The US Constitution

The Shocking Behavior Of Republicans Is Beyond The Pale! :(

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The Republican Party is fast disintegrating!

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, after being impeached overwhelmingly by the Texas dominated Republican House of Representatives, is found not guilty on all counts by the Texas dominated Republican Senate.

Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert acted inappropriately in public with her date at a concert.

The Republican Presidential contenders move further to the extreme right in appeals to evangelical voters in Iowa, and try to outdo each other in their craziness and authoritarian tendencies.

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy allowed himself to be manipulated by his Freedom Caucus extremist members to start an impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden, knowing there is no evidence to do so, and just using the personal problems of Hunter Biden to attack the entire Biden family.

Donald Trump gave an interview to Kristen Welker of NBC Meet the Press, demonstrating ever further his mental deterioration and constant lying and deceptions.

Mitt Romney, when announcing his retirement at the end of 2024, told us that Mitch McConnell did not respond when Romney warned him of danger on January 6, 2021, four days ahead of that fateful date. Romney also condemned most Republicans who he said ridicule Donald Trump in private, but support him in public, and particularly mentioned Senators Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and J D Vance. Their desire to have power overcomes the concept of commitment to basic principles.

In the past, we saw political parties in America, including the Federalist Party after 1816; the Democratic Republican Party in the 1820s; and the Whig Party in 1854, all dissolve!

It is time for the Republican Party name to be replaced by a new party name, and a rejection of much of what the present day right wing Fascist oriented party represents, in order to have a safe future of a nation committed to the Constitution and rule of law!

Donald Trump Condemned To Last Place In Presidential Rankings For All Time!

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It is now official: Donald Trump is condemned to last place in Presidential rankings for all time!

With two impeachments and four indictments, and with a total of 91 counts against the 45th President, he falls into the basement, so to speak, as for all time the worst, most corrupt President, and it is hard to imagine any future President being as horrendous as he has now been judged by facts and reality!

His mugshot will reverberate in history for the long run, a symbol of a would be tyrant who would never leave office, if it had not been for courageous and principled people around him who stood in the way of the establishment of an autocracy that would have destroyed the American Republic!

A lot of this tragedy was caused by Donald Trump himself, and his desire to destroy American democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law, and puts him in an exclusive spot as a wannabe Fascist authoritarian who almost succeeded in his quest to be President for life!

And Trump is delusional, trying to raise money on his mugshot from gullible Americans, when to believe that he will evade ALL 91 counts in four cases against him, is truly a warped mind who lives in an alternative universe! Why would any sane American wish to buy a T shirt with the Trump mugshot on it is beyond all sanity!

Realize that almost all of the witnesses in the various cases against Donald Trump are REPUBLICANS, who thankfully refused to participate in the attack on democracy, at the same time that so many others, including present Republican contenders for the Presidency either stayed on the sidelines or participated in trying to overthrow the accurate results of the Presidential Election of 2020!

Yes, other Presidents have been judged in the past as the worst, including James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, and Warren G. Harding, but none of them, with their faults and shortcomings, come anywhere near the venality of Donald Trump!

Even the other most corrupt President, Richard Nixon, would be stunned at the level of evil that Donald Trump represents, and Nixon had some real accomplishments which have prevented him from ending up in the bottom few Presidents!

One might say Donald Trump accomplished some noteworthy achievements, but his level of evil is so massive that it cannot save him from the basement of history long term!

Ironically, Donald Trump will have a full scale Presidential funeral, and likely will have, at some point, a Presidential Library and Museum, as even Richard Nixon had, but the stain of what he did and tried to do to subvert American democracy will never be overcome in the annals of history!

49th Anniversary Of Richard Nixon Resignation: Time To Hold Donald Trump Accountable!

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It is 49 years since the nightmare of Richard Nixon came to an end, with his announced resignation from the Presidency.

It is now time, a half century later, for Donald Trump, who makes Richard Nixon look like a choirboy, to be held accountable for his crimes and abuses in his Presidency!

Attempts are being made to delay any trial until after the Presidential Election of 2024, but that cannot be allowed to happen.

And if only Congress would impose the 14th Amendment, Section 3, against Donald Trump, then he would be ineligible to run for President, and to undermine American democracy.

Sadly, with a small margin Republican controlled House of Representatives, such a reality will not be happening, and the nation and the world is in danger from an authoritarian Fascist oriented, mentally unstable man, whose followers are a cult that have no concern about the US Constitution and the rule of law!

Growing Nativism, Antisemitism, Misogyny, White Supremacy On Social Media: A Threat To American Society!

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Social Media has become a threat to American democracy, as it has permitted all kinds of hatreds to be spewed regularly without any thought of the effect on the American people.

There is growing nativism, antisemitism, misogyny and white supremacy that has promoted many of the gun massacres that have been occurring nearly daily recently, including the tragic Allen, Texas Massacre of a week ago, but also so many other such horrendous incidents.

The mental health of millions of Americans is becoming a national crisis, and particularly among women, racial and ethnic minorities, and younger people in general.

Freedom of expression is a cardinal principle of our Constitution, but there needs to be some development of a monitoring system in which social media companies, who are making money on hate, are held accountable!

Donald Trump, Now A Convicted Sexual Abuser In Civil Case, Has Disastrous Town Hall In New Hampshire!

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Donald Trump is now a convicted sexual abuser in the E. Jeanne Carroll civil case, and one would think that any intelligent human being would repudiate him, as would anyone really want a person with that kind of behavior to be President once again?

And after last night’s horrendous performance of Donald Trump at the CNN sponsored Town Hall in New Hampshire, one has to wonder about the audience laughing and applauding a person who was responsible for the January 6 US Capitol Insurrection and so many more criminal actions in the four years of his Presidency.

It now seems clear that we have an authoritarian Fascist percentage of the American population which lives in delusion and is easily manipulated.

We have too many people who are misogynists, racist, white supremacist, antisemitic, nativist, and Islamophobic, as well as anti gay, in the name of white extremist Christianity, distorting the teachings of Jesus Christ!

Those who support Donald Trump, after all that has occurred, clearly have no issue in destroying the Constitution and the rule of law, and would be willing to commit any criminal act in loyalty to Donald Trump and his ilk, just like many in Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and many contemporary governments in the world today!

CNN Major Blunder: Giving Donald Trump Legitimacy By Hosting Town Hall!

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CNN was begun in 1980 by Ted Turner, and became the leading Cable News Channel, in competition with the print media, particularly the NY Times and Washington Post.

It gained a reputation of being a reliable news source in the eyes of many observers and viewers.

But now, with new leadership, it has declined rapidly in image and judgment.

Tonight, CNN is giving Donald Trump, twice impeached, indicted in New York, and now convicted in a civil trial of sexual abuse and defamation, and facing more legal issues in Georgia, and on improper possession of government documents at Mar a Lago, and inciting the January 6 Insurrection, the opportunity to be at a Town Hall gathering in New Hampshire to be televised nationally!

What is the purpose of this CNN decision? To give Trump legitimacy and ignore his call for destroying the Constitution and rule of law? To have his sedition and treason that incited January 6, 2021 rewarded by promoting him to be elected President again?

This is pure insanity, and blood will be on the hands of CNN and its lunatic leadership for what develops out of this outrageous decision that no reasonable news source would be engaged in, with the false concept of “equal time” to all those seeking the Presidency!

Clarence Thomas, Harlan Crowe, And Leonard Leo: Massive Ethics Scandal!

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Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas has become the most controversial member of the Supreme Court since Associate Justice Abe Fortas resigned from the Court in 1969, due to an ethics scandal, which by comparison to Thomas, was quite minor.

Thomas and his wife, Ginni Thomas, have been taking favors, gifts, and lots of money from billionaires Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo, the latter the head of the right wing Federalist Society, which has been dedicated, and quite successfully, to turn the US Federal Judicial system to the extreme Right.

Thomas has been controversial since he was confirmed in 1991, after charges of sexual harassment by Anita Hill, caused the closest vote of the 20th century in the US Senate.

The Court under Chief Justice John Roberts has been besmirched not only by Thomas, but by controversies surrounding the appointments of all three Trump appointees, and the two Bush appointees of Thomas and Samuel Alito.

Faith and trust in the fairness and balance of the Court has declined rapidly, but there is little that can be done to force Thomas to resign, as that would have the effect of changing the strong right wing extremism of the present Court with a Joe Biden replacement.

The rule of law and faith in the Constitution is under attack, and restored confidence in the Court is not likely anytime soon.

Proud Boys Sedition Convictions Now Point To Donald Trump!

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The conviction of four “Proud Boys” leaders of seditious conspiracy connected to the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection now brings up an issue!

Should the government pursue such charges against former President Donald Trump, who certainly, by his words and actions to interfere with the counting of the Electoral College votes, provoked and encouraged the actions of not just these specific individuals, but the thousands of rioters who invaded and caused damage to the US Capitol, and endangered Vice President Mike Pence, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and all of the US House and Senate members?

How could any sane person disagree with pursuit of prosecution of the former President, who even now speaks of suspending and destroying the Constitution, and vows retribution and revenge, and pledges pardons of all January 6 seditionists?

The only way to prevent a future situation with another President is immediate action, and severe punishment, so that never again will we have a person like Donald Trump promoting the destruction of American democracy and establishment of an authoritarian government!

Crazy, Tumultuous America 158 Years After The End Of The Civil War!

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Today, April 9, marks the end of the American Civil War in 1865, 158 years ago!

Today, more than a century and a half since then, America is, arguably, more divided than it has ever been, including the tumultuous 1960s!

Now, the South, once Democratic and hardline on the issue of racial discrimination, is Republican and hardline on the issue of racial discrimination!

Now, the nation that would not give women the right to vote or basic legal rights in the 19th century, is in the process of stripping away a woman’s right to control her own body, and decide whether she wishes to have children every time she engages in sexual intercourse, by choice or by force!

Now, we have a former President, Donald Trump, who has abused power massively, much more than even Richard Nixon a half century ago, and the party of Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower bows to him in a cult like fashion, ready to put him back to power and destroy all of the progress of American democracy in the past century or more!

America is on the cusp of the possible destruction of the Constitution and the rule of law, and is on a tear to provoke violence and bloodshed in the determination that the Second Amendment, which has been horribly distorted, shall rule supreme, and that anyone, no matter how mentally disturbed he or she is, is entitled to weapons of war to use on American streets!

America, a nation built on the contributions of immigrants, is once again promoting nativism against people of different colors, languages, customs, and religions, with no sense of the dignity of all human beings!

America, a nation built on freedom of religion, and separation of church and state, is now seeing religious extremists attempting to promote a national theology of white supremacy Christianity, leading to antisemitism, anti Muslim, anti Hindu, and all other religious beliefs in the name of a supposed absolute deity!

America, a nation built on three equal and balanced government branches, is now witnessing the judicial branch gone amuck, in its determination to promote an absolute, narrow minded version of the Constitution–Originalism–which refers on the nation as it was in 1787 at the time of the Constitutional Convention, as if the 236 years since then are an aberration of the original principles of the Founding Fathers!

A nation which does not grow and change is a nation in decline, and in a world where there are massive threats that create danger, that can only undermine the nation which has been a model for the world of the possibilities of expansion of basic human rights!

This is a time for reflection, and for determination NOT to allow the evil forces which surround us to achieve their wicked goals!

Potential Republican Presidential Nominees Who Would NOT Support Donald Trump!

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With the Presidential campaign of 2024 beginning, the question arises whether there are ANY potential Republican Presidential contenders who would refuse to endorse Donald Trump, were he to win the Republican Presidential nomination next year.

Many Republicans have made criticisms of Trump in some form, and a number plan to run and compete, but the issue is IF any of them lose the nomination to Trump, would they support and endorse him at the end of the process.

There is no certainty of any active Republicans willing to go so far as to refuse to support the party nominee if Trump is that nominee.

But on paper, the following, none certain to run, would likely NOT support him:

Senator Mitt Romney of Utah
Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson
Former Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming
Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois

This author and blogger would have added sitting New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu and former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan to the list, but it turns out that even with their likely candidacies for President, and their strong criticisms of Trump in recent times, that they have said that they WOULD support Trump, were he the nominee of his party!

This is stunning, as it takes Sununu and Hogan off a short list of Republican political figures who have the guts and courage to overlook party, and do what is good for the nation!

Trump recently stated that he wished to torch the Constitution, and what else needs to be known as to the threat to American democracy than that utterance!

And yet Sununu and even Hogan, as well as many other Republicans who opposed and criticized Trump in the past and present, are still letting party win out, and would support Trump if he was the nominee of the Republican Party!

Realize one thing about the short list given above, that all but Romney (who would be 77 and a half at election time in 2024, and is considering running for reelection to the Senate), are FORMER officeholders!

And despite Liz Cheney stating she would do everything possible to stop Trump, will she actually run against him or form an independent party candidacy?

And Kinzinger seems highly unlikely to mount a campaign either.

And Hutchinson is an unknown, and is unlikely to be a serious contender in any case.

So fundamentally, it seems likely that no significant Republican will stand in the way of Trump, ultimately, and many will even show that party loyalty matters more than principle!

So the Republican Party is hostage to a very dangerous, authoritarian Fascist threat in Donald Trump, but the leading alternative seems to be a person of similar authoritarian tendencies, who is much younger and smarter, and therefore, even MORE dangerous than Trump would be!

This is in reference to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis!