Just for the Record on the Turning Point

There hasn't been a lot of political postings from me recently because I've already said what I can about my beliefs and the horrifying failures of this nation to put and keep a racist, TV-star con-man in charge of our country.

Last night was a turning point in that military leaders have spoken out against the brazen and ham-handed Constitutional violation of the right of peaceful assembly just so the con-man could have a photo-op holding up a bible in front of a church.

Nothing else has done it, but this has to be it. We can't wait five more months to election day with pandemic raging and the possibility of a race war followed by a harsh, government crack-down. I'm calling it that trump is done. He may or may not resign. He may flail around in his bunker. But without the backing of the U.S. Military, he is neutered as he should have been many years ago just for for his sexual offenses.

Here is some of what I posted yesterday on Facebook and Twitter. Just for the record.

In response to this article from the Washington Post:

"Shame, shame on the U.S. Park Police! You know better! I know you had good legal advice in the past and you could get it now if you listened to the right advisers--those farthest away from trump and Secretary "Coal & Petroleum" Bernhardt!"

And here's the Post on Sec of Defense, Mike Esper, criticizing excessive force.

In response to the Post article on former Sec of Defense, Jim Mattis, I said:

"We need more of this. It's still not too late."

And then,

"The Joints Chiefs of Staff have laid down a marker that they uphold the Constitution and will not interfere with peaceful protest! Stay safe out there, People! and video the perps of violence from the left and especially from the right!"

My hero, Michelle Obama

The personal connections hit me deeply:

"I had failed.

I had never in my life failed a test. . . . But I'd blown it with the bar. I was ashamed, sure that I'd let down every person who'd ever taught, encouraged, or employed me."

Like Michelle, I failed my first bar exam. It wasn't because we weren't smart or didn't study hard. It just happens to a lot of people when the two-day test is extremely tricky to keep the passage rates low. It was only 58% on my first try of the Maryland bar exam and only 56% six months later when I did pass. Michelle passed the Illinois exam on her second try too.

The second one also hit me joyfully:

He worked late at night in a small room we'd converted to a study at the rear of our apartment--a crowded, book-strewn bunker I referred to lovingly as the Hole. I'd sometimes go in, stepping over his piles of paper to sit on the ottoman in front of his chair while he worked, trying to lasso him with a joke and a smile, to tease him back from whatever far-off fields he'd been galloping through. He was good-humored about my intrusions, but only if I didn't stay to long.

Barack, I've come to understand, is the sort of person who needs a hole, a closed off little warren where he can read and write undisturbed. It's like a hatch that opens directly into the spacious skies of his brain. . . ."

Socially-distancing in my "hole," I finally go around to reading Becoming by Michelle Obama.

Trump Shutdown Update #2

Wow!

The latest furlough notice that I just acknowledged does not have a requirement of 15-minutes "excepted" work to check emails. Either that fight I had with DC and my dear supervisor (sorry) was irrelevant or it paid off.

Although, it leaves me even more depressed to be cut-off, shut-out, and furloughed completely. There is an HR contact, so I think I will request retirement papers to make sure they can be processed as soon as humanly possible considering the inhumanity of indefinite furloughs with the bare hope of restored pay, someday. . . .

Memorandum

Subject:  Written Notice of Second Furlough Decision

The uninterrupted and unforeseeable absence of either a Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19) appropriation, or a continuing resolution for the Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor, prevents DOI from incurring further financial obligations, except for those related to performance of excepted duties, functions, and activities as defined in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memorandum for Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies dated November 17, 1981. Because you are not performing excepted duties during the continuing lapse in appropriations, you will remain in a nonduty and nonpay furlough status, beginning and effective at 12:00 a.m. on January 21, 2019, for a period not expected to exceed thirty (30) days. This second furlough notice will accordingly expire at 12:00 a.m. on February 20, 2019. If the length of the current lapse in appropriations for DOI has caused a new contingency to arise relevant to your work, please contact your supervisor or another excepted supervisor/employee for guidance on how to proceed.

During this second furlough period, you may not work at your workplace or other alternative worksite unless and until recalled. You will not be permitted to work as an unpaid volunteer. Any paid leave (annual, sick, court, etc…) approved for use during this second furlough period is cancelled.

Please continue to monitor public broadcasts and the Internet, including but not limited to DOI.gov, for information and public notices relevant to any FY19 appropriation or continuing resolution for DOI passed by Congress and signed by the President. You will be expected to return to regular duty on your next work day immediately after the end of the lapse in appropriations. 

Worse than Benedict Arnold

Benedict Arnold in Continental Army Uniform

It could be argued that Benedict Arnold was simply loyal to King George III as the king still claimed sovereignty over the American Colonies and had sent an occupying army to suppress a colonial rising. And fortunately, General Arnold's plan to deliver the fort at West Point on the Hudson was foiled by exposure of the plot.

I suppose one could also argue that Individual 1 is merely loyal to his highest interest, his own view of a great America with him at its head. It all revolves around him and it's all in his head under that mass of highly controlled hair cover which must take so much work it helps explains why the rest of his appearance is so slovenly.

The Shoes are Dropping like Cats and Dogs or Something

This is the message I sent to Utah Senator Mike Lee's office early this morning:

Dear staffer reading this. Please consider sharing this idea with Sen. Lee. He has the chance to step up and be a big leader and advocate for the MAJORITY of Utahns. Mueller is about to drop some more shoes in the investigation that show Trump and his admin compromised by Russia in financial and political dealings. Trump is not popular in Utah even among Republicans and Trump support is dropping. It's going to get worse. We need a Statesman to come forward who will help save country and the Republican party from the constitutional crisis of a criminally compromised executive with an adverse foreign power - Putin's Russia. Please get the Senator to step up and be that Statesman. Work with your new freshman Senator, Romney, and get him going on this. It shouldn't take much prodding. Get him to take it on as a project like saving the SLC Olympics. But Lee can take the lead here and be a big hero. Your party is in trouble (I'm a Dem myself). And our Nation is in peril. Please have the Senator step up and deal with trump's apparent crimes here. Many thanks. Please do not respond to me.

#Individual1 is going down soon. Mueller has the goods. The startling revelations in his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen's, strangely additional guilty plea of last Friday are a marker laid down by the Special Counsel that he has the evidence on the whole criminal conspiracy of #Individual1, his family enterprises, his administration, and Putin's Russia.

It's Civil War of Minds and Hearts - With Some Unnecessary Pain, Suffering, and Death

Fortunately, there are no organized armies yet. There are shots being fired in mass shootings and attacks on unarmed People of Color, even when they peaceably assemble in church.

If you are a trump believer, all immigrants are brown and criminals. They "infest" and threaten "white culture." This is as if Jefferson Davis became President of the United States and spread the lies of slavery.

We need a new Lincoln. We need to stand for Union and Human Rights for all. We need to respect the dignity of People of Color who contribute wonderfully to this Great Nation. We need to denounce and fight every attempt to place the falsehood of "white culture" as the American Way.

Alice Cooper Predicted our Political Present

Oh, my Gosh!

I just heard this song recently and checked the lyrics. This is donald trump! Alice Cooper, of all people, called it in 1972!

I'm your top prime cut of meat, I'm your choice
I wanna be elected
I'm your Yankee Doodle Dandy in a gold Rolls Royce
I wanna be elected

Getting Ready for the Big Parade!

With  little more spirit of levity than I felt on the eve of the last shutdown, I have some proposals for the uniform the gentleman in the White House may want to consider for his big military parade:

These above would be excellent choices for the whole crowd! Melania, Jared, Ivanka, and the other gentleman could all choose their own shade. We know Melania would look good in blue. Peach seams right for Jared. Ivanka and her dad would have to fight over pink and green.

The Shutdown Stupidity

Let's be very clear on the reasons for the shutdown.

While I expected a series of continuing resolutions to keep the government funded until we have a new Congress in 2019, there are a few issues that have come to a head because of trump's mismanagement of the presidency and abysmally poor negotiating skills.

1. Racism. trump's vile language of just a few days ago in negotiations with both Republican and Democratic members of Congress clearly reveal what we all know and some won't admit, that trump is a disgusting racist. He said it. He wants more immigrants like Norwegians instead of from "s***hole" or "s***house" countries like Haiti or "Africa." The LDS Church has recently condemned racism and "white supremacy" in the strongest of terms.

Check on My Predictions for 2017

OK, let's do this.

It's time to review the political predictions I made for 2017 now that the miserable year has ended and we're coming up on a year of trump in the White House. (By the way, my life is pretty good in other regards).

I am most happy to say that my prediction that a nuclear bomb would go off somewhere in the world did come true, but it was only a "test" by North Korea and not an attack on us or our allies. But it's not like we're still worried about that or anything.

Kim Jon Un posing as if he were watching a missile launch--or worse.

I failed in my prediction that even trump would realize that Putin is not his friend. If anyone has heard any criticism of Putin by trump, please let me know because I think he is one of the very few world figures that trump has not criticized.

Hiraeth from 2016: Day Five, Cardiff Castle

We went to downtown Cardiff again. Well, at least on the same general route downtown. There were a few sites on the way.

That moment you realize your patriotism has been turned into some cheap,
 commercial stunt. Wait. I live in the US!

The big surprise was as we neared Cardiff University, we noted a large number of film production trucks, trailers, etc. It was Doctor Who! The guards were very friendly but didn't let us too close. We saw no stars and the Doctor was apparently off in the TARDIS somewhere (or in the vault in the basement with Missy). However, we did confirm that it was the Doctor's crew.

What the WHAT!?

So, in case you somehow haven't heard, trump fired James Comey, the Director of the FBI for, get this:

Lying about Hillary's emails!

OK. I can't help it if I find it hilariously funny in a dark humor sort of way.

I just got an email from a friend who has been walking the world since retirement from my office. He says:

We got through Nixon. We will get through this. I am more concerned in the long term about global warming than I am about Trump.

He has a couple of good points there.

The Art of No Deal

Let's face it, trump is a fraud. The spectacular failure of "repeal and replace" brings that home today. It's not a good day for Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, either. You should at least be able to get the support of your own majority party. The bill was withdrawn because neither the ultra-conservative "freedom" caucus would support it nor the more "moderate" Republicans in the House who might like to get re-elected in districts that went for Secretary Clinton.

Two of my predictions about trump as president have already come to pass. (And I'm hoping some of the others don't!)

It has been seven long years since Obamacare passed and the best the Republican Party could come up with was a last-minute, slap-dash fraud of a bill that would reduce coverage for millions and be a nightmare to administer.

Remember, trump said he would repeal and replace with something much better with less expensive coverage for all! And if you believed that, I've got some steaks, vodka, and a college degree to sell you.

The Constitution Is NOT A "Negative" Document!

I know what they mean. It's the whole conservative line that the U.S. Constitution's purpose was to establish a limited government. Even though it came after the failed Articles of Confederation to give the national government more, not less power. Don't believe the propaganda. Read the document itself.

Today someone posted a clip from the Senate hearings to confirm (or not) Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Senator Sasse of Nebraska set him up for this "negative" document thing.



So I had to respond:

Holland Saves Western Europe!

The Red, White, and Blue, and Orange!

Ziko-C - Own work. Kerktoren Oude St Mauritius, Silvolde, Koninginnedag 2008. Toren uit ca. 1570.

Not that I'm a big expert on internal or external Dutch politics, but the weak election results of the Partij voor de Vrijheid - PVV (Party for "Freedom") of yet another nationalist populist who shall remain unnamed on this blog was a good sign yesterday. It shows that the march of nationalism that resulted in so many millions of deaths in the horrific wars of the 20th Century may be turning a corner in 21st.

A friend an I discussed the cycles of history yesterday and how we fail to learn to stand up for the rights of the oppressed. The struggle keeps cycling around but blood and horror always seems to rule on this earth. Before the nationalistic wars of the 19th Centuries, we had the nations battling over colonies and slavery and the oppression of peoples of different cultures and tones of skin color. Before that were the feudal kingdoms of "might makes right" and he who had the most gold or bigger sword lorded it over the serfs, peons, or peasants.

But back to the plucky Dutch (I have some ancestry there, by the way, on both my Dad and Mom's side. 19th Century Mormon converts on my Dad's and back to Colonial New Amsterdam Dutch on my Mom's). In the 20th Century, the Netherlands were rolled over by the Nazi war machine surrendering but never quite as their resistance was strong. Many helped Jews escape to neutral Sweden. The resistance wore the hidden safety pins to flash their unity that have now become a symbol of support of immigrants and refugees in this country as I wear them. After the war, Mormon Dutch gathered their potato harvest to feed the starving survivors in . . . Germany. It was such a relief to see their rejection of nationalism yesterday.

The Agents of V.O.I.C.E.

When trump announced his great, really great, idea to have a task force for Victims Of Immigrant Crime Engagement, a gasp and moan went up from the Democratic side of the House Chamber. I felt it too.

The problem is simply this:
Attempting to couch it in some kind of relief or service to victims, he doesn't hide the real nature that it is a list of crimes committed by immigrants. By so doing, he creates a new class that he can then treat differently than all other criminals because of their status as immigrants.

Maybe he only means illegal Immigrants. And I can see the point and don't even contest the valid interest of placing a priority on deporting undocumented immigrants who commit serious crime. But why create a victims list of only those impacted by Immigrants?

Tweeting trump's Speech to Congress

1. Babysitting Grandkids, this was the best I could do tonight. It's a miracle I could watch a whole hour-plus of a man frowning while reading from a teleprompter!
2. 1. Grant L. Vaughn‏ @Whistlestar_PMM  2h2 hours ago
      

      "A Great GREAT Wall!"

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   2. Grant L. Vaughn‏ @Whistlestar_PMM  2h2 hours ago
      

      Harley Davidson will make America great again?

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   2. Grant L. Vaughn‏ @Whistlestar_PMM  2h2 hours ago
      

      The National Academy of Science calculated cost of immigrants to precisely "many billions of dollars."

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Trump and Republicans Are Threatening the First Amendment

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

As entertaining* as Trump's Press Conference last Thursday may have been, it and recent actions of Republican officials are evidencing serious threats to the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Not all the fault lies on the Right, the Left in certain college campuses have restricted the expression of views of unpopular right-wingers. As obnoxious as they may be, all voices should be heard. And the voices restricted at some campuses are still loud and clear in many other fora.

But let's address the issues of Trump and his party.

1. "No law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"

Nixon & Elvis

One of the strangest photographs ever of a President of the United States (well, until any photo of the current president over the last three weeks), was this one of Nixon meeting Elvis Presley. Presley presented himself to the President as one concerned about the way the liberal left and drug culture were leading the youth of America astray and away from the patriotic ideals represented by Nixon.

I just watched the Amazon production of Elvis & Nixon, my wife out of town so I could get away with it. I would give it four stars. ****

And the bigger point here is the realization that our current President is the perfect fusion of Nixon and Elvis. All the hypocrisy of both; espousing patriotic ideals while allowing personal demons to self-destruct in front of a national, no, international audience.

Marching Home

We arrived early enough that the crowd wasn't that big

Political rallies, conventions, caucuses, candidates of various parties have all been witnessed first-hand. But this was my first ever political march. I mean, we weren't in formation or lock-step in any way. It's just that I have never been a part of a protest. And I wasn't alone.

It helped that my daughter went with me. I had posted on Facebook that I was going to march for refugees and had friends say that they might make it or were with me in spirit as they were occupied elsewhere. My daughter didn't surprise as she had been with me and a friend to caucus for Bernie. And the cause is just.

Remember the Mormon Pioneers as refugees from New York, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and, of course, the despair of the coal mines and iron works of South Wales. Remember the promise of the Statue of Liberty which was my theme noting several others with the same in the massive crowd of yesterday. Remember the Pilgrims and the Founders of religious liberty in this promised land and the promises of the First Amendment.