foregone conclusion.”

Several Republicans seem certain that Garland will be confirmed …

“I believe so. There were people that weren’t totally satisfied with his answers, but i didn’t hear anybody get really irritated. … For the most part, he answered pretty well.” – Senator Chuck Grassley (republican) from Iowa

“That certainly seems likely. I thought he did fine. It was frustrating in that he answered very few questions. He approached it more like a judicial nominee dodging every question.” – Senator Ted Cruz (republican) from Texas

“Judge Garland is about as sure a bet as you can have in the Congress these days that he will be confirmed. He has navigated these questions with extraordinary adroitness and aplomb.” – Senator Richard Blumenthal (democrat) from Connecticut

To be sure, there were contentious lines of questioning, especially from the likes of Senator John Neeley Kennedy, a republican from Louisiana, and the ignoble Josh Hawley who cheered the attackers on January 6^th, and did everything in his power to try to overturn our votes on that day. But, Garland remained cool and his answers brought no rebuttal. For example, Hawley arrogantly twirled his pencil while attempting to goad Garland into a conversation on defunding the police, and on what constitutes ‘domestic terrorism’.

Garland, who prosecuted the Oklahoma City bombing perpetrators before becoming a federal judge, looked Hawley straight in the eye and responded …

“As you no doubt know, President Biden has said he does not support defunding the police, and neither do I. We saw how difficult the lives of police officers were in the body-cam videos we saw when they were defending the Capitol. The use of violence or threats of violence in an attempt to disrupt democratic processes. So an attack on a courthouse while in operation trying to prevent judges from deciding cases, that plainly is domestic extremism, domestic terrorism.”

Lindsey Graham, who would not allow Garland’s hearing to take place earlier this month, reared his typically ugly head, quizzed Garland on whether he thought James Comey, who was fired by the former guy early in his administration, was a good FBI Director. Garland calmly replied that the question was not useful and that he didn’t intend to get into critiquing other directors. Then Graham responded churlishly with …

“Well, you’ve been very political, and appropriately so, at times. I just find it pretty stunning that you can’t say, in my view, that he was a terrible FBI director.”

However, at the end of the day, Lindsey told Garland, “I think you’re a very good pick for this job.” Even Senator Kennedy, one of the more obnoxious among republican senators, said “You’ll be a good attorney general.”

Perhaps Garland’s most powerful statement, at least in my eyes, was when he said …

“I am not the president’s lawyer, I am the United States’ lawyer.”

Quite the contrast from previous Attorney General William Barr who saw himself and the entire Department of Justice as tools at the former guy’s disposal.

No doubt there will be some Republicans who will oppose the nomination, likely Tom Cotton, Mike Lee, and Josh Hawley among them, but the general consensus is that Garland will win senate confirmation when the vote is taken on March 1^st. Score one for justice.

Not Time To Go Home Yet … Or Perhaps It Is

Posted on February 13, 2021 by jilldennison under Election 2020, Law and justice, Political commentary, Social commentary

They hoped to vote this afternoon, then wrap it up and go home for the remainder of the weekend, to be with their families, eat nachos, and watch whatever sport is trending at the moment. Now they are angry, for it appears their job isn’t quite done as the Senate voted 55-45 to call witnesses in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Even five republicans, Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Ben Sasse, and shockingly, Lindsey Graham voted in favour of calling witnesses. But the rest are angry, including Ron Johnson who yelled at Mitt Romney in the Senate chambers.

What changed the mind of Lindsey Graham? Initially, Graham said …

“If you open up that can of worms, we’ll want the FBI to come in and tell us about how people preplanned this attack and what happened with the security footprint of the Capitol. You open up Pandora’s box if you call one witness.”

Hmmm … isn’t the whole purpose to get at the truth, to find out what really happened, how, and why?

Apparently one thing that changed Graham’s mind and perhaps others was a statement by Republican Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler regarding a phone call she witnessed between House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Donald Trump during the attack on Congress. She said McCarthy pleaded with the president, telling him, “You need to get on TV right now, you need to get on Twitter, you need to call these people off.” Trump replied, “Kevin, they’re not my people.”

“Yes, they are. They just came through my windows and my staff is running for cover. Yeah, they’re your people. Call them off.”

At that point, she said Trump told McCarthy, “Well I guess these people are just more angry about the election and upset than you are.”

Ms. Herrera Beutler ended her statement with …

“To the patriots who were standing next to the former president as these conversations were happening, or even to the former vice president: if you have something to add here, now would be the time.”

Perhaps that, if nothing else, stirred Mr. Graham’s conscience just a bit, helped him remember that there was a hangman’s noose waiting for Mike Pence that day, and all Trump cared about was overturning the election.

So, witnesses will be called, perhaps by both sides, though I have no idea where the defense team will find any witnesses whose stories will help their client look less guilty than he currently does. Apparently one of Trump’s attorneys, Michael van der Veen, is well aware that there aren’t any credible witnesses on his side of this equation, for he claimed that if a single witness is called, it would require over 100 depositions, and would include deposing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in his Philadelphia office. Many in the Senate chambers could be heard laughing at this display of pomp.

Republican Senator Roger Marshall says the trial should end, that the Senate has other work to attend to, and the country should “move on.” My response is … did we just ‘move on’ after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy? Did we just ‘move on’ after the terrorist attacks of 9/11? No, some things are too important to simply turn a blind eye and ‘move on.’ The attempted overthrow of a fair and honest election by a sitting president, the highest office in the land, is entirely too important to simply ‘move on.’ It is important that the transgressor never be allowed to hold a public office again. It is important that We the People know the truth about that day, how it was planned, financed, and implemented. It is important, most of all, that this never be allowed to happen again, that no future president believe he can get away, literally, with murder.

Meanwhile, Moscow Mitch not surprisingly, has decided he will vote to acquit Trump, despite the evidence of Trump’s guilt in inciting and encouraging the deadly attack. Whatever little shred of conscience he experienced was so small that it blew out of his nose as he snored during the night.

The importance of calling witnesses and hearing their testimony is not that it will sway enough senate republicans to do the right thing, but that it will be presented to the ultimate jurors, We the People. We will know what actually happened that day, how it came to be, and we will remember those in the United States Senate who lacked the courage to uphold their constitutional oaths, who put their own political futures ahead of our freedom, our lives.

UPDATE: Just as I was about to hit the ‘Publish’ button to schedule this post, the following ‘breaking news’ crossed my screen:

Lawyers strike deal to prevent witness testimony in trial

Sigh.

We Will NOT Forget!

Posted on February 12, 2021 by jilldennison under Election 2020, Law and justice, Political commentary, Rants

In case you didn’t notice, there is a trial of some importance taking place this week in Washington, D.C. Now, I used to watch Perry Mason, and a number of other courtroom dramas, the names of which elude me at the moment, so I have an idea how a trial is supposed to be conducted, how lawyers, defendants, and jurors are supposed to act, but this trial is like nothing I have ever seen before.

First, the defendant is nowhere to be seen. He decided that it was too cold up north to leave his Florida resort, and besides, he had a golf game scheduled for yesterday. But what really blows my mind is the jurors! Have you ever seen a trial where the jurors, rather than being bothered with listening to the evidence being presented by the prosecution, got up and walked around, texted on their phones … about breast milk, for some strange reason?

Worse yet, can you imagine a murder trial where three of the jurors have a closed-door session with the defense attorneys??? NO, just NO … this is illegal, immoral, unconscionable, and a number of other adjectives I can think of once the steam stops coming out of my ears!

House impeachment managers, the prosecution, were presenting compelling evidence of the attack on Congress and the Capitol and the defendant’s involvement in said attack on Wednesday afternoon, but Ted Cruz and several other Republican senators were apparently bored watching themselves narrowly escape the violence on January 6^th and instead sought other distractions, such as shuffling papers, or playing on their cell phones like Teddy was doing.

Under absolutely no circumstances, in a trial, are the lawyers on either side allowed to meet in private with jurors. That is called tampering with the jury, it is illegal. Period. No ifs, ands, or buts. Trump’s legal team and the three Republican senators, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, and Mike Lee are all in violation of the law for their little tête-à-tête . They are attempting to turn this trial into a sham, but all they are doing is further destroying their reputations and that of the Republican Party, for they are proving with every passing minute that there is no collective conscience. The Republican Party has decided that they don’t need to represent the will of the people, but instead will do whatever they damn well please, and force us to continue to pay their salaries.

“We were discussing their legal strategy and sharing our thoughts,” said Cruz. No, jackass … you are not a member of the legal team … you are the jury! Your job is to listen to both sides and decide which has merit, not collude with one side against the other. You are the damn jurors in this case! In a normal trial, the judge would at this point likely declare a mistrial and schedule a new trial, else dismiss the jurors and call for a new selection. But this is an impeachment trial and apparently the Republicans in Congress are allowed to make and break the rules with impunity. Imagine if the Democrats tried that!

The public has heard the evidence, and while the corruption is so rampant in the Republican Party that the senators will allow a conman, a man guilty of plotting murder free to incite further violence, to kill again, We the People know that he is guilty. We weren’t playing on our cell phones while the evidence was being presented, and we did not collude with the lawyers for the defense. We saw the evidence, we know Donald Trump is guilty, and we will never again trust him or those senators who refused to perform their duty, to uphold their oaths. We Will Not Forget. Ever.

Good News, Humorous News, and Lindsey Graham

Posted on February 3, 2021 by jilldennison under Biden's Staff Picks, Bits 'n Pieces, cartoons, Humour, Law and justice, Political commentary

First, the good news

The Department of Transportation, formerly under the leadership of Elaine Chao, Mitch McConnell’s wife, has a new leader! Yesterday, the Senate confirmed Pete Buttigieg, aka Mayor Pete, to the position of Secretary of Transportation!

You’ll remember that Mayor Pete ran as a candidate for president in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries and gained significant momentum in mid-2019 when he participated in several town halls and debates. Buttigieg narrowly won the Iowa caucuses and placed a close second in the New Hampshire primary. By winning Iowa, he became the first openly gay candidate to win a presidential primary or caucus. Buttigieg dropped out of the race on March 1^st 2020, and endorsed Joe Biden the following day.

Under Ms. Chao, the Department of Transportation faded into the background, for she was rarely available to speak to the press, but make no mistake – this is a very important agency that oversees aviation safety, railroads, transit, highways and more. At age 39, Buttigieg is also the youngest Cabinet secretary in the Biden administration and youngest person to serve as Secretary of Transportation.

Congratulations, Mayor Pete!

Now for the humorous

You all know that Trump has a golf course in Scotland, right? Actually, he owns two of them. The Scottish Parliament is considering launching an investigation into the financing of those golf courses. Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie is urging the government to seek what is called an unexplained wealth order (UWO) against the Trump Organization’s two golf courses in Scotland.

A UWO is a relatively new piece of British criminal legislation, requiring the subject, in this case Donald Trump, to explain how exactly their assets were acquired. If their reasoning is not satisfactory, then the assets are “presumed to be recoverable property,” meaning they could be seized. Reading this was my first chuckle of the day today!

Now, nobody in the Trump family can be accused of having an excess of intelligence, but the dumbest of them all is son Eric, who is said to be fuming at the possibility of the investigation …

“Patrick Harvie is nothing more than a national embarrassment with his pathetic antics that only serve himself and his political agenda. If Harvie and the rest of the Scottish government continue to treat overseas investors like this, it will deter future investors from conducting business in Scotland, ultimately crushing their economy, tourism and hospitality industries.”

According to Harvie, the fact that Trump’s businesses and business practices are the subject of a massive investigation in New York prompted his call for an UWO. Makes perfect sense to me, knowing that Trump has been involved in some 6,000 lawsuits!

And last … ol’ Lindsey Graham

President Biden nominated Merrick Garland as Attorney General, the top position in the Department of Justice. This is a key and critical position and Merrick Garland is more than qualified to fill it. Merrick Garland was literally screwed over by Mitch McConnell and his gang of republican thugs in 2016 when President Obama nominated him to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated upon the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. McConnell would not even permit the Senate to interview Garland then, saying that the next president should be the one to fill that seat … some 9 months before even the election, 11 months before that ‘next’ president would take office. (Isn’t it funny how he changed his tune last year and hustled to confirm the bigoted and unqualified Amy Barrett to the seat vacated by Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death?)

Merrick Garland is … or should be … a shoo-in for the Attorney General position, and confirmation hearings are likely to be more of a formality, as he is well-known and well-respected by members of both parties. But Lindsey Graham likes to play games, even when his games are a threat to the nation. Because as of yesterday, the two parties had not yet managed to come to terms on the ‘organizing resolution’ for the Senate, which is currently split 50-50, Lindsey Graham is still the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman.

When the incoming chairman, Dick Durbin, requested scheduling the confirmation hearing for Garland on February 8^th, Lindsey immediately rejected the notion. Why? Because it would take place the day before the start of Trump’s impeachment trial.

“A one-day hearing as you are proposing the day before the impeachment trial of a former president is insufficient. Democrats do not get to score political points in an unprecedented act of political theater on one hand while also trying to claim the mantle of good government on the other.”

OH HO HO HO … read that last sentence again! Is this not the ultimate hypocrisy? But then, the entire GOP has become the very definition of the word ‘hypocrisy’. Expecting to hold a confirmation hearing for the top spot in the Justice Department a full month after the nomination is ‘political theater’? Somebody really needs to send Lindsey Graham back home to South Carolina!

But there is a bright spot in this story. This morning, Senators Schumer and McConnell finally managed to reach an agreement. According to Schumer …

“I am happy to report this morning that the leadership of both parties have finalized the organizing resolution for the Senate. We will pass the resolution through the Senate today, which means that committees can promptly set up and get to work.”

So, by tomorrow, Mr. Graham will likely no longer be the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman and the decision will not be his to make! Let us hope that Senator Durbin will get the confirmation hearings on the schedule for next week, and that the process is completed quickly so that Merrick Garland can take his place as Attorney General and begin doing the serious work that must be done in the aftermath of the January 6^th attacks on Congress.

Snarky @#$%& Snippets

Posted on December 6, 2020 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

If you live outside the United States, count your blessings. This nation has lost its collective marbles! I would damn near kill for just one day with no mention of anyone whose last name is Trump in the news. I would absolutely do a happy dance if all the republicans in the nation suddenly developed laryngitis and had to go 24 hours without opening their nasty mouths! We can’t even get weekend breaks from the chaos and craziness! In keeping with the chaos, I now have news overload which has given me a severe case of mind bounce (not to mention high blood pressure), so this morning you get a bunch of unrelated tiny snippets with an abundance of snark … I think.

You’re Fired (by form letter via email)

Trump fired the Pentagon business advisory board … all nine of them. Members of the board received a brief email from Joshua Whitehouse, the White House liaison to the Department of Defense, that simply said, “if you are receiving this e-mail, your membership on the Defense Business Board has expired or is coming to an end.” What a way to find out you’re ousted, eh?

But wait … that’s not even the worst part. Two of the people Trump named to the board to replace the fired members are none other than Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie, his former campaign manager and deputy campaign manager, neither of whom have served a single day in the military or have a hair on their head’s worth of experience in the defense industry! My damn cat has as much to qualify him for a seat on that board as those two ass-lickers have. Former Defense Secretary William Cohen called the move, “… an obscene gesture to the Biden supporters and to at least the majority of the American people.”

Idiot Extraordinaire

Former Republican congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who made a brief and unsuccessful attempt to gain the republican nomination for president in 2012, just can’t seem to sit down and shut up. Her latest is a short video whereby she pleads with god to “deliver Donald Trump a second term”. I don’t need to add my snark to that one, for it speaks for itself.

Gaetz banned from New Jersey!

I’ve written so many times about the punk republican representative Matt Gaetz that I can even spell his name without looking it up. He was arrested for Driving Under the Influence in 2008, and two years later elected to the Florida House of Representatives. Since 2017, he’s been making a fool of himself in the U.S. House of Representatives. He’s a punk who thinks his antics are cute … he reminds me of a teenage boy, but he is in fact 38 years of age.

The latest? He doesn’t seem to understand that rules apply to him, too. He attended a ‘secret party’ held by the Young Republicans club in Jersey City, New Jersey, with at least 150 other people in attendance. Right smack in the middle of a new surge of the coronavirus in that area, and where such large gatherings were expressly forbidden by order of Governor Phil Murphy. Nobody wore a mask at the gathering.

While not officially banned, Governor Murphy said, “You are not welcome in New Jersey, and frankly I don’t ever want you back in this state.” Two thumbs up to Governor Murphy for having the courage to speak up and speak out. As for Gaetz … Floridians apparently think he’s cool, for he was re-elected again last month. Way to go, Florida … here, have another drink of Kool Aid.

Isn’t coercion illegal?

I seriously long for the day Trump is naught but a bad memory … I would love not to see his name ever again. The latest? He’s once again trying to coerce Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to convene an emergency session of the Georgia State Legislature so it can name its own electors, who would in turn vote for him instead of President-Elect Joe Biden. This, my friends, is how leaders of banana republics deport themselves, not the ‘leader’ of a democratic republic of 330 million people!!! WE THE PEOPLE spoke on November 3^rd! Donald F***ing Trump has no right whatsoever to attempt to override our voices!

In case you can’t tell, I am livid. Donald Trump should be arrested right now and kept in a jail cell, given only bread and water until the evening of January 20^th. He has broken just about every law I can think of, and this is beyond unconscionable … it is criminal! He is a crook, worse than President Richard M. Nixon ever thought about being. He is as bad as Jeffrey Dahmer!

Kemp, for whom I have zero respect, to his credit refused Trump’s ‘request’. Georgia has had two full recounts and an audit and certified the election for Joe Biden not just once, but twice. No evidence of any notable fraud has been found. Why oh why hasn’t Melania held a pillow over his head some night?

Ol’ Two-Faced Lindsey is at it again

Speaking of men with no conscience … Lindsey Graham is in the news again. You remember Lindsey … the ‘man’ who claimed to be Senator John McCain’s ‘best friend’ and then stabbed him in the back? Lindsey made an appearance on Fox ‘News’ the other day. When Sean Hannity asked him about the possibility of Donald Trump facing a Federal investigation for crimes he’s accused of committing in office and during his campaign, Lindsey replied, falsely claiming that Robert Mueller’s investigation “found nothing,” and promising that if both Republicans win the two special elections coming up in January in Georgia, “the Attorney General nominee…will come before the judiciary committee…there’s no way in hell anyone’s gonna get confirmed …”

Tell you what, folks … I think it’s time for a mass impeachment of every damn republican in Congress, for as best I can tell they are every one a bunch of crooks who are determined to further rip apart what little is left of our trust in government.

And on that note, I must stop for tonight for if I don’t take a bit of time to wind down, I’ll lie awake cussing ‘til the sun comes up … if it even bothers. Have a wonderful Sunday … if you live outside the U.S., that might be possible.

This is my coffee mug, gifted to me one Christmas many years ago by my girls. It suits me to a T.

Good Night

Posted on November 4, 2020 by jilldennison under Election 2020, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Rants, Social commentary

Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Matt Gaetz, Susan Collins, Joni Ernst and many other horrendous, conscienceless, corrupt members of Congress have been re-elected. Worse yet, at this point it looks very much like Herr Trump will continue as the Dictator of the nation formerly known as the United States of America. As of this writing, there are at least 65 million very stupid people in this country who have just signed the death warrant for the country and its 330 million inhabitants. Thank you, assholes.

Filosofa is OVER and OUT.

Snarky Rides Again

Posted on October 11, 2020 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

I suspect the snark will keep on rolling for the next few weeks, don’t you? I wonder who’s to blame for that? Maybe a whole bunch of people!

Ol’ Lindsey strikes out …

Good ol’ Lindsey Graham just doesn’t know when to sit down and shut up, does he? For those who may not be aware, Graham is running for re-election to the United States Senate this November. There was a debate scheduled for last Friday between him and his democratic opponent, Jaime Harrison. Lindsey was exposed to the coronavirus on October 1^st, when he attended a hearing with Senator Mike Lee of Utah, who has since tested positive. Jamie Harrison, a diabetic, requested that Graham be tested for the coronavirus prior to their debate, and Lindsey refused!

Now why would any sensible person refuse to be tested before such an event where other people could be exposed? Some speculate that he has tested positive already. At any rate, on Thursday evening, Mr. Harrison issued the following statement:

“If Sen. Graham will not take a coronavirus test, I cannot responsibly debate in person tomorrow night and allow politics to put my family, my campaign staff, Sen. Graham’s staff, and members of the media at unnecessary risk.”

Instead, each of the two men took part in an online forum that replaced the debate. During the forum, Lindsey was asked how to address civil unrest in his home state of South Carolina. His response …

“If you’re a young African American, an immigrant, you can go anywhere in this state, you just need to be conservative, not liberal.”

GASP!!!!!! That statement alone should cost him his re-election! Lindsey won by a whopping 17 points back in 2014, but this year he is in a dead heat with Jaime Harrison. My bet is that this unconscionably racist statement will doom his campaign and we will finally be able to bid adieu to Mr. Graham.

Transparency???

Sean Hannity is another person without a conscience. Well, he works for Fox ‘News’ and is a close confidant of Trump’s, so it goes without saying that he has no conscience. But yesterday I read this statement by Hannity that caused my jaw to drop …

“First, we do start with a simple fact. The level of transparency in the Trump administration is unmatched. This president communicates with you, we, the American people often, he does it without a filter, he answers a million questions across multiple platforms, he does it each and every day.”

Say WHAT???

Now, Merriam-Webster defines transparent as:

a: free from pretense or deceit : FRANK

b: easily detected or seen through : OBVIOUS

c: readily understood

d: characterized by visibility or accessibility of information especially concerning business practices

Not a single one of these can be said to be true of Donald Trump, any of his cabinet members, his press secretary or other spokespeople! Think about it a minute …

Free of pretense or deceit? How many proven lies has he told now? Last I checked it was something over 20,000 in just three-and-a-half years. He didn’t even tell the truth about when he first tested positive for the coronavirus! And as recently as yesterday, his “White House doctor” lied and said he was no longer a contagion risk, when scientists tell us otherwise.

And … he answers “a million questions” a day? First, that isn’t humanly possible, especially for a person who spends half his day watching television and playing on Twitter. But more to the point, during press briefings, he only chooses to answer the questions he likes … otherwise, he insults the reporter and moves on, or simply leaves the room. And even when he does answer a question, he answers it with a lie, so … what’s the point?

And the last one, (d) … accessibility of information? What about those tax returns and financial records? What about his continuing refusal to make public the results of his medical condition and when he last tested negative for the virus? What about ordering people not to testify before Congress? I could go on and on … I could make a whole post about Trump’s blatant lack of transparency, but why bother? You guys know the truth … Donald Trump has lied and lied to us since before he even took office, and there is not a damn thing transparent in his administration. Sean Hannity is every bit as much a liar and conman as Donald Trump is … just another clown in the GOP Circus.

Buses, planes & trains – stay off them!

Last month the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) drafted an order requiring all passengers and employees to wear masks on all forms of public and commercial transportation in the United States. It makes perfect sense if you think about it … in each of these venues, passengers are in very close proximity, sometimes nearly touching shoulder-to-shoulder, and given the airborne nature of the coronavirus, of course masks should be worn, as well as gloves if you ask me.However, Mike Pence, as the “head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force”, nixed the order from the start. He refused to even discuss the matter, with no explanation.

So, since he doesn’t wish to discuss the matter, we are left to draw our own conclusions that Pence, like his boss, does not believe in the wearing of masks or simply does not care if we live or die.

CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield, who oversaw the drafting of the order, said …

“I think masks are the most powerful weapon we have to confront Covid and we all need to embrace masks and set the example for each other.”

Representative Peter A. DeFazio, Democrat of Oregon and chairman of the House committee on transportation and infrastructure was highly critical of Pence’s refusal …

“It’s especially outrageous because the science is so clear: masks save lives. The millions of Americans who work in and use our transportation systems every day — from bus drivers, train conductors and flight attendants, to the frontline workers who rely on public transit — deserve to know their president is relying on experts’ best advice and doing everything possible to keep them safe.”

Y’know … this whole thing has gotten out of hand. People who insist on going about their business in public and refuse to wear a mask are a danger to us all, and they frankly don’t care who they put at risk – even their own families. I’m currently reading a book that takes place during World War II, and at the mention of blackout rules and rationing, I had the thought … I suppose half the people in the U.S. would refuse those, too, and put the entire nation at risk. There is such a thing as taking personal freedom too far, and insisting on riding a crowded bus sans mask is a step too far. Thanks, Pence, for showing us how little our lives are worth to you and your boss.

Lindsey’s Looming Loss: A Lesson on Loyalties

Posted on September 27, 2020 by jilldennison under Election 2020, Law and justice, Political commentary, Re-blogs

Whatever traits Lindsey Graham may possess, character, integrity and honesty are NOT among them. Our friend Jerry over at On the Fence Voters compares him to a ‘remora’, sometimes known as a suckerfish, and the comparison is apt, as Jerry will show us. Thanks, Jerry, for this spot-on post!

On The Fence Voters

Poor Lindsey Graham; he’s facing a legitimate—and downright tough—challenge for his seat in the U.S. Senate. The Republican senior senator from South Carolina recently bemoaned on a Fox News interview, “I’m being killed financially. This money is because they hate my guts.”

Graham’s Democratic opponent, Jaime Harrison, has raised $3.5 million in campaign support.

Why might Graham, a three-term senator, be facing this unfamiliar uphill battle? Why do so many South Carolinians hate his guts?

Loyalty: The Absent Attribute

Graham is a conservative in a solidly conservative state; he should cruise to victory. In 2002 he gained the senate seat by a 10-point margin, then he won by a nearly 16-point margin in 2008, and by 10 points again in 2014. Yet, in this crucial election cycle, polls show Graham tied with Harrison, his Democratic rival. What happened? Might Graham’s slide be tied to his gross miscalculations on the character…

View original post 817 more words

Trump vs Dr. Fauci — Round #1

Posted on July 16, 2020 by jilldennison under Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Political commentary, Social commentary

Dr. Anthony Stephen Fauci is a well-respected member of the medical community who has served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1984. As a physician with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Fauci has served American public health in various capacities for over 50 years, and has been an advisor to every U.S. president since Ronald Reagan. He has made contributions to HIV/AIDS research and other immunodeficiencies, both as a scientist and as the head of the NIAID at the NIH, and from 1983 to 2002 was one of the world’s most-cited scientists in scientific journals.

Here is a list of Dr. Fauci’s awards and honours through the years:

1979: Arthur S. Flemming Award
1993: Honorary Doctor of Science, Bates College
1995: Ernst Jung Prize (shared with Samuel A. Wells, Jr.)
1995: Honorary Doctor of Science, Duke University
1996: Honorary Doctor of Science, Colgate University
1999: Honorary Doctor of Public Service Degree, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
2002: Albany Medical Center Prize
2003: American Academy of Achievement’s Golden Plate Award
2005: National Medal of Science
2005: American Association of Immunologists Lifetime Achievement Award
2007: Mary Woodard Lasker Public Service Award
2007: George M. Kober Medal, Association of American Physicians
2008: Presidential Medal of Freedom
2013: UCSF medal
2013: Robert Koch Gold Medal
2013: Prince Mahidol Award
2015: Honorary Degree, Johns Hopkins University
2016: John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award
2018: Honorary Doctor of Science, Commencement Speaker, American University
2018: Honorary Doctor of Science, Boston University

Dr. Fauci is a member of the National Academy of Sciences; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the National Academy of Medicine; the American Philosophical Society; and the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters; as well as other numerous professional societies including the American Society for Clinical Investigation; the Infectious Diseases Society of America,; and the American Association of Immunologists. He serves on the editorial boards of many scientific journals; as an editor of Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine; and as author, coauthor, or editor of more than 1,000 scientific publications, including several textbooks.

In contrast …

Donald Trump is, according to his former lawyers, biographers, and nearly anyone who has ever had business dealings with him, a racist, liar, conman, and cheat, to name just a few. He has received no notable awards or honours, has written no books (those that carry his name were ghostwritten). His father bought his degree in Business from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He has been involved in more than 5,000 lawsuits and has been accused of sexual misconduct more than twenty times.

Which one of these two are you going to entrust with your life?

Dr. Fauci has a long record of telling the truth, while it has been documented that Donald Trump has told the people of this nation more than 20,000 lies since January 2017.

From the very beginning of this pandemic, Dr. Fauci has issued warnings that Donald Trump did not, on behalf of the nation, heed. Today, we are paying the price for Trump’s perfidy. And yet …

Donald Trump and his cadre of White House clowns have publicly sought to undermine Fauci in at least five separate instances over the past four days, even as the coronavirus surges across the US, with the death toll now above 140,000 and 3.6 million cases. Rather than address the problem, they have decided to go into attack mode against one man: Dr. Fauci. They published what they refer to as an “opposition research paper”, listing a number of instances — on community transmission, asymptomatic transmission and mask wearing in particular — where Dr. Fauci’s views have shifted over time.

Given the unique nature of the coronavirus, there is no perfect information available even today, but certainly in the early days, perfect information was not available and the health experts, including Dr. Fauci, used their best judgement based on their knowledge and the data available. As more data and research has become available, it is natural that their views will shift. But Trump & Co have decided to use this as a weapon to discredit the man who is probably the most knowledgeable of any in the nation, to discredit Dr. Fauci.

The question is: why??? Because it gives Trump a scapegoat for his own horrific failure in containing and controlling the virus. If there was a misstep to be made in this entire pandemic, Trump has made it. He has put our lives and the lives of our children at risk and continues to do so even today with his ‘demands’ that schools re-open and that we send our children into the lion’s den. Trump has lost followers even within his own party as a result of his bungling response to the pandemic. So, he needs somebody to blame, somebody to publicly shame.

Even the two-faced Lindsey Graham, typically a Trump sycophant, had this to say …

“Has he been right all the time? No. We don’t have a Dr Fauci problem, we need to be focusing on doing things that get us where we need to go. So, I have all the respect in the world for Dr Fauci. I think any effort to undermine him is not going to be productive, quite frankly.”

For Graham, that is a strong statement of support for Dr. Fauci. And Dr. Fauci is stronger than many may have thought. Although he doesn’t get down and wallow in the mud with Trump & Co, he makes himself heard in an interview with The Atlantic in which he responded to Trump’s criticisms …

“I cannot figure out in my wildest dreams why they would want to do that. I think they realize now that that was not a prudent thing to do, because it’s only reflecting negatively on them. I stand by everything I said. Contextually, at the time I said it, it was absolutely true … [The White House document] is totally wrong. It’s nonsense. It’s completely wrong. The whole thing is wrong. The whole thing is incorrect. I just want to do my job. I’m really good at it. I think I can contribute. And I’m going to keep doing it.”

Now I pose the question again. Which of these two, Donald Trump or Dr. Fauci, do you trust with your life and the lives of your loved ones?

Revenge

Posted on February 12, 2020 by jilldennison under Law and justice, Political commentary, Trump's Staff Picks

Alexander Vindman is a decorated war hero. In addition to overseas deployments to South Korea and Germany, Vindman is a combat veteran of the Iraq War, and he served in Iraq from September 2004 to September 2005. In October 2004, he sustained an injury from a roadside bomb in Iraq, for which he received a Purple Heart. He was promoted to the rank of major in 2008, and to lieutenant colonel in September 2015.

Donald Trump is, in essence, a draft dodger who, while men were dying in Vietnam, had his father pay a doctor to say he couldn’t serve because he had blisters on his feet (too much time in golf shoes?) Donald Trump does not like war heroes … perhaps they make him uncomfortable because they did their duty while he languished in the lap of luxury. Remember his remarks about John McCain, who received daily beatings at the hands of the North Vietnamese for nearly six years, refusing early release unless every man taken before him was also released? Trump said he didn’t like people who were captured. McCain’s plane was shot down … not much he could have done to prevent that. While Trump was schmoozing with the likes of Jeffrey Epstein, playing with whatever woman he chose on any given night, John McCain was suffering unimaginable pain and horror, yet Trump didn’t like him. Just as he doesn’t like Alexander Vindman.

Vindman, as you recall, testified under oath before the House impeachment hearings in October. Vindman told the truth, and for his courage, his honesty, he was punished with the loss of his job. His twin brother, also a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army and ethics lawyer for the National Security Council, was also fired … presumably only because his last name is Vindman. Bad enough … but it doesn’t end there. Now, Trump is calling for Alexander Vindman’s head, as well.

Trump has expressed his desire for the military to investigate and invoke “disciplinary action” against Alexander Vindman. Disciplinary action??? So, is it a crime now to tell the truth in the dis-United States of America?

In a press conference, Trump said of Vindman …

“The military can handle him any way they want.”

When asked what he meant by that, he replied …

“That’s going to be up to the military, we’ll have to see, but if you look at what happened, they’re going to certainly, I would imagine, take a look at that.”

Would somebody please teach this man to construct a sentence that makes sense?

With not one shred of evidence, Trump claims that what Vindman reported about Trump’s criminal phone call, the one that Trump says was a “perfect” call, is different than what he actually said. Of course he says that … he’s the liar in chief, the ‘man’ who wouldn’t know the truth if it smacked him in the ass!

We expect such from Donald Trump, the fat man with a very slim mind, but what’s worse is that others are supporting and defending his actions. The ignoble Senator Lindsey Graham said, in an interview on Fox News’ American Newsroom …

“I think FBI agents had a political agenda during the investigation of President Trump and they acted on it. I think CIA operatives have been out to try to get the president since he was elected. I think there are people in uniform that can’t accept this result. Because you wear the uniform doesn’t mean you’re exempt from being asked questions. When a military officer engages in a political bias in uniform, they need to be held accountable.”

Political bias??? Lieutenant Colonel Vindman reported, under oath, what he had seen and heard. Period. Where’s the ‘political bias’? Graham, like so many other republicans in Congress, has stopped doing his job and instead is following the Trump agenda.

The Vindmans and Gordon Sondland weren’t the only ones Trump has gone after since the Senate gave him carte blanche last Wednesday.

Jesse K. Liu was, until recently, a U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. As such, she inherited certain cases from the Robert Mueller investigation, including those of Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, and … Roger Stone. Last December, Ms. Liu stepped down from her position, as Trump nominated her for a high-ranking position in the U.S. Treasury Department. Yesterday, after Trump learned that prosecutors were recommending a sentence of 7-9 years for the facinorous Roger Stone, threw a fit, and caused the “Justice” Department to lower their recommendation, Trump withdrew Ms. Liu’s nomination.

The Vindmans, Sondland, Liu … all cases of pure petty revenge on the part of the person who holds the highest office of the land. These are only the beginning. Last Wednesday, 53 U.S. Senators handed Mr. Trump the keys to the kingdom. They told him that whatever he does, they “have his back”. This is only the beginning of what will likely become the darkest period in the history of this nation.

Filosofa's Word

Cogito Ergo Sum

Tag Archives: Lindsey Graham

Lookin’ Good, Merrick Garland!

We Will NOT Forget!

Good News, Humorous News, and Lindsey Graham

Lindsey’s Looming Loss: A Lesson on Loyalties

Revenge