inthetrunkroom

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Over the past six years, we, as a nation, have suffered through a political time unlike any in the more than the four decades that this writer has been involved with, engaged in or otherwise closely following. This  Republic and its government, as noted before, is in the  throes of a war for survival and perhaps in  a war that cannot be won.

While having its roots long long ago, it really kicked in to high gear when we  saw a known grifter, reality television barker and confirmed pathological liar , calculating the crass ignorance and fears of the electorate, gaslight himself in  to the highest office in the country, in spite of the fact that he lost the popular vote by over three million votes. Continually spouting hate, bigotry, ignorance and disregard for the rule of law, he sowed the seeds of the autocracy to come.

The tenure of the regime – one cannot call it an administration – was marked with policies that were blatantly inhumane, a strategy to, in fact, dismantle the government as we know it, establish a kleptocracy supported by Wall Street and its corporate welfare beneficiaries and, with the aid of loyalists both inside and outside the West Wing, spinning some of the most incredible conspiracy theories and peddling  a calculated campaign of misinformation the likes of which we have never seen. Claims  such as the press was the enemy of the people or the whole “deep state” conspiracy that contends that there are those in government that were out to ruin the White House occupant. Evidenced this now by reports coming out regarding that the regime, through the Office of the Attorney General, was actively spying on members of congress, their staff and their families who were seen as enemies, subpoenaing their records from email carriers and from their phone records from Apple. To this day, he and his allies continue to proclaim that the “Left” is undermining democracy and he is the only one who can save it from their “ extreme socialist agenda”.

One could go on for pages and pages about the nothing less than madness emanating from the Oval Office but, as time went on, we became frightfully aware that the worst – by far the worst — was yet to come.

During the night of  the 2020 election, as they watched the returns the candidate screamed ““This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election — frankly, we did win this election,” trump declared. “We want all voting to stop. We don’t want them to find any ballots at 4 o’clock in the morning and add them to the list.”                    It became quite evident that one, he was completely ignorant as to how elections are processed, and two, it was also becoming clear that a “ peaceful transfer of power “ was simply not going to happen.He had his entire entourage convinced that the only way he would lose the election was if it were rigged and this became not only his mantra but the mantra of the entire GOP.

Throughout the coming months after the election, the “Big Lie “ was being spread far and wide and as thick as molasses.  The cult loyalists began to take action in a clear attempt to change the election result. In no less than sixty court filings, the state GOP leaders, ONLY in the states that trump lost, tried to have the election results thrown out, alleging voting by illegal immigrants,, widespread fraud and machine tampering – all to no avail.  The actions were ALL thrown out of the courts as being the baseless charges that they were. But that did not stop the tide of madness. As the states began to certify election results and impanel the delegates to the Electoral College, some states actually tried to block that or, as in the case of Arizona, select an “Alternate delegation slate “ pledged to trump and sent that in to Washington as the official electoral vote. As all this nonsense was continuing , the believers of the Big Lie, stoked by the losing candidate, his close allies and his deep delusions, took to another plan. And yes, it was a plan. By invitational urgings from the White House, and orchestrated by White Nationalist groups and  certain so called militia, large groups were to descend on Washington for a rally to “Stop the Steal “ – a mantra coined by extreme far right groups and happily approved by the White House. The rally was called for January sixth, no accident as this was the date for the certification and official counting of the electoral college votes, to be conducted in the U S Senate chamber.

We all know the result of that rally. We all SAW live action of the storming of the Capitol, the destruction, the mayhem, the injury of many and the death of a police officer and the shooting of one  insurrectionist trying to break through barricades into congressional chambers in order to kill the Speaker of the House and hang the Vice-President.

There were many mistakes made during those hours and the system designed to protect the Capitol miserably failed. Nonetheless, after things subsided, no less than one hundred and thirty-nine members of the House of Representatives and at least three members of the Senate voted to reject the election results. Yes, they sided with the White House, the delusions of its occupant and the out of control insurrectionist mob. Finally,  in spite of it all, the process was completed, the Electoral Votes counted and the election was certified and it was done. Or was it ?

Here we are, seven months after the 2020 election and still, yes, still, the GOP controlled state legislatures are trying to overturn the election results. Pay no mind to the protests that this is not what they are trying to do. One state senator in Arizona went on record  saying that  they are only trying to make certain of the integrity  and security of  future elections. This, in spite of CISA reports as well as other intelligence and law enforcement agencies certifying that the 2020 election was the most secure in our history.

This same senator then proceeded to demand yet another audit, subpoenaing

all the ballots from the most populated county in the state and have them reviewed by a firm brought in from Florida – a company led by a known QAnon conspiracy devotee with NO EXPERIENCE in election auditing whatsoever.

And Arizona is not the only place. This whole mindless audit rehash thing is spreading – curiously only those GOP controlled states where trump lost.

For certain, this insanity is not over and the campaign to overthrow our democratic process continues.

The next phase of this overthrow, and by far the most dangerous in the long run, is the passing of strict voter suppression laws which blatantly establish the mechanics of making voting increasingly more difficult, especially in heavily democratic neighborhoods, and in several instances, permitting the state legislature to reject the final election results if the outcome does not seem supportive of their agenda. 

Now, back to inside the beltway and in to the halls of congress, we find that the GOP leadership, though in a minority in both houses, has managed to block any and all legislative movement to counter what is happening in the states and what is designed to bring a level of uniformity and security to the voting process across the country. Laws that are clearly meant to disrupt the process and favor certain constituencies  and therefore certain outcomes, seem to now be embedded, especially in what are know as swing states, currently controlled by the GOP.  As former Attorney General Eric Holder, with no hesitation in answering a question from the audience in Phoenix noted, the most dangerous threat to our national security is “VOTER SUPPRESSION”. 

Now, this is where we are today.  If one follows the path of history, one will clearly see how totalitarianism, and its specific form known as kleptocracy, grew from the back  rooms of hotels, spread throughout and grabbed hold of a country.  What we can also, beyond doubt, confirm  that we have failed to learn from history.  In his book “ On Tyranny “, Professor Timothy Snyder warns to beware of a one party state. It appears that this is the path down which we are headed.                                                             

We have gone long past the era of bi partisanship and the idea of negotiating in good faith between the parties in order to get relevant and functional legislation passed is now foreign inside the beltway. What we now are plagued with is one party which is obsessed with securing and maintaining power as its sole agenda and another party which, while well intentioned, has neither the strength of character nor the determination to bring a sense of government back to the halls of congress.

In short, we are now without a government which actually governs. As before, a “Requiem for the Republic”.

A while back, there was an article which presented an appraisal of the state of the national government, raising concerns about the state of affairs inside the beltway and its impact on our societal stability. The discussion raised serious concerns about rampant corruption and in the end, raised the challenge ,  as Professor Glaude of Princeton put it so succinctly, of an honest reckoning as to who we are as a nation. Time has moved on and with no hesitation, one can definitively state that circumstances inside the beltway have deteriorated from borderline dysfunctional and blind partisanship to singularly unbalanced and deranged of catastrophic proportions.

 The evidence is clear that the White House has fallen to a level of corruption unseen in modern history. Even the infamous Tea Pot Dome scandals of the twenties and the WaterGate scandal of the seventies  pale by comparison. With brazen contempt for not only the protocols of government but also for the rule of law, this regime has taken kleptocracy to new heights. Paired with the occupant’s own particular brand of extreme bigotry, the arrogant display of disdain for constitutional mandates, a domestic policy agenda which focuses on deregulating all the protections for the everyday consumer, the appalling display of fawning over some of the worst dictators in the world while denigrating our own government services,  all have rendered the Office completely compromised possibly beyond repair  While demeaning the press as an “ enemy of the people” along with the constant and continual spewing of complete fabrications and outlandish conspiracy theories, this regime has openly violated the emoluments clause of the constitution, the principles of separation of powers and has failed miserably in understanding that members of the cabinet do not work for the individual occupant of the oval office, they work for the people.

As all this was unfolding over the past three plus years, one may have hoped that the system of checks and balances put in place from our founding just might  have stemmed the tide of corruption. Unfortunately, that has not been the case. In actuality, it has proven to be the precise opposite.

The concept of checks and balances was designed to accomplish just that and, while often the task seemed insurmountable, over history, it has prevailed. That is, until the present regime. Not wishing to succumb to the flow of conspiracy theories, one has to harken back to one key conspiracy echoed time and time again about the so called “Deep State” conspiracy that the White House has promulgated and preached at every red hat rally. Truth be known, the “Deep State” theory is awash in its own alternate reality. However, the tactical scheme put forth by early White House advisor Steven Bannon has not only taken  root but has and is the underlying principle behind the trump regime. To paraphrase Mr Bannon, the “deconstruction of the administrative state” is the objective of our agenda.  This is what the regime, possibly under the influence if not the direction of the Kremlin, came to Washington to do and the White House embarked on this path from the start. Along  with the collaboration of the senate, the attacks on our very system of government have gained traction at an alarming rate.

Consider the senate at the time of the inauguration of the previous and actual administration. On the very night of the inauguration, GOP leaders were meeting in a hotel suite to plan its downfall – an agenda they proudly announced to the public in the following days. It was to be “… a one term presidency”. Once they achieved control of both houses. they did absolutely all they could do to block any efforts to move the national agenda forward, including gutting the recently passed health care legislation and completely blocking all nominations to the Supreme Court. Matters became even more destructive during the second term so by the time the current regime arrived, the senate was ripe for what can be described as a scorched earth policy on government as we know it.

From positioning on the federal bench  shamelessly unqualified jurists to confirming cabinet heads whose sole purpose is to dismantle their respective departments to the stonewalling of over four hundred pieces of legislation passed by a democratically controlled House,  the current iteration of the United States Senate bears little resemblance to the body charged to provide check and balance to an out of control White House. It has proven to be not only unable to provide those checks but clearly unwilling – indeed, being an accomplice to the abuse of power flagrantly displayed by the Oval Office and certain executive offices , specifically the Department of Justice, now headed by one who, in his own words in speech and in writing, has declared that the occupant of the Oval Office is above the law.

The discussion of the many facets of this systemic collapse could continue at great length, as indeed it has in news media, in political pundit circles and in academia. There have been theories advanced as to the how and the why as well as back and forth on the idea of who or what is to blame. Suffice it to say , there is blame to go around aplenty. Both sides of the aisle have failed miserably in their charge as members of Congress. Most of all, however, perhaps it is as much the body politic which has failed. 

Consider some particulars. In the 2016 election, over one million eligible and registered voters decided that it either was not important enough to vote or, having dislike for both candidates, they voted for a write in or a candidate with no chance whatsoever of coming close to winning. One can understand not liking either candidate but we are often faced with the choice between the lesser of two evils and we saw how that played out.Then there are those whose sole and total source of news and information are networks, such as Fox, Sinclair and RT, which rarely deal in facts and whose broadcasted stories are regularly built around conspiracy theories. It plays to ignorance of reality. And finally, at least for here, there are those schools who have, over the years, dropped civics and government as a course of study. Acknowledged that many have returned to offering that but one should not have to wait until college years and have a political science major to be taught how government works. All in all, one figured that, with political ignorance at an all time high and a near baseless xenophobia carried to the extreme – stoked by so called news sources as above – it was time for a regime such as we have. Playing on ignorance and fear and an underlying racism still present in this country, we now have what we have – a pivotal times in the history of the Republic and its future.

So it is not time to turn it all around. It is time to wake up, educate and participate. It  is time to search our valid news sources and exhaust fact checking. As a colleague of mine wrote, I want this all to be a bad dream but when I look around, you are a living example of how Hitler took over Germany. Disbelief that your leader is capable of this kind of evil…..newsflash – he is !!

Wake up and take hold… if not for this generation, for future generations. It is time to make change – a complete new direction. Dies Irae….. the Republic is headed for its requiem…..

The history books have dedicated volumes of attention to the Great Depression that racked the United States, as well as other countries, during the 1930s. There has been debate upon debate on causes and effects, solutions – both proposed and enacted – and what the long term effects have been over the following decades. What is key in any discussion is how the Roosevelt administration, either along with or in spite of congress, chose to contend with such an economic disaster. It was not with idle chatter and ego building nonsense but with real down to the street corner policies enacted across the country, focused on bringing families back to a level of not just survival but  an actual decent living.What we saw was a combination of programs aimed at bringing the labor force back to work and engaging government in the recovery. 

Fast forward to early 2008 when, for similar reasons, the United States saw itself on the verge of yet another complete and total economic collapse. History has repeated itself and, while again we can debate cause, the effect is still rather the same. Millions of jobs were lost, the housing market failed, smaller banks went under, Wall Street looked like it might crash and the overall economic status of the nation was, to say the least, precarious, The outgoing republican administration had squandered a budget surplus and plunged us into massive debt and once again, idle chatter prevailed.

Enter a new administration and immediately the task of recovery began and while unpopular bail outs of certain industries were made to advance recovery ( admittedly adding to the debt ) the labor force saw an uptake, jobs were coming back and families were beginning to see at least some level of stability.That administration, after eight years , left with recovery well on the way and, though certain issues were never solved, at least the hemorrhaging stopped. Then the whole thing turned around with now, again, a republican regime that seems to be more interested in power and profiteering than in actual policy formulation, either domestic or foreign.

Accepting that the parts of the economic picture are better than it has been in years, it is still primarily benefitting a relatively small sector of our social structure, the top ten per cent being the primary beneficiaries. Statistics show the lowest unemployment rate ever, though those statistics rarely provide an accurate picture of the job market. The largest sector of the employed are in the retail market and near to 65 % of them are, by corporate policy, part time.

Corporations are benefitting from the largest tax break since the Reagan years which again was a major factor in the debt rising over 26 % just in the past three year. A prime example of the mind set of corporate America was demonstrated at an event in New York in the course of the 2018 Annual  CEO Forum conducted by the Wall Street Journal. During an evening session, while discussing those massive corporate tax cuts, the then Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn asked for the house lights to come up and he then asked a room of about one hundred and fifty corporate CEOs, how many would be looking at reinvesting those profits from the tax cut back in to their local communities either directly or indirectly through research and development aimed at job creation. With a show of hands, only FIVE said yes. Five. It was later made clear that, for the most part, those funds were used for stock buy backs  thus increasing profit margins. Can you smell the aroma of history starting to repeat itself ?

The recovery from the early 2000s is still a work in progress to many who observe these matters but the question is, with all that has transpired within the beltway. how do we move forward. How do we move in a direction which will further stabilize  the social structure, bring greater participation in the economy and less economic inequality and have long term beneficial effects not only here domestically but also abroad on a more global scale. Indeed, folks, that is the pressing question of our time and one has to ask, is the  GREEN NEW DEAL the answer ? Perhaps, or perhaps not but its basic tenets demand consideration – serious consideration.

The Green New Deal is package of projects with a broad based agenda focused on not just environmental issues, as the title might imply, but also on the economic and social arenas on which these projects could have profound impact. Reports credit journalist Tom Friedman for coining the phrase and an orchestrated effort by members of the Green Party of England in collaboration with the Friends of Earth, Solar Century and the economic editor of the Guardian for its original promulgation. Regardless, conceptually, it has several roots, much like its agenda.As expected, the GOP side of congress, following the lead of the anti science, anti-intellectual, anti fact White House, is blocking giving any consideration to the measure which, at this point, is only a House Resolution ( H RES 109 ). Nonetheless, the merits of the approach have been successfully tested on a smaller scale on a state level, most notably in Washington under the leadership of Governor Jay Inslee.As he and others rightfully see it, the Green New Deal is not simply an attack on the environmental crisis. It is a panoramic approach to environmental, social, infrastructural and economic challenges in a way which links public-private partnerships, varying resources and likewise varying disciplines in meeting the broad spectrum of the current compelling issues.The principal agenda focuses on three basic elements – the establishment of a sustainable economy, the cleaning up of the environment and the developing of a broad based sense of social responsibility which would focus on community renewal.

The schema, so to speak, for this approach, as demonstrated by Governor Inslee and fiercely promoted by democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, has as its linchpin wide scale cooperation between government and corporate America. It will take, in order for it all to succeed, massive joint efforts particularly when it comes to job development, water and air clean up and the total overhaul of our domestic infrastructure. It will require not only investment on the part of government but also substantial investment on the part of private corporations, a feat which can only happen when and if the powers that control these two factions – i.e. congress and boards of directors – acknowledge the critical nature of the need. It will require leadership which accepts science and its findings, that understands the realities of climate change as well as the reality of economic inequality. They must also be in total agreement that, nationally as well as globally, time is not particularly on our side.

House Resolution 109 lays out a framework for consideration, taking into account the several facets of our daily lives which are in serious need of repair. Not only the physical infrastructure but ,for certain, the economic infrastructure as well. Targets include a resurgent affordable housing market, development of a up to date job market and an education system which provides skills for that job market and, as a corollary, a wage scale commensurate with the modern cost of living.While this may not be a perfect scenario, H R 109 does acknowledge the real very crisis and it does offer, if not the manual complete with answers, nothing less that a serious starting point for critical  and one might add, long overdue discussion.

Historians tell us that if one does not pay attention to lessons learned,  we are doomed to have history repeat itself.  On a broad scale, we have seen this first hand and it is indeed the circumstance we find ourselves in presently. However, the stakes now are so much higher than simply the issue of economics, which for sure is not simple. What we have are global crises in respective economies, in environment and in social infrastructure. What we need to be about is, as a nation, taking a leadership role in addressing this crisis. If that leadership is not forthcoming from inside the beltway, then the responsibility is squarely upon the citizenry to demand that it be and take all legitimate measures to bring that to fruition.

 

 

From the vantage point of decades of work on all levels in the public sector,  one can get a fairly authoritative view of how government should work – how it operates, how agencies and their enabling legislation connect and how government connects with the private sector and how that  can, with the right leadership, actually work. Conversely, one can also glean from this experience how and why things do not work and a good insight into the behind the scenes nonsense that is aimed at furthering an hidden agenda. That being said and to our charter here, it is important if not imperative that  certain current issues and concerns be aired.

As we know it, our nation is at a point at which its complete demise as a representative republic is imminent and it is time for the citizenry to finally awaken, take notice and demand the taking of appropriate measures to stem this tide of destruction.

Over the past two and a half years, what we have witnessed has been the occupant of the white house – in our opinion, a dictator in the making – conducting what is tantamount to an anti government strategy rife with half truths, baseless assertions , outright lies and profuse insults directed particularly at the main stream press, branding the it as the “enemy of the people”.

This consummate con man, put in to office through an highly questionable election, abetted by an archaic electoral college system, has gaslighted the country in to normalizing what can only be described as severely aberrant behavior with the single purpose of enhancing his own family wealth. Governing, if you can call it that, in the style of a well oiled crime family, we have seen the continuing deterioration of government as we know it, near to the point of extinction.We have seen unbridled plague of corruption  of historical proportion and total contempt for the rule of law, the precepts under the constitution and the the protocols of government. While the campaign mantra was to “ drain the swamp”, it is clear that the swamp has not only not been drained, but in actuality has deepened and the stench of corruption has intensified beyond tolerance.  The blatant abuse of power and the complete disregard for the  separation of powers required by the Constitution, added to the continuous flow of lies and false accusations about a “ deep state coup” have made for a frightening display of chaos within and around the west wing. The favoring of dictators of foreign adversary governments over the information collected by not only our own intelligence agencies but intelligence agencies from around the free world causes one to wonder  for whom does this so called leader work or to whom is he really beholden.

The sad thing is, while all of this is ongoing, the one avenue available to hold accountable and engage the constitutionally established system of checks and balances – namely Congress – is, to say the least, missing in action and has become the enabler for this entire farce.

While the wrangling between parties in congress certainly did not begin in this century, the current phase got a major boost in early January of 2009 shortly after Barack Obama was elected for his first term.  Senate Leader – and one uses that term guardedly , the senate leader  convened a closed door meeting of the party leadership and emerged declaring that  their goal was to make certain that the newly elected president would be a one term only president. The obstruction began even though the GOP was not in the majority. When President Obama was reelected, McConnell vowed that he would block every and all efforts on the part of the president to move his agenda forward and would also strive to repeal all the the advances that had been made, especially in the area of health care. The obstruction agenda increased, as control of both houses went GOP, far right. The intensity was such that it blocked numerous legislative efforts aimed at national betterment and, for the first time ever, would not allow even a single hearing for the nomination for a position on the Supreme Court. Once the GOP gained majority status in both houses, all bets were off regarding any progress relating to the general public and a complete take over of the legislature had happened. 

Over the next two  plus years, the overall strategy became more and more evident. With corruption at historic levels and both houses in league with the white house and its agenda, the kleptocratic nature of this regime became clear.  A proliferation of lobbyists, for example, have been appointed to head  agencies which were the target of their lobbying with the express purpose of diminishing the role of that agency or even the elimination of it. While all this was there for the eye to see, the senate , with a few rules changes so as not to give any opposition time to question either the process or the candidates, was stacking the courts with a judiciary completely sympathetic to the causes of the far right while being in place to protect the White House and the GOP controlled congress from any and all legal challenges.  What began as patent obstructionism deteriorated to an out and out take over of government and government functioning. With the GOP owning both Houses and the White House, there would be no limits on advancing the long standing GOP agenda. Pair that with a White House which had no idea of government or protocols in governing and clearly came in to power with an agenda of the “deconstruction of the administrative state”, the  extremist right wing of congress, not to mention far right foreign interests ,found a fertile ground for pushing their causes with complete immunity. As a nation, the United States was indeed faced with virtual extinction as a representative republic and was fast on the track to becoming a banana republic.

We are now witness to continuing wholesale corruption, mindless and inhumane  domestic policy, total disdain for the rule of law and a building distrust of the government both at home and abroad.One could and indeed should expect that those who are responsible for and take the oath of office to provide governance of this republic will , in effect, do just that. One should expect that they conduct the business of governing, being mindful of the sentiment and expressed views of those governed. Sadly, this is not and has not been the case for decades and it is long overdue that we, as a nation and as an electorate demand a return to government being responsive to the governed and to their best interests, not only the best interests of a select few.

In the final analysis, we are facing a battle for existence – a battle between unfettered capitalism and greed and the financial well being of a select minority versus a version of, as some may call it, democratic socialism.The outcome will decidedly determine who we are as a nation and the direction in which we will move – either forward or backward – for decades to come.

To quote the eminent Princeton professor, Eddie Glaude, “We need an honest reckoning as to who we are as a nation”….of this there can be no doubt. The choice is there and the choice is now.

 

SOMETIMES THE ADVISORS ARE VERY WRONG :

In the months running up to the 1968 election, it was clear that the war in Viet Nam was a linchpin element throughout the country. Then president Johnson had finally moved the parties off deadlock and was looking at calling them to the peace table in Paris by year’s end. The issue was, if that played out in the media, it would most likely bring to an end the major criticism of the democratic party and the GOP could very well lose the race for the white house. Sometime before the election, then candidate Nixon, along with his close campaign cohorts, Haldeman and Mitchell, a meeting was held in an iconic Pierre hotel on Fifth avenue in New York where the Nixon campaign had its headquarters. Added to this team of “plumbers” was Anna Chennault, the widow of the famous Claire Chennault of Flying Tigers fame. She was a international celebrity in her own right and a rabid anti communist activist. A plan was hatched to convince the South Viet Nam regime to stall going to the peace table until after the election, thus securing the win for the republican party. The plan was put in to action in the weeks just before the election. Right about that same time, through intelligence sources,  the plan was made known to President Johnson. referring to it as pure treason, he warned Nixon to back off from the plan but Nixon forged ahead.  Johnson, on counsel from his top advisors, opted not to make the plan public, figuring it would taint the election, among other things. As a result, we got Nixon, six plus more years of war in southeast Asia and over twenty-five thousand more American deaths and more than double that of Vietnamese deaths. Then we got the eventual resignation of a president, an unindicted co conspirator in yet another effort to rig an election.

Fast forward to the year 2015 and the run up to the 2016 election. The intelligence agencies, particularly the CIA and the FBI had inklings that there may be a connection between the GOP candidate campaign and the Russian intelligence service. By the end of 2015, further investigation reveals that there was in fact a high confidence level of information that demonstrates this to be true. FISA warrants are sworn out for surveillance on certain individuals and a full investigation is launched. In June of 2016, there is a meeting with a Russian operative attended by the GOP campaign chairman, the candidate’s son and son-in-law and several other Russian connected persons. The meeting is held once again in a luxury apartment tower on fifth avenue in New York. The key element which drew this meeting together was the idea that Russian intelligence had credible information that, if made public, would seriously damage the opposition party and it’s run for the white house. The investigation continues and, while  there are other quite chaotic events which complicate the scenario, the underlying issue is that the Russians were involved in the election. The one thing that is still puzzling is why did then President Obama, in counsel with his advisors, decide not to make these investigations public. The official answer is it was in order to not seem trying to sway the election. While there is clear and compelling evidence that Russian intelligence and the Russian president himself did in fact  play  a role in the 2016 election for the benefit of the GOP candidate, the sitting president decided to remain quiet.

 As a result, or at least significantly as a result, we got the trump administration – no doubt the most corrupt administration in history, not to mention an administration which operates openly in violation of the rule of law and of the constitution, enabled by a congress which is failing miserably in its responsibility to govern.

One has to harken back to the age old adage about nations failing to learn from history and therefore being doomed to repeat it. The events of the 1968 election and the 2016 election are prime examples of the reality of that adage. 

While there is, in hind sight, some room for debate, the consequences of being silent probably caused more damage to the country than if these essentially treasonous actions were made public. 

The group of Bunker, Bundy, Califano, McNamara, Clifford, Rusk et al made a critical mistake in 1968 and we paid a high price for it. The group of Biden, McDonough, Jarrett, Rhodes, Kerry, Rice et al made the same mistake and again the price is enormous.

For each in its own way, we have and will be paying for these decisions for decades to come.

YES, IT WAS POLICY

At the very beginning of his campaign,  GOP candidate trump made no bones about the fact that he had a thorough disdain for all immigrants even though he is second generation himself and also married two immigrants.  His rancor, though, is especially vicious these days toward those from Mexico and Latin America. In his opening speech from trump tower in 2015 – more like a tirade – he decried pretty much all those from Mexico and even those living in Mexico and rapists, drug dealers and criminals.  He complained that they were “ not the best” being sent by the Mexican government, as if to say this was a planned migration sponsored by the president of Mexico. He vowed to build a wall to keep this so called criminal element out and he insisted that Mexico would pay for that wall. We have seen how that all has played out and, though this will never happen, it continues to be fodder for his red hat base who are consumed with the mind set that favors a far right, white supremacy, so called nationalist agenda. However,  in spite of all this, one could never predict what has been happening in the recent months at the border with Mexico.

In an historic move in policy – yes,  written policy – the trump administration, with no plan or rhyme or reason other than blind contempt for anyone from South of the border, took the inhumane and possibly criminal measure to forcibly separate parents from their children as they crossed the border  legally seeking asylum from the chaos, violence and war in their own countries. One looks at this policy as being criminal because crossing a border to seek asylum is not a crime. In fact it is legal and is protected by not only U S law but also international law and there are procedures and protocols in place to manage those requests.  We know that these measures were executed under instruction from the White House from documents made public including policy memos written by the attorney general which were confirmed in his public speeches. Also, there are documents from the White House itself encouraging this policy.

As part of the implementation of this policy, several of the legal ports of entry were ordered closed, forcing these refugees to cross the border at non sanctioned crossings, i.e. illegal crossings, where their children were taken from them and placed in holding facilities – unlicensed facilities ill equipped to handle children of school age, let alone infants and two year olds, those of “tender age” while the parents were sent to detention centers without knowing where their children were located.  

 As events became public knowledge the official spin began in full force. The official position taken by some spokespersons was that the treatment of children was as it always is for unaccompanied minors. The problem was, and still is, that these children –  more than two thousand of them – were not unaccompanied when they got to the border. They were only “unaccompanied” when they were separated from their parents by orders from DOJ and the oval office.  The spin continued in spite of clear evidence to the contrary. Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS )  Kirstjen Nielsen asserted on at least one occasion that it “ was offensive to say that trump purposely separated children”…. It should be clear as glass that this administration, giving way to the well known and documented evidence of intolerance at the highest levels, made the policy rooted in bigotry the operational mandate at the border.  As more and more information became available, it was clear that children were being badly treated, dispersed throughout the country and many parents were being deported without their children. Court cases were filed, advocates headed to Texas to make issues known and the press covered the events in as much detail as they could. This was difficult as even members of congress were barred from actually seeing how these thousands of children were being treated.

After weeks of this absurdity and with pressure from advocacy groups and the federal courts, the White House finally backed down and decided that it would be better if the children were reunited with their parents. However, there was no plan for that reunification. There was no plan and there never was a plan. This was a policy specifically designed to punish people whose only crime was that of seeking a better life. Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Alex Azar, in several on air interviews, stated  in no uncertain terms, that everything was under control and that reuniting all of these children with their parents could be done with the simple keystrokes on a computer, meeting the recently issued court order.

Here’s the problem. DHS officially cannot account for nearly fifteen hundred children having placed them in various facilities all over the country with having no tracking data. And if found, the reuniting with actual parents would be difficult because DHS/ICE took and destroyed birth certificates and other documents from these families as they were arrested upon crossing the border. One could continue to delineate the human tragedy created by the administration at the southern border but the news coverage – indeed, even the international news coverage – is sufficient to expose the truth.

What is the fact is that, in their dealings with immigrants – either legal or illegal-  no other country in recent history, with the possible exception of Nazi Germany, had and executed a policy to fracture families in the way in which the trump administration did. It was and is sheer bigotry taken to a level of insanity.

To date of this post, under federal court order, out of the approximately two thousand five hundred children in question, most have indeed been reunited. However, approximately six hundred and fifty have not been reunited. The official administration answer to this is that these children are not eligible to be reunited, though there is no explanation as to just what this means or what the criteria is for determining this status. Part of this has to be that many of the parents were deported after clearly rigged administrative hearings on asylum requests while court deliberations were on going with many children being told that their parents abandoned them. Yes,  this is actually what has been happening at our borders.

Far from the wishes of the administration, foreign nationals are permitted to seek asylum and, up until the trump administration and the term of Attorney General Sessions, there was never a policy or legislation which required the removal of children from their families. What the people witnessing this catastrophic mess need to understand is that this all is sheer bigotry made in to policy. What is beyond sad is that, at least from one point of view, there are far too many that find this policy acceptable and, dismissing the plain fact that most who are here, unless their ancestors were here before 1491, started out as immigrants,  a good number coming in to the country illegally. 

The entire episode at the border is truly a black mark on our history – a history built on immigrants seeking a better life, free from oppression and persecution.

 

Some time ago, senate leader mcconnell made a statement that this has been the “ very best year for conservative values”…I firmly believe that the late true conservative Willam F Buckley is turning over in his grave at that. Conservative values then meant governance and responsibility. Today, it means greed, a brutal self serving agenda, disdain for differences and that whole concept of fiscal responsibility has gone the way of respect for any intellectual approach to problem solving.

What we have today is an administration which is driven by ego and which thrives on complete and total chaos. The years of planned and orchestrated obstructionism  paired with widespread fear and ignorance have paid off giving us the most unresponsive administration in history – one which cares naught for anyone other than the gaslighted base which still has not figured out that they have been conned into believing flat out lies. The administration lies about so much on such a frequent basis that they had to some up with the justification that “alternative facts” are an acceptable explanation for their statements. This is an administration which attacks the free press, especially those news bureaus which expose this “emperor with no clothes “ for the fake that he is.This is an administration which will push it’s own clearly authoritarian agenda of hatred regardless of the damage it does to either person or country. It has brought together not the  “ best and the brightest” but rather the most corrupt administration eclipsing  even the Nixon Watergate era. 

We have seen indictments of campaign managers, national security advisors and so called foreign policy advisors. We have seen almost a forty per cent turnover of staff with so few willing to replace them that the oval office is now its own director of communications.  We are seeing unparalleled corruption on the cabinet level , seeing cabinet secretaries flagrantly misuse their office for personal gains and do it with complete immunity, as long as the white house agenda is adhered to. We have seen an occupant of the oval office openly mocking a handicapped reporter and his then campaign manager openly mocking a child with downs syndrome and his parents.

However, with all that and more being said, the worst is now a matter of record and who would ever have thought that the United States would stoop to such depths of inhumanity.What is and has been going on on our Southern border is, by any standard, unimaginable. Children are being taken from their parents and being put in what can only be described as concentration facilities. Parents cannot see them or contact them. Most do not even  know where their children are. In fact, Homeland Security cannot even account for over  fourteen hundred children. These children, raging from aged less than a year to seventeen are being held in facilities fashioned out of abandoned WalMart stores and kept inside for up to twenty-two hours per day. 

When challenged by not only the press – other than fox and friends, of course – but also by churches of all denominations, advocacy groups, corporate CEOs and near anyone with a sense of decency about this horrible policy, the administration line of response is that all the criticisms are fake. They blame a non existent law passed by democrats, stating that it is not policy by rather that law which forces them to separate children from their mothers and fathers. This complete lie is perpetrated by the White House press secretary and the attorney general and the White House chief of staff. It is interesting as, once again, the facts belie the message. This public fabrication continues even in the face of documented proof of it all being the policy of the White House ( policy statement of 2017 ) and the attorney general ( policy memorandum of April 2018).  Joining in this continuing fabrication is the newest cabinet member of the corruption team,  Secretary Kirsten Nielsen, also a second generation immigrant, who strongly espoused the policy,  pulling that old national security rabbit out of the hat.

These senior administration appointees will, with not batting an eyelash, counter any criticism with the fake news line they have resorted to on every occasion of any criticism and add that the public simply cannot believe the reports and actual on the scene accounts, but cannot believe the pictures and sound recordings either. Sadly, a sizable portion of the public – the electorate public –  is accepting of all of this.

The outrage, to date, may be having some effect and perhaps we may see some change. Nevertheless, to thousands of children, the damage – severe damage has been done and there is never, we repeat, never any justification for any of this. It was all a policy formulated to force congress to pay for a Wall between the U S and Mexico – the wall which then candidate trump swore he would build and that Mexico would pay for.  Secretary nielsen says “ it is offensive to suggest that trump administration is purposefully separating children from their parents ”. We know it is purposeful. We know it was and is calculated. Yes, this horrible, barbaric, cruel and inhumane policy was all used to blackmail congress in to satisfying a thin skinned ego and an ignorant supporting electorate in order to secure reelection. 

So, if the “best year for conservative values” means attacking the country and its governing system, constantly and continually lying to the public, disrespecting different cultures and religions, having a deep disdain for the less fortunate and attacking the free press in its quest for the truth- well, it’s all just  criminally insane, nothing less.

In 1965, the Johnson administration enacted the Voting Rights Act, which was passed in 1964 with the express purpose of protecting the rights granted under the 15th Amendment.  A key section was section 4(b)  of Section 5 of the Act which was  designed to protect groups from discrimination based on race or language minority and required pre clearance of changes on voting practices and procedures based on the track record of certain states – nine to be exact – with oversight being from the Department of Justice.                                                                      In 2013, the Roberts Court deemed that section unconstitutional and, in Shelby County v Holder, it struck down that section as being not responsive to current needs. It was almost like the court thought that discrimination in the voting place was not a pressing issue, even in the face of the growing tide of blatant voter suppression in Alabama, North Carolina, Kansas  and Arizona. Other than the Citizens United decision, this may have been the worst decision by the Roberts court to date. Almost immediately, in many red states, including those nine which were under those earlier pre clearance requirements , pending and new voter id laws, scheduling revisions, and other restrictions began to be implemented.

What followed was a widespread, calculated aggressive campaign to limit access to voting in minority and other heavily democratic communities. All during the run up to the 2016 election, we were bombarded with completely unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud. The GOP continually blasted blue states, alleging that they allowed illegal immigrants and other non citizens to vote. When it was all over, the eventual winner whined that he did not win the popular vote because over three million “illegals” voted in California alone, thus adding fuel to the already intense xenophobia fire. In response to that allegation, the administration established the Commission on Election Integrity, headed up by the king of anti-immigrant legislation and policies, Kris Kobach, the Secretary of State of Kansas and the author of the infamous Arizona SB1070. With all intent of requiring major purges of voter roles in particularly blue states, the Commission met with such backlash from over twenty-six states, that the Commission was disbanded.  In the end, perhaps the Secretary’s adhering to several conspiracy theories came back to haunt him. The idea of voter roles being controlled by Washington instead of by the states simply would not fly and that effort was curtailed.

For now, outright voter suppression from inside the beltway was on hold. However, the fall out from Shelby vs Holder was still simmering and state legislatures were busy formulating subtle ways of denying the right to vote to large segments of the population. By no means is the fight over and now, another force facing the protection of the right to vote has emerged.

At this point, there are two compelling issues facing what is left of our democratic election system. The first revolves around voter registration, the integrity of voter information and of course, voter turn out. The barriers highlighted above notwithstanding, it is imperative that both parties, but particularly the democrats, need to be about voter registration and they need to be all about the integrity of the voting process on the state level. Too often there have been numerous issues with things like switching of polling places at the last possible hour, confusion regarding provisional ballots and absentee ballots along with  the actual loss of signature pages for ballot initiatives. A prime example might be the curious finding of over nine hundred “misplaced “ ballots in the governor recall election in Wisconsin – a find which allowed the governor to beat the recall and the election stood in spite of the interesting history of a certain county election clerk. In that same light, the democrats need to be about the formulating of a clear and relevant message – something which they did not have in the 2016 election and certainly still do not have – but that’s an issue for another time.

The second of these compelling issues is that of the interference by a foreign government in the 2016 election. Intelligence agencies both here and abroad all agree that our election system was tampered with and while it may or may not have actually caused a change in the eventual outcome, it most certainly did influence it.  This very point has been definitively confirmed by the recently released senate committee report which completely supports the IC assessments. It also shatters the excuse for the totally biased, partisan excuse for a report which came form the House Committee . 

What is astounding are two key points. One is that the current administration is still completely adverse to admitting that there was meddling in the 2016 election and that Russia and Russian hackers were in fact behind it all.  Perhaps there was collusion between the GOP campaign and Russia, perhaps not. However,  there is no question that interference in the election process both by utilizing trolls and hackers and by the manipulation of certain social media  platforms did happen. 

Secondly, there is likewise agreement among the intelligence community that this interference is continuing and the administration has, to date, either failed or consciously decided to not take any action to  either curtail or eliminate this  attack on our election process. While there is some talk about the issue, or more accurately talk around it, neither the executive branch nor the legislative branch has seen fit to formulate a plan of action on this serious matter. It is abundantly clear that the administration has chosen to continue to deny the existence of foreign meddling and that there was any collusion between the GOP and Russia. The message is on going and continual and constant and congress has chosen to either follow that message or to completely ignore the facts of the matter, opting to subscribe to the whole idea of a  “witch hunt” and the whole “deep state” conspiracy theory. It seems that not only does the White House get its message from Fox and Friends, but congress does as well. One has to ask the question – just how much does Russia hold over the oval office and over key members of congress ?

At this point in time, one has to have serious concern about the future – both the immediate mid term election cycle and the upcoming election cycle in 2020. Will future elections be bought and sold even more so than they already are ? Will future elections be swayed or even determined by outside influences, particularly by foreign governments who at least currently have widespread if not sympathizers at least deniers that a problem exists ? We as a nation are at a more than significant crossroad and which path we choose will determine the fate of our very form of government. It is indeed that serious and all need to be seriously concerned.