Constitution

Dr. Jill Biden Expresses Regret And Wistful Feelings Over Her Husband Not Running For President, And Many Share Such Feelings!

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The Second Lady of the United States, Dr. Jill Biden, today expressed regrets and wistful feelings over her husband, Vice President Joe Biden, not running for President.

This is a thought and feeling shared by millions of Americans, including this blogger and author, who shares that sentiment!

Joe Biden is certainly not perfect, and no candidate is, but somehow, the feeling is that the Presidential race would have been dignified by his presence, and it might have changed the whole nature of the Presidential campaign.

Dr. Jill Biden, a community college professor, said that her husband would have been good at promoting compromise and progress, as that is his forte in politics, which is so true. The Vice President has helped President Barack Obama so much, as he gets along well with Republican leaders.

So this blogger will again say that the best possible Vice Presidential choice that Hillary Clinton could make, once she is the Democratic Presidential nominee, is to ask Joe Biden to run for a third term as Vice President, perfectly legal under the Constitution, although a President is limited to two elected terms by the 22nd Amendment.

Who would be better at helping a President Hillary Clinton to get things done than Joe Biden? And Hillary Clinton would have the blessing of both Biden and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, who would become “First Gentleman”, to assist her in making crucial domestic and foreign policy decisions!

This blogger backed the idea of a third term as Vice President for Joe Biden back in February of 2015, and John Hockenberry of “The Takeaway” on National Public Radio interviewed me on January 21 of this year regarding my promotion of Biden, and the eight minute interview is on the right side of the blog under “Interviews”!

There could be no better team than Hillary and Joe to be the top two people running our government starting January 20, 2017, and it would allow the nation to utilize the talents of a man who has served the nation for 44 years on the national level, and could now add four more to his amazing record of service!

Could We Be Facing Another 1824 Presidential Election, And Use Of The “Ugly” 12th Amendment Once Again, Where The House Of Representatives Selects The Next President?

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There is growing concern that if we have a third party candidacy of Donald Trump, that we could end up with a scenario of the House of Representatives choosing the next President of the United States!

In 1824, in the first participation by all white males in the election, Andrew Jackson was first in popular votes and electoral votes, but lost the election to second place finisher, John Quincy Adams, because Jackson did not have a majority of the electoral votes, and the House chose Adams over Jackson, pure politics!

With a theoretical race of Democrat Hillary Clinton,  Republican Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump, Clinton could end up having the most popular and electoral votes, but fail to reach 270, the number required to win the White House.

The outgoing House of Representatives, with a clear cut Republican majority, would have each member have his or her own vote, and assuredly in that scenario, Ted Cruz would be elected President, even, in theory, if he ended up third in both popular and electoral vote, as the 12th Amendment provides for a choice of the top three candidates!

This would be unconscionable, but could happen, another quirk of the Presidential election process, that has not been used for 192 years, but could rear its ugly head once again!

March 4, 1789–227 Years Without A Tyrant–Not About To Allow It To Happen Now With Donald Trump!

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The American Constitution went into effect officially on March 4, 1789, even though the first President, George Washington, was inaugurated belatedly on April 30, 1789.

We so revere the Constitution without realizing that through domestic and foreign crises over the years, we have only come fairly close to danger just once–the lawlessness of Richard Nixon.

But even with Nixon, we were far from Fascism or dictatorship, and the Constitution did work well  in the 1970s.

Despite acts of illegality, and plans for more, Richard Nixon was stopped dead in his tracks, including Alexander Haig telling the Pentagon to ignore Richard Nixon if he ordered martial law!

So when we hear that Donald Trump would order the military to break international law and American law, and return to the George W. Bush-Dick Cheney system of torture through waterboarding that has been banned by Barack Obama; and when we hear that Trump would wish to kill the entire families of suspected terrorists, and have no limit on military engagement as the military would obey him–then we know we have a tyrant in the making.

And when we hear that Trump wishes his crazy followers to beat up anti Trump protesters at rallies, and would plan to curb freedom of speech, press and assembly, including against media critics including the New York Times and Washington Post when he gains power, then we know we have Fascism in our midst, much greater than Huey P. Long, Joseph McCarthy, George C. Wallace, Pat Buchanan, or other lesser demagogues!

We have not had a tyrant for 227 years of our Republic, and we are not about to allow it to happen now with Donald Trump and his ilk!

Time Has Arrived For Americans To Show They Will NOT Tolerate Donald Trump, Even If They Like Being At Rallies Of A Reality Star!

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Finally, the beginning of voting for President has arrived, with the Iowa Caucuses tomorrow, and the New Hampshire Primary a week from Tuesday the first indications of what the American people, or at least those who vote, are thinking.

Who would have thought that, seven and a half months since Reality Start Donald Trump announced for President, that he would be leading in Republican polls for the Presidency?

This reality is against the record of Donald Trump, which shows he has no principles at all, except his own aggrandizement!

He thinks the Presidency is a Reality TV show, and it is time for the American people, and particularly the Republicans, to show that they have not totally self destructed, and given in to the appeal of a racist, nativist, misogynist, and an immoral, unethical, ignorant person who would be a total disaster for the party and the nation, were he to win the nomination and occupy the Oval Office next January 20!

If Trump were to win the White House, we would have a full fledged Fascist in office, endangering the Constitution and American democratic values, so he must be prevented from making us wish for George W. Bush or Richard Nixon as an alternative!

Being at a campaign rally for a Reality TV star is one thing, but electing such a despicable human being as Donald Trump to the Presidency is something totally different!

Donald Trump Is An Ignoramus On Public Issues, And Refusal To Debate Should Eliminate Him From Presidential Race!

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Donald Trump is a demagogue, buffoon, jerk, and a coward!

He is also an ignoramus, promising to make everything better, but giving absolutely no details!  He has no clue as to how diplomacy works, or how to deal with Congress and the news media!

He has no knowledge, no background, no depth, no diplomatic skills, and is only focused on his own narcissism.  He is a bully and a braggart who needs comeuppance!

Donald Trump is a danger to American democracy and the Constitution, as he struts like Benito Mussolini; promotes racism and nativism and scapegoating of whole populations of particular ethnic and religious groups; and is backed by the most extreme right wing fanatics and hate groups that exist in this nation!

Trump also praises the leadership skills of dictators, including Kim Jong Un of North Korea and Vladimir Putin of Russia as “models” to admire, making Trump dangerous as a sociopath!

Only those in public life who are “lowlifes” back him, as no decent person would consider putting a person with his lack of any experience in governing, in charge of the military and nuclear weapons!

This man has led an immoral, unethical life, with four bankruptcies and scandal all around him, and he and his wife would damage the image of the President and the First Lady and proper public behavior!

His refusal to debate in tonight’s seventh Republican Presidential debate in Iowa, due to his distaste for Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly, should disqualify him from the Presidency, as it is a hint that he might decide to forego Presidential debates in the fall, and that is something that is totally unacceptable!

Donald Trump should resign from the race if he does not show up tonight at the GOP debate, clear and simple!

If not, the voters, starting next week, should visit their repudiation of this narcissistic moron on him, and send him back to his real estate business pronto!

Right Wing Militia Takeover Of Federal Wildlife Refuge In Oregon Must Be Ended, And Federal Authority Asserted Over Public Lands!

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Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican President, asserted federal authority over public lands in the West in the early 20th century, to insure that industry and big business would not destroy our natural wonders.

Abraham Lincoln, a Republican President, asserted federal authority to prevent the Southern secessionists from breaking up the Union through assertion of states rights in the Civil War.

George Washington, a Federalist President, used federal troops to resist defiance of the federal government’s authority to impose taxes on Pennsylvania at the time of the Whiskey Rebellion.

Andrew Jackson, a Democratic President, was ready to use federal military force against South Carolina in the Nullification Crisis, but avoided through a negotiated compromise.

We live now in a time of right wing militia who have in the past, and still do today, work to defy federal authority, and to claim the Constitution backs them up, which is a total misunderstanding of the nation and its history.

The US government must enforce taxation and control of public lands under the Constitution  and its laws, and must not allow open defiance of such authority!

If the seizure of public lands in Oregon, a federal wildlife refuge, this past weekend, by members of the lawless Bundy family, can be ended peacefully, all to the good!

But one can be sure that if it was black activists or Muslims or Latinos who were occupying and seizing public lands, the outcry would be that they must be removed forcefully from the scene of their illegal actions.

We would have people saying these are terrorists, law breakers, dangers to national security and the rule of law.

So the fact that these are white men is no excuse to allow a pass on enforcement of federal authority!

Negotiations for these rebels, these trouble makers, these law breakers, to leave peacefully and soon must begin, but after a reasonable period of time, the FBI and the ATF and other law enforcement authorities MUST take action, including the use of force, to let all extremist right wing elements to know that the US government will not allow itself to be pushed around by hoodlums, by bullies, by extremists, who want to undermine the authority of our federal government!

Urgency For Republican Party And Entire Nation To Condemn Donald Trump And Prevent His Presidential Nomination In 2016!

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Racist, nativist, bigoted Fascist demagogue Donald Trump has just gone beyond the pale with his call for the banning of all Muslims to the United States, including any Muslim citizens who are traveling overseas as tourists or on business.

This is against the 1st, 5th, and 14th Amendments to the Constitution, and reminds us of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Japanese American internment in prison camps from 1942-1945!

We cannot sit idly by as this dangerous man is stirring up the extremist groups in America, and even his rhetoric is bound to cause violence against decent, law abiding Muslims in America, which would mean Trump has blood on his hands.

The Republican Party must declare that under no circumstances will they allow Trump to be their nominee, or else they will lose their status as a serious political party, as the party of Lincoln, TR, and Ike, cannot sit idly by as Trump totally destroys their historical image!

Anti Trump rallies must be organized around the nation, and make it clear that anyone who supports Trump on this matter shall be repudiated and isolated by family and colleagues as unAmerican!

The Constitutional Crisis We Tend To Forget: Richard Nixon, Spiro Agnew, And Gerald Ford In 1973

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The tragedy of the John F. Kennedy Assassination in 1963 led to a decision that the nation needed an amendment to provide for a replacement Vice President, when there was a vacancy in that office.  We were faced with a Speaker of the House, John McCormack, who was 73, and a President Pro Tempore of the US Senate, Carl Hayden, who was 86, at a time when the new President, Lyndon B. Johnson, had had a severe heart attack eight years earlier.

This was a delicate time, and led Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana, and other legislators, to promote the 25th Amendment, which was added to the Constitution in 1967.  And that made the constitutional crisis which followed six years later a little easier to deal with.

Richard Nixon became the most lawless President in American history, as a result of the Watergate Scandal and other scandals.  But Vice President Spiro Agnew also became the most lawless Vice President in American history, and thank goodness we found out about Agnew’s lawlessness, including bribery and accepting cash gifts in the Vice President’s office, which Agnew had also done while Governor of Maryland and Baltimore County Executive.

Instead of having Speaker of the House Carl Albert of Oklahoma as next in line, with Albert unwilling to take on the responsibility, the 25th Amendment allowed the appointment and confirmation by both houses of Congress of House Minority Leader Gerald Ford.

Ford became Vice President within two months of the Agnew resignation on October 10, 1973. and when he became President, Ford appointed and gained the approval of both houses of Congress to the appointment of former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller as his Vice President, although it took four months to get him confirmed.

The problem of most Speakers of the House is their lack of competence to be President, which is still a problem for a period of months until a new Vice President is appointed and confirmed.  And also, three out of four years since 1947, the Speaker and or the President Pro Tempore of the Senate have been from the opposition party of the President.

So this still requires what this blogger has suggested in the past week in the midst of the Speakership crisis—a return to the Presidential Succession Act of 1886, which provided for Cabinet officers to succeed the President and Vice President, rather than the present law, the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, which leaves us with the crisis we face now!

The Worst Shortcoming Of Donald Trump: Lack Of Compassion And Empathy!

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Businessman Donald Trump has plenty of shortcomings and faults.

Trump is an egomaniac, a narcissist, a demagogue, a nativist, a racist, a misogynist, and a bully.

So one might say: What is worse than those descriptions of Trump?

The worse shortcoming of all is his total lack of compassion and empathy for people who are not like him!

This includes people of different nationalities, ethnicities. races, and religions.

But it also includes people who are poor, uneducated, disabled, and unattractive in appearance.

Trump has no tolerance for anyone who is not a complete success by his standards.

Trump gains his satisfaction only from bragging about himself and his successes, and downgrading others, and he revels in insulting people to their face and embarrassing them!

What could be worse in a human being than the above?

Trump would be a total disaster as President, because he has total intolerance, lack of concern, and has authoritarian, dictatorial, and Fascist inclinations.

Trump would be the worst possible President, unwilling to listen to advice, as he is cocksure of his own abilities and brilliance!

Trump would be worse than Richard Nixon, and a danger to our Constitution and Bill of Rights!

Criminalization Of Christianity And Kim Davis? Hardly!

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A federal court judge appointed by George W. Bush has ordered County Clerk Kim Davis of Rowan County, Kentucky to jail for failing to issue marriage licenses to anyone in her county, due to her “religious” beliefs that do not “allow” her to permit marriage licenses to gays and lesbians.

Kim Davis is a hypocrite, who has been married four times, divorced three times, and had twins with someone not her husband at the time, and then, suddenly, she became “religious”, and therefore, will not fulfill her job duties to which she was elected.

It is not as if she can be summarily fired, as she was elected by the voters last November, but she can be required to do her duties as a public official, or be told to resign, or else, someone else should fulfill her duties on marriage licenses in her stead.

If this is allowed to fester, other county clerks in Kentucky, Alabama, and Texas, and other states can use the excuse to disobey the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage,  or really, we can start having government officials refuse to obey federal law on other matters as well!

The Civil War is long over, and states must obey federal law, whether they like it or not, just as those opposed to Citizens United or the Voting Rights Act  or other conservative decisions have the option of trying for a constitutional amendment if they do not wish to accept the Court decision.

We are a nation of laws and the Constitution, and the Supreme Court, right or wrong, is the final arbiter, as we are not a nation governed by the beliefs of any religious group, and no such group should be allowed to dictate what they will obey when it comes to law.

The concept of criminalization of Christianity is totally baseless, and no one should take it seriously, as there is no persecution of Christians, although there is persecution of Muslims, in some areas Jews, and certainly of Atheists and Agnostics!

We are a nation of many different Christian groups with a variety of doctrines, but we are not a “Christian” nation, a theocracy, and no religion can be allowed to control public policy!