I got to thinking about the most notorious leaders in today’s dictatorships: Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, King and Mohammed bin Salmon of Saudi Arabia, Bashar al-Assad of Syria, Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran, and China’s Xi Jinping. Not one of them is caught saying I grab women by the p*ssy because I’m a star and they let me do it. Trump’s total lack of class, even among dictators, uniquely stands out. And sometimes his crassness is touted by media as an attribute for his “fans”.
What was arguably the biggest gaff in presidential election history bounced off Trump’s back water off a duck’s back. And people began to think that people in flyover over country liked this locker room talk stuff – that it was an attribute for Trump. But that’s too easy. There is more to understand, and to slough it off on Trump’s garish style truly misses the mark.
Americans have endured eight years of Republicans fighting with Democrats during our first not-pure-white president’s terms; then four years of a president who never though a day in his life about serving anyone but his own self, then covid, inflation finally leaving us with high interest rates in a nation with too many debtors.
And to make matters worse, all of these crises are left to be dealt with by a seemingly intentional do-nothing Congress. This is why the flyover country developed an appetite for a guy like Trump in the first place. It was not about trash talk and Trump’s divisive American vs. American hate speech. Many people were just weary and sick of the people in Washington DC for years of ignoring their needs and taxing them in so many ways, while giving back the bare minimum.
DC is skimming our common wealth. It is corruption. That was the first gripe of middle America. It is still a valid gripe. The meme is: all politicians are corrupt so what is the difference. We hear of the Big Lie. Well this is the Big Gripe. It stretches back to the Reagan meme that the government is the enemy. It is why Biden does not get credit for being a better man and president than Trump.
And the corruption exists on both sides. We all know politicians – no need to mention names – whose family members reap benefits from advance knowledge of government dealings. That is corruption, and to make it legal is to day its is okay to be corrupt and that fuels an appetite for a new kind of politician – which Biden is not. Trump, in many ways, just does the quiet part of corruption out loud. In some ways, it’s less sneaky than what Biden does.
We have endured about forty years of government officials governing by the greed is good mantra. MAGA folks were unified in one thing; hating the people in our government, and the way government treats them. They wanted something that felt like change. Trump gave them that hope. But he had four years to drain the swamp, and instead it just got swampier.
Polls tell us the Democrats want change too. I do.I was one of the first to recognize Trump was allied with Russia because I knew him from AC NJ, and there was a Russian mob component active there in that “carney” town in the 80s. He fell in love with Putin during the Miss World pageants in Moscow. Everyone who knew him knew that. Atlantic City is a small town. Everyone knew what Donnie was up to.
2024 presents voters with the starkest contrast between two agendas since the Civil War. Biden is trying to preserve the functioning of the institution of free and fair elections – of people deciding who should make the laws we all must agree to live by. Trump is fighting for his life to stay out of jail, and says he will create an agenda to run America a new way. But most Americans know he is running to keep himself and his family out of jail for life.
I stand with the MAGA people on their complaint that we need a change. Most Americans do. Right now, I have a gripe against the “establishment” because I got stuck in an ARM mortgage that floated up after Putin attacked Ukraine, which instantly changed the world’s economics. If I sell my home to have no mortgage, which is normal for people by age seventy-five, the first thing I must do is pay a huge capital gains tax. But is that really a capital gain, or is it just that the dollar has depreciated via inflation and so it takes more dollars to “buy” the home? Is this why Biden leaked “inflation is a good thing”?
I have my gripes against the way the US government favors the corporations too. That however does not cloud my assessment of Donald Trump. I know him too well to believe he cares about anyone but himself.
I also don’t think high interest rates are a proper way to fight inflation anymore. It worked decently in the 70s, but back then people had almost no credit card debt because credit cards themselves were relatively new. Mastercard began in 1966. The parents of the baby boomers often owned their houses with VA loans. College was relatively inexpensive. The Fed is advertising that high interest rates are needed to curb inflation, but today, a high interest fate fuels our inflation more than it fights it. Landlords must raise rents to pay off their loans; and mortgages and college loan costs take up much more of a family’s income.
Economic justice should count as much as criminal justice; in fact more so because criminal behavior involves a small percentage of Americans, but economic justice involves us all. Equal justice under the law is basically a lie. I like to think of the original meaning of words. The word tax is a form of the word take. If a billionaire pays a lower tax rate than a working person, how is that equal justice under the law?
It’s not the institutions themselves that Americans disrespect. No one is going around saying free and fair elections is a bad idea. What we are all saying is that the people in government don’t work for us much anymore. And the the voices of the fully honest politicans are downed out by the chorus of corruption that has existed in DC since anyone living can remember.
We know there is a better way. It starts with ending corruption. It does not start with making a president immune from criminal prosecution. The way out of this mess is to make Americans proud of the people in their government again. That begins with qualifications for holding office being upped and careful vetting of any candidates financial ties and past work ethics and experience. That cannot begin with a more authoritarian government.
We must never forget one of Trump’s first acts as president was to lower corporate taxes, which forces working people to shoulder a larger percentage of the expense to run a government.
Biden can function fine as the gateway to a new America. Unlike Trump, he knows he is mortal and takes pride in turning the wheels of government over to a new generation. Then it will be up to the new generation to fix what is broken for working people in this country.
If they stay with “greed is good” we are doomed. But I am hopeful the sheer unchristian ugliness of the Trump campaign and the spewing of his hateful, vengeful, divisive words will get Americans to wake up when it counts the most, in November.
I wish the news media would stop reporting that they are astonished or don’t understand why the GOP cannot abandon Trumpism. Yes, there is their carrers, and the cultish hate-based nationalistic base that Trump created. But there is one important piece of the puzzle they are missing. And it is important to identify because there are things that can be done about this.
First we must clearly understand how we got here. This cult was not created by Donald Trump alone. He knew nothing about politics and government when he took office. On his first week as president he was on TV trying to sell his steaks, wines and his “brand”. There was someone else who had done this before who knew political strategy from lived experience and also knew Donnie would love to be a dictator. He started schooling him on how he took over a large country and became”president for life”, something Trump said he thought was agreat thing when he spoke of Xi and China.
The GOP knows Trump is not their best candidate to go up against Biden in 2024. But they stay loyal, even as Trump makes a total fool of himself and faci charges of fraud, tax evasion, rape, insurrection and basically treason in the documents case. So, why don’t they break away? The answer is part greed, a sense of continuing the grifts they indulge in.
But what all the reporters seem to miss is that even if Republican congressmen wanted to break away – they cannot. They are in Trump’s “thick as thieves” grifters club now. Those that did not want to join it, were forced out.
This current GOPs border policy flip is no different than when McCarthy flipped on his anti-Trump stance post Jan6. People say Republicans are “afraid of Trump and his base”. I don’t think that’s close to all of it. They’d be better off without Trump and say it privately.
So, when did this begin and how we got here? Trumpism began at the Republican Convention in 2016. Who was at the GOP Convention?
Putin sent emmissaries to the 2016 Republican convention.
We know the GOP changed their stance on Russian sanctions after those meetings. In return, they got Putin’s support of Trump and the Fancy Bear media campaign that followed. The startegy worked, and there was much celebration in Russia, November 2016. Putin made 100% sure the GOP will owe him for life for that effort.
Putin was not physically at the convention, but he wanted to oversee and control for sure. So how does Putin listen in on the negotiations? Does he just take a WhatsApp from his emissaries? No way! This was way too important. World changing. Putin thinks chess moves ahead. We just react, if we do anything at all.
PUTIN SECRETLY TAPED NEGOTIATIONS, OF COURSE. Not only to listen to every word and coach and weigh in, but to use them later to keep his new American team loyal. How hard was that? Not at all. He taped Trump in Helsinki too. Hence his subserviant posture, which we’ve never saw once before from Donald Trump, or hence.
Those taped recordings would expose the entire GOP as engaging in traitorous negotiations with a known enemy. Even the MAGA base would not like that. Remember also that Trump was caught destroying his Helsinki notes and now classified documents are missing as well.
So, McCarthy goes down to Mar-a-Lago after Jan 6 – and Trump plays snippets of the damning tapes for him. Checkmate. McCarthy reverses his stance immediately. The GOP is now essentially taking orders from Vladimir Putin, through Trump, who is also suborned.
Getting dirt on people to suborn them is a staple in criminal organizations, from the Mafia, to the Russian KGB to Trump with his vengeance mentality. The National Enquirer and David Pecker operated this wayas well. This is standard operations for criminal organizations, not only now, but throughout history. It’s human nature stuff. Its why the meme “thick as thieves” exists.
Democrats no longer control the Intellgence Committe in the House. But a world-class investigative reporter could look into the 2016 Republican Convention and find out who talked to whom about what. It could spell the end of the GOP. Of course, Republicans got rid of Adam Schiff on the Intelligence committee and control that body now. They all know what went on in 2016.
Think the way Putin thinks people. This is freaking obvious. The GOP must now remain loyal to PUTIN fo rlife or they end up like Prighozin. The same is true for Trump, whose not only trying to win the presidency to stay out of jail, he’s trying to stay alive as well. Putin might as well be our president if the GOP regain total power. This cannot end well for the USA. We’ve been through seven years of hell because of this Russo-Republican alliance. We cannot quit now.
By rights and rules set out in our Constitution, the entire GOP should be declared unqualified to hold office via the 14th.
Will some investigative reporters get into the weeds on that GOP 2016 Convention and get some evidence of who talked to who? It may be impossible to get the tapes., but who talked to who about what might lead to something that leads to a Russian arrested on our soil, and some admissions and evidence. We’ve heard almost nothing about the Russians at the 2016 convention. Bob Woodward. Rachel Maddow. Ronan Farrow. Can you guys lend a hand here?
I am sending this around. You do the same if it makes sense to you. Ripples in the pond have a way of making waves.
Please BLOW THIS UP with your connections, and get an investigation of the 2016 GOP Convention going.
Joseph Aronesty
818 423 1533
The scariest part is that Trump very likely cannot win. In time, Trump will know this. He’ll then conclude there is only one sure way he can win. pay someone to assassinate Biden late in the game, RFK style so it looks like a lone wolf, and leave us with Harris as the 2024 Democratic candidate. This is why our 2024 VP candidate should be someone who can win on his or her own right.
The above is nothing I like to say. But Trump was just fine with Hang Mike Pence and we’ve seen what happens to Putin’s adversaries. There was, and therefore still is a Russo-Republican alliance. Think chess moves ahead people. The enemies of American democracy are.
Joseph Aronesty
I worked in Trump’s orbit in AC NJ from 86-99 . The 80s Russian mob operated this way too. I know from whence I speak.
Are you watching any part of this World Series of Major League Baseball? This is my 70th World Series. First Series I can recall anything about was the 1953 Dodger vs Yankees series. I remember watching Brooklyn players like Pee Wee Reese, Gil Hodges, Duke Snider and Jackie Robinson, with his exciting slides. I was a Yankee fan only because in Miami, where I lived when five, the local TV station broadcasted only Yankee games.
My family was from Brooklyn and they rooted for the “bums”, as they were called. The Yankees had a legendary dynasty during that period of time, one that traced back to the days of Babe Ruth. I recall the Yankees won, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle hit home runs, and Whitey Ford was their best pitcher. I remember baseball ended the first week in October.
Baseball is a slow game, but the final minutes of a close final game in a World Series can include some of the most dramatic and exciting moments in all of sports. The winning play is often determined by just a few inches. Imagine that. Six months of games, perhaps 175 games played – and it all comes down to a matter of inches.
This is one thing no one can remember in the last 75 years of World Series matches. Not once did a losing team challenge the results of a World Series. Sure, they may have had gripes with some of the umpire’s calls. But when the last out was recorded, the losing team always conceded defeat and their managers started planning to do a little better next season.
Without an agreement that declared winners are indeed the winners, there is no format for a sports contest, is there? There would be no defined end to a contest either. One team could go one saying they really won. There would then soon be no World Series, nor MLB as well.
So you who are inclined to believe election deniers, please know this. Without an agreement to concede defeat in US elections, – perhaps after one legal challenge, if there is hard evidence of malfeasance, – there is no democracy and there is no therefore no USA as we have known it. And those who continue to state they won an election that they lost on record are spoiled sports and a danger to the survival of the tradition of whatever contest they lost.
Be careful when considering going down the road of post-election results denial. You would not want it is baseball. So why is it okay for our USA elections?
Without adhering to pre-determined rules, no contest can end peacefully.
I am very concerned that the dictators of the world do not unite in this Israel Hamas war. Then WW3 is on the doorstep.
This seems to be the obvious best path. Posting with the hope it gets all the way to the top – to Netanyahu and the IDF. Sending to many others now.
A. Israel announces it will give the Palestinians a two-state solution, but there is a condition.
B. The Palestinians must begin to rid themselves of Hamas . They agree to be Israel’s ally in this effort.
C. Israel is going to engage Hamas in Gaza of course, but now they have allies that live there. They can help with logistics, expose hiding places, turn in names, poison their food. We all realize they dont have much in the way of weaponry. That does not mean they cannot help.
D. Once that Hamas is out of Gaza with heroics from Palestinians, a conditional Two State Solution with stated terms automatically begins.
Israel: Enroll the Palestinians on your side and this will be over much sooner than without that alliance. Give them what they want for their cooperation. .And they will deserve it, but only if they ally with Israel NOW.
ANNOUNCE THIS PLAN LOUD FOR THE WORLD TO HEAR!
Then, no one will be able to blame Israel for not trying, and that alone is a huge win for Israel and the planet.
ISRAEL’S TREATMENT OF PALESTINIANS DID NOT CAUSE THE HAMAS ATTACK, BUT FAILURE TO FIND A TWO STATE SOLUTION FACILITATED IT.
I am not going to pretend to have the solution for people who have been pushed so low in life that they find their inner strength only by hating and murdering. But ask yourself this, no matter what you do to make a living; can you imagine making the choice that the best thing you yourself can do to get by in life is to be paid to kill people ?
I hear some people saying that the Israelis “had this coming” for their poor treatment of Palestinians. Certain students at Ivy League schools like Harvard and Berkeley are on record for blaming Israel for expecting to get away with mistreating Paelstinians for decades. I get that argument to some degree. You push people down, they eventually rise up. It’s human nature. Maybe they should have expected an uprising. But the way Hamas is striking back is inhumane and not forgiveable.
However the Hamas mercenaries are not the resident Palestinians. They are rogue men who have been trodden so low in life that they are living for the glory of an afterlife they have been taught will be blessed because they kill people who do not believe as they do. They mingle among the families in the Gaza strip. It’s going to be difficult and costly to weed them all out.
Mercenaries have always existed. This is not new. Iran and Hamas are sponsoring this genocide, but they are not the good or normal people in Palestine who are also caught in the crossfire.
And as long as there are huge gaps in the powers that people may acheive in our relatively insignificant lives, there will always be people who decide that killing is the thing they can do best to fulfill a perceived purposes of their lives. We rarely see people who have paths to financial freedom and happiness in this life make the choice to be mercenaries.
To the Israelis, I get that you want to wipe all of Hamas off the face of the earth. But unless you are also into working to eliminate the vast wealth gaps that currently exist on planet earth, can’t you see their will always be people who will decide to get paid to kill and therefore eliminating all your enemies is not possible? Do you understand that the environment that allows people to decide that killing for a living might be cool will always be feasible if there a huge wealth gaps? Don’t you see that if people have a path towards a happy satisfying life they will rarely choose to become merceneries?
Income inequality drives most of the hate on the planet. Them that have versus them that don’t. We see it here in the USA as well. We have to learn to share better. I wrote a song about it. Best I can do.
And when you yourselves feel the need for vengeance for the unspeakable atrocities you have witnessed – and I am not denying or making light of that – do you not think that the very same feeling of a need for vengeance exists in the Hamas mercenaries carrying out these truly senseless murders?
So there is no military solution for this crisis. There may be temporary ceasefires, but eventually, even if it’s twenty to eighty years later, the cycle repeats.
What is the way out of this? In a world with nuclear and biological weapons, having any people, or even one person , that thinks killing for a living is the best they can do – is a recipe for Doomsday – the end of the world as we know it.
Strange as it seems to say, I wonder what percentage of people would be surprised if the planet was thrown into World War 3 by 2025. How much of a long shot is that in your mind right now? It feels like about eight to one against to me.
If there is no amount of vengeance killing that will end this cultural crisis, then why even start with vengeance killing? I get that the Israelis cannot afford to come as docile sheep; they would have been erased from the map long ago if they did not develop the best militia in the Middle East, which they have. I agree Israel must strike back on some level at least as large as Hamas struck Israel. I believe an Israeli strike should be carried out without intentional killing civilians and children. But after the vengeance killing, which I hope will be over soon, what is the next step?
The way I see it, it is deprogramming. One of the ways Middle Eastern desert people differentiate themseves is by the gods or religions they were thrust into at birth. It’s like we need a 21st century prince of peace right now, is it not? Myself, I was born into the Jewish faith, but my adult self no longer believes in anything I cannot see, hear or reason for myself. In fact, I don’t beleive in believing in things. I have a scientific brain that way.
I wish all people would find the inner strength to renounce all gods and just make life choices based on what is good for themselves and their family, and without hurting others or doing so as little as possible. There’s the golden rule right there, right? It can be done, and done easier without gods than with a struggle for whose god is real. None of them are. I don’t want to nickname this philosopy “the golden rule” or “do unto others, blah blah” because I want people to make that decision as a conscious thought for themselves, not because “their god” says it’s good, or holy, or you’ll go to heaven if you do and hell if you do not. That decision can only be sincere when it is made because one realizes that we are all the same, temporary human spirits, the progeny of a long line of fathers who have all passed on, as we will one day, sharing this earth together.
Jesus Christ is known as the Prince of Peace. His teachings, if followed, would cure the Israeli/Palestinian problem. But that’s not happening any time soon. Ironically, some of the most intolerant and racist people are self-professed followers of Christ. If only Jesus knew whay was carried out in his name over the years. If only Muhammed knew. If only the Hebrew God knew, well – that veangeful god might create a great flood again..
All these gods are all human constructs. They exist inside the minds on mortal flawed humans – and only in that space. Dogs, birds, dolphins, lions, – they see the world for what it truly is. Somehow humans, who are clearly more intellgent than all these animals, do not see the actual reality of life. Us humans live in our minds. And our minds can be twisted and ruled so easily by words, laws, customs, friends, opinions, fake news, and religions – which sort of combines all those things.
Well, let’s leave it there, with longing for a true Prince of Peace to lead us out of the eight to one shot that we self destruct as a species in the next few years. And let me close with a song I have almost finished about this situation we find ourselves in as a species. I say almost finished because I know some of the verse lyrics need to be re-wriiten – and frankly I wish someone else would help me get this right. Two constitutes reality.
On July 27th, 2016, in Doral Florida, Donald Trump said “Russia, if you are listening, I hope you are able to find the 30,000 emails … you will be mightily rewarded by our press”.
Broadcasting an invitation to a known foreign enemy state to influence America’s free and fair elections should have been dealt with as a violation of the Espionage and Sedition Act and an attack on democracy. But it was not. The thought was Donald Trump could never win. But by ignoring that dog whistle to Vladimir Putin, a fascist dictator was invited to be a large influential player in United States 2016 election. And we are still paying the price for that oversight.
That night, Putin launched a Cyber War against the USA. And it was essentially deemed fair play by Obama’s DOJ. Not shutting down “Russian if you’re listening” meant more of this traitor talk would be okay on broadcast media, Facebook, and etc. Russian was “allowed” to deploy Fancy Bear on our social media, affecting public opinion and swinging the close finish that usually describes our presidential elections for Trump.
America is more than just the sum of our communal land, people and resources. Our country is primarily our way unique way of governance. We let our citizens choose their leaders wtih free, fair, unhampered, unhacked, accurate elections. Without that, we are no different than China, Russia or Iran. Our soldiers have fought and died to protect that unique institution. Inviting a foreign enemy to affect any American election is trading with the enemy – treason vs. our Constitution. Our soldiers are not suckers, as Trump once said – they are heros.
It is now 2023, seven years after the original infection. Our government is suffering with the cancer that began when we allowed a candidate for the highest office on the planet to invite a known enemy to have a voice in our sacred elections . And though the seeds of that cancer were sown as far back as Trump’s dalliance in Russian beauty pageants, where he first learned to admire Putin, the cancer has metastasized and is much more dangerous that it was in June of 2016.
Donald Trump is not the brains behind this attack. Anyone who knows Donald personally knows he does not think chess moves ahead and he was never a student of politics or history. I was his classmate at Wharton. I know him that way. This was planned by someone who had done this before and wanted the benefit of having his own loyalist in the most powerful position on the planet, Vladimir Putin.
Evidence of VP infecting our government was also present at the 2016 GOP convention. There were Russian nationals there. That was also an act of treason. These emmisaries all report to VP. It’s logical to think there would have been tapes made by the Russians so Putin could review how his reps were doing and hear was being discussed and with whom. What would you think of our WW2 generation if they had allowed Germany or Japan to send reps to our political conventions? – They would not have allowed it, would they? And if they had, maybe this post would be in German today.
Our WW2 generation would have declared that Facebook was acting treasonously when they allowed Russian bots to masquerade as US citizens, something they could have controlled easily. The greatest generation would have shut Facebook down and/or taken away their license, and/or forced them to sell. The famous movie, Aviator, depicts the US government suing Howard Hughes just for wasting money on a huge plane, the Spruce Goose, as it was called.
A great spirit of pride in our government existed during WW2. Sadly, it has dissipated. VP knows this. He thinks of Americans as spoiled and weak. He’s a bit right on that. We are certainly weakened by the division in our politics. A country under attack cannot afford to be divided. VP and the MAGA GOP know that too.
Evidence of Trump’s treason was glaringly visible in Helsinki. If you study Trump’s posture as he walks on stage, well – he’s not that good of an actor. It wreaked of subservience, which up until that moment I dare anyone to find a moment or screen shot of Trump cowering to anyone. It does not exist. In Helsinki, VP finally showed Trump how much he had on him and the GOP from the 2016 convention, and what both Trump and the GOP owed VP for his election help. And I am sure he said things like “together we can rule the world” – which would be music to Trump’s ears.
It just now occurred to me that Prigozhin was discovered to be the architect of the misinformation campaign of 2016, and now that trail (in case it could have been used against VP) is permanently buried. VP has always been the strategist.
Women United to Save Democracy and Preserve Bodily Autonomy in 2024 * Men Welcome
I propose that field offices be opened in key cities of swing states and make civics and patriotism “sexy” again, the way it eventually became during WW2. Laying low and waiting for the election is NOT a plan.
Women is a group that does not belong to a political party. They’ve shown solidarity on resisting our new Roe vs Wade issues. These offices do not say Democrat or Republican! Neither party is popular really. The Trump movement is all about politcians being unpopular, and frankly, they earned that judgment, both sides, by not putting people over profits for the last forty years at least.
The walls should be a timeline of branded images and videos, much like a museum’s historical timeline installation. It starts with Russia if you’re listening, the firing of Comey, Helsinki, procedes to January 6th and Trump’s divisive campaign rhetoric.
But the big idea is to encourage women to get involved to get their communities united to fight the fascism of a Trump presidency. Men Welcome serves to get men involved, and perhaps attracted to the stated non-partisan movement. Yes. Non-partisan. They could be open to GOP candidates but only if they refer to January 6th for what it actually was – an attempted coup.
If we don’t understand we are at war, just as if we were being bombed, we run the unnecessary risk of putting democracy on the ballot and losing that election. I frankly think the current Republican Party should be barred from having candidates in 2024 unless those candidates openly state that Joe Biden is the duly elected president and that January 6th was an attempt to end the peaceful transfer of power. I also think organized election meddling should be treated as a crime of treason, with serious penalties.
Treating January 6th as a Gift for Curing Our Political Cancer
One unexpected present Trump gave the Democrats was January 6th. Because of the 14th amendment, any congressperson, judge or state official who even comforted insurrectionists, is disqualified to serve. That kind of event never happened before in US history, except during the Civil War. There’s really a lot of self-declared insurrection supporrters and comforters in the MAGA wing of the Republican Party. It is an opportunity to clean house and end the cancer that began in 2016. They can all be declared unfit to serve. No trial is needed. A person under 35 does not need a trial to run for president does he?
Their desks can be locked up tomorrow, and the DOJ can declare that there will be special elections to replace insurrection comforters. All they really need is what is recorded on media and the nerve to use it. I argue that the Supreme Court also has at least one insurrection comforter; Clarence Thomas comforts his wife Ginny, who has comforted insurrectionists herself.
This is how metastatic this VP/DT cancer has become. Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene is one of the GOP members they plotted with insurrections. She visited them in jail and said good things about them. That’s comforting insurrectionists. Anyone who says they would pardon Trump or insurrectionists does not belong in our government another day. Representatives Paul Gosar of Arizona, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Mo Brooks of Alabama, and Louie Gohmert of Texas can easily have their seats locked up by a DOJ that knows we are at war and what tools we need to use to end this scourge.
Look at the map at the top of this post. Ask yourself what chance the rest of the free world has to keep their democracies if the US succumbs to Trumpism, which is clearly fascism. If we let Trump, or someone from his MAGA GOP party become president again, democracy is dead here. And soon enough after the rest of the planet will fall to the dictators. Then, climate change will not be addressed, the wealth gap will widen, and we will enter a modern version of the Dark Ages. The human species will not survive long in a world run by dictators with the kind of weaponry we have today.
It seems the Joe Biden and the Democrats are not going to have the nerve to use the tools they have to defend democracy. I hope I am wrong. But they are proceeding slowly and not so surely. There is a good chance 2024 will be Biden vs Trump, still, which totally ignores the 14th. Lincoln would not be proud.
The smarter tactic is to declare war versus our enemies, foreign and domestic. The war is already on. Our enemies know what they are fighting for while Dems in Congress seem incapable of admitting we have Senators and Congresspeople who are aligned with Putin, and are basically fascists. Denying election results, without solid, visible, concrete proof, is a fascist act.
We have some powerful tools to fight fascism, but we have to use them. Let me list some of them. End the Filibuster. Rebalance the Supreme Court. Use the 14th to disqualify any insurrection “comforters” from holding office.
In a cyber war, which is what is being waged against us by Putin and his allies, we don’t see bombs. Putin knows he could never beat us with bombs. But with words and with allies within our Congressional halls, Putin can get his man back in the White House. And if that happens, the planet, and our children and grandchildren – will never forgive us.
It’s time for Joe Biden to rise up and realize he is a war president. He needs to declare war against anyone who attempts to silence the voice of the majority of Americans.
Kamala Harris Is Biden’s Achilles Heal and He Does Not Know It
I have nothing against Kamala Harris as a person or public servant, but she is one person even Trump can beat. Trump, Putin and the MAGA GOP know this.
Trump was okay with Hang Mike Pence. VP was okay with killing his enemy in a plane crash. If anything were to happen to Biden that stopped him from being there in the last months before November 2024, who among you think that this racist, mysogynist country would turn out in droves to elect Kamala as POTUS?
Kamala Harris as POTUS candidate is the one way the Republicans cannot lose. She probably knows this too. We are not ready for this yet as a country. We will be soon enough. We see it in the eyes of our young. But first, we have to get to soon enough. And right now, she is not the right person to be next in line to a 80-year-old man who is doing a great job, but also has enemies who would welcome and perhaps “mightily reward” harm done to him.
I’m sure you heard “Nikki” Hailey say she does not think Biden will survive. I am 100% sure that steps are being considered and dog whistled about how to make Harris the candidate at the last minute, post-convention.
The smartest thing Biden can do is to reassign Harris, right before the convention, and announce someone for that position who could get even more votes than Biden. There are plenty of people in our government who fit that bill. The other thing to watch for is Trump’s many trials. If Trump becomes inelibible or a pariah due to what is discovered, a younger GOP candidate will emerge – and then, Dems need to be free to pivot to a younger candidate.
In WW2, we all did our jobs with teamwork. If Harris wants to be president, her desire to “be potus” is currently a danger for the USA. By placing a person who could beat Trump in the VP position, it renders our enemies’ “eliminate Biden” hope, plan or plot, a non-starter tactical consideration.
Given that we are at war with Putin, who has agency and power with one political party, the GOP, we must act as if we are at war. Punishments for bad behavior that endagers Americans and American office holders, CIA or military must now be swift, since we are in a war. Does anyone think if Trump got into power he would not use his powers to silence his opponents? Trump just said General Millie should be executed! And we do nothing because we are not offically at war?
Biden Should Declare War Against the Enemies of Democracy
We are actually in a war now. There are no bombs being dropped. The weapons are words and controlling the votes. The smart solution is fast, easy and painless. Declare war against the enemies of democracy. We know who they are. Rigging an election is an act of war against democracy, is it not? So say so! People will appreciate it – on both sides.
I told my representative, Ted Lieu, these same words six years ago because I knew Trump personally and knew where this had to go. Ted thought using the word “war” would be incendiary. I know he meant well. But he did not grow up with monsters like Trump. I did. Once Biden declares war versus the enemies of democracy, his presidential war powers can be used swiftly to protect all Americans by arresting the enemies of democracy. And that means anyone who threatens a poll worker or connives to stop minorities from voting too.
I, myself, wish Kamala had been given Merrick Garland’s DOJ post. Maybe that’s not too late. That would send shivers up Trump’s spine.
I want to light upon the investigation and of Biden and Hunter and the public declaration of impeachment which the GOP has declared 9/12/23. There is a proper counter investigation which a Senate committee can start to counter this. That is the investigation of Jared Kushner and his two-billion-dollar gift from MBS. I believe this is directly tied to the documents case that Jack Smith has vs Donald Trump.
James Raskin recently announced he is investigating Kushner about why he got two billion from MBS. This has to be only one thing. Payback. Not charity; not an investment; payback for things done for MBS by Kushner/Trump.
For this we ask, what happened good for MBS during the Trump administration? NBC News -11-4-2017 | That post details that eight months into the Trump administration, the ultra-luxurious Riyadh hotel became a prison for hundreds of Saudi royals, billionaires and senior government officials were detained in a power play by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aka MBS. The prisoners were told they had to sign away large chunks of their assets to be released. The detention involved both psychological abuse and torture.
These billionaires knew they were being hunted for years. They all had security, burner phones, WhatsApp and their own jets. Further, many were protected by our CIA. And yet they were all caught in a relatively short time and brought to one place to sign away their fortunes or die there resisting.
Our CIA kept tabs on these Saudi billionaires for our purposes here in the USA. And those connections would be listed in top secret documents that the new president Trump had access to. Trump went to MBS first chance he got to leave the USA. Is this adding up to you yet?
This is why Trump would not surrender the documents. He had already learned how to monetize them. Pinching Jared will reveal this and more – a lot more than this investigation into Hunter Biden.
Creating Order at the Border Would Greatly Lift Biden’s Popularity
I had reason to have a one on one discussion with a Republican congressperson from New Mexico, near the border. She’s one of those reps who actually focuses on her constituency. They want order at the border more than anything. And she told me a lot of her constituents would vote for Biden if he made it a priority to create what the average person would deem as order at the border. And yes, without the hate.
There was never a problem with building a wall at the border, or gates, checkpoints, and/or ways of controlling and measuring the influx of immigrants. The problem was the hate that Trump spewed and spread towards Mexicans and Muslims, and people from “sh*thole countries“. Democrats are fine with order at the border. I love that meme. Let’s amplify that to Joe Biden.
Finally, look for Russian oil prices to rise in 2024. The Fed had best make an effort to keep interest rates falling in 2024, regardless of “economic theory”.
2024 has to be approached like a war effort, or we risk losing it all.
Link to the Espionage Act Five minute read. Jan 7th, 2017.
It's good to hear some people in government and media finally talking about using the 14th Amendment as a potential means to bar Trump from being a presidential candidate ever again. It is seven years late, but better late than never. I wrote this post after candidate Trump's infamous "Russia, if you're listening" request. I thought that malicious inquiry should have disqualified his candidacy via another statute.
January 7th, 2017
On July 27th, 2016, in Doral Florida, Donald Trump said “Russia, if you are listening, I hope you are able to find the 30,000 emails … you will be mightily rewarded by our press”. I hold that broadcasting an invitation to a known foreign enemy state to influence America’s free and fair elections was a violation of the Espionage and Sedition Act. This is why. It had better have not be okay, or this democracy will not long survive.
9/2/23 Trump and Putin tested the media and the Obama administration that night in Doral. Trump and Putin had no way of knowing how far they could push the national election conversation. So Putin asked Donnie to signal him that way so they could measure the response.
The lack of response meant this was all okay, – fair game. Maybe the DOJ thought Trump would never win, and so what if he asks for Russian help in an election? I blame Obama and Hillary for that. They thought Trump would lose.
America’s World War 11 generation would never have permitted this sort of dialogue from a presidential candidate. Not shutting down “Russian if youre listening” meant more of this would be okay on broadcast media, social media and Facebook. That led to Fancy Bear being deployed on social media to affect public opinion which affects our US elections. Putin’s cyber war versus democracy began that night in Doral.
But the discussions would have already taken place. The electronic data of Jared “back-channel” Kushner would be the best place to look for traces of candidate Trump’s communications with Russia. Jared would be the only person Trump would trust with crimes of treason.
James Raskin recently announced he is investgating Kushner about why he got two billion from MBS. If they drill down to the truth – this has to be only one thing. Payback. That’s how this new international political mafia operates. Not charity. Not an investment, though they will try to sell that.
So for this we ask, what happened good for MBS during the Trump administration?NBC News -11-4-2017 | That post details that eight months into the Trump administration, the ultra-luxurious Riyadh hotel became a prison for hundreds of Saudi royals, billionaires and senior government officials were detained in a power play by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aka MBS. The prisoners were told they had to sign away large chunks of their assets to be released. The detention involved both psychological abuse and torture.
These billionaires knew they were being hunted for years. And they all had security, burner phones, whatsapp and their own jets. Further, many were protected by our CIA. And yet they were all caught in a relatively short time and brought to one place to sign away their fortunes or die there resisting.
Our CIA kept tabs on these Saudi billionaires for our purposes here in the USA? And those connections would be listed in top secret documents that the new president Trump had access to. Trump went to MBS first chance he got to leave the USA.
Is this adding up to you yet? This is why Trump would not surrender the documents. He had already learned how to monetize them. And Jared was much cooler to deal with than the actual president for these things. Pinching jared will reveal this and more. Two billion. It had to be payback.
Putin may not have gotten his payback yet. Maybe it was Ukraine. But look to the Russians at the GOP 2016 Convention. Putin gets recordings. I think the GOP has been suborned since 2016. They sure act that way.
Though much of the Espionage Act seems to refer to communication technology we rarely use any more, and focuses on acts committed during war times, the heart and soul of the act applies today’s times. War is not defined in the Constitution and the nature of war has changed since WW1, when the Espionage Act was written into law – particularly since the A-bomb. Cyber war against countries that have the bomb is replacing wars with bombs.
Putin is the world’s pioneer and the leading expert in modern cyber war – a war where words are the weapons and installing loyalists into foreign governments can get him the nearly same result he might desire from a physical wars. Russian malware called Fancy Bear has been targeting governments and military organizations for years, especially NATO states like France and Germany.
Section 2 of Espionage Act (parentheses are mine)
Whoever, with intent or reason to believe that it is to be used to the injury of the United States (affect free and fair elections, hence subvert the will of the American people must be defined as an injury to the US ) or to the advantage of a foreign nation (Putin’s Russia), communicated, delivers, or transmits, or attempts to, or aids, or induces another to communicate, ( Trump asked on national TV for a known enemy to hack his opponent’s computer and release what might be found. He also suggested that person would be mightily rewarded. ) deliver or transmit, to any foreign government, or to any faction( a would be hacker ) or party or military or naval force within a foreign country, whether recognized or unrecognized by the United States, or to any representative, officer, agent, employee, subject, or citizen thereof, either directly or indirectly and document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blue print, plan, map, model, note, instrument, appliance, or information relating to the national defense, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than twenty years.
Since Donald Trump invited Russia to hack a presidential candidate’s computer on national TV, I believe he is guilty of espionage. I believe our DOJ can and should act immediately, citing the Espionage Act of 1918, and indict him for an committing an act of sedition or espionage.
The main counter-argument I hear on media so far is: what Trump did was all okay. It goes something like this:
All Trump said was that he hoped Russia could find emails that Hillary Clinton deleted from her private server. He only wanted to get his opponent, Clinton, in trouble, which is fair game. Say what you will about Trump’s tactics, he wasn’t looking to harm the U.S. or benefit Russia.
I argue that inviting a foreign enemy to affect an American election does indeed do harm to the USA; that America is more than just the sum of our communal land, people and resources. The USA is also our way of governance. And the bedrock of our government is free, fair, unhampered, unhacked elections.
Further, an invitation to hack a presidential candidate’s computer is tantamount to an invitation to open the back door to a home to commit a robbery. Sure, you might invite a robber to “only take stuff that belongs to my opponent”. But in fact, once that back door is open, anything may be robbed and actions may spiral up to violence or even murder. So, the person who invites that robbery is both complicit and indictable. An invitation to commit a crime is, and must be, a criminal act for the rule of law to prevail in the USA. I like to remind people that Charles Manson did not commit murder; he encouraged others go after his perceived enemies, and he got life for doing that when his cult members committed crimes.
An invitation to hack any political election is a criminal seditious act that does real harm to the United States. Free and fair elections define our democracy. They are more important to the United States than say, the Twin Towers were. Fifteen years went by, and NYC is rebuilt. But should we lose free and fair elections, the USA (and the world) will never be the same.
Will a district attorney or senate member please look into this and address it ASAP? We don’t have to let this happen to us.
Joseph Aronesty
Added January 13th 2021, one week after the January 6th insurrection.
The 14th Amendment also says people who are involved in insurrection, – or even comforted an insurrectionist, cannot serve in our government. Look here: 14th Amendment.
The 14th certainly makes Donald Trump unqualified to serve, as he was the central organizing figure of the Jan 6th insurrection. It also renders Marjorie T Greene and many others in the GOP, unqualified to serve. It could even disqualify Clarence Thomas, as he comforts an insurrectionist every day, his wife, Ginny.
Of course, all this will end up at the Supreme Court. And maybe that is why the Dems are afraid to pursue the 14th – because they allowed it to get stacked six to three against democracy. But if we are afraid of our SCOTUS, our democracy is already lost. Removing Thomas from the SCOTUS and/or rebalancing the court may be necessary to preserve our democracy. Time is running out for bold actions.
If waiting to see what happens in 2024 is the Dems plan. I, for one, am not happy about that “strategy”. This is a war. It is an extension of the cyber war Putin began in the 2000’s and we need to be pro-active strategists. Let me remind everyone that Putin was at the 2016 Republican Convention and one of Trump’s first acts as president was to reduce sanctions against Russia.
This autocracy vs. democracy map has been at my blog for nearly four years. Trump as potus was part of the struggle you see in the map that resembles a RISK board. I do wish others would post a map like this so more people would get a visual on what is at stake. Pretty sure even MAGA people won’t like their lives better in a fasict state.
The majority of Americans want common sense gun reforms. The majority favors taking military style assault weapons out of the hands of the public. Americans also want a woman’s right to choose to be a decision made between her, her family and doctor. Very few Americans think it’s okay to have the state literally monitoring private bedroom and family decisions.
But nothing gets done and it seems like since forever. Why is that? It’s easy to blame mental health for gun violence and not the guns. Honestly I get that, though I don’t interpret the constitution as saying Americans inherit a right to own assault weapons due to the 2nd amendment. The 2nd specifically mentions a need a need for guns related to war with other countries, because we had no army back then, so we conscripted citizens with theor own guns to fight wars.
What is supposed to happen in representative government is: people tell their reps what they want to do about an issue, and the representatives re-present the ideas of the majority of their constituents during Congressional voting sessions. That is why they are called re-presentatives. We the people present, they represent. And these days, with social media and polling, it’s very easy to find out what people want. “The majority of Americans want common sense gun reforms” is a fact.
However,what happens in reality is that too many representatives ( aka lawmakers, because they make the laws we have to live by ) don’t vote for the things their constituents want; they vote for the laws that favor people who pay them to vote the way the bribers want. Lobbying is just a euphimism for bribing in a world where our supreme court had ruled ( because they had to ) that corporations are people and money can legally remain “dark”. With respect to gun laws, the NRA has a stake in arming the USA to the nines, so they lobby ( bribe ) mostly GOP congresspeople to vote for thier business to stay alive, as they see in many countries the guns per capita rate is much lower than in the USA. The whole thing adds up to America becoming a place where innocent people, are mowed down at one of the highest rates on the planet. And that is sad, scary and fixable, – but only one way on the fixing. ( More on that later . )
The same can be said about a woman’s right to choose. Almost no young woman wants to be forced to carry a child that she does not want to love and raise. But “lawmakers” in many states and in Congress are being paid to vote against the wishes of the majority of American citizens.
When questioned about this, Lauren Bobert, representative from Colorado, said the quiet part out loud: Boebert: “We’re not a democracy. So quit with that. Maybe that’s where you’re getting it wrong is saying we’re a democracy. We’re a constitutional republic.”
She is right about that. But what is a constitutional republic? It implies adherence to a constitution, regardless to what the majority of people want. There is nothing in the constituon about abortion.
In reality, the key difference between a democracy and a republic lies in the limits placed on government by the law. Both forms of government use the representational system. Citizens vote to elect politicians to represent their interests and pass laws that reflect their wishes. In a “pure democracy,” the majority imposes its will on the minority. In a republic, a constitution protects certain inalienable rights that cannot be taken away by the government, even if it is wanted by a majority of voters.
Right now, women have a right to have an abortion in the USA as per Roe v Wade. But many Republicans in Congress want to take that away.
So that line about the USA not being a “pure” democracy is correct. But Bobert and many lawmakers use that line to defend their right to vote against the collective will of their constituency and vote for what is good for their own pocketbooks. Selling your vote to the highest bidder is not any part of a constitutional republic. It’s congressional corruption. That’s why I often refer to Congress as Coingress. We end up with the best government money can buy.
This will not change until we change the qualitfications for holding office in the USA change. And no one is talking about that on either side of the divide. To be president you just have to be thirty-five and a citizen born here. Donald Trump can run from jail if he so chooses. We vet our babysitters better than our presidents and representatives. Prior public service is not required. It should be. As a result of this low bar for qualification, many in Congress are there for self service, not public service.
It takes millions to win office these days. As long as the uber rich are paying for political campaigns, the uber rich will choose representatives that promise to vote their way when the chips are down.
And then there is the 14th Amendment which clearly says no person who have taken part in an insurrection, aided an insurrection, or even “comforted” those who have taken part in an insurrection can be in office, state or federal. The entire GOP has at least comforted insurrectionists. One judge on the Supreme Court is married to an insurrectionist caught in the act. But we do nothing about this as well. Democrats know all this and do nothing. It must be because they have some dark sold out secrets in their closets and are afraid to shun 50% of the Congress.
People are the same over time. Their toys and environments change, but being a human is pretty much the same as it was since forever. We are born. We rely of help from adults to become an adult. We procreate ( or not ) and then, we move out of the way as all living things do. That’s what one has to navigate as a living human. We all prey on each other in one way or another during our journey through life. Some fare better than others. Some are larger predators than others. Some find ways to help others as they serve them. Live and let live seems to be the best philosophy.
It seems to me humans are not the right beings to be trusted to care for the masses when their instinct will almost always be to put themselves first.
I wondered if AI would do a better job of government, so I asked it “what are the best ways to curb gun violence in the USA?”. This is what I got in a few seconds.
Here are some of the best ways to reduce gun violence:
Universal background checks: Implementing universal background checks can help ensure that firearms are not sold to individuals who are prohibited from owning them, such as those with criminal records or mental health issues.
Red flag laws: Red flag laws allow law enforcement to temporarily confiscate firearms from individuals who are deemed to be a threat to themselves or others.
Stricter gun control laws: Implementing stricter gun control laws, such as bans on assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and bump stocks, can help reduce the number of mass shootings and gun-related deaths.
Education and awareness: Educating the public about responsible gun ownership and safe storage practices can help prevent accidental shootings and reduce the number of firearms stolen and used in crimes.
Mental health support: Providing accessible and affordable mental health services can help individuals with mental health issues get the help they need and reduce the risk of gun violence.
Community-based violence prevention: Investing in community-based violence prevention programs can help address the root causes of gun violence and provide support to those who are at risk of being involved in gun violence.
It’s important to note that there is no single solution that can completely eliminate gun violence in the USA, and addressing this issue will require a multifaceted approach that takes into account the complex social, cultural, and political factors that contribute to gun violence. End AI report.
It all makes perfect sense to me but almost none of this will get done because unvetted humans, many of whom can be tossed out tomorrow by the DOJ via the 14th, still have their seats and their secret bank accounts.
It seems to me that the two warring party system will eventually, and perhaps soon, bring the USA to its knees or into a state of live civil war. ( We are already in a cool cyber civil war – a war of words. )
All I can fathom as a solution, one party needs to get complete control of the government and clean house. If it happens at the ballot box in 2024 that would be great. But I don’t think the uber rich are going to let that happen. They killed two Kennedy’s to stop the people from having a real champion for justice in office. And now, another Kennedy, RFK Jr., is getting ready to run.
Dems have shown they are willing to eat their own. I did not agree with ousting Al Franken but at least dems have shown they have standards. This GOP has shown they are okay with criminals, rapists and traitors to the constitution in high office. They seem to prefer it. Romney is shunned. And that’s because a good boy scout will rat on the sold out in Congress so it’s better if they are all sold out. Thick as thieves is the GOP’s secret mantra. And I am sure there is a percentage of Democracts that are okay with protectting lawmakers right to stuff their pockets and work against the people they are supposed to represent.
The USA’s greatest threat to survival come from the sold out in Congress and two men named Vladimir and Rupert. The majority of Americans know which of our warring two parties is the lesser of two evils. It is the party that gave tax breaks to bilionaires, is okay with 18-year olds owning assault weapons and wants to end Social Security, Medicare and a woman’s right to choose.
The only solution left is for one party needs to get complete control of all three chambers of government and clean house. 2024 is closer than we think. The vast majority of Americans will fare better if the crazy party that is aligned with billionaires, Qanon and the NRA is put out to pasture. A split Congress will not police itself nor advance any meaningful reforms to better life for working Americans and thier children.
Speaking of children, the active shooter drill generation is being groomed right now. When they come to power in 20 years, well – you tell me what you think they will do. I think they will reject both parties – if these parties still exist. The will reject the GOP for letting so many kids die, and the Dems for being too scared to take the steps to even try to end the madness. And I will be with them, if I am still around.
Photo from the NRA Convention 2023. Grooming much?
Needless to say, Putin is a madman with nukes and a bunker. Putin has shown he intends to use the fear of a nuclear war to keep getting what he wants. So where does he stop? Since establishing a no-fly zone can only be sustained with armed aircraft, that attempt would be viewed by Putin as a first act of aggression by the West. Nuclear-armed Western leaders are hesitant to take the first aggressive step vs another nuclear power. But that’s not how the American people feel.
A new poll from Reuters/Ipsos shows that 74% of Americans, including majorities in both parties, want NATO to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine. It’s not an outlier: Survey after survey has shown that the American people want a stronger response to Russia’s invasion.
Let’s collectively think outside the no-fly box. There might be a way to force Putin to balk on making the first aggressive strike vs. the West and prove Putin is not going to risk nuclear war with NATO and US. And if he is, we might as well know now, because Putin’s not stopping until he is stopped. There is no peace treaty with Putin this time. He will be a hunted killer of children now, for the rest of his life. Putin surrenders, is stopped, captured, steps down or he continues until WW3 is hot and nuclear.
Sanctions won’t do it now. Putin is a cornered madman in war mode. It is the guns, not the money, that speak loudest to Putin today. As long as he retains his control over his military and intelligence officers, his wars will continue and his oligarchs will remain hostages to his guns and enforcement officers.
I am presenting one plan to defend Ukraine that does not require a no-fly zone, at least at the onset of the plan. It forces Putin to assess how strong he really is. It will force him to blink first. It’s sort of a reverse Trojan Horse plan.
THE EMBASSY DEFENSE PLAN
We could send many more people back into our Embassy in Kyiv which I assume has been mostly evacuated. Then France does the same. All EU democracies do the same. Then any other democracy that wants to, joins in. How would that look to Putin?
Then we all set up perimeters to protect our embassies with a lot of drones and remoted stuff and really whatever it takes.
Then we house key Ukranian government officials in our embassies as protected refugees, scattering whatever chain of command that exists among the various embassies and not disclosing who is where.
This would force Putin to fire at NATO embassies to oust Zelensky. And he knows that spells his doom.
I am tired of hearing people say they are afraid of Putin’s nukes. He knows that now. Other dictators with nukes will follow if we don’t stop Putin. There is no “retreat and go back to the way things were” in Putin’s future – nor ours. It’s him or us.
Once our embassies are all fortified, we can let the Ukranian people and time do their things. Putin knows he can’t take the Ukrainian spirits. When he cannot kill the existing government officials, he will be forced to retreat, or negotiate. Yes, he may consider striking at the embassies. But that forces him to take the first act of aggression ve the West.
If he strikes at the embassies, we would of course obliterate his troops in Ukraine. We wouldn’t touch Moscow or Russia. That keeps the war in conventional mode and in Ukraine. But if we let him take Ukraine, he will have a victory – and he will actually need to expand or face aggression from neighbors. He won’t stop because Ukrainians won’t accept him as their ruler and neither will his neighbors.
The governments that go into the embassy plan would need to make a statement along these lines as justifications.
We recognize the current Ukrainian government as the rightful government of Ukraine and will protect the government officials that are seeking refuse in our embassies. We will however not send troops to fight with Ukrainians against any Russian troops unless of course, our embassies are attacked. In that case we will fight with the soldiers of Ukraine against any and all Russian troops in the Ukraine. We will not attack any Russian troops or citizens that are not in Ukraine.
Absent of this we are sort of condemning Zelensky and The Ukrainian democracy to death. Finance alone wont make it. Oil prices are going up so high, and in a weird way that benefits Putin.
THE OLD SCHOOL PLAN
The ideal plan is, of course, to take Putin out quickly and quietly, as if done by a random madman. I suppose DOD must have dreamt up a few effective ways. People are talking about this everywhere. There are ways. They don’t even have to trace back to USA. It could be to be a secret NATO mission.
And they’d had to know there was not some sort of Rube Goldberg setup so that when Putin dies the nukes get auto-launched. But if that’s the case, we might as well try now as well. Putin’s demise is assured by politics and good old nature.
And it seems to me Putin is using fear of nukes as a free pass to do as he wants. So where does that stop in a madman? If the fear persists, why should a madman stop? It could be smarter strategy to get out ahead of Putin. Think on this. Putin has no one really. Putin does not even have his own version of a large Trump base. Whoever ends the Putin problem would be regarded as a hero by nearly everyone on the planet, including most Russians.
I am not a general or even a general. I am just a caring US citizen with eight kids and grandkids. In this country, still free, I can think and hopefully share my thoughts.
Two days after the 2020 election, Donald Trump fired Mark Esper. That told me Trump was not quitting his effort to become POTUS for life. Normally, when a candidate loses, they stop doing new appointees and go into transfer of power mode. But Trump knew the full extent of his crimes vs democracy and was rightly afraid that once out of power he could be found guilty for treason.
So Trump’s 2022-2024 political rallies are back on. He needs to make sure his base still has his back, because he knows that relationship is the sole source of political power as a private citizen.
Joe Biden should be doing the same thing right now. As a seated POTUS he has huge advantages over Trump in this strategy, but he must recognize the opportunity and not be a “low energy” campaigner. Look at this diagram:
It’s clear Congress is broken by design. They don’t even vote for what their constituents want because their constituents can’t pay them as well as the big donors and corporations. That is corruption, but it’s been going on a long time.
The 6:3 Supreme Court is broken as well. Further, the public does not connect to the Supreme Court. The SCOTUS is an isolated chamber by design.
However, the voting public is aware who is the president and they are generally aware that the US Constitution outlines and protects their rights. That is why you will hear the GOP base cite the first and second amendments to protect their freedom of speech and their right to bear arms. The relationship between the public, the constitution, and the president is tweakable.
FDR had to deal with a divided public in the WW2 era. In 1933, he began to campaign to Americans in what was known as “fireside chats”. Radio was the media employed. It was a hugely effective tool . The fireside chats were a series of evening radio addresses given by Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, between 1933 and 1944. … On radio, he was able to quell rumors, counter conservative-dominated newspapers and explain his policies directly to the American people.
Trump is banned from Twitter and Facebook. Biden is not. Biden has the internet, social media, TV, radio, and the bully pulpit as tools to begin a new series of public awareness campaigns. This stacks up as a huge advantage for Biden but only if he uses these tools with great energy.
His current 33% polls disclose he is not garnering confidence from the public. He needs to fix this just the way FDR did, but with today’s technology. He can do better than FDR if he just sees the opportunity. Trump clearly sees the importance of campaigning to his base. Biden must do the same, better, and to all Americans with special attention given to Trump voters.
Biden can open a two-way channel between the voting public and his office. A simple email form can be created asking the public how they want their government to address the top ten issues* of our times. (*List is my own.)
Voting Rights -Who should vote? How do we count votes to makes sure they are accurate? Should Gerrymandering be a thing? etc.
Healthcare – How do we want to treat pre-existing conditions? Do we want Medicare for all or a combination of two systems? How do we rein in prescription drug prices? What do we do when people don’t want healthcare?
Taxation and Income Inequality – Income inequality is a world-wide issue. Should there be a cap on what SEO’s can make? Should the tax breaks given to big corps by the Trump administration continue, expand or be scaled back? Do we need a more progressive tax system the way it was in the 1950’s? etc.
Gun Laws – Do the majority of Americans want background checks? Checks on automatic weapons? Better protection in schools? etc.
Border Security – What do the majority of Americans really want here?
Infrastructure – American infrastructure is falling behind the pace set in modern countries like Japan. Where and when do we start catching up?
Money In Politics – Do the majority of Americans like Citizens United and lobbying? Should government reps not be able to serve unless they show their taxes? Should dark money be legal in the USA? Should Congressmen be above legal reproach?
Internet and Social Media Regulations – What does the majority want?
Climate Science, Environment Protection and R & D – The planet’s #1 issues need to be addressed by our collective and focused energies.
Education – We are falling behind in all age levels when it comes to education. How do we turn this around? What are the public’s ideas. Do they support free college for anyone? etc.
Joe Biden can create a form and ask the voting public to weigh in on these top ten issues. He should start campaigning more heavily in Trump country. A simple email address can be advertised. whatdoyouwant@potus.gov Ask people to weigh in with their solutions and ideas on these top ten issues. And yes, ask them what party they identify with. Multiple choice. Democratic. Republican. Other. None. Not eligible to vote. Knowledge is power.
On the first Tuesday ( create good civics habits ) of every month Biden can update the results of the survey. He should make a special point of highlighting what GOP voters really want. This is crucial because this writer is pretty sure both sides pretty much want the same things on all of these issues. He can also make sure the voters in WV and AZ get special attention.
This is how he heals the divide – and fast. This is what FDR did in the 30s with his fireside chats. FDR unified the country over the things we all wanted.
Biden should immediately start quoting the 14th Amendment, section 3, to the voting public. The 14th sec 3 states people who took part in insurrection, or even “comforted” those who did – cannot be in our government. Joe! People on both sides respect the Constitution. You know that. But the only amendments most people know on both sodes are the first, second and the fifth. LOL.
The 14th Amendment, sec 3, – verbatim:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.
But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. …………….
Please note: Congress cannot vote to “remove such disabilities” if they are not already seated in Congress. Though this add-on sentence at the end of the 14th sec 3 seems to run counter to the spirit of the amendment, it does not apply at all to Trump, who is not in Congress.
The 14th says the many Secretary of State candidates the GOP are supporting because they back the Big Lie, which is part and parcel of the Jan 6 insurrection, cannot be in office. Hence they cannot even run and neither can Trump. But no one says this. Even if this amendment lacks teeth (as heard from lawyers ) , if the public gets behind the 14th, it can grow teeth. Biden needs to learn the power of active populism and fast.
Unifying the public over what they really want from their government will expose Trump’s and the GOP’s election lies for what they really are: an attempt to keep the US citizenry divided so that none of what Americans really want and need to succeed in the 21st century will come to pass.
Delay Is Not a Friend in the Cyber War Being Waged Against Democracy
Time is not a friend when fighting metastatic enemies.
Strategies to Defeat Trumpism Before Midterm Campaigns Take Root
Midterm campaigning will begin early in 2022. If Trump is not been indicted by by mid-July, he will remain the assumed leader of the GOP. Trump will then set the norms and talking points for GOP midterm candidates and the Big Lie and slow-moving coup attempts will continue through the midterms.
Why Timing Trump’s Indictment Matters
If Trump is indicted before July, it is possible that DeSantis will jockey himself to the front of the GOP power struggle. The timely indictment of Donald Trump will function like a grenade tossed into the GOP foxhole. A surprise early indictment will force the GOP to at least examine the idea of choosing other leaders to head the party during midterms. That then offers the real potential to end Trumpism before midterms. Indicting Trump no later than July is the easiest way to end Trumpism without an election or new laws. An un-indicted Trump will serve to further normalize Trumpism and distrust of the election results of the 2022 midterms, and chaos will be free to reign in 2022.
An un-indicted Trump will also serve to divide the Democrat Party during the midterms. We’ve just about had it. It’s getting to the point that many dems think Biden and his DOJ are either not up to the task or in on the status quo. The real reason Joe Biden’s polls are down is that after one full year there are no substantial indictments in the globally televised coup vs. the US democracy.
We must hold Biden responsible for the actions or inactions of his AG. By not indicting Trump by February, Biden will be strategically complicit in dividing the pro-democracy party and unifying the pro-fascist party. How is that supposed to work out for we the people?
Recognize Your Enemies and Defend Accordingly
About six years ago, candidate Donald Trump asked openly asked Putin to help get him elected. “Russia, if you’re listening” was a tell. Trump had to know Putin was listening to say that. There would have been no reason to even bring up Russia unless he was actively signaling an ally. No side of the American electorate likes Russia. Trump had a reason to say those words and only one reason makes sense. I called it an act of treason because inviting a foreign enemy to take part on our elections should have been viewed as an invitation to attack our most sacred institution. That’s treason. Benedict Arnold treason. Allying with our enemies to destroy and institution (fair elections ) is treason. The GOP is the party of treason now.
And there were Russian nationals at the GOP Convention in 2016. That means Putin was effectively there. And that means some sort of alliance was formed with other GOP in Congress. We saw it play out in the 2016 election with Russian disinformation campaigns, a phrase that was basically unknown until 2016.
I posted a democracy vs autocracy map (below) shortly after that statement. Joe Biden finally got around to stating that the world is deciding which form of government will prevail in the 21st century. Biden knows the stakes. But if he does not act as if he is at war, (cyber war is a war of words not bombs) the enemies of democracy will prevail even though their conventional war efforts could never be successful. That is Putin’s genius. I wrote about it here.
I still believe our Department of Defense should defend vs attacks on elections as they take an oath to defend our nation from all enemies, foreign and domestic. The DOD has an intel department. Why are they not even asked to help on the Jan6 Committee investigation into an attempted coup?
The Jan6 Committee should immediately ask DOD intel to join the effort to get to the full truth on the Jan6 coup attempt. It will inform all Americans – and our own internal enemies of democracy – that we are serious abo0ut defending free and fair elections in the United States. If DOD intel coud help with Jan6, even on the perimeters, it sends the message to the Big Lie supporters in Congress that attempting another coup is not such a good idea.
Why am I the only one showing this map? Pictures speak louder than words, especially these days. People may not know what autocracy means. But we all know what a RISK board looks like. I am asking Biden, Pelosi and democracy friendly media to amplify a version of this map ASAP.
Bust the Filibuster
Harry Reid first invoked the nuclear option November 2013, when the Democratic Senate Democratic used the procedure to eliminate the 60-vote rule for presidential nominations, other than nominations to the Supreme Court. In his honor, Democrats should unify to bust the Filibuster so that progress can be made for the American in our intentionally dysfunctional Congress.
Democrats should also know this. The right-wing base unified behind Trump because they felt ignored by both sides of Congress for years. Fly-over country was indeed ignored by Congress which has been functionally sold out to corporations since Reaganomics. Ask yourself this simple question. How is it that the billionaires and corporations who made most of the financial gains during the pandemic – while the working class struggled – still pay the least percentage of taxes to our government? This is evidence of corruption at work – and the citizens on both sides know it.
If Coingress (misspelled intentionally ) remains stalemated and dysfunctional in early 2022, it will create room for a new party to emerge. Vegas now says there is a 7% chance a third party could win the 2024 election. You can bet real money on it. Perhaps a new US labor party could be restarted here in the USA.
Busting the Filibuster is not new. Democrats did it first. Democrats should know if the GOP regains power they will bust the Filibuster to bust our democracy. How ridiculous that will be. Democrats would have created the tool and then allowed the enemies of democracy use said the tool they created to destroy the United States as we know it.
Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act or Use the 14th Amendment
The John Lewis Voting Rights Act is designed to set standards for fair elections that states cannot ignore national contests. We clearly need some form of regulation to ensure the midterms and the 2024 elections are fair and the results accepted by the American people at large. I hope they pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, but it’s going to require a united Democrat party and that is not how things are due to Manchin and Sinema.
The 14th Amendment was created after the Civil War exactly for times like these. I’m tired of hearing lawyers tell me “it has no enforcing mechanism built into it and so has no teeth”. Can I remind such wusses that the 2nd Amendment clearly states gun ownership is a right “in order to maintain a well-functioning militia”. The GOP does did let a few words stand in their way. They’ve essentially let teenagers carry AK-15’s and fire them into crowds. They sell that amendment to the hilt and ignore its enabling clause. And once they had their base behind the idea of gun rights as constitutional right, it became a reason to vote GOP. We can create memes that get citizens to vote too.
This is the 14th Amendment, verbatim:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.
But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. …………….
But Donald Trump is not currently in Congress. He does not have to be voted out. And those secretary of state candidates who are Big Lie supporters and insurrection comforters are also disqualified by this constitutional amendment. Why on earth am I – a citizen with no real connection to government – the only one who sees the 14th Amendment for how it reads? Why does not out AG declare that those who support the Big Lie cannot run for office? Take that to the Supreme Court if need be. Because if it is okay to do that, then this place we call a democracy is doomed to fail. If we cannot pass new laws, we can use the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution to defend our elections.
And you know who respects the constitution the most? Trump’s base! So frankly, I think it’s better than the John Lewis Voting Rights Act ( John Lewis is not a hero to racists ) to defend democracy. Section 1 of the 14th states: No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. Does someone want to tell me how making voting harder for select groups is not abridging a privilege of citizenship?
We will soon know if Congress, Joe Biden, Merritt Garland and our DOD are up to the task of defending democracy. If I see neither Donald Trump indicted nor voting rights protected by new laws or the 14th Amendment by Feb 15th , I will conclude the democrats are okay with the status quo. This citizen, who voted for Biden in 2020, will then be looking for new people to support in the midterms and beyond.
Odds We Lose The Democracy in 2024 are Posted in Vegas – sort of.
There is a 42% chance we lose the democracy in 2024 according to Vegas pollsters. Let that sink in. And since Vegas takes money on bets, they have this number more correctly than most politicians. That’s 3 out of 7. It’s like a we are in the World Series down to our last game and winner takes all. Of course, all Vegas is saying is the GOP has a 42% chance of winning the POTUS election in 2024. But come on. With this GOP – that would mean democracy has died here. And Trump is the favorite to be the 2024 candidate, still. A 42% chance of having Donald Trump be president again is what Garland is riskingby not being pro-active. That’s a gamble no American shoul dbe willing to take.
All That Changes If We Indict Trump Before Campaign Season
We need a war room. Our enemies have war rooms. They know they are fighting WW3 with cyber weapons – words and laws. Biden’s AG must indict Trump soon. Summer will be way too late. We have the power to stop this now, but that power will wane dramatically if we lose seats in the midterms. And the GOP are willing to cheat to win because the guy who is in charge of the GOP spent a liftetime cheating to win. He gets off on cheating to win. Trump would rather win by cheating than win fair and square. Fair and square seems dumb to Donny.
Let me end this rant with a link to an article I found yesterday online. Germany already learned their lesson about allowing hate speech. I fear we will have to lose all to learn that lesson – and then it will be too late. 42% is not good enough for me.
THE ENGLISH CODE 