Do The Right Thing!!!!

Posted on April 30, 2020 by jilldennison under Election 2020, Law and justice, Political commentary, Trump's Staff Picks

It is interesting to make note of a memo issued on April 17^th by a top Republican strategist advising GOP candidates on how to address the coronavirus crisis, or rather how to work around Trump’s inept bungling of the entire scenario since January. The memo includes advice to Republican candidates in the 2020 election on everything from how to tie Democratic candidates to the Chinese government to how to deal with accusations of racism. It stresses three main lines of assault: That China caused the virus “by covering it up,” that Democrats are “soft on China,” and that Republicans will “push for sanctions on China for its role in spreading this pandemic.”

The short version, a primer for GOP candidates, reads …

China caused this pandemic by covering it up, lying, and hoarding the world’s supply of medical equipment.

- China is an adversary that has stolen millions of American jobs, sent fentanyl to the United States, and they send religious minorities to concentration camps.

My opponent is soft on China, fails to stand up to the Chinese Communist Party, and can’t betrusted to take them on.

I will stand up to China, bring our manufacturing jobs back home, and push for sanctions on China for its role in spreading this pandemic.

It’s a script, basically, for candidates who might be asked about the coronavirus, or Trump’s unconscionable response, for how they can divert attention and obfuscate, finding a way to blame … who else? … Democrats for everything. Funny, isn’t it, how the strategists can spin almost anything? But it is in the long version that the most interesting part, a single sentence, occurs:

“Don’t defend Trump, other than the China Travel Ban — attack China.”

So, while the memo … all 57 pages of it … basically contains a roadmap for navigating around Trump’s faux pas, just one sentence caused the you-know-what to hit the fan!

On Monday, Trump political adviser Justin Clark told NRSC executive director Kevin McLaughlin that any Republican candidate who followed the memo’s advice shouldn’t expect the active support of the reelection campaign and risked losing the support of Republican voters. Hmmmm … seems to me that the GOP is a bit dictatorial. Perhaps this explains why, when Republican senators had the chance to convict the madman in the Oval Office of the high crimes and misdemeanors of which he had already been proven guilty, and remove him from office, they reneged on their duty to the people of this nation. Perhaps they had been threatened.

Clark issued the following statement:

“Candidates will listen to the bad advice in this memo at their own peril. President Trump enjoys unprecedented support among Republican voters and everyone on the ballot in November will want to tap into that enthusiasm. The president’s campaign, the RNC, and the NRSC are firmly on the same page here.”

Fast forward to yesterday, when Trump’s approval rating had dropped from 45.8% in late March to 42.6% and still likely to drop further. Not to mention that Trump is now trailing Biden, who has had 110% less media coverage than Trump, in many states. So, “da ‘man’” went off his rocker, as he is wont to do when the consequences of his own actions come home to roost. Usually, he takes it out on the staff nearest at hand, or the media, or democrats, or Obama. This time, though, he took it out on his ignoble campaign manager Brad Parscale.

Now, mind you I have no love of Mr. Parscale, for he both looks and acts like a Nazi. However, fair is fair and he did not deserve the reaming he got from his boss yesterday. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Trump’s declining approval rating and drop in the polls is a direct result of his own actions and ineptitude. It is a cumulative effect of him saying there would be only 15 cases of coronavirus in the U.S., “nothing to worry about, folks”, up to and including his suggestion that he knew more than all the experts and he thought that injecting humans with disinfectant would cure the virus. It is the fact that he has shown himself incompetent and uncaring that has driven his numbers down, not anything Mr. Parscale did or did not do.

Reportedly, he told Parscale that he “would not” lose to Biden, insisted the data was wrong and blamed Parscale for the fact that he is down in the polls. But, the utter idiocy doesn’t stop there. He also made a threat to sue Mr. Parscale for the salary he has earned working for Trump! Oh, wouldn’t you just love to see him try that? It is no different than the owner of any business telling an employee, after three years, that he is now displeased with her service and wants her salary back for the past three years! Fat chance, Bucko!

Parscale, it is said, replied, “I love you, too”, and the call ended.

We can laugh all we want, but there is a bigger point here … a couple of them, but I’ll stick with one for the purpose of brevity. Donald Trump is not sane. He is not fit for office, never was. In the middle of the worst crisis this nation has seen since World War II, he is not concerned for the lives of the people of this nation but is only concerned about his election campaign. He does not think logically but lashes out at anyone in the line of fire when angered. He expects fealty from all who surround him, though he has done absolutely nothing to deserve loyalty. His own ego matters more than your life or mine.

There are sixteen people in this country who, collectively, could save this nation from the evil that resides in the White House. They are:

Vice President Mike Pence

Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue

Attorney General William Barr

Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Gina Haspel

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur L. Ross, Jr.

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper

Secretary of Education Elisabeth Prince DeVos

Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Andrew Wheeler

Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar

Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Benjamin S. Carson, Sr.

Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt

Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia

Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought

Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell

Administrator of the Small Business Administration Jovita Carranza

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao

Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows

These are the people who comprise Trump’s hand-picked cabinet. Most are highly un-qualified for their position, and I’ve always believed this was done with purpose, perhaps to follow Steve Bannon’s desire to “dismantle the administrative state”. However, these people are in the unique position of seeing on a day-to-day basis the utter lunacy of the ‘man’ in charge of the nation’s well-being, and having the ability to remove him, to render him unfit to serve.

Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution states that if, for whatever reason, the vice president and a majority of sitting Cabinet secretaries decide that the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” they can simply put that down in writing and send it to two people — the speaker of the House and the Senate’s president pro tempore. Then the vice president would immediately become “acting president,” and take over all the president’s powers.

If Pence and eight of the fifteen cabinet members saw their loyalty as being to the nation and its people instead of the madman named Trump, this nation could be Trump-free within a matter of hours. Will they? No, they will not. Why? Because their fortunes and futures are so closely linked with Trump’s, and because the GOP has resolved to threaten, browbeat and bully any who speak against Trump, that they are cowards … they are scared to death to speak against him, scared to death to do the right thing for the people of this country. I plan to write to each and every one of the people on that list, including Mike Pence, and let them know that their responsibility is to We the People, not a hateful, corrupt, sorry excuse for a president. Will it do any good? Doubtful, but … there are times when a person simply has to speak up. This is one of those times.

Bursting The 25th Amendment Bubble …

Posted on October 6, 2019 by jilldennison under Election 2020, Law and justice, Political commentary

I have been asked numerous times of late about the possibility of using the 25^th Amendment to remove Trump from office. Folks, believe me when I tell you that I want the madman gone just as much as you do, but I’m not going to give you false hope. The odds of the 25^th being used to remove Trump are almost as good as the odds that I will sprout wings and fly. I addressed this topic just over a year ago, but I think it’s time I revisit it, perhaps with a bit more detail.

The 25^th Amendment, Section IV reads …

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

The Amendment was not intended in the first place to remove a president for cause, but to transfer power to the Vice President in the event that the president were truly incapacitated. The mechanism for removing a president ‘for cause’, is impeachment.

Now, even if you wanted to stretch it a bit and try to use the 25^th Amendment to remove Trump from office, and there is some justification there, for he proves every day that he is mentally unstable, and it could be argued that this often renders him “unable to discharge the powers and duties …” you still have to read that first sentence very closely. “Whenever the vice president and a majority of … principal officers …” By principal officers, it means the Cabinet. I cannot see Mike Pence being willing to invoke the 25^th, but even if he were, let us look at Trump’s cabinet for just a minute.

Vice President – Mike Pence
Secretary of State – Mike Pompeo
Secretary of Treasury – Steven Mnuchin
Secretary of Defense – Mike Esper
Attorney General – William Barr
Secretary of Interior – David Bernhardt
Secretary of Agriculture – Sonny Perdue
Secretary of Commerce – Wilbur Ross
Secretary of Labour – Eugene Scalia
Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) – Alex Azar
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) – Ben Carson
Secretary of Transportation – Elaine Chao (married to Mitch McConnell)
Secretary of Energy – Rick Perry
Secretary of Education – Betsy DeVos
Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs – Robert Wilkie
Secretary of Homeland Security (acting) – Kevin McAleenan
White House Chief of Staff – Mick Mulvaney
Director of the Office of Management and Budget – Mick Mulvaney
United States Trade Representative – Robert Lighthizer
Director of National Intelligence (acting) – Joseph Maguire
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) – Gina Haspel
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – Andrew Wheeler
Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) – Chris Pilkerton
Ambassador to the United Nations – Kelly Craft

Now, you all know at least something about most of these individuals. I’ve written at least a time or two about most of them. Four – Bernhardt, Perry, Wheeler, and Craft – have close ties to the fossil fuel industry. Pompeo and Barr have both proven to us that they sold their souls downriver and are willing to break the law in favour of Trump. And others, such as DeVos, got their position as a reward for donating large amounts to Trump’s 2016 campaign. These are not nice, honest people of integrity … they are self-serving people hanging onto Trump’s coattails because there is something in it for them.

I look at the list, and I see five, maybe six of the 24 who either I don’t know much about, or who I believe may have enough of a conscience to be willing to put themselves in the line of fire in order to do the right thing. Five or six out of 24 does not constitute a majority, folks.

I’m sorry to burst that bubble … I know how badly you need hope right now, for I need it too. But, what we don’t need is false hope. Amendment 25 simply ain’t gonna happen in the foreseeable future. Now, that could change down the road, but for today, for this week, next week … no, it’s not even worth wasting time thinking about. Our best hope at this point is impeachment. Focus on that … focus on contacting your senators and representatives and letting them know that you support impeachment and that you want/expect them to uphold the rule of law. That is where our best hope lies for today.

He Sure Can Pick ‘Em …

Posted on May 17, 2019 by jilldennison under Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Trump's Staff Picks

I’ve frequently written about Trump’s staff picks, for they all seem to be the most un-qualified people for the jobs they are assigned. I mean, he hired Scott Pruitt, a man who had sued the EPA numerous times, to head the EPA! He chose Betsy DeVos, a woman who doesn’t believe in public schools, to head the Department of Education! It doesn’t get much more buffoonish, does it? Anyway, I haven’t written about any of his recent staff pics, but since a couple of them are cluttering up my radar screen, it seems a good time to do so!

Mark Morgan …

Typically, we wouldn’t pay much attention to a new Director of Ice (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), but in the era of Trump, we pay attention to things we never needed to before. And so it was that Trump’s latest staff pick, Mark Morgan, flew across my radar. Well, truth be told, he rather flopped onto it like a dying bird.

Mark Morgan

The thing that brought Morgan flopping onto my radar screen was his claim that he can look into the eyes of a child and know if that child will grow up to be a criminal. Say WHAT??? In an interview with Fox News’ resident moron Tucker Carlson, Morgan said …

“I’ve been to detention facilities where I’ve walked up to these individuals that are so-called minors, 17 or under. I’ve looked at them and I’ve looked at their eyes, Tucker — and I’ve said that is a soon-to-be MS-13 gang member. It’s unequivocal.”

Morgan likes to be on television … a lot. In addition to at least three appearances on Tucker Carlson’s show, he has racked up more than 100 television appearances on other shows such as those of Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck. He sure knows how to pick ‘em, yes?

Morgan was head of Border Patrol for the last four months of the Obama administration, but was almost immediately fired by Trump once he took office. Perhaps solely on the basis that he had been hired by President Obama … we all know how jealous Trump is of anything with Obama’s name on it. However, he has proven his worth to Trump by being a cheerleader for Trump’s ignominious border wall, and Fox News refers to Morgan as a former Obama administration official who “saw the light”.

Morgan has also applauded the administration’s policy for keeping immigrant children in cages, saying how wonderful it is that the cages were designed with the occupant’s safety in mind. Seriously???

His nomination will have to be confirmed by the Senate, and that, believe it or not, is not a certainty. Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Cory Gardner of Colorado, both of whom will be up for re-election next year, are treading softly on the issue of immigration, as they have come under fire from their constituents over the abominably cruel policy of separating children from their parents at the border. Other republicans in the Senate have also expressed concerns, such as Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Let us hope that at least 5 of the 54 republican senators find a bit of a conscience and refuse to confirm this animal. Of course, it won’t matter, for Trump will no doubt find another who is just as unacceptable.

Steve Dickson …

And then there is the position of FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) Administrator. The purpose of the FAA in a nutshell is to regulate all aspects of civil aviation. This includes airline safety. Remember the Boeing crashes in recent months?

Steve Dickson

For this crucial post, Trump has nominated Steve Dickson, a former Air Force fighter pilot who went on to become a commercial pilot for Delta, where he has worked for 27 years. Dickson retired as the company’s senior vice president for flight operations last year. Okay, so he knows how to fly a plane, but frankly those ties to the airline industry seem a built-in conflict of interest to me.

Initially, Trump had planned to name his own personal pilot, an employee of Trump’s company, to head the FAA, but even senate republicans balked at that one. So, last fall, Dickson stepped down from his position at Delta almost at the same time that Trump announced his decision to nominate him.

On the surface, there isn’t a lot to dislike, but … something is niggling at me. Perhaps it is the fact that he just left Delta as a senior V.P. … it’s rather like having people in the interior department and the EPA with ties to the fossil fuel industry. Inherent conflict of interest.

But perhaps the thing that is causing my antennae to twitch is that two days ago, Nicholas E. Calio, President and CEO of Airlines for America (A4A), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, sent a letter to Senators Roger Wicker and Maria Cantwell, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, calling for the quick approval of the nomination of Steve Dickson to serve as the next Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. I tend to twitch these days when somebody calls for “quick approval” … remember Brett Kavanaugh?

I would urge caution and research on the part of the Senate, but of course he will be confirmed hands down, in all likelihood, and no doubt quickly. The FAA dropped the ball on holding Boeing to the industry standards when they rolled out their 737 MAX fleet, and as a result, 346 people died in two crashes within a few months of each other. The U.S. was the last country to ground the MAX 8 after the second crash, once again putting corporate profit ahead of human lives. We need to ensure that whoever heads the FAA is independent of Trump and able to stand against industry pressure for profit. I’m not so sure Steve Dickson is that man.

This administration is looking more and more like a circus every day, but do you notice anything? Take a look at this picture … granted, some of these are gone and have since been replaced, but you can still see what I’m driving at in this picture, and then look at the statistics chart at the bottom.

He’s got his ‘token black (male)’ in Ben Carson, but Ben is … well, let’s just say he is a poor representation of his race. And a smattering of women, but not nearly representative of the population of women, and as far as DeVos, I’m not convinced that she is a woman at heart. Oh yeah, folks, we definitely have a racist, misogynistic bigot in the White House, and he is surrounding himself with people who look just like him. Think about that.

Another Really, Really Rotten Choice …

Posted on April 4, 2019 by jilldennison under Global Issues, Political commentary, Trump's Staff Picks

Some days you have to ask yourself if somehow, in some way, you have slipped into a dystopian universe. Up is down, inside is outside, big is little, and wrong has suddenly become right. Point in case …

There are two vacancies on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and Trump has nominated a man named Stephen Moore to fill one of those vacancies. Now, before I get into Mr. Moore and his qualifications, or lack thereof, remember that the purpose of the Federal Reserve in a nutshell is to ensure a stable economy. *

Federal Reserve board members (there are seven, which includes the Chairman and Vice Chairman) serve a term of fourteen years, and are paid an annual salary of $179,700, with the two at the top receiving $199,700. It is a position of high trust, controlling such things as interest rates, banking regulations, managing inflation and more. Now on to Stephen Moore. First off, he is a great supporter of “supply-side” or “trickle down” economics. Sigh. HOW MANY TIMES do we have to prove that it does not work??? I made this point back in September 2017 with my post It Trickles Up … Not Down! In fact, Trump has proven it himself by giving huge tax cuts to the wealthy, stating that the money they saved in taxes would ‘trickle down’ to the consumer, to the working class. It didn’t. It never has. It never will. In a 2012 paper, Moore wrote …

“Cutting taxes can have a near immediate and permanent impact, which is why we have advised Oklahoma, Kansas and other states to cut their income tax rates if they want the most effective immediate and lasting boost to their states’ economies.”

But wait … there is more NOT to love about Stephen Moore.

For starters, just looking at his affiliations sends up red flags. He is a member of the Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal, owned by none other than the owner of state television network Fox News, Rupert Murdoch. And Mr. Moore is the Chief Economist at the Heritage Foundation. For those who may not be aware, the Heritage Foundation is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. and geared towards public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, whose policies were taken from Heritage’s policy study Mandate for Leadership. The foundation had a powerful say in the staffing of the Trump misfit administration, being largely responsible for the nominations of Scott Pruitt, Betsy DeVos, Mick Mulvaney, Rick Perry, and Jeff Sessions.

In 2011, Mr. Moore divorced his wife, Allison. In 2013, he was found in contempt of court for failing to pay more than $330,000 in spousal support, child support, attorney’s fees and a one-time fee to his ex-wife. Moore had failed to pay six consecutive months of child support — and only a small fraction of the nearly $19,000 a month he had agreed to pay his ex-wife in the divorce settlement. Moore failed to respond to repeated requests from the Virginia court to make payments and did not show up for a deposition in the case. The court ordered him to sell his home to raise money to pay the debt and forced him to set up an automatic bank transfer each month. Ever hear the term “deadbeat dad”? Moore is one.

Mr. Moore currently owes $75,000 in unpaid federal taxes, interest and penalties, according to court documents filed last year. A lien for $75,328.80 from the 2014 tax year was entered against Mr. Moore at the request of the federal government in January 2018. What he owes in back taxes for a single year is more than most of us make in a single year! And he is too sorry to pay the government, when we would be in jail if we fell behind by a tenth that much?

Now, here we have a man who cannot manage his own personal finances, and yet Trump would elevate him to one of the most important positions in the overall economic health of the nation??? You might think that Mr. Moore would hang his head in shame and walk away from the nomination, but think again.

Two days ago, he stated emphatically that he has no intention of stepping aside. “It’s full speed ahead.” And Trump & Co have no intention of withdrawing the nomination, according to Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, who said both he and Trump continue to support Mr. Moore for the Fed’s board of governors.

“I think he’ll make a great governor. We are standing fully behind his candidacy.”

Just as with Trump’s cabinet picks, this one is among the worst possible choices. We have people leading the Departments of Energy, Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who are climate change deniers and have ties to the fossil fuel industry. We have a Secretary of Education who does not believe in public schools. Then there’s Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce, who is the subject of a multi-million-dollar lawsuit claiming he stole from a former partner. And let us not forget Ben Carson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), who claims that poverty is “a state of mind”. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. Sadly for our nation, Mr. Moore’s nomination, just like all those above, and like Brett Kavanaugh who now sits on the Supreme Court despite many disqualifications, will be confirmed by the republican-majority Senate. And We the People have no voice in this. Unless there are actually some republican senators who have a bit of decency left, a bit of honour and integrity, and the cojones to defy Trump, then this misfit, just like all those before him, will be confirmed.

*For an easy-to-understand summation of the Federal Reserve, I recommend this article, The Federal Reserve and What It Does

On Draining the ‘Swamp’ …

Posted on November 22, 2018 by jilldennison under Environmental Issues, Humour, Political commentary, Trump's Staff Picks

Remember back in 2015-2016, that long, ugly, disgusting, tiresome campaign Trump conducted? Yeah, who could forget, right, especially since he doesn’t seem to realize that the 2016 election has ended and the campaign is over, so he keeps holding more and more of his really crappy rallies where he still has his minions chanting “Lock her up!”, even though they have forgotten who it was he wanted locked up. One of the many things that he spent that year-and-a-half (have I mentioned that it was a very looooooong year-and-a-half?) shoving down people’s throats was how he was going to “drain the swamp”, a euphemism for getting rid of corruption in the federal government. Well, we now know, thanks to Kellyanne Conway, that Trump uses a different dictionary, a different vocabulary than we do, called ‘alternative facts’, and that by ‘drain the swamp’, what he really meant was he was planning to bring in much more lethal, corrupt, greedy, criminal gators ‘n crocs.

One of my favourite comedians, John Oliver, has applied his own special brand of humour to the notion of Trump ‘draining the swamp’, and it is worth a watch … both educational and humorous …

Thank you, John!

De-bunking the 25th Amendment Myth

Posted on September 11, 2018 by jilldennison under Election 2018, Political commentary

Unless you’ve been in a coma for the past week, you are no doubt aware of the Anonymous OpEd piece published by the New York Times last Wednesday, September 5^th. Anonymous claims to be a ‘senior official in the Trump administration’ who is part of a group within the White House attempting to quell the worst of Trump’s inclinations. One line in the letter stirred a great deal of conversation:

“Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president. But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis.”

Early on in the Trump presidency, I mentioned the 25^th Amendment a few times as a possible means for removing the madman, and at that time, I saw some hope. But, just as I have cautioned you that impeachment is absolutely not going to fly, I must now do the same regarding the 25^th Amendment.

A quick explanation of how the 25^th Amendment is supposed to work:

Under Section IV of the 25th Amendment, the vice president and a majority of the cabinet can send a letter to the president pro-tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the House notifying them that the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” When that happens, the vice president will assume the role of “acting president” and the president is (temporarily) relieved of his duties. The president can notify congressional leadership that no incapacity exists and unless the vice president and the majority of the cabinet disagree, the president will reassume his duties. Otherwise, two-thirds of both houses of Congress would be required to vote to permanently bestow the title of “acting president” upon the vice president.

The 25th Amendment was intended to deal with a situation in which the president was incapacitated but still alive. Imagine a scenario in which the president has suffered a massive stroke. The stroke has put him in a persistent vegetative state. He is unable to discharge the office but, because he has not died, the vice president cannot assume the presidency in the normal manner. Prior to the passage of the 25th Amendment in 1967, there was no constitutional remedy for such a situation. Such a scenario is real—such a medical crisis happens to Americans every day—and if it afflicted a president, the stakes would be profound.

The intent of the 25th Amendment was not to remove presidential powers because people disagreed with the president or because they questioned his judgment. It could be argued that Trump’s behaviors and actions in office suggest that he is suffering from some mental defect or other psychological disorder that renders him “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” However, the president’s physicians have not declared that to be true, nor are they likely to. We may disagree with Trump, question his motives, or even question his competence in office, but short of a medical assessment saying otherwise, he would not be considered to be incapacitated.

Look at Mike Pence last Sunday, making the rounds of the morning talk shows and licking Trump’s boots at every stop. Is this a man who is going to invoke the 25^th? Check out his cabinet members … find even two who would be willing to take the risk, let alone a majority. And think about this … if they did grow a pair of cojones and take that first step … all Trump would have to do is fire the lot of them. Ridiculous, you say? Remember who we’re talking about here.

And then, even if all the above obstacles were overcome, we come back to the same argument I made to prove that an impeachment is not feasible: it requires a 2/3 majority in both chambers of Congress. The Senate, again, will be sort of a democratic majority even if every single seat that is open in November is filled by a democrat. The republicans in Congress are not going to risk their necks, their ‘good standing’ with their voters to remove Trump from office. Period.

So, no, Trump will not be impeached nor removed via the 25^th Amendment in the foreseeable future. My best guess is that, barring a true meltdown such as him removing all his clothing and running naked through the White House brandishing a flaming sword and screaming, “Burn, baby, burn!!!”, he will be in office until 20 January 2021. The only way I can predict that changing is if the 36% or so who still support Trump can be convinced to listen to reason, to consider facts, to realize the dangers of him remaining in office. As I have noted before, the republicans in Congress will move against Trump just as soon as their voters tell them to, and not one moment sooner. It’s gonna be a long 783 days until election day 2020.

Round #1: Haley vs Tillerson … or … Clueless in Washington

Posted on May 2, 2017 by jilldennison under Global Issues, Political commentary

There are many in Washington today who have no clue what they are doing. Or at least who were grossly un-or-under-qualified for the jobs they were placed in by Trump & Co. For example, we have the man who sued the EPA multiple times, now in charge of the EPA. We have the woman who does not believe in public schools, now over the Department of Education. There is a documented racist in the position of Attorney General. We have a former oil company executive serving as Secretary of State. And we have former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley serving as ambassador to the United Nations.

Haley first came onto my radar in 2015 when she called on the state to remove the Confederate flag from the statehouse after the killing of nine black church members by Dylan Roof in June of that year.

“For many people in our state, the flag stands for traditions that are noble. Traditions of history, of heritage, and of ancestry. At the same time, for many others in South Carolina, the flag is a deeply offensive symbol of a brutally oppressive past.”

I was pleased with her decision and admired the courage it took to make the decision. I was also pleased with her position last year during the seemingly-endless 2016 presidential campaign, when she argued against the Republican’s hardline stance on immigration, saying, “You know, the one thing that got me I think was when he [Trump] started saying ban all Muslims. We must fix our broken immigration system. That means stopping illegal immigration. And it means welcoming properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion. Just like we have for centuries.” She also called for Republicans not to “follow the siren call of the angriest voices”.

I think, based on what I know, that Nikki Haley was a good governor. That, however, in no way qualifies her for a key foreign policy post. I won’t even speculate on the reasons Trump may have actually had for this nomination, but here is what he said:

“[She] has a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation to move critical policies forward for the betterment of her state and our country — she is also a proven deal-maker, and we look to be making plenty of deals. She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage.”

Interestingly, when it was noted that she had no foreign policy experience, her supporters argued, saying that she had traveled abroad at least eight times! It should be noted that ‘traveling abroad’ does not give one in-depth knowledge of the intricacies of foreign policy and international relations!

Haley had been a critic of Trump throughout the campaign, saying at one point, “I will not stop until we fight a man that chooses not to disavow the KKK.” Trump returned the criticism with a March 1^st tweet: “The people of South Carolina are embarrassed by Nikki Haley!” Somehow, despite their apparent enmity during the campaign, they seem to have now formed a mutual-admiration society. Last month, Haley praised Trump for his decision to launch an air strike against a Syrian air base, and at the same time made excuses and tried to justify the hypocrisy of his decision based on the fact that he believed al-Assad had used chemical weapons on Syrian children … the very same Syrian children he would ban from fleeing to the U.S. I do not understand how an intelligent person switches tracks in under a year, from being highly critical to sickeningly supportive.

In the position of ambassador to the U.N., Haley has been, perhaps, the most outspoken member of the Trump administration to weigh in on key foreign policy issues, on everything from military strikes on Syria to sanctions against Russia and how to approach human rights. But apparently much of what she says has come as a surprise to Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, who is also incredibly inept at the position he occupies. Tillerson has kept a relatively low profile and is noted for skipping meetings with world leaders.

Tillerson and Haley have expressed differing views on a number of issues, notably the future of Syria and its president, al-Assad. Haley indicated in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the United States does not see a peaceful political resolution for Syria’s civil war as long as Assad remains in power:

” We don’t see a peaceful Syria with Assad in there. The objective of U.S. policy is to defeat ISIS. I mean, we’ve got to do that for peace and stability in the area. It’s also to get out the Iranian influence, which we think is causing so much friction and worse issues in the area. And then we’ve got to go and make sure that we actually see a leader that will protect his people. And clearly, Assad is not that person.”

Tillerson’s view, however, appears to be slightly different. Speaking on ABC News’ “This Week,” Tillerson said the Syrian people will eventually decide Assad’s fate:

“Our priority is first the defeat of ISIS. Once we can eliminate the battle against ISIS, conclude that, and it is going quite well, then we hope to turn our attention to cease-fire agreements between the regime and opposition forces. In that regard, we are hopeful that we can work with Russia and use their influence to achieve areas of stabilization throughout Syria and create the conditions for a political process through Geneva in which we can engage all of the parties on the way forward, and it is through that political process that we believe the Syrian people will lawfully be able to decide the fate of Bashar al-Assad.”

The differing opinions drew fire from some, notably Senator Marco Rubio and national security advisor H.R. McMaster. Apparently in an effort to “foster greater coherence”, the State Department is requesting Ms. Haley’s aides to ensure her public remarks are cleared by Washington first. An email drafted by State Department diplomats urged Ms. Haley’s office to rely on “building blocks” written by the department to prepare her remarks. Her comments should be “re-cleared with Washington if they are substantively different from the building blocks, or if they are on a high-profile issue such as Syria, Iran, Israel-Palestine, or the D.P.R.K.“

Tensions between the U.N. ambassador and Secretary of State are not unusual, but in this case, we have two people in positions that they are not qualified for, speaking of issues on which they are not particularly knowledgeable, and one would like to see them take the time to learn and understand before they speak. But then, their boss is also unqualified and not knowledgeable of his own position and his “foreign policy” remains scattered like the 1,000 pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. This circus train was once a highly respected player in international relations … hopefully at some point these people will come up to speed, know their jobs, and make sound decisions, but they are not there yet.

Oh What A Tangled Web …

Posted on November 17, 2016 by jilldennison under Political commentary, Trump's Staff Picks

Exactly one week after the fateful announcement that Donald Trump had won the 270 electoral votes required to win the presidential election, and already his team is a mess! One could almost feel empathy for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who traded his conscience in for a potential slot in Mr. Trump’s cabinet, and then yesterday was abruptly fired … tossed off the team, as it were. Governor Christie was initially rewarded for his strange loyalty to da trumpeter by being named head of the transition team, but then three days after the election, he was demoted to vice chairman and Mike Pence became the new team leader. Then yesterday Governor Christie was given the full boot, as were several others who had ties to him. Puzzling, but perhaps the explanation lies with Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. You see … back in the days when Governor Christie was a federal prosecutor, he was actually responsible for Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, being sentenced to prison! Ah, you say, the plot thickens!

In 2005, following an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, Kushner was convicted of making illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering. The U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Chris Christie, negotiated a plea agreement and Kushner was sentenced to two years in prison and released after one year. As a result of his convictions, Kushner was suspended and disbarred from the practice of law in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. And now, it would appear that Kushner’s son, Jared, has a long memory and a vindictive streak!

Two other members of the transition team were also fired: former Representative Mike Rogers of Michigan and Matthew Freedman, a lobbyist who consults with corporations and foreign governments. Both had been overseeing national security. The official word is that they, too, were terminated by Jared Kushner on the basis of their close ties with Christie. However, there may be other reasons. Mr. Rogers, it is said, had fallen out of favour among Mr. Trump’s advisers because as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, he had overseen a report about the 2012 attacks on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. His report concluded that the Obama administration had not intentionally misled the public about the events there, findings that were confirmed by numerous other government investigations, but that did not fit with Trump’s false accusations that blamed President Obama and Secretary Clinton. Gotta maintain the illusion that Trump is correct in all things, you know.

Eliot A. Cohen, a former State Department official under George W. Bush, spoke with the transition team about a position on the team, but at the end of the discussion he warned would-be advisors to stay away, that they were handing out positions as loyalty rewards (lollipops, he said) rather than based on qualifications and experience. Anybody surprised?

The three advisors who remain on the transition’s national security team are Representative Devin Nunes, former congressman Peter Hoekstra, and former congressman Frank Gaffney. Gaffney is said to be quite a conspiracy theorist and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) describes him as “one of America’s most notorious Islamophobes.” Oh goody … just who we need in charge of national security.

Notice anything about this picture? Not much diversity, is there?

Moving on … speculation has it that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is in line for the cabinet post of Secretary of State. This warrants an entire post in itself, but I will wait until his appointment is more or less official. For the moment, however, I will say that this concerns me. Through his consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, Rudy has a number of ties to Russia, Qatar, Iran and other countries that would, in my opinion, constitute an immediate conflict of interest. Add to that the fact that Giuliani has no diplomatic or international relations background, and we have a recipe for disaster. Additionally, Giuliani has shown, during the 2016 campaign, that he has a thin skin and is more temperamental than behooves the Secretary of State. I sense he would not be a good choice for the position, but then none of Trump’s picks thus far have been good choices, so why would he start now?

There are many other dastardly and ignominious characters on the short list for cabinet positions, including Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin (America’s #2 Bimbo), Sheriff Joe Arpaio (Idiot of the Week), and Newt Gingrich. However, I will wait to comment on those when and if they are announced. My mind can only stand so much rolling around in the muck with these people. One general comment, however, is that it appears to me he is hellbent on appointing the most obnoxious, unqualified people he can. Did not he promise somewhere along the campaign trail that he would surround himself with the best people? Well, he isn’t.

Filosofa's Word

Cogito Ergo Sum

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