Consequences for the 45 Administration

 

Our forefathers, framers of: first, the Articles of Confederation, then the US Constitution, did not detail every possible activity of, "those whom we are obliged to trust with power," because they knew it would be an enormous, contentious document that could not cover all possibilities.  They laid out the founding principles of this democratic republic for a reference to which all that might follow would adhere.

It, therefore, becomes necessary for us to formulate a means and method to deal with the challenges to the continuance of this, our democratic republic.

The Republicans in the US congress were given the chance to impeach a president in clear violation of both law and Constitutional restrictions on the office; books by former 45 administration staff reveal an awareness of the president's insufficiency to the requirements of the office held and did absolutely nothing about their 25th amendment capacity.

This is completely and utterly unacceptable!

If all these folks are not investigated, documented and held accountable for their own abandonment of oath to their office and lawless behavior, we (you, me and all the US citizens) set a precedent that is even more dangerous to our democracy than this recent, incompetent attempt at an apartheid, authoritarian regime; re-prosecution of a combat free, civil war.

There were none held to account for the civil war; insufficient consequences for the activity of the Nixon and Reagan administrations, etc... These, and other, oversights emboldened the actions of the 45 administration and the sycophant Republican party.

Nuremberg created an appropriate example of a forum to investigate, document and prosecute all the violations of Constitution and law. It should be the model that guides our actions once the President-elect and Vice President-elect are securely in the offices to which we, the voters, have elected them.

Following through with accountability for the actions that threaten our democratic republic may be the most important thing that any of us will ever do. History will document our (in)ability to do what is appropriate and necessary.

Voting in your own best interest...

These things should be broadcast from every bully pulpit available, especially if a Blue Tsunami is insufficiently realized:

Your access to telephone and electricity was probably provided by, and is definitely made more reliable and affordable through, the government's regulatory environment that they operate in. The Internet, GPS, digital picture and sound (e.g., television and multi-media of any kind), microelectronics, etc... were first developed by, and for, agencies of the US government; often via Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC)...

Health care info... Comparing costs and results around the world. Spoiler: the USA has the highest, by far, costs and is well down the list of good results in every category.

https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2019/07/how-does-the-us-healthcare-system-compare-to-other-countries

A study of many studies all confirming Single Payer/Medicare for All would reduce costs and improve results:

https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003013

A study demonstrating potential benefits of Single Payer health care:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)33019-3/fulltext

The results are in and the conclusions are all in agreement; Single Payer/Medicare for All health care is more effective, efficient; less expensive... The United States of America needs to get this done.

If you are voting for your own economic self interest, you are voting for the Democrats. This point is highlighted by two magazines not known for supporting a Democrat's perspective. They also reinforce the main assertion (Democrats are better for our economy) of the book: Bulls, Bears and the Ballot Box: How the Performance of Our Presidents Has Impacted Your Wallet; by Bob Deitrick and Lew Goldfarb.

www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2012/10/10/want-a-better-economy-history-says-vote-democrat/?fbclid=IwAR0i8nzXekYwplu8dYBqvf1604bN7K0MS4cFXIDWcYmvz9Yrqq7Do9nMCPM#735d9a4dcb44

https://www.wsj.com/graphics/red-economy-blue-economy/?mod=e2fb&fbclid=IwAR0Bc0fWIf_vlvP8oW7QIjn9kJyqJcyegC82wDStywM1w0o-x30cC2akGjw

These are facts that need to be shouted from the mountain tops!

Business schools should be queried about how these facts are presented in their required curriculum.

Political conflict in the USA...

When we elected an African-American man to the Presidency, twice, a large number of my fellow progressives patted themselves on the back for our nation's overcoming racial prejudices...  That two term, administration brought racist Americans out from everywhere they'd been sheltering in denial and shattered that illusion.

The scientific and intellectual, "elite," that had some folks just flustered towards the edge of their, "flat Earth," got together with the racists and voted...  Progressive, liberal and, "neo-liberals," quietly coalesced in the comfort that Hillary Rodham Clinton would continue on a familiar enough course; didn't vote like we had for Obama.

In pursuit of actual equal protection under the law someone came up with the unfortunate slogan, "defund the Police."  What was meant was that we had to reallocate tasks so that a social worker could be available for a social problem, rather than calling the police when things become a social disturbance.

Now, some say we must give up the word, "socialism," because it's scary.  No, we must bring Civics classes back to public (socialist) schools, so that folks are taught the shades of socialism; the difference twixt socialism and communism.  Many, including a great number of folks who made a career in the military (an enormous, government owned and operated, "socialist," collection of organizations; the VA/Walter Reed is socialist medicine), don't even want to hear that they, effectively, worked for the government all their lives...  Some worked, with me, for the public (socialist) school system after their years of service in the (socialist) military.

It should be as clear as the paved roads, that are pretty omnipresent in the USA, that socialism isn't frightening.  Many will have to learn to adjust if Biden/Harris, and the Democrats down the ballot, win.  Those that successfully resist the knowledge will forget the details when a Green New Deal makes their lives better; till the next election.

Attempted Access to Ballot Tampering...

First)  Paper ballots are the most difficult to tamper with; come with a paper ballot based, audit trail built-in.  The 45 administration appears to be expecting help (very probably from Russians) with votes.  Absentee/mail-in ballots use a paper ballot that is not able to be accessed remotely, usually has both human and machine readable text/information on it and is easily checked and confirmed.  

Second) Electronic ballots, stored as a data file on a computer, have been documented (at hacker conference experiments) to be relatively easy (for talented hackers) to use in vote manipulation.   Exclusively electronic ballots do not generate a paper, back-up copy (audit trail)  of every ballot and can not be easily checked and verified for vote manipulation.

The orange menace is assisting any and all who would hack a voting system for him by attempting to get as many people as possible voting in person, on a computer terminal/server, electronic ballot system.

The need for a Federal Law Enforcement Inspector General...

There has appeared, for decades, to be a need for a federal agency to hold police accountable for their activity. Police unions defend everybody all the time and local prosecutors hesitate to mess with their associated police departments.

It does not seem to be getting through to the local, county, and other, law enforcement agencies that they are not judge, jury and, too often, executioner.

That three officers watched while a knee to the neck killed a cuffed, face down man; didn't occur to officers to check to see if the suspect that they were after was already in custody, let alone that they were at the wrong address; reported the correct license plate, but didn't check the state that issued it...

Time and again police refuse the responsibility for mistakes made on the job that injure and kill; don't care to understand that they have great responsibility with the power of their office.

 

There needs to be a federal, Law Enforcement Inspector General; a database that keeps officers, fired for cause, from moving to a new job (in law enforcement) at a different department; a penitentiary that keeps convicted officers out of the incarcerated population that might resent their presence to death.

That requires a Blue Tsunami because today's Republicans are against responsibility and everything else a Democrat might support.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Passing, and the Threat to Democracy it Exacerbates...

 

The passing of the Notorious RBG (Rest in Peace, Ruth Bader Ginsburg) takes the death of Democracy in these United States of America one step closer to the grave.

 

In the name of Democracy, RBG and John Lewis (who preceded her in death): it's time to get into some, “Good Trouble.”

The Republicans, and the Republicans alone, complained about Democratic, judicial appointments as a means to use the federal courts for a power grab; to, “legislate from the bench.” Then, when their hold on legislatures (state and federal) couldn't/wouldn't legislate for their benefit, Republicans unabashedly used the ability to appoint justices, “to legislate from the bench.” Republicans are using the courts to try to reverse the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Women's Rights, the ACA, etc...

The Republicans objected strenuously to the rejection of Robert Bork's appointment to the SCOTUS, even though he did get a vote (which he lost in a bi-partisan manner).

Republicans objected strenuously to Democrats eliminating the filibuster for lower, federal, court appointments in the Obama (44) administration... Then used their simple, Senate majority to fill hundreds of lower court vacancies in the 45 administration.

The Republicans once again demonstrated their unbounded hypocrisy by eliminating the filibuster for SCOTUS appointments.

The Republicans eliminated the possibility of consideration, let alone the appointment, of Merrick Garland to the SCOTUS during the presidential election year of 2016; promise a vote for the orange menace's appointment to SCOTUS in the presidential election year of 2020.

It puts beyond discussion the power of the VOTE... The need for everybody to exercise their responsibility to VOTE!

Democrats must elect a President Biden and VP Kamala Harris, keep the majority in the US House and get a Democratic majority in the US Senate; get as many Democrats, on the entire ballot, elected to all government offices.

Then the American Bar Association must review all the justices, appointed without the possibility of filibuster, for possible conflicts of interest; competence in the performance of their judicial responsibilities.

The Republicans have abandoned their oath of office, to protect and defend the Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic... The Republicans refused to use their Constitutionally assigned power, as a co-equal branch of the federal government, to impeach an indicted, clearly in violation of Constitutional restrictions, President.

Democracy in these United States of America is in dire straights, as never before, and the voters must step up and realize the power of EVERY SINGLE VOTE!

Philanthropy and the Plutocrats...

Plutocrats, in the oligarchy that is the United States of America, want affection for their attempt at assuaging their consciences, known as philanthropy.  

The plutocrats are:

Speculators who made enormous fortunes by moving money from here to there, supposedly (without actual evidence thereof) creating value, on Wall Street.

Microsoft made it's fortune when IBM made a massive mistake of undervaluing it's creation of the PC.

Intel made money for it's shareholders on that same IBM mistake.

Apple made money for it's stakeholders from Xerox's mistake, similar to IBM, when they misunderstood the Graphic User Interface (GUI) as a toy created at their (tax write-off) Palo Alto Research Center.

There are many similar stories, across the country, of the almost unbelievably wealthy... And yet those wealthy folks would have everybody else think the world was clusters of peasants, living in lean-to shacks (located on packed earth trails), till there was THEM.

All these companies, individuals/stakeholders who created them, made major profits off technology created by the innovations developed under the auspices of the Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs). Check 'em out. If you're a taxpayer, you made 'em happen.

All the, “stakeholders/shareholders,” inundated by said wealth paid lobbyists to help them avoid taxes... Even though they were, still are, massive users of common-carrier infrastructure, GPS, Internet, public education, electric/telecommunication grids/backbones and FFRDCs; the stuff they spent decades avoiding the costs of.

We, the taxpayers, were largely responsible for the basis of all that wealth; individual fortunes. The donations that philanthropists make now rarely do anything but help build more wealth, while still avoiding taxes on all that booty.

Would that they were to try to pay back the value of the taxpayer funded assets they've depended upon, they'd all be much more modestly wealthy; multi-millionaires, approaching a billion, instead of multi-billionaires.

Pity them that they don't get credit for being generous with the money taxpayers made possible... Not!