Humiating obedience to please the tyrant

How do tyrants force those in their cabinet and staff to bend to their will? By demanding humiliating obedience - publicly.  So, when Trump's cabinet goes around the room filled with high praise for the Grand Leader, they are demonstrating that their spirit has been crushed.  They are his. They are lost. 

Upon the death of Arizona Senator, John McCain, his long time ally in the Senate and frequent Trump critic, Lindsey Graham, abjectly humiliated himself by saying what El Trumpe demanded of him - total abject capitulation to Trump's desires by saying that Trump has the right to an Attorney General he has faith in.  This, after having said earlier that firing Sessions would trigger an impeachment.  

Humiliating obeisance to his new master.  

Maybe he wants to be Attorney General after Trump fires Sessions.  Whoever Trump replaces Sessions with will be forced to fire Mueller.  That used to be an impeachable offense in the mind of Senator Graham.  Apparently, that is no longer the case.

Very sad day for America.

The Captain Queeg presidency

Early in Donald Trump's presidency, Richard Cohen wrote an editorial predicting that Donald Trump was Captain Queeg in "The Caine Mutiny" (a wonderful book by Herman Wouk written in 1951 and a wonderful movie staring Humphrey Bogart in 1954).  The story was of a captain of the USS Caine who suffered a psychological meltdown during WWII and had his ship taken away from him by his officers in a mutiny.  The officers were tried for mutiny on the high seas during a time of war, and they were acquitted once Captain Queeg was placed on the witness stand and unraveled into paranoia and incoherence on the stand.

We are witnessing just this story today, but frighteningly for all of America and the world, the incompetent leader who is unraveling is the President of the United States.  We need to see him on the witness stand and see for ourselves what those closest to him in the White House see everyday - a man who is not psychologically or mentally sound, who is unraveling, who is in the words of a his former protege, Omarosa, "Unhinged".  Omarosa herself is a pretty unreliable witness given her long history of poor character, but book after book using White House sources tell the same story of a person way out of his depth who is wildly and dangerously ignorant, impetuous, childish, narcissistic and stupid.

Bob Woodward is just releasing his book on the White House, "Fear: Trump in the White House" and he reports source after source who all tell that story in sickening detail.  One episode apparently describes Trump's then lead lawyer, John Dowd, doing a practice session with Trump and peppering him with the questions that Mueller would ask.  Trump lasted a half hour, wildly veering off topic, contradicting himself, committing purjuries and finally exploding and ending the exercise.  Dowd apparently told Trump he couldn't let him testify before Mueller and Trump didn't understand because he had thought he would be a great witness.  Dowd told him "Don't testify.  It's either that or a orange jump suit. "  The next day, Dowd quit.

An anonymous senior official of the administration just published an op-ed in the New York Times saying that he or she and others in the administration do all they can to derail some of Trump's crazier impulses, and that they have had discussions about starting proceedings on having him removed via the 25th Amendment - declaring him mentally incapable of handling his duties.  They have chosen internal resistance instead of throwing the country into a constitutional crisis.  Realize that this is from a person who supports some of his agenda including deregulation and tax cuts.  

Another way we can think of Trump is King George III, the Madness of King George, who was literally insane and who managed to severely damage the British Empire during his reign - he lost the American Colonies in the late 1700s.  Trump is in the process of destroying America's leadership in the world by attacking our allies and embracing authoritarians and enemies like Russia.  

It is time to put him on the stand and let him unravel like Captain Queeg.  The country needs to see what those working for him see daily.  He is coming apart.


 

Caring and compassion

In my post yesterday about what liberals stand for (or at least what I believe in) I left out the heart of liberalism - caring and compassion.  

I believe in having the government helping people create lives worth living.  Such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, low cost governmental student loans, food stamps for the poor, job training, access to health care, etc. - the social safety net.  I suppose these can be labeled "socialist" and perhaps they are, but as I wrote, capitalism without an accompanying force of socialism becomes little more than piracy - to the victor go the spoils, and everybody else is just collateral damage. 

It is what might be called "I don't really care, do you?" capitalism.

What do liberals stand for?

An old friend of mine who is a conservative said she knew that I am against Trump, but she wondered what I am for.  I am glad to answer.  What I am for?  I can't speak for all liberals, but I can say what I believe in (this is a longer than normal post) - I believe in:

Balance and government.

I have a deep and passionate love for America.  Patriotism is the love of America and what America stands for.  Here are some of my deeply held beliefs.

I believe in capitalism.  But you can't have capitalism without some Socialism.  What I mean by that is that if you have capitalism without socialism you end up with fascism, which is where we are heading very fast today.  That is, free markets without regulations and laws becomes crony capitalism, which becomes monopolies, which becomes Oligarchy and Plutocracy, which becomes fascism - right wing authoritarian dictatorship.  Free markets without socialism ends up with child labor, jobs and products that kill workers and users, toxic deadly pollution, and an endless dis-empowering of the labor force into more and more subservience and helplessness.

On the flip side, socialism without capitalism becomes communism, becomes Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, Soviet Union etc. - left wing authoritarian dictatorship. The 20th Century was littered with the crushed peoples under Communist monstrosities.

Without the balance of both capitalistic free markets and socialistic regulations and oversight you end up with an aristocracy of either the Left or the Right and the people become crushed.  Today's Trumpsters are way out of balance and see no role for government other than the military (an exaggeration but it makes the point). 

I believe in environmental purity and protection. Today's corporate culture is so dependent on short term quarterly results and thinking that without the force of government regulation and enforceable law the environmental concerns are never considered.

I believe in diversity and opportunity for all races and genders.  JFK and LBJ enforced the Civil Rights laws in the '60s against the fierce opposition of Southern Democrats and with the help of northern Republicans.  LBJ said he would lose the South for the Democrats for generations.  He lost more than that since Richard Nixon implemented his infamous Southern Strategy in 1968 and switched the South from the white supremacist Democratic South to the white supremacist Republican South.

I believe in women's empowerment.  America is moving out of the centuries of Male Chauvinism into a new era of feminine empowerment, and the Democrats are leading the way, especially by empowering women to take control over their reproductive lives and make their own choices about if and when to get pregnant, stay pregnant, and raise children.

I believe in diplomacy.  That means not gutting the State Department and driving nearly the entire experienced and knowledgeable diplomats out of the State Department.

I believe in Public Schools, especially for the middle and lower classes. I have no problem with selected and qualified charter schools, but I have a very big problem with unregulated private schools - the iconic symbol of which was the Donald Trump scam of Trump University.  We don't need Trump University type scams showing up in our K - 12 education system.

I believe in an America that leads the world in human rights and the spread of democracy. We used to be an imperfect "Shining Light on a Hill" as extolled by Reagan and W.  We have become a screw you, we're out for Number One only (Number One is supposedly America, but is actually only Trump himself, but I don't expect the Trumpsters to see that)

I believe in free trade.  I can't think of any one stupider thing, economically, that any uninformed and willfully ignorant president can do than initiate and accelerate a trade war with our trading partners.

I believe in the Free Press, and by that I mean the actual press, the imperfect press that makes mistakes and corrects itself, the press that practices actual journalism with checked and cross-checked sources - in other words, the mainstream media.

I believe in the professional intelligence services like the FBI and CIA and NSA.  I believe when all 17 intelligence agencies in America say that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election for the purpose of destroying Americans' belief in democracy and put Trump into the White House they were telling the truth - making conclusions based upon the evidence of their investigations.  I believe that the notion that the intelligence services are stacked with Socialist or Democratic operatives is total nonsense. It disturbs me greatly that all Trump has to do is repeat his nonsensical propaganda over and over (that there is a liberal cabal out to get him) and there are way too many Americans that believe the target of the investigations rather than believe in the integrity of the investigators - the investigations are ongoing and not yet concluded, but isn't it telling that Trump and his Trumpsters are becoming ever more agitated in their attempts to shut down the investigations?

I believe in the beneficial role of taxation and government. The government is absolutely vital to the preservation of civilization in America.  Without government there is no rule of law, only the rule of billionaires, which is why I am so appalled by Trump's efforts to gut the government, gut the rule of law, gut legal system, gut the regulations, and put the foxes in charge of the hen-house.

By the way, I do not believe that America is some kind of church. God bless my Christian friends and I wish them great success in converting others into joining their Churches, but I do not want America to become their Church - that is a violation of the first amendment which gives each American the freedom of Religion and freedom from Religion - both.

In other words, since Trump and his Trumpster extremists are against almost all that I believe in, I have stopped being a Republican, stopped being a conservative, and am adamantly opposed to Trump and the extremist Right Wing that put him in power (with a little help from their good friends in Russia)

By the way, if you are not familiar with Nixon's Southern strategy, Nixon's Southern Strategy was explicitly laid out at the end of Republican consultant Lee Atwater's life when he unburdened his soul and said:

"You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.”

(Please forgive me for using the N-word, but the above quote needs to be very shocking because the racism itself is very shocking and the direct appeal of the Republican Party to racists is also very shocking) 

One final thought, apparently the right wing echo chamber must be promoting the notion of liberal corruption.  I am sure anyone can find anecdotal evidence of liberals who are corrupt, but given that the Obama administration went eight years without a scandal, indictment, or conviction speaks pretty loudly.  Whereas the Trump organization has about numerous corruption scandals and actual indictments from the Mueller investigation alone so far - hard to keep track there are so many.

The Honorable Senator John McCain dies at 81

John McCain died yesterday of brain cancer.  The nation mourns the loss of an honorable and dignified man.  Can there be any stronger contrast for America to ponder than the lives of the newly departed John McCain and the current occupant of the White House? McCain was man of such dignity and honor vs a man with no dignity, honor, or character at all.

Here are two notable statements from honorable opponents of Senator McCain:

Former president Barack Obama:

"John McCain and I were members of different generations, came from completely different backgrounds, and competed at the highest level of politics. But we shared, for all our differences, a fidelity to something higher-the ideals for which generations of Americans and immigrants alike have fought, marched, and sacrificed. We saw our political battles, even, as a privilege, something noble, an opportunity to serve as stewards of those high ideals at home, and to advance them around the world. We saw this country as a place where anything is possible - and citizenship as our patriotic obligation to ensure it forever remains that way.

"Few of us have been tested the way John once was, or required to show the kind of courage that he did. But all of us can aspire to the courage to put the greater good above our own. At John's best, he showed us what that means. And for that, we are all in his debt. Michelle and I send our heartfelt condolences to Cindy and their family." 

Former President George W Bush:

"Some lives are so vivid, it is difficult to imagine them ended. Some voices are so vibrant, it is hard to think of them stilled. John McCain was a man of deep conviction and a patriot of the highest order."

It doesn't matter what Mr Trump, or one of his "Twitter Writers" tweet about McCain today, Trump will always be remembered by me as the man who said this despicable thing about McCain during his campaign:

"He's not a war hero. He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured."

That amazingly stupid, cruel, and ignorant attack on a man of such quality and value as John McCain will never be forgotten and can't be made right by any Tweet today.

As a friend of mine noted, who do we want our children and grandchildren to use as a role model?  I think the question answers itself.

John McCain has asked that Trump be barred from his funeral, and asked that Obama and W give his eulogies.  

Says it all....

Reasonable Doubt?

By the way, how on earth did Manafort end up with ten charges against him declared a mistrial rather than a conviction?  Not surprisingly, there was one juror who held out on the claim of Reasonable Doubt. But, the evidence was so overwhelming that the defense did not even offer a defense.  What were they going to do, offer character witnesses?  From where?  Ukraine? Russia? They just said the prosecution didn't prove their case to the level of overcoming Reasonable Doubt.  Eleven jurors did not have Reasonable Doubt.

I am afraid there are two possible explanations for that juror.  First, that she was an avid Trump supporter and didn't want his campaign manager convicted of crimes and thus damaging her beloved president.  Or, second, very wealthy and dangerous men (Manafort or Trump) got to her with money or threats.

I could be wrong.  She may just have had a very strong predeliction about what Reasonable Doubt means.  I hope, for the sake of her Soul, that it is the innocent explanation that is true. 

Let's just say that I have Reasonable Doubt that she wasn't compromised.

Two witches caught - the Wicked Witch of the West (West Wing) still in flight

Trump's long time personal lawyer and "fixer", Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to crimes of $4,000,000 in tax evasion (anyone remember what put Al Capone into prison?) and for campaign finance violations for paying off two women at Trump's direction to silence them just prior to the November election - felony conspiracy to affect the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

And Former Trump campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was found guilty on eight felony counts of bank and tax fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts, and a mistrial on ten counts.  Plus he has another trial coming up next month or so.

The corrupt apples don't fall far from the corrupt apple tree of Donald J Trump.

What the Judge and Cohen said when he pleaded guilty -The judge asked him did he know what he was doing? Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty? Cohen sighs, Yes your honor.  And he pleaded guilty to eight counts - five of tax evasion, one on misleading a bank on a loan application, and two on finance campaign violations.

He said that he committed these campaign crimes at the direction of a candidate for federal office (Trump).  

The judge laid out the possible sentences totaling 65 years in jail, do you understand that? - Yes your honor. And you cannot withdraw your guilty plea no matter what you  might have heard about what your sentence will be? - Yes your honor.  Did you know when you did this that it was illegal and wrong? - Yes your honor.

Both men's crimes are essentially the same crimes that Trump has committed for many years (bank fraud, tax evasion) and during the campaign (felony conspiracy to rig the election in his favor).  So, the net tightens on this deeply corrupt man in the White House.

And we haven't even yet begun on money laundering crimes (of Russian oligarchs and mobsters), which I fully expect to be coming down the track at Mr Trump like a locomotive at full steam.

So, Trump tells us this is a witch hunt.  Well, they convicted two witches yesterday.

 
Coming soon, we are likely to see the conviction of another witch - the Wicked Witch of the West - the West Wing, that is....

Perhaps Mr Trump, like his employees, will find out that he is not above the law.

The Trump Slump in tourism

Unsurprisingly, Trump is hurting the American tourism industry.  By making it very clear that foreigners are not welcome, foreigners seem to be getting the message and and are staying away.

The industry has a label for what's happening - The Trump Slump. 

Per Elizabeth Drew of the Daily Beast:

"The drop in tourism in 2017 was precipitous, and its velocity can be mainly attributed to one factor, what’s come to be called in the tourism industry the Trump slump. Earlier this year, Reuters quoted the head of a German company that specializes in trips to the United States as saying, “Politics is not helping us.”  He added that since the price of the dollar was falling at that time, “we should have seen a much bigger increase in demand.” The Pew Research Center Reserve found earlier this year that a survey of ten nations showed that a favorable opinion of the US occurred in only one country: Russia. The inescapable fact is that Trump’s presidency has coincided with an unprecedented drop in travel to the United States."

He attacks Europe, the European Union, NATO.  He attacks China.  He attacks Mexico and Canada.  He attacks any country or person of color.  

Trump has become the American brand - unwelcoming, racist, and stupid.  

Trump is the embodiment of the Ugly American.  And so now we are all Ugly Americans.  Thank you my conservative friends who actually voted for this example of the worst in America.  Thank you Russia for pushing him over the top to become president 

At least Russia knows what they are doing - weakening American influence in the world, weakening America's faith in democracy, weakening America's meaning and mission in the world - which is to be a Shining City on a Hill, an inspiration of human rights, morality, opportunity, and decency.

And far too many conservatives know what they are doing as well - empowering white supremacy, attacking and weakening the influence of people of color, attacking and weakening the influence of women, attacking and destroying environmental, health, and workplace protections.  Too sad, but too true, I am afraid.

What I don't know is what my conservative friends thought they were doing.  I guess they thought they were voting for a Republican, or a conservative.  But they were conned.  They voted for a fascist white supremacist who also happens to have the brains of a turnip.

I hope they wake up and throw him out.  Won't happen until, or unless, the Reps get very soundly trounced in the mid term elections of 2018 coming up.

Stop this nitwit.

Don Jr thrown under the bus by his father

So, does the person the Republicans helped Russia elect to be president actually think that if he says it it is true?  Obviously, some of his more news-challenged followers seem to believe so.

Trump just threw his son under the Mueller bus by declaring that Jr was looking for dirt on Hillary by meeting with the Russians.

"Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018"

Getting info on an opponent is normal politics but getting info on an opponent from a hostile foreign power?  That's conspiring with a hostile foreign power to interfere with the American election.  Conspiring is a crime.  Collusion is an imprecise word that should better be translated in our minds as conspiracy.  

Crime. Conspiracy.

Saying that it is legal doesn't make it legal.  It's a crime.  It's not jaywalking.  it's conspiring with a hostile foreign power to elect a president that the hostile foreign power wants to be president.

So, this corrupt person accuses his own son of conspiring with a hostile foreign power.  And he declares he knew nothing of it.  Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha......

If he sends his son to jail to protect himself, who on earth is dumb enough to stay with this horrible boy-man?

Aren't we all glad we aren't related to the person the Republicans helped Russia elect to be the president of America? 

Trump is not the Republican president

I am endlessly puzzled why my conservative friends continue to defend Donald Trump as president.  I think the only reason that I have been able to come to is they see Donald Trump as a conservative president, or a Republican president, who is under attack by liberals trying to undermine conservative or Republican policies. 

But that is not what is going on. I do not see Trump as a conservative president or a Republican president. 

I see Donald Trump as a fascist who has taken over the American presidency.  I see Donald Trump as a dangerous man-child who has no interest other than his own profit and power.  I see Donald Trump violating the Constitution daily.  I see Donald Trump as a fraud and a con-man who has mysteriously bamboozled millions of Americans to think he somehow cares about them and is on their side.  I see Donald Trump under the control of the Russian Oligarchy and who is destroying America's leadership in commerce, democracy, and human rights.  I see Donald Trump as a leader of far too many Americans whose only concern is greed and plunder to the harm of the environment and the middle and lower classes.  I see Donald Trump as a white supremacist who does everything to please and inflame white supremacists in America in order to make him King of the Whites.

I see Donald Trump as the biggest threat to Americans, America, and America's leadership in the world since - the Soviet Union.  

I see Donald Trump as a pathetic little man out to prove something about himself with no thought of any of the terrible destruction he is having on America and the world.

I do not oppose Donald Trump because of his conservative or Republican ideology.  He has no ideology.  He is trying to become America's Mussolini, or Stalin, or Lenin, or Mao Tse-Tung, or Putin, or Erdogan, or Duterte - a strong man whose whim becomes the murderous rule.

America is losing its innocence.  We have never been crushed by a dictator, and we won't be crushed by this wannabe dictator, but he is trying.

He is not a Republican. He is not a conservative.  He is a danger to democracy.

We are all at the mercy of my conservative friends since only conservatives have the power to rid the country of this toxin in the White House.  I pray that they finally turn against this fraud and see him for the danger that he is.

"Trump First"

One explanation for Trump refusing to acknowledge that the Russians are interfering with our election process is that Russia has something on him. And given his determination to destroy free trade and destroy American alliances around the world, that explanation is quite credible since these are the things Russia has long dreamed of - the collapse of American leadership in commerce, democracy, and human rights.

However, there could be another explanation. Trump knows that Russia helped him win the election. And, he knows that Russia is helping Republicans win in 2018. And he knows that Russia will help trump win in 2020. So, why on earth would Trump want to get in the way of that?  After all, winning you know...can't be a loser you know...so "America First"? - are you kidding?

Trump's campaign slogan of "America First" is for chumps. His only real slogan for campaigning and "governing" is "Trump First" - actually "Trump Only." 

However, the I still think that the far more likely explanation for Trump refusing to acknowledge that the Russians are interfering with our election process is that Russia has something on him. And given the very public evidence of his determination to always do the things that benefit the Russian tyranny, that explanation is more credible. 

Looks to me like the Russians have Trump by the short hairs.  It is up to my conservative friends to save America.  I hope they are paying attention.

Trump meets with his master - Putin - and commits treason

I think it is time to accept something that my conservative friends don't want to accept - Trump is being controlled by Putin - and Trump is committing treason.  He just met with his Russian master and was given his marching orders.  He claims he believes the head of a hostile foreign power - the Russian killer Putin - rather than his own intelligence agencies about Russian interference in American elections in 2016 and still today.

Who thinks Trump is committing treason? former CIA director John Brennan:

"John O. Brennan‏Verified account @JohnBrennan

Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of “high crimes & misdemeanors.” It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???

8:52 AM - 16 Jul 2018"

 

Who else thinks Trump is committing treason?  Forbes Magazine, Krysty O'Connor:

"It's high time we called Trump by his real name -- traitor, perhaps our country's worst traitor ever. I speak not of his attack on our allies, his appeasement of our adversaries, his assault on the press, his coddling of racists, his repulsive misogyny, his rampant corruption, his terrible cronyism, his brazen nepotism, his abuse of children, his obstruction of justice, his contempt for our justice system, or his war on the environment. I speak of his systematic destruction of our economy.

Trump is hell bent on engineering a complete meltdown of U.S. trade."

 

...the real question is why. One answer is mental illness. It doesn't fit the facts. Another answer is stupidity. No one, not even Trump, is that stupid. The only answer is that he's trying to ruin our economy for the same reason he's trying to destroy NATO, alienate our allies, befriend our enemies, divide our country, undermine our democracy, and demean our values. The reason is he's a traitor."

Putin has Trump under his control for the purpose of destroying America, destroying America's influence in the world, destroying the leading voice and force for human rights in the world, for destroying America's sacred destiny of being a shining light on a hill - a symbol of hope and democracy for all of the world.  He couldn't have lucked into a better choice to destroy hope than Donald J Trump as president - a repulsively ignorant, greedy, self centered, corrupt man who spreads darkness not light across the world.

Donald J Trump is not a Republican president.  Donald J Trump is not a conservative president.  Donald J Trump is an authoritarian fascist president under the control of the wealthiest and most corrupt man in the world, Vladimir Putin.

Donald J Trump is America's dark side, the side of white supremacy, the side of plutocratic greed and destruction, the side of the plantation owners of slaves or yore, the side of the neo-Nazis and KKK, the side of environmental despoilers and polluters, the side of impoverishing labor to make them subservient to their aristocratic and plutocratic masters, the side of pulling children from their parents - and losing track of them.

Donald J Trump is the very loud, very visible shame of America.  He isn't alone. He isn't the first.  But he lifts the most shameful parts of America into the light and struts it proudly, and allows the slime crawling out from under old, moldy rocks to strut their filthy selves.

My dear conservative friends, you are not Trump.  You are not the slime crawling out from under the rocks. You are the ones who need to wake the hell up.  What is it going to take if not watching Trump stand next to Putin and side with him over his own intelligence agencies?

Only my conservative friends can save America and thus save hope in the world.  

Impeach the bastard. 

 

Indictment of Russian intelligence officers shows direct connection to Trump himself

First thing we all have to know is that Trump is using tried and true propaganda technique, following Goeble's and Hitler's example:

“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it”

So, Trump says over and over that there is no collusion, it's a witch hunt, the elite are trying to stop the will of the people.  And  some people believe that rather than pay any attention to actual news, which Trump says over and over is Fake News.  And some people believe that the news if fake and the government propaganda is real.  Just like what used to happen for decades in the Soviet Union.

But Rod Rosenstien, the Deputy Attorney General, just indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers for taking active measures to harm the candidacy of Trump's opponent and put Trump into office.  The indictment went into great detail about how and when.  It is not just some vague political hit piece.  It is indictable evidence.  It is news.  It is not fake news.  It is time for my conservative friends to wake up and smell the treason.

There are many devastating charges in the indictment, here is the one that directly links Trump himself to the Russian intelligence officers' actions:

"On July 27, at a press conference, seemingly out of the blue, Trump said: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” referring to the so-called “missing” emails from the private server Hillary Clinton used while serving as secretary of state.

Which brings us to stand-out thing number two: the spearphishing done by the Russian intelligence operatives was done “after hours.” At no other point in the indictment does the Mueller team refer to what time of day other hacking was done. Trump’s press conference was in New York at about noon. That’s 7 p.m. in Moscow. Russia was listening, all right.  They started hacking immediately after Trump’s call-out to them. After hours."

The Russians took a direct order from Trump and followed it.  Isn't this conspiracy?  Is any more evidence needed to connect Trump to the Russian intelligence operation to elect Trump?  Does this rise to the level of treason, which is certainly impeachable, and actually punishable with death per the Constitution?

Which brings up the most important question of all - why isn't Trump and his administration pulling out all the stops to investigate and stop a hostile foreign power from interfering in our elections?  It is still happening now.  If he and the Republicans aren't trying to stop the interference isn't that evidence that they are welcoming it? that they are conspiring with it?  that since it benefits them they are turning a blind eye and thus aiding it?

Trump and the Republicans are failing in the most basic of all of their duties and pledges -

"...defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic..."

Trump's endless stream of outrages and offenses has numbed the country to him.  But we shouldn't be numb.  He and his Republican enablers are not protecting us, they are attacking our very democracy itself. Trump may indeed be a kind of twisted genius, the genius of propaganda, of "branding", of throwing sand in our eyes.  

I make a heartfelt plea to my conservative friends - I used to be a conservative myself until I was driven out of the movement by the corruption, cruelty, racism, greed, and now the treason - please wake up, please pay attention to actual news and get out of the rabbit holes of propaganda news feeds.  Please turn against this astonishingly corrupt and venal man - you are better than him. Only you can save the country from him.  

(By the way, just as a reminder, Trump takes his orders from Putin. He is about to meet Putin with no other Americans present.  He needs his marching orders from Putin as things get tough for him. Watch what he does after meeting with Putin)

We liberals and never-Trumpers aren't listened to.  The fate of democracy in this country is in your hands. Impeach the bastard.

Why is Trump trying to destroy America's alliances?

Trump managed to take another step toward destroying American alliances in his NATO meeting.  Why?  

Russia. 

Russia has long dreamed of breaking up NATO and stripping American protection from the NATO countries.  Trump is a gift from God to the Russians. Not that it is any surprise to anyone, after all Russia did intervene on Trump's behalf to get him elected, according to all of America's intelligence agencies - Trump's laughable denials to the contrary.

Is he actually an agent of Putin's? Does Putin have control over Trump via blackmail, or money, or some kind of macho-authoritarian male bonding nonsense?

Or maybe that's too  cynical. Maybe he's just an idiot. 

From GQ writer Julia Iofee:  

"Ran into an old source from Moscow here in Brussels and asked him how Moscow sees Trump.  "As a total idiot, a useful battering ram who goes after the American elite and NATO."

From a guest on Russian state TV:

"I never thought I'd live to see this - neither the USSR nor Russia, who tried many times to drive a wedge between the transatlantic allies, but Washington is doing everything to break down the foundations of transatlantic alliance & unity.

Of course, the kindest suggestion is that Trump is an idiot.  Let's see what happens after he goes to meet his master, Putin, in a few days.

Predators not protectors

Why on earth are conservatives supporting Trump and his administration?  Conservatives are supposed to have a value system based upon the "strong father" family model.  Cognitive Linguist, George Lakoff wrote in his book "Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think":

"At the center of the conservative worldview is a Strict Father model.

This model posits a traditional nuclear family, with the father having primary responsibility for supporting and protecting the family as well as the authority to set overall policy, to set strict rules for the behavior of children, and to enforce the rules. The mother has the day-to-day responsibility for the care of the house, raising the children, and upholding the father's authority. Children must respect and obey their parents; by doing so they build character, that is, self-discipline and self-reliance. Love and nurturance are, of course, a vital part of family life but can never outweigh parental authority, which is itself an expression of love and nurturance—tough love. Self-discipline, self-reliance, and respect for legitimate authority are the crucial things that children must learn. Once children are mature, they are on their own and must depend on their acquired self-discipline to survive. Their self-reliance gives them authority over their own destinies, and parents are not to meddle in their lives."

The liberal worldview is based upon the Nurturant Parent model, which he also goes on to describe, and which is not an authoritarian model but more of a caring model.

So, conservatives value the "strong father" values, primarily protection.

But where is the protection?  They are not only failing in their duties to protect the people of America, they are stripping protections of the people as fast as they can.  

Environment? - the Environmental Protection Agency is destroying as many environmental protections as they can as quickly as they can.  The environment suffers, people's health suffers, enjoyment of the beauty and healing properties of the earth suffers.  They have taken the EPA from the protectors and turned it over to the predators.

Financial protection? - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been neutered, Dodd-Frand is being neutered, Payday loans are thriving, and the Wall Street predators are sharpening their teeth.
 
Education? - turning it over to private schools.  Some are probably wonderful.  Some will be worthless education from predatory "schools" - ala Trump University? Trump school for chumps.  And more in that mode to follow from other predators.

Women's reproductive rights? - moving as fast as possible to outlaw abortion now, birth control to follow.  Back to the good old days of women barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.

Minorities? - moving as fast as possible to limit minority voting, including rigging the census count to under-count people of color.

Jobs? - Trump's trade wars are hurting and will hurt jobs in America.  Even most fools know that trade wars triggered the Great Recession in the '30s.  

I know conservative white Christians seem to be thrilled with Trump and his administration, but they also will be drinking polluted water, have vulnerable investments, can be suckered into chump schools, and have reproductive needs and expectations.

There are countless other examples, but I  am getting a little sickened thinking about them, so I'll stop here.

In Trump's America the predators are empowered and the people are prey.

Melania's "Let them eat cake" moment

The first lady, Melania Trump, wore a jacket to and from her visit to the border to see the children separated from their parents when seeking asylum entering America.  She sent a remarkable message with words painted on the back of her jacket - "I really don't care, do you?"  

What?

Hard for me to imagine what kind of mind would come up with this message. Reminds me of “Let them eat cake” by Marie Antoinette. 

Triggered a revolution as I recall.

I guess her husband wanted to reassure his white supremacist base that might have been worried that he actually had a heart.  No.  No sign of a heart in the Trumps or their avid supporters.

 

Jeff Sessions racist justification for pulling children from their parents

Leaders from the Confederacy have been quoting Romans 13 to justify their own racism for a couple of hundred years.  Most recently, Trump's Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, defended separating children from their parents who are seeking asylum in the United States with that reference.

“I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes,” Sessions said during a speech to law enforcement officers in Fort Wayne, Ind."

Journalists Zauzmer and McMillan pointed out in their article today:
 
There are two dominant places in American history when Romans 13 is invoked,” said John Fea, a professor of American history at Messiah College in Pennsylvania. “One is during the American Revolution [when] it was invoked by loyalists, those who opposed the American Revolution.”...

The other, Fea said, “is in the 1840s and 1850s, when Romans 13 is invoked by defenders of the South or defenders of slavery to ward off abolitionists who believed that slavery is wrong. I mean, this is the same argument that Southern slaveholders and the advocates of a Southern way of life made.”

I am really tired of being ruled by the Confederacy, which came to power in the 2016 election of Trump. Racism in some of its most vile manifestations are front and center in this Administration and in some of the more extreme of Trump's base.  

I want America back.  White Supremacy is as odious today in Trumpland as it ever was during the days of slavery and the Jim Crow south.  It is time for it to crawl back under little rocks where it belongs.

Kim Jong Un gets what he wants from Trump

Trump and Kim met and shook hands.  The good news is that they have not decided to launch nukes at each other.  

More good news for Kim - he got something he and his predecessors have been wanting since the Korean armistice, a face to face meeting with a president of the United States, and thus a significant boost in the status of the leader of North Korea, a legitimizing of him and his brutal regime.

Another thing Kim got was a cessation of military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea, a long desired outcome for him. 

And what did he give up?  I don't think he gave anything in return.  Oh, a vague promise to denuclearize, but that is a standard promise from the Kims which they promptly break.

What did the U.S. get? I don't think we got anything.

What did Trump get?  A headline.  An "historic headline and photo op".  Trump got the only thing he ever cares about.  Applause.

The great negotiator did what he always seems to do, give away the farm for a headline. Ratings you know...

I am truly grateful that both men found something else to do rather than nuke each other.

Trump’s trade deficit obsession

Our willfully uninformed president obsesses on the idea that trade deficits are bad. But they are only arithmetic. As explained by conservative economist, Martin Feldstein -

If a country consumes more than it produces, it must import more than it exports. That’s not a rip-off; that’s arithmetic.

If we manage to negotiate a reduction in the Chinese trade surplus with the United States, we will have an increased trade deficit with some other country.

Federal deficit spending, a massive and continuing act of dissaving, is the culprit. Control that spending and you will control trade deficits.

But, of course this president and his Republican Congress just massively increased the deficit. All the better to gut Social Security and Medicare next year, doncha know.

I long for leaders who actually know things. 

Robert Kennedy Assassinated 50 years ago

Fifty years ago Robert Kennedy was shot, he died the next day, and I graduated from the University of Illinois and got on a plane to fly to Los Angeles.  My California life had begun, and I’ve never looked back.

1968 was a very tough year.  MLK and RFK were assassinated, cities were burning out of black rage, Viet Nam turned a critical corner toward defeat with the TET Offensive.  The country and the world were in chaos.

But, I continued to live my life and live it happily. 

My point is that today’s country and world is also in chaos today – our president claims he can pardon himself from any crime he commits in office, our country is starting trade wars, white supremacists are feeling empowered to be “politically incorrect”, women are rising up and taking down abusive male fortresses, the Republican Congress is not able to summon the courage to even criticize let alone impeach even the most egregious constitutional offenses of their president.

Globalism is disrupting the economies and workforces of America and all of the Industrial world.  Terrorism is a constant pressure on so much of the world.  And corruption, greed, and fear are undermining so much of the world order.  Things are a mess.

And we each can create our own happy and successful lives.  Just like we did in 1968.  This country is too wonderful to be destroyed by the forces tearing it apart.