Rex Tillerson

Magnificent Victory For Doug Jones In Alabama: Its Meaning

Ronald 12 Comments

Last night’s magnificent victory in Alabama for Doug Jones in the special election to replace Jeff Sessions in the US Senate has so many meanings.

It is a total repudiation of the despicable former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore.

It is a total repudiation of Donald Trump, who now has lost twice in Alabama, after doing so well in that state in 2016. He lost with Luther Strange and now with Roy Moore.

It is a total repudiation of Steve Bannon, and his continued assault on the “Establishment” in the Republican Party, and is likely to lead to a Democratic House and Senate in the 2018 Midterm Congressional elections.

It is a total repudiation of disgraceful talk show host Sean Hannity on Fox News Channel, who could end up possibly implicated in the Trump Scandals being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

On a positive vein, it demonstrates that the forces of good are there, even in Alabama, as African Americans, Latinos, women, and young people came out and voted in an off year special election at much higher rates than projected.

It is also a tribute to conservative mainstream Republican Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, who refused to endorse and support Roy Moore, and told his supporters that he had voted a write in candidate, and that they could do so as well. As it turns out, if all of the write in votes had gone to Moore, it would have been a victory for the combative former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.

It was also a sign of just how good and decent Doug Jones was and is, as a prosecutor who, almost 40 years later, was able to gain convictions of Ku Klux Klansmen who killed those four young African American girls in that despicable church bombing in Birmingham in 1963. It was wonderful seeing African Americans on the stage with Jones at his victory celebration, showing the race issue does not have to divide Alabama or America.

It is also a sign of the significance of campaign adviser Joe Trippi, who earlier had worked for Walter Mondale, Gary Hart, Jerry Brown, Dick Gephardt, Ted Kennedy, and John Edwards in their various campaigns. What a great adviser Joe Trippi is!

This blogger was emotional about this great victory last night, and more so than even the great victories in New Jersey and particularly Virginia in the November off year elections.

Now it is time to move forward and force Donald Trump, who has divided America in so many hateful ways, to face the punishment he deserves, which is potential impeachment, with moral turpitude to be added to Russian Collusion, Obstruction of Justice, Abuse of Power, and Violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

It is also time for the top people around Trump to show they have courage and to demand he resign or they resign en masse. This includes John Kelly, H. R. McMaster, James Mattis, Rex Tillerson, and Nikki Haley.

The time for the cancer of Donald Trump to be excised has come, and the Democrats must use Trump against the Republicans, if they refuse to take responsibility for the dangers and authoritarianism that he represents.

It is time for the Republicans to put nation over party.

Senator Bob Corker’s Warning About Donald Trump And World War III

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Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has decided not to seek reelection in 2018, and that allows him to be more open on his views about Donald Trump, than he might have been if he had to deal with a reelection campaign.

But he is still Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and can block any nominee for Secretary of State, if Trump fires Rex Tillerson for his calling Trump a “F****** Moron”, and for disagreeing with Trump on North Korea, Iran, and many other issues.

Corker has earlier expressed his concerns about the unstable and immature behavior of the President, and now, after being attacked by Trump on Twitter, he has made clear his concern that Trump could start World War III, a thought that many other intelligent people have had ever since Trump was declared the winner of the Presidential election of 2016 exactly eleven months ago today.

Corker is a measured individual, a conservative but not extreme right wing, and he would have faced an Alt Right attack led by Stephen Bannon, if he had sought reelection.

Now Corker can work with other discontented Republicans, including John McCain, Jeff Flake, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham, Ben Sasse and others, in moving toward possible action against a very dangerous man, who seems unconcerned about the disarray and chaos he has created, both in domestic and foreign policy.

Donald Trump is a loose cannon, who needs to be removed from office pronto, as he is much more dangerous than Richard Nixon ever was, and is totally ignorant of facts and details on every subject imaginable.

As Corker said recently, it is the military people around Trump–John Kelly. James Mattis, H. R. McMaster–who are essential to keep a measure of control and influence over Trump, and hopefully, they will convince Vice President Mike Pence, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, and Senate President Pro Tempore Orrin Hatch, of the dire need to invoke Amendment 25 Section 4, and take the Presidency and the nuclear codes out of the hands of the maniac who endangers all of us!

Nikki Haley A Rare Gem Working For Donald Trump

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United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, former South Carolina Governor, is one of a very few members of the Trump Administration, who in a time of great turmoil, could be said to have made a positive impression in her position.

Haley showed courage after the Charleston Massacre in her state in June 2015, in promoting the removal of the Confederate Flag from the State Capitol Grounds in Columbia, South Carolina.

She has come across as very effective in dealing with other nations at the United Nations, despite her earlier lack of foreign policy experience.

She speaks in a measured and intelligent tone, and works to calm tension regarding Donald Trump’s loose rhetoric, particularly about North Korea, and its leader Kim Jong Un.

She was considered for Vice President by Mitt Romney in 2012 and Donald Trump in 2016, and has managed to overcome the rudeness of Trump toward her, due to the fact that she did not support him in the South Carolina Presidential Primary.

Rumor has it that she might be elevated to Secretary of State by either Trump or if Vice President Mike Pence succeeds to the Presidency during this term, as many observers believe Rex Tillerson is unhappy, and will leave early in 2018.

She is already perceived as being the most likely woman who might run for President on the Republican party line in the future.

While this blogger and author has not agreed with everything she has said and done in her public life, she stands out as a bright shining star in the midst of one Trump disaster after another.

Trump In Danger Of Facing Massive Resignations With His Controversial Personality, And Unwillingness To Be Controlled!

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Donald Trump has growing problems with his staff, and faces the threat of massive resignations in the near future.

Rumors abound that Gary Cohn, Chief Economic Adviser; Secretary of State Rex Tillerson; Secretary of Defense James Mattis; Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao (wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell); White House Chief of Staff John Kelly; and National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster are all having major problems with their boss.

The White House is still in chaos as Trump does not wish to be controlled in any form by anyone, and rages often, which could undermine his own health, and causes worry about his growing level of mental instability.

No President has ever gone through so many people being fired or resigning in the first seven plus months of a Presidency.

It seems likely that September will be the most tumultuous month of the Trump Presidency so far, with so many issues on the agenda, and this after the tumultuous month of August, even with Congress not in session.

But now Congress is back, and it is not just Democrats who are ready to go on the attack against Trump, but also many Republicans, as well as conservative intellectuals and writers.

The pressure is growing on Trump, and with the Mueller investigation in full swing, the Trump Presidency is getting closer to a time when it seems clear that Trump will be unable to handle the pressures of being President.

So the sense of a coming resignation at some point seems ever more likely. It would save the nation from the nightmare it has been going through in 2017!

IF Trump Wishes To Unite America After Charlottesville, He Must Fire All Connected To The Alt Right: Stephen Bannon, Stephen Miller, Sebastian Gorka!

Ronald 20 Comments

If Donald Trump wishes to unite America after Charlottesville, which he finally made a more acceptable statement condemning the Neo Nazis, and Ku Klux Klsn today at the White House, he must fire the Alt Right members of his administration as destructive forces.

Stephen Bannon, Stephen Miller, and Sebastian Gorka are all connected to the Alt Right, and they are working to undermine John Kelly, James Mattis, H. R. McMaster and Rex Tillerson, and there is no room in the administration for them.

One can be sure that Bannon will go on the attack against Trump if he is fired, but so be it, and efforts must be made to combat the Alt Right propaganda organ, Breitbart News Service.

If Trump does not move away from these hateful influences, it is time for the Republican Party to move toward impeachment, as we cannot allow white nationalists, white supremacists, Ku Klux Klan, Neo Nazis, and neo Confederates to run our government.

The Republican Party must move away from racism, nativism, antisemitism, and misognyny and NOW, not four years from now!

Donald Trump: Sadistic Toward His Staff And Cabinet, Action Needs To Be Taken By Vice President Mike Pence And Cabinet Members

Ronald 1 Comment

Donald Trump is a sadist, clear and simple, getting a kick out of obliterating his “enemies”. such as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but also loving to mistreat, bully, and humiliate his staff and Cabinet members, either by contradicting them, or openly ridiculing and “hanging them in the wind” in public.

Such a President should be told where to go by his staff, with all resigning, provoking a crisis, which could bring about the Vice President, Mike Pence, utilizing the 25th Amendment, Section 4, allowing a majority of the Cabinet to join the Vice President in asserting that the President is mentally deranged, and that Pence must take over as Acting President under the circumstances, as Trump is a threat to national security and internal order.

One does not have to like his Cabinet members, to deplore Trump’s attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and his teasing of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price about being fired if the healthcare bill fails of passage, and the clear pressure being brought against Chief Of Staff Reince Priebus.

Also, there are indications that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is considering leaving by the end of the year, and he and National Security Adviser H R McMaster have been constantly contradicted by Trump on policy.

Trump loves to torment people, as he is a mentally unstable person, who is a danger to cause a war or declare martial law, and it is time for Congress and the Cabinet to speak up and challenge Trump’s authoritarian tendencies before the situation becomes more dangerous.

The nation must come ahead of personal ambition or party loyalty, and only the Cabinet and the Republican majority Congress can do that, outside of the Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the news media, which are doing an excellent job of exposing scandal and wrongs in the Trump Administration.

Trump-Putin Summit Meeting A Clear Sign That Putin Has Trump In His Grasp, Undermines Trump Legitimacy As President

Ronald 16 Comments

The Trump-Putin Summit Meeting yesterday at the G-20 Summit is a clear sign that the Russian autocrat has our President in his grasp, and has undermined Trump’s legitimacy as our President.

All the intelligence agencies are absolutely certain that Russia intervened in our 2016 Presidential election, and helped Trump to win.

Trump has been unwilling to agree to the reality and the facts, calling it “fake news”.

Different versions of the meeting by the Russian Foreign Minister and our Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have emerged from the meeting, and the question is whether Trump really pressed the issue with Putin, and whether he will simply accept their version that they did NOT interfere in our election. A “robust” and “lengthy” discussion, as depicted by Tillerson, apparently was a distortion of the meeting, another lie of the Trump Presidency!

The idea that we had a summit meeting with only Tillerson as an observer, with his close past ties with Russia when he was head of Exxon Oil, is an outrage, when we should have had H. R. McMaster, the National Security Adviser, and or James Mattis, our Secretary of Defense, in the meeting. Between Trump and Tillerson, we had a grand total of 12 months experience in diplomacy, compared to many decades of experience by Putin and his Foreign Minister. This is an outrage that everyone should be alarmed about, and one can be sure many Republicans and conservatives in and out of Congress are truly alarmed!

IF Trump does not continue to challenge Putin and resist their propaganda, he will be permanently harmed, and we will have to worry that he is in league with them to help promote his fortunes, by their planned interference in our midterm elections in 2018 and the Presidential Election of 2020.

Can one even imagine the reaction if Barack Obama had colluded with Russia, or George W. Bush, or Bill Clinton?

Can one imagine how the far Right conservatives and the evangelical Christian Right, which have embraced Vladimir Put as a “Friend”, based on support of guns and opposition to gay rights, would have reacted if, in particular, Obama had done what Trump has done, promote a “bromance” with a man responsible for deaths of journalists and opponents, as revealed by Richard Engel in a one hour special on MSNBC last evening, part of a new series titled “On Assignment”?

The idea that men and women who profess religion could unite with a totalitarian dictator such as Putin only shows the corruption of right wing evangelicals, such as Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham! The idea that right wing commentators, such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Mark Levin, among others, would just accept that Putin is no danger to America, is also a true example of how lacking in substance these characters are, only concerned about making as much profit as possible on their propaganda, and no concern about American national security!

The way things look now, Donald Trump is truly the “Manchurian Candidate”, and we are permitting the Russians to infiltrate and undermine our political system with equanimity, instead of with alarm!

It Is Time For Donald Trump’s Staff, Advisers, And Cabinet To Resign, As A Message To The President That He Should Resign!

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After four months of chaos, anarchy, insults, misbehavior, and outrageous words and actions by Donald Trump, it is time for his staff. advisers, and cabinet to resign as a group, as a message to the President that he should resign.

It is never easy to work for a President, and it is considered an honor and a lift to a future career and wealth, so it is understandable that many of those around any President might be reluctant to take drastic action such as mass resignation.

But one’s reputation is also at stake, and one can earn wealth in the future just by having been on a President’s staff.

One does not need to take unreasonable abuse and mistreatment, as so many around Donald Trump have suffered.

One must have personal dignity and principle, and decide that enough is enough.

For instance, Sean Spicer, the White House Press Secretary, has been horribly mistreated, and he is just the tip of the iceberg. And Reince Priebus, the White House Chief Of Staff, is not respected by his boss.

And his top Cabinet members often contradict him publicly, and then Trump reasserts the outrageous statements that ha has made, which they have tried to “clean up”.

When the National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster; and the Secretary of Defense James Mattis; and the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson; and the United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, among others, find themselves totally ignored, and they witness the irrational behavior of Donald Trump, they are not doing a service to ignore such erratic behavior, and are undermining the safety and national security of the United States.

It is time for men and women of principle to stand up and say they will not tolerate such disgraceful behavior, and that the President has shown by his words and actions that he is not fit to be President.

And this means Vice President Mike Pence must also start serious consideration of invoking the 25th Amendment, Section 4, as the commitment of the Vice President and the Cabinet is to do what is good for America, not for any one man who happens to be President.

Clearly, Donald Trump is unhinged, dangerous, and could start a nuclear war, and or declare martial law, horrifying thoughts that require a steady hand at the controls, not a wacky, unstable, narcissistic maniac named Donald Trump!

Donald Trump Rejects The Paris Climate Deal, A Tragedy Long Term For America And The World!

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Donald Trump has just done the most disastrous long term action so far in his Presidency. by rejecting the Paris Climate Deal!

His own daughter, Ivanka, could not get through to him, and neither could Secretary of State Rex Tillerson; thousands of climate scientists; and hundreds of corporations, including Shell Oil and Exxon Oil, where Tillerson was once its leader.

It is a smack in the face to the entire world, with 195 countries having agreed to it, and only Syria and Nicaragua not taking part, and in the case of Nicaragua, they rejected the deal as too weak and wanted a stronger deal. So only a nation in the midst of a long civil war has refused to cooperate, as millions are dying, being wounded, or fleeing for their lives in that tragic war in Syria.

Trump is rejecting science, and allowing Scott Pruitt, his despicable head of the Environmental Protection Agency, and White House Advisor Stephen Bannon, to control his decision.

Trump will be condemned in history for this dastardly act, and his super nationalistic view reeks of Fascism, and it must be bitterly opposed by marches and demonstrations, and the push to defeat every Republican in Congress who supports what Trump has done.

Trump is showing no concern for future generations, and we will see over this century the eventual flooding of such cities as New York City, Boston, Miami, and New Orleans, and his legacy will be that he helped to cause this to occur.

Politicians go to doctors for medical treatment, for their expertise, so why not have politicians leave it to scientists to warn us what we must do to prevent climate change and global warming from destroying the nation and the world?

Imagine if Franklin D. Roosevelt had rejected the advice of Albert Einstein about nuclear weapons in 1939, because after all, one cannot see the atom visually!

America has given up world leadership, and will pay long term for our isolationism, and whatever can be done to reverse this crazy decision legally and politically over the next few years must be done!

How selfish and self serving can a President be? And Trump says the world will laugh at us if we do not rescind the Paris agreement, as the world is taking advantage of us, when in fact, the world is laughing at his stupidity and ignorance precisely because he has made this despicable decision!

April The Month For Many American Wars Beginning, And Now Likelihood Of War Against North Korea Soon

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When one examines American history, if we do not count wars against native Americans; interventions in Latin America; and the Filipino Insurrection from 1899-1902, we have had 12 wars in the nation’s historical experience.

Six of those wars began in April–The Revolutionary War, the Mexican American War, the Civil War, The Spanish American War, the First World War, and the escalation of the Vietnam War.

These events took place in 1775, 1846, 1861, 1898, 1917, and 1965.

Additionally, two wars began in March–the Second World War if one counts the Lend Lease Act of 1941 as the real beginning of naval engagement before Pearl harbor in December; and the Iraq War on March 20, 2003, the 14th anniversary of that tragic war being yesterday.

And also, two wars began in June—the War of 1812 and the Korean War in 1950.

So only two wars did not begin in the Spring months from early March to late June–the Persian Gulf War in January 1991 and the Afghanistan War in October 2001.

There is something about the Spring months, and particularly April, that seems, maybe coincidentally but maybe not, to be the time for wars to commence.

Based on recent warnings from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson while on a trip to Japan South Korea, and China, war could be coming very soon against Kim Jong Un of North Korea, maybe in April or shortly after, as concern about North Korean nuclear development being a growing threat to Seattle, Portland and San Francisco, as well as Hawaii, and also the threat to South Korea and Japan, is alarming.