Something has changed in America, and pretending otherwise is no longer safe. If a sitting president can deny, delay, or obstruct the outcome of an election, then democracy itself is in jeopardy. And if one political team claims the right to question or refuse legitimate election results, then the opposing side logically inherits the same right. That is not a threat —it is a consequence.
If Team Trump were to deny, delay, or obfuscate the procedures or results of the 2026 midterm elections, then Team Democracy would face a choice: accept a broken system, or prepare a constitutional, collective response. The publishing of said conditional response should be made well ahead of the midterms.
One possibility is clear. The Democratic Governors Association — or a similar alliance of state leaders — could announce ahead of time that they will stand together to defend free and fair elections. An Article Five–style pledge — “you come for one, you come for all” — would signal unity and deterrence. The purpose would not be confrontation but prevention.
Let me lay out the logic plainly.
Many Americans believe the country is already in a political war — a conflict not of weapons but of institutions, trust, and power. Democracy, once a radical idea, depended on citizens choosing representatives who argued and negotiated within agreed rules. Authoritarian systems do not operate that way.
The Founders wrote about “self-evident truths” for a reason. Evidence comes from what we see. And many Americans feel they have seen enough. With the midterms approaching, the question is not whether citizens should reject legitimate results; they should not. Elections carried out by longstanding rules, with broad participation and lawful procedures, must be accepted regardless of outcome. Americans have done this before. Many disliked prior results, but the system held because people respected the process.
The fear today is different: that future elections may be contested not through law but through power. If attempts are made to delay or undermine the midterms, states should be prepared to respond lawfully and collectively. Governors could announce that, in the event of clear election interference, they would explore emergency powers to protect their citizens and institutions — including reconsidering how and to whom federal tax dollars are paid and managed until constitutional order is restored.
This would not be a declaration of separation, nor the creation of a new country. It would be a conditional safeguard ; a contingency plan meant to preserve constitutional norms if they are threatened.
Such a stance might resonate with many Americans across the political spectrum. Distrust of federal power is not new; it has appeared in movements from the Tea Party to modern progressive coalitions. The idea of states asserting greater autonomy has deep roots in American history.
And here is the strategic point: if citizens know there is a peaceful, organized, constitutional backup plan, attempts to manipulate elections lose much of their power. Deterrence works when the consequences are clear and there is a feeling of reassurance. History shows that would-be strongmen respect strength. Institutions survive only when people are willing to defend them collectively.
This is not a call for chaos or refusal to accept legitimate outcomes. It is a call to prepare calmly, lawfully, and transparently, so that no leader, from any party, can undermine the rules that make democracy possible.
Because if a sitting president can deny or delay the outcome of an election, then democracy itself is already in checkmate; and Americans of every political belief should refuse to accept that future.
A Call for a Union of Governors to Protect Citizens from Federal Overreach
And Continued Resistance
Across the country, people are watching federal power being used in ways that feel increasingly detached from constitutional limits: aggressive immigration enforcement without clear judicial oversight, sweeping tariffs imposed without Congressional approval, and rhetoric that treats political opposition not as fellow citizens, but as enemies.
When force replaces our Constitution, and subdues representation, democracy fails — not all at once, but quietly, via normalization, pressure and time.
This post is not about left versus right. We really are all in this together now. It is about whether our constitutional government will continue to function as it was originally crafted to do.
Waiting for elections may not be enough
Elections matter — but we are seeing blatant attempts to affect the midterms just like they do in Russia and other fascist countries around the world. We need to be fully prepared well ahead of the midterms to survive this. So all tools and strategies need to be on the table. Hoping for the best while preparing for the worst applies when all is at stake, and it is.
Further, elections are not the only safeguards the Constitution provides. The American system of governance was designed with the safeguard of shared sovereignty. States are not subsidiaries of the federal executive. Governors are not required to enforce federal actions that violate their citizens’ constitutional rights. In fact, they have a sworn duty to protect their citizens’ rights.
When executive power exceeds constitutional bounds, the states were meant to act as a stabilizing force, not as silent accomplices.
We have seen the Trump administration is willing to openly lie to the public. January 6th is being framed as a peaceful protest, and peaceful protestors are being called radicals and shot dead.
What will happen if the midterm results are framed as phony or rigged, and our purchased Supreme Court majority rules for the administration? We cannot wait for elections with this administration in power. Just as he has done all his life, Donald Trump cheats in public and buys off the heat. He shows no respect for our Constitution and is even on record saying he would like to end the Constitution.
Two peaceful, constitutional pressure points
There are two areas where unlawful federal overreach is very visible — and where lawful, non-violent resistance can restore balance quickly.
1. Immigration enforcement without warrants
Border security at the border is popular with most Americans. But federal agents do not have unlimited authority inside states. When arrests or detentions occur by masked men without proper judicial warrants, state governors are within their rights to refuse cooperation and even arrest said ICE agents. This is not obstruction of justice; it is constitutional compliance. Communities are safer when fear is not used as policy. Public safety improves when law enforcement operates transparently and lawfully. It is a governors sworn duty to protect his citizens.
2. Tariffs imposed without Congressional approval
The Constitution gives Congress — not the executive — the power to levy taxes and tariffs. When tariffs are imposed unilaterally, they function as a hidden national sales tax, raising prices for everyone while bypassing representation.
Sovereign state governors can decline to collect tariffs through their ports until Congress approves them as per the Constitution. Prices would fall on goods coming through their ports. One would think that could be good for those state’s citizens.
Citizens in these states would feel the difference with lower prices in real time, and red state citizens would get jealous very quickly. The tariff scam would be exposed in a way that Fox News can’t spin away. Note: As of February 21, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump’s tariffs were illegal, as if we needed a SCOTUS to decide that. It is clear in the Constitution. And this 150-day exception, we should have no respect for that. After 150 days, Trump can restart the 150 days again. Yep. And he will. So I give no respect for that workaround to tax the public, which is what tariffs are.
Refusing to collect tariffs is plan with teeth. It would get popular so quickly Trump couldn’t stop it and be the party pooper. Will he go to physical war about this money? I doubt it. But if he does, he won’t have public support and it would mean a physical war is happening at midterms anyway. So it’s better to initiate real resistance now. Talk in back rooms, but spring it suddenly.
And like Republicans, worry later about the legality of it all. The Constitution and the public are on our side on tariffs. If Supreme Court justices say no, we can say they are aiding an insurrectionist, hence disqualified to serve hence rule in our states; and it will be true. This is also pocketbook economics citizens in all states will appreciate. It’s populism in an FDR way; and he became a populist because he knew he was up against domestic enemies as well as foreign enemies, just as we are today.
Why this matters right now
Authoritarian systems thrive when people feel powerless and divided. Our enemies abroad has gotten influence here, and they want our population just as subdued as theirs are. Why? Because phones connect the world now, and people all over the world believe their eyes. The existence of well-functiong democracies, where people have a say in how they are governed, taxed and rewarded, makes it harder for autocrats to survive, as they want as little as possible to flow to the people; their prime goal being wealth for the ruling class.
Democracy survives this challenge only when its citizens insist — peacefully, lawfully, and in great numbers — that power flows from the Constitution, not from loyalty to any single leader.
Russia and Hungary do have elections, but their results do not matter. Democratic backsliding rarely ends at the ballot box. Democracy will prevail only when institutions and key agents in our government refuse to participate in illegal, unconstitutional actions. And that includes these tariffs which Trump has lied about. Citizens in all states know tariffs are a tax by now.
The goal is de-escalation, not conflict
This is a call for governors to reclaim their sworn duty to protect their citizens from federal overreach and create some constitutional equilibrium as the founders of our nation intended. This is not a call for violence. It is not a call for chaos. But if our enemies are going this route anyway, we need to prepare ahead of time.
If the unlawful ICE actions stop, street tensions will drop. After the unapproved tariffs stop and the savings passed on to consumers, prices will fall and financial anger will cool. When constitutional law replaces fear, democracy will begin to regain its footing.
America does not need a “strongman” or king. It was formed to get away from that way of governance. It just needs the Constitution to be enforced as written. State power to balance federal overreach is built in to the constitution to protect the consitution. So now, well before midterms, is the time for that governors union.
Why a union of aligned governors is critical right now
Imagine if Tim Walz announced he would no longer allow ICE agents to enter his state, nor be quartered in the state, if they came without warrants to arrest specific people. He would need the power to enforce said action if Trump sent ICE without warrants anyway. But Minnesota is just one state. They were over-powered and outnumbered. If the federal government knew 50% of the states, many of which surround Washington DC, were in a mutual self-defense union much like NATO, Trump would have cause to re-think military actions against Minnesota. There is real strength in unified numbers.
“We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.” Benjamin Franklin, 1776, as the Constitution was being crafted.
What governors can do today
Blue state governors and any others inclined to resist the debasement of our Constitutional can call each other and form a union. I like to call said union States United, dedicated to protect the member states from federal overreach. Announce said union. The announcement of its creation will be an instantaneous comfort to Americans in all states, blue and red. As we stand today, most US citizens feel there is no one in government to protect them from federal government overreach. Their plan is working because Democrats refuse to call this a war, and are going to gamble our entire existence on the results of an election run by a man who does not admit he lost 2020, which makes him a 3rd term president, looking for four, in his own fantasy. And that’s the only place this man lives folks.
What citizens can do today
Write your governor, online and on paper, and ask where they stand on warrantless federal enforcement. Ask them to form a union with other like minded governors, much like NATO, so that an attack on one is an attack on all.
Ask why your governor why he is collectingtariffs that Congress has not approved and if he will consider refusing to collect tariffs until they are approved by Congress as per the Constitution.
Ask your governor if he believes he has a duty to protect his state’s citizens from the dangers and costs of Trump’s unconstitutional executive actions
Make it clear you will not support your governor is he does nothing to stop tariffs and warrantless arrests.
Continue to protest peacefully.
Share this plea on social media. Get this plea to citizens and governors going viral.
About the author: Joseph Aronesty was a classmate to Donald Trump at Wharton in 1968 and worked in his orbit from 1986-99 in Atlantic City NJ. He has been warning Americans about the danger Trump poses for our country since 2016.
1/7/26 Today a citizen, Renee Nicole Good , was killed in Minnesota in her car, trying not to get detained by ICE. She was no danger to ICE. You can watch the clip. Of course, Trump is lying about it. Always this way, since college, where I first knew him. See clip at Trump’s Untruths Social site:
This will not stop until Trump is removed from office by popular demand. It does not have to wait for 2028. We won’t last that long. Below is the way out.
Once again, I plead with the governors of blue states and any red states that want to honor the true miracle of America – to form a union – and refuse to allow ICE agents in their states without warrants, and refuse to collect tariffs in their ports until Congress approves tariffs . Those two actions ( not words ) will end Trumpism in two weeks. How? Popular demand. We will all notice together the prices dropping by refusing to collect tariffs, and the peace in our streets, and no one will want to go back.
…..
In Des Moines, Iowa, on July 3, 2025, Donald Trump said “I hate them” in reference to Democrats. During his speech, he said Democrats did not vote for his “Big Beautiful Bill” because “they hate Trump” and added, “I hate them, too”.
For the record, Democrats did not vote for his bill because it does very little to help average working-class Americans, and favors the uber-wealthy. But with the words, “I hate Democrats” Donald Trump officially declared war on the Democratic Party which represents 53.5%* of the registered voters in the USA. (*Gallup poll June 2025) That means Trump has declared war on 53.5% of American citizens of voting age and more like 2 out of 3 if you count children.
Why we must now declare war vs. Trumpism, and strategies to keep it a cold war, is what follows. First some history.
Before 1776, ruling kings had been the standard way to govern countries for the previous 5000 years. Some kingdoms and autocracies autocracies have done well for its citizens, but they have been rare. Most exaggerate and perpetuate wealth gaps. They all create tiered societies wherein only those who are loyal to “the king” or dictator can move up the social ladder. For the vast majority living under autocratic rule, life becomes harder. The middle and lower classes are subjugated, thrown under. That’s why kings called their citizens, subjects.
Oligarchy is rule by one man and his chosen businessmen. Oligarchy is what Donald Trump is in the process of executing right in front of our own eyes. He admires men like Putin, MBS, and Xi because they get what they want. That has always been Donald Trump’s goal: to get what he wants. Whether it was women, money or power, that has been the life of Donald Trump since I knew him at age twenty at Wharton.
I chose the subject word executioner, because Donald Trump is not educated enough to be the architect of this plan to end American democracy. But, because he is heartless and willing to do or say anything to get his way, he is an ideal executioner of this plan, which began in foreign autocracies many years ago.
The road map to supplant democracy with autocracy in not new. It has been paved by other dictators in recent history. Germany was a democracy in 1932. More recently, Putin took Russia, a country that recently had become a democracy, back to an autocracy, which it had pre-1917 and back to the Middle Ages.
Look at this world map . If America succumbs turns red towards fascism, the rest of the world has no chance of staying democratic. The fascists will have the planet. That’s been the goal, especially since 1996, when the internet made instant communication between peoples across the planet much easier. Fascists don’t want their subjects aware how things fare a little better for citizens in democracies.
In 2016, before being chosen to be the GOP candidate, Donald Trump was just a businessman. But he had been in contact with Russia years before during his Miss World contests. In June of 2016, right after he was the Republican candidate, he said” Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you find the missing Hillary Clinton tapes.” That means he knew they were listening. There was no reason to bring up Russia at that point, unless he knew Russia was going to be a player in the election. And in the 2016 presidential election, Russia was, at the very least, a substantial player in social media campaigns designed to convince Americans that Hillary was evil, and a pedophile – of all things.
In 2016, Putin sold Trump on the idea of becoming the first king of America. Donald had no clue where to begin that potentially very dangerous journey. But Vladimir Putin had done it before, and in the largest country on Earth.
Putin was a disciple of Khrushchev. In the fifties Cold War Era, Nikita Khrushchev said, “we will defeat the United States without firing a single bullet.” When Obama did not indict Trump for asking for foreign help in our most sacred institution, our elections, foreign interference in elections became normalized. Obama, like Biden, grossly underestimated how determined Russia was to defeat the USA.
Donald Trump openly admired Putin and indeed got Russian election help. He owes Putin for life now. Putin makes sure Trump knows he would never have become president without his help. You’ll never see Trump cross Putin on Ukraine, or anything. Connect the dots. Trump is the side of the dictators for life now, whether he likes it or not. This all sums to the undeniable conclusion that we have a traitor in the White House who must do Putin’s bidding.
Take a good lo0k at that map again. The dictators and monarchs have the majority of the land and the majority of the people. Those in power can change the laws of democracy and we have a traitor to democracy as commander-in-chief. In effect, we have already lost this war. If we proceed as if all is normal, our democracy will be pronounced dead after midterms 2026. Democracy is not the favorite to survive this disease.
So now we must commit to a war against the Trump “regime” to regain our democracy. If we are afraid to fight back, if we are afraid to die for this cause, the planet’s five-thousand years of autocratic rule will resume.
I’d like you to listen to this YouTube from 2017, which you may have seen on the news. Putin is at a hockey game, about to go on the ice. A reporter asks why Trump fired James Comey. Putin answers in effect, “he is just following the laws of his country”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1NKWYepioA
That’s how fascists pull it off when they are successful at taking over a country. It’s not done with guns. Certainly not at first. They say they are “following the laws”. Once they get enoough laws on their side, they can and will proceed a little further down the military autocratic road.
Being a traitor to democracy is worse than being a traitor in a war. In a war, democracy is what we are fighting to preserve. Trump is already dismantling the agencies that keep our citizens and children safe from human predators and nature’s wrath. Germany banned their fascists from holding office post WW2, and they cited the American constitution, while doing so. The blue states should do the same now.
The fascist goal is to make life harder for every citizen in America who is not part of the oligarchy. If people who are not okay with that don’t speak up and practice peaceful civil disobedience, democracy’s demise is inevitable. If our state governors do not band together and declare we are at war with this iteration of Republican Party and protect its citizens from unconstitutional executive orders, Trumpism will prevail. Waiting or hoping for elections is a fool’s game.
Today Pritzker seemed disappointed he did not get all fifty state governors to support Illinois over Trumpism. He needs to start thinking in terms of creating a second sovereign power until these MAGA nationalists are removed, en masse, from their seats, as per the 14th sec 3. We need a new temporary union of states that refuse to blindly follow Trump’s orders.
These fascists will never willingly surrender power. Their crimes are too large now. They fear reprisal if they lose power now, and rightly so. Citizens cannot challenge this power alone. It’s too easy for them to be whisked away, or sued, like you see happening to Adam Schiff, Leticia James and many others.
State governors have sovereign power. If governors will declare we at war with the fascists in our government, they can declare an emergency, and order, for example, that Trump’s tariffs not be collected in their ports until such time that the Congress votes on the tariffs, in accordance with the Constitution. They could declare the fourteenth renders the entire Republican side of our government unconstitutional and set up a union of states and a temporary new government to run our agencies the way they are supposed to run, and even divert enough taxes that their citizens pay to the federal government to fund such agencies.
And that union has begun. The West Coast Health Alliance formed by California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii was just created to issue unified health guidance that is grounded in science. I’d rename it the American Health Alliance and get Pritzker, Hochul and any other states that want health care run by scientists. not politicians, on board.
Then the only step left would be to ask their citizens, who are nationally 80% of board with scientists to run health care, to reduce their tax payments to the federal government by the percentage of the federal budget we spend on health, and also state they will defend their citizens from any suits or actions from the federal government regarding that underpayment. If 80% of Americans want scientists in charge of health care, not politicians, and Trump continues to place non-doctors like RFK Jr. as the stewards of their health care, that is not democratic representational government. That is funding the enemy.
Are governors beginning to talk quietly about a corruption-free new government? The talk of it alone, would be healthy. Maybe some on the fringes of the right would begin to think they don’t like how Trump is steering our government if they see states willing to financially divorce from the union.
Then, agency by agency, we can claw back our government until we can vote out the insurrectionists and traitors aligned with the dictators in the world who want Americans dead, without firing a single bullet.
Trump’s Tariffs Create The Seminal Event to Unify the Country
Campaigning for elections and waiting for election results is fine, but it’s not a war plan. We need to create a seminal event that unifies the country. It’s not Epstein. The country is united on justice for Epstein, but it’s not a pocketbook issue. Tariffs act like a sales tax on everyone. It affects the uber-wealthy the least. The first battle cry of American democracy was “taxation without representation is tyranny”. The desire to get government to serve us as a reward for being taxed is in the American DNA.
People will soon be feeling what I call tarifflation. It is inflation made worse by Trump’s tariffs. I am paying them myself in my own business. I believe the other proper strategy is for governors of CA, IL and NY to declare their ports will not collect these unconstitutionally enacted tariffs until such time as they are voted on in Congress.
If this were to happen, play out Trump’s predictable reaction in your mind. You will conclude, this action would create a seminal event, “the day Trump’s tariffs ended in blue states“, that logically ends with all the people unified against Trumpism. Trump will kneejerk respond and try to use ICE agents to collect tariffs. When the 80% of Americans see him trying that, even once, he is done, and so is Trumpism nation-wide.
Trump will take this bait and quickly. I cannot claim to know what tariffs are doing for Trump personally. He’s probably getting paid off left and right by countries and businesses. That is his style of being. So not collecting tariffs hits him in his Achilles Heel, his wallet. He won’t wait a day to send in his goons to collect tariffs. We need all Americans to see the specter of Trump using troops to raise their grocery prices.
We are in a war without bombs. We have been in that space since 2016. When Putin sent emissaries to the GOP Convention in 2016, an alliance was formed based on mutual interests, the Russo-Republican Alliance of 2016 . That is democracy’s real enemy. Donald Trump is not its architect; he is its executioner. This enemy’s weapons are words, executive orders and actions; not guns and bombs. We’d best get into that game now, as we are losing the funds and muscle to defeat this alliance every day we sit on the sidelines and pretend the demise of America is not unwinding in front of our eyes.
It’s not as if this is new. Trump has been trying to end democracy, as per his boss, Vladimir Putin, since “Russia if you’re listening.” When Trump took election help from a fascist, he became a fascist for life. There is no going back on that.
A Call for States to Unite Against Authoritarianism
Aug 29, 2025
Dear Reader. Trump’s tariff driven inflation is hitting Americans of all stripes right now and is about to escalate in the fall. Runaway inflation creates the perfect climate for expansion of fascism . A happy, secure, well-to-do citizenry has time, money, dreams and no good reasons to turn to fascism to upset their lives. When Hitler took over, Germany was experiencing hyper-inflation. Russia is a financial mess now. The people behind this unconstitutional insurrectionist coup, know these things. They have a big stake in things not going well for the middle class here.
What I worry about is democrats seem singularly focused on recapturing a majority in the House and Senate. I hope it happens, of course. But we’ve given this administration the guns and the purse strings. And I am 100% sure Trump will allowing cheating on the GOP side, and call the outcome a “steal” if he loses.
I spoke with Ted Lieu last night at the Kiwanas Club in Hermosa. He mentioned that the Trump administration is sensitive to public sentiment. They might be. But that won’t affect Trump’s resolve to stay in power. Trump cannot surrender. Putin will release what he has on him the day he is out of power, or betrays Putin. That’s also why he will never fully commit to Ukraine.
This plan to end Trumpism well before the elections is a two-step strategy. Step one is what Ted Lieu suggested: influence public sentiment. Just so you think about this properly, this is what Trump did in the weeks leading up to J6. J6 was Trump’s seminal event to return to power.
Step two is create our seminal event to rally all Americans to take up the cause to end tarifflation. The Boston Tea Party was the seminal event that led to the creation of the United States. A union of thirteen colonies was created based on a written set of rules called the Constitution, which literally means “stand together”. We need an event we can all stand together on. Ending tarifflation is the best candidate for that unity.
All Americans, left and right, can sense this now. And I hope media starts saying “end tarifflation“, because no one can credibly blame tarifflation on Biden. Trump fully owns that meme. That’s the big idea. We brand the financial stress of inflation in such a way that Trump personally owns it all. We sell it, the way Trump sold Build That Wall. But this meme actually helps Americans.
Once the meme spreads, – and these days that does not take but a few days, the governors of blue states with ports should announce they will stop collecting tariffs until such time Trump’s tariffs are voted on by and approved by Congress as it is written in the Constitution.
I have sent this plan to Newsom, Pritzker and Hochul – and now you have it too.
Gavin Newsom,
The U.S. Constitution grants the power to impose and regulate tariffs to the U.S. Congress, not individual states or the President. Trump has violated that law.
States are sovereign powers. State governors can declare emergencies. They can declare that ports of their states will revert to pre-Trump tariff status until such time that Congress votes to approve the tariffs as the constitution says. What can Trump do about that? Send in his goons to collect unlawful taxes, which is what tariffs are? No American will support that spectre.
Tariffs are very unpopular – both sides. The law suit versus tariffs route is way too long a process. The courts are too easily influenced. Tarifflation is a unique meme four our unique times. The idea to stop collecting tariffs until Congress votes on it has not been floated or tested. Its time for fiscal resistance. Its time for blue state governors to put our money where their mouths are.
Red states may even go along. Their citizens don’t like tariffs either and are beginning to feel the pinch. You end Trumpism quickest by ending his popularity with his own voters.
Tarifflation is a meme that can do this. It’s a cyber war. Words are the weapons.
By ending the collection of Trump’s tariffs and declaring them unconstitutional and illegal until Congress votes on them, you also force the GOP in Congress to cast votes against their own people.
Governors can cease collecting tariffs tomorrow, stating when Congress approves tariffs, they will abide with the all tariffs they approve. That’s a meme that can help in the battle to end Trumpism and save our democracy.
………. end letter to Newsom
There are smarter ways to end Trumpism than waiting for elections that may not be fair or accepted. Key Governors must now step up financially and be willing to organize for financial resistance. They’ll need to form a union, and have one message:
We will not fund democracy’s demise one more day!
……….end tarifflation post
Rejecting ICE without warrants
This masked version of ICE is not popular on either side. They don’t have warrants. They work for an insurrectionist comforter, which Trump became the moment he pardoned convicted insurrectionsists. You dont have to be in the insurrection, to be barred from holding offices in these united states. See Constitution, 14th amendment sec.3 . Many in media know about that, and don’t talk enough about it enough. But democracy’s enemies get it. That’s why Trump is going after Obama. They know this is the legal tree they may likely die on. It’s also why they ban books and want kids to be blind to history. But it all adds to:it’s easier to start the resistance vs Trump as a resistance to ICE.
The justices that ruled J6 was not an insurrection, or that Congress had to vote on the 14th the amendment to enforce it, are also insurrection aiders. The rulings of at least two of nine can be ignored. And their seats should, by rights, be taken from them. Perhaps in due time.
A STATE OF EMERGENCY MUST BE DECLARED IN AUGUST BY GOVERNORS
We need blue state governors to step up now, during summer, when more people are off, and state there is an emergency in their states, and declare they will use all the powers given to state governors to protect their citizens.
With the intention of protecting the peace, and their citizens, and using the 14th sec 3 and emergency power executive orders as legal backup, ICE agents can be met with physical resistance if they come without warrants.
And further, whatever the percentage of the federal budget that ICE is costing the citizens of the dissenting blue states, that same percent the governors can declare to be paid to the states and withheld from the federal government to be used to amp up the state’s defenses and police forces. And they must defend their citizens should the federal government sue. That’s just numbers, – dollars. Not an act of war. But it feels as different was what we are feeling right now about fasicm rising. It feels like democracy fighting back, at last. It should have starfted at “Russia, if you’re listening”. That meant he knew they were.
Ending warrantless ICE can be our seminal political event to end fascism, the way January 6th was to initiute it, and our Boston Tea Party was to end it, or the burning of the German capitol for Hitler, to kick off WW2. Big cycles.
Lesson: New political movements need seminal events.
What’s Trump really going to do if we stop paying for ICE ? Did he worry about what dems would do if he asked people to attack police on J6? He can’t win if he sends the army in vs the police forces of NY, IL, CA, CO, VT, NJ, and any other states that want to start ending this fascist takeover of our country. He can’t win if he actually sends the army in vs the police forces of NY, IL, CA, CO, VT, NJ, and any other states that want to start ending the political cancer that is Trumpism. He loses that game of chicken and Trumpism dies by the dawn’s early light, imo.
And it’s going to get physical anyway, in time. This resistance will not be bloodless. If we are afraid to get hurt, they will find out and use force.
I know Donny. Neither he nor his sons will be there in any conflict zone,so its all good for the Trumps if others end up dead via his orders. And when people see that he is not moved, that becomes his Joey vs Johnny Friendly moment in On the Waterfront. Rachel said to think cinematically. Better now while the people are largely behind ending fascism and many have the summer off.
I would like to see this sort of thing happen this Labor Day weekend too. Filled with speakers and entertainers. At state capitols and online.
Yes. Use the word Liberation. They always use the meme they want the people not to use against them. Citizens United, would be a great name for a new political party right now, but its taken by those who dont want citizens to unite.
A CALL FOR STATE GOVERNORS TO UNITE TO DEFEAT AN AUTHORITARIAN TAKEOVER OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA | MAY 2025
The attack on American democracy, initiated in 2016 with foreign enemy assistance, has metastasized into a widespread, coordinated effort to undermine America’s 250-year-old constitutional order. Donald Trump and his allies in the Republican Party continue to push this agenda, and waiting until 2026 or 2028 is no longer a viable option.
The 14th Amendment, Section 3, explicitly bars insurrectionists—and those who aid or comfort them—from holding public office. Yet many current Republican officials in Congress have supported or defended the January 6 insurrection, violating this clause. If we truly value the rule of law, this must be acknowledged and acted upon.
Trump and the GOP have created a machine that cannot afford to lose power; doing so would expose them to legal accountability. Their current strategy involves gutting federal institutions, rigging elections, and ensuring permanent one-party control. This is not speculative—it is unfolding before our eyes.
A Blueprint for Peaceful Resistance
Blue state governors must act now. The path forward doesn’t require civil war, but it does require coordinated and assertive legal and financial resistance.
Step 1: Form a Governors’ Pact States like California, New York, and Illinois should form a constitutional alliance—“States United”—to protect democratic governance, federal workers, and core public institutions.
Step 2: Redirect Taxation with Representation Governors should allow their citizens to redirect financially justified portions of their federal tax contributions to fund state-controlled versions of federal agencies being dismantled or decimated by Trump. This is not tax evasion—it’s a constitutional stand against illegitimate federal authority. If they are concerned about the legality of such a move, they should be reminded that Trump routinely calls certain situations “emergencies” when they are not, and then uses his power to “protect” the people, to do things that harm and will harm US citizens. further, states are also sovereign seats of powers, like the federal government, and their governors swear oaths to protect state citizens.
Step 3: Rehire Fired Federal Agents Create state-based equivalents of agencies like the FBI, DOJ, USAID, and the Department of Education. These agencies can be staffed by professionals purged by the Trump administration. States have the right to protect their citizens and enforce their laws.
Step 4: Limit Federal Overreach Refuse cooperation with ICE and other federal forces acting without court orders or violating constitutional rights. If the federal government attempts to intervene, states must stand united, even if physically, and defend their citizens and sovereignty under the Constitution.
Why Now?
Trumpism thrives on fear and misinformation. Its leaders will not stop until all opposition is silenced. The GOP knows they cannot win fairly, so they are rewriting the rules. We must meet this moment with decisive action—not symbolic gestures and discussions. Waiting for midterms is not a game plan.
This is not about secession. It’s about using the state’s sovereign power to preserve constitutional governance and provide a legal, moral, and operational alternative to authoritarian rule. No one voted for fascism, but that’s what we are getting if we just wait and see. The elections of 2026 will either be rigged, Gerrymandered, or its results simply ignored by this power-crazed Republican party.
Precedent and Urgency
Just as the Boston Tea Party protested taxation without representation, Americans today must oppose being governed by those who have violated the Constitution. January 6 was not just a riot—it was a fascist assault on our republic. The Supreme Court’s refusal to act on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment further erodes its legitimacy. Supreme Court justices are also not exempt from the provisions of the 14th Amendment. Their anti-democratic rulings can be ignored by states on that basis.
Blue states have the people, the economy, and the moral authority. By forming a union of democratic governance, we can create a peaceful but powerful resistance that weakens Trumpism at its core.
Final Thoughts
Trump’s efforts have created a national emergency. It is the largest emergency we have faced since WW2. The longer we wait, the more power Trump’s anti-democratic armed assault gains power. Let red state politicians embrace Trump if they so choose—but blue state governors and congressmen should protect their citizens by respecting and enforcing the constitution as it is written.
The majority of citizens within red states are no longer supportive of Trump’s agenda. If we lead with courage and clarity, the people will demand that their interests, not the interests of billionaires and corporations, be supported with their tax dollars. That’s the populist movement that can turn this around so democracy prevails in America.
Joseph Aronesty is an ecom pioneer who shared a class with Donald Trump at Wharton in 1968 and worked in his orbit from 1986-99 in Atlantic City NJ. He has been writing about the danger Trump poses since 1996.
The Dictator Map. A dictator map was first posted at this blog in 2017, when Trump was in Helsinki. It was then I was 100% sure Trump was compromised and who did it. And this is why Trump will never cross Putin and never should have been given a chance to hold any office in the USA.
Trump Defiance to Court Orders Marks a Shot Across the Bow
The war on American democracy, first attempted in 2016 by a man who got election help from our country’s mortal enemy, Vladimir Putin, is on and metastatic now.
We don’t have time to wait and see what happens in 2026 and 2028 now. Trump’s laws and orders must be rejected. All of them. The 14th sec 3, says no insurectionists can hold any governmental office, even military and judicial. And 51% of our government’s office holders are insurrectionists in that all the current Republicans in Congress aid and comfort insurrectionists. The 14th sec 3 is written into the Constitution, just as clearly as the First Amendment. And we must remain a nation of laws, or we truly have nothing.
So we cannot stand by and watch this sick, mad would-be king destroy our country, its economy and its history, without real resistance, legal and physical. It’s going to have to come down to a physical showdown. Donnie has no quit button. We cannot gamble and wait for 2026. We will have to deal withthe insurrectionists even if we win in 2026 and 2028. Might as well start now.
The GOP have a war room, and they are working on ending real elections here right now. It is the only way they can get away with their crimes, which are now so large they know they cannot risk losing power ever again.
The easy way is to for blue state governors to form a pact and temporarily secede from the union, financially and legally. That means federal taxes start going only to the states. What can they do versus a union of California, New York, Illinois, Indianapolis, Colorado, Washington, New Mexico, Maine, Hawaii and any others that want to pay no tariffs though their ports, or let ICE agents mess with their citizens sense of security? Get physical? I don’t think so.
I wrote a way out manifesto of sorts at the bottom of this infinite scroll format. Check it out. This map from over a year ago would be very different now.
I also wonder why there is no musical concert dedicated to preserving democracy. Top artists can convene and sing their best songs about hope, love, and resisting our oppressors. This should be like the Summer of ’69 here. Engaging and enrolling our youth is super important. Many sat it out in 2024.
Dems and Media Are Enabling Trump’s Gestapo
April 5th, 2025. Hands Off protest Saturday. Many did their share with posters and voices today. But these are my thoughts on this tariff war Trump started Wednesday. These tariffs are all about money for Donnie and his team of high value paid supporters and con men. Trump’s self-created tariff war will cost the average family $4000 a year. Let’s estimate that’s for an average family of four. So Trump’s tariffs will be a tax of $1000 per person, man, woman and child, per year. There are 350 million Americans, so this is roughly a piggy bank of 350 billion dollars a year coming into the US treasury from US citizens. That is a tax, people. TARIFF, TAX and TAKE are historically related words.
Hey guess what? The tariffs are going away. Thanks to the protests. Keep it up.
T BTW . Laura Loomer just asked Trump to fire the National Security Agency, a 30 year military man. She said it should be done because these people are loyal to the Constitution, and not Trump. I think Laura is phishing for a job in national security herself.
This cannot end well. If you voted for Trump, it’s time to say you made a mistake, and you will not support him, his administration or his party members ever again. I’d be happy to say Kamala Harris was not ideal. Can our MAGA brothers and sisters start saying maybe they are done with Trump’s “agenda”? It will affect them most. But no one will be spared in a global recession, left, right, or center.
April 2nd, 2025. Liberation Day. Wisconsin elects a Democratic Justice, in spite of Elon Musk’s million spent. People are saying Cory Booker is the super hero we need. He certainly did his part and more. But the only super hero that can save us is all of us acting with unity, boycotting everything Trump touches; boycotting the billionaire businesses that align with Trump, making him be seen as a poison. It can happen, if we raise our voices.
Step one is to openly declare and recognize we are at war with the Republican Party and their authoritarian allies abroad. Step two is to cite the 14th Amendment and declare that no one in government who aided or comforted insurrectionists has any authority to be in office, hence their words, orders and laws have no validity. Step three is to refuse to admit ICE agents and DOGE agents in their states without court orders. Yes, that means resisting them with force, if need be. When the Federal government brings military power to the states, which is coming, whether we do nothing but wait for the 2026 midterms, or fight back now, we need to have the spine and force to say “no, you have no juridicion in this state because you supported an insurrectionist as per the 14th Amendment’. And if they cite the SCOTUS pooh poohing the 14th, as they have done, we must say, they also have two insurrection supporters in their fold, so current Supreme Court rulings mean nothing in the blue states that have united in opposition to Trump and his allies.
We must internalize that we are at war. This war will come to blows eventually, because nothing, not even elections lost, will stop this criminal president and his GOP party. They will never willingly surrender power. The GOP have also gone so far that now this entire GOP is in that boat Trump created that must run at full throttle to stay in power and avoid prosecution.
March 30th, 2025: It’s good to see resistance, not only from the democrats but from Republicans. Trump and Musk are not popular. But nothing will change until state Governors unite and simply refuse to allow ICE AGENTS and DOGE into their states without court orders.
It has come to the point that federal taxes should be paid to the states to fund the branches of government the Trump is illegally dismantling. Blue state governors have to unite on that issue and protect their citizens from legal or punitive actions by this illegal administration.
MARCH 8, 2025: This is a link to one of my first posts exposing Trump as a traitor. It shows the DICTATOR MAP, and explains why dictators want to end all democracies, and to do so they need the USA to switch sides. Donnie is trying his best to please his boss, Vladimir Putin. His base is starting to catch on as they see their government dismantled with no benefits accruing to the US people. Of course, dictators want a struggling middle class – too busy and broke to fight back. There is a map in this post that all should see. The struggle is much more like the board game RISK than people realize.
Play out the political chess game to end democracy. Trump has made nearly all the moves so far. Trump’s motives are clearly not beneficial to America, its history, its way of governance for 250 years, or the Ameican people. And he’s upside down because they know it.
The pace of change is so quick and almost panicked. Many believe Trump is breaking the economy on purpose. Why? If tariffs drive the cost of goods up, and unemployment trends up, the result is a depression where businesses and consumers both suffer. At that point, Trump can tell the same lie that Castro told Cubans. Castro said he would give the businesses to the people, in a sort of communistic way. It was a lie. Cuba went fascist. Same in Hungary. That’s the real way tis can happen. Cookie cutter cyber war government takeover.
Trump’s hinted at this phony communistic scheme once already. He says he’ll save money with DOGE by ending federal jobs and share the wealth with Americans. But when companies fail and people cannot afford essentials, he and his billionaire buddies will force industry to sell out to Trump and his allies by using that lie. It all works because the companies are public companies, and beholden to their stock holders. But I believe that will be the lie that breaks Trump’s hold on the MAGA base. Big business is bigger than MAGA. I believe a quasi-Scarface last act is coming. I hope its not a cyber attack. But its very likely. Cyber wars end when they get physical, – like a grid or national banking system going down.
Having said that, this is not a game. This is serious. This will be the last act in effectuating Trump’s mission to end the United States. Think chess moves ahead. They are.
Please. If you have not read this post before, pass it on. Wrap your head around it. It’s sloppy. But we are cattle in the pen, Jews in the ghettos, if we just continue to have Oscars, watch TV and welcome baseball. We are at war, Americans. Act like you know it. Our foreign enemies and their opportunistic domestic allies know they are at war with democracy. Democracy is ruining their take the world plans.
MARCH 1, 2025: The Zelensky debacle, broadcasted world-wide, embarrases America and the Americans who voted for him. House Speaker Mike Johnson says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy may have to resign following a heated exchange in the Oval Office last week.
Acually, it is the opposite. Trump, Vance and Johnson should step down after the clown show they put with Zelensky. No respectful leader should ever visit with Trump again. And they may not. Oh sure, the dictators will be kocking at the White House door soon enough, but those treasonous meetings will be all behind closed doors.
Europe is certainly getting the Ukraine mineral deal now. They are organizing for it right now. Britain is ON BOARD for nuclear help. They have given up on the USA until this dunce and his sycophants are out of office. And so has the rest of the free world.
The American dollar will tank. Inflation will become worse here than it is in Europe, which will experience a revival. And of course, we will be closer to WW3 under Trump because that guy actually believes if he has to die, it’s okay of the rest of the world dies with him.
The movie in Donnie’s mind, which we have all been forced to watch for the last eight years, mainly due to not recognizing the enemies in our midst in governnment and media, ends two ways: with Trump as the hero, or with Trump riding the nuclear bomb to blow the world up, yelling yipee-i-oh, like in the last scene of It’s a Mad Mad World.
Again, I ask all people of good will to read my post on the easiest solution for the United States. I call it STATES UNITED. Resistance starts with you, and then the governors and state power. There’s plenty of that if we organize and insist.
I ask people who voted for Trump to publicly admit they may have made a mistake – unless of course, they are okay with losing their “social security” – and I mean that in the literal sense, of feeling secure as a society.
………..
Everything the new Trump/DOGE administration is doing, without exception, has been designed to make things worse for all Americans because Russia’s goal is to destroy America since about 1956. Donald Trump is negating the efforts of the greatest generation quickly. Who closes the Consumer Protection Agency? The enemies of everyday Americans, that’s who. All because we don’t see bombs, does not mean we are not at war. We are. We are losing fast. But it does not have to be that way. Action before April 15 is needed. I am revealing a subtle plan to end Trumpism in 60 days.
The visual meme below was branded in 2017 at the Helsinki summit. The Supreme Court is the the ultimate protection that Donald Trump and his dictator friends are relying on. That means part of any successful counter cyber war effort must insist that certain rulings of this Supreme Court not be respected. This alone will prove we mean business. That requires governors take charge and create laws that instruct their citizens to pay for the services that Trump and DOGE are ending out of taxes previously paid the the federal government. The meme can be “taxation without representation is thievery”.
The firing of FBI agents; the firing of federal employees; the ending of aid to our allies, while stating that Russia is no longer the enemy; the lack of attention to public health, the mere threat of tariffs, all are killing the US economy, raising inflation and making it clear Trump does not care about Americans and is working to fulfill our enemies agenda.
America’s enemies now have a man who they have compromised. We must assume Trump has been taped during his traitorous discussions with dictators. Think like the greatest generation had to people. This means Trump must do what Putin wants to keep the full truth about the depth of his compromat from coming out. In general, Trump will now do anything to keep the full truth from going public, because he knows, if the full truth came, out he will be branded as a traitor, even among his supporters.
I will be adding the latest entries at the top of this post, and bolddating them. Trump is stumbling our country into a fascist oligarcy, like they have in Hungary and Russia. Those new to my post may want to read this by dated posts from the bottom up.
In January of 2017, I warned my readers and representatives that treason was afoot at Russia if you’re listening. Below is our last best hope to stave off complete surrender via force. It is coming, – like a stage four cancer, if we continue to just talk, hoping for 2016, without launching a pro-active plan as radical as our domestic enemies are rolling out right now.
2/18 What is Donald Trump’s Greatest Strength, and How Do We Take It Away?
Tonight Rachel Maddow proved she gets how to fight Trumpism . I sent her this email:
Political science. Someone finally said it. Where is our political science war room? The GOP has one. It may be in Russia, but some mastermind is chess moves ahead of the dems in strategy. It’s good you started the political science discussion tonight. More on this thought line is sorely needed.
Trump’s biggest strength is his ability convince his base that he speaks the truth, cares about his them, and is working to make things better for them. Selling that lie is Trump’s “Sampson’s hair”.
What could make the people who voted for Trump not like him? What news event can be created by political scientists with good intentions that could amplify the sentiment that Donald Trump is not to be trusted?
Large political changes always come down to a confrontation or shootout. It can be a physical showdown, but usually many people die in those. I prefer this cyber counter attack to be a transactional showdown. If done right, it can end Trumpism in sixty days. Hitler undid Germany’s democracy in just under two months. Fascicts move fast, grab offices. and then, think “what are they going to do to stop us?”
Suppose the governors of blue states formed a union to hire the fired FBI agents. The federal government can’t tell a state not to hire people to keep their citizens safe. Well, they could say that, but it won’t land well with most people in any states, including red states.
How do we pay for this “States United” line in the sand, called the State’s United Bureau of Investigation? It comes down to a transactional adjustment to the states united tax policies. They write in that .6% of any tax payer’s federal tax is to be sent to the state, not the Federal Government, for the state’s treasury to be paid to staff a constitutionally legitimate bureaus of investigations. That’s what the federal government spends on the FBI – .6% of the budget. So it is legit. No double taxation. The blue states don’t want to be protected b Kash Patel, an insurrectionist loyal to a traitorous Jefferson Davis of our times. And they do not have to.
And then, the States United warrant that they will protect and defend any citizen who, having made that .6% payment to the state, and withheld it from the Federal government, and is subsequently sued or subpoenaed by the federal government. What can Trump’s feds do about an entire state withholding .6% of their taxes to pay for needed protection? Not much. The states united can protect them from all law suits by the govenment and from abeing arrested, and they can’t sue 50 million households in California, New York and Illinois.
What states form this union? Basically, it will be the blue states. First should be the big blue states of California, New York and Illinois. Those three alone are nearly 30% of the country. Colorado will join next. Think of them like the original colonies. Before you know it, Trumpism will be financially dead and then dead in reality.
The people of America will wake up and see through Trumpism, as soon as they see hope that it can be defeated. We must create an event to give the people hope and the hope we inspire empowers people to speak out without fear.
Hitler rallied his movement with a fire in the German Congress. Trump’s J6 event was the tip of the spear for his fascist movement. We need to create a moment of total resistance, in a way like J6, but not violent – on principle and finances. That moment will inspire a movement to fight the domestic enemies we see in our government – all of whom are disqualified by the 14th Amendment to hold any government, military or judicial office. Hiring the FBI agents can be such a moment.
Going along won’t work. Legalise is way too slow. We need to grab the hearts of dems and Trump voters, and I think hiring the fired in the FBI is a good place to start. Everybody knows we need good people in our Bureaus of Investigation, and not people loyal to a would-be king.
2/18 Donald Trump Seems to be Trying To End the Russia-Ukraine War without Ukraine at the Table.
Today Thom Hartmann wrote : Why are so many Republican politicians and their friends adopting and promoting openly Nazi symbols and slogans?
Is it a shout-out to the hardcore racists and haters that make up the GOP’s base? Or a proclamation that the end-goal of Republican governance is the destruction of American democracy, perhaps in deference to Vladimir Putin? How about it’s being an attempt to scare people old or well-educated enough to remember or know what Nazism inevitably leads to?
And why are America’s mainstream media so unwilling to even report on, much less discuss, all the Nazi and neo-Nazi references surrounding Trump and today’s captive Republicans?
I just want to remind my readers that this was apparent to me in June of 2016, when Trump said “Russia, if you’re listening”. It was ignored by Obama, his AG, Holder, HRC and Biden. That was the easest moment to detect and brand Trump’s movement as a political cancer and that a real political science mastermind, Vladimir Putin, was calling the shots.
So it should come as no surprise that Putin is meeting with Trump again. Be assured, Putin is chess moves ahead. He probably already has our nuclear secrets. The USA is over folks. 1776-2024. Nice run.
However the the States United are not yet conquered, unless the states accept that we must “endure” four years of a party that is constitutionally disqualified to serve via the 14th sec 3 and don’t fight back creatively. They can’t be afraid to break some eggs. The enemy certainly is not.
It’s time for blue state governors to form a union. Their citizens will cheer this on. So will many in red states. Americans are scared and they should be. We must reject everything the GOP is trying to do as if it has no effect at all in the states that voted against Trump and have governors willing to fight this cyber war. California. New York. Illinois. Colorado. It’s time to state the entire GOP is barred from having any effect in the states that hold the 14th was violated. It’s time to declare that it’s not only Trump that is barred from holding office, but every politician, justice or judge that has supported, aided or comforted Trump’s movement. It’s time now to form this union and tell ICE they are not allowed in their states. without search warrants. It’s time to hire the fired FBI agents and form our own FBI.
This GOP party will not allow the 2026 election to be fair. This is our last chance. Newsome. Pritzger. Houchul. Start this today.
REAL RESISTANCE THAT OUR DOMESTIC ENEMIES CANNOT STOP, STARTS HERE >
2/12/2025 Democratic Leaders Will Soon Be Trump’s Navalnys
Blue State Governors – Start Hiring the Federal Agents and Civil Servants Trump is Firing!
2/10/2025Blue State governors need to be able to declare victory over Trumpism in the states that want no part of Trumpism. Let the states that voted for Trump, keep Donnie, Musk and his band on marauding Musketeers. Let the red state centrists worry that the blue states are about to abandon them! If MAGA people did not feel empowered to hate dems, they would have the time to focus on how little Trumpism does for them. Smoke and mirrors.
Let the red states have the president and policies they voted for, but let the blue states have their own agendas and policies. It can be done without breaking up. Just let the states pay for their own agencies and let the tax dollars that went to the federal government to cover said closed or assaulted agencies, go to all the states. More state taxes, less federal taxes. Everyone can get their way. Red state citizens will sooner learn they made poor choices, than if left to stew in Trump’s pot of hate for four more years.
It starts with one issue, just as it did with the Boston Tea Party in 1773. That protest was against the Tea Act of 1773, which taxed tea imported from the East India Company. The colonists believed the tax was an example of “taxation without representation”. That act became the iconic symbol of American independence and protest.
What I am about to say next is hard to configure so it lands softly. Donald Trump’s January 6th event is to MAGA people what the Boston Tea Act was to the colonists. In that one way, it was genius – evil genius, but genius. The problem is, it was unconstitutional as the 14th Amendment states clearly that no one who took place in J6, or supported those that did, or even “comforted” insurrectionists, cannot hold any government office in the USA. The SCOTUS members that ignored the constitution all lost their status as justices onthe day they issued thier rulings that J6 was not an insurrection, and comforted the actual insurrectionists we all saw on that day, including Trump. SO the only way out, for now, is to declare we will not respect the authority of any government officials who back Trump.
There is still an opportunity for the governors of blue states to form a union, just as the colonists did, and insist they do not recognize any member of the Republican Party who supports Donnie Trump as actual office holders. That renders everything the GOP says, and actions they or Trump take, as words and actions of mere citizens with no authority in our constitutional government. January 6th is a gift to democrats, but so far, they have failed to unwrap the present. They seem to be afraid to unwrap that present. And, by the way, the Germans did exactly what I described above to the Nazi party members, and many cited the US Constitution in their arguments.
Republicans in Congress are not respecting what American courts or the constitution says. Fortunately, there is neither a need nor reason to waste time getting all legal on the Republicans. Their incompetence is creating opportunities to fight back, but only if we can popularize our cause because of these “events”.
The firing of tens of thousands of long-trusted public agents presents another January 6th present for those who prefer a country based on laws and justice for all. There are twenty-two states suing the Trump Administration over ending the NIH to the detriment of their citizens. The union has already begun. Just take it further.
Agents at the NHI, FBI, USAID, the DOE are out of work, making America less safe. The governors of states that don’t like Trump’s firing of American federal employees who were doing their jobs to keep us all safer, heathier and smarter, can re-hire these agents and form their own State run Bureau of Investigations, Departments of Health and Education and USAID Departments? They can! So thats not really a break up, is it? It’s a financial and govermental distancing from the party that we deem to be insurrection comforters. They cannot deny they are insurrection supporters. Their president just pardoned insurrectionists. That’s beyond comforting. That’s basically enrolling them in your personal vendetta. And if the SCOTUS disagrees, they can also state they don’t recognize two or three justices because they also comfort insurrectionsists by their prior rulings.
If the agents could afford to work for free, there would be no reason for the next step in the ending of Trumpism. But agents are people, and they have survival needs, just as we all do. So they will need to be funded. That I am suggesting is for state governors to pardon any citizens who deduct certain allowed percentages from their April 15 tax reform, to pay for the agents that Trump is firing to come and work in the blue states.
I did some math. its not a very large percentage. USAID was .6% of the budget. The FBI closer to .2%. The US Department of Education spent 268 Billion in 2024 which was about 3.7 % of the federal government’s total spending. This made it the sixth highest-funded federal agency. The National Institute of Health (NIH) has a budget of 48 Billion.
Elon Musk can afford to pay the workers at all those four institutions for a full year, and still be worth over 200 billion.
All five of these necessary institutions could be funded by states making a laws that allow their citizens to deduct 5% from their federal taxes to pay for these institutions to stay open – and protect them if their citizens get sued, or arrested for follwing their states laws and guidance. The blue states’ police forces will not allow such arrests and their courts will not honor red state subpoenas on matters of deducting federal taxes to pay for these needed institutions.
And that pretty much does it.What can they do? MAGA will be just as handicapped as we seem to be now with such an out-of-the-box response to our country’s constittional crises. We can say, go ahead, enforce it back to Trump.
it will never come to bullets sent back our way, just as it did not come down to bullets send the way of J6 protestors and insurrectionists. Once they back down on violence, the fight reaches its climax, the dovorce is announced – not along party lines – but along the lines of hiring those they are firing and keeping our country running.
By 2026, this could become very poular with people on all sides of the American political spectrum. Let s start something they don’t expect – something the world does not expect, but quietly wishes it would happen. Start this conversation and then do something big. Yes. Big, the way j6 was, I guess. But for the right reason. To save our democracy.
2/8/2025 Last night I called into John Fugelsang’s Tell Me Everything radio show. John is a fierce fighter for the causes of the actual citizens of the USA, regardless of party affiliation. I spoke about my two-state solution, and he countered with the USA is like a Siamese twin with two bodies but one heart, so it cannot be separated and survive. I had to reflect on that metaphor. I concluded some partial break up is the fastest and surest way back to one united country. This is what I came up with.
The break up can be issue-to-issue, step-by-step, or on-demand. In fact, I now think that’s the better way, so let me explain by example.
Let’s take the latest issue of USAID. Right now there are thousands of workers who were doing good things for others in foreign countries, who lost their jobs. A union of governors declare they will pay them to stay on their jobs and continue their good work. How they pay the workers becomes the issue.
The budget of USAID is 50 billion. In fiscal year 2024, the US federal government spent 6.75 trillion, which was more than it collected in revenue. This resulted in a deficit of $1.8 trillion. So we spent 8.5 trillion. The math is that we spent .06% of our tax dollars on helping other countries, about half of 1%.
The union of states declares that .06% of tax their citizens tax dollars due April 15 be withheld for the federal government taxes, and be paid to the states who disburse it to the US AID workers. That same formula is then used to sustain whatever agencies Trump’s gang of government destroyers seek to break up or restructure with loyalists, which we deem to be both unconstitutional and unsafe. That keeps a real FBI going in blue states ( not an FBI where the agents are loyal to Trump.) Those displaced by Trump’s purge get immediately re-hired by the states to protect their states alone, and that group of united states.
The red states can keep the loyalists. Their citizens wont like it. They will wise up fast and Trumpism will die within a few months. The elections on 2026 will a landslide so large they can’t rig it. It comes down to states declaring they will defend their citizens in court if they withhold the % of taxes needed to keep the agencies that Trump is closing or restructuring with loyalists. Or them saying, go ahead “try to enforce it” . We won’t allow your police in our states.
“Taxation without representation is tyranny” was a slogan used by American Colonists to protest British Rule before the American Revolution. It expressed the colonists’ belief that being taxed by a government they didn’t have a say in was unconstitutional. Americans on both sides understand this. Government is all about how to spend tax dollars. So this is how we fight back, for real.
And that pretty much does it.What can they do? MAGA will be just as handicapped as we seem to be now with such an out-of-the-box response to our country’s constittional crises. We can say, go ahead, enforce it back to Trump.
it will never come to bullets sent back our way, just as it did not come down to bullets send the way of J6 protestors and insurrectionists. Once they back down on violence, the fight reaches its climax, the dovorce is announced – not along party lines – but along the lines of hiring those they are firing and keeping our country running.
And you know? by 2026, that could become very poular with people on all sides of the American political spectrum. let s start something they don’t expect – something the world does not expect, but quietly wishes it would happen. Start this conversation and then do something big. Yes. Big, the way j6 was, I guess. But for the right reason. To save our democracy.
2/8/2025 Last night I called into John Fugelsang’s Tell Me Everything radio show. John is a fierce fighter for the causes of the actual citizens of the USA, regardless of party affiliation. I spoke about my two-state solution, and he countered with the USA is like a Siamese twin with two bodies but one heart, so it cannot be separated and survive. I had to reflect on that metaphor. I concluded some partial break up is the fastest and surest way back to one united country. This is what I came up with.
The break up can be issue-to-issue, step-by-step, or on-demand. In fact, I now think that’s the better way, so let me explain by example.
Let’s take the latest issue of USAID. Right now there are thousands of workers who were doing good things for others in foreign countries, who lost their jobs. A union of governors declare they will pay them to stay on their jobs and continue their good work. How they pay the workers becomes the issue.
The budget of USAID is 50 billion. In fiscal year 2024, the US federal government spent 6.75 trillion, which was more than it collected in revenue. This resulted in a deficit of $1.8 trillion. So we spent 8.5 trillion. The math is that we spent .06% of our tax dollars on helping other countries, about half of 1%.
The union of states declares that .06% of tax their citizens tax dollars due April 15 be withheld for the federal government taxes, and be paid to the states who disburse it to the US AID workers. That same formula is then used to sustain whatever agencies Trump’s gang of government destroyers seek to break up or restructure with loyalists, which we deem to be both unconstitutional and unsafe. That keeps a real FBI going in blue states ( not an FBI where the agents are loyal to Trump.) Those displaced by Trump’s purge get immediately re-hired by the states to protect their states alone, and that group of united states.
The red states can keep the loyalists. Their citizens wont like it. They will wise up fast and Trumpism will die within a few months. The elections on 2026 will a landslide so large they can’t rig it. It comes down to states declaring they will defend their citizens in court if they withhold the % of taxes needed to keep the agencies that Trump is closing or restructuring with loyalists. Or them saying, go ahead “try to enforce it” . We won’t allow your police in our states.
“Taxation without representation is tyranny” was a slogan used by American Colonists to protest British Rule before the American Revolution. It expressed the colonists’ belief that being taxed by a government they didn’t have a say in was unconstitutional. Americans on both sides understand this. Government is all about how to spend tax dollars. So this is how we fight back for real.
Trump will, by force destroy America. It is his mission now, whether he wants it or not, because he took election aid from Putin, and so did the GOP. They are all constitutionally disqualified to serve via their support of the J6 insurrection.
If the dems don’t have to nerve to do a full break up, then break up on the issues that matter most to them. This may result in law suits, but they are coming anyway. In the end, blue states need to be able to say: “fine, you keep your Trump as president, Trump loyalists and DOGE teenagers. We’re going to keep the professionals in security hired and engaged for our own state’s security, in national defense, foreign aid, teachers, and whatever the jobs may be.
I am 100% sure this will result in the citizens of the red states waking up and realizing they are being misled and lied to much quicker than going the full fascist/nazi route, which is where this is heading very quickly if we don’t get creative in the ways I am outlining. The firing of the head of the Federal Election Committee should re-enforce what I have been saying: the elections of 2026 will not be allowed to be fair. The GOP is a gang of criminals now. All of them. They know they are supporting the end of our country as it has been for the last 250 years. They are in too deep and cannot back away.
We are already in a Civil War. Dems just don’t know ityet.
The surest way out is to start the fight, by a union of governors ordering their citizens to stop paying taxes to Trump’s government on the taxation without representation meme and refusing to cooperate with ICE agents. It worked in 1770’s for the same basic reasons it would work today. The red states need the blue states more than the other way around. Go to the last post for more inspiration on this strategy. The discussion of this is critical. It can’t be only the right that shoots memes across the bow.
Elon Musk’s fork in the roadis the turn to authoritarianism. That movement is traitorous, and they know it. They have already broken laws and commited crimes ( at least against the current Constitution) and cannot turn back. They would fear scrutiny on their crimes, if the dems ever get back in power, and they always will. So they cannot allow this. That’s why they are gathering information.
Therefore, this cannot resolve with an election because they cannot afford to lose. Just like Putin, they cannot let elections ever be fair ever again. Therein lays the treason to our founding principles. Those outraged in media and politics will be punished and banished. That’s why they are gathering information on US citizens right now. I can’t say this enough. They can leak read only data. A crooked AG and IRS can put people in jail without real evidence.
We need a union of governors. I am blue in the face from saying this. There must be a physical resistance, and that should be tomorrow, before their CIA and FBI people get confirmed any more. Their motives are clear. They will be turning off CNN and MSNBC and anyone who says “nasty” thing about Trump. We will have many Navalny’s here. No one will be safe.
Are Americans Like Dodo Birds?
( This widely known historical account is basically from Wikipedia ) The last sighting of the now extinct dodo bird was in 1662.The dodo bird lived in isolation on an island in the East Indian Ocean near Madagascar. They had no predators nor did they recognize humans as predators when sailors began to visit that island in the 1600’s. The inability to recognize enemies, coupled with the inability to fly, made the dodo and their eggs easy prey for sailors and the animals they brought with them.
We don’t want US history to record this: The last widely accepted sighting of an American democracy was in 2024. Americans at that time were collectively unable to recognize Trumpism as a traitorous enemy with its focus on the destruction of the democratic party and democracy itself in order to hold on to power forever by force for generations.
So wake up Americans – on both sides! ( Whatever “both sides” means. I don’t see two sides in our hospitals or grocery stores. Do you?)
This is the last chance we are going to get save what began here in 1776.
2/6/25 After lying to America about project 2025, Donald Trump and his Republican minions voted to install Russell Vought as head of the budget in the Congress. It’s an attempt to rob the majority of Americans of any representation in their government on the issues they care about most, for success and/or survival of their familes. Taxation without representation was the foundation for the movement to create for this country in 1776. Ben Franklin would not approve of the power grab we are witnessing today. But he would not be surprised. He actually warned us. Look it up.
2/3/25 Trump announces a trade war with Mexico and Canada. The market crashes. Bitcoin crashes. When Trump hears the outcry from the public and realizes that he was lowering the value of his own BTC and meme coins, Donnie calls it off. The market restored. He and Musk take a profit because they knew ahead of time. It’s like knowing the outcome of the Super Bowl, before it happens. There will be more false announcements.
Now Trump’s pretending he did it all to get drugs off the streets. What would get drugs off the streets would be to offer our youngsters a real shot at a life. And btw, the kids that OD the most are rich spoiled kids in GOP states. But he does not want to do make things better for people because creating wealth and opportunity is the last thing Trump and his billionaire buddies, here and in Russia, do for anyone who is not financially allied.
This is not a president. This is a would-be king acting entitled, like a king. Freedom or a kingdom? It’s time to choose. But freedom came first. It’s why the word first resembles free. FR People knew when the word free was created, that before they were conquered, they were more free to steer and enjoy their own lives. Freedom and kingdom are opposite words. It’s time to choose.
1/31/24Trump pauses MLK Day and Federal Holidays that mark celebrations of minority causes. Then he announced tariffs to start or increase Monday. Trump’s tariffs will increase the cost of living for all Americans, but particularly for his voters. This will be felt next week, and the stock market is reacting already. I just got out totally.
Clearly, Trump is on a mission to destroy America. Should it come as a surprise? No. Ask yourself this: do you think you can ask for election help from a dictator who murders his political opposition, Vladimir Putin, and then walk away without repaying him? Do you think Putin is a friend to Americans, and our 250 year-old democracy? It follows that Trump and his allies are traitors to our country, and we have given them immense power. But as a union of independent states, we can refuse to accept the results of an election that does not comply with the 14th.
1/29/24 What Trump did today, by trying to create a universe wherein projects that “do not align” with his fascist agenda do not get funded, is his way of saying blue states will not be treated the same as red states. After all, the red states usually align with Trump’s agenda, ( sometimes not) while the blue states rarely align.
Blue States must distance themselves from Trump’s federal government ASAP.
It would be one thing if we were living in an age wherein American’s personal economy is on solid foundation, as it was in the 1950s, – but we are not. No need to prove that. We know that in our bones.
But not only are US citizens under financial pressure, the US treasury is as well, with record debt. The money pie is only so big and Trump has promised to pay off his billionaire donor class. He’s not making more pie. So Trump’s plan must be to take from the democratic states and given to the red states that voted for him. If his base suffers the same as or more than the blue states, Trump and the GOP are done in 2026. They already know that.
And that means that the entire GOP must remain loyal to Trump, not to save his neck, but to save their own necks during the 2026 elections. The GOP simply cannot allow democrats to take back power, – and they will not. ( Google Joseph Goebbel on democracy. I have wriiten it too many times. ) The 2026 elections will be as rigged as the vote for Pete Hegeseth was.
Therefore, the quicker we stop allowing federal troops to enter into blue states to carry on business that their voters do not approve of, the better. Someone has to show some spine. A blue state governor or senator, or an alliance of said statesmen, must be formed. A firewall. They must refuse to acknowledge Trump is president due to the 14th which clearly says he is not legitimate. And that two members of the court are also not legitimate for the same reasons: supporting, aiding, pardoning or comforting insurrectionists has no place in power in a legitimate United States. They are as disqualified as an eight-year old brat holding the POTUS office.
We must call for a new special presidential election, and disqualify any candidates to serve in this new union who have backed the head insurrectionist, or his allies. Other parties are fine. Cheney is fine. We take all our seated congressmen with us convene elsewhere. And we offer to split the payments to the DOD, and if they refuse, we will create our own DOD. California is a powerhouse by itself.
1/18/25/ We all hear Donald Trump broadcasting things that will not likely happen: buying Greenland, ending birthright citizenship, annexing Canada, invading Panama, etc. But he does have a strategy. It gets people talking about Trump, his brand. In his carnival-barker mind, any advertising is good advertising, and certainly when it’s free. Read on >
I hear dems, MSNBC and CNN making believe their idle chatter alone with get decent Americans to vote Trumpism out in 2026. But I say look to Hungary, where I have known some hard-working people there for twenty five years. They have elections, but it does not matter who you vote for- Orban and his people win. One Hungarian woman I know who helped produce the Oscar-winning movie Midsommar told me “it was amazing how quickly everyone’s spirit was broken. Orban quickly controlled the media, purse strings and police, just like Hiter did. But did not go the route of rounding up and persecuting Jews. People were still afraid to speak up. And now, there is no way back that we can even envision. So we do not even try. We have our lives to live. Things are tough enough without speaking out against Orban.
What makes Americans think are different than Hungarians or Russians?
Tonight, Trump’s Senate voted to confirm a recovering alcoholic to be America’s Secretary of Defense. Trump can’t be thinking that was the best man for the job. So what is he thinking? We should know the answer. It is as obvious as J6 was an insurrection attempt and not a peaceful protest. Trump prefers someone unqualified and with baggage, because that is the type of person that has nowhere else to go. Trump can control him. Fox News also seeks to hire the less qualified newscasters because the Murdochs want to control the message. Billionaires don’t want to hire people who can think for themselves. That’s the take away. That way they get their agenda.
I really cannot stomach another two years of Democrats asking for money, blah blah on TV, and spinning their wheels defending our democracy in the courts. I can already tell 2026 won’t likely go any better than the Hegeseth nomination. Until I hear a better plan that can work, and not rely on 2026 elections, I won’t support anything but a two-state solution. I think this is the only way, or at least it is the surest way back to a united America.
The main problem is, and has been since 2016: the GOP has declared war on the US constitution, citizens’s rights, equal justice onder the law, women’s rights and the right to pursue happiness in the manner on chooses, immigrants and more. They have declared war on America as we have known it. And Democrats have neither declared war back nor even recognized that we are at war.
Biden also could have declared war any GOP who even “comforted ” insurrrectionists. It would have been more legal than much of what Trump is doing today, one week into his presidency. Biden made no bold moves because someone convinced him he would lose at the SCOTUS level, as they made it clear they would not defend the 14th. But Biden did not need the SCOTUS. Two justices, Thomas and Alito, also comforted insurrectionists. He could have arrested them in the name of national security, just like Trump is doing to brown people who are found without citizenship papers.
So why can’t Trump be president of the Red States, and someone else be president of the Blue States? Blue States can announce a special election and elect their own president. They can also tell their people to stop paying taxes to “Trumplandia” or “America Red, and then the blue states get all their consitutents tax money. They could form a pact. They could pay the military for protection or self protect. California makes the greatest percent of the weaponry anyway.
I’d like to hear serious media people and politicians, who want to keep America a democracy, start talking about a two-state solution for the United States. If it sounds outlandish, all the better.
A serious conversation about a national divorce would serve as guardrails against the most severe actions and crimes by Trump and his oligarchal allies within red states. That is one main goal of crafting such a pact, – to create barriers for would-be fascists. The other is creating hope. You can’t win an argument in our current congress. It’s purchased by Trump and company.
Even if a national divorce, did not come to pass, the conversation itself would be a major plus in the war versus fascism.
This is not hindsight. Many reporters, and political scientists, warned Biden to declare war on what appeared to be Russian interference in our 2016 elections, welcomed by a candidate and a political party. When Biden and Obama allowed that to go unchallenged, they opened the floodgates to oligarchy. Germany in 1945 immediately declared no member of the Nazi party could even be in their government again. I’d say no Trump supporter can be in the new America blue country, whatever we call it.
Most everyday Americans now know we have become divided as a nation. Our unique citizens divided syndrome has always been here on some level. But, we have never had a president who led an insurrection and calls decent tax-paying Americans who don’t respect him “enemies of the state”. Trump is a divider, not a uniter. He cannot be allowed to run the USA because he does not intend to do good for its people and he has never intended to do good for other people.
And so, the United States cannot function well under Trumpism unless blue states suck up and go along with him. I hope that is not going to happen.
We must learn from history faster than Trump can roll out executive orders. Therefore, we have no choice but to start the conversation about a national divorce. The purpose of this post is to start a conversation as means of regain political power. It’s not easy to heal a broken marriage. But that is what we are dealing with today: “the Untied States of America” .
Trump has already pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization. This does not represent the blue states. More than 50% of Americans want most of the things the blue state voters want. We have a mandate on most of the policies. And team blue was bamboozled by the Electoral College, the two senators per state thing, and SCOTUS games. We can do better and I do not think we can afford to wait. The climate and health issues won’t wait for sure.
Talking Points for the Conversation
The far west and northeast states are blue. The rest of the USA is pretty much red, except for Georgia, which is split very closely. My sense is that each country, say America Blue and America Red, votes for their own presidents, Houses and Congresses. Both the new country’s constitutions start the same. Nothing changes for citizens on day one. There can be no interstate taxes. Freedom to travel is guaranteed. If each country’s federal constitution and state laws change, that is when things change for citizens. People still vote to have their own presidents every four years. There can even be a other parties in the elections.
The logical states to start this strategic conversation are California, Illinois and New York. The governors of those states should immediately form abreak glass in case of emergency pact. Public letters should be sent to the governors of states that voted for Biden to help stimulate the pact. It does not have to be enacted unless Trump crosses the line with an action blue states deem a bridge too far. Bu the is already doing that every day. Do we really want Pete Hegeseth in charge of the our blue states defense? We can do better.
I won’t pretend to know all the actions Trump could order, which should be deemed grounds for divorce. ICE raids that don’t insist that immigrants who have not committed crimes against US citizens before deporting them, could be a bridge too far. Others might include: Refusing to help citizens stricken with national disasters. Going after his political enemies, who have committed no crimes. Invading Greenland or the Panama Canal. Lowering taxes on billionaires without also lowering taxes on everyday people in the same ratio.
So a two state solution is the safest, smartest way to get the country back together again. Declare Trump is not a legitimate President due to the 14th. Declare the SCOTUS is not a legitimate SCOTUS because two of its members have comforted insurrectionists. Declare the blue states have formed a union and will not obey the wishes of Donald Trump, and neither will their citizens be asked to pay taxes to a fascist. Declare blue states collect their own taxes, and pay for their own defenses, roads, etc. Freedom to pass people and products from country to country without borders is a given.
Let Trump rule the red states. Let’s see if they like his way of governing. If they do, they can keep him and his family as their lords as long as they like. My sense it that they will be back in two years, not four.
The Fastest Way Back to Making Up is Breaking Up
There is far more wealth in the blue states than the red states. If we had a national divorce, it’s the people in the red states that would come crying back out of necessity. Every two years, reps would get a chance to run on what color they align with, and every six years, same for senators. And of course, America Blue welcomes back Red States but with the proviso than the 14th amendment, sec 3, be enforced in their states, and that no insurrection supporters be allowed to ron for or hold any office, executive, judicial, federal or within their state legislatures – exactly how it is written. That becomes our deal breaker for admission into America Blue.
Today red states are still hopeful Trump will care about them But not caring about others is the Trump family motto. They will know soon. And hispolls are sinking. That started the moment he was sworn in btw.
The big idea is to let Darwinian survival of the fittest states thrive, so that states that are not doing as well for their citizens are forced to learn better ways, or get voted out. This makes a lot more sense than what we have now. Let Trump states experience pure Trumpsim for two years and see how they like who they voted for. The conversation itself would be very healing. The more serious, and the more controversial, the better.
I prepared this graph from non-partisan government statistics. Blue states produce 10% more than red states. We have them financially. Let them have Trump. We don’t have to accept him as our president. He is constitutionaly disqualified. This is different than Bush v Gore. This is democracy vs autocracy and it began at Russia if you’re listening.
Link to the Espionage Act Five minute read. Jan 7th, 2017.
Jan. 8 2025, 12 days to the end of America as we know it.
The resistance has failed. Our cowardly president is afraid to go to war with a president-elect allied with Russia and the dictators of the world. It’s not a written alliance. If they wrote it down, they know they are out-numbered. It is spoken an alliance of a few sociopathic men who share the same vision for their own lives; it is a vision of being at the top of the monetary chain in a country. it’s a kings dream as well. A dream of taxing the middle class to make them poor and their children ignorant and compliant.
I have given up on the 14th Amendment. The majority of the SCOTUS is in on the deal. Before I knew about the 14th Amendment, sec 3, – which bars insurrectionists or those who aid or comfort them, from holding any office, including the judges and justices who aid and comfort our traitors.
Biden is commander-in-chief today. He can announce a national emergency the day after this Friday, whether the Jack Smith report is aired or blocked by the SCOTUS. He can declare war on our enemies with his own version of FDR’s I hate war speech. He can arrest , in the sense of sequestering, Donald Trump for treason. He can say that he deems that his actions have created a national emergency by dividing Americans and diluting our focus on the real problems we have to deal with as families, united with common purposes.
Joe Biden can declare war on Trump can those allied with him in our government. Does Joe understand how this will work? Does he think the elections of 2026, the one where the resistance is supposed to retake power, will be fair? Does he see how this works in Russia and Hungary. It doesn’t.
He can stop him from being president with his sworn oath to protect the Constitution and the American people as commander-in-chief. He can say Trump’s current alliance with Putin, as reported in RT media, in an act of treason under The Sedition Act because we are currently in a war with Russia over Ukraine.
If he won’t do it, he can step down and give Kamala Harris a try. But she must also declare she will not seek the presidency or become the president by default. We will need a new special election, likely about April 1 of 2025.
Political crimes always escalate when fascists take office. Our Navalny’s must be silenced.
It has occurred to me that Trump probably wants Greenland, so he can have his own Siberia for dems who won't bend the knee. He can't use Alaska. The dems in office will logically become the new "Jews in Nazi Germany", along with brown-skinned people. But he can't gas them. But, some will fall out of windows and helicopters, - sending a message. Fear will be instilled in those who just want to survive, which is most people and always was. But there are so many of resisters. So Greenland is sort of a perfect place to keep millions of the resisters. Gotta keep up with Vlad. After all, Putin replaced Roy Cohn in Trump's ambitious sociopathic brain, as the man to emulate.
January 7th, 2017
On July 27th, 2016, in Doral Florida, Donald Trump said “Russia, if you are listening, I hope you are able to find the 30,000 emails … you will be mightily rewarded by our press”. I hold that broadcasting an invitation to a known foreign enemy state to influence America’s free and fair elections was a violation of the Espionage and Sedition Act. This is why. It had better have not be okay, or this democracy will not long survive.
Though much of the Espionage Act seems to refer to communication technology we rarely use any more, and focuses on acts committed during war times, the heart and soul of the act applies today’s times. War is not defined in the Constitution and the nature of war has changed since WW1, when the Espionage Act was written into law. Cyber war against countries that have the bomb has replaced wars with bombs.
Putin is the world’s pioneer and the leading expert in modern cyber war – a war where words are the weapons and installing loyalists into foreign governments can get the master the nearly same result he might desire from physical wars. Russian malware called Fancy Bear has been targeting governments and military organizations for years, especially NATO states like France and Germany.
Section 2 of Espionage Act:
Whoever, with intent or reason to believe that it is to be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nationcommunicated, delivers, or transmits, or attempts to, or aids, or induces another to communicate, deliver or transmit, to any foreign government, or to any faction or party or military or naval force within a foreign country, whether recognized or unrecognized by the United States, or to any representative, officer, agent, employee, subject, or citizen thereof, either directly or indirectly and document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blue print, plan, map, model, note, instrument, appliance, or information relating to the national defense, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than twenty years.
Tampering with or even affecting free and fair elections, by subverting the will of the American people must be defined as an injury to the US. It is the will of the American people that votes in elections. Citizens are part of our government. In a democracy, they are the most important part of the government. In a fascist country they are the least important members of the government. Citizens rights were the the reason the US Constitution was created – a government of, by and for the people.
Therefore, misinformation via broadcast media or social media cannot be categorized as protected personal free speech for this reason. Misinformation by media must be a crime, just as it is for false claims for any product. Trump asked on national TV for a known enemy to hack his opponent’s computer and release what might be found. He also suggested that person, or any would-be-hacker would be mightily rewarded.
Since Donald Trump invited Russia to hack a presidential candidate’s computer on national TV, I believe he is guilty of espionage. I believe our current commander-in-chief can, and should act immediately, citing the Espionage Act of 1918, and his duty to protect and arrest Trump, in the minimum sense of sequestering him with an ankle bracelet at least him for an committing an act of sedition or espionage. Our commander-in-chief can declare on those who have meddled in elections or aided insurrectionists. This time around, it’s pretty much the same thing; the same people advocate for these two positions. He can say we will have new special elections in April and that Kamala Harris will not run, but neither will anyone who has openly comforted insurrections.
I argue that inviting a foreign enemy to affect an American election does indeed do harm to the USA; that America is more than just the sum of our communal land, people and resources. The USA is also our way of governance. And the bedrock of our government is free, fair, unhampered, unhacked elections.
An invitation to commit a crime is, and must be a criminal act for the rule of law to prevail in the USA. I’d like to remind people that Charles Manson did not commit murder; he encouraged others go after his perceived enemies, and he got life for doing that when his cult members committed crimes.
Free and fair elections define our democracy. An invitation to hack any political election is therefore, a criminal, seditious act that does real harm to the United States. Should we lose free and fair elections, the USA, and the world, will never be the same.
Contact your representative and Senator, and tell them: Representing my will, is your responsibility. You want Joe Biden to use his sworn duty to protect the American people and to uphold the US Constitution and its laws, including the Espionage and Sedition and and the 14th Amendment, and arrest Donald Trump for national security reasons and bar his from holding office on January 20th.
Ask him to call for a new special election for president. Ask him to say he will also bar any in congress who come to the aid of Donald Trump, a traitor and insurrectionist, because they too will be aiding an insurrectionist and traitor in plain view. Ask him to say that includes judges and justices. Ask him to say he is cleaning house of nay insurrectionists for the good of the national security.
Thank You for doing your share as a citizen and speak up to your reps. I kind of think this weekend we should start publicly protesting the transition of power to a fascist treasonous mob.
In this post below, I also speak about starting the conversation about National Divorce. That’s the other easy way back to a united America. Let the red states have their president. We will select our own. We will share the military costs based on population in the states. Their people will come running back to the real American center, which we know wants not to surrender to fascism.
This autocracy vs. democracy map has been at my blog for seven years. Trump as potus was part of the struggle you see in the map that resembles a RISK board. I do wish others would post a map like this so more people would get a visual on what is at stake. Pretty sure even MAGA people won’t like their lives better in a fasict state.
Written January 8 2025, twelve days to the end of America, as we have known it.
The resistance has failed. Our cowardly president is afraid to go to war with a president-elect allied with Russia and the dictators of the world. The autocrats are out-numbered , so it is not a written alliance. It is the spoken alliance of a few sociopathic men who share the same vision for their own lives; a vision of being at the very top of the monetary chain in a country. It’s a kings dream as well; taxing the middle class to make them relatively poorer than the uber-wealthy, and render their progeny, to be more ignorant and compliant. The majority of the SCOTUS is in on the deal.
Before I knew about the 14th Amendment, sec 3, – which bars insurrectionists or those who aid or comfort them, from holding any office, including any judges or justices who aid and comfort the enemies of democracy, I wrote about the Espionage Act. It is still on the books. Julian Assange was indicted under the Espionage Act. I hold Donald Trump can be arrested under the Espionage Act as well, right up until J20.
Biden is still commander-in-chief today. He can announce a national emergency any day between now and J20, the day the earth will change forever, if he does nothing. It would be nice to hear Jack Smith’s reports, as we were told we would, but whether the Jack Smith report is aired or blocked by DOJ fear, Biden can declare war on our home-grown terrorists, which is essentially what Project 2025 will be.
Biden can broadcast his own version of FDR’s I hate war speech. He can arrest, or sequester Donald Trump for treason. He can say that he deems that Trump’s actions and words have created a national emergency that threatens all Americans. He can state, with constitutional certainty, that the 14th Amendment, sec 3. renders Donald Trump disqualified to serve, even if he was elected. He can “sorry pals” to the GOP, and tell them they should have run a candidate who was eligible to serve.
Right up until J20, Joe Biden can declare war on Trump and those allied with him within our government. Does Joe understand what Trump 2.0 will do to America? Does he think the elections of 2026 will be fair? Does he see how elections work in Russia and Hungary. They don’t. Do MAGA people see how the Russian people live under the thumb of a dictator? They don’t.
Biden can stop Trump from being president via his sworn oath to protect the Constitution and the American people as commander-in-chief. He can ask his DOD to court-martial Trump for keeping and sharing classified documents. That’s also a crime in the actual Espionage Act, copied below. He can say Trump’s current alliance with Putin, as reported in RT media, is an act of treason under The Espionage Act because we are currently in a war with Russia over the fate of Ukraine.
Does Joe Biden realize that cyber war is the only way to war against nuclear powers and that Putin has been at war versus democracy from the election of 2016 when he gave help to his recruited ally?
If Joe won’t do it, he can step down and give Kamala Harris a try, but she’d have to declare she will not seek the presidency or become the president by default. We actually will need a new special election, likely about April 1 of 2025. I believe, once MAGA people hear that, many of them will be okay with this. His cabinet picks and threats have many of his voters scared as well. In April of 2024, 75% of Americans wanted neither Trump nor Biden.
Why the Worst Is Inevitable If Trump 2.0 Is Not Stopped Before J20
Political crimes always escalate quickly when fascists take office. After all, fascism is the union of business and government, where the leaders profit from that relationship. Once the inevitable crimes against “the people” escalate, those involved in those escalated crimes must fight to stay in power forever to hide their crimes, just the way Trump did when he lost in 2020. Our resisters, our Navalny’s, will be tactically silenced because their words represent truth. By 2028, the resistance will be over after getting very bloody.
Perhaps California and key states will unite, secede, and form their own country, which might be the fastest way back to a culturally united America. Survival of the fittest states would work to unite Americans soon after the divide. Americans will have learned their lesson. It would be easier than surviving after we give autocrats military might.
It has occurred to me that Trump probably wants Greenland, so he can have his own Siberia for dems who won't bend the knee. He can't use Alaska. The dems in office will logically become the new "Jews in Nazi Germany", along with brown-skinned people. But he can't gas them. Sure, some will fall out of windows and helicopters, - sending a message. Fear will be instilled in those who just want to survive, which is what most people want and always has been. But there will be so many of resisters. So Greenland is sort of a perfect place to keep millions of the resisters. Gotta keep up with Vlad. After all, Putin replaced Roy Cohn in Trump's ambitious sociopathic brain, as the man to emulate.
January 7th, 2017
On July 27th, 2016, in Doral Florida, Donald Trump said “Russia, if you are listening, I hope you are able to find the 30,000 emails … you will be mightily rewarded by our press”. I hold that broadcasting an invitation to a known foreign enemy state to influence America’s free and fair elections was a violation of the Espionage and Sedition Act. This is why. It had better have not be okay, or this democracy will not long survive.
Though much of the Espionage Act seems to refer to communication technology we rarely use any more, and focuses on acts committed during war times, the heart and soul of the act applies today’s times. War is not defined in the Constitution and the nature of war has changed since WW1, when the Espionage Act was written into law. Cyber war against countries that have the bomb has replaced wars with bombs.
Putin is the world’s pioneer and the leading expert in cyber war. Cyber warmongers use words as weapons and install loyalists into foreign governments who can get the master the nearly same result he might desire from physical wars. Russian malware called Fancy Bear has been targeting governments and military organizations for years, especially NATO states like France and Germany.
Section 2 of Espionage Act: Link to the full 1918 Espionage Act Five minute read.
Whoever, with intent or reason to believe that it is to be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nationcommunicated, delivers, or transmits, or attempts to, or aids, or induces another to communicate, deliver or transmit, to any foreign government, or to any faction or party or military or naval force within a foreign country, whether recognized or unrecognized by the United States, or to any representative, officer, agent, employee, subject, or citizen thereof, either directly or indirectly and document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blue print, plan, map, model, note, instrument, appliance, or information relating to the national defense, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than twenty years.
Tampering with or even affecting free and fair elections, by subverting the will of the American people must be defined as an injury to the US. It is the will of the American people that votes in elections. Citizens are part of our government. In a democracy, they are the most important part of the government. In a fascist country they are the least important members of the government. Citizens rights were the the reason the US Constitution was created – a government of, by and for the people.
Therefore, misinformation via broadcast media or social media cannot be categorized as protected personal free speech for this reason. Misinformation by media must be a crime, just as it is for false claims for any product. Trump asked on national TV for a known enemy to hack his opponent’s computer and release what might be found. He also suggested that person, or any would-be-hacker would be mightily rewarded.
Since Donald Trump invited Russia to hack a presidential candidate’s computer on national TV, I believe he is guilty of espionage. I believe our current commander-in-chief can, and should act immediately, citing the Espionage Act of 1918 and the 14th Amendment sec 3, and his sworn duty to protect Americans and the Constitution and arrest Trump, in the minimum sense of sequestering him with an ankle bracelet. Our commander-in-chief can declare war on those who have meddled in elections or aided insurrectionists. The same people advocate for these two positions. He can say we will have new special elections in April and that Kamala Harris will not run, but neither will anyone who has openly comforted insurrections.
I argue that inviting a foreign enemy to affect an American election does indeed do harm to the USA; that America is more than just the sum of our communal land, people and resources. The USA is also our way of governance. And the bedrock of our government is free, fair, unhampered, unhacked elections.
An invitation to commit a crime is, and must be a criminal act for the rule of law to prevail in the USA. I’d like to remind people that Charles Manson did not commit murder; he encouraged others go after his perceived enemies, and he got life for doing that when his cult members committed crimes.
Free and fair elections define our democracy. An invitation to hack any political election is therefore, a criminal, seditious act that does real harm to the United States. Should we lose free and fair elections, the USA, and the world, will never be the same. This is not hyperbole.
Your job as a citizen is to contact your representative and Senator, and tell them these words or close to it: (copy paste is fine ) Dear , Representing my will, is your job and responsibility. I want Joe Biden to use his sworn duty to protect the American people and to uphold the US Constitution and its laws, including the Espionage and Sedition and and the 14th Amendment, and arrest Donald Trump for national security reasons and bar him from holding office. I want a new special election with no one permitted to run who has openly aided or comforted insurrectionists.
Ask him to broadcast that he will also bar any in congress who come to the aid of Donald Trump, a traitor and insurrectionist, because they too will be aiding an insurrectionist and traitor, in plain view and that this includes judges and justices. Ask him to say he is cleaning house of any insurrectionists who will not distance themselves from Donald Trump, for the good of the national security.
Thank You for doing your share as a citizen and speak up to your reps. This weekend, we should start publicly protesting the transition of power to a fascist treasonous mob.
In this post below, I also speak about starting the conversation about National Divorce. That’s the other easy way back to a united America. Let the red states have their president. We will select our own. We will share the military costs based on population in the states. Their people will come running back to the real American center, which we know wants not to surrender to fascism.
This autocracy vs. democracy map has been at my blog for seven years. Trump as potus was part of the struggle you see in the map that resembles a RISK board. I do wish others would post a map like this so more people would get a visual on what is at stake. Pretty sure even MAGA people won’t like their lives better in a fasict state.
I just asked CHAT GTP if America will still be a functioning democracy in 2028. Go ahead. Try it yourself.
Chat GTP:It’s not guaranteed that America will remain a perfectly functioning democracy in 2028, but it is still within the realm of possibility if the country takes steps to address its most pressing challenges.
Even artificial intelligence knows we must act now to save our democracy. But all we hear now is surrender to a tyrant who won an election, though he was constitutionally disqualified, by his own words and actions, to hold the office he won – and wait to see if things get better. Better? How?
Donald Trump said he was running against some very stupid people. He is right about that. We will be very stupid people if we let him assume the great powers of the presidency again. And we don’t have to. Nor do we need an insurrection. We have the 14th Amendment of our Constitution to back us.
Under the cover of the 2024 holiday season, we are witnessing the end game of the 2016 Russo-Republican Alliance strategy play out and met with no real resistance. Trump has officially tipped his hand with his cabinet picks. They confirm that he is working to end America, as we know it. There will soon be a ruling class, chosen oligarchs based on their loyalty to Trump, and the rest of us. That’s how it is in China, Russia, Hungary, North Korea and all the countries run by people Trump admires.
Dictators wish the entire planet was one big autocratic, wild free-for-all. And on January 20th, they are getting their wish come true, if we do not stop Trumpism now. And we can. The presidential election of 2024 was a battle in an act of war we permitted to happen under our democratic rules.* It does not have to be our last battle, but that’s what our new rulers will want.
But, not all our rules. We have one rule that Trump and most of his party members violated: the 14th Amendment. Many candidates and current congresspeople are constitutionally disqualified to hold office under the 14th Amendment for having aided or comforted insurrectionists. Some also physically took part in the J6 event.
Joseph Goebbels was the German media czar during World War II. This is what he said about democracies that play by its own rules: “It will always remain one of democracy’s best jokes that it provides for its deadly enemies the means by which it can be destroyed.”
While we still have the power, we can and must use this tool written into our constitution during the aftermath of the Civil War, to prevent the enemies of our country from taking away our right to self-govern.
The 14th Amendment, sec 3, declares that no one may hold any office in our government, state, federal, judicial or military having been party to an insurrection, or having aided or given comfort to insurrectionists or the enemies of our country. All Americans should please google 14th Amendment, sec 3.
As tax-paying citizens, it is our constitutional right, and the current president’s sworn constitutional duty, to demand Donald Trump not be sworn into office on J20.
Many of his allies in the current GOP congress, and some of those who were elected, are also barred from holding office. Even Supreme Court members are included in the disqualifying statement of the 14th Amendment. But the most important person to bar from office is the ring leader, would-be dictator, and ally to our country’s foreign enemies, Donald Trump.
Absent of his J6 activity, Donald Trump would have every right to be president. Now, Trump has no constitutional right whatsoever to be president, even if he won the election. It’s as if the GOP ran a candidate who said he was thirty-five years old and we found out he was thirty. The Constitution is very clear about the qualifications to hold any office in the United States.
Why Trump is Constitutionally Barred from Being President
Donald Trump called a mob to Washington DC broadcasting “it would be wild”. We do not need FBI, lawyers, justices, or politicians to tell “we the people“ what we saw that day. There was an attempt to stop the election process, which included breaking into the Capitol and attacking officers, threatening the vice-president and congresspeople – and people ending up dead. Trump did not even try immediately call it off. He watched it on TV for hours, like we did. He said maybe Pence had it coming in so much words.
J6 was clearly an attempt at insurrection. We do not need to examine every curve and motive of this act. It was a bank robbery gone bad, caught on film. Trump’s actions and words on J6 made him constitutionally unqualified to serve in any government office, local, state, federal or judicial at any level.
We have little time. So, it’s now or never. There may not be a way back for the foreseeable future. Putin has held Russia for over twenty years. Hungary is no longer a democracy. Three times, Trump took election help from Putin, our enemy in a live war. For that help, he owes Putin for life. At least, that is how Putin thinks of his relationship with Donald. Putin does not allow people who deal with him to get away. Ask Prigozhin. Oh, we can’t.
If Donald Trump, a person constitutionally barred from holding any office in the USA, takes office on J20, by the end of January, we should know if he will be going into full-on fascist mode. Trump’s personal political opponents were targeted during his candidacy. If he verbally continues with that line of attack, we will know what he intends to do about the “revenge” he made a talking point during his campaign. It’s not a gamble we need to take, but Biden seems to be willing to overlook the 14th Amendment as if it does not exist.
Ask yourself this question: If your family was about to board a plane, and the pilot said there is a small five percent chance the plane would go down, would you let your family board that plane? Do you currently think there is a five percent chance we lose our democracy? Then why are we letting it happen, when we have the 14th to protect us? We are boarding that plane on J20, if we do nothing. AI also seems to think there’s a good chance we become something less than a functioning democracy by 2028.
BLANKET PARDONS FOR REPORTERS AND BLOGGERS
If Biden is not going to fight as if we are at war, then, at the very least, he should issue blanket pardons for all reporters and bloggers who ever wrote anything negative about Donald Trump, the president.
But, this post is not about surrender. It lays out the simple steps we can take now, to ensure we do not risk ending democracy in the USA. after all, oligarchy is what America set out to end when it broke away from the tyranny of King George.
FDR said there is nothing to fear, but fear itself. We have the power now to avoid this fate, if we are not afraid to use it. We must fight while we have the weapon called the 14th Amendment. These politicians have said they intend to destroy the “deep state”, a phrase they invented, and one they do not define. But they are ready to take our women’s rights away. Do you think they will care a whit about silencing dissent after we give them absolute power over us all? Biden saw fit to pardon turkeys, but so far, he has not pardoned the people who will need protection from Trump.
After Trump’s telling cabinet picks, more Americans today would be relieved if Trump were barred from holding office than they were on November 5th. There is even a chance it would be cheered on by the majority of voters on both sides, provided we demand a new special presidential election with no candidates permitted to run who are unqualified by the plain language of the 14th Amendment. That means no Trump.
And it means no Kamala Harris as well, but for a different reason. She did lose. We should not rub it in the faces of those who voted more for no black woman to be POTUS, than for Trump, to place her on the ballot again.
Once in power, the MAGA GOP crimes will naturally escalate to such heights that they will realize they must stay in power to stay out of jail. That’s why Trump could not afford to stop fighting to be president. The increase in government corruption is a certainty under Trump because his ambitious new administration people are given free for all passes, provided they protect the king.
In an April 2024 poll, seventy-five percent of Americans wanted neither Biden nor Trump. And to many, Harris was Biden, inside a female POC body.
An April 2025 special election, with two fresh faces would likely be cheered on by the general public. Trump’s cabinet picks even have many MAGA voters scared, as they should be. Billionaires who can pay off Trump, and loyalists, are getting top posts. MAGA people are figuring out they may have been duped.
To actually accomplish barring Trump from being president via #ENFORCINGTHE14th, we’ll need to do some things.
First.We immediately need vast public support for enforcing the 14th, sec 3. That’s why this manifesto should be submitted to newspapers and media people. Help me do this now. I am easy to reach. Pressure must be put on Biden, Harris and the Democratic Party leaders. They represent us. If we the people have surrendered to Trump and his allies, or are “tired” of fighting, which we should fear the most, our reps have no impetus to push for this.
Second.We need Biden or Garland to call for some of the worst 14th offenders in the House to be unseated, right now. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert and a few others, are good starters. This will serve as a test balloon for Trump and SCOTUS members to be barred. Democrats could have the majority in the House now, if we unseat glaring House insurrection comforters. It’s crucial for line of succession too.
If SCOTUS members object, we can start unseating them. It is all constitutional. No one gets hurt. We just pack up their files and send them home and nominate new SCOTUS members.
We must treat this like a war, because what Trump has done is a war against the American way. And democracy’s enemies are not all domestic. Being engaged in a war with Russia through Ukraine, makes it easier for a president to do things to protect our country.
I’d also like to suggest Jack Smith should just release or leak evidence he has on Trump. If Mueller held anything back, he should as well. (Sadly, it looks like Jack Smith surrendered on 11.25 as well.) That should only amplify the need to act now. There’s no help coming past J20.
Third. We cannot be afraid of our SCOTUS. The importance of a Supreme Court majority was well understood by Putin, who owns his courts and Donald admires that. The Helsinki translator notes Trump being ripped up was a big tell. Trump quickly got three justices on his side, in preparation for what we are seeing now.
Women’s rights? Out the window. Separation of church and state? This Supreme Court is on the side of fascism and oligarchy. Pay them, and they do your bidding.
The Supreme Court super majority served like a move made early in a chess game. The goal being to seal the fate of the opposing king during the end game. However, if justices are on Trump’s side, they are also aiding an insurrectionist and subject to disqualification.
That is the attitude we must have. We need not fear the SCOTUS. The 14th does not say SCOTUS members are immune. It says no one shall hold any office under the United States if they even comforted an insurrectionist or the enemies of our country. It is plain language.
Justice Clarence Thomas is most vulnerable justice. He lives with a known insurrection planner. He comforts her every day. He has taken bribes from wealthy GOP donors. He needs to be told he will also be unseated via the 14th if he objects to the current administration using the 14th to remove insurrection comforters from our government.
No one needs to get hurt. The Sergeant-of-arms locks his files, removes them from his offices, Biden nominates a new justice. For unseated congresspeople, our current president just calls for special elections to replace them with candidates who are not on public record of beininsurrection supporters.
Fourth. We must openly discuss and prepare for the possibility of a national divorce. It’s possible the plan will not work, even though if implemented with the resolve that Project 2025 seems to have, I don’t see why it would fail.
In that case, the governors of Blue States must be ready to say they will not be ruled in any way – including by federal taxation – by an insurrectionist allied with Russia.
We should start serious discussions on splitting into two American tactically allied countries, bound by trade and travel agreements both protected by one military. Both countries pay a military protection and common infrastructure tax of about seventeen percent. Seventeen percent of budget is close to the amount we pay for military and infrastructure now. The rest of taxes are paid to the individual states. Since, red states rely more than blue states on federal funds, the citizens in red states will come crying back in a few years. This may actually be the fastest way back to a truly United States, if we allow Trump to be POTUS. Just say we want nothing to do with a president who organized an insurrection, and be done with it.
We cannot feel forced to accept the craziness of another four years of Trumpism. There is no telling it will just be four years. This discussion of a two-state will serve to temper the craziness of the GOP. If they cross hard lines, we implement the divorce. We are sort of culturally divided anyway. Maybe it’s best, for a while.
Joe Biden: You are still the commander-in-chief. Do so some commanding for god’s sake. You don’t have to go to battle with a gun and a helmet like our brave fathers did in 1943. Your tools are the Constitution you have sworn to protect, your resolve to defend democracy and the American people you profess to love, and your spoken words.
My father taught me the difference between men is primarily the words they speak. The nothing burger we have heard from you, post-election, feels like you have given up on democracy.
Are you afraid that the Republican Party will do the same thing if you bar Trump from being president? Spoiler alert. They are doing it anyway.
Republican voters and independent brothers and sisters: Today, Trump said he will be putting tariffs on Mexico and Canada on day one. That will cause the cost of mushrooms and avocados go up. He has chosen relatives with no experience to be ambassadors. He has billionaires as allies. Have you figured out yet, that Donald trump does not care about us. I knew him since age eighteen at Wharton. He never cared about others. Trump is do into his own self that as a billionaire he hardly ever gave money to charities. He speaks well of the dictators, Putin, Kim and others, who brutally kill their own citizens should they speak out. And worst of all, Trump accepted election help from Russia, three times. He now owes Putin for that help. Putin’s mission has always been to destroy America, and make it be more like Russia. I say no, thanks.
Joe Biden: The Supreme Court is not checkmate, unless you think it is. Do you want to be remembered as the cowardly, meek president who surrendered democracy to fascists? The plans in this post, along with what you know having been on the inside of government all your life, are all you need to save the American democracy. You said you would not surrender to Trumpism “over my dead body”. Is that body already dead, sir? If so, step down and give your VP a chance to defend this country.
We the people demand that you bar Trump from holding office, in accordance with the plain language of the 14th Amendment, and call for a new special presidential election in April, with no insurrection aiders or comforters allowed on the ballot as per the Constitution. Become a real commander-in-chief, the way FDR was, and you potentially will go from being the last, and therefore worst, president of the original United States, to one of its greatest commanders-in-chief. We are at war, sir. You seemed to know that. Act like a war president then, for god’s sake.
We The People: Tell your representatives to #EnforceThe14thNow. Start this conversation, today! That is how the ball starts rolling in a representative democracy. Talk to MAGA voters and independents as well. Tell them a new special election can be with two fresh faces. Call into talk shows. Organize #ENFORCETHE14TH protests. Use that hashtag. Trump has tipped his fascist bent agenda with his cabinet picks. The time is now, while we can without risking our lives, to resist Trumpism. Christmas can wait.
Our beautiful American women: Are you ready to surrender your bodily autonomy to a party that nominates rapists and racists to wield power over you? The holidays may be sidetracking you. But this is not the time to pretend all is well and holly jolly. We need to hear from you now about using the 14th to bar disqualified humans from holding office. It can happen, but only if we all speak up now! Use #EnforceThe 14thNow as a hashtag in all your SM posts. It’s not too late to resist Trumpism. The January 20th surrendering democracy date only happens. if we let it happen without using the 14th.
Thank You all and may God bless the American spirit.
Citizen-private first-class in the cyber war we have been in
12/13/24 :
PREPARE TO BE RULED IN THE NEW UNTIED STATES OF TRUMPLANDIA
We lost the popular vote. That tells me that more than 50% of our countrymen have succumbed the cancer of Trumpism. In a human body, 20% cancer cells is way too much to bear. The situation for our body politic is dire, to say the least. Hitler had 25% less people behind him on his day one, than Trump does now. (source: Dan Simon‘s brilliant piece )
Losing the popular vote will give these fascists the chutzpah to say they can do whatever they want. The alliances that those who don’t wish to be ruled by a fascist elite mob should be making right now are not with dems, but with the people who voted for Trump. Many are beginning to see they made a mistake. It’s no small percentage of people. I speak to many Trump voters who already know he’s not going to do much of anything to help them in their own lives.
Do some Google searching about Google searches. Things could change. We need someone brave enough to start the ball rolling. It cannot be Harris, of course. I wonder why it is not Jack Smith, sometimes.
Where have you gone, Jack Smith? A nation turns its weary eyes to you.
Jack Smith seemed like the guy who was not afraid to go on the offensive versus Trump. Did they get to him too? Doesn’t feel like anytime someone wants to uncover the real political truth, they suddenly surrender as if they were never that serious to begin with? That’s what makes people think all politics is dirty, and just back away from it all.
So I’d like to add Jack Smith to my list of cop-outs if he does not fully release all he knows about Trump’s crimes for his New Years Resolution. I wish Jack Smith find the courage of Michael Cohen, and just do what is right. Where is our Joe DiMaggio?
I am a mere citizen who had some contact with Trump in my younger days, but that was enough to inform me that 100% Donnie has been compromised by his intellectual superior, Vladimir Putin. Donald Trump simply does not have the kind of soul that can get close to another man with more power that he has, and not want to learn how to attain that power himself. His role model used to be his father, now it’s dictators, – not that there was that much of a difference. Why? With no allegiance to anyone but self, Trump’s life is empty without the adventurous scenes he creates in his mind. He was ripe for the picking.
I am sure Smith knows Trump has been compromised. We cannot have a compromised US president. There is too much to lose here. Smith can do a lot to start the ball rolling to save this country before it is too late. If J6 began their insurrection, J20 is their victory day. Do not surrender in advance.
And can someone open a government hot-line for MAGA voters who have been already turned off by Trump’s cabinet picks which includes sex traffickers ex-cons and relatives, – and sometimes the ex-cons are relatives? These people can be talked back into reality, especially after the cabinets picks. I called for this in June, but it fell of deaf ears. Everything we ever needed to keep America a free country has been posted in my blogs since 2016. I am not surrendering. But I will get off Twitter soon. Resistance is going to have to go underground soon. It’s not a good sign.
Putin’s war vs democracy began in 2016 with help to get Trump elected. His plan is working, – not only here, but now in Hungary, and today Trudeau said her would step down in Canada. Country by country, Putin is getting his way to become autocrat of the world. This will not end well.
Protecting small fish from big fish was the big idea of democracy
In 1776, almost all the world’s people were ruled by either kings or tyrants. It had been that way since Ancient Egypt. The big new idea behind American democracy was protecting the small fish from the big fish. The small fish were the citizens in Colonial America. The big fish was King George and his armies.
It’s been 258 years. There are still dictators and kings that prevail over more than 50% of the world’s land area. And, in the countries that have democracies, the uber-wealthy have been allowed to find ways ( primarily by buying influence with lawmakers ) to widen their wealth gaps. More than anything else, this is the change that needs to be undone in the next administration. Income inequality has created a new form of economic slavery.
Kamala Harris seems to be a potential agent for that change, but she’s staying relatively quiet on her policies. It is a change that will be good for “both sides” in America. I hold that’s smart for right now. Protecting the rights of ordinary citizens is going to meet a powerful resistance from the uber-wealthy, the new ruling class in many so-called democracies. And we have foreign dictators who want American democracy to fail as well. One party has clearly been allied with Russia since 2016 in this effort to destroy democracy. Why should Harris broadcast the details of her intentions?
Dean Obeidallah wrote today: “Where is the media outrage on Trump asking a rogue foreign nation to interfere in our election?!!” ?? To which I say:
Where was the outrage in 2016, when Trump asked for a foreign enemy’s election help on live a TV: “Russia, if you’re listening”? Obama and Holder were in charge then. They let that be okay, and the doors opened for Trumpism and what we have witnessed for the last eight years. It was not okay then, and it is not okay now.
Keep in mind, protecting the small fish from the big fish is still the big idea behind democracy. The Supreme Court is now essentially serving as a traitor the Constitution they take an oath to protect. But most people do not understand the Founders intentions when they created the 1st and 2nd Amendments.
FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS ARE FOR CITIZENS
Total freedom of speech was created for citizens, not corporations, media, or politicians. We, the people, can say some pretty nasty things in the privacy of a conversation. We can lie knowingly, if we choose to. There is no penalty for lying in a conversation. But no one, neither a citizen or a corporation, can yell fire in a theater, if they know there is no fire. Speech cannot endanger lives. There are also laws that prohibit inciting violence. And today, the “theaters” are on our TV’s and cell phones. So regulation of speech on media and TV is built in to our laws.
There even also laws that allow citizens a to burn a political figure in effigy or even pirate a candidate’s name on a T-shirt without paying “royalties” to the candidate. Those laws exist for underlying reasons: Citizens (small fish ) and political figures (big fish) were placed in different classes by the Founders because of the difference in overall power these two classes inherently possess.
I hold that media, corporations or politicians in Congress that are big enough to broadcast are also a big fish. There are those in media, big businesses and in Congress that don’t have a stake in protecting citizens from the tyranny of the new ruling class, the uber-wealthy. Why? Perhaps they have been paid by those alliances to do their bidding. But the small fish must be protected from the big fish. That is why a government for the people, of the people, by the people was created. It is everything.
The 1st Amendment protects freedom of speech for citizens – one-at-a-time, individual people – small fish. When the Alito SCOTUS gave corporations the same rights as citizens in 2014, it gave political figures and their allies like FOX News, ( clearly an arm of the GOP ), the right to broadcast lies to the public. Right now that includes asking rogue nations, like Russia, for election help. Russia is trying to subvert our elections, and try to get their people into power and end our democracy. This was not intended by the Founders. Not at all.
The 1st amendment was written as a right for citizens to protect them from a potential rogue government or regime. That must be protected. The first thing dictators do is take over the media and shut down resistance. Trump has even hinted that he will take away broadcast licenses of stations he does not like.
Words are the weapons that decide elections because citizen’s votes keep the score in a democracy.
Our foreign enemies know they can’t beat us with bombs, so they are trying with words. That’s why the words of Goebbels’s, the Murdoch of WW2, remain timeless. “It will always remain one of democracy’s best jokes that it provides its deadly enemies with the means to destroy it.”
Those asking Kamala Harris to say more about the policies she might deploy as POTUS, have it wrong. Harris can not say a lot of what we hope she will try to do. There is so much change that needs to happen after she gains power, that if Harris were to express what I think are her truest desires, it would lower her chances of winning and put a target on her head.
Addressing the real issues facing people everywhere requires that people in power actually care about the small fish. The future of the human race and civilization as we know it is at stake this November. The American Democracy must evolve quickly now. It’s not only income inequality that needs fixing. There is a very real climate crisis, and the powers that control our energy sources are invested in the old ways, and exploiting the small fish.
THE NET WORTH OF THE CANDIDATES IS TELLING
Trump is estimated to have a net worth of four billion. Harris is estimated to have a net worth of four million, if you do not count her four million dollar Brentwood home, shared with her lawyer husband, Doug Emhoff. And for those not in Los Angeles, four million is not an expensive or super large estate in Brentwood. It’s a simple small home. Harris, if she wins, would be one of the least wealthy presidents in recent US history. This Wikipedia chart of US President’s net worth is super interesting. Trump is ten times richer than the second richest president. I’d bet no one can guess who was the second richest president. I was shocked. SEE HERE
THE ONE-TWO-THREE PUNCH AMERICA NEEDS
To increase the chances of long-term survival of America and the planet, these three changes should happen within a few years after 2025. They are so huge, that if Kamala, or anyone in government dares say them now, they will be branded as “communists” and more. Who really knows how far the right and billionaires will go to keep their stronghold over the citizenry?
First, the SCOTUS must be re-balanced to reflect the consensus of public opinion.
Second, the 14th Amendment must be enforced, and those who have comforted insurrectionists must be summarily removed from office, with new special elections to follow to replace them. Traitorous alliances with those who would undo our democracy cannot be allowed access to Congress. This can only happen after the SCOTUS is re-balanced, so it is second for a reason.
Third, the electoral college has to be rebalanced or undone. We have a representative democracy. It has to work mathematically for that to be true. Majority rules.
That’s the one-two-three punch we need to make the American Democracy great again. We can do it. Stay focused citizens. We are all in this together. Divided by party, gender, race or income – we fail. Together, we are unbeatable.
Make Tuesdays Embrace Your Fellow Citizen Day
Embrace a member of the opposite party today. We all have friends and family that see things differently. Lets make the next six Tuesdays “national embrace a member of the opposite party” day.
The prosecutor in Harris likely knows what I have written above. If she does, she cannot reveal her true intentions right now.
I don’t think Harris is the same as the many other Democratic presidents we have seen that did little to undo the unfair advantages the big fish have enjoyed over the little fish. I think she intends to rectify things.
The Coming of the Third Reich”, p. 451 . Joseph Goebbels, Nazi media czar: It will always remain one of democracy’s best jokes that it provides its deadly enemies with the means to destroy it.
If you have missed Trump speaking to his Christian base, late July 2024, the above takes a minute.
Fellow Americans of good faith on both sides,
Joe Biden got a lot of work done for the American people in his 3.5 years as president. Here are some of his top accomplishments.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: rebuilding our nation’s roads and bridges, upgrading public transit, cleaning up pollution, and providing high-speed internet to every American.
The CHIPS Act: Bringing back manufacturing from overseas and creating better-paying union jobs here at home.
The Inflation Reduction Act: Legislation brought down costs for families via lower prescription drug prices, and historic investments in American clean energy jobs and manufacturing. Those who vote for Republicans, please take note: every Republican in Congress voted against it. Look it up.
Protecting Reproductive Rights: In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and strip a constitutional right from the American people, executive orders were issued to preserve access to reproductive care and protect the right to travel across state lines to receive care.
Historic Climate Action: America rejoined the Paris Climate Accords on Biden’s first day in office. Biden delivered historic investments in clean energy and understands that scientists, not businessmen, need to make these decisions.
Student Debt Relief: Biden understands many colleges have become predatory businesses. He cancelled of billions in student loan debt for millions of Americans, in spite of Republican opposition to help our youth.
The Affordable Care Act: Millions of Americans are saving $800 per year on their health insurance and 4-in-5 Americans can find coverage for $10 a month or less through the ACA.
Changed our Failed Approach on Marijuana: Biden pardoned all prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession, removing a burden to employment, housing, and educational opportunities for thousands of Americans.
Joe Biden’s Failures Also Count
Joe Biden did not unite Americans, and he totally failed to prosecute the enemies of our democracy. I have always felt that had Biden prosecuted Trump with vigor, he would have won the hearts of centrists. Now, because of those failures, we are forced to win an election which is is already a bit rigged for the smaller, predominantly Republican states via the electoral college. It’s tails we lose the way America has functioned for the last 250 years and heads we win the right to keep fighting – unless we win three chambers. Then we really can fix all this. Overall, this is not a good gamble. We have much more to lose than win. How did we get here?
The Cyber War of 2016
Since, Russia if your listening in June 2016, we have been at war with Vladimir Putin and the autocrats of the world. This is a new kind of war. It is not waged with bullets or bombs. Our enemies know they cannot beat the USA with conventional warfare. This is a war of words, laws and media control: cyber war. The world has never seen a war like this. I wrote about this in 2019, here.
Since the Supreme Court seems to have been purchased by the democracy enders, America is the betting line underdog to survive another 100 days. Think about how crazy that is. We have spilled blood to create and defend this country at least five times: The Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, The Civil War, and the two World Wars. We have been victorious every time. Today, the American democracy is the betting underdog to survive another three to six months, and the aggressor shot no bullets.
Such is cyber war. Such is Putin’s genius. If he gets what he wants, a fascist America that is Russia’s ally, he will be remembered as the greatest general of all time – the G.O.A.T. of dictators. Putin wins if the GOP wins control of two of three chambers in the United States in three months. The alliance he made in 2016 at the GOP convention is for life. Maybe the GOP did not think about the long-term consequences of making a deal with Putin to help win an election. It’s too late to turn back now.
The 14th Amendment Failure by AG Garland
The American Constitution clearly states that no one who takes part in an insurrection attempt, or aids or comforts those that have taken part in such an attempt, shall not hold office. This was ignored by Biden’s AG, Merritt Garland, who thought it proper to ask the Supreme Court if what is written should be taken seriously. However, at least two members of said court have comforted insurrectionists themselves. They are also not allowed to be in our government. So how can they have a say? It’s like asking a thief to rule in his own case. Grland’s failure to get ahead of this problem is why we are where we are today.
October Surprises Are Coming
Joe Biden does not need to worry about running again. He did say at least once, that he would not let Trump be president – over his dead body. This is an excerpt transcript from a Biden speech given in Detroit, July 12th, 2024.
Look, he says, if he loses, there will be a “bloodbath” when he loses. And the United States Supreme Court said there’s virtually no limit on the power of a president. Trump said if he wins, he’ll be a dictator on day one. He means it, folks. We’re not going to let that happen. Over my dead body will it happen.
That last sentence was the first time in eight years I heard a Democrat in government allude to the stark fact that we are currently at war with the MAGA Republican Party.
I don’t know what kind of October surprises are coming this year. My guess is when it is clear that Trump/Vance will lose to Harris, Trump will start dog whistling for violence against her. The word “fight” is deemed kosher in political speech, but to many in Trump’s base, it means act out with violence. And that is not legal protected speech. Consider what the effective fascist Goebbels said at this point.
Trump just leaked out, as he often does, that they have it all “fixed” and plan to win the election even if they lose both the popular and electoral vote.
War is not defined in the Constitution. The nature of war has changed. Our conventional weapons are now too dangerous to use. But the goals of war are the same as they have always been: to take things away from sovereign countries. The booty can be territory which is the most typical reason wars start; but it can also be endingthe way their perceived enemies function. That is exactly what Project 2025 promises to do. In the body politic metaphor, the election of Donald Trump can be a fatal cancer for democracy, as we know it.
The Cyber War of 2016: The Final Showdown
Sadly, it is not only Putin we are fighting. An alliance between Russia and the Republican party was formed at the 2016 GOP Convention. Sanctions against Russian oligarchs with US holding were taken out the the Republican party’s platform after that alliance. This is the elephant in the room. Once you make a deal with Putin, you are allied for life. He does not allow people to walk away and stay alive. And Putin always gets dirt on his allies- taped recordings – which explains why the GOP never disowned Trump or Putin. They have been compromised for eighy years,
I hope Joe Biden meant “over my dead body” when he said he won’t let Trump be president. I hope he has the resolve to use the 14th and his commander in chief powers to protect America as it is currently constituted, and vanquish its enemies, should whatever “fix” Trump spoke of rear its head. I hope the DOJ and FBI are monitoring Trump’s electronic communications right now because whatever our enemies are planning they are talking about it right now. But Biden’s FBI is probably not doing this. They have yet to show me they know how to recognize and fight domestic fascism.
We have no idea what top secrets have been shared with Putin.The FBI should not be monitoring Trump’s communciations after he said ” we have it so fixed“. Who are his partners in said fix? I have even thought that the prisoner exchange was done now, because Putin knows something very serious is about to happen and it wouldn’t be possible in the near future. And after 911, did not the government get the right to spy on us all? So why not Trump?
Trump Cannot Be Allowed to Become POTUS Again
In essence, the GOP is running someone who is not even qualified to be president via the 14th amendment. That is their foolishness. Even if he wins, Trump cannot be allowed to be president again. Then the United States of America will have lost the Cyber War of 2016 and it will never, in our lifteimes, be a country that offers ample freedom and opportunity for its citizens.
I do not know what kind of October surprises are coming, but they are coming. I hope Joe Biden meant “over my dead body” when he said it. That would mean that if it is necessary, Biden is willing to go to war versus Trumpism at last.
This simple plan, put into action, can save the United States from what is now projected as a risk of falling prey to fascism should Trumpism prevail. This race will be women vs men, in a way Barbie vs Oppenehimer. But there are plenty of men who identify with saving our democracy. The question is will there be more women standing by their “man” who are sold on to taking America backwards in time, than men who are brave and smart enough to embrace the future.
So here we are, fellow Americans. We are in a domestic war, but there are no bombs. It’s a cyber war. Putin’s genius really. He knew he could never beat the USA with bombs. The weapons of his cyber war arewords.
And with three weeks left it is coming down to a few states and therein – their men versus their women. Sad, but very true. It’s coming out in the press now. Obama spoke of it today. I called this Barbie vs Oppenheimer months ago.
This post was a lot longer a year ago, but I am paring it down to its bare structure because there is no time left for complicated processes. Women are the largest class of people that are polling for Harris now.
The newest Pew Research poll found found 51% of male registered voters supporting Trump, and 43% supporting Harris. Among female registered voters, that is effectively reversed: 52% of female registered voters support Harris, while 43% support Trump.
Why Women United?
Women United starts with women because they have a natural bond this election season due to the GOP removing women’s rights constitutionally guaranteed for fifty years by the Roe v Wade SCOTUS decision. But we are open to dedicated men as well, of course. *Men Welcome is a super important part of the brand. We want to unite all Americans, men and women, of course. Women United is not racist or sexist. It is a place for real patriotism to awaken from its long slumber here in America.
There are women’s groups in most cities of a decent size. College towns are also ideal. I have reached out to a few of these groups and gotten positive feedback. Indivisible is a perfect nationwide organization to deploy this strategy by next Tuesday nationwide. I will make my efforts here in Los Angeles. Swing state reader, reach out to your local Indivisible chapter with this idea.
SAVE DEMOCRACY TUESDAY NIGHT MIXERS
That’s right. Throw a party. Strewn the walls with pictures of Trump and Putin and some of his worst quotes. Sparsely add some Kamala ads on the walls. The idea is to scare people. Kid you not. That’s what they are doing for the wrong reasons. But – it is a party. Hire a band. Alcohol is a good idea if its legal. If not cater it lightly with sexy food. We need men to align with women and nothing does that like a mixer.
At some point a speaker reads for no more that two minutes. Maybe once an hour. A three to four hour event. And then invite them to come back next Tuesday. On that Tuesday you can give them some chores or assignments but still have a band or DJ and make it fun. The banner reads Women United to Save American Democracy – men welcome. The women will be the honey that attracts men voters to see the light about Trumpism. I don’t think you have to tell them what to say. They know. But they are encouraged to talk to men about why they want to preserve their bodily autonomy. Men, especially young men, could stand the education. But, keep it fun. Be joyous warriors.
nd in line.
Our Potential Allies in this War
The people we need to reach in this war of words are Republican centrists, independents, and Democratic voters who may lost their enthusiasm for Biden.
The main focus of “Women United” is to find ways to convince men, regardless of their past party affiliation, that this time they need to vote to support their local women. Since the GOP alliance can always brand truth as “fake news”, the re-orientation program must come from the mouths of their own people.
And yes, we’ll have to show the MAGA and centrist GOP voters that we are not vermin. We’ll have to be likeable to them. Is that so hard? I don’t think so. It certainly beats what the WW2 generation had to do to save this democracy.
Women* United to Save American Democracy – *Men Welcome is designed as a cannot lose project. It should function as a Green Bay sweep in its own right. Our enemies can see it coming, but they can do nothing to stop it.
Supporting Logic: All Politics is Local
We recommend the tools be created on about an 8th grade level. A historical synopsis of the miracle of American democracy in posters on the walls is a good idea too. Start with the Boston Tea Party.
Why Women United?
Women United starts with women because they have a natural bond this election season due to the GOP removing women’s rights constitutionally guaranteed for fifty years by the Roe v Wade SCOTUS decision. But we are open to dedicated men as well, of course. *Men Welcome is a super important part of the brand. We want to unite all Americans, men and women, of course. Women United is not racist or sexist. It is a place for real patriotism to awaken from its long slumber here in America.
There are women’s groups in most cities of a decent size. College towns are also ideal. We have reached out to a few of these groups and gotten positive feedback. We’d like to see if we can get a commitment from a few groups in each of the swing states.
There are 438 womens’s groups that just marched, January of 2024. They need to be contacted and asked to see if they would be okay for advocating for small d democracy this year by having three Save Democracy Mixers. The fourth one is voting day, and then those groups are united on November 5th and can do much good. Focus should be on swing states first, then red states, then purple cities in blue states.
Why the Reorientation Must Come from Local Influencers
The line between truth lies has been blurred for media. The fake news meme may have started with Russian propaganda during the 2016 election, but is still with us … and growing. AI is not making this any easier. However, it will be harder for husbands, sons, boyfriends, associates, and friends to categorize words as “fake news” when those words are coming from people they know and respect in their own towns. MAGA people are by nature followers – sycophants. They were easily influenced by right-wing media and Trump’s lies. That means they are more malleable than Democrats. We can take advantage of that.
Trump was caught on a hot mic saying “they only know what we tell them”. Finding a way to tell Republican voters something else to know or believe in may be more effective on Republican voters than Democrats and Independents.
Qualifications For Holding Office Must Be Part of the Education
A majority of GOP voters still believe Trump won the 2020 election. For that reason, Women United cannot be a Democratic or Republican endeavor. Kamala is framed as pro-Democracy , pro people first, pro country over party – even over the Democratic party.
The enemies of democracy don’t expect such creativity and energy this election season. But if this project evolves from written words and thoughts into action and it spreads through red states, they are checkmated. The fake news meme that has worked so well for “trumpism” for the last seven years will have met its match via love, education, and reorientation. It’s time teach old-fashioned civics and history to rural America and spread some real truth and light.
Branding the Struggle
*Build That Wall was nothing more than selling or branding. Branding seeks to create a vision fused with a few words that are hard to forget. Branding works like a song – words and music together are easy to remember. Words and tunes alone? They are soon forgotten. Strategic branding is something the enemies of democracy do very well. We can do better at this. Sales has been my life’s work.
Deployment Strategy – Seven Swing States
In the ideal version of democracy, the majority should have their collective will represented in Congress. We do have to contend with the Electoral College which does not function as a true democracy, and creates the space for a few key “swing states” have more power than the rest of the country. Women United can fix inequity, and many other pressing issues, but first we must save the functioning of our democracy. Without a functioning democracy nothing good will get done for any of us.
Seven states that need Women United chapters the most are in purple
Wilkes-Barre 44,000, Altoona 44,000, State College 41,000
My sense is that this list can be refocused and shortened a bit by using a filter based on preaching less to the choir. We’ll need to focus more in cities where the anticipated margin of loss to Trump is currently is between 1% and 10% and where the anticipated margin of victory by Biden is between 1% and 5%. The most important groups to enroll with be the first in each of the swing states.
The Tutorial Installation – rough draft
The walls of Women United field offices all tell the story of democracy. That story starts with the causes of the Revolutionary War, some words on King George, (who has been compared to Donald Trump) and the colonists resistance to King George’s taxes and tyranny.
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was the culmination of a resistance movement throughout British America against the Tea Act, a tax passed by the British Parliament in 1773. Colonists objected to the Tea Act believing it violated their right as Englishmen to “no taxation without representation”, that is, to be taxed only by their own elected representatives and not by a foreign parliament in which they were not represented.
The lesson of the Boston Tea Party will engage middle-of-the-road Republicans as well as Democrats. America was born with proud intentions. Ironically, Americans today still lack a Congress that truly represents their needs and not the needs of big business. The parallel to today’s times is there and worth pointing out. Women’s United seeks to restore pride in American democracy.
The next installation can be about the Constitution as it was formed and the amendments that evolved over time, highlighting the Bill of Rights and specific amendments. The National Constitution Center covers the US Constitution nicely. We can select the amendments to focus on. I think we start with the first amendment, and focus on the 14th after the Civil War. But we leave the constitution all out there for the curious. People need education on US history to become free thinkers able to recognize how poor a choice Donald Trump would be for president. Women’s United does not tell people who to vote for or against. We seek to make the right path become self-evident.
Since this is about saving democracy, focusing on amendments that concern voting rights seems proper. Since the Civil War, many constitutional amendments address voting, but there are specific amendments written to prohibit denying the vote to some people once the vote is extended to others.
Field Offices Must Remain Bipartisan
It is also important to declare this effort is neither Democratic nor Republican; it must be American. The division between the parties is what keeps the people of America feeling like we are in a cyber war with our brothers and sisters in other states. If we can undo the undercurrent of national division – fear of the other – and restore pride in American democracy there will be no inner space for Trumpism to exist within the hearts of our citizenry. Older people remember fascisim had not quarter in the American soul until the 80s. Is not that feeling of division and fear of others really the cause of our fascist Trumpism problem?
Right now, a large percentage of Republicans are okay with what Trump did on January 6th including hanging Mike Pence for not “doing his job” to end the peaceful transfer of power, according to Trump’s speech that day. The qualification for holding office in the USA 14th Amendment is that no elected official can be in an insurrection or aid or comfort those that are. So Women United is okay with Republicans as long as they renounce January 6th, the Big Lie and Stop the Steal. If that comes off as partisan, so be it.
The belief in many GOP voters that “the left” is their enemy, is what needs to change. But we can’t do it by using distant media. It’s not going to penetrate those who live in information silos. We should know this after eight years of right wing media chanting fake news. We need to re-orient Americans attitude to its government up close and personal, one person at a time, and start a sort of chain reaction – a reverse metastatic cancer -a metatstatic healing!
The idea is to help our Republican friends and neighbors find new candidates in their midst who are conservative but not insurrectionists. There are plenty. They just have no place to convene and air their thoughts because Trump, the salesaman, leaves no oxygen for their transformations. Enroll Republican centrists to convene with Women United. They will become America’s best allies in the effort to save democracy.
“It will always remain one of democracy’s best jokes that it provided its deadly enemies with the means by which it was destroyed.”
Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Propaganda Minister
The First Fascist
We are fighting a fascist organization but most people don’t know fascism’s history. A brief history of fascism is actually necessary. Mussolini is historically referred to as the first fascist. Mussolini Trailer on this page is worth a watch. Rachel Maddow’s new book, Prequel, relays some interesting American history on our US industrialists aligning with the Europe’s fascist movements. It’s worth making sure people know what Mussolini did to his own people if they protested any part of his agenda. I’d like to have movie night. There are some great WW2 movies worth group watch. The new movie Amsterdam was panned butit depicted the danger we are in today very well.
Long before Putin posed bare-chested in snow, Mussolini created this “look”.
German fascism began with Hitler trying to adapt what Mussolini had created. Hitler was a huge fan of Mussolini, even trying to get an autographed picture.
Civil Rights Era and the 1960s. It wiil be wise to cover the freedoms that were gained during the Civil Rights movement during Johnson’s presidency – and here is very okay to mention Roe v Wade. The right to vote was also very clearly defined and Jim Crow was officially a crminal action after the Civil Rights Act. . The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, as well as, race in hiring, promoting, and firing.
an example of news on the walls of the installations
The Trump Era
Even though we are non-partisan, we do recognize the criminal and treasonous activity of Donald Trump. Trump is why we need to save democracy. So our stance is not that we don’t want Republicans, we just don’t want Republicans who align with a coup to overturn the will of the majority and install a fascist back into the White House.
Trump is about to make his announcement that Mexicans are bringing rapists
The installation can have snippets from videos of Trump’s campaign speeches: the Mexicans are bring rapists ( ironic advise from a known convicted serial rapist ) and including Russia if you’re listening and other gems from his rallies. There’s no shortage of material:Trump’s inauguration speech, the firing of Comey, Helsinki, two impechments and the obstruction by Bill Barr during his impeachments, the firing of Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, Helsinki, Trump’s covid vaccine success derailing when he learned covid was killing more people in Blue states. The installation culminates with January 6th, and current campaign snippets about poisoning the blood of our country and Project 2025.
Activity at the Field Offices – The Original Gripe of Conservative America
Being part of a democracy has to evolve to become more than just showing up to vote. Women’s United field offices need to be engaging and/or a bit fun to attend. Field office managers need to report to a central core group. We need to get people to start believing they can affect their governments decisions and laws. Honestly, this is the original gripe of people in flyover country, is it not? They feel abandoned by their government. Spoiler alert, so do many on the left. It does feel like nothing we can do will change how government treats us. Many Americans are resigned to sub-par treatment in many arenas of life, including quality of food and air, housing, education, healthcare, decent pay, cost of living and paying more taxes percentage-wise than billionaire overlords.( I don’t like that billionaires pay less tax percentagewise than I do. )
We have eight months to make a dent. Besides the get out the vote effort which amplifes in the last 60 days, we have six months to discuss and I think mock vote on the issues that concern all Americans. People should walk away from these reorientation courses masked as Women United For Democracy * Men Welcome feeling empowered and enthusaistic about making real changes in the next presidential term. The changes needed most are on what can be called out top ten issues.
Income Inequality and Tax Fairness. The Border. Health Care Affordability. Right to Choose. Gun Violence. Education Affordablity. Climate Science. The Electoral College. Corruption in Government, including legal corruption like corporate lobbying, voter discrimination and Gerrymandering, the Supreme Court. There’s ten right there. This list can be amended of course.
Suppose we invite experts to lecture – perhaps from a single source – like a huge zoom. The Big Zoom seems like an idea. A set time, and we all watch a 20 minute lecture or debate on any of the top subjects. Then we talk about what we heard for an hour. Then we mock vote for the solutions the way we see them on the first Tuesday of every month. Chapters record their voting as indelible records for how each chapter saw best to solve the issues facing America.
Finally, field offices ask their reps in Congress to come to a meeting and ask that they vote in Congress the way the majority in their field office ask them to vote. They present the results of their mock voting; they ask that their representatives re-present their ideas to Congress. That seems to be what represent means, to re-present what has already been presented. So let’s do some solution presenting ourselves Americans, and stop relying of representatives to tell us how to think or vote.
This way the local chapters get a feeling when their representative is in politics just for their own self interests. They can shop for a better candidate for their needs if they sense that. All politics is local underpins this entire strategy.
Maybe there has to be some music, movies and guest speakers at these field office some nights.We may be able to get some really top iconic people, like Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce to address the field office members across the nation in one fell swoop.
Sounds like a dream. But this can all happen in 2024 if we just start. We need to literally enlist in this cyber war and be soldiers in this cyber war. And if we make this happen, we will have saved our democracy by ourselves, without politcians, and a great new era of American pride and acheivement will begin.
end post …
PS.
Once one allies with Putin, they must remain loyal for life. If you think otherwise, ask Prigozhin on that. Oh yeah, you can’t.
Joseph Aronesty
PPS. PS. Some new improved version of this autocracy vs democracy map, which has been at my blog since Helsinki, should be part of the “kit”. Many people don’t know what autocracy really means. But a ten-year-old with no prior knoweledge of world geography gets the struggle when they first see a RISK board.
About the author:
Joseph Aronesty is the 75-year-old son of a WW2 vet, an ecom pioneer with passion for songwriting and word history and author of a book on the history of language. “I’ve had a blessed life due to the sacrifices of those WW2 vets and I’ll be damned ( actually, we all will be damned ) if we just give it all away to con artists.”
Mr. Aronesty was classmate to Donnie Trump in 1968 at Wharton , worked in Trump’s business associate orbit from 86-99 in AC NJ. He has wriiten over 1100 pages on Trumpism starting at “Russia, if you’re listening” which he still feels should disqualify a candidate to run for president because it asks an enemy state to take a part in our sacred American elections.
75% of all Americans think both are too old to serve as president
42% of independents think neither will make a good president
This is not about the debate. Joe Biden has not been popular with the majority of Americans for a while, and presidential elections have become more of popularity contests than capability contests, sadly. But that is reality. Biden did not rid us of the threat of Trumpism. You can blame AG Garland, but he was hired and allowed to stay on board even though, had he acted faster, Trump could have been convicted sentenced for the January 6th and documents case by now. And Garland is still there. The buck stops with Joe. I believe this is underlying reason Joe is not more popular with Democrats. Americans do not feel safe.
The Origins of the Cyber War We Are In
We have been at war with members of the Russo-Republican Alliance that occurred at the GOP convention in 2016 when it was decided that the Republican Party would not press for sanctions against Russians oligarchs known to have US investments, in return for election help in the form of an army of Russian bloggers and digital newsmakers.
The alliance strategy worked. It created the needed boost to get Trump over the finish line and elected. Trump now owes Putin for life for that election help. He has been compromised and is still Putin’s loyal disciple. The alliance’s involved leaders in the GOP are also allied for life; that includes many in Congress today. Both sides of that alliance equation are trying to end this country’s way of governing, representative democracy.
Why? Money. They prefer fascism because it’s very lucrative for criminally-minded politicians. They can legalize stealing. They are a nasty, determined group. The rank and file of the MAGA movement have bought the Big Lie hook, line and sinker. Many actually think “the left” is their personal enemy. They are in battle mode, standing back, but standing by their dear leader. Trump is way more popular with his party than Biden is with the dems. It is thought today that Trump is the favorite to win in November.
Gretchen Whitmer and Josh Shapiro both very popular Governors of Purple States – MI and PA
Trump recently said: Biden is not getting out, he is more popular than Gavin Newsom. Trump really wants to run against Biden/Harris or Harris. Why? He believes he can beat them. They are the enemy he knows. His media focus has been to spew hate for Biden, Harris and even Obama for years. It is a racist campaign of course, but it has been effective. Trump won’t be able to sell this level of hate for a more centrist ticket in just a few months. He also knows 75% of Americans thinking they are both too old and ageism is a real thing in the USA. Neither candidate can’t beat a younger smart centrist ticket. That should tell us all we need to know.
The Party or Our Country?
The Democratic “party” is a big ship. It generally turns slowly and mainly moves forward propelled by the momentum of yesterday. There is talk of giving Kamala Harris her shot, without any thought to whether she can beat Trump. With democracy on the line, and given the current level of racism in the USA, I would not run a black/Asian woman from California for president this critical year. She is capable of course. But not popular in middle America; sort of like HRC that way. Tactically, it is an error. If we survive this year, it will be fine soon.
The brilliant John Fugelsang blurted out that he loved Joe Biden and wished he had run and not Hillary on July 10th. He quipped, “maybe, some of the misogynists in the right would have voted for Joe”. I agreed. But why is that still not true of racists on the right for Harris? It is, of course.
It is sad still we have so many misogynists ( or people who think a woman’s place is only in the home ) and racists, but we must face reality. I personally think Americans are ready to evolve, but first we have to get through this election, be victorious and fully prosecute the traitors to our way of governance, within our government – or this internal fight will continue.
About Democracy’s Enemies
Trump sees the polls. He wants nothing to change. Leaving this ticket to save democracy is a bit like not changing the medicine or environment for cancer and expecting it to stop. Trumpism worked like a cancer, because that is the way to defeat any complex organsism or body politic. It starts with a single cell. The defenses don’t recognize the cell as dangerous. It gets a foothold. It metastasizes. We are at stage four now, and we feel that pressure at last. We have to be smart. It is a beatable cancer. It may be up to all of us. That is where we are, “folks”.
The sole focus of the Republican Party is to win by any and all means possible. The focus of the Democratic party has generally been to help people. But dems will also need to win or they wont be able to help anyone. Why is this race is even close -a convicted felon and wanna-be dictator versus a president with a good heart- and the dictator is winning? In America? We should and could be up by at least by 10% with the right ticket. The math is easy and obvious. 75% want neither, but the race is even in numbers. That means 1/3 of those who want neither are settling for a ticket they did not want. That’s the 75% we campaign to. The rest are baked in. Let’s see if Biden can convince those who want neither.
Trump has figured out that Biden/Harris is the easiest candidate to beat. Here is one reason no one is talking about.
It is Harder to Hate New Candidates
The hate for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris has been cultivated on right-wing media for a long time. There is not enough time for the GOP to pivot the focus of that “Biden/Harris hate” to other candidates and have that hate or disrespect’s amplitude loom as large as it does today in the souls of right-wing media consumers. Hate for Biden and Harris is a prime motivator for many Americans to vote GOP.
Shake It Up
Charlie Sykes sort of said it. Taylor Swift sang about it. Shake it up. It’s how you fight cancer too. I know from personal experience. You change the environment for the cancer and your medicines. The cancer likes things to stay the same. So does Trump. He is even saying it. He wants to run against Biden or Harris because he believes he can beat them. It was way too close last time – 70,000 votes. Running against a convicted felon, we should be way up now. So what is our best startegy to ensure we prevail?
A/B Testinga New Ticket
Imagine a new ticket. I imagined the Whitmer / Shapiro ticket even though those two are not discussing running or running. But I chose them because each is a very popular Governor in a “purple” state. We should be open to other imagined tickets. Josh Shapiro has a 61% approval rate and it nearly twice has high as Biden’s approval in Pennsylvania. Gretchen Whitmer has a 56% approval rating in a purple state and is a very popular governor. These people know how to appeal to both sides. That is something neither Biden nor Trump have been able to do so far. Trump won’t try if he wins. If Biden could have united the country, we would know that by now. If either ticket wins, it’s either nothing changes or it’s a turn for the worse.
And that is the most important thing folks. It’s not the war in Ukraine or Israel – or even our many internal wars over the border, women’s rights, gun and envi policies, etc. The two warring political parties monster has to come to an end if America is to survive. It is even how we got this terrible Supreme Court, is it not?
We need to forge a potential politcal ticket that appeals to both sides. Both sides can be happy to vote for the same ticket, or no Americans are going to get what they really want whoever wins. We’ll sink further down, making only one man happy – Vladimir Putin, who started this all.
The first thing that has to happen is the new ticket needs to be imagined and the candidates engaged and enrolled. Without that step, we are getting nowhere slow. We can test that imagined ticket with polling data, and AI before it is widelly announced. It is incumbent upon us to see what ticket could do 10% better than the Biden-Harris ticket. It seems to me, not to try is to gamble with bad odds with the entire history of the USA.
I will end with, if we do this and Biden-Harris is still the best ticket, we of course will support that ticket vigorously. There is another option I’d like to suggest.
Biden should fire Garland tomorrow for his failure to move quickly and let this Trumpism cancer fester. Why was Kevin Roberts allowed to say “The revolution will be bloodless, if the left allows it” and not be arrested on the spot by our AG for threatenning all of us with a bloody war? I think Biden’s polls will go up if he replaces Garland and shows he knows how to shake it up and fight Trumpism. We all know Trump knew how to fire people for the wrong reasons; Biden could show he can fire someone for the right reasons.
Keeping Kamala On The Ticket and In The War Does At Least Five Things
I suggest Kamala should be the AG and replace Garland. Trumpism needs prosecuting and elimination if the country is to survive.
I think this new ticket would win in a landslide. Trump has almost no way to foster hate for it. He’s been a hate monger since the Central Park Five. And that’s how he maintains support.
1. Gives the 75% on both sides who think Trump and Biden are too old or not right for the job a ticket to vote for. Unifies the country that way.
2. Appeals to centrists and independants, with it’s Mid-Western slant. Gets us Pennsylania and Michigan, keys to a victory in Roevember.
3.Garland is gone. Puts Lady Justice in the hands of the now First Lady, where she can do more than a VP anyway. Kamala was an AG, and will prosecute Trumpism vigorously.
4. Heals the American political divide.
5. Turns the page.
Hold On To Love, America. We can make it through this long dark night.
Thanks and weigh in.
JosephAronestyATgmail.com
PS.
I just asked CHAT GTP about the Whitmer Shapiro ticket. The response was optimistic:
A Gretchen Whitmer – Josh Shapiro ticket could indeed present an interesting dynamic in a hypothetical matchup against Donald Trump. Here are some factors to consider:
Gretchen Whitmer’s Appeal: As the governor of Michigan, a key swing state, Gretchen Whitmer has garnered attention for her handling of issues like healthcare and infrastructure. Her experience in state governance and potential appeal to Midwestern voters could be advantageous in a national campaign.
Josh Shapiro’s Profile: As the previous Attorney General and now Governor another crucial swing state, Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro has built a reputation for consumer protection and legal advocacy. His experience in law enforcement and his political profile within Pennsylvania could bolster the ticket’s appeal in the Rust Belt and beyond.
I got to thinking about the most notorious leaders in today’s dictatorships: Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, King and Mohammed bin Salmon of Saudi Arabia, Bashar al-Assad of Syria, Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran, and China’s Xi Jinping. Not one of them are stupid enough to be caught saying I grab women by the p*ssy because I’m a star and they let me do it. Trump’s total lack of class or dignity stands alone, even among despots. Sometimes his immature verbal potty mouth is touted by media as an attribute for his “fans”.
Access Hollywood was arguably the biggest gaff in presidential election history and it bounced off Trump like water off a duck’s back. People began to say in flyover over country they liked this locker room talk stuff – so it was a good thing for Trump. But that’s too easy. There is more to understand. Sloughing it off on Trump’s garish style truly misses the mark.
Americans have endured eight years of Republicans fighting with Democrats during our first not-pure-white president’s terms; then four years of a president who never thought a day in his life about serving anyone but his own self; then covid; then inflation, finally leaving us with high interest rates in a nation with too many debtors. Americans have gripes. Both sides. And to make matters worse, all of these crises are left to be dealt with by a seemingly intentional do-nothing Congress.
This is why the flyover country developed an appetite for a guy like Trump in the first place. It was not about trash talk and Trump’s divisive American vs. American hate speech. Many people were just weary and sick of the people in Washington DC for years of ignoring their needs and taxing them in so many ways, while giving back the bare minimum.
The vampires in DC are skimming our common wealth. It is corruption. That was the first gripe of middle America. It is still a valid gripe. The meme is: all politicians are corrupt so what is the difference? We hear of the Big Lie. Well this is the Big Gripe. It stretches back to the Reagan meme that the government is the enemy. It is why Biden does not get credit for being a better man and president than Trump.
And the corruption exists on both sides. We all know politicians – no need to mention names – whose family members reap benefits from advance knowledge of government dealings. That is corruption, and to make it legal is to day its is okay to be corrupt and that fuels an appetite for a new kind of politician – which Biden is not. Trump, in many ways, just does the quiet part of corruption out loud. In some ways, it’s less sneaky than what Biden does.
We have endured about forty years of government officials governing by the greed is good mantra. MAGA folks were unified in one thing; hating the people in our government, and the way government treats them. They wanted something that felt like change. Trump gave them that hope. But he had four years to drain the swamp, and instead it just got swampier.
Polls tell us the Democrats want change too. I do.I was one of the first to recognize Trump was allied with Russia because I knew him from AC NJ, and there was a Russian mob component active there in that “carney” town in the 80s. He fell in love with Putin during the Miss World pageants in Moscow. Everyone who knew him knew that. Atlantic City is a small town. Everyone knew what Donnie was up to.
2024 presents voters with the starkest contrast between two agendas since the Civil War. Biden is trying to preserve the functioning of the institution of free and fair elections – of people deciding who should make the laws we all must agree to live by. Trump is fighting for his life to stay out of jail, and says he will create an agenda to run America a new way. But most Americans know he is running to keep himself and his family out of jail for life.
I stand with the MAGA people on their complaint that we need a change. Most Americans do. My big gripe against the “establishment” is interest rates. Contrary to the FED, high rates will not curb inflation this time around. This is not the 70s. In the 70s people had almost no credit card debt. Credit cards were relatively new back then. Many owned their homes with VA loans post WW2.
This time, higher rates are raising financial pressure on working people by causing higher prices. The price of money, in a nation that is living week to week, causes the inflation high rates are advertised to curb. High rates favor those that have the money to lend. Landlords must raise rents to pay off their loans; and mortgages and college loan costs take up much more of a family’s income these days. It feels like a plot to destroy the middle class to me. Same thing the new American oligarchs will do if we elect Trump. Soon, banks will be foreclosing on properties due to these high rates.
SO yea, I have my gripes against the way the US government favors corporations over working people. That however does not cloud my assessment of Donald Trump. I know him too well to believe he cares about anyone but himself.
Economic justice should count as much as criminal justice; in fact more so because criminal behavior involves a small percentage of Americans, while economic justice involves us all. So, equal justice under the law is basically a lie. The word tax is a form of the word take. If a billionaire pays a lower tax rate than a working person, how is that equal justice under the law?
It’s not the institutions themselves that Americans disrespect. No one is going around saying free and fair elections is a bad idea. What we are all saying is that the people in government don’t work for us much anymore. And the the voices of the fully honest politicans are drowned out by the chorus of corruption that has existed in DC since anyone living can remember.
We know there is a better way. It starts with ending corruption. It does not start with making a president immune from criminal prosecution. The way out of this mess is to make Americans proud of the people in their government again. That begins with qualifications for holding office being upped and careful vetting of any candidates financial ties and past work ethics and experience. That cannot begin with a more authoritarian government.
We must never forget one of Trump’s first acts as president was to lower corporate taxes, which forces working people to shoulder a larger percentage of the expense to run a government.
Biden can function fine as the gateway to a new America. Unlike Trump, he knows he is mortal and takes pride in trying to turn the wheels of government over to a new generation. Then it will be up to the new generation to fix what is broken for working people in this country.
I do think Biden needs to grow a pair, as they say. Leaving Merrick Garland in as AG is something no real Americans respect. He’s done a lousy job prosecuting government corruption. Trump will not be tried for the crimes against this country before Novemeber. The biggest crime in US history was filmed live on January 6th. If the man Biden has in the position to see justice done for that crime cannot bring about a trial in three years, he needed to be fired. I ask all people who love this country to find a way to complian loudly about Merricak Garland staying on as our AG.
Trump knew how to fire people at least. Yes, for the wrong reasons, but he knew how to do it. Biden seems not to be able to fire anybody for the right reasons. All we can do now is hope the sheer unchristian ugliness of the Trump, his alies – domestic and foreign, and the spewing of their hateful, vengeful, divisive words will get Americans to wake up when it counts the most, in November.
On the two-year anniversary of the attack that changed the world, it is important that media echo this obvious conclusion.
Putin waited for Trump’s January 6th coup attempt to fully fail before attacking Ukraine because, if it had succeeded it would have been much easier to take Ukraine with no USA support from Trump.
Donald Trump has now said he would encourage Putin to do whatever the hell he wants to our NATO allies in Europe. This is coordination with an enemy state during war times. The Espionage Act fully applies. This is not “just politics” or “Trump being Trump”.
Russia is getting supplies from Iran and North Korea. Ukraine is getting supplies from NATO countries and the USA. But now the Republican House is blocking that aid. That is also treasonous during war times.
We are clearly in the midst of a cyber war with Putin since its 2016 Fancy Bear election interference. Trump’s statement has already done serious tactical military damage to the United States. Trump also shared nuclear secrets about U.S. nuclear submarines with an Australian billionaire, Anthony Pratt, a member of Mar-a-Lago. The Espionage Act was created to protect Americans from traitors. It applies during war times, and we are at actually at war now.
Joe Bidencandeclare war on those who would undo our democracy, whether they be overseas, allied with our enemies, or sitting in Congress. This should have been done at Russia, if you’re listening. That was warning one. If Biden’s not up for this war, he needs to step aside, and let someone who in our military take the reigns. Nothing about age. Think Golda Meir. It’s about attitude, brains, and knowing your enemy.
War is not defined in the Constitution. The ways to war have changed over the years but the objectives of war are always the same: to take something from a sovereign state. It used to be that could only be done with force. Today, one can take from a democratically run country bloodlessly, with information wars during election cycles, and getting loyalists into the governments of one’s enemies – cyber war. We have been in a state of cyber war with Putin since Fancy Bear election misinformation attacks of 2016. Cyber is the new way to war and Putin is the world’s first master of Cyber War.
The strange thing is, both the left and right base would respect Biden more if he were tougher on Trump. The MAGA base views the impending Trump vs. Biden election like a WWF wrestling match. Biden is losing only because he lets the chaos continue as if Trump has a right to align with Putin. Does he have that right during war times?. No. That’s treason. So declare war vs. Putin but state we are in a Cyber War, and will retaliate with the enemies of democracy whethere they are overseas or here in our Congress.
Putin is effectively running 5o% of our government now. Putin has compromised Trump and key GOP from the 2016 Convention. His emmisaries certainly have taped recordings of the 2016 GOP Alliance discussions. I don’t see an investigaton into that alliance. Putin is three steps ahead in this war. If you don’t believe me, ask Michael Cohen. He knows too.
Garland needs to be replaced tomorrow. He’s dragged his feet, and that’s also why democracy is on the ropes in the USA. We need someone like Glenn Kirschner – laser focused on seeing justice for Trump’s crimes versus democracy – and others in our Congress who aided or comforted the insurrectionists or align with Russian talking points during war times.
DECLARING CYBER WAR VERSUS PUTIN WOULD ALSO MEANS MEDIA CANNOT ALIGN WITH PUTIN.
Fancy Bear spiked with AI Technology is being planned right now. Fox News is in on the deal to sell out Americans to Putin. You only have enforcement mehcanisms in a state of war. Get into it now, Joe Biden. Americans and Europeans are counting on you.
Dear NATO friends. Help us get rid of the unhinged deranged person we regretably elected. You have real history in making the same error. You learned the hard way. We came to your rescue 80 years. It’s time to come ours. That good America is is still here. Our system of justice is moving too slow.
There are ways you can help. Please get vocal about it. It will help. Even MAGA people don’t like Putin. That’s not what they were there for at Jan 6th either. They think they are patriots to save America from the left. But the left and right are not that far apart on issues. The big money is afraid the left and the right will figure that out. They don’t want Americans unified on anything.
Americans need to feel like we could lose our European friends. Americans have many more friends in NATO countries that Russia. So in the end, people will vote during hard times for their families. Get tough now. The media is listening now.
Hitler’s Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels, said: “It will always remain one of democracy’s best jokes that it provided its deadly enemies with the means by which it was destroyed.”
Today Donald Trump basically said NATO countries, our allies post 911, should be cannon fodder for Putin’s attacks. That was not just a private person airing his first amendment opinion. This is a traitorous dangerous statement coming from a person with a lot of power. We are at war with Russia. I think we need to treat insurrectionists and those who ally with Russia in government as traitors.
14th Amendment:
“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.“
Biden Must Start Using His War Powers as Commander-in-Chief
Our president has a lot on his hands. The enemies of democracy like it that way. Besides defending democracy, Biden is also trying to defend Ukraine vs Russia and Israel vs Hammas/Iran in physical wars.
But is Biden trying to protect America and Americans from the threats to democracy in Congress? I don’t think so. Most democratic voters don’t think so either. And turth be told, that’s why there are calls for Biden to step aside and leave the job to someone who knows how to deal with a traitorous criminal party.
Biden’s choice for Attorney General turned out to be about as good as Bob Mueller for the Russia probe. Kamala Harris is hurting Biden’s chances of re-election as well. Many Republican voters wouldn’t vote for a black woman if her name was “god”, especially if they deem Biden may not make it through another four years. Frankly, he should place her in the AG position, which was her expertise, and place someone like Gretchen Whitmer as his running mate. Those would be tactical steps and many would feel he knows what’s at stake and is starting to fight back. Glenn Kisrchner has also shown us he would do a better job defending democracy than Merritt Garland.
Nearly eight years ago I told my Represetative Ted Lieu, we had to declare war against enemies of democracy or this would never stop. That is still 100% true. Even if Democrats won three houses of government, the attack versus democracy would not end if we continue to treat enemies of democracy as if they deserve a say in our government. That is the essence of the protections the 14th amendment provides for Americans. But they only work if they are used.
The Russo-Republican Alliance
A Friend to My Enemy is My Enemy.
An alliance exists between the Republican Party and our undeclared enemy in the current proxy war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin. We all saw the alliance begin at the Republican Convention is 2016. Donald Trump was just a candidate then. The Republicans reduced sanctions on Putin. For that, Putin launched the Fancy Bear cyber war, convinced disillusioned Americans Hillary was a criminal, and got Trump, an actual sociopathic lifelong criminal, elected president of the United States of America.
A private investigation into the 2016 Republican Convention is long overdo. Right now – early 2024 – is the time for that to happen. The Russo-Republican Alliance should be branded as such. My sense is that Putin would have had his emissaries make tapes of discussions with the GOP brass so he could weigh in on the conversations and use the tapes to compromise the congressmen and party leaders engaged in those talks. People ask why the GOP won’t leave Trump. This is one very good reason not to leave. They cannot. They have been compromised.
it is no wonder the Republicans now want to end aid to Ukraine. They are allied with Putin. It is as if Vladimir has a large voice in our Congress now. And that must stop – soon. A friend to our enemy must be declared our enemy, or we are just stupid. The aliance between Donald Trump, the MAGA GOP and Putin have made human existence more dangerous not only for all Americans, but for the entire planet.
If Biden delcares war versus the enemies of democracy, a proper AG have the ability to simply lock the offices of Congresspeople citing public aired quotes and videos of any congresspeople that have given “comfort” to insurrectionists or publicly aligned with Russian taking points. US citizens should not have the choice to vote for traitors aligned with Vladimir Putin. These people have self-disqualifed themselves to be public servants in the USA.
This is not because I or any person says so. This is what is very clearly written into the US charter, its Constitution and the Espionage Act. Failure to enforce our laws is a derelection of the president’s sworn oath and duty. Marjorie Taylor Greene went to the jail and comforted insurrectionists. Donald Trump sang with them. And we all know most of the GOP in Congress have stated that Biden was not duly elected and Trump won, which was the rallying cry of the Jan 6th insurrection attempt.
The 14th Amendment words “No person shall be an office holder” are striking. Yes, it does not say “shall not run for office”. But can you run for an office when you are disqualified to serve? We saw the tea leaves in the SCOTUS words on the Colorado request to get Trump off the ballot. They basically said one can run for an office one cannot hold – and that decision would be made only after that person won. But when that person wins, on day one, he gets pardon powers. You can’t run for president if you are 21 or born in Africa. Comforting insurrectionists disqualifies candidates. There is no need for judicial review. In this case, Dems can be originalists. The words of the Constitution are clear. Dems can enforce the 14th and stop this circus. But they don’t.
I created these images during the Helsinki summit when Putin reminded Trump that he helped hin win the election of 2016 and therefore would be beholden to Putin for life. You could see that when Trump cowered as he walked on stage, something he had never done before or since.
Project 2025
If the Biden Administration is afraid to use the 14th now and declare war vs the enemies of democracy, foreign and democracy, you can see how the words of Goebbels and Vladimir Putin, who has been coaching our sold out dunce, Donald Trump, on how to take over a large country since 2016, ring deadly against the survival of the United States democracy.
Enforce the 14th Amendment now. Use it, or lose it – all.
On July 27th, 2016, in Doral Florida, Donald Trump said “Russia, if you are listening, I hope you are able to find the 30,000 emails … you will be mightily rewarded by our press”.
Broadcasting an invitation to a known foreign enemy state to influence America’s free and fair elections should have been dealt with as a violation of the Espionage and Sedition Act and an attack on democracy. But it was not. The thought was Donald Trump could never win. But by ignoring that dog whistle to Vladimir Putin, a fascist dictator was invited to be a large influential player in United States 2016 election. And we are still paying the price for that oversight.
That night, Putin launched a Cyber War against the USA. And it was essentially deemed fair play by Obama’s DOJ. Not shutting down “Russian if you’re listening” meant more of this traitor talk would be okay on broadcast media, Facebook, and etc. Russian was “allowed” to deploy Fancy Bear on our social media, affecting public opinion and swinging the close finish that usually describes our presidential elections for Trump.
America is more than just the sum of our communal land, people and resources. Our country is primarily our way unique way of governance. We let our citizens choose their leaders wtih free, fair, unhampered, unhacked, accurate elections. Without that, we are no different than China, Russia or Iran. Our soldiers have fought and died to protect that unique institution. Inviting a foreign enemy to affect any American election is trading with the enemy – treason vs. our Constitution. Our soldiers are not suckers, as Trump once said – they are heros.
It is now 2023, seven years after the original infection. Our government is suffering with the cancer that began when we allowed a candidate for the highest office on the planet to invite a known enemy to have a voice in our sacred elections . And though the seeds of that cancer were sown as far back as Trump’s dalliance in Russian beauty pageants, where he first learned to admire Putin, the cancer has metastasized and is much more dangerous that it was in June of 2016.
Donald Trump is not the brains behind this attack. Anyone who knows Donald personally knows he does not think chess moves ahead and he was never a student of politics or history. I was his classmate at Wharton. I know him that way. This was planned by someone who had done this before and wanted the benefit of having his own loyalist in the most powerful position on the planet, Vladimir Putin.
Evidence of VP infecting our government was also present at the 2016 GOP convention. There were Russian nationals there. That was also an act of treason. These emmisaries all report to VP. It’s logical to think there would have been tapes made by the Russians so Putin could review how his reps were doing and hear was being discussed and with whom. What would you think of our WW2 generation if they had allowed Germany or Japan to send reps to our political conventions? – They would not have allowed it, would they? And if they had, maybe this post would be in German today.
Our WW2 generation would have declared that Facebook was acting treasonously when they allowed Russian bots to masquerade as US citizens, something they could have controlled easily. The greatest generation would have shut Facebook down and/or taken away their license, and/or forced them to sell. The famous movie, Aviator, depicts the US government suing Howard Hughes just for wasting money on a huge plane, the Spruce Goose, as it was called.
A great spirit of pride in our government existed during WW2. Sadly, it has dissipated. VP knows this. He thinks of Americans as spoiled and weak. He’s a bit right on that. We are certainly weakened by the division in our politics. A country under attack cannot afford to be divided. VP and the MAGA GOP know that too.
Evidence of Trump’s treason was glaringly visible in Helsinki. If you study Trump’s posture as he walks on stage, well – he’s not that good of an actor. It wreaked of subservience, which up until that moment I dare anyone to find a moment or screen shot of Trump cowering to anyone. It does not exist. In Helsinki, VP finally showed Trump how much he had on him and the GOP from the 2016 convention, and what both Trump and the GOP owed VP for his election help. And I am sure he said things like “together we can rule the world” – which would be music to Trump’s ears.
It just now occurred to me that Prigozhin was discovered to be the architect of the misinformation campaign of 2016, and now that trail (in case it could have been used against VP) is permanently buried. VP has always been the strategist.
Women United to Save Democracy and Preserve Bodily Autonomy in 2024 * Men Welcome
I propose that field offices be opened in key cities of swing states and make civics and patriotism “sexy” again, the way it eventually became during WW2. Laying low and waiting for the election is NOT a plan.
Women is a group that does not belong to a political party. They’ve shown solidarity on resisting our new Roe vs Wade issues. These offices do not say Democrat or Republican! Neither party is popular really. The Trump movement is all about politcians being unpopular, and frankly, they earned that judgment, both sides, by not putting people over profits for the last forty years at least.
The walls should be a timeline of branded images and videos, much like a museum’s historical timeline installation. It starts with Russia if you’re listening, the firing of Comey, Helsinki, procedes to January 6th and Trump’s divisive campaign rhetoric.
But the big idea is to encourage women to get involved to get their communities united to fight the fascism of a Trump presidency. Men Welcome serves to get men involved, and perhaps attracted to the stated non-partisan movement. Yes. Non-partisan. They could be open to GOP candidates but only if they refer to January 6th for what it actually was – an attempted coup.
If we don’t understand we are at war, just as if we were being bombed, we run the unnecessary risk of putting democracy on the ballot and losing that election. I frankly think the current Republican Party should be barred from having candidates in 2024 unless those candidates openly state that Joe Biden is the duly elected president and that January 6th was an attempt to end the peaceful transfer of power. I also think organized election meddling should be treated as a crime of treason, with serious penalties.
Treating January 6th as a Gift for Curing Our Political Cancer
One unexpected present Trump gave the Democrats was January 6th. Because of the 14th amendment, any congressperson, judge or state official who even comforted insurrectionists, is disqualified to serve. That kind of event never happened before in US history, except during the Civil War. There’s really a lot of self-declared insurrection supporrters and comforters in the MAGA wing of the Republican Party. It is an opportunity to clean house and end the cancer that began in 2016. They can all be declared unfit to serve. No trial is needed. A person under 35 does not need a trial to run for president does he?
Their desks can be locked up tomorrow, and the DOJ can declare that there will be special elections to replace insurrection comforters. All they really need is what is recorded on media and the nerve to use it. I argue that the Supreme Court also has at least one insurrection comforter; Clarence Thomas comforts his wife Ginny, who has comforted insurrectionists herself.
This is how metastatic this VP/DT cancer has become. Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene is one of the GOP members they plotted with insurrections. She visited them in jail and said good things about them. That’s comforting insurrectionists. Anyone who says they would pardon Trump or insurrectionists does not belong in our government another day. Representatives Paul Gosar of Arizona, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Mo Brooks of Alabama, and Louie Gohmert of Texas can easily have their seats locked up by a DOJ that knows we are at war and what tools we need to use to end this scourge.
Look at the map at the top of this post. Ask yourself what chance the rest of the free world has to keep their democracies if the US succumbs to Trumpism, which is clearly fascism. If we let Trump, or someone from his MAGA GOP party become president again, democracy is dead here. And soon enough after the rest of the planet will fall to the dictators. Then, climate change will not be addressed, the wealth gap will widen, and we will enter a modern version of the Dark Ages. The human species will not survive long in a world run by dictators with the kind of weaponry we have today.
It seems the Joe Biden and the Democrats are not going to have the nerve to use the tools they have to defend democracy. I hope I am wrong. But they are proceeding slowly and not so surely. There is a good chance 2024 will be Biden vs Trump, still, which totally ignores the 14th. Lincoln would not be proud.
The smarter tactic is to declare war versus our enemies, foreign and domestic. The war is already on. Our enemies know what they are fighting for while Dems in Congress seem incapable of admitting we have Senators and Congresspeople who are aligned with Putin, and are basically fascists. Denying election results, without solid, visible, concrete proof, is a fascist act.
We have some powerful tools to fight fascism, but we have to use them. Let me list some of them. End the Filibuster. Rebalance the Supreme Court. Use the 14th to disqualify any insurrection “comforters” from holding office.
In a cyber war, which is what is being waged against us by Putin and his allies, we don’t see bombs. Putin knows he could never beat us with bombs. But with words and with allies within our Congressional halls, Putin can get his man back in the White House. And if that happens, the planet, and our children and grandchildren – will never forgive us.
It’s time for Joe Biden to rise up and realize he is a war president. He needs to declare war against anyone who attempts to silence the voice of the majority of Americans.
Kamala Harris Is Biden’s Achilles Heal and He Does Not Know It
I have nothing against Kamala Harris as a person or public servant, but she is one person even Trump can beat. Trump, Putin and the MAGA GOP know this.
Trump was okay with Hang Mike Pence. VP was okay with killing his enemy in a plane crash. If anything were to happen to Biden that stopped him from being there in the last months before November 2024, who among you think that this racist, mysogynist country would turn out in droves to elect Kamala as POTUS?
Kamala Harris as POTUS candidate is the one way the Republicans cannot lose. She probably knows this too. We are not ready for this yet as a country. We will be soon enough. We see it in the eyes of our young. But first, we have to get to soon enough. And right now, she is not the right person to be next in line to a 80-year-old man who is doing a great job, but also has enemies who would welcome and perhaps “mightily reward” harm done to him.
I’m sure you heard “Nikki” Hailey say she does not think Biden will survive. I am 100% sure that steps are being considered and dog whistled about how to make Harris the candidate at the last minute, post-convention.
The smartest thing Biden can do is to reassign Harris, right before the convention, and announce someone for that position who could get even more votes than Biden. There are plenty of people in our government who fit that bill. The other thing to watch for is Trump’s many trials. If Trump becomes inelibible or a pariah due to what is discovered, a younger GOP candidate will emerge – and then, Dems need to be free to pivot to a younger candidate.
In WW2, we all did our jobs with teamwork. If Harris wants to be president, her desire to “be potus” is currently a danger for the USA. By placing a person who could beat Trump in the VP position, it renders our enemies’ “eliminate Biden” hope, plan or plot, a non-starter tactical consideration.
Given that we are at war with Putin, who has agency and power with one political party, the GOP, we must act as if we are at war. Punishments for bad behavior that endagers Americans and American office holders, CIA or military must now be swift, since we are in a war. Does anyone think if Trump got into power he would not use his powers to silence his opponents? Trump just said General Millie should be executed! And we do nothing because we are not offically at war?
Biden Should Declare War Against the Enemies of Democracy
We are actually in a war now. There are no bombs being dropped. The weapons are words and controlling the votes. The smart solution is fast, easy and painless. Declare war against the enemies of democracy. We know who they are. Rigging an election is an act of war against democracy, is it not? So say so! People will appreciate it – on both sides.
I told my representative, Ted Lieu, these same words six years ago because I knew Trump personally and knew where this had to go. Ted thought using the word “war” would be incendiary. I know he meant well. But he did not grow up with monsters like Trump. I did. Once Biden declares war versus the enemies of democracy, his presidential war powers can be used swiftly to protect all Americans by arresting the enemies of democracy. And that means anyone who threatens a poll worker or connives to stop minorities from voting too.
I, myself, wish Kamala had been given Merrick Garland’s DOJ post. Maybe that’s not too late. That would send shivers up Trump’s spine.
I want to light upon the investigation and of Biden and Hunter and the public declaration of impeachment which the GOP has declared 9/12/23. There is a proper counter investigation which a Senate committee can start to counter this. That is the investigation of Jared Kushner and his two-billion-dollar gift from MBS. I believe this is directly tied to the documents case that Jack Smith has vs Donald Trump.
James Raskin recently announced he is investigating Kushner about why he got two billion from MBS. This has to be only one thing. Payback. Not charity; not an investment; payback for things done for MBS by Kushner/Trump.
For this we ask, what happened good for MBS during the Trump administration? NBC News -11-4-2017 | That post details that eight months into the Trump administration, the ultra-luxurious Riyadh hotel became a prison for hundreds of Saudi royals, billionaires and senior government officials were detained in a power play by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aka MBS. The prisoners were told they had to sign away large chunks of their assets to be released. The detention involved both psychological abuse and torture.
These billionaires knew they were being hunted for years. They all had security, burner phones, WhatsApp and their own jets. Further, many were protected by our CIA. And yet they were all caught in a relatively short time and brought to one place to sign away their fortunes or die there resisting.
Our CIA kept tabs on these Saudi billionaires for our purposes here in the USA. And those connections would be listed in top secret documents that the new president Trump had access to. Trump went to MBS first chance he got to leave the USA. Is this adding up to you yet?
This is why Trump would not surrender the documents. He had already learned how to monetize them. Pinching Jared will reveal this and more – a lot more than this investigation into Hunter Biden.
Creating Order at the Border Would Greatly Lift Biden’s Popularity
I had reason to have a one on one discussion with a Republican congressperson from New Mexico, near the border. She’s one of those reps who actually focuses on her constituency. They want order at the border more than anything. And she told me a lot of her constituents would vote for Biden if he made it a priority to create what the average person would deem as order at the border. And yes, without the hate.
There was never a problem with building a wall at the border, or gates, checkpoints, and/or ways of controlling and measuring the influx of immigrants. The problem was the hate that Trump spewed and spread towards Mexicans and Muslims, and people from “sh*thole countries“. Democrats are fine with order at the border. I love that meme. Let’s amplify that to Joe Biden.
Finally, look for Russian oil prices to rise in 2024. The Fed had best make an effort to keep interest rates falling in 2024, regardless of “economic theory”.
2024 has to be approached like a war effort, or we risk losing it all.
The Donald has one last chance to save himself and he may be about to play that card out of necessity.
Jack Smith has evidence of Trump saying something close the following to Brad Raffensperger “Just find me the 11,780 votes, and leave the rest to me and my GOP allies in Congress. “ That last part is what Trump’s congressional allies really fear. They may fear his base, but they fear the Donald more.
Though we know Trump is not a realist and lives inside a movie in his own mind, some part of Donald must know this time it’s different, just like a person has to accept he has a cancer to begin to fight it.
There is no easy way out of this January 6th coup mess for Donny. It was a bridge too far. Too many have died to defend our American democracy to let it slip away to a gangster. America is not just like Russia, in spite of what Putin told Trump. We have a 250 year-old tradition of free and fair elections. It is our national heritage and in a real way, our national treasure. The real powers that be in the USA study history and they know in an authoritarian state, big businesses often get seized by the fascist dictators, – especially media. Big business is also fine with things just the way they are in the USA – a semi-democratic, plutocracy – where uber rich can buy favors.
But there is still one potential escape plan for Trump, and I think Donny may be thinking about it about right now. When Jack Smith unveils his full evidence against Trump, and Trump knows he cannot survive politically, his GOP allies are going to be forced abandon him. They already are to some small degree, but we can tell they wish they could go all the way. Trump’s only viable way to defend himself, beyond stalling, which is finite, will then be to turn on his allies in Congress. And he has the dirt on them and they know it. This is also why they are afraid to turn on him just yet. The evidence is not released yet. They’re still praying for a miracle that’s not likely to happen.
But when you think about it, right now Trump’s allies in Congress are more dangerous than Trump himself. They are actually in our government. Trump is just a citizen, and I doubt he will be president of anything ever again. When the abandonment accelerates, when the evidence is clear, Trump’s vengeance will be directed against his GOP allies who will be denying culpability in the fake elector schemes – to save themselves! It is sort of inevitable.
So what would you rather have, Trump found guilty alone, or the rest of the complicit GOP out of our government? Don’t you think Putin has recordings of the interplay with the GOP at their 2016 convention? He would have needed those to know what was going on, and weigh in on the negotiations. Trump tapes recordings too. That’s basic to his gangster ways. There is going to be a war – Trump vs the GOP. It’s coming and likely soon.
Trump can turn on enough active GOP Congressmembers to rid ourselves of the cancer he caused in the GOP. I hope Jack Smith is thinking about this. I would not be against letting Trump stay free, but of course be unable to hold any postion in government or speak to crowds of people ever again, if he would turn state’s evidence on ten of his allies. That seems about fair trade. And Trump, who could not stand one day in the army, will be happy to do this, as long as he does not go to jail.
Then the cancer Trump caused to befall the GOP will die in the 2024 elections in all three branches of government. -And we can begin to rebuild our beloved USA. That seems to be the better outcome for all Americans.
Donald could also just decide to form a third party if the GOP abandons him. They know that too. He’s got the base and the funds. That would be another avenue to try to escape justice, which is all Trump cares about now, with those walls of justice closing in on him. And that would wreck the GOP without jailing his GOP Congressional allies.
I can also imagine this ends like Scarface; like what befalls many gangsters, drunk with power, who never learn the simple lesson “no man is an island”*.
*This saying comes from a sermon by the seventeenth-century English author John Donne. It was taught in high school when Donny was 17. He never studied then either.
Joseph Aronesty
Trump’s his classmate. Wharton 1968, in one class – International Finance.
I would not be against letting Trump stay free, but unable to hold any postion in government nor speak to crowds of people ever again, if he would turn state’s evidence on ten of his Congressional allies.
The United States has lived through many sold-out, incompetent and self-serving presidents before. When George W Bush left office after sending our youth our to die in Iraq for no good reasons, he made a deal to bail out the banks that had given loans to people who could not afford to pay their mortgages. He sold out the American people twice: first with the war, then with the bank bail out. He bailed out the bankers, but not the people.
But Bush II did not break any laws in doing these things. The GOP party that supported him remained intact after it as well. The same was true for the GOP after Richard Nixon committed crimes near the end of his presidency. He stepped down and was pardoned by his VP and the party that supported his Vietnam war was left intact.
But when Trump refused to surrender his presidency after losing an election fair and square by all credible and legal accounts, he incited an insurrection by spreading lies about the election and inviting the most dangerous of his supporters to come to Washington and do something about it. Trump was even okay with his supporters killing Mide Pence to help him stay in power. He also coordinated with his GOP supporters in Congress to send fake electors in battleground states who would vote for him and not the way the people in those states wanted.
The 14th Amendment of the Constitution was created after the Civil War, which was also an insurrection. The Civil War lasted four years and took over 600,000 American lives. Trump’s physical insurrection was over in one terrible day, but until the enemies of democracy are vanquished from our government, it is not over.
So unless the insurrectionists in our government are removed before November 2024, this 21st century insurrection will also last four full years and maybe longer. I don’t see how it ends until the enemies surrender, as they did after the Civil War. The enemies of democracy are in Congress now. The GOP invited Russian nationals to their 2016 Convention. How does the Biden admnistration not view them as enemies? They are way more dangerous than ISIS was.
The US Constitution says the Trump insurrection can be fully stopped tomorrow. The 14th Amendment absolutely disqualifies anyone who has aided or even spoken comforting words to insurrectionists from serving in our government. It was created after the Civil War so that insurrection would never happen again in the USA. It is there, just as clearly as the other amendments, but it is ignored to our peril.
The 14th has four paragraphs. The third paragraph, known as section three, deals with qualification to hold office. ( The bolds are mine. )
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shallhave engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Simply put, it means if you took part in the insurrection of January 6th, or even aided or spoke comforting words about those that did, you are barred from holding office. That bars Marjorie Talyor Greene, Josh Hawley, Lauren Boebert and about 90% of the GOP in office today from acting as reperesentatives for even one more day. The DOJ can simply cite their own words, lock up their seats and call for new special elections. Of course, it also bars Trump from running. It may also even bar Clarence Thomas ( being a judge is holding an office ) as he comforts his wife Ginny, a known insurrectionist.
The Dems have this parting gift from Donald Trump this time, unlike after the Nixon and George Bush presidencies. And the only way the traitors in or government can get back into office is by a 2/3 vote in Congress, which would mean 1/3 of dems would have to vote to let the traitors back into office.
But in a way, right now as you read this, the Dems have already voted to keep insurrectionists in our government because they are not acting on the 14th section three and disqualifying them. Therefore they are shirking their duties and oaths to protect and defend the Constitution and are also not worthy of being in office.
There are a few plausible reasons for them being okay with keeping the insurrectionists in our government, but none of them are good reasons.
It could be they expect them to be voted out en masse in the 2024 election and that they hope to garner all three chambers then. However right now, if you look at polls, the GOP is favored to hold the House.
Further, the forecast is for the GOP to hold the Senate majority 52 to 48 in 2024. So if they are hoping for the voters to bail them out, it’s currently a long shot and little more than a hope. It is certainly not a “plan” to restore democracy in the USA. Even the race between Biden and Trump is currently projected to be very close.
Also, please consider how terrible it looks to allow known insurrectionist aiders to have a chance at running for office. Can you imagine a country which catches a group of bank robbers, but allows them to stay banded together with a chance to rob again?
Justice demands that we use the 14th amendment and do exactly what it says: unseat those who have even aided or comforted insurrectionists from their offices, whether they be in state, local or federal offices and whether they be Congressmen, judges or even military leaders.
Further, even if the Dems hold all three branches, by not removing the traitors to democracy from office – which is what an insurrectionist is today, and what a confederate loyalist was in the Civil War days – they will not stop their attacks on democracy going forward. There seems to be no penalty to attacking democracy in the USA. So why would they stop?
Therefore the only real plan is to use the 14th immediately. Have the DOJ unseat those in Congress who have given aid or comfort to insurrectionists – perhaps giving them one last chance to public retract their statements and swear to never say words supporing Trump or insurrectionists again. Trump, of course, must be declared disqualified to run based on visual evidence on January 6th alone.
The Dems, Biden included, seem to be on track to lose democracy for the USA in 2024. Biden as a president with GOP traitors in the majority in the House and Senate is useless to preserve democracy. He should know that.
It’s also possible that a majority on Dems are basically okay with this broken government; that it’s what butters their bread as well. They have the power to clean house, but they don’t. It’s logical to assume it may be they like things the way they are for personal reasons.
But Trump gave those who believe in American Democracy a way to end the infighting that has been present in the USA for the last 40 years. Participating in, aiding or even “comforting” thise that took part in the January 6th insurrection is grounds for unseating any members of our government. That includes Congressmen, House members, state officials, and judges such as Clarence Thomas ( for comforting his wife Ginny, a declared insurrectionist. )
We can use the Constitution to defend democracy, or keep rowing in two directions. We have military weapons in the hands of unlicensed teenagers; our women’s bodies are becoming the property of the state, this was the hottest year on record- and the world is passing us by due to the enemies in our midst. I don’t see any problem with going bold and following the laws of the land to unseat elected officials who have comforted insurrectionists. Without doing that, we will continue to expend a lot of energy to get nowhere.
The majority of Americans want common sense gun reforms. The majority favors taking military style assault weapons out of the hands of the public. Americans also want a woman’s right to choose to be a decision made between her, her family and doctor. Very few Americans think it’s okay to have the state literally monitoring private bedroom and family decisions.
But nothing gets done and it seems like since forever. Why is that? It’s easy to blame mental health for gun violence and not the guns. Honestly I get that, though I don’t interpret the constitution as saying Americans inherit a right to own assault weapons due to the 2nd amendment. The 2nd specifically mentions a need a need for guns related to war with other countries, because we had no army back then, so we conscripted citizens with theor own guns to fight wars.
What is supposed to happen in representative government is: people tell their reps what they want to do about an issue, and the representatives re-present the ideas of the majority of their constituents during Congressional voting sessions. That is why they are called re-presentatives. We the people present, they represent. And these days, with social media and polling, it’s very easy to find out what people want. “The majority of Americans want common sense gun reforms” is a fact.
However,what happens in reality is that too many representatives ( aka lawmakers, because they make the laws we have to live by ) don’t vote for the things their constituents want; they vote for the laws that favor people who pay them to vote the way the bribers want. Lobbying is just a euphimism for bribing in a world where our supreme court had ruled ( because they had to ) that corporations are people and money can legally remain “dark”. With respect to gun laws, the NRA has a stake in arming the USA to the nines, so they lobby ( bribe ) mostly GOP congresspeople to vote for thier business to stay alive, as they see in many countries the guns per capita rate is much lower than in the USA. The whole thing adds up to America becoming a place where innocent people, are mowed down at one of the highest rates on the planet. And that is sad, scary and fixable, – but only one way on the fixing. ( More on that later . )
The same can be said about a woman’s right to choose. Almost no young woman wants to be forced to carry a child that she does not want to love and raise. But “lawmakers” in many states and in Congress are being paid to vote against the wishes of the majority of American citizens.
When questioned about this, Lauren Bobert, representative from Colorado, said the quiet part out loud: Boebert: “We’re not a democracy. So quit with that. Maybe that’s where you’re getting it wrong is saying we’re a democracy. We’re a constitutional republic.”
She is right about that. But what is a constitutional republic? It implies adherence to a constitution, regardless to what the majority of people want. There is nothing in the constituon about abortion.
In reality, the key difference between a democracy and a republic lies in the limits placed on government by the law. Both forms of government use the representational system. Citizens vote to elect politicians to represent their interests and pass laws that reflect their wishes. In a “pure democracy,” the majority imposes its will on the minority. In a republic, a constitution protects certain inalienable rights that cannot be taken away by the government, even if it is wanted by a majority of voters.
Right now, women have a right to have an abortion in the USA as per Roe v Wade. But many Republicans in Congress want to take that away.
So that line about the USA not being a “pure” democracy is correct. But Bobert and many lawmakers use that line to defend their right to vote against the collective will of their constituency and vote for what is good for their own pocketbooks. Selling your vote to the highest bidder is not any part of a constitutional republic. It’s congressional corruption. That’s why I often refer to Congress as Coingress. We end up with the best government money can buy.
This will not change until we change the qualitfications for holding office in the USA change. And no one is talking about that on either side of the divide. To be president you just have to be thirty-five and a citizen born here. Donald Trump can run from jail if he so chooses. We vet our babysitters better than our presidents and representatives. Prior public service is not required. It should be. As a result of this low bar for qualification, many in Congress are there for self service, not public service.
It takes millions to win office these days. As long as the uber rich are paying for political campaigns, the uber rich will choose representatives that promise to vote their way when the chips are down.
And then there is the 14th Amendment which clearly says no person who have taken part in an insurrection, aided an insurrection, or even “comforted” those who have taken part in an insurrection can be in office, state or federal. The entire GOP has at least comforted insurrectionists. One judge on the Supreme Court is married to an insurrectionist caught in the act. But we do nothing about this as well. Democrats know all this and do nothing. It must be because they have some dark sold out secrets in their closets and are afraid to shun 50% of the Congress.
People are the same over time. Their toys and environments change, but being a human is pretty much the same as it was since forever. We are born. We rely of help from adults to become an adult. We procreate ( or not ) and then, we move out of the way as all living things do. That’s what one has to navigate as a living human. We all prey on each other in one way or another during our journey through life. Some fare better than others. Some are larger predators than others. Some find ways to help others as they serve them. Live and let live seems to be the best philosophy.
It seems to me humans are not the right beings to be trusted to care for the masses when their instinct will almost always be to put themselves first.
I wondered if AI would do a better job of government, so I asked it “what are the best ways to curb gun violence in the USA?”. This is what I got in a few seconds.
Here are some of the best ways to reduce gun violence:
Universal background checks: Implementing universal background checks can help ensure that firearms are not sold to individuals who are prohibited from owning them, such as those with criminal records or mental health issues.
Red flag laws: Red flag laws allow law enforcement to temporarily confiscate firearms from individuals who are deemed to be a threat to themselves or others.
Stricter gun control laws: Implementing stricter gun control laws, such as bans on assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and bump stocks, can help reduce the number of mass shootings and gun-related deaths.
Education and awareness: Educating the public about responsible gun ownership and safe storage practices can help prevent accidental shootings and reduce the number of firearms stolen and used in crimes.
Mental health support: Providing accessible and affordable mental health services can help individuals with mental health issues get the help they need and reduce the risk of gun violence.
Community-based violence prevention: Investing in community-based violence prevention programs can help address the root causes of gun violence and provide support to those who are at risk of being involved in gun violence.
It’s important to note that there is no single solution that can completely eliminate gun violence in the USA, and addressing this issue will require a multifaceted approach that takes into account the complex social, cultural, and political factors that contribute to gun violence. End AI report.
It all makes perfect sense to me but almost none of this will get done because unvetted humans, many of whom can be tossed out tomorrow by the DOJ via the 14th, still have their seats and their secret bank accounts.
It seems to me that the two warring party system will eventually, and perhaps soon, bring the USA to its knees or into a state of live civil war. ( We are already in a cool cyber civil war – a war of words. )
All I can fathom as a solution, one party needs to get complete control of the government and clean house. If it happens at the ballot box in 2024 that would be great. But I don’t think the uber rich are going to let that happen. They killed two Kennedy’s to stop the people from having a real champion for justice in office. And now, another Kennedy, RFK Jr., is getting ready to run.
Dems have shown they are willing to eat their own. I did not agree with ousting Al Franken but at least dems have shown they have standards. This GOP has shown they are okay with criminals, rapists and traitors to the constitution in high office. They seem to prefer it. Romney is shunned. And that’s because a good boy scout will rat on the sold out in Congress so it’s better if they are all sold out. Thick as thieves is the GOP’s secret mantra. And I am sure there is a percentage of Democracts that are okay with protectting lawmakers right to stuff their pockets and work against the people they are supposed to represent.
The USA’s greatest threat to survival come from the sold out in Congress and two men named Vladimir and Rupert. The majority of Americans know which of our warring two parties is the lesser of two evils. It is the party that gave tax breaks to bilionaires, is okay with 18-year olds owning assault weapons and wants to end Social Security, Medicare and a woman’s right to choose.
The only solution left is for one party needs to get complete control of all three chambers of government and clean house. 2024 is closer than we think. The vast majority of Americans will fare better if the crazy party that is aligned with billionaires, Qanon and the NRA is put out to pasture. A split Congress will not police itself nor advance any meaningful reforms to better life for working Americans and thier children.
Speaking of children, the active shooter drill generation is being groomed right now. When they come to power in 20 years, well – you tell me what you think they will do. I think they will reject both parties – if these parties still exist. The will reject the GOP for letting so many kids die, and the Dems for being too scared to take the steps to even try to end the madness. And I will be with them, if I am still around.
Photo from the NRA Convention 2023. Grooming much?
Thirty-four criminal counts have not changed the polls in the Trump v Biden all-or-nothing showdown still due in November – five months away.
It seems crazy that being a convicted criminal is not changing things much for GOP voters, but if you tune in to Fox News, you will realize his voters are tuned into a lying propaganda channel and they don’t even hear that he is guilty. They hear Biden is the criminal for rigging the system.
Your Country, Your Voice
What is glaringly apparent is that Joe Biden is not very popular or well-liked in America. That’s what he has to fix. He has about 120 days to do that. I am suggesting a “show” put on twice a month. I call it: Your Country, Your Voice. The show is about addressing issues that weigh on Americans today -on both sides. The border. Healthcare. Gun laws. Tax reform. Education. Climate change. Inflation. Overseas wars. There’s more.
Start with “the border”. Invite Americans to email in ideas on how they they their government should address these issues. Air the top few responses. Make sure some come from red states. Zoom live with the senders! ( This becomes a perk for the sender, and when they come from red states people will notice that there are people thinking for the greater good in those states as well. )
MAKE IT FUN! I think Biden can give a gift to those that send in the best ideas. Maybe he airs three ways to solve and people can vote for the best solutions. And then start doing something in the manner requested by the email chosen to air, on the issue the show is dedicated too. He can even put up a polls which “caller” presented the best idea to solve the issue and air the results next show.
Making a president more popular via engaging in media is not a new idea. FDR had many of the same issues Biden has today. ( What follows is a post from early 2023. )
In 1933, Franklyn Delano Roosevelt, aka FDR, began a historic series of Fireside Chats via radio to all the American people. You can view the topics of the Fireside Chats and even listen to them here. ( I highly recommended that you, at least, peek in. )
They were about 30 minutes long with focus on subjects of national interest to all Americans – the New Deal, drought, unemployment, judiciary crisis and war in Europe were among the topics.
Right now, Joe Biden has the unique opportunity to do this better than FDR ever imagined. With live TV and social media Biden can not only inform Americans about what his administration is doing, he can address a few questions directly from Americans on “both sides” at the end of every presentation, being careful questions from right and left leaning voters. He can even get back directly to the person asking, and televise the repsonse. He’s going to look very engaged, caring and not sleepy at all – all directly opposite to the GOP way of addressing their base.
Since it is clear Biden’s administration is not going to stop congresspeople who aided and comforted insurrectionists from serving, as per 14th, something I have long advocated for, the only life line left for democracy to prevail resides with the voters. I don’t favor this passive strategy against a force I consider to be a greater menace to democracy than Bin Laden’s 911 attack ever was.
But if Dems are committed to let the voters have the option to vote for fascism, then by god, they need to start convincing MAGA voters – not their own – they are voting against their own interests. He can do that best by asking Americans “what can my administration do to make your day-to-day life better”.
I suggest these “Presidential Chats”, which should be carried by all news broadcasters*, be held every three weeks, about the pace of FDR’s btw, and on Tuesday evenings to instill a sense of civic duty and voting on Tuesdays.
FDR had it harder than Biden. He became the most popular president ever because of these chats with the American people. For Biden to not learn from history would be a huge error. I can imagine him asking for americans to talk about solutions for gun violence, taxes for billionaires, our proxy wars, the border, healthcare and abortion, police violence, voting, gerrymandering – the list goes on.
And this is something no GOP candidate can do. This would be excellent use of the bully pulpit, especially since Biden seems to be allowing the public to vote for insurectionists instead of removing them from office as per the 14th.
If you have connections to Joe Biden, or know those that do, please pass this upwards. Presidential Chats will make the difference. It’s going to be harder to paint Biden as a sleepy bad guy if the public sees him in action twice a month. The fireside chats averaged two per month. Once week was deemed too much, once a month too little. Roosevelt was a very smart person. Follow in his footsteps. The times are not that different.
*The chats will be groundbreaking. I would insist that any so-called new station be forced to air the presidential chats. If they worry about advertisers, there’s no need to worry. There will be plenty wanting to advertise in those spots, even if they are on Fox, etc.
……..
January 6th was the Biggest Present Ever Given to a Democracy Under Attack from Within
Democracy was more or less invented by the United States in 1776. Iceland had a rudimentary but effective democracy long before the USA. Read this a bit to catch up on Iceland’s 1100 year-old democracy.
But in the recorded history of mankind, going back to Egypt, democracy is both new and an outlier among the forms of governance. Autocracy or dicatorship and kingdoms have been the main way countries have been ruled since civilization began. Look at the map. Yellow is democracy. Red is autocracy. Orange is democracy challenged or under attack, which any student of history would use to describe the USA today. Ukraine is under physical attack, not from inside their government. Brazil is a lighter orange than the USA, as they have actually rejected their facsict party. The USA has not used its constitutional amendment to bar insurrectionists from holding office. If they do not, democracy is not the favorite to prevail in this struggle.
In 1971, President Nixon declared a war on drugs. It was a racist-oriented policy decision, but indeed he enrolled the FBI, DOJ and police departments to act on his declaration of war. Reagan declared a war on drugs again in 1982. Presidents have the power to declare war on something other than another country.
It is a well-known fact that war is not defined in the US Constitution. This makes some sense because what constitues war changes over time as technology evolve. So President Biden, using his war powers as Commander-in-Chief can declare was on “attacks to our democracy”, just as Reagan and Nixon declared on “drugs”. He can also enroll the FBI DOJ and police departments to seek out those who would undo our democracy by force or any other means.
Democracy is America’s Founding Principle
What would America be without democracy? Can you even imagine a formally fascist or oligarchal United States? The 911 attacks took the World Trade Towers and 3000 lives, but democracy was very strong that year. The danger Isis posed seemed dangerous back then, but that danger pales in comparison to the dangers we face today with the attacks on democracy that are being attempted here by sitting members of Congress.
The Effort to End Democracy Is Not Confined to the USA
Most of the people on the planet live under the thumb of autocrats. Autocracy goes back to the city-states of Babylon 8000 years ago. Democracy in 250 years old. I have colored countries whose democracies are under attack orange, which is half yellow and half red. Hungary, Ukraine, Brazil and sadly the United States are experiencing serious attacks to their democracies right now.
Now look at the red countries to think on who might want these attacks on democracies to succeed. There are two very large autocracies. China and Russia. But China has experienced tremendous growth over the last 50 years by making products the sell in the well-to-do democratic countries and especially the USA. That leaves Russia and Putin as the person with the largest stake and motive to end democracy on the planet.
Evidence of Partnership Between Putin and the Republican Party
Putin cheered the night Trump won the election in 2016. He aided Trump tremendously by using a new type of warfare – cyber war. Instead of bombs, or airplanes flown into buildings, he used Facebook, Twitter, Trump and the GOP to get a partner into our White House. This was the single most successful attack on the USA in its history. Those who cared about democracy could feel that on Nov 9th 2016, but too many were afraid to say it – including our then president Barack Obama, who permitted a man who invited Russia to leak information on his opponent in the election to continue on as a candidate. Yes, “everyone” thought Trump would lose, but that was not a proper consideration. Principles matter and we paid the highest price ever for that cowardice or smugness. We still are paying and wil continue to pay until we out the offenders from our government.
We must also not forget that Putin was present at the GOP Convention in 2016. He sent his men there and indeed Trump directed a change to the GOP party platform on Ukraine support. There was and still is an unwritten partnership between the Republican Party, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. I call it the Russo-Republican Agreement. This is how the Russian mob always operated even back in the 80s. Now they’ve graduated to using cyber technology and have infiltrated our Congress. There is no other thing more dangerous to our survival as country than allowing partners of Vladimir Putin to have power in our Congress.
There are Two Tools to Undo the Malice in Our Congress
The 14th Amendment which says no one who took part in an insurrection, or aided or comforted those that did, can have any office in the USA. Why Biden has not used this tool yet is beyond me, but I can only think he is afraid of something. To that, I quote FDR. There is nothing to fear but fear itself. True then, True now. The circumstances are amazingly similar. New enemies. New weapons. But the desire of our enemies is the same: ending democracy.
Why is China okay with our democracy, but not Putin? It can only be that Vladimir is just a crook at heart. Stealing is what he knows best and it has worked for him. His country sells very little to the rest of the world and he’s not trying to change that. It’s all about him. Sound familiar? It should. Trump once said on the campaign trail in Iowa in 2016 “Of course they love me, they love money”. Putin and Trump share an inferiority complex that makes them seek money so furiously that nothing else matters to them.
The other tool is actually our presidnet declaring war on those who would end democracy in the United States. That effort would involve asking members of Congress if they believe the 2020 was stolen and publicly declare that they do not ( or present evidence for their beliefs to the contrary in real time. ) Anyone who won’t make that declaration is fostering anti-democractic sentiments in their constituency, and hence are on our enemies’ side in this war. Do we really want Congressmen who state our president stole the election – hence demoting his power in the eyes of many Americans to serve? The effect of that aired sentiment, and the cries that can be heard on Fox News is that sixty percent of Repubican voters still think Trump won the 2020 election. Fox can be asked to stop spreading election lies as part of this war to preserve democracy. This proposed war to preserve dmeocracy effort can be tied to the 14th Amendment as well because the rallying cry of the insurrection was “stop the steal”. Congressmen who say the election was stolen are comforting insurrectionists.
By using the 14th and declaring that we at war to defend democracy in the USA we can clean house of the insurrectionists in our midst. They intend to do us no good. And they are still getting help and support from the man who started this war on democracy, Donald Trump’s mentor, Vladimir Putin.
I will leave you to ponder ask your representative to use the 14th to unseat the insurrectionist supporters in Congress and with this image. Fill in the thoughts that are in their heads at this precise moment.
We have been attacked, with far more consequences than 911.
The GOP in the House have begun holding the USA hostage. It is part of their agenda, which includes ending Social Security and Medicare. They will use the House power of the purse to threaten the functionality of the US Government.
However, most of the GOP in Congress comforted insurrectionists and supported the chief insurrectionist, Donald J Trump. The DOJ can enforce the 14th and unseat them tomorrow using evidence from video tapes. No trial need happen. Just new special elections. Then dems have the majority at least until the special elections, and hello Jeffries. Solves all.
Time to be creative. Time to be serious. Some say the 14th has no teeth. But it’s there for exactly this situation – and it can grow teeth! It must before 2024. We are one more Gerrymandered election away from losing what our forefathers fought and died to protect. And all of this is stemming from what I call The Russo-Republican Alliance of 2016. Never forget Putin had Russians present at the 2016 GOP Convention. Obama’s DOJ should have dissolved the GOP over that. We are not seriously addressing the new way of warring – cyber war – and democracy’s enemies know it.
Remember: House Speaker is Third in Line for POTUS
Take note that Speaker McCarthy is 3rd in line for POTUS and he too should be removed via the 14th. Biden is eighty and Kamala is an easy target for MAGA nutballs and potential lone wolves who would gladly do something to be remembered like Lee Harvey Oswald. I believe this is why the GOP “Freedom Caucus” did not want McCarthy. I also think Trump secretly wanted someone who was not McCarthy, in spite of his words. Ask Michael Cohen if I don’t have the cred.
If the Biden’s DOJ and Dems won’t use the 14th and unseat insurrection comforters – which solves much, the right thing to do is to declare war vs election deniers and ask all in Congress to openly say Biden is their duly elected commander -in-chief. Anyone in Congress who won’t say this and who was also involved in planning or supporting the Jan 6th affair or offered words of comfort to those who did, can be removed from office by the US military as part of this war effort. Can you be an autocrat for democracy? I think so. FDR was sort of like that.
Dems consistently show they are not willing to bend rules in a war that threatens our democracy. The generation that goes through active shooter drills in K-12 will end both parties when they come to power. They will dis the GOP for thier malice, and the Dems for their cowardice. And they will be right.
Domestic terror has risen dramatically since 2016 in the USA. Victims of all incidents in recent years represent a broad cross-section of American society, including blacks, Jews, immigrants, LGBTQ individuals, Asians and other people of color who have been attacked by right-wing extremists wielding vehicles, guns, knives, hateful words and fists. I doubt Trump will ever be president of the United States again, but simply allowing him to run for the presidency poses a severe danger not only to the democracy but to the citizens of the United States as well. It says its okay to be a traitor and be in government. And that let’s the GOP traitors to democracy in Congress off the hook.
Allowing Trump to run implies this violence has all been okay with the DOJ. The Jan 6th insurrectionists said, “we were summoned by our president to stop the steal“. The “steal” and the Big Lie were the rallying cries of the Jan 6th insurrection. Allowing Trump to run negates the very basis of prosecuting him for just causes. On one hand the DOJ is saying Trump deserves to be jailed and on the other it is saying it’s okay for Trump to be commander-in-chief. It is a mockery of justice we all understand in our bones.
Trump is not in office now; his Congressional allies in the insurrection are. They now pose a larger danger to our democracy than Trump precisely because they now have the power of a majority in the House – something that can and should have be undone by Biden and Garland before January 3rd – but they refused to do so. History will judge the GOP as a party bent on malice, but it will judge the Democratic party as one stymied by a cowardice that permitted a corrupt party to seize power after a majority of its members were either involved in, or were okay with an attempted coup.
Recently Trump said he wanted to suspend the Constitution. Merrick Garland is already suspending the Constitution by refusing to enforce one of its most important amendments, the 14th Amendment. They say “there is no enforcement mechanism”. I say “Who cares? Invent one!”. This was and still is an attack on our democracy – and that is an act of war. War is not defined in the Constutution, but war is always an attempt to take something away from a sovereign country. The players in this war – this cyber war which uses words not bombs – are being rewarded with immense government power.
Ratified in the aftermath of the Civil War, Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment explicitly disqualifies any person from public office who, having previously taken an oath as a federal or state office holder, engaged in insurrection or rebellion or gave aid or comfort to insurrectionists. Donald Trump has done both things that disqualifies anyone for holding office – any office state or federal. But the aid and comfort part applies to all the GOP expect those like Cheney, Kinzinger and Romney.
We have rewarded insurectionists in Congress by allowing them to hold the majority in the House even though a substantial percentage of those House candidates “comforted” insurrectionists. We have video tape documenting such comforting. It’s up to the DOJ Biden and our DOD to stop Trump and the complicit GOP in Congress who are aligned with the Jan 6 movement. Our DOD is sworn to protect us. Where are they? We are being attacked. The GOP’s divisive hate speech blasted daily on Fox News and right wing media, filibustering, obstruction of government processes, phony investigations that waste our tax dollars, and the classroom shootings, will not stop by itself.
We are witnessing a war vs the USA – an attack on our most sacred institution – voting – carried out by members of Congress. This coup was and is more of an attack on the USA than the Isis attack on 911, which had no chance of long term success. All this GOP have to do is win one trifecta election, House ( which they just did via Gerrymandering ) Senate and President – and we will have lost the democracy that we fought to preserve for 250 years. There will never be another fair election to undo this – not without massive blood being spilt.
Imagine if on 911 we caught Osama Bin Laden but then allowed the Isis party to organize and take the House. Imagine if after World War II we allowed the US Nazi parti to take the House. After all, they were not the same people as in the German Nazi party. This is what we did on January 3rd. We allowed known allies of the man who organized an insurrection vs the institutions of free and fair elections and peaceful transfer of power to take power. We are not even demanding they publicly rejecting the Big Lie. This is pure stupidity.
Read what Hitler’s communications general, Joseph Goebbels, said of a democracy that allows its enemies to take power: “‘This will always remain one of the best jokes of democracy—that it gave its deadly enemies the means by which it was destroyed.’” – We are doing this right now. Now read the US Constitution’s clause to protect us from attacks from within.
Merrick Garland knows all this. But still his DOJ is letting Trump run for office, and he is allowing at least some insurrectionists ( Josh Hawley was there but, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.). were involved in the planning. ( link to article ,if you doubt that). And 90% of the rest of the GOP offered comforting words to those involved.
Contrary to the oaths sworn to uphold the Constitution and defend its principles, Merrick Garland, Joe Biden and our Department of Defense are not using the one constitutional tool we have to protect our democracy from internal rot. They allowed criminals, traitors and the enemies of democracy to ascend to power. If they only blocked those who were there and those who were involved in its planning, from holding office – the GOP would not have even the majority of the House. But – for poltical reasons – the Dems seem to want to not have that majority right now. We can only guess why. Perhaps the GOP has dirt on them as well.
With the GOP in control of the House, Dems feel they will share some of the public ire that will continue in 2023. What a sad state of affairs. It’s basically the same reason they let Trump run in 2016. They thought he would lose. What they are underestimaing is the damage the GOP House can do to America and Americans in two years. Dems too are therefore just strategizing for power like the GOP – not thinking of what is best for us all.
Understand that Donald Trump had, probably still has, and likely has already shared top secret documents with Vladimir Putin. There is a war in Ukraine and the GOP in power might be able to stop the USA from offering aid to Ukraine. Putin does not like Biden. He did not like HRC. He had opearatives at the GOP Convention in 2016. Connect the dots. This is how Putin operates. Foul play is being invited. The 14th is the only way to stop this.
Trump was the leader of an insurrection or coup attempt. Kind or supportive words about Trump after the Jan 6th event – perhaps without a large public apology – is all it takes to be disqualified to hold any government office.
We have a covenant with our government. It goes something like this. We agree to pay taxes to our government and they agree to use their offices and our tax dollars protect us and try to make out lives better. Without that payback, what are we paying taxes for? MAGA people have long had this gripe. They think the US Government “abandoned them”. I can only speak for myself. But right now, I feel just as abandoned as the MAGA people say they feel.
If Merrick Garland will not stop Donald Trump from running for office, he is shirking his duty and oath to uphold the Constitution. He has allowed a party that is infested with insurrectionists a majority in the House. And if this ends badly, which it ceratinly can, I will blame Garland and Biden for their cowardice and lack of historical perpective in their refusal to indict Trump and bar those who sided with the Big Lie – which was and still is the rallying cry of the insurrection.
I am not asking Garland to suspend the Constitution; I am asking him to enforce the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
Stop Trump from running for office now.
Insist the GOP who were part of the insurrection or its planning be stripped of their seats and new special elections be held – just as if they had died.
Insist that all Congresspeople who have offered words of comfort to insurrectionists publicly rescind their words on national TV or surrender their seats. All in Congress, must also state publicly and loudly that Joe Biden is their duly elected commander-in-chief in this cyber war.
These two images explain the Worldwide Cyber War of 2016-2022.
The SCOTUS is aligned with the GOP which is aligned with Putin. Hence SCOTUS is aligned with Putin. Putin schooled Trump in Helsinki. We saw that when Trump walked out on stagewith a seeming sub-serviance hait to the dictator in chief. A subserviance to anyone or anything is something we never saw in Trump, going back to the 70s. Connect the dots.
The violent attack on the Pelosi’s has made a declaration from our president an immediate necessity. Joe Biden must make a speech about the attack on Paul Pelosi and segway towards the voices that are instigating these attacks on politcians. He should make sure that Fox carries this “important speech” and hide his true intent ahead of the speech.
Biden can use his presidential war powers to declare war on hateful rhetoric and say these memes are radicalizing and harming Americans. Joe Biden is not only authorized to defend our democracy, he has a duty to do so. The legal precedent goes back to 1863, during the during the Civil War. https://www.fcnl.org/warpowers
The Supreme Court confirmed this executive war power in the Prize Cases of 1863. The Court held that President Lincoln’s establishment of a blockade following the attack on Fort Sumter, without prior congressional authorization, was a lawful exercise of his Commander in Chief power.
According to Justice Grier, speaking for the majority: “If a war be made by invasion of a foreign nation, the President is not only authorized but bound to resist force by force. He does not initiate the war, but is bound to accept the challenge without waiting for any special legislative (Congressional ) authority. And whether the hostile party be a foreign invader, or States organized in rebellion, it is none the less a war ….”
We are seeing our states organized in a rebellion every day now through the words and actions of the Republican representatives in Congress, the former president and his allies. They’ve even called for fake electors and it was quite an organized effort. A war on our elections must be declared as tantamount to a war on our founding institutions and those involved must have their words and actions arrested.
If those that spread these messages in government or media will not immediately cease using hate of Democrats as a meme, and also publicly reverse their statements as an attempt to undo the damage they have already done, then their bodies must be arrested as well. I believe house arrest and the monitoring of communciations is warranted at a time of war. We are in a war – a cyber war – and have been since 2016. Putin was the leader of this war vs democracy in 2016. He still is the man with the most power in the autocracy game, and that is the logical reason Trump never said a bad word about him.
Ads, posts, and words spoken must stop charaterizing people in government service as political enemies worthy of being attacked or as enemies of Americans. If politicians continue to incite such hate, they must be deemed as attempting to radicalize Americans. Such memes have consistently shown they result in people acting out violently.
Hateful and/or violent ads (like the above), posts or words spoken by elected official must result in the instant loss of their seats. If they continue after they are out of office, it must result in jailing or house arrest with communications monitored. It is the communications of these traitors to democracy that are most dangerous. If Tucker Carlson continues he too must be arrested.
People have freedom of speech, but during a war, those siding with enemy forces that want to end democracy can be silenced via statutes that say you cannot yell fire in a theater. The danger to the public overrules freedom of speech and the largeness of the microphone weighs in on the danger level of words and images. We are all in that theater now through our social media. So yes, media must be constrained so that hateful violent memes are considered terrorist propaganda. The violence will trend worse unless and until the voices and images that spark such violence are silenced.
How to Save American Democracy
If we do want to reach the undecided, there is one last easy way. It works for people who don’t read and even those who might not like the sound of your voice. We must learn to use fear to motivate Fox’s viewers and respect that Fox uses fear because they know 100% how it works on their listeners.
The only way to stop the hate speaking versus public servants – which includes poll workers – is for our president to loudly declare: that such hateful words, images and posts are hateful propaganda that have been shown time and time again to be harmful to the good people of these United States.
STEP 1. Joe Biden needs to declare war on anyone in government or media that posts threats to members of Congress, their staff and family members. The attack on the Pelosi’s makes this an immediate necessity.
We all know about freedom of speech, but we can’t allow people to yell fire in a theater knowing it is not true because of the danger it poses to people. The entire idea of government is to protect people from danger and make life better for them. Right now, the we are not doing neither of those two things very well.
The airwaves and internet highway belong to the commonwealth of the United States. They are leased to corporations but they cannot use their structures to harm the citizens of the United States. We should not tolerate one more threat to congressmembers, judges, poll workers, government executives and their staff and family members. A hot line for such threats needs to be announced stat and all media instructed to post said hot line or lose their licenses to broadcast.
We would do this if it were Bin Laden. When the words of hate come from the GOP it is much worse because 70 million people are listening. And like a cancer, it won’t stop by itself, even if Dems win both houses, which is a long shot. It must be forcibly stopped. Such memes must be defined as a crime versus the common good with fast penalties enforced as if at war. That is why Biden needs to declare war on this sort of thing right away.
This will not work if Biden is scared and waits until after midterms. It will look too obvious and weak. It needs to be said loudly and right away or people will think it is still okay.
The New York Times , Chicago Tribune, LA Times , all major stations need to show this map, or one like it, for the next few days and up until election day.
Do you remember the first time you saw a RISK board? You got the idea of a global struggle without reading about history. You just got it. We need people who can’t or don’t read to get this right now. Fear of our true enemies, those that have a stake in ending democracy, is the motivator that will work best in these last days to reach undecided voters.
No one here wants what is coming. GOP voters don’t want it either, but I’ve heard the joke many MAGA people think autocracy means cars rule. They will get the above image which can be made into an interactive map like Steve Kornacki does. Truth is, if we lose democracy here, democracy is done for the planet. That is easy to conclude by obserbing this map. One does not need words to get it. And if that happens, climate change will take care of humanity soon enough. The earth has patience.
In a world with social media, dictators and democracies are like cats and dogs. Because dictators can no longer hide all the truth from their citizens with social media so readilt available, dictators cannot just coexist with free states so easily any more. This war was destined just as it was eighty years ago. But the autocrats know it is their destiny and are being pro-active. Democracies must be pro-active too or we are doomed to be reactive. It’s that simple.
And never forget, above and beyond all else, Putin and Trump are simply financial criminals – gangsters that have ascended to the top of the chain in their governments. And they can’t get caught because of their past crimes. So they cannot quit and must be forcibly stopped.
They must be stopped, which is what arrested means. The 14th amendment allows us to deny to seat insurrection supporters to any government post. Use it or lose it. Joe Biden – arrest Trump please. Think of arrest in its classical meaning: to stop the progress of something. You know. Like ” The doctor arrested the metastasis by using chemotherapy. “
Thank you for doing something today, before it is too late.
How to Save Democracy in 8 days. Post the attack on Paul #Pelosi the violence will get worse … unless . STEP 1. Joe #Biden needs to declare war on anyone in government or media that posts threats to members of #Congress. THIS NEEDS TO HAPPEN MONDAY. Delay is normalization. pic.twitter.com/bu6cR5CgGt
What We Can Do in the Closing Days Before Midterms to Save Democracy
Every 80 years since 1776, the United States has experienced a severe crisis. We are in such a crisis now. Midterm voting has begun. Our votes and the words we speak now will decide our country’s fate.
The GOP have already said if they regain power, they intend to end Social Security, make abortion nationally illegal and use the House’s power of the purse to roll back public perks like lower drug prices. They are trying to harm the middle class because fascist rule cannot survive with a strong middle class. Why do you think so many Russian businessmen mysteriously jumped out of windows this year? They stood up to Putin vs his war on Ukraine. No Americans want to get to that point. But we are dangerously close now.
Democracy Must Prevail
The entire concept of this party or that party winning and losing is not appropriate for the 2022 midterms. If pushed to amplify a victorious meme, “Democracy must prevail” is the proper meme, not “party D or R must win”. It’s not about the parties winning. It’s about something we have shared in common since 1776 – democracy. My father fought in WW2 to defend democracy. It would be the supreme tragedy to turn our democracy over to the same spirits that started WW2 at the ballot box.
Democracy mustprevail implies that democracy is under attack without saying it. It’s also the lesson of the Star-Spangled Banner: our flag was still there. America prevailed.
A sense of American community pride must be restored, subliminally. Don’t get involved in the “we win, you lose” meme. That’s for sports, not politics. Let the election deniers own that antagonistic meme. People know it’s wrong to be divided within a country, and that it’s hurting us all Americans on many levels.
Speak to Centrist Voters Last Two Weeks
There is still a large group of undecided voters, and they will decide if democracy prevails. This group includes people who may not vote during the midterms. Reach out to people in your circle of friends and family who are not politically motivated to vote in midterm elections. This is up to each and every one of us—not only the candidates. Tell them how important it is to you that democracy prevails. There’s not much sense preaching to the choir. If you have political differences, teell them they can be ironed out over time, but once autocracy sets in, there is no path back to democracy.
Nearly All Americans Have Relatives that Fought in WW II
My father was a PFC in World War II. My sister voted for Trump, probably owing to peer pressure in her social circle. After this article is published, I will call her and talk about what our father fought for. I’ll make a point to say, “What a shame it would be to give away what many fought and died for in WW2 at the ballot box.
Try and convince a few voters you know to vote for democracy to prevail, especially in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, and Michigan – though they are all very important states this time.
Women and Young Voters Will Decide the Fate of Democracy
If you’ve got voting-age kids, make sure they are motivated to vote. Most young voters know that the world is stacked against them these days. But sadly, too many believe there is nothing they can do about it. When you convince a young voter to register his vote for democracy to prevail, they may also get some of their friends to join in that effort. They are natural-born experts in social media. Remind them to use social media to spread the meme “Democracy Must Prevail” for us to have a chance at the classic American Dream that their parents got as a birthright and their grandfathers fought and died for in WW2.
American women have no good reason for voting for GOP candidates. With Roe overturned, the GOP is running its own version of Muslim Sharia law here in the USA. Republican states have removed the freedom to plan a family as American women and men have seen fit since the 1970s. Sharia law is used to restrict women’s freedom in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. It is shameful to resort to such tactics here in the USA. Government does not belong in our bedrooms. Health issues are personal and should only be between a woman and their doctors. There is nothing in Christ’s teachings that refers to abortion.
Many are convinced that life comes down to gas prices and the cost of food. Fascists like their subjects living week to week so they have no time to focus on what’s really going on in their government. Google the cost of gas in Europe before you talk with the people you want to convince to get in this fight. Rising gas prices and supply chain issues are global issues and direct consequences of the pandemic and Putin’s war. It’s not Biden’s fault, nor was it Trump’s. Inflation in Europe is 25% higher than in the USA. In Argentina, the inflation rate is not 8%, it’s 80%. We can get through this together, not divided.
What Joe Biden and Democrats in Office Can Do
The messages outlined above will also be effective for congressional Democrats and our president to use during these last two weeks. I have asked myself why Joe Biden does not open up a channel or email address just for GOP and centrist voters and ask them what they want from their government and what they think it can do better. Amplify the best questions in posts and in media and remind them that these things can all be achieved but only in a democracy, never in an autocracy. Remind voters the refusal to accept the results of a proper election is what autocracies do-and ask how’s that working out for the people in Russia?
Thanks in advance to all US citizens for their service when they vote for democracy to prevail over autocracy in November, and for using their influence to remind those they know who have not quite made up their minds of the importance of this particular midterm election.
(4 min) If there was anything missing from Biden’s fiery Labor Day speech in was this visual. If our president is finally trying to reach people lost in right-wing information silos, kudos. But he needs to use techniques perfected by ad agencies: images, branding and repetition – to be most effective.
Fast-study this map. Red is autocracy; yellow is democracy; orange is democracy under attack. There are more people ruled by autocrats than governed by democracies. There is more land held by autocrats than democracies. Autocratic rule by force has been the norm on planet Earth since the city-states of Babylon – 8000 years ago. Democracy is the newcomer in this struggle. If it were not for the USA’s nuclear arsenal and military superiority, the autocrats would have taken the entire planet by now. Taking the planet is the autocrats’ goal, more so now than ever before. The internet has something to do with that .
The map was more yellow (democratic) only five years ago. Brazil, Turkey, and Hungary have effectively flipped without shots being fired. Their governments went from democratic to oligarchal autocracy via their own people unwittingly voting in the oligarchs, much like we did here in the USA with Trump. And though Trump is on the ropes, American democracy’s functionality is still under attack by most GOP Congressmen. Sold out industrialists and corporate media are fueling this fire for profit. The trend is global.
Putin knew he could not beat the USA with bombs. No one can. So he employed thousands of Russians to infiltrate our social media in 2016. There were Russian nationals present at the 2016 GOP Convention. And now, as we approach midterms, that alliance of the GOP and autocracies have installed midterm candidates who have openly said they will overturn democracy – the will of the people – if they don’t win.
The 14th Amendment Section 3 clearly says no one who was in an insurrection – or even comforts an insurrectionist can be in government, state, federal or judicial. The issue with the amendment is the last sentence says they can be removed by a 2/3 vote in Congress. They just did not anticipate that 50% of Congress would some day be insurrection supporters.
But the spirit of the 14th amendment, created after America’s Civil War, is clear, and we should beef up its wording to reflect what its writers had in mind. Those in government who will not openly disavow the Big Lie and speak openly against insurectionists do not deserve a vote in their own trial by 2/3 Congress. Where else in law do we allow accused criminals who are inciting violence a chance to sit in their own juries?
The current United States administration, along with NATO countries, Australia and the other few remaining democratic countries should rightly figure Putin’s grand plan is to help take the entire planet for the autocrats. That is the only way dictators can survive long term.
And make no mistake about who is the alpha-male in this global brotherhood of dictators. That station is always taken by the most powerful in the group, just as it is with wolves. Though Russia is not a super large force financially, Putin himself is worth hundreds of billions by virtue of him seizing the largest businesses in Russia. Putin’s vast wealth was one of the prime reasons candidate Trump never said one bad word about him.
Financial Criminals 101
And of course, after Trump won the 2016 election with much help from his Russian ally, Putin made it clear there was a debt due him. That’s how financial criminals operate. Financial criminals at this level know they can only totally escape eventual prosecution by seizing their government.
Payback due Putin, and possibly others, is the most logical reason Trump took top secret documents to Mar-a-Lago. I hope the DOJ knows that. Trump knew the risks. He knows what happened to the Rosenbergs. He does not need money so badly so as to warrant risking his life or freedom. And he loves himself very much. It figures he is in a pinch, much the way Manafort was when he did his treasonous crimes that Trump pardoned him for.
It figures Donald Trump was and is still compromised. And he had classified documents. That 100% means whoever wanted them has them by now. If you don’t beleive me, ask Michael Cohen. Trumpism is a national security issue now. The Biden administration at least knows it now. Good. Much better late than never. But Joe, you’ve to to arrest the man to stop the plan. I’m not sure being afraid of being “poltical” should be a concern. Donald Trump was okay with “Hang Mike Pence: If Trumpism takes control they are not going to worry about being political.
The Russian Mob from the 80’s
I had business in Atlantic City New Jersey in the 80’s and became aware of an association of people known as The Russian Mob. Trump had many associates with Russian accents introduced to him by his first wife, Ivana. Some of them became my clients. Melania Knoss (Trump ) eventually became a client too.
The Russian mob had their fingers into basic crimes like store robberies, truck heists and, in time, they moved up the ladder into real estate fraud. Russian mob profits and booty were mostly taken back to the countries they came from. The Russian mob players were here in the USA to pillage, much like the Vikings did a thousand years ago. Most people don’t know that the first Russian king was a Swedish Viking named Rurik. (862 AD) . The lineage of the kings and queens of England also began with Vikings. William the Conqueror was from Normandy, France, but his grandfather was a Viking who was given Normnady by French aristocrats so he would not seige Paris. Vikings were rightfully feared. When they toolk a country, the killed the ruling men and forceably took their wives and children.
Autocrats are money launderers in their own ways. They need cooperation from foreign governments to provide safe harbor for their stolen booty because the people being robbed are citizens of their own country. That’s why Russian oligarchs own real estate in New York. They are keeping those assets safe, just in case the people ever regain power in mother Russia. And vice-versa. That’s also why Trump owns hotels in Turkey, and why his banks are rarely American. It’s why we use financial sanctions of autocratic rulers when they get out of hand. There is an informal association of autocrats based on their common goals. I call it “Dictators United”.
The Internet Changed Everything for Autocrats
In 1996, the internet began connecting the world at a blinding speed. I’m old enough to remember something called “The Iron Curtain”. This was a physical and communicative wall placed between the USSR and the NATO counties of Europe. The Berlin wall was part of that Iron Curtain.
Autocrats prefer their people be kept blind to the status of citizens in countries that offer a better standard of living for their citizens. People cannot seek better, if they don’t know better exists elsewhere. The internet has made keeping people blind to the status us other countries nearly impossible – though Russia, China and North Korea still do quite well at it.
Joe Biden’s speech on September 1 2022, finally made it clear that he knows what’s at stake. It’s six years late, but there is still time to save our democracy. I wanted Obama to make this speech at “Russia, if you’re listening”.
But words alone are not remembered easily. That’s why advertisers use images and jingles to keep their products easily recallable. It’s the coordination of two senses that forges a pathway for better memory. Lyrics without a tune don’t stick in the brain. And words without an image are easily forgotten.
So if there’s one thing I want the Biden administration to do with all the blogs I have written over the last six years, it’s SHOW THE MAP. Fear is a great motivator. We need to feel afraid – as we did in WW2. US voters will know what’s at stake – at last – once they see that map over and over again. And yes, this will stick with MAGA voters that have not got totally lost in the rabbit hole of misinformation. Recreate the map if need be. Many Americans don’t even know what autocracy means – but everyone can identify with a Risk board.
Autocrats want America to go fascist more than any other country. Look at the map again. If the USA flips, they will roll over the rest of the world quickly and easily. Putin is trying to show the other dictators this strategy right now in Ukraine. He must be stopped. Trump must be stopped. The classic meaning of arrest is to stop the process of something or someone. The threat to democracy will get more dangerous until the plans of these two men are arrested.
Top Secret Documents Confirmed Missing from Trump’s House Search
Today they announced that Top Secret documents are missing. And his passports were found mixed in with the secret documents. This day was predictable. Trump has no stop button – never did. And it’s certain that Putin expected payback for 2016 election help and that he would extort Trump once out of office. The only person Trump would trust with such incrimiating information is Jared Kushner – male close family. That’s how Trump rolls. If you don’t believe me ask Michael Cohen. Now that this is a national security issue, it should warrant secretly getting Kushner’s electronic communication data. I hope the DOJ has more going on that we know about.
SCOTUS Justice wife, Ginny Thomas, recently said “there are no rules in war”. We must recognize we are at war. The enemies of democracy are playing for keeps, as if this was a war. If we fail to do the same, I cannot yet imagine how the USA will still be a functional democracy after 2024 or sooner. Time is not on our side. Midterms must be about democracy first. That’s all I wanted to say today.
Joseph Aronesty – creator of the autocracy vs democracy map meme – 2017 – Use it or lose it.
PS. Advice for Joe Biden’s administartion.
People’s memories work in certain predictable ways. Trump won the election in the last two weeks. MAGA people can switch sides just as quickly as they went for him. If he is a traitor, as I know and have known, expose it fully. People are loyal to their own families and no one likes a traitor.
Joe Biden should open a hot-line and online portal for Trump voters. Perhaps enable direct email at Twitter and hire staff to filter through, collect data and get back to the serious inquirers. Ask them what they want from their government but also what they can do to help make that happen. In his speech, Biden called out MAGA voters. To win handily, he needs to now call them in. They are not all bad.
I pray AG Garland is intentionally not spoiling summer for everyone, and he’s just waiting for the first Tuesday after Labor Day to indict Trump.
Ornstein once wrote to me that “we’re afraid to act”. Well, this war is on anyway! We’re shawshanked*. GOP in Congress are demonizing Democrat politicians and now IRS agents.
The ball is on our hands now. That advantage is not going to last much longer unless we arrest their plans. We have more power than we will after midterms – unless we hold the House. And right now, the 528 blog says the Dems have a 25% chance of that.
We must indict the big rat now, before midterms.
Trump is just a spoiled frat boy coward. If cornered, he will rat on the rest of the GOP sycophants that played ball with him to save his hide. Trump has no track record of staying loyal to others. There’s an action movie running in his sick mind and he is the archvillian. If that seems a stretch, ask Michael Cohen.
If given the power, we all know the GOP will seek revenge against us who see Trump for who he is, and on the very next day after they get that power.
Cyber war is a war of words. And words are the building blocks of laws. That’s how fascists take a government – with words not bombs. Orban style. They create laws making it illegal to do things they don’t like. First they dabble in little things to test their powers. Like don’t say gay in Florida or the revocation of a woman’s right to choose ( which is no little thing ).
We have the football in our hands now. It’s not going to get better if we lose the House. It will just get worse for Democrats and democracy and everyone really.
Arresting the Plans of Would-be Fascists
The word arrest classically means to “stop the motion of something”. There are plans in motion now, being discussed in private rooms and channels. Those plans must be arrested. And they are attached to human bodies.
It’s not just Trump we are fighting. He’s a student of criminals but not of history or government. He’d need to be told where the real battle lines and risks are. There are masterminds behind this coup attempt and they have a political party in their pockets. Industry Titans and even DOD may be involved.
Putin is certainly back-channeling some of these strategies. He had his team attend the GOP convention in 2016. An unwritten alliance was formed. To me, that seemed like grounds for banning the GOP party the way the Germans banned the Nazi party in 1945. Putin may already have top secret classified documents for payment for helping Trump get elected. That’s how these gangster-politicians roll.
We’ve got to arrest the plans of the enemies of democracy – before midterms. I hope Garland feels that, even if he does not know for certain what the outcome of arresting Trump will be. It’s time to trust our collective guts and strike!
The war is coming anyway. It’s a war of words. and words are the building blocks of laws. This is how they are doing it – right in front of our eyes. The Green Bay Sweep.
It’s happening in plain view because we are … what? We are afraid to act? Afraid their Supreme Court will rule against us? Maybe so. But so what? WIll it get better if we don’t arrest Trump and his allies in Congress? And PS, we can disqualify Clarence Thomas for comforting an insurrectionist too.
This coup attempt by the GOP is athreat to our way of life and is just as dangerous as the threat we faced during WW2. Every 80 years here in the USA we must defend our way of life. Once per liftetime on average. Count. 1776 – 1860 – 1940 – 2020. This civil war is coming anyway. We’re shawshanked. We might as well do what we can while we have ball control. Before midterms.
Trust your gut Merritt Garland.
The good people in this country have your back.
I’ll tweet this tonight. I hope it’s helpful. I’m one who is not comfortable looking the other way. I’ll tweet my image and some supportive words, in case Garland needs some encouragement. In case he’s afraid to make the first punch … oh wait. The GOP already did that Jan6th.
*shawshanked: Being put into a position that you can’t get out of – where every choice seems doomed. My wife shawshanked me into doing yardwork.
We can accuse the three new justices of lying to get a job and tell them they cannot rule contrary to the way they spoke during their hearings, or they committed perjury to Congress. Worry later. Let the people handle this. Both sides hate this ruling.
It’s a fact that the vast majority of Americans do not want to see women’s rights disappear. But five people, who do not care what the majority of Americans want, are going to let it happen. Who are these people?
They are Supreme Court justices, and the three newest of them, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch and Bret Kavanaugh lied during their confirmation hearings. They all said Roe v Wade was “settled law”. Now, a memo from Judge Alito’s desk says that all five GOP justices will vote to take away women’s rights – the same rights they said were protected as settled law.
SCOTUS hearings are essentially live job application interviews. Lying during a job application is always grounds to lose that job. I can’t imagine a teacher, nurse, policeman, or even a baby sitter keeping their job if they lied on a matter of substantial importance during their live interview process. The people who do the hiring have a right not to keep a liar in their midst. This should be more important, not less, for a lawyer, congressman and especially a Supreme Court Justice because it’s a lifetime appointment. We must have a right to remove a cancer in our justice system or it is not a justice system at all.
I want to see a congressperson in the House stand up and ask the three justices who lied about their position on Roe vs Wade to recuse themselves from weighing in against abortion-related woman’s rights issues. At least, if these three justices will do that they are not caught on video lying to Congress. And if they will not agree to recuse themselves in Roe v Wade matters, and weighing against Roe, then they are in effect saying “we lied to get this cushy lifetime appointment job” and tough luck to the people.
For me, that has to mean they must abandon their seats or be forcibly removed the very next day on all matters because we simply don’t know what motivated them to lie to Congress. It smells like a sellout, which would mean their support was purchased. Either that, or this “no abortions” thing was so important to them that they were okay about lying to Congress about it. Neither excuse is worthy of a judge, let alone a Supreme Court justice. Changing one’s mind on a matter so crucial to all Americans also does not cut it as a valid excuse for a judicial interview. We expect better and must insist on better.
The fact remains these justices at the very least misrepresented their inner thinking during a job application. They could have said, Roe v Wade is the law of the land but I dont’t know how I feel about it yet. That may have been honest. But that is not what was said. If we don’t insist on honesty from justices, we are permitting the existence of an American judicial banana republic.
I have long thought the reason the Democrats don’t fight as hard as they should is they are afraid they will lose in the Supreme Court when push comes to shove. This leaked Alito memo confirmed that suspicion.
When Trump nominated Gorsuch, I placed this image at my Twitter @EnglishCodeWord.
Putin Schooled Trump In Helsinki | It’s Why Trump Ripped Up the Notes
From its first words. the Constitution says all governmental power is derived from We, the People. Let’s not over think this or let the GOP convince us that what they are doing is all “legal” or “constitutional”. It is not. We must now use our Constitution to protect us from what is surely coming if we do not.
Further, SCOTUS justices are sworn to uphold the Constitution which clearly says no state can take away citizen’s rights. The exact word used is abridge – which means to shorten. This court is doing more than just shortening women’s rights. They are letting states take the away women’s autonomy over their bodies and wills.
The 14th Amendment, Section One Verbatim:
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any personof life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
This is not complicated language. We don’t need it to be interpreted, spinned or ignored by the people who lied to get jobs in our Supreme Court. They said “Roe” was settled law. We took them at their word. If they reverse that position, and let states take away women’s rights, they are also saying they lied or misled Congress on their positions. And perhaps as well, they are saying they just don’t care about the poor American women, who will be affected by this ruling.
The phrase “settled law” means they thought this over, reviewed its history, and settled the matter in their minds. If they did not think that, they could have said otherwise. They lied or misled to Congress. It’s grounds for being fired from any job. Justices are not elected by the people. They cannot be allowed to lie to the people or their representatives and keep the jobs they lied to get. No one in government or private business who lies to get a job should ever be allowed to think they can keep that job after their lies are exposed. At that point, their further employment is up to the employers, which in this case is ultimately “we, the people” via our elected representatives. To allow otherwise is to welcome corruption, which is really our biggest problem in the current US government. Lying to get a job is a breach in a contract.
Further, anti-abortion laws are a clear violation of the 14th, sec 1, on two accounts. They do abridge currently constitutional women’s rights in the USA. And they do restrict a woman’s liberty or freedom.
Three Supreme Court Justices Lied while Reciting their Oath of Office
I, Neil Gorsuch, do solemnly swear that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as a Supreme Court Justice under the Constitution and laws of the United States.
Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett are not even trying to live up to this oath. They know what the 14th Sec 1 says, and they are ignoring it. The only reasonable assumption is they have been paid off somehow to rule against the words they spoke at their confirmation hearings.
I am calling for these three justices to recuse themselves from weighing in on Roe matters, and if they will not, for them to be stripped of their positions for perjury if they weigh in contrary to their positions when questioned by the people’s representatives. I realize this may end up just being a “political” statement and that there may be no “mechanism” to remove justices from their seats. But it’s going to take a lot of motivated people to make needed changes in thsi country, and the SCOTUS is very vulnerable right now to scrutiny from people on both sides. And is the unity we need. The GOP plays this way. We must this time. Our motives are salient.
I also think Clarence Thomas must recuse himself in matters dealing with the insurrection. His wife was involved in planning the most dangerous and traitorous act vs our government in its entire history. The Rosenbergs were executed for far less after WW2. Clarence is not his wife, granted. But he comforts her daily. And that is also prohibited by the 14th – sec 3.
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress,or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or “comfort” to the enemies thereof.
So when people talk about adding four justices to the court, the Constitution actually obliges us to remove four justices and nominate four more unless they do some heavy “recusing” in the next few weeks – and before that ruling becomes public and starts changing lives for American women.
Please share these thoughts with your representatives, family and friends. This is a war vs women now and the attackers are drunk with power and will not stop. Under it all, there is this ruling class mentality that exists in authoritarian governments; it has now crept into our government, exaggerated by four years of Trump, and it must now be excised from all branches of our government.
(4 min ) If there was anything missing from Biden’s fiery Labor Day speech in was this visual. If our president is finally trying to reach people lost in right-wing information silos, kudos. But he needs to use techniques perfected by ad agencies: images, branding and repitition – to be most effective.
Look at the map. Red is autocracy; yellow is democracy; orange is democracy under attack. There are more people ruled by autocrats than governed by democracies. There is more land held by autocrats as well. And let’s face it, autocratic rule has been the norm on planet earth since the city-states of Babylon – 8000 years and going. Democracy is the newcomer in this struggle. If it were not for the USA’s nuclear arsenal and military superiority, I dare say the autocrats would have taken the entire planet by now. That is the autocrats’ goal, more so now than ever before. (The internet has something to do with that.)
The map was more yellow (democratic government) only five years ago. Brazil, Turkey, and Hungary have effectively flipped without shots being fired. Their governments went from democratic to oligarchal autocracy via their own people unwittingly voting in the oligarchs, much like we did here in the USA with Trump. And though Trump is on the ropes, American democracy’s functionality is still under attack by most GOP Congressmen. This phenomenon is global. Social media companies and soldout corporate media are fueling this fire … for profit.
Putin’s military aggression towards Ukraine is part of a grand plan. Putin knew he could not beat the USA with bombs. So he employed thousands of Russians to infiltrate our social media in 2016. There were Russian nationals present at the 2016 GOP Convention. And now, as we approach midterms, that alliance of the GOP and autocracies have midterm candidates who have openly said they will overturn democracy – the will of the people – if they don’t win.
The 14th Amendment Section 3 clearly says no one who was in an insurrection – or even comforts an insurrection can be in government, state, federal or judicial. The issue with the amendment seems to be that the last sentence says they can be removed by a 2/3 vote in Congress. But they did not anticipate that 50% of Congress would some day be insurrection supporters. I’ve long said a those who will not openly disavow the Big Lie and speak openly against the insurectionists do not deserve a vote in their own trial by 2/3 Congress. Where in law do we allow accused crminals to sit on their own juries?
The current United States administration, along with NATO countries, Australia and the other few remaining democratic countries rightly figure Putin’s grand plan is to help take the entire planet for the autocrats. That is the only way dictators can survive long term.
And make no mistake about who is the alpha-male in this brotherhood of dictators. That station is always taken by the most powerful in the group, just as it is with wolves. And though Russia is not a large force financially, Putin himself is worth hundreds of billions by virtue of him seizing the largest businesses in Russia. Putin’s vast wealth was one of the prime reasons candidate Trump never said one bad word about him.
And of course, after Trump won the 2016 election with much help from his Russian ally, Putin made it clear there was a debt due him. That’s how financial criminals operate. Financial criminals know they can totally escape prosecution by seizing their government. Payback due Putin, and possibly others, is the most logical reason Trump took top secret documents to Mar-a-Lago. I hope the DOJ knows that. Trump knew the risks. He knows what happened to the Rosenbergs. He does not need money so badly to risk his life or freedom. It figures he iisin a pinch, the way Manafort was when he did his crimes. it figures that Donald Trump was compromised and had classified documents. Trumpism is a national security issue now. It always was. The Biden administration knows it now. Good. Much better late than never.
The Russian Mob from the 80’s
I had business in Atlantic City New Jersey in the 80’s and became aware of an association of people known as The Russian Mob. Trump had many associates with Russian accents introduced to him by his first wife, Ivana. Some of them became my clients. Melania Knoss (Trump ) eventually became a client too.
The Russian mob had their fingers into basic crimes like store robberies, truck heists and, in time, they moved up the ladder into real estate fraud. Russian mob profits and booty were mostly taken back to the countries they came from. The Russian mob players were here in the USA to pillage, much like the Vikings did a thousand years ago. Most people don’t know that the first Russian king was a Swedish Viking named Rurik. (862 AD) . The lineage of the kings and queens of England also began with Vikings. William the Conqueror was from Normandy, France, but his grandfather was a Viking who was given Normnady by French aristocrats so he would not seige Paris. Vikings were rightfully feared. When they toolk a country, the killed the ruling men and forceably took their wives and children.
Autocrats are money launderers in their own ways. They need cooperation from foreign governments to provide safe harbor for their stolen booty because the people being robbed are citizens of their own country. That’s why Russian oligarchs own real estate in New York. They are keeping those assets safe, just in case the people ever regain power in mother Russia. And vice-versa. That’s also why Trump owns hotels in Turkey, and why his banks are rarely American. It’s why we use financial sanctions of autocratic rulers when they get out of hand. There is an informal association of autocrats based on their common goals. I call it “Dictators United”.
The Internet Changed Everything for Autocrats
In 1996, the internet began connecting the world at a blinding speed. I’m old enough to remember something called “The Iron Curtain”. This was a physical and communicative wall placed between the USSR and the NATO counties of Europe. The Berlin wall was part of that Iron Curtain.
Autocrats prefer their people be kept blind to the status of citizens in countries that offer a better standard of living for their citizens. People cannot seek better, if they don’t know better exists elsewhere. The internet has made keeping people blind to the status us other countries nearly impossible – though Russia, China and North Korea still do quite well at it.
Joe Biden’s speech on September 1 2022, finally made it clear that he knows what’s at stake. It’s six years late, but there is still time to save our democracy. ( I had wished Obama had made this speech at “Russia, if you’re listening”. )
But words alone are not remembered easily. That’s why advertisers use images and jingles to keep their products easily recallable. It’s the coordination of two senses that forges a pathway for better memory. Lyrics without a tune don’t stick in the brain. And words without an image are easily forgotten.
So if there’s one thing I want the Biden administration to do with all the blogs I have written over the last six years, it’s SHOW THE MAP. Fear is a great motivator. We need to feel afraid – as we did in WW2. US voters will know what’s at stake – at last – once they see that map over and over again. And yes, this will stick with MAGA voters that have not got totally lost in the rabbit hole of misinformation. Recreate the map if need be. Many don’t know what autocracy means – but everyone can identify with a Risk board.
Autocrats want America to go fascist more than any other country. Look at the map again. If the USA flips, they will roll over the rest of the world quickly and easily. Putin is trying to show the other dictators this strategy right now in Ukraine. He must be stopped. Trump must be stopped. None of this will change until they these two men are stopped.
That’s all I wanted to say today. SCOTUS Justice wife, Ginny Thomas, recently said “there are no rules in war”. We must recognize we are at war. The enemies of democracy are playing for keeps, as if this was a war. If we fail to do the same, I cannot yet imagine how the USA will still be a functional democracy after 2024. Time is not on our side. Midterms must be about democracy first.
Delay Is Not a Friend in the Cyber War Being Waged Against Democracy
Time is not a friend when fighting metastatic enemies.
Strategies to Defeat Trumpism Before Midterm Campaigns Take Root
Midterm campaigning will begin early in 2022. If Trump is not been indicted by by mid-July, he will remain the assumed leader of the GOP. Trump will then set the norms and talking points for GOP midterm candidates and the Big Lie and slow-moving coup attempts will continue through the midterms.
Why Timing Trump’s Indictment Matters
If Trump is indicted before July, it is possible that DeSantis will jockey himself to the front of the GOP power struggle. The timely indictment of Donald Trump will function like a grenade tossed into the GOP foxhole. A surprise early indictment will force the GOP to at least examine the idea of choosing other leaders to head the party during midterms. That then offers the real potential to end Trumpism before midterms. Indicting Trump no later than July is the easiest way to end Trumpism without an election or new laws. An un-indicted Trump will serve to further normalize Trumpism and distrust of the election results of the 2022 midterms, and chaos will be free to reign in 2022.
An un-indicted Trump will also serve to divide the Democrat Party during the midterms. We’ve just about had it. It’s getting to the point that many dems think Biden and his DOJ are either not up to the task or in on the status quo. The real reason Joe Biden’s polls are down is that after one full year there are no substantial indictments in the globally televised coup vs. the US democracy.
We must hold Biden responsible for the actions or inactions of his AG. By not indicting Trump by February, Biden will be strategically complicit in dividing the pro-democracy party and unifying the pro-fascist party. How is that supposed to work out for we the people?
Recognize Your Enemies and Defend Accordingly
About six years ago, candidate Donald Trump asked openly asked Putin to help get him elected. “Russia, if you’re listening” was a tell. Trump had to know Putin was listening to say that. There would have been no reason to even bring up Russia unless he was actively signaling an ally. No side of the American electorate likes Russia. Trump had a reason to say those words and only one reason makes sense. I called it an act of treason because inviting a foreign enemy to take part on our elections should have been viewed as an invitation to attack our most sacred institution. That’s treason. Benedict Arnold treason. Allying with our enemies to destroy and institution (fair elections ) is treason. The GOP is the party of treason now.
And there were Russian nationals at the GOP Convention in 2016. That means Putin was effectively there. And that means some sort of alliance was formed with other GOP in Congress. We saw it play out in the 2016 election with Russian disinformation campaigns, a phrase that was basically unknown until 2016.
I posted a democracy vs autocracy map (below) shortly after that statement. Joe Biden finally got around to stating that the world is deciding which form of government will prevail in the 21st century. Biden knows the stakes. But if he does not act as if he is at war, (cyber war is a war of words not bombs) the enemies of democracy will prevail even though their conventional war efforts could never be successful. That is Putin’s genius. I wrote about it here.
I still believe our Department of Defense should defend vs attacks on elections as they take an oath to defend our nation from all enemies, foreign and domestic. The DOD has an intel department. Why are they not even asked to help on the Jan6 Committee investigation into an attempted coup?
The Jan6 Committee should immediately ask DOD intel to join the effort to get to the full truth on the Jan6 coup attempt. It will inform all Americans – and our own internal enemies of democracy – that we are serious abo0ut defending free and fair elections in the United States. If DOD intel coud help with Jan6, even on the perimeters, it sends the message to the Big Lie supporters in Congress that attempting another coup is not such a good idea.
Why am I the only one showing this map? Pictures speak louder than words, especially these days. People may not know what autocracy means. But we all know what a RISK board looks like. I am asking Biden, Pelosi and democracy friendly media to amplify a version of this map ASAP.
Bust the Filibuster
Harry Reid first invoked the nuclear option November 2013, when the Democratic Senate Democratic used the procedure to eliminate the 60-vote rule for presidential nominations, other than nominations to the Supreme Court. In his honor, Democrats should unify to bust the Filibuster so that progress can be made for the American in our intentionally dysfunctional Congress.
Democrats should also know this. The right-wing base unified behind Trump because they felt ignored by both sides of Congress for years. Fly-over country was indeed ignored by Congress which has been functionally sold out to corporations since Reaganomics. Ask yourself this simple question. How is it that the billionaires and corporations who made most of the financial gains during the pandemic – while the working class struggled – still pay the least percentage of taxes to our government? This is evidence of corruption at work – and the citizens on both sides know it.
If Coingress (misspelled intentionally ) remains stalemated and dysfunctional in early 2022, it will create room for a new party to emerge. Vegas now says there is a 7% chance a third party could win the 2024 election. You can bet real money on it. Perhaps a new US labor party could be restarted here in the USA.
Busting the Filibuster is not new. Democrats did it first. Democrats should know if the GOP regains power they will bust the Filibuster to bust our democracy. How ridiculous that will be. Democrats would have created the tool and then allowed the enemies of democracy use said the tool they created to destroy the United States as we know it.
Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act or Use the 14th Amendment
The John Lewis Voting Rights Act is designed to set standards for fair elections that states cannot ignore national contests. We clearly need some form of regulation to ensure the midterms and the 2024 elections are fair and the results accepted by the American people at large. I hope they pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, but it’s going to require a united Democrat party and that is not how things are due to Manchin and Sinema.
The 14th Amendment was created after the Civil War exactly for times like these. I’m tired of hearing lawyers tell me “it has no enforcing mechanism built into it and so has no teeth”. Can I remind such wusses that the 2nd Amendment clearly states gun ownership is a right “in order to maintain a well-functioning militia”. The GOP does did let a few words stand in their way. They’ve essentially let teenagers carry AK-15’s and fire them into crowds. They sell that amendment to the hilt and ignore its enabling clause. And once they had their base behind the idea of gun rights as constitutional right, it became a reason to vote GOP. We can create memes that get citizens to vote too.
This is the 14th Amendment, verbatim:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.
But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. …………….
But Donald Trump is not currently in Congress. He does not have to be voted out. And those secretary of state candidates who are Big Lie supporters and insurrection comforters are also disqualified by this constitutional amendment. Why on earth am I – a citizen with no real connection to government – the only one who sees the 14th Amendment for how it reads? Why does not out AG declare that those who support the Big Lie cannot run for office? Take that to the Supreme Court if need be. Because if it is okay to do that, then this place we call a democracy is doomed to fail. If we cannot pass new laws, we can use the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution to defend our elections.
And you know who respects the constitution the most? Trump’s base! So frankly, I think it’s better than the John Lewis Voting Rights Act ( John Lewis is not a hero to racists ) to defend democracy. Section 1 of the 14th states: No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. Does someone want to tell me how making voting harder for select groups is not abridging a privilege of citizenship?
We will soon know if Congress, Joe Biden, Merritt Garland and our DOD are up to the task of defending democracy. If I see neither Donald Trump indicted nor voting rights protected by new laws or the 14th Amendment by Feb 15th , I will conclude the democrats are okay with the status quo. This citizen, who voted for Biden in 2020, will then be looking for new people to support in the midterms and beyond.
Odds We Lose The Democracy in 2024 are Posted in Vegas – sort of.
There is a 42% chance we lose the democracy in 2024 according to Vegas pollsters. Let that sink in. And since Vegas takes money on bets, they have this number more correctly than most politicians. That’s 3 out of 7. It’s like a we are in the World Series down to our last game and winner takes all. Of course, all Vegas is saying is the GOP has a 42% chance of winning the POTUS election in 2024. But come on. With this GOP – that would mean democracy has died here. And Trump is the favorite to be the 2024 candidate, still. A 42% chance of having Donald Trump be president again is what Garland is riskingby not being pro-active. That’s a gamble no American shoul dbe willing to take.
All That Changes If We Indict Trump Before Campaign Season
We need a war room. Our enemies have war rooms. They know they are fighting WW3 with cyber weapons – words and laws. Biden’s AG must indict Trump soon. Summer will be way too late. We have the power to stop this now, but that power will wane dramatically if we lose seats in the midterms. And the GOP are willing to cheat to win because the guy who is in charge of the GOP spent a liftetime cheating to win. He gets off on cheating to win. Trump would rather win by cheating than win fair and square. Fair and square seems dumb to Donny.
Let me end this rant with a link to an article I found yesterday online. Germany already learned their lesson about allowing hate speech. I fear we will have to lose all to learn that lesson – and then it will be too late. 42% is not good enough for me.
It bodes well for 2022 that Omicron spreads fast but is not as deadly as Delta. This is the virus figuring out its own best path to survive. It’s learning to co-exist with humans to some degree. Many vax resisters are figuring out it’s to their own advantage to get that free vax or booster. When people stop crowding the hospitals, the crisis will wane and Spring 2022 should feel like spring at last. All this makes 2022 potentially the best year in a long while for Americans and a good year to be ambitious. *
*The words “ambitious” and “ambulance” share a root. They both have to do with urgent motion. 2022 can be a good year for momentous and ambitious projects.
the Etymologist ( in me )
The year 2021 can be viewed as a beginning for ambitious projects in the USA. We convicted two policemen, Derek Chauvin and Kim Potter. There used to be a protective shield that guarded police from prosecution. We took that shield away in 2021. And they were found guilty in a Trump state because a jury of people in that Trump state chose to speak truth to power. It tells me that Americans, right and left, are sick of letting the powerful run over us.
My wish for 2022 is that we continue to trust what we see with our eyes and speak truth to the powerful criminals that have long been entrenched in our government. It won’t be easy because government officials makes the laws and rules. But like Chauvin and Potter, we the people have seen their crimes and we can do it.
We Need More than Words from Biden and the DOJ
If Garland does not start prosecuting the criminals in our government, we will need to get out in the streets and demand it. The activist phase can wait for the holidays to pass and for the pandemic to peak which is supposed to be in January. But midterms dictate we can not wait further than mid- February to see indictments of the higher ups involved in the televised January 6th insurrection. In terms of a crime, we all saw the most egregious crime ever committed in US history on that day. If Jan6 had been successful, we would have lost what we fought to protect in both world wars. No robbery or mass shooting could have done more damage to America than what was attempted on Jan 6, 2020.
Sadly, if DOJ indictments of higher ups do not start by mid-February , it will be time to campaign against Biden/Garland and Trump – at the same time! There will be an opening for someone or some team to unify the right and left in a campaign to exact justice from the corrupt wherever they are found. The GOP clearly has no desire to clean up the corruption in government. They will plead the 5th and hope to deny justice by delaying it and fixing the 2022 midterms. But it is possible the Democrats in Congress also do not want accountabilty. They may have skeletons in their own closets. We will know soon. An independent effort or party may be necessary if the Democrats don’t show us they mean business by mid-February.
14th Amendment sec 3 – Google it
As written, the 14th Amendment sec 3 precludes Trump and any Big Lie supporters from running for office, especially if they are not already on office. That includes those secretaries of states that are being chosen for loyalty to Trump and the Big Lie. If candidates have even comforted insurrectionists, they are disqualified via the 14th. That creates a window to protect democracy without new laws. And again, since Congress has the power to makes new laws, or stall them forever, if Biden and Garland are in that “we in Congress are above the fray” fraternity, we will need to do this ourselves.
The Far-right Base was the Canary in the Coal Mine
The right base has long known there is a corruption problem with government officials. They were being ignored in fly-over country both by Democrats and Republicans in office. Donald Trump, a life-long charlatan and grifter, made believe he cared about their issues and fooled them into voting for him and even sending the Trumps their hard-earned money. It’s time to forgive the decent among the Trump base and work with them to make the United States better for all of us. I think they will be okay with it, if we address this properly.
Both sides now recognize we are treated like cattle by big businesses when they put their profits over the people that they serve. The door is wide open for someone to unify the right and left on speaking truth to power in business, government and wherever injustice and corruption exists. That’s the ticket for 2022. Whoever figures this strategy out will win the midterms.
The corrupt within our government are going to put up a fight in 2022. We must not waver. We will soon know if Biden is up to this task. We like Joe as a person. But we’ll need to see action – not just words – soon. Biden is on notice now. Rest assured, Joe Biden will see this post*. And Joe should know the real reason his polls are down is because a substantial number od Democrats think he is not up to the task of indicting Donald Trump and his cronies. He could not be at a 43% approval rating if he had all of the Democrats’ approval.
Finally, we will need to speak truth to one of the greatest powers on planet earth – Mother Nature. Both sides have witnessed first-hand what ignoring climate change can do. But to address that problem, we have to get the sold-out among the politicians that run our government out of power. We may need a new team with a new agenda to do that. We will know that by February.
We must also stop fighting among ourselves and be very suspect of those that encourage that division. Without togetherness, no country can survive.
Joe Biden says Build Back Better. I think the next big meme needs to be Build Back Together.
Joseph Aronesty
I have emailed this to the White House and to many others in government. Post this to your social media and amplify this message. I don’t care who you voted for in 2016. Together we can do this. Thank You.
This is a letter I just sent to a four-star General with whom I have had communcations with over the last few years. If a coup could be outlined in a PowerPoint I think a plan to save democracy deserves a PowerPoint too.
We gave Biden 2021 to try and pass Build Back Better. I’m not sure that’s going to work due to Manchinema, as they are now calling those two. So now, the survival of our 250-year-old democracy is coming down to voting rights.
We can all see the GOP intends to fix the elections and even override the will of the people with party loyalists who will choose electors loyal to Trump. We will lose this democracy on paper in 2022 if we don’t pass voting right protections. Is that how you see it too?
Consider this a 4-pronged PowerPoint to save democracy on the planet.It has four parts because there is something to do for the Executive, the AG, the DOD and the public.
Biden means well, but is not doing enough. That’s really why his polls are down. People are getting the impression that Biden and particularly AG Garland are not up to the tasks at hand.
WHAT JOE BIDEN CAN DO Joe Biden has a few weeks in January to pass Build Back Better. If Manchinema are still blocking this, he needs to start campaigning in their states against them – without saying he is against them. How can he do that? This is how with a little help from email and phone lines staffed with real people.
First, he needs to make a speech in which he asks the voters in WV and AZ this: What do you want from your federal government?
He should focus his words towards MAGA voters as any strength the GOP insurectionists have is backed up by their base support. He campaigns by asking the people in GOP states what he can do for them.
Biden then sets up a hotline for people to call in their ideas for what they want and expect from their government. Staff phone lines. Open an email specially for this. Advertise it. Ask voters what they can do to help Build Back Better. I’d rather it be called BUILD BACK TOGETHER btw. The email address should be together@us.gov – or close to that. He’s going to find out we all want pretty much the same things!
Biden can speak a bit like a potential employer too. Asking them if they have any skills to lend to the new Build Back Together campaign. This will act like fireside chats worked for FDR in the WW2 era. But it will also act to expose Manchin and Sinema and Abbott as people who do not care what their constituents want. It will pressure them.
And a few weeks later he can report to America what his polls said. And then he can point out that Manchin and Cinema are blocking him from getting the people what they want.
In effect, Biden needs to go to war with the obstructionists within his own party, without saying it. So this is a way to do that by asking the constituents what they want from their federal government.
Here is a link to my previous post with more ideas to save the democracy and end the GOP stranglehold on Congress. I would not miss this. Outside the box thinking from constituents is part of what is missing from the Dem agenda.
WHAT THE DOD CAN DO A coup is an attempt to overthrow the government, is it not? The DOD was created to protect us from exactly what we are seeing. Every member of the DOD, from private first class to general takes an oath to protect this government – not just the lands – but the functions of the government too.
We get that the DOD has to stay apolitical. DOD can’t take weapons to congressmen and a former president. That’s banana republic stuff. But know this. Trump tried to get control of the DOD and failed. That’s really why he is not in power still. I am thankful for that. But next time, if Trump or his GOP sycophants get back in power, they will remove every DOD member who does not go along with what they want. They learned that in their first attempted coup. They are removing election board members who are not corruptible now.
The GOP also know they will eventually need the cooperation of the DOD. So maybe they start a physical war right away in a new adminictration if they win, and then DOD can’t say no. They are clever that way.
TRUMP’S GOP NEEDS TO KNOW THEY WILL NEVER HAVE THE DOD IN THEIR POCKET! They don’t know that in their bones yet. They have not given up.
Yesterday, there was a crack in the darkness that provided an opportunity to get DOD INTEL involved with the Jan6 investigations.The committtee spoke of adding people to go over social media posts to see if foreign governments were involved. ( They were. Putin started this whole cyber war thing. Trump was never smart or educated in worldly things. He does not even read to learn. )
That’s your DOD’s wheelhouse – protecting us from foreign governments! It’s a potential entrance ramp. Ask to help in this effort only! You are going to find out it was all Russia coordinating with GOP and others and that it started in 2015. Mueller may even become relevant again.
If you get DOD Intel involved in that specific effort, that alone may end Trumpism. Why do I say that?
Right now, many GOP are shaking in their boots about what the Jan6 Committee will turn up against them. Many insurrectionists close to Trump are pleading the 5th. They are praying they get back in power so they can end all these investigations. You know that too. So, by them seeing the DOD is involved in getting to the truth – even tangentially – they will get the feeling that even getting back in power will not sway the DOD from their oath to protect democracy. Right now, they can hope. SHUT DOWN THAT HOPE!
The effect may be that those who are pleading the 5th or hiding the truth decide they don’t want to fight the DOD – which is never popular with ANY Americans. DOD involvement in the Jan6 investigations – even if it’s just computer geeks – can end Trumpism stat. A few key defectors from that “thick as thieves” brotherhood of insurrectionists – and they are done. Democracy saved!
That’s what you can do persoanlly. Help make that happen . Get authority from DOD Intel. Call Joe Biden or Bennie Thompson. Offer DOD help to protect democracy with respect to this attempt to cover social media posts.
Don’t worry about “politics”. The GOP members who stand with insurrection are clearly not really well-intended Congressmen. Criminals and traitors to democracy do not deserve the cover of being Congressmen. And if that is not enough to sway you, defer to your oath to protect the democracy – or your private oath which I know you have made to yourself – to spend your time on earth doing good for others. What else is there really?
WHAT OUR AG CAN DO There was a coup attempt. The AG and FBI need to be visibily involved in the effort to prosecute those involved in the coup. Absent of that, the coup attempt will continue. It’s that simple.
If Garland is not up to the task, there are plenty of prosecuters who are. Biden needs to tell Garland to start proscuting the insurrectionists in our government and restraining and monitoring their activities. If we don’t see this by January 15th by the AG – Biden should find a new AG stat.
Timing is important here. Democracy’s clock is running out. We need conclusions by April so the public can get onvolved inthe spring. That means we need to start proscuting higher-ups in January.
WHAT CITIZENS CAN DO The citizens must eventually get street active again. That’s done easiest when the weather breaks. Covid is not our friend here. So for now, the citizens are relatively calm and trying to enjoy the season and busy surviving covid. By April, I hope we will see outrage in the streets on voting rights.
A JOINT EFFORT TO SAVE DEMOCRACY IN THE USA (and on the planet) This is the map of democracies and autocracies on the planet. You can see that if the USA waffles in the next few months, the autocrats can take the USA and then rest of the planet has no defense.
Remember this too. Autocracy is 8000 years old. Democracy is about 250 years old. Historically, democracy is the underdog.
In this PowerPoint, there was something to do for the president, the AG, the DOD and the public. If everyone does their part, this will not fail.
Notice that I have NOT mentioned a task for Congress. Congress is clearly infected. I expect Congressmembers to keep fighing with each other along party lines. I don’t expect much out of Congress when 50% of it is in on the coup – either actively or by association with their party. ………
Thank you for your time in reading this and considering getting into the fight to save democracy and the planet. That’s what’s at stake and I think you know that down deep.
Joseph Aronesty
73 years now – just a citizen of the USA trying to regain his pride in the nation.
Meme for the campaign to engage all Americans in rebuilding America.
We all are tired of watching the Dems play by the “rules” while Trump GOP in government break rules and norms to stall and win. I am nauseated by the media saying ” the GOP will likely win the House in 2022″. Why? Because it happened before during more normal times? These are not normal times!
The main reason Biden’s polls are down is because he plays softball in a hardball game. Joe! Do you realize that there are GOP voters that would support you in you were tougher on government criminals? Your DOJ should have arrested Steve Bannon long ago. Americans on both sides would respect you for that and your polls would go up. If you are afraid of the GOP now, when you are in power, imagine how you will feel when you are out of power. Hang Mike Pence could become Hang Joe Biden. Right? So now is the time to be tough.
Further, the US Constitution which is really the “rules” does not allow people to run for office who have taken part in, supported, or even “comforted” insurrection. Why on earth is no one in media or government citing the 14th Amendment – Section 3 – as reason to STOP Trump from running for president in 2024? Why are secretary of state candidates who support the Big Lie allowed to run for office when the Constitution says they cannot?
Read the 14th Amendment, Section 3, verbatim:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
The first person in government who comes out and says those who support insurrection of the Big Lie cannot run for office will gain the support of about 70% of the voting USA. (Beto, this could be you. )
Germany had a similar problem in 1945. They made it so their Nationalist Party ( Nazi was a nickname for Nationalist ) was banned from government. Germany did this, but we don’t? It makes no sense. We actually deserve to lose if we don’t get tough on the criminals in our government. And each and every GOP member who cowers to Trump and supports his Big Lie, which is part and parcel of the insurrection, is a traitor to the constitution ( meme, ahem) and not allowed to be in our government.
Yes. I see the last sentence of the 14th. It says those who are already in government and support or comfort insurrection must be voted out by 2/3. But guess what? Trump is not currently in Congress or government now. And all those Secretary of State candidates that want to run to upend future elections – if they have comforted insurrectionists or advocated for the Big Lie – they are also disqualified to serve via the 14th. This needs to be said – now!
First one who says loudly that “Trump cannot run as per the 14th” – wins the respect of 70% of Americans. People from both sides will thank that person. It should have been said at “Russia, if you’re listening.”
And when Biden’s DOJ starts thinking and acting that way, the GOP will not win the House in 2022. They will instead need a complete personnel rehaul. Many will step down. New candidates for POTUS will emerge. And the one pro-democracy party will win House and Senate in 2022. Simple steps taken now can assure that outcome.
These are the only sure steps that will save the US democracy. Waiting for 2022 is not a plan – it’s a prayer. The GOP are fixing the elections now, in plain sight. Without democracy, the planet is doomed. Autocrats do not care about their constituents nor the planet. The stakes are as high now as they were in WW2.
So keep playing by the “rules” dems. It’s like watching a cancer spread through a body and not taking the steps to eradicate it. Time is not our friend here. This is also why GOP are okay with a poor pandemic response and why their own are dying more than Dems. They know a givernment that is using most of its resources to fight a pandemic cannot focus on stopping the metastasis of voter fixing that is taking place daily at the local level.
Does Biden have my support? Yes, of course. I would never support a Big Lie supporter even if they later recanted their position. Does Biden have my respect? No. He has not earned that yet. And neither has Garland. I feel like I could do a better job to save our democracy than they have done. At least I have a plan. They have this “wait and see” what happens in 2022 attitude. The criminals love this about Dems.
Maybe Joe had to get the infrastructure bill out of the way before getting serious. But that’s done now. And not a peep of hardball. They set Bannon free and are letting him stall.
The 14th also says “no state shall abridge citizen rights” in section one. So all those voter suppression laws are not legal as well. We really don’t need new laws. We need to apply the Constitution we have now and treat those who stand with the Big Lie who are in government as disqualified to run, campaign or hold office as per the 14th.
Update: Conversations with Dean Obidallah, Maxine Waters staff June and Thom Hartmann reveal that the 14th amendment has no “teeth” or clearly otlined way of being inforced. To that I say this: So what? The 2nd Amendment is not crytal clear on citizen’s rights to own guns. It speaks of a well-regulated militia. That never stopped Republicans from saying they have rights to own, brandish and use guns – even AR15’s. Throw the ripple in the pond, Dems!
Things will happen in response to this statement if its makde loud and clear by a person with authority. The general public will not understand it has no teeth, and will rally to its calling. People on the GOP side who are not crazy about Trump ( about 30% of them ) will like the idea. And then GOP woujld-be candidates like Christy, Rubio and Cheney will ltake up the calling. Before we know it, a movement to give the 14th Amendement “teeth” may emerge. Trumpis,m began with a statement – albeit one of hate. The antidote to Trumpism starts with a statement as well – if we want it to.
Now look at the big picture. We have a planet divided into countries with two basic ruling methods. One way is autocracy. One man rules. It’s been around for 8000 years, going back to city-states and Babylon. And then in 1776, a new way to govern evolved because a British colony was sick and tired of autocracy and was willing to fight and stand up to it. It’s called democracy. It means the people rule. The people vote for representatives and the elected take an oath to do their bidding.
A lot of Americans died to protect the institution of free and fair elections. It’s both sacrilegious and treasonous for politicians to advocate that our elections are not fair without proforma indisputable evidence. Citizens are allowed to have any opinion they want to have. But those in government take an oath – and when they violate that oath by standing with insurrection – they are disqualified to serve. The 14th Amendmant says that. It’s really that simple.
With readily available weapons that can wipe out all human life the planet – and a very real climate change problem which will need global cooperation to survive – the interspecies predator or prey meme has become a real threat to all humans.
Now look at the big picture. We have a planet divided into countries with two basic organizing methods. One way is autocracy. It’s been around for 8000 years, going back to city-states and Babylon. And then in 1776, a new way to govern evolved because a colony was sick and tired of autocracy and was willing to fight and stand up to it. It’s called democracy. It means the people rule. The people vote for representatives and the elected* take an oath to do their bidding. A lot of Americans died to protect the institution of free and fair elections. It’s both sacrilegious and treasonous for politicians to advocate that our elections are not fair without proforma indisputable evidence.
I fully realize that citizens have a right to voice their opinions. But politicians are not ordinary citizens. Politicians, for example, cannot sue people for voicing opinions against them owing to the “burning in effigy” laws. But the right to cast aspersions vs our government’s institutions, should not extend to public figures and media because the size of their audiences creates a theater in which shouting fire is downright dangerous. Jan 6 was such a theater. The 14th Amendment protects us from such politicians.
We all saw Donald Trump invite and incite a crowd to violence. I don’t understand why the people who rushed the Capitol and in jail, but their ringleader is free. Evidence hides the word video. We have seen. To me, the plausible deniability that Jan 6 was perhaps not an insurrection attempt, is like a bank having the video of a robbery that was not successful and saying, “let’s have a trial to see of what we see on tape actually happened”. The Jan 6 Committee should only be looking for who else ( besides the obvious instigators) was involved in planning this insurrection attempt.
It is also clear the autocrats of the world allied with the GOP in 2016. They had common ground. They both had motives to want to destroy democracy. The GOP knows changing demographics means they cannot win many fair elections any more. Candidate Donald Trump once said aloud, “what does it matter if I don’t win?” The GOP has adapted that stance.
So we have to do something about this now, as Americans – not partisans. Waiting for midterms is like saying “it was okay”. Admit it. Correct course.
It’s not as if we don’t have laws on the books to put the GOP who stand with insurrectionists out of Congress. Read the 14th Amendment, Section 3:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Radio host, Dean Obidallah told me the 14th is a paper tiger because the offending Congressmen must be removed by a 2/3 vote of Congress, and, of course, that will never happen. Agreed. But out of office, like Trump is now, can anyone explain why a person who comforted insurrectionists can still run for POTUS? It is clearly unconstitutional. If Americans could hear their DOJ say “Trump cannot run as per the 14th” that may be enough to start the Trumpism wrecking ball in motion.
I am suggesting that Joe Biden’s DOJ make a statement: Donald Trump cannot run for any political office again in accordance with the 14th Amendment. That also means he cannot raise money to run, or campaign for office. If he creates a rally, we will assume it is to campaign, and he will be arrested. Trump will sue. Big deal.
Donald Trump, having arranged a violent insurrection and certainly comforted those there calling them “wonderful people” can never run for any office again.
This announcement alone will cause the other POTUS hopefuls in the GOP to take a stance, and cause division in the GOP. I’m sure some of them will be relieved that the DOJ says Trump cannot run. I’m sure some will stand with him. That’s what the GOP needs. A shake up. They need to choose sides. Democracy or autocracy.
I get that we may be waiting for the full truth on Jan6 to come out. Maybe Trump will not be found to have caused the insurrection. But Donald Trump certainly comforted those who rushed the Capitol calling them “wonderful people”. That’s on tape. He cannot deny it. So we have enough to state he can never run for any office again. So we must say it or be complicit. The ripples of such an announcement alone has the power to end Trumpism.
First. Trump could not raise money to campaign and run again if he cannot be president. He could and should be arrested if he campaigns after the announcement. His rallies are in essence a way to recruit people to do violence.
Second. It will force the GOP to find another candidate and that will create a divide in the GOP. Maybe a few other GOP presidential hopefuls will agree that Trump cannot run. Maybe we can break up the “thick as thieves” alliance in the current GOP. That unholy alliance has been the real Trumpism from before Trump was a politician.
Third. Maybe some in the middle of the right wing will respect us for having aspine at last. They seem to have a penchant for strongmen. The last thing a Republican respects is a wuss. Let’s stop being wusses and see where it gets us. We could not possibly be doing worse that holding all three chambers and still being scared we are going to lose democracy.
Fourth. Re: all those Secretaries of States that want to run to upend future elections – if they have comforted insurrectionists or advocated for the Big Lie – they are also disqualified to serve via the 14th. It needs to be said – now.
I sure hope the Jan6 Commission gets down to business soon. But we cannot even wait for that to unfold. Trump has already crossed a red line stamped into our Constitution when he called a mob to the Capitol steps and incited many a domestic terrorist to act out. If there ever was a public enemy number one, it is Donald J Trump.
Finally, as you see the GOP following Trump in the Big Lie everywhere, we should be reminded that this is exactly what autocrats want. They want the institution of democracy itself to fail.
Saying that an election was rigged is an attack on our sacred institution of democracy. No one serving in Congress should be allowed to publicly voice that our American elections are rigged without hard evidence. And we have words in our constitution that echo that sentiment. So let’s not wait for 2022 to start protecting our democracy.
It’s not important who I am, but I am citizen Joseph Aronesty, an e-commerce pioneer, published linguist and songwriter. I sat in a class with Donny Trump in 1968 at Wharton. He cheated then too. I also worked in his orbit from 1986 to 2001 in New Jersey.
*Elected. My brand of etymology involves cutting words down to their basic parts and summing the meanings of the parts. E is “out of”. LEC is “word” , as in LECTURE or LEXICON. Election – from (written) words.
Postulate. If the whole truth on Jan6 comes out, the GOP is dead on the arrival of that truth. And the death of this Trumped version of the GOP solves many of our country’s dysfunctional ills. The current GOP knows all this. It’s why they voted against investigating the insurrection. It’s not only suspicious, it is an abject failure on the part of Congress to protect the people of this country from all enemies foreign and domestic.
We also do not want the Jan6 investigation to turn into another long-drawn-out impeachment trial concluding with no justice. My email to Joe Biden follows. But it’s for you too. We are all in this together is not just about the virus.
Joe. Time To Get In the War
Face the music. That is what your father’s generation would have said. The results of Pelosi’s Democratic committee investigation will not likely be acknowledged by the GOP. They voted against having an investigation because there’s nothing good that can come of it – for them.
What would be the GOP reaction if you said you wanted to swiftly expose the full truth behind Jan6for the purpose of national security? Don’t you think fighting fascism is as important as fighting the virus? Tell me how we will tackle climate change with self-dealing autocrats in power. We won’t. And that spells the end of the word as we know it.
There is no way the GOP can sell blocking or stalling the investigation to the American people. The announcement will make you the first cyber war-time president in the minds of the vast majority of Americans. Cyber war began here in 2016. We need a president who knows who our attackers are and reacts with the clear-eyed seriousness these times deserve. And just why you want to leave this to Nancy Pelosi seems to me to be a dereliction of your duty to protect this country. Sorry to put it so bluntly to one who I know cares as much as you do. But one more impeachment-like affair, concluding with no justice, and the democratic base may give just up on their government.
We already know the GOP will try their best to deny the results of an investigation. They will say it was partisan. To choke off that strategy we need to be one step ahead of it. To that end, I suggest the FBI and DOD military intel play a role in it’s swift execution as part of your Executive Order. They are both known nonpartisans. No one can say military intel did a fake news investigation. We already know what the GOP Congressmembers cell phone records will look like. Jan6 was an act of war on our own soil. It must be treated that way.
Joe Biden, the USA has been under an ongoing attack without bombs since 2016. The recent Russian hacks to our businesses and infrastructure were part of our enemies’ war efforts. It’s cyber war – words are weapons. An executive order to expose the whole truth on the insurrection will be viewed as a welcomed shot across the bow to Americans. And it will upset the enemies of democracy – at last. You said it’s democracy vs autocracy. It’s been that way since Russia if you’re listening. Start acting like you know it. You can say something like this:
Fellow Americans, The country experienced an attack on Jan. 6th, and it is my sworn duty to protect Americans from all enemies, foreign and domestic. I am commissioning the best this country has to find out what went down on Jan 6th, down to the text messages! I am calling on the FBI and Military Intelligence, long known to be our very best non-partisan professionals, the world’s best trained investigators, to be part of the force to get to the full truth on Jan6. They will work work together with Congressional House committee on this undertaking. I am asking them to work together and try and bring me a report back with warp speed. They will have my administration’s full support and access to any resources we can offer. America needs to know what happened on Jan6. It is a matter of national security. The investigation starts now. Full stop.
Postulate. Criminals just get more emboldened and creative when they think the coast is clear. Once they hearand see the military intelligence is getting involved, they’ll know the entire jig is up. Voter suppression may even stop. My guess is that there will be a lot of GOP scattering, disowning and retirements once they know truth is marching on.
Joe Biden: The GOP must be made to believe the full truth on Jan6 will come out in 30 to 60 days from sources that they cannot easily knock. They don’t seem to be afraid of Pelosi’s “committee”. Is she the acting commander-in-chief, sir?
Please do not be afraid of repealing the filibuster because you think the GOP will just do this to us. If we do this right, all the criminals in the GOP will be vanquished before the 2022 elections. We can make laws that keep criminals out of government. This current GOP does not come back if we do this right. And they will never leave if we don’t.
These are tactics the GOP would never expect from Democrats. How refreshing! Know that the current GOP would be happy to use these tactics on us should they regain power. And until we punish them, they will never stop.
There was an attack on our democratic process on Jan6 And it’s still going on because no one involved at the top has seen an iota of justice. Justice solves everything in this country – from racism and economic disparity to environmental issues. And this is easy to do now. By refusing to vote for an investigation the GOP have opened the door for us to do this 100% right. They made this easy for us and we don’t see that?
We have a president to make decisions in times of war. And this is war! This surprise announcement alone could even end Trumpism in the ten minutes it takes to deliver it. And I mean all of Trumpism, down to the Cyber Ninjas.
The GOP think we will never punch back. Heck, their own voters would respect us more if we fought for democracy than if we let the autocrats roll over us. Let’s stop being wusses. It’s why the base went for Trump. Playing hardball with the insurrectionists is a win-win.
Once we do this, the GOP gang will be weakened and scared, as they should be. Once we do this, we can get everything we want for the people. One brilliant Executive Order from our commander-in-chief does it. It took FDR years to get into the war. But the enemy was 3000 miles away then. We don’t have that time now. The enemy is here.
Plan to get Trump’s base to abandon the GOP.
The GOP base is clamoring for recounts. OFFER THEM A RECOUNT! The appropriate state official announces one CNBC NATIONALLY TELEVISED BIPARTISAN RECOUNT in a state of the GOP’s choosing. The announcement is all we need. It likely will never happen.
We can add this rule – or not: If nothing changes the outcome, any Congressperson who thereafter promotes the Big Lie – or that Biden is not legitimate – shall surrender his office or be prosecuted to inciting violence ( there is plenty of evidence of that ) to the general public.
Of course, the GOP in Congress know Trump lost. With or without the proviso, they won’t say yes to a fair televised recount. So, just making the request becomes a trap for them. Their base still thinks Trump won! They will clamor for the recount, thinking it will re-instate Trump. When the GOP says no to any recount that is televised, the base will know at last – they are being lied to. That’s when a decent percentage of them abandon the GOP. And after that – you won’t have many problems with Republicans in Congress. It’s like we will have cut Samson’s hair. Child psychology. Easier that new laws.
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Joseph Aronesty, classmate to Donny Trump. Penn 68. I did my homework.
previous post follows
Using the 14th Amendment to Protect Democracy
Why is no one speaking about the 14th Amendment? If good people heard about it on media, they would have a constitutional leg to base their grievances on. Hope is so important to keep alive.
US Constitution Amendment 14, Section 3
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.
When Donald Trump asked if he could meet with the Taliban at Camp David, he certainly did not want to talk them off their radical stances. But though that meeting did not happen, Trump found other terrorists he could inspire, right here in the USA, to do his dirty work – his MAGA base.
Now he is telling his base August is a time he will be re-instated. It’s an invitation for a summer of violence. (Should that even be legal? I think we can make it illegal. It sort of is already. Read on. )
Trump wants his base to act out in August, and he’ll be fine if there is violence. That’s what Flynn effectively said about Myanmar too. And let’s face it, the MAGA base is armed with many more guns and AR’s than the good people of this country who don’t define themselves by the number of guns they own. And they know that. It’s a recipe for disaster. Trumpism is no longer just a threat to democracy. Trumpism, the GOP and Donald Trump are threats to the lives of “we the people”.
The Constitution clearly says that insurrectionists and those that support them, shall not be in public office. We are in power now. If we don’t punish the insurrectionists that stormed the Capitol and those that encouraged, or “comforted” them, we dishonor those that died to protect America.
The 14th Amendment applies to federal and state government officials, judges and even the electors who are specifically mentioned therein for good cause. There are many GOP senators who should be given one last chance to publicly announce that Joe Biden is their president, or have their desks locked up by the Sergeant-of-Arms in the House and Senate. That would at least make it so they “shall not be congressmen” after having given comfort to the enemies of democracy.
Proper strategy is to escalate the January 6th investigation to the FBI and the military intelligence and reach some conclusions before Trump’s August date. The truth should be able to find light within 60 days. In physical war, we never have that much time. We need to treat this like war.
When we finger the higher up players that aided or comforted the mob, we can punish them like traitors. We will need to march the GOP involved from their desks to the House jail. The 14th says aiding or comforting insurrection is tantamount to being in the physical mob.
The insurrection investigation will identify our domestic enemies and give the unimplicated in the GOP one more chance to jump ship. Maybe they will. They need to see our strength.
AND ITS GOOD THE GOP KNOW THE MILITARY INTELLIGENCE IS ON OUR SIDE NOW IN TH INVESTIGATION. !! That’s a big hurdle for the criminal minds within our government. It’s why we should use some military intelligence for a Jan 6th investigation. . The military is a real threat to criminals. They can deal with politics, judges and courts. But military? It is the ultimate strongman. Biden should ask those with military intelligence experience to look into Jan 6th for that reason. It will scare the beJesus out of Trump’s allies. It might end Trumpism right there. I told you this was easier than we think. We just have to be smart – like Meier Lansky.
If we are not going to use the Constitution and the full power of the presidency to unseat the insurrectionists, we are running a very high risk of losing this country to autocracy in the next election cycle or two. I don’t know what the odds are, but it’s probably more than 25% right now that the GOP regain power. And if they could throw out Liz Cheney and “hang Mike Pence”, what do you think they will do to the Democrats in Congress if they regain power?
Allowing the enemies of this democracy onto the floor of the Congress is just stupid, especially now that the Dems have more power than they have had in twenty years. And there are enough words in the 14th for us to take or fake a stand. We can learn from the GOP too. Taking a stand engages the base.
What Dems don’t realize is this stand to unseat reps who have coddled insurrection will be popular with much of the GOP electorate. They must like rulers that seem a bit authoritarian, or they would not have supported Trump. What they respect the least is what we used to call wusses. Let’s not be wusses.
Make no mistake. If the GOP gets back in power it spells the end of this leg of the American democracy. Everything is on the line here, including the future of humanity. Time to get serious Dems. Unseat those congressmen who gave inspiration or comfort to the insurrectionists, now. Both sides of the electorate will thank you for it.
We can’t expect Congress to be the heroes here. Congress is infected. The cancer of Trumpism has metastasized to those in the Congress. Manchin won’t even protect voting rights.
The 14th amendment was created in 1866 to protect the country against what we are seeing right now. It’s like they knew it would happen this way. This is quoted.
The 14th Amendment, Section 1.
No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;
Call out states that abridge citizen voting privileges for unconstitutional acts – and financially sanction those states for violating their charter. Do it without hurting the people in the states. We may have to pay them directly, so they know where its coming from and why the state is not in charge any longer.
The pushback against Trumpism will be up to four main groups. Our military intelligence,the justice department, the media and we the people.
Remember, the dodo bird went extinct because it could not recognize its enemies.
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Below are links to other relevant posts.
“Cyber” is the New Way to War and Putin is Cyber Warfare’s First Master We have been in a cyber civil war since Russia, if you’re listening. Putin was the aggressor. He enrolled Donald Trump, who was perhaps unwitting – but maybe not. The infighting has cost the USA trillions in lost potential. The first civil war only lasted four years. To end the war, we must first collectively see we are in a very non-productive war. Ironically, the news industry benefits from a war of words. It used to be the weapon makers.
America has devolved into an armed war camp, a state we used regard with pity when observed in other countries. It is time to take steps the first steps to end America’s armed standoff. Please note that neither mass shootings nor police violence happen as frequently in any other first world country. We have seen forty-five mass shootings and several unnecessary police killings in the last 30 days. It begs the question: is the United States a first-world country anymore?
The way I see it, police violence and citizen’s gun violence are two sides of same coin. That coin is lethal weapons in the hands of scared and/or unhinged humans.
The cycle of violence starts with citizen vs. citizen crimes. Those crimes instruct a nation to create a force to protect its citizens. That force needed must exceed the force in the hands of the criminals.
In the United States, there are now more guns than citizens and that includes children and infants. The US is the only country on earth with that sad statistic and no large country stats are even close. And most Americans realize this is not a good problem to have. In Japan, a densely populated modern country, there is only one gun per three hundred citizens.
In the USA, police are rightly afraid of its citizens. So for those who say we have a police violence versus people of color problem, while I won’t disagree, the problem begins and is compounded because police don’t know what Americans have unlicensed guns any more. Yes, police are often a bit trigger happy, but it’s largely because they are rightfully afraid for their own lives. That fear is higher where police patrol people they don’t know and live among. It certainly makes the case for police looking more like the people they patrol. It is worth noting that in England, where there is one gun per 22 citizens, regular officers only carry Tasers and batons.
Police will always use the “I was scared for my life” excuse, when they cross the line that separates policing and murder, even if they were not. This is never going to change. It’s natural to fear lethal force. Reducing arms in the hands of citizens, and the mortal fear on the policing side will follow. That is natural too.
Since police are only needed because citizens pose dangers to other citizens, we must start with lowering the number of guns in the hands the free radicals in our citizenry. The chart above seems to indicate a reduction of arms by 70% would put the United States in line with countries like Germany.
We know the GOP congressmen always side with the NRA. If Sandy Hook couldn’t bend their cold souls, nothing will. But they are ignoring the will of their constituents now and their constituents know it. There are voting cycles every two years. The constituency of GOP congressmen is one target to educate.
I do not buy the “work with the other side” meme. The other side is now a criminal organization selling Americans out for profit. They don’t work for the American people. They work for themselves the way their leader, Donald Trump, did. The trick for the Biden Administration will be to not come off like they’re coming for our guns. That is just too easy a meme for the GOP to exploit
Licensing All Guns and Gun Holders
Aside from automatic weapons, which should all be bought back immediately, every other gun or rifle should only be in the hands of licensed gun holders. Every car is assigned to a licensed driver. We can certainly do the same for machines designed to kill people. We should know where very gun is. A national gun registry is a necessity now for the public’s welfare. We cannot let interpretations of the Constitution’s Second Amendment stand in the way of the public good, or we will descend further into darkness. After all, the Constitution was written to make life better for Americans.
Most of all Americans support bans on high-capacity magazines, assault-style weapon buybacks and bans, background checks, removal of loopholes and common-sense gun solutions. The resistance to common sense gun violence solutions comes primarily from gun makers, their paid lobbyists, GOP congressmen, and the few citizens who like things the way they are for their own selfish reasons. Their profits, amusements and nefarious plans are not worth more than our lives.
We license cars and drivers. Passing one’s driver’s test has become a rite of passage into adulthood these days. I suggest we follow that model for gun owners, focusing on training, mental health, and the social media posts of applicants. The idea of owning a gun as a right must be replaced with the idea that gun ownership is a privilege to be earned. Being a licensed gun owner should be something one can be proud of again. Licensing gun holders will create the method to review the stability, maturity, and the motives of gun holders. In for no other reason, focus on the innocent children that would be alive today had we taken these steps long ago.
We can and will continue the push to have them voted out in 2022. But I think we have a path to act faster than that. Brian Kemp, Governor of Georgia, arrested the black Congresswoman, Park Cannon, for knocking on his door while he was signing a voter suppression bill. Why are we not arresting GOP congressmen? We have more cause than knocking on a door. Those that support the Big Lie are in direct violation to the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. And that discussion follows here:
The 14th Amendment addresses many aspects of citizenship and the rights of citizens. But it also gives us the power to remove Senators, Representatives, judges, candidates and even Presidents for behavior that violates certain sacred American principles. XIV contains five easy-to-understand sections. This post reviews sections one and three. They are very pertinent to our times. (Bolds for emphasis.)
Section 3. Protects us from Big Lie and Insurrection Supports taking any part in our government for the people
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. *But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. ( The GOP does not have a majority to remove disqualified members.)
Section three of the 14th protects American citizens from renegade government officials. It clearly says those who have engaged in insurrection shall not be Senators, Representatives or President. It does not say they cannot run for office. It says they cannot be in office. It means the Constitution instantly voids all powers of one’s governmental office the moment one takes any part in or supports an insurrection against the state. The 14th does not say one must physically be part of an insurrection either. Words certainly can be construed as being part of an insurrection. When Benedict Arnold passed secrets to our enemies, he used words.
Section three also says one cannot give aid or comfort to the enemies of the United States and remain or be in office. Can we define Donald Trump’s Capitol speech on January 6th, 2021, as offering support to insurrection? I don’t see how it is not exactly that. The same logic applies to the incendiary speeches made by Mo Brooks, Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Greene and to all the congressmen who support the Big Lie. And does not Judge Clarence Thomas comfort his wife by sharing the same house with her? It’s all unconstitutional folks.
You can be sure the GOP will oust Dems for far less, if we give them the chance again. The GOP only cares about staying in power now. If they get back in power, who among us thinks they will not use it? Yes, it’s driven by Donald Trump who fears jail time for his crimes – but it’s not only him. They are talking about jailing people, closing down polling stations, undoing elections and even killing democrats.
So what is the solution for this? Actually, I think it is easier than we think. We have to use the 14th amendment. AG Garland needs to come out and say that America is under attack – just as it was on 911. An attack on the institution of voting is the same as an attack on our lands. And Congressman or judicial officer in State or Federal government or any candidate for State or Federal office who has previously stated anything that could be construed as comfort to insurrectionist must immediately publicly announce the following:
They do not think Donald Trump won the 2020 election and Joe Biden is our duly elected president. If elected they will do nothing to can be construed as an attack on our electoral systems. They are aware that would be an act of war versus the institution of American voting and they will have no part of that.
If they refuse to do that, their names must be stripped from the ballots as per the 14th. And if Congressmen refuse to do so, AG Garland shall have a Sargent of arms lock up their desks and remove them from office. We can have new elections but no one who will not denounce J6 as an insurrection attempt will be allowed to run for office.
These are just words that AG Garland can and must say. It is possible that the entire GOP needs to removed from office and that’s fine if they will not stop fighting for Trump and cheating. But we certainly can remove enough House members to give us a majority in the House right now.
Section 1: Protects us from renegade State laws, like no abortion rights and voter discrimination
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Voting is either an American citizen’s privilege or his or her right. Section one seems to say the laws passed in Georgia and other states, designed to restrict the voting rights of its citizens, are illegal and unconstitutional.
But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
The disability is the disabling of the qualification to serve in government. This entire January 6th thing, post factum, is about whether we define January 6th as an insurrection or – as the GOP would have it – a national holiday when the people rose up to defend democracy.
The US Constitution does not say insurrection comforters need to be impeached or tried. This should be taken to mean if there is clear evidence of such enumerated offending acts, the parties who have engaged in such acts immediately surrender their station and are no longer members of the US Congress by virtue of their deeds and/or words.
Once a Congressman take part in an insurrection or gives aid or comfort to insurrectionists, per the 14th, they are no longer congressmen. Such people should not be allowed to even show up to their offices. Special elections should rightly need to be set up as soon as possible to replace any congressmen who take part in the activities clearly denounced in the 14th Amendment.
Impeaching the Republican Party as a Group
There are plenty of Republican congressmen, in both houses, who have been seen and heard engaging in insurrection speak and giving comfort and aid to those who support The Big Lie that the election was fixed for Biden and Trump really won.
Maybe we need to use belief in The Big Lie as a bar. Any Congressman who, in light of all the evidence to the contrary, still publicly states the election was illegally fixed, is himself part of the secessionist movement by virtue of giving psychological comfort to those who want the election overturned. It may be time to give the sitting Republicans one last chance to denounce the Big Lie or be removed from office.
It’s time to use the 14th Amendment. It was put there to save our democracy.
We Cut Out the Largest Tumor. Now Over Forty State GOP Chapters are Changing Voting Laws in an Attempt to End Democracy in the USA
The voter suppression laws being promoted by the GOP will not stop until their promoters are defeated, penalized and, in appropriate cases, jailed. There is clearly legal support in the 14th Amendment of our Constitution for removing lawmakers who support voter suppression and/or insurrection.
When Joe Biden said this was a struggle between autocracy and democracy, he was correct. And it’s about time. The struggle was evident at “Russia, if you’re listening.” The autocracy vs. democracy struggle is not unique to America. Autocrats know their own people suffer under their iron fists, and they look towards the democracies of the world for hope. That hope is a threat to the autocrats. Their ultimate goal is to end democracy everywhere and squash that hope. Look at this 2020 map and see how delicate the power balance in the world is right now. If the USA flips, democracy ends on the planet.
There are dark money alliances who fully believe they get ahead best by causing economic hardship for others. These dark forces have learned they can take power and hold it by dividing public opinion. They’ve aligned with our most ruthless American “businessmen” at the GOP Convention in 2016. They rallied behind Donald Trump, who now has the dirt on them all. They are fully committed to keeping the USA divided so their agendas advance at the expense of our collective needs.
American Democracy’s Enemies are More Domestic than Foreign Now
The American democracy’s enemies are more domestic than foreign now. Look how sick that statement reads on paper. But today, it’s 100% true. When a foreign entity attacks our lands and structures, we call it an act of war. If US citizens aid our enemies during war, we call it treason. But when citizens aid and abet enemies in cyber war, it gets treated at best like a white collar crime. What’s needed is a bill that makes attacking our institutions, like democracy and voting rights – an act of war. We can broaden the definition* of act of war to include acts of cyber war when such acts assault our institutions. That makes an attempt at voter suppression or at election fixing – an act of (cyber) war and treasonous. *The Constitution does not define what war is. It was assumed to be a military strike. Things have changed.
So we keep giving democracy’s enemies passes. Why is Louis DeJoy still Postmaster? Why are Roger Stone and Paul Manafort out walking free? These people participated in an attempt to overthrow the US government! No wonder the Governor of Georgia arrested a representative for knocking on a door. We let them get away with their crimes. They have no incentive to stop.
Start tapping phones and WhatsApp’s. Rules be damned. Our enemies certainly don’t respect our laws. Use Bush’s 911 terrorist act where the FBI could surveil phone calls.
Yes, we cut out the largest tumor, but it had already metastasized. Two hundred voter suppression laws are being discussed by local and state GOP chapters to end democracy for good in the USA. We must realize we are at war. Our enemies do. Start arresting those who attack our institutions, including those who create voter suppression laws. And for God’s sake, end the filibuster.
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The dictator map is not new at this blog. I have been posting this warning for 3 years now.
Imagine if all the energy we put into fighting with each other in the United States were channeled and focused on solving our collective problems.
Now look at life in Taiwan, China and New Zealand. Their schools, theaters, restaurants and parks have long been open and thriving.
There are family get-togethers. They did this without a vaccine.
How did they do this? It’s easy to know. These people don’t fight among themselves on the issues they have in common. They identify their problems and enroll scientific expertise to solve them. And I am sure they have disagreements on social issues. We all do. But they don’t let those harder-to-resolve issues stand in the way of solving the issues they agree on.
Here in the USA, we’ve allow dark money to get involved in politics. That alone gives license to our enemies, foreign and domestic, to influence our US citizens to fight among themselves. This is still the prime agenda of Fox News.
There are dark money donors (which means we don’t know who they are ) who believe they get ahead best by causing economic suffering for others. Corporate money that supports union busting do so because they like the wealth gap; it works for them just fine. This is why we must end Citizens United asap. These dark forces have learned they can take power and hold it by dividing public opinion. Those same forces aligned with our most ruthless businessmen at the GOP Convention in 2016. And they rallied behind Donald Trump who now has the dirt on them all. They are dedicated to keeping the USA divided so their agendas advance at the expense of our collective needs.
GOP voter suppression bills seek to take away our votes and end real democracy. Their dark money donors support them to vote against our interests and favor theirs.
If we had a real democracy, we would have had the Covid Relief Bill 500,000 deaths ago. We did not have to suffer so greatly here. The people of the United States are not divided on Covid relief and income equality. We are unified on the necessary core issues of healthcare, education, standard of living and infrastructure. We all want the best for our own in those departments. The USA suffering so greatly during Covid times specifically because we didn’t let our democracy work. Hundreds of new GOP voter suppression tactics are being passed in Republican states right now. This is the essence of anti-democracy. We who support real democracy must defeat these factions.
Public Web Site To Promote Real Representative Democracy
I don’t want to preach and then leave my readers with no ideas to move forward. I have been thinking about this idea for three years. I propose that we construct a social media web site that educates Americans on the existing science in the fields of healthcare, education, standard of living and infrastructure. It has moderated chat rooms where civil discussions are permitted on these topics. Scientific experts should voice their opinions and research in the chat rooms and inform us of our options and let us think collectively. At this site, we vote on issues only. We don’t vote on the people we want to represent our positions.
Then, on the first Tuesday of every month, a registered and secure mock vote on the issues is taken, resulting in a monthly pulse of what the majority of Americans want from their government. The site can be used separately for national issues, state only issues and even local municipality issues. It is just software for democracy, and it is sorely needed because democracy has enemies.
The voting stats generated by a software for democracy site can serve to demonstrate to Americans how democracy is actually supposed to work. Since we have a representative government, the big data voting stats generated the site can be used to insist that our elected reps do our bidding, not their own. We can report how they vote and hold their feet to the fire if need be.
Americans are not divided on our collective core issues. A Pew Research poll of 12,055 U.S. adults released Tuesday showed 70% in favor of the Covid relief bill. Who among us doesn’t want better infrastructure? So if our reps don’t vote the way we want, in a representative government we can argue it is a dereliction of duty and cause for removal from an office that is supposedly dedicated to serve us. At the very least, we will have documented grounds to vote them out.
Such a site can easily be created by the voting age college and university students. Berkeley would be a good place to start a software for democracy site with nation-wide support from colleges and universities. But it could start anywhere. The technology already exists, including blockchain-encrypted voting software. It could be up in forty days. The way I see it, SM sites mostly function to sell us and divide us. I’d like to see a site that is dedicated to educate and unite us.
The site could and should open up chat rooms to discuss the issues we seem to not agree on: gun rights, abortion rights, etc. But those should be addressed fully only after the areas where we do agree are addressed and resolved by our government the way we the people want.
It’s time for academia or a socially conscious business to create the vehicle to drag us out of this political quicksand that will destroy us. Our internal bickering will not magically go away after we beat Covid. The enemies of democracy are their making moves right now. They did not waste any time. They have ramped up their efforts for voter suppression. They won’t stop until they are jailed. Why should they?
The GOP knows demographics and time are not on their side. Their voter suppression bills are the GOP’s Last Stand. And like Custer, I hope the GOP have grossly under-estimated the opposition to oligarchic fascism in the United States. We are the planet’s first major country dedicated to governing by the democratic will of the people. We’ve lost the right to shine as the exemplary functioning democracy. We’ll need to work to get our democratic shine back. We can do it. But it will take more than words.
From “Russia, if you’re listening” in 2016 to “the election was a fraud” in 2020, Donald Trump incessantly lied to the American people, aligned with its enemies and abused the powers the framers gave to the US president. And we permitted all this to go on, as if it were all fine and dandy.
But the attack on the Capitol on Jan 6th showed all Americans there was a dangerous cliff we were headed for. In many ways, the visible ugliness of the insurrection was a blessing. The allegory of catching a cancer before its too late to cure comes to mind.
How Do We End The Cyber Civil War?
Fellow Americans on both sides of whatever divide you think exists: the cyber civil war we have been engaged in for forty years cannot continue if this country is to survive as a democracy.
The John Lewis Voting Act
The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act establishes a targeted process for reviewing voting changes in jurisdictions nationwide, focused on measures that have historically been used to discriminate against voters.
Less than a month into Joe Biden’s administration, it’s still clear that no matter how well Biden does vs. Covid and in matters of international relations, the GOP will not magically become a caring patriotic party. The new proposed voting restrictions in Georgia, coupled with 150 more such new anti-democratic voting laws that target people of color, reveals the GOP’s true heart. The 14th Amendment makes it clear that elected official who took part in or supported the insurrection, should not be allowed to run for office nor be a part of Congress. That’s the same basic mistake we made when we let Trump say grab ’em by the p*ssy – and still run for office. It’s terrible judgment folks.
We Need a Trump Ex-President’s Law 2021
Let me propose that a president who loses an election may ask courts to verify the accuracy of the election or contest it. However, once the vote is certified and his legal efforts have been exhausted, we need a law that a losing president can no longer decry or vocalize on the air or in media that the election was stolen, or otherwise rigged. We must draw the line on free speech, when that free speech creates a threat to the safety of commonwealth. We must treat such rhetoric the same way we would if it had come from a Taliban recruiter. It is actually much more dangerous than Taliban lies, because lies are more contagious when they come from an American. Yes, it’s sort of like a virus. The conatagion rate is a huge factor.
Refusing to surrender a verified, court challenged and settled election must be deemed an attack on our democratic process. Incendiary speech from an ex-president will also do much more damage than the same rhetoric coming from an average US citizen. The size of an ex-presidents audience means the punishment for incitement should be greater (not less) for an ex-president than for a person without said large base. As we are a nation of laws, incitement must be forbidden by laws with steep penalties for violation. Frankly it is treason, and treason laws and penalties should apply.
We have seen what words can do to motivate a mob, and we cannot trust that others will not do the same. Indeed, without a law to forbid incitement, it may become the norm for losing presidents.
We have for too long permitted the letter of our laws to violate the spirit and proper functions of our laws and institutions. This is exactly what Russia and other foes of democracy want. . Listen to Putin’s revealing Sochi interview with CBS (YouTube).
Goebbels said: The biggest joke of democracy is that it lets its enemies gain access to the power needed to destroy it.This is not new . This is what Putin spoke of in that interview – “using our laws to defeat us”. These are the real enemies of democracy – not the liberal left or the MAGA right – not any regular American people. The divide was created by democracies enemies, foreign and domestic.
Big business and despotic autocrats both want democracy to fail for their own separate reasons. Big business doesn’t want their workers to be able to be paid too well. They want to keep them needy. Sad, but true! Autocracies want their people to think no one does better anywhere in the world. So they certainly don’t want Americans focused and prepared to take on the challenges of modern life, as their people will see that and want the same.
In 2016, those two anti-democratic forces -big business and foreign autocrats – discovered they had similar goals and aligned behind candidate Trump at the GOP convention. The union of a known enemy like Putin’s Russia and an American political party must be viewed by the new administration both as an act of cyber war by Russia and an act of treason by the GOP players involved, including Donald Trump. The GOP could have stopped all this at “Russia, if you’re listening” but indeed they were in the game. It’s the only thing that makes sense.
Our Constitution and the laws of business and civil engagement recognize that criminal acts that masquerade as legal acts, are still crimes. A contract to commit a crime is not even valid. It must be this way or we lose the rule of law that supports all democracies. This is poli-sci 101. It’s not complicated.
Pardons granted for silence, favors or money are all forms of bribery are also crimes. Such pardons therefore cannot be valid. It is crucial to highlight that money is not the only way to pay for a bribe. Lying under oath to protect the pardoner is a form of payment and therefore a bribe. Both the briber and the bribee are guilty.
If we allow these crimes to go unpunished, lightly punished or forgiven the enemies of democracy will have no reason to stay away next election cycle. They only need to succeed once to end democracy. And Trump won’t even wait 24 hours to start campaigning and dividing us again.
Trump has already allowed the Russians to hack our defenses and pay bounties to kill our sons. A majority of Americans now believe Trump has been working against American interests. And even if it is just his own ego that’s driving him, his ego is our enemy because it does not actually revere the oath of office a POTUS takes to faithfully uphold and execute the laws and Constitution of the United States.
If it were not for the cover of his title, Donald Trump would not only be Individual #1 , he would be Public Enemy #1. Trump’s uncaring incompetence has already killed 1000x more Americans than Bin Laden’s airplane bombs.
You don’t beat a cancer by getting rid of most of it. Right now, there are reasons to lay low about what we will do to investigate and charge Donald Trump and others for crimes vs our commonwealth, at least until the Democrats and Joe Biden ascend to power on Jan 20th. The USA is a tinderbox and needs a cooling off period. It’s fortunate the transfer of power occurs in the dead of winter.
But I hope right now our new administrators recognize the real and pressing need to see to it that criminals no longer view the US government as fertile ground for profiting from power and then hiding their financial crimes. And I hope they are secretly and quietly planning how they will exact justice for the criminals that occupy the Washington DC swamp. More than anything single task, we need to get the crooks our of government.
One thing we can start talking about right now is up-to-date federal presidential candidate vetting requirements, which should include mandated financial disclosures to qualify to even campaign for POTUS. It was the campaigning and MAGA rallies that were the root source of Trump’s power. Trump will not willingly show his taxes. Had we demanded his taxes in 2016, he never would have run. We have paid a high price for our collective stupidity. We cannot afford to be stupid anymore.
The GOP should be okay with mandated tax disclosures. They should soon be looking for an easy way to say goodbye to Donald Trump. Yes, we see many have not figured this out yet. But they will. The insurrectionist route is untenable.
We need to make New Year’s resolutions for our government. Democracy’s enemies are counting on us letting them exploit the gaps in the letter of our laws. These are four 2021 resolutions I would like to see our government make and keep.
Financial disclosures mandated for all candidates for federal office. 2. Outlaw Gerrymandering. It runs counter to the democratic principles of equal representation and one person, one vote. 3. Electoral college reform. Some sort of population-driven compromise between the electoral college system and simply counting every vote to choose our POTUS should be agreed upon. If it can’t be agreed upon, do away with the electoral college. It was rooted in racism anyway. 4. Court reform to unpack or rebalance the judicial branch to be more representative of the attitudes and wishes of the majority of Americans.
The list could be much longer. But if we start by focusing on getting rid of the crooks and cracks in our government, better days will follow soon after.
America invented modern democracy when it through off the yoke of authoritarianism in 1776. The human species is in trouble now and the best hope for long time survival is collective effort. The PERSEVERANCE MARS PROBE is a great example of the potential of collective effort.
But authoritarians are in politics for themselves and they don’t want the majority in charge. They want to be in charge – usually for self-serving reasons. There is a global struggle for which system of government -democracy or autocracy – will persevere. Right now, there is more land ruled by dictators than democracies. If the USA swings to the right, undoing its democracy, the world’s governing balance will be critically wounded, the dictators will be able to seize the remaining democracies by military means and the species’ fate will be doomed.
An incumbent presidential candidate has the right to stoke hatred and divide the people of the United States if he deems it’s his best path to win an election. We even permit candidates lie to the public. And an acting president is protected by the “president cannot be arrested for anything” guideline even though that was certainly not the founders’ intention. Remember, they were throwing off the yoke of a dictator king.
However, anything action, speech or plan that our FBI would deem to be grounds for arrest if done by a domestic or foreign terrorist should be handled the same way if done by an ex-president. No man is above the law must rule.
Donald Trump said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any support. He’s done 300,000 times worse than shooting a person of Fifth Avenue. And I guess he was right. He didn’t lose that much support. Forty days after the election, 75% of his voters still think he won.
But after January 20th, will we still allow Citizen Trump to break the law? If he continues to stoke hatred and radicalize American citizens, putting us all in danger, should not those actions be prosecuted just as if they were done by Bin Laden? Remember, Bin Laden did not fly a plane into the World Trade Center; he masterminded it.
Trump’s radicalized base members planned to kill Michigan Governor, Gretchen Whitmer. It was a direct consequence of Trump’s words. We arrest and jail people when they pose an ongoing danger. If Trump continues to divide Americans after January 21st, why would we treat him differently than anyone else who put our citizens in danger?
I went to school with Donald Trump and knew him from Atlantic City for 14 years. Early in his presidency, I rooted for him to evolve. But it was not in his nature. Now, I wish Trump would wise up and get out of politics. He’s got plenty to do with hoteling and branding. He should count his blessings and turn over a new leaf. But as of today, it looks like he is intent on trying to hold on to his base. He’s found a way to monetizing grievance politics. Trump’s not going to give that up. Money is too important to him. Shame.
It’s easy to estimate the size of Trump’s support base. Trump’s base is the 75% of Republican voters who still believe him when he says he won the election. He won about 48% of the popular vote, so 36% of the voting public is still behind Donald Trump. It’s not enough to win a mandate, but it’s still a daunting majority of Republican voters. That’s going to be a problem for the GOP in 2021.
If the GOP is to survive, a different person must emerge as its leader. Who in the GOP is poised to take those those 36% of voters away from Donald Trump? The sycophants that could not stand up to Trump for four years will rightly remain cowards in the eyes of all Americans. Americans have often voted for inept presidents, but they have never once knowingly voted for a coward.
Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Mike Pence, Marco Rubio can all forget being then new GOP leader. Mitt Romney has lost once too often. Liz Cheney currently has the best chance to redefine and unify the GOP, but that would only be after Trump announces he is retiring from politics, the way all our ex-presidents have done. So if Trump does not get out of the way, he’ll be a threat to the survival of the Republican Party as well as to our national security.
If Donald Trump does not announce he is retiring from politics by January 20th, it’s critical that the Biden AG immediately start prosecuting him for as much as we legally can. We only allow one person to act as president at a time in America. We can and should arrest him at the first post-presidential divisive tweet or rally and charge him with the same crimes we charge terrorists who attempt to radicalize Americans. Liz Cheney should be fine with that too.
We put people behind bars because they are a danger to the public. If Donald Trump does not retire from politics on January 20th, tell me who will not be better off with Citizen Trump behind bars – except Donald Trump?
It’s December 12th, 2020, near the end of one of the strangest and saddest years in American history. There’s an ungodly number of virus casualties and it feels more and more like too many of them are casualties of the war of words Americans have been waging on each other. It has to stop! Our government was created to make our lives better for us. But what we’ve experienced for the last forty years is the rich getting richer and the poor getting more desperate. And we all know this is not a coincidence. So I don’t want to talk about Trump or Biden or any one man. This is about us.
We’ve allowed our government to become a business and that business is destroying us all. The business model goes something like this. The American government is split into two parts that stay at war with each other. The “two sides” get fed separate and different information media so each “side” thinks the other side is out to get them. Words have become weapons. Warring words become an industry. People are glued to their TVs for news. The stations profit via advertisements. The news media is part of this war. I am not saying the institution of news is evil. But the war they perpetuate is killing us now.
The wealth gap keeps expanding while we quibble, expending our energies that could be used in more fruitful ways. Behind the widening wealth gap is a global pandemic and a uniquely incoherent American response that seemed to aim for more deaths, not less. It’s become a viscous cycle.
Chanted by MAGA Crowd at DC Rally 12/12/30
So when MAGA people chant “Destroy the GOP”, let’s see this as an opportunity -perhaps our last opportunity to bridge the divide before we crash and burn.
Yes, my MAGA brothers. I am writing this for you too. If we can have achieve unity in our government, we can both get what we want. But first we have to know what we want from our government, not who we want in government. Perhaps that’s always been our problem. But these days we have social media technology. We can bridge the divide as long as we cut the blockades out of the way and discuss what we want from our government with each other.
So I am going to ask you this: what do you want from your government? Email me at josepharonesty@gmail.com and tell me. The only thing I ask is that you discuss or request things or actions you want or need to make your personal life life better.
I am going gather up all your requests and post them by category and update this page. Then I am going to promise MAGA people that if they do vote Purdue and Loeffler out of Georgia, and we get a unified government, we’re all going to join and demand that our reps give us what the majority of us want. And when we truly unite that way, the reps and senators in Congress, many of whom are up for election in two years, are going to have to do what we want or they will lose their jobs as representatives. This is how democracy works. We just forgot.
Of course, all sides get to make requests. I am not sure what the other side is because as long as we are not talking about who is in office, and focus on the things we need and want, it’s likely we will find out we all pretty much want the same things.
Below is a list of eleven subjects our country has to deal stat. You can also add a topic and relay your ideas or needs. Write whatever you want on whatever you want from your government. The results will be listed at this page, and with a unified government we can and will get what the majority wants or those people in Washington DC are going to be re-cycled in 2 years. All of them.
This is not about what Donald Trump wants or needs. That man has so much money that if you took away everything you could find, he’d still live fine on what he has stashed in China. This is only about what you want from government to make your life, your family member’s lives or your neighborhood, better.
Covid Relief – Income and Wages – Personally Held Weapons – Healthcare – Policing – Tax Policies – Public School – College – Infrastructure – Climate Response – Crime and Punishment – Submit a Category
Email your requests, suggestions or proposed solutions for things that fall in any of those categories – or start your own category. Then let’s unify our government and get what we want from it.
I know many of you are chanting “End the GOP” because some Republicans are letting democracy work. And I guess some of you think there the Democrats fixed the election. You should know many Dems thought Jeb Bush in Florida fixed 2020 for his brother George. We just bit the bullet for eight years while all of our needs were ignored under the guise of an unnecessary war in Iraq.
And that’s also the point. None of us get what we want if we are divided. That’s exactly what big business and our foreign adversaries want. Those two forces found each other and unified at the GOP convention in 2016. That’s how a government that primarily functions like a business stays in business. And we have to end it now because we just can’t afford to fight with each other any more. Things are bad all over. But they can get much worse.
So yes. We must destroy the GOP by voting out Purdue and Loeffler. But demand that our voices be heard in the new unified America. Maybe we can start a new party. The Unified Party. Whatever ideas carry the day, those will be the foundation of this unified America. First things first.
Destroy the GOP. Unify the government. Decide what we want from our new unified government. Demand what the majority wants, not who the majority wants. See to it we get what we want or vote them out again. We’ll get it right in a few cycles.
Send your requests or ideas of things you want from your government to: josepharonesty@gmail.com
As vaccines deploy, we can look forward to 2021 with some hope. But if the United States – and the planet – is content with just beating coronavirus, we will end up being no better than a little behind where we were when all this started. We will have learned how to beat coronavirus, but nothing more. And there are so many more challenges that humanity faces that are not going away.
This post is a plea for unity during a crisis that is larger than the pandemic. The issues of income inequality and climate change were here before the virus, and if we remain divided, they will only get worse. So why is America so divided? Could it be we have fallen prey to the forces that want us divided? Let’s analyze.
Corporations do better when we are divided. They prefer workers be constrained in their efforts to unionize for higher wages. Big business is mostly about bottom lines. Pursuant to the Trump tax breaks, corporations find themselves knee-deep in cash which they use to bribe/lobby mostly GOP members of Congress so they make laws that advance their bottom lines. it’s a viscous cycle. Working class citizens cannot match the financial power of these corporations. All they have is their votes. And big business has done its best to devalue those votes. It’s not a fair fight. But if we unite, there is nothing they can do to beat us. And they know that and seek to keep us divided.
Our foreign authoritarian enemies also prefer we stay divided. Those two forces, big business and foreign dictators, discovered hey had common goals in back rooms during the runup to the 2016 election. The Russian infiltrated the NRA for gods sake. They united behind Donald Trump. It’s not been a pretty world for most Americans.
Trump’s now on his way out. But the two forces, corporations and dictatorships are still very much alive. Now, the USA must cure its divided nation problem or the standard of living for the majority of Americans will continue to suffer. And we can’t afford to sink any lower on this slippery slope.
Authoritarian governments do not have the problem of divided government. They usually suffer from another problem. If the autocrat in charge is not benign, and they rarely are, the people in autocracies suffer from the oppressive oligarchies that inevitably evolve in these countries.
However, communist China’s president, Xi Jinping, is now very popular and deemed benign by the vast majority of Chinese. It’s known that some minorities are oppressed in China, but beyond that, China’s government has enjoyed popularity, especially after a quick unified pandemic response. It’s economy is growing again, and Xi has no rival. If we remain divided, while China is not, with it’s huge population, China will dominate the 21st century the way the USA dominated the 20th century. That’s the price we pay for not unifying.
There are strategic advantages to a unified government when a country is under attack. The USA prevailed in WW2 only because we chose to unite behind FDR. Overcoming the challenges of pandemics, climate change and income inequality will require focus and unity.
Even though 75% of GOP constituents want and need healthcare that does not exclude pre-existing conditions, the GOP just tried again to end affordable healthcare in the Supreme Court. It should be clear to Georgians that the GOP party and its members, vote for their own interests and not the needs of Georgians. America can’t afford four more years of gridlock. And miraculously, we have a chance to achieve the unity we need on January 5th. The Georgia runoffs decide the balance of power in the US Senate. Does anyone see a real reason to give the GOP another chance?
United we stand, divided we fall. That was a unifying meme for the Revolutionists that fought and died to free us from authoritarianism in 1776. They even had a song they used to sing about it. But it’s a meme that’s been around since the Ancient Greeks. Google it. There’s a whole history on that meme.
No one is asking anyone to put their lives on the line to defend democracy in 2020. Not yet anyway. We all want and need the same things on both sides now. The virus is a great equalizer. So we need to unify. We can quibble about petty details later, but if Trump has his way nothing either if us want will ever happen again. It will all be what Trump and the corporations want. Not even his base. And he’ll be fine with that.
If you are on the Trump train it’s time to get off. Maybe that’s why Trump says he’s running in 2024 again. He wants to keep his Trump train running. But we only allow one president at a time. Trump’s divisive rallies should be dealt with as dangerous violations of that rule. Trump will be a public enemy tantamount to a terrorist cell if he continues to to peddle hate and division as a citizen.
The GOP base have something to do as well. They must actively push their GOP senators stop coddling the reality TV president in the White House who is actively promoting division and tell them to state Biden will be the president for all Americans on January 20th. We need to see that from the MAGA people. It’s in their best interests and I think most of them know it.
Thousands of Americans die every day. It did not have to be this bad. And the GOP does nothing because Trump wants us to be at odds with each other. It’s disgraceful. How can we ask our soldiers to die for freedom if we are willing to let our senators sell freedom out?
If we don’t hear the GOP senators welcome Joe Biden on December 15th, the day after Biden is certified, I don’t see how one Georgian votes GOP. A GOP vote is a vote for the gang that was okay with ending democracy as long as they kept their jobs.
Warnings Over the Last Four Years Have Been Ignored. We Have One Last Chance to Get It Right.
This post contains links to tells, warnings and strategies going back to “Russia, if you’re listening”. I am Joseph Aronesty, a person who knew Donald Trump from Wharton and Atlantic City, where I was also steeped in the “greed is good” mantra. I got away. Knowing him as I do, I’m certain he and his cronies will play this traitorous game out to the bitter end.
We are engaged in a cyber war with Russia. It doesn’t feel like “war” because we don’t see the bombs, but we can lose as much. The United States, long admired as the paragon of democracy, is the target in the world’s first major cyber war. The focus of our enemies is to induce Americans to engage in civil war with their fellow citizens, so the USA self-destructs. Divide and defeat.
Putin masterminded this new cyber way to war. It is brilliant because the US is way too powerful to defeat militarily. The enemies of democracy know how to play the cyber war game. Do we?
Howard Hughes was sued for putting profits ahead of country. This was deemed unpatriotic to the WW2 generation.
I have begun to think we don’t. I’m going to get allegorical here for a reason. Most people saw Aviator, about Howard Hughes, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. There is a scene where Howard Hughes is being tried for treason for building the Spruce Goose. The suit was fallacious. But the patriotism of those on both sides of this issue could not be denied.
Where is our patriotism today? Certainly not in the Senate. How about in industry? We’ve got people like Zuckerberg thinking of their bottom line before the country. Without patriotism we would have lost ww2. If we don’t recognize we are at war, our enemies can take us without a fight. “That’s the plan”, according to Kushner. Listen between the lines. Barr said they will “rewrite history”.
The dodo bird went extinct because it could not recognize its enemies. This cyber war does not present like a war with bombs.. So pay attention to their signals and act on them as if we are at war. We are. This craziness could not happen unless we are at war. It’s all roads lead to Putin with Donny. Sold out long ago. Russian mob fringe player since 1987.
These posts outline the motives and plans of those who want to benefit from democracy’s demise and suggests things we can do to make sure our enemies don’t succeed.
Dictators United – There is a global struggle going on now: autocracy vs democracy. Autocracy is 8000 years old – and democracy has been around about 250 years. More land is controlled by dictators than democracies. I show a map in this post. Basically, Citizens United ( which is really corporations vs people ) joined with Dictators United ( a meme I coined for the underground union dictators ) and the GOP at the 2016 GOP Convention. Their realzied their interests were aligned. The both will do anything to stay in power. There is money in power for them. That’s all they care about. Legal grifting. But Trump made a huge error when he took advice from Putin and refused to accept the results of our national election. We have laws about that. All we have to do is use the 14th sec 3. It’s doable. Call it a national emergency. Yet no one speaks loudly on the 14th , and it is the greatest mistake the left is making. It would be popular with the people -and that’s all we need. The Trumpists know the importance of being popular. The left has repeated shown they have no clue how to do excite their own base. This post shows the left how to create a meme based on the constitution that both sides of the America will respect.
How FDR Handled His Supreme Court Issue With the passing of RGB, the makeup of the Supreme Court will be just as important as the virus, and the fight vs. authoritarianism in this election. Read up! There is a way out.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin: Partners in the Biggest Crime in World History If you don’t understand why a man with money and a cushy life would opt to risk it all for more wealth and power, this post describes the slippery slope of the greed trap that Trump fell into in the 1980’s with his casino profits. That’s where he met the Russian mob, who were busy bilking their own people. Money laundering is the oasis where dictators meet and drink.
Election Meddling by Foreigners Is an Attack on Our Commonwealth In 2018, I begged my rep, Ted Lieu to make sure that election meddling was treated just as if there was an attack on the lands, people and properties of our country. Until election meddling is considered an act of (cyber) war vs. the United States, its as if that wall Trump wants to build – is wide open on another flank.
Why Did Putin Say “Trump is Acting in Accordance with His Own Laws? -June 2017 – updated February 2019 – A CBS reporter catches Putin in his hockey game and Vlad reveals he is schooling Donald Trump in how to take over a democracy legally. But Vlad speaks in the gangster code Michael Cohen referred to and no one gets it except people who have been around that code. It goes undetected. THIS IS A SUPER IMPORTANT POST. People are just catching on now to what has been going on since 2016.
What If Trump and Key GOP Operatives Have Been Suborned? January 2018 – There is no way for Trump to have taken over the US reigns of power without corrupting and suborning others along the way. He’s always advertising for his “Roy Cohns”. If you pass his corruption test, you can stay in his administration and do all the looting you can hide, in your lane. McConnell, Barr, Pompeo, Kushner and Pence. That’s all he needs to break the USA and he has them. I advocate the House go after those five if they can’t nail Trump. Keep heat on.
Trump Trying to Destroy America Before the Election By May 2019, I had figured out that Trump knew he could not win a fair election and he was not even trying to be a good president. It meant he planned on either cheating to win again, or breaking this place so bad that there would be no definite election results. Looks like he is doing both.
“Cyber” is the New Way to War and Putin is Cyber Warfare’s First Master One of the main themes in my writing is recognizing one’s enemies. Putin, knowing he could never defeat the US with might, formed a plan to do it with a useful idiot. Trump is the malware in Vladimir Putin’s cyber war machine. This is a new form of warfare. We were not only not prepared, we let Vlad install a Trojan Horse.
Trump’s Main Problem: Cheating To Win August 2017 – I knew Trump cheated in our Penn class and that he did not pay NJ contractors who built his casinos. I was there. But cheating to win was exposed as his credo years ago. Ignored. They say, “Better late than never”, but it may actually be too late now. Hope not.
Why the GOP majority must end in 2018, or American democracy is dead. June 2017 – The first post that spoke to impeachment was about the timing of impeachment. I became an advocate to not turn impeachment over to a crooked Senate. This strategy was a huge Pelosi failing. I love Nancy still. But we need to be smarter during the run-up. Their team has teamwork, a quarterback and a coach. We need a war room too.
The Dark Hearts of Trump Republicans Will Not Deliver Light When Trump was making believe he was losing money in his casinos, I got close to Trump’s circle and worked around a lot of wannabe Trumps – as a jeweler in Atlantic City. One thing I learned in that environment is nothing good comes from a dark heart on purpose. If you don’t believe me, ask Michael Cohen.
What Can We Learn From the Pittsburgh Murders? Sad event. Trump projected the memes that drove a Pittsburgh man to attack and kill people worshiping their faith. Trump knows he is shouting fire in a crowded theater.
Indicting Trump Under the Espionage Act of 1918 – January 2017 – Explains why election meddling is an act of treason. Shared with Ted Lieu and a fundraiser. Ignored – and now we have to deal with it, don’t we?
Why We Should Not Work with Trump on Anything Until He Shows His Taxes – March 2017 – A reminder was sent that when you allow a criminal to operate as president nothing good can come of it. The fix is for the next Congress to set in motion. No public servants should be allowed to serve one day without revealing a number of years of taxes.
Preaching Jesus and Supporting Trump Will Not Square Any Longer – April 2018 – Roy Moore, a known child sex predator, runs for Senate in Alabama. It becomes clear that some Christians don’t live their lives following the teachings of Jesus. Trump throws his lot in with the rapist, who loses.
Now, in the days approaching the most important election in American history, no Trump hire is more dangerous to our democracy than his Attorney General Bill Barr. Let me go over why we should impeach Barr or at least make him be concerned about his fate should Trump lose.
I am not going to cite the grounds for impeachment of Bill Barr in this post. Many legal scholars have laid out valid impeachment counts against Barr already. What I want to impress upon us all is the importance of neutering Bill Barr as a Trump asset during the last 30 days before the election – and the 30 days following the election as well. Remember, we all expect Donald Trump to cheat as best he can in this election. And if it’s vaguely close, we expect him to challenge the results. That challenge will come from Barr if he feels secure enough to be lawless for his benefactor.
HISTORY IS WRITTEN BY THE WINNERS
Bill Barr recently said something that got airplay but not enough scrutiny. He said, “… history is written by the winners.” True. But that sort of thinking is usually reserved for major government upheavals like the fall of the Roman Empire or the defeat of the Sioux Nation. So why did Barr say that? That statement clearly means Trumpsters are intent on re-writing history by redefining American democracy and justice. If successful, America would still exist, but as if we had lost a major war to a foreign power – more the way Hong Kong exists as a Chinese satellite. I want to ask Barr what he was thinking when he said that.
Read: Trump Trying to Destroy America Before the Election In 2019, there was evidence Trump intended to cause strife in the the USA as a method the keep his base hating their neighbors. Now he's using the virus to gin up hate as well. Now he says he won't get out if he loses. Why is he doing all this? He's certainly risking a lot. There must a huge payoff, at least in his mind. There is.
Is Election Meddling an Act of (Cyber) War?
The map below encapsulates the real struggle on planet Earth. The three super powers are China, USA and Russia ( for its sheer size and militia, if nothing else ). We are in effect deciding as a species whether we want to be a planet ruled autocratically or democratically. On November 3rd, we will know the choice we have made. And you had better believe the dictators are weighing in and trying to affect that decision.
This November’s election is not just for the USA this cycle. When you see the map, you realize this is democracies vs. autocracies. And they do not co-exist better than cats and dogs because the citizens in oppressed countries can learn how citizens in democracies are faring via the internet. Despotic rulers want all the democracies gone. For that reason we want them gone. Tinderbox.
This is why I have been advocating that tampering with our vote be considered an act of (cyber) war with financial and personal penalties that are so high no one would consider even trying. If election meddling were considered an act of war or cyber war, then it would be treason – as it should be.
We should guard our institutions just as fervently as we guard our lands and bases.
So if the Trump Train is going to start going full dictator’s handbook here in these last 100 days, it will be Bill Barr that starts those motions, investigations, arrests – etc. We already see what he is doing to the prosecutors who don’t sell out to Trump-ism. What makes us think Joe and Hinter Biden, Obama and Comey are not on some Barr list to be prosecuted in the days before the election? That would be re-writing history.
Why would Barr say this if he had not pondered it? Barr’s leak of re-writing history informs us that a nefarious plot is afoot and Bill Barr will be the instrument of that plot. Donald will be calling the shots, but from afar.
At a Rose Garden event, Feb. 15th 2019, right after Trump hired Bill Barr, he said “God speed and have a great life” . We all heard that. That’s a major tell. That’s the code Michael Cohen spoke of. Trump only says that if he had a private discussion with Barr, in which he makes it clear his only goal in life has been to have a great life for himself. If Bill is on board with that goal for himself and agrees to stay loyal, Trump can make that great life happen for Barr with much more money than the paltry $145,000 that the AG position is paid. That also means if we look for foreign bank accounts opened between Feb 1 and 14 in 2019, and find something that ends with Barr – we have him. Barr is hiding something. At least, make him afraid with an inquiry. Put Barr on defense.
Barr’s loyalty had to be bought with money placed in a foreign bank account. These days, bitcoin would also suffice. No one sells out for free. That’s why they call it “selling out”. So I am advising people, if we can’t get Trump’s taxes now, let’s get Barr’s taxes. There may be a link. And just by requesting them, it could spook Barr enough to get him to walk back his pledged loyalty in the days before the election. It might even spook any other GOP sycophants on the take. Mission accomplished then.
Then there is the election itself and what happens after the results are in. Bill Barr will be there to state the election is too close to call regardless of the outcome, or cite coronavirus affected Trump voters inordinately or some other made up reason to hold the results in abeyance until they can sort it out. Or Trump can say “his people” are getting different numbers. He may even start a war thinking that will force us to keep him in office.
The potential for mayhem here is huge as long as Bill Barr is AG. And conversely, mayhem potential is greatly reduced if Bill Barr is tied up in impeachment hearings. Plus, the GOP can’t say we’re messing with the election by violating some unwritten 90 days out rule. That rule is reserved for releasing dirt or initiating an action on the actual candidates. Bill Barr is not a candidate for POTUS and he works for us – not the president. It’s not a foul play to impeach him. It’s a very smart play. And maybe it will undo the harm done when we turned the impeachment of Donald J Trump over to a crooked GOP Senate before seeing the whites of their eyes. They were not afraid in February. But things are changing. Let’s give the GOP a chance to abandon Trump before their convention and make life easy on everyone.
This post, written May of 2019, predicted that Trump would attempt to destroy the American experiment and bring it to its knees before the election. Pandemonium over the pandemic is a good thing for Trump now. He’s living up to his oath – to Vladimir Putin. That’s all he can afford to think about now.
PS. We should have our convention after theirs. Strategize. The date is sort of pliable due to the pandemic. Take advantage of every little thing. That’s how Trump won.
We have about 100 days left until what will likely be remembered as the most significant election in US history. I want to lay out how crucial this decision is for the USA to get right, not only for its democracy but for the entire planet.
One question that looms is, will the people of the United States continue to allow its government to shield the criminals within its upper echelon like crooked police precincts shield their bad actor cops. Accountability is trending as a meme after George Floyd’s murder, but accountability is not just about cops any more. We must insist our elected reps be fully vetted and held accountable just as well as our police. The “frat boy” cronyism has to end – everywhere.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence …
The Preamble to the Declaration of Independence
I have also been asking myself this for four years: If a president works against “domestic Tranquility” and obstructs “Justice”, does he not betray the founding principles of this government laid out in the Declaration? And is not “betrayal” a cognate of the word “traitor”?
Looking back, the Trump presidency has essentially been one long four year war on the concept of equal justice for all. Trump is fighting for cronyism to prevail, so he routinely goes after his ( not ours, he’s fine with Putin) enemies and pardons his friends.
Why must he do this? Only one thing makes sense. Organized criminals depend on cronyism. It’s always been that way. And now, since impeachment failed, the ballot box is the battlefield upon which this final war will soon be waged.
Trump is aware he is way down in the polls. He had been banking on creating false enemies and scapegoats for his fans to hate, but the pandemic quickly became a mortal threat to the health and welfare of all Americans – which now especially includes his own base. Made up causes like Build That Wall, Lock Her Up, Make America Great Again are not resonating. People have real problems to navigate now.
Trump is even trying to blame his world’s worst virus response on China. But then, why are Korea and New Zealand doing so well versus the virus? Did they blame China? No. The reacted to science decisively and early. Our numbers of cases, deaths and tests reveal we can rightly blame Trump for about 80% of our deaths. The USA averages five times worse than the average country to Covid. So far, that’s about 100,000 more dead Americans owing to Trump’s uncaring incompetence.
Since Trump knows he is hopelessly behind in an honest election, he has already messaged that he plans to contest the election results. We should be preparing for that challenge now. Are we? Are we just hoping “it will all go away” the way Trump said of the coronavirus?
Neither the Virus Nor Trump-ism Can Be Wished Away
In order to beat the virus, we study science. In order to beat Trump-ism we need to study some political science. And that starts by knowing our enemies. Trump and his allies ( here and abroad) are performing as enemies to the founding principles of the Constitution. Why is that? Who are his allies?
Americans can all agree we don’t want a dictatorship here in the USA. Yet there seems to be no facility or viable process to challenge our POTUS even after we hear his words siding with dictators over our allies – and even over our own intelligence. It is madness for us to permit this kind of behavior from anyone, let alone our military commander. How powerful is this cabal of global dictators that Trump seems to belong to? To understand that, this map is instructive:
The Dictatorship vs Democracy Map*
As you can see, Russia, China, and most of the Middle East and Africa are dictatorships. I’ve made the Trump USA orange, and dubbed it a dysfunctional democracy. You can see right away that the United States is the tie breaker for land area and financial clout in the struggle between democracies and dictatorships. Without the United States, democracies would control about 35% of the world’s financial resources, making it easy for the dictatorships to take it all in a short time. That is precisely what is at stake here. The entire world order is on the US ballot in November.
Dictators are not Trumpism’s only allies. There are also the sold-out large corporations, such as Facebook. many are beholden only to their bottom line and would prefer a world where there is no competition and people are just needy consumers. The unbridled capitalism paradigm also leads to large wealth gaps just as a dictatorship does. So yes, we need to stand up to the billionaires, as Bernie and Warren have said, but first things first.
The remaining allies of the authoritarians are the poorly educated. They are usually sold on “religious” and phony “personal value” talking points. That’s why state-run media is so important to a successful dictatorship. That’s also why Putin took Pravda early in his regime.
Protect The Vote
Trump seems to be losing the election badly as of today. But he has powerful allies and they are more than willing to cheat again. Today I went online and Googled “VOTE AGAIN” at GoDaddy. I think we should create a site where people can vote again or at least register their votes again. I realize that it will never be their official vote. But the site I envision takes ID, and secures the voter’s ID and votes with blockchain encryption. It’s rather easy to do these days. That way, when Trump challenges the election results, as he will certainly do if he is still a force to reckon with in November, we are armed to fight back.
When people argue we would only get Democrats to vote at this pretend vote site, I counter with, “if our numbers are a majority of all votes in any county or state, we won’t need the GOP votes to be counted”. This would be a site created primarily to count Democrat votes because we fully expect the GOP to cheat wherever they can.
We need Democrat votes to be registered somewhere else besides then current state run voting machines, which are known to be subject to hacking. We still don’t know if Hemp won in Georgia. Trump and his allies know the ballot box is the battlefield upon which the war to decide his fate and the fate of the planet will be fought on November 3rd 2020.
SAVE THE POST OFFICE
Why are not the three super billionaires – Bezos, Gates and Bloomberg ( I have given up on Zuck ) – announced a financial pact to save the post office and vote by mail? Don’t they realize that dictators seize media businesses first to stay in power? it feels like we are sleeping, partying and just hoping all with go smoothly on 11/3. It’s 120 days out; we should be firing on all cylinders. It’s also 30 days out from the supposed cutoff date to announce bad news on candidates. Trump will not honor that convention. He expects the Dems to however. I hope we prove him wrong on that. The gloves are off. This is a war. Maybe it’s a cyber war, but we can lose our democracy in this war. Isn’t that what WW2 was about?
*I fully believe Putin showed Trump this above map in Helsinki and explained to him that together they could rule the planet. I found this map with a simple Google search “dictator vs democracy map”. Putin knows Trump has no sense of history, but also that Trump needs to stay in power or possibly be exposed for all the crimes he has committed. Putin knew Trump would see the world like a RISK board once he showed it to him that way.
Democracies and dictatorships are like cats and dogs. They are natural born enemies because their philosophies are diametrically opposed. Nearly all dictators steal from their own people to amass power and wealth. That’s why you see such large wealth gaps in most dictatorships. Since dictators are essentially thieves, they all need to continue to hide their deepest secrets.
If dictators could align, they could wipe out the democracies and protect their secrets for the foreseeable future. So that’s why they think this US election is important in Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Their existence as dictators depends on the world not viewing democracy as the better way to go. Since its hard to have an Iron Curtain in today’s internet/social media world – their best hope is for Trumpism to prevail here.
This post is about the plight of US countrymen and the fate of democracy there and on the planet. You know how they say “we’re all in this together” about Covid. Well, it’s the same with this oligarchic, “Trump-crony” coupe of the US 250 year-old representative government. It will all go down if Trump stays on as POTUS. It will mean the US democracy is over – and soon after on the planet. Here’s a link to the democracy vs. autocracy map, the root of the struggle.
MANAGING THE PANDEMIC EFFICIENTLY IS THE KEY TO AVOIDING A SEVERE DEPRESSION
If a country does worse by population percentage than other countries, it will also suffer economically relative to the more efficient countries. Its currency will fall relative to other currencies.
Fellow Americans. European nations are currently thinking about banning travel from the US. The final nail in the coffin will be demoting the US dollar’s status as the world’s currency. So handling the virus better than we have from tomorrow on, is part and parcel of the survival of the United States. #TrumpDepression
There are crosses upon which great nation-states crumble and die. We are at such a crossroad right now. Our primary goal must be to stop what happened here in 1919, when then the second winter with the Spanish Flu was three times worse than the first winter. And that means we need to act now. We can’t wait until November 3 to unify against the virus. Or it it January 20th?
Act Boldly Now While Protesters Are in the Streets
If we act boldly while the people are in the streets for racial justice, we can get those same people to protest for financial justice and medical justice aswell. There is a correlation between racial and financial justice anyway. American racism evolved from its guilt over the institution of slavery, which largely imposes financial hardships on a select group. Autocratic cronyism makes us all financial targets – all slaves on some levels.
But more have to understand that Trumpism seeks to enslave us all. BLM protesters can just add some new memes, speakers and banners at their rallies. The Resistance is what Trump wishes he had – a true populist movement. Shape it. Transform it. Mature it. Address it. Enroll it. We are own our allies.
If we act outrageously now, The Resistance and the BLM protesters will have our backs. In fact, the crowd is more likely to stay calm if they see we can act boldly. They know what we are about to lose here. That’s why you see a rainbow coalition out there. Our kids know they are prime targets too – all colors.
If mishandling the pandemic is not a reason to ask Donald Trump to step down now as POTUS, then we are truly fools. There is no other way to think about this. This is science, biology and medicine. When you have cancer you go to an oncologist, you don’t take advice from a witch doctor.
Why is Trump doing this ugliness show? He knows it doesn’t look good. We know Donny can be cordial and smooth if he needs to be. He learned that in the casino business. I remember watching him smooth talk high rollers like Mike Tyson in his Plaza casino. Donny knows when the POTUS gig is up, the jig is up. He’s not stupid that way. Still, he seems to want to blow this place up. Right now, Trump has every reason to evolve, but he won’t. So why?
Donny is very worried about his taxes and dirt coming out of the SDNY. We all know his first crimes were financial. His finances only make sense if he has large undeclared reserves of money in foreign accounts. Monies he leverages to borrow from DeutscheBanke. His taxes will reveal that path.
We Are Running Out of Time – Impeach Barr
People generally hate Barr for what he did in DC. Barr has no charisma as well. I know Bill Barr has taken undeclared money into foreign banks accounts like Donny. When Donny said at the Rose Garden “God Speed, have a great life” this was the reiteration of their agreement. That’s the code Michael Cohen spoke about. if I don’t carry enough credence for you to believe me, ask Michael Cohen. he might be happy to weigh in on the Berman firing. Barr has an agreement. And for upholding his end of the bargain, he is paid off the books. He certainly can’t be paid on the books for this work. So Barr’s in too deep to get out. Bill Barr enables Trump’s obstruction. Trump needs Barr. So impeach Bill Barr ASAP.
140 days to Election Means 50 days to Be Outrageous Because of the Pre-Election 90 Days of Silence “Rule“!
The United States needs a single science-oriented commander to be totally in charge of the virus – yesterday. We cannot afford to wait for the election and then January 20th. Trump must at least step aside with respect to the pandemic and put all the power behind a leading epidemiologist, one he does not choose.
Speaking of Pence, why don’t we ( Chuck and Nancy) ask him if he wants to be president for these last six months? The GOP might go for it, now or soon. There’s the easy way out for everyone. Let Pence pardon Trump if he’ll step down now. Build it in on the QT. The states and private people can still come after him. Donny might even might go for it. All problems solved. Democrats in office have to think a little more like gangsters. They’re up against gangsters.
140 days to election means 50 days to be outrageous because of that pre-election 90 days of silence rulethat Dems will adhere to, but Trump won’t. If we are outrageous in that period, Donny will have Barr declare our candidate illegal for breaking that rule. He’s hinting at that now. We have to think one step ahead of Donny*. Being a gangster is not easy. Staying POTUS all he is consumed with now. He thinks the next term will be a jail term. Going after his protector, Bill Barr, is brilliant, but do it all the way this time. We don’t want Barr in there between November 3rd and January 20th!
*I use Donny often, as it was his Penn or child name. He’s not grown spiritually in all those years. Donald is too mature a name for him. I wish more would call him Donny. Some of his best friends, if you can call them that, still do.
TRUMP’STAXES MUST BE REVEALED
We must make all efforts – legal and back room – to get those taxes out into the public. Ask Bloomberg how to do this. He knows information. It can be done. Just the way Donny does it. It may take money. It’s just paper. We don’t have a war room – but we sure need one. So please, someone grab that mantle- this week. Or partner in the back rooms. It does not matter who does it. Keep Biden out of it. Leak them, if need be.
A UNION OF THE MULTI-BILLIONAIRES
Bloomberg should be asked to spearhead and announce a union of the billionaires – Gates and Bezos – the way the athletes unionized for BLM. – That would be like a lion roaring. Coordinate now. Don’t they know the autocrats take the businesses next? And don’t discount the advantage of having one leader during a war. The “I alone can do it” does not work for governing, but it can in a war.It’s in their interest to save the post office. They should each throw a billion at it. It won’t hurt them a bit.
Sorry to use this metaphor but we’ve got to begin to act as if this is World War II and Trump-ism is “the Nazis”. It really is that now, just 75 years later. The USA can lose to a German autocrat and Russian spymaster without a bullet or bomb. If we don’t start acting like we are at war, this place is going to suffer beyond words. The ends do justify the means to save democracy on the planet. That is what is at stake here. I asked Ted Lieu to make election meddling an act of (cyber) war so treason is a potential outcome for those who go that route.
Trump fully knows he can’t win being ugly. But he does ugly anyway. It must be part of his mission, perhaps sworn to Putin, to destroy the US democracy before the election, if he can. It’s before the election because he might lose, and Putin won’t have any say here after that. Donny’s negotiating with Vlad right now. The VOA grab will be help Putin run over some countries. It all comes comes down to autocracies vs. democracies. They do not co-exist well. Each system does better if they are the only system. The destiny of the planet is at stake.
Financial Criminals Are the Masterminds Behind Autocracies This post reveals the delicate balance of power in the world today. I don’t think enough people have seen the map and understand this struggle. Donny is working for and with the original 1980’s Russian Mob, the same players Kushner back-channels.
TRUMP’S CELL PHONE
We all saw Donny on his cell phone during the economic crisis meeting. He cared about what was on his cell phone more than the meeting. It was urgent, I guess. It could even have been Putin on the phone with him. Putin would have loved to taunt his puppet during a meeting, the way Anthony Hopkins did at the end of Silence of the Lambs with Jodie Foster at a police meeting. So …
The VOA grab should have those in the telephone business worried they are next. Taking Pravda was an essential step in Putin’s coupe of the Russian democracy. So, whatever cell phone company Trump uses, we should find a way to tap into that phone and get the last 30 days of talks. And then leak the right stuff out. If this sounds ignorant or illegal, I remind you we are at war and should act that way. War is just an attempt to steal from a sovereign country. In the old days, people used bombs. Putin could never do it with bombs here. But with his Trojan horse, we can just give it all away. And we are.
We are running out of time to act boldly. Soon we will hit 90 days out. Donny will violate that for sure. It’s not even a law. Comey did last time. But if we violate it, he will claim an unfair election. That’s where this is going in his mind. So any bold steps, leaks, moves, indictments, or impeachments should be announced in June. Let that sink in.
Subpoena Bolton
This is the time of year we should have impeached Trump the first time. The spring and summer are better times because the public can get out on the streets easier. I always remind people Occupy Wall Street died in the cold winter. Plus, with the virus having so many out of work, and with our youth the most resilient to the virus, there has never been a better climate in our history for a populist movement to galvanize.
So call John Bolton the the House to testify ASAP. The protesters will be there with you. America will be there with you.
It was not smart to turn impeachment over to the corrupted Senate. We could have waited for the Spring. I begged Pelosi to wait till she sees the sites of the GOP’s eyes. In this current environment, the impeachment outcome could have gone differently. Many GOP sycophants are looking for safe exit ramps – all but those in on the stealing with Donny. Too much PC in our party. Where is the bold brilliance? It’s time to be bold and brilliant. .
So let’s stop treating Donny Trump like a president with public support. He is a common blue-collar criminal. You know that. Act that way. Break some eggs. Unify the gripes of the anti-racists and the anti financial cronyism (Trumpism) people. You can be sure the protesters and the majority of Americans will have our backs. And do some bold secret back room stuff.
Hold this image in your minds as you ponder our planet’s future. This happened. Donny does not know political science. He’s being advised because is suborned. We could see that in Helsinki. Donny could have done a little better job. He’s just not allowed to.
about me
Joseph Aronesty. I’m a 72 year old family man, e-commerce pioneer and Penn grad who knew Donny from Wharton School (67) and AC as well.
When police do bad things and are allowed to continue their policing work, they are not being held accountable for their “crimes”. If they are given a slap on the wrist, it’s that tiny slap that perpetuates a culture which allows our worse people to repeat the same crimes, over and over again. That’s how we got Derek Chauvin. (On a different level, that’s also how we got Donald Trump.)
Would-be autocrats like Trump ( and Nixon) love the power of the presidency more than the duties attached to it. They think they need only paint themselves as “law and order” icons. But when push comes to shove, that law and order they want is for others. They want neither the law nor order to apply to them.
Most Americans now believe, as I do, that Donald Trump must continue to try to stay president so he never has to pay for his many financial crimes vs. the American commonwealth. That’s why he does not want to show his taxes. We can see that is all he cares about. He’s not fooling people so easily in 2020.
Trump also knows he is way down in the polls. He has seen the resistance now. It is in the House, the streets, online and on the airwaves. The George Floyd murder made it apparent to Americans of all stripes and ages that something was seriously wrong here. The resistance is not only about BLM now. The protesters serve as the new hippies. They know it’s their turn to shape their fate or surrender to subservience.
Peeps like Donald Trump will always be around – new, young sold-out, talentless, wannabe rich types like Kushner, Kayleigh and Steven Miller. The smarter countries don’t allow such opportunists and grifters access to their governments. That can only be done when transparency and accountability for one’s past record is part of the candidacy process.
Does anyone think Trump would have even run for office if he had to show his taxes to get on ballots? Of course not. When Trump said “Russia if you are listening”, it should have been legally disqualifying for candidacy right there. But it wasn’t and it still is not here in the USA. In the USA, the smartest place for a financial crook to aspire to work is the government. That has to change.
Like Any Smart Boss We Must Watch Our Employees
There’s an easy way to stop all this nonsense: make sure would-be criminals who seek government posts know what they have done will be under scrutiny by “we the people” before they are allowed to be candidates and then again while they are in public service. Like any smart boss, we must watch our employees. Only then, will those with bad intentions steer clear of public service positions in the US government. They will steer clear because criminals have an inferiority complex. They don’t think they can make it in life without cheating.
Etymology: The word CANDIDATE hides the word candid, which means honest. As I see it, can-did is comprised of two smaller words – can (ken, know) and did ( diety, god). Someone knew that honesty in government was important a long time ago. We have forgotten what we once knew – again.
Deciphering the English Code, Joseph Aronesty
Today Kasey Hunt was saying #DEFUNDTHEPOLICE meant REFORM THE POLICE. She was asking what that reform was going to look like. Why do we send an armed policeman to wake up a guy in his car and check him out? And that’s when it hit me. Big changes are not happening here so fast. They will trim the hedges for sure. But something else has to change before we have big changes. And it’s not just the president.
In the USA there are more guns than peoplE
There are about one billion guns in the hands of civilians worldwide. About 40% of them are in the hands of Americans. Civilian gun ownership is eight times larger in the USA than in the average country. On top of that, the pandemic created a huge gun buying rush. So yes, it would be nice if a social worker could tap someone’s car window and check him out. But in Atlanta, would he want to do that? I don’t think so. That one example shows the magnitude of our problem here in the USA. It’s racial, yes. But it’s also our ingrained culture of violence and that goes to the Sandy Hook and the NRA. The USA is a powder keg. Why should we be surprised when police are violent?
Al Sharpton said it right. Talk is cheap. We will know we are sincere about the changes we need, and talk about so loudly lately, when people start paying for their transgressions. But big changes will require new gun laws. And that is something we should not discuss until after the election. That’s why I write this new age is a dawning. The work has just begun.
The Floyd protests have gained traction because, on many levels, we are all demanding accountability now. There is a nearly universal resentment: people in key positions enjoy different standards of justice. It’s not right, and we all resent it now. People want these double standards to be gone not only for policing and race, but status and wealth as well. A democracy means all people are treated equally. At least, we seem to know that collectively, at last.
There’s a new generation taking over the stewardship of this earth we share. They have their hands full, but they can handle this. They are armed with the historically unique ability to communicate instantly with everyone in their “base” quickly through social media. They have cameras on their cell phones and they are not afraid to use them. And to quote George Floyd’s brother, “There’s a lot of us”.
Strange to write, but true: I feel more hopeful today that change is coming than I did on the day Obama was elected.
What is more dangerous to our survival – the coronavirus or the Trump-ism virus?
The United States already leads the world in Covid deaths. US Deaths per capita is five times the world’s average. When Donald Trump flaunts not wearing a mask in public like its a personal fashion statement, he encourages others to do the same. Doctors who study pandemics tell us that masks lower the risk of spread by 50%. There will be more disease and death in the US, not only because Trump waited five weeks to take any actions, while he praised China and said it would “go away”, but also because he publicly flaunts the medical experts and encourages reckless behavior in our citizenry.
Donny is focused on his re-election, not American lives. The reason he does this is that he fears his presidential term may be followed by a jail term. It was a huge mistake to allow anyone to run for president without showing his taxes. It’s still that same big mistake in 2020. Donald Trump has long been involved in financial crimes versus the US Treasury. He has illegal foreign bank accounts. He misrepresents the value of his assets and profits. He learned that from his father Fred Trump. Reports say he owes the US Treasury 500 million in taxes.
Americans. We do need this virus thing to go away, the way Trump said. But wishing won’t make anything happen. Smart actions are our best chance to vanquish the virus. Contact tracing and testing is how the counties that have the lowest death rates have done it. Are they smarter than Americans? Not really. They just have governments that care more about them than our president does. America has not had that government cares thing in a long while. But it’s never been more apparent than it is now.
When Trump fails to set a good social pandemic example, our brave front line workers experience increased risk of mortal danger. This would be the same if George Bush had strewn IED’s in the path of our soldiers in the Iraq wars. He’s making it harder for our bravest to survive the pandemic. To me, that’s disqualifying for him to serve another hour as president. Need I remind us all that Donny Trump feigned a foot injury to get out of service to his country? When it comes to service to humanity or courage, Donny Trump does not hold a candle to a single front line nurse or doctor. Donald Trump only knows how to pose as a president.
There are so many reasons Donald Trump is not fit to serve as president. Top on the list is that he does not care about “America” as a concept. Regardless of your personal opinion on Trump’s patriotism, this pandemic has fully exposed that Trump does not care about people. He refers to them as numbers. “Our numbers would have been much worse”. Sure they could have been worse. But the math is still – USA is doing five times worse than the average country. I guess we could have been doing 20 times worse than the average country.
The fact is we could have have 80% less death here – 20,000 dead not 100,000- and then Trump would have been doing an average job on the pandemic. His claim that it could have been worse it like a football coach that gets blown away saying “We did score a few field goals, it could have been worse”. You get the point.
This fall, America will have two viruses to contend with. We’re on our way to figuring out how to control the coronavirus. It’s just a matter of time – a year or two. But if we don’t rid ourselves of the Trump-ism virus in this election cycle, it’s going to take even longer and be even harder to vanquish than coronavirus.
Donald Trump has no allegiance to anyone except the man he imagines himself to be. And with climate change needing urgent global care, and a pandemic that doctors say may come back with a vengeance this fall, four more years of Trump will also endanger the lives of all humans on earth.
I sat in a class with Donny Trump at Penn in 1967. He cheated then too.
If you want to know why all of this is happening – now in 2020 – read this post:
I wrote a book on etymology and published it more or less on the day Trump got elected. I hope my four years of resisting is coming to an end soon and I can get back to my real life goals. I am surely not alone with that hope.
With less than 1/2 a year left for our democracy to wrench itself free of the coupe which is Trump-ism, I’d like to present a glimpse at my way of deciphering the roots a few relevant words in this year of choice.
LIBERTY. We all know what it means: freedom. It is one of the three founding principles of the United States. Life. Liberty. Pursuit of Happiness. We are entitled to those things. They are the reason this country was formed. They are why we pay taxes.
The closest word to LIBERTY in the English language is LIBRARY. Why is that? In my book, Deciphering the English Code, I break words down to their factors, just as we can do with numbers. (7+2=9) LI+BER+TY is how I see LIBERTY. Then I look to root meanings for LI and BER and usually that gives you the original meaning of a word in the mind of the creator of the word.
LI is a root word for LIGHT, but also prominent in words like LIBRARY and LITERATURE. Is there a relationship between light and words? There surely is. The physical relationship is that they both travel at a speed no animal can achieve. This may seem trivial to us modern people, but to the Stone Age hunters that created spoken language, this was a big deal. If you think of them more like the American Indians, you can imagine how they were deeply into their physical worlds.
In my book, I explained that the LI sound was assigned to describe light because now and back then, we lift our tongues to say LI – and EL. Before we spoke, we communicated with our eyes more than our ears. We employed a body sign language. And so we were literally looking for visual signals in our first words. LIFT LEVER ELEVATE HELIUM evolved in various languages from that simple principle. Light comes from above. Same as it ever was/
The ancients also equated LIGHT and WORDS. You’ve heard the phrase “spread the light”. It means “spread the word”. LIGHT equals WORD. It’s why LIBRARY, LITERATURE, LIGHT, LIFE and LIBERTY all contain the LI root word for light.
LIBERTY also has the BER. There is a known and very prominent link between B and V words in the ancient languages. The written B is identical to the V in Hebrew and other Middle Eastern languages. In Germany the AutoBahn is really an AutoVan. It’s about vanning not banning. The BER is a morph from VER. VER means TRUTH as in VERIFY. ( veritas, Latin. )
LIBERTY literally means WORD TRUTH. The ancients knew truth in government is essential to liberty. Or maybe they knew that the absent of truth spells the end of liberty for citizens. Why have we forgotten that simple principle? The New York Times advertises “Democracy Dies in Darkness”. We also hear, “the truth will set you free“.
Americans. These are ancient principles. We need to learn from them. It’s important to understand that as Donald Trump destroys the meaning of our words, attacking and concealing truth, and calling facts “fake news” – he is also attacking our liberty and freedom.
Donald Trump has operated from day one by concealing the truth and spreading lies. He entered the political arena with the lie that Obama was a Kenyan. There have been 18,000 lies since he took office.
Why does he lie so much? I think I know why. It is so ingrained in him, so natural – that it figures to be something he learned at home. And I think there is an audible tell as to why that is true.
They Only Know What You Tell Them
On the campaign trail Donny once said “they only know what you tell them”. I wish I could find that sound clip. I believe it was said in Iowa. It was said in-between his sentences. I remember Chris Matthews used to say “pay attention to what politicians say when they don’t think you are listening” . I remember that blurb from Donald, because I heard that meme once before in my entire life. And I knew right away that Donny heard it from the same source as I did: our fathers. Have you ever heard “they only know what you tell them” before? Probably not. It’s a meme particularly used by those afoul of the law when referring to things not to say to police.
“They only know what you tell them” is not something anyone with a normal upbringing hears from parents. It’s literally saying “it’s okay to lie”. But my father told me this when we were Atlantic City boardwalk merchants in the 1970’s. We sold estate jewelry. Being a young man fresh out of college, I just did not have that make up stories about jewelry to enhance it’s value thing in me. It’s also known as “romancing the stone”. I was a stick in the mud compared to my father – a true Great Depression survivor businessman. But I was not brought up in the Depression and neither was Donny Trump.
As a shop owner, I employed many experienced “con man” jewelry salesman who used “they only know what you tell them” while selling people jewelry in a tourist town. Many were remnants from the Nucky Thomson days in “AC”. I heard things like “this necklace belonged to the Duchess or York” or “this figurine was rescued from the fire in Dresden”.
It’s not so much that the shoppers were being robbed either. They just were being told a fairy tale to endear them to the object d’art they were admiring. In the end, they usually paid a fair price based on cost. But the story is what drove them to want to own it at the moment. And they were all fairly wealthy people, ogling jewelry. There was not great harm being done.
Donald Trump clearly heard “they only know what you tell them” from his father, just as I did. It certainly was not taught at Penn. Fred Trump however did not have a jewelry shop on the AC boardwalk. He told this to his young son because Fred was lying to government officials about the values of things the Trump’s owned. Maybe young Donny, like I did, questioned his father as to why he was lying. He was cooking the books. And that’s when Donny would have heard that meme. But now Trump has taken that meme on as his a way of life. It even goes to women and personal relationships.
Donny has been running his entire life on they only know what you tell them. The truth must never get out about Trump’s business dealings or suddenly they, which is really us, will have a tangible, recorded version of the truth. People only hide truth when truth reveals criminality. This meme is why we don’t see Trump’s taxes or notes from meetings with Putin. This is also why Trump is firing inspectors!
Being a natural-born liar is never an ideal trait in a person, but it can be relatively harmless when it occurs in someone involved in the peripheral and trivial arenas of life. You don’t want your doctor or even your plumber lying to you. We certainly don’t want our US president living by the philosophy of “it’s okay to lie” during a pandemic.
Blatant repeated lying by people in high places should be illegal. But it’s not. It should at least result in a loss of position, just the way a doctor loses his license to practice for malpractice. But it does not. Trump knows this cold.Be prepared for more lies, especially in the last two weeks before the election. super salesmen always believe they can close a deal in the final hours.
Be prepared for dirty tricks. Nothing is off the table for Donny. Biden should guard himself well. He has to be careful about his VP pick as well.
American democracy is nearly broken now. People who understand the threat it is under are mostly pinning their hopes on a blue wave in November. They hope it will take out the GOP Congress majority and a clearly corrupt president. They know America will break if we continue to allow fake news and lies to have the same status as facts. What a shame that would be.
What We can Do To Preserve American Democracy
Vote, of course. But be aware we need all of us to be able to vote. Demand from your reps that you see and hear them advocating for vote-by-mail in every state. This is up to the states, so get organized and raise our voices for vote-by-mail this summer. Representative government works when all voices are heard. There is such a thing as collective wisdom – especially when it comes to a pandemic.
Mail ballots are physical ballots. They are impossible to hack by computers. Their authenticity can be verified. They can be made safer than any other form of voting. And no one can contest the results of a vote-by-mail ballot system if it’s done right. Recounts are easy.
Our US Post Office needs to be bailed out. It is in the red several billions. We should ask for help from the multi-billionaires who stand to lose a lot if this democracy dies in November: Bezos, Gates and Bloomberg.
Donald Trump is presiding over life or death for millions of people. And still, at his new conferences, Donny always finds a way to reveal his deeply troubled soul. He talks ratings, fake news, phony impeachments, calls Adam Schiff crooked, picks on governors and campaigns – as thousands of Americans die – who did not have to – because Trump did not care enough to prepare. Trump was warned by our medical experts this was coming and Donny still did not prepare. He threw a ban Chinese travel at it, but our medical experts told us that was not going to be enough. Now, who knows how many will die?
And still, Trump keeps smiling at these conferences. He’s striking poses for his fans – playing doctor/authoritarian. And this has to stop or even more will die. Because there is no good excuse for any potus ignoring our experts when he has other people’s lives at stake, we must seriously consider that Trump may be viewing this pandemic as a potential ally in his quest to win 2020. That takes a real sociopath, but doctors tell us he’s got all the markings of one. And we can see it with our own eyes too. He just does not seem to like people unless they praise him. What on earth is that about except the machinations of the mind of a would-be criminal dictator?
Donald Trump seems not to care how many people die -as long as he is not blamed for any deaths. He is preoccupied with his re-election chances. He refers to people as numbers. “One-hundred thousand would be a great job” because more could have died had he did nothing. As we mostly see it, many less would have died had Trump cared about American lives more than his political survival. A responsible president would have listened to the medical experts warnings and reacted stat back in January.
If this were a war, we wouldn’t stick with the general who let the war cause the death of thousands of Americans, would we? – So just why is Donald Trump in charge of our health and lives now? You can’t believe his words. He lies a lot. In a mortal crisis, one lie is too much. And forgetting the rhetoric, Trump’s actions, or lack thereof, reveal his true thought processes.
Trump simply does not care about us because we are not him. Donald Trump is the only person Donald Trump has ever been seen to actually care for. What a mistake we have made folks. This is madness. The National Defense Act was created to defend our nation’s people. It must be used with or without him to expand testing. That being our best path forward, the Senate must abrogate his presidential powers asap and use our National Defense Act without a presidential approval, if the potus won’t do his job.
There is also an emerging pattern of city contagion versus country contagion. Since Trump is all about his political survival, he can see that in November, it would be to his advantage if people in cities could not vote as easily as people in rural areas. This only favors Donald Trump, his sycophants and the traitorous corporatists that pull their strings. It spells disaster for the American people.
The Bad Math of Re-opening Too Soon
Coronavirus began in Wuhan China by a transmission from bats to humans, with the possibility of an intermediate animal. This was first noticed in the province of Wuhan in November 2019 . Coronavirus disease began with a single patient zero or perhaps a handful of patient zeroes. In under six months, there are now about one million people who are known to have Covid Disease on planet earth today. The actual number is certainly much higher, as one can only be counted as having covid-19 after they are seen to have the disease or have tested positive. And we are simply not testing very much. Why is that?
In less than six months, the virus has expanded by a factor of, at the very least, 10 to 1,000,000. That’s a factor of 100,000 times in under 6 months.
If we re-open now, we are stating not with a one to ten carriers, but potentially 1,000,000 carriers. If you multiply even 10% of those carriers by the same 6-month expansion we have just witnessed, it’s 100,000 times 10,000. Nine zeroes. 1,000,000,000. That’s one billion with the disease and no cure or vaccine in six months. That’s also when our critical election is. One out of eight people on planet earth. That’s an eve of destruction type of a number. Donald Trump knows this and he does not care. This is madness. It must stop today.
The politicization of the coordinated scientific response necessary to avoid a world disaster must stop today. Our county and the world cannot afford to have politics influence our pandemic response in any way. It must now be a purely scientific and logistically strategic response if we are to do our best to fight this virus and avoid a total catastrophe.
Donald Trump has shown his ineptitude as a team builder for the country from day one when he put his son-in-law in charge of way too many important government functions. He has fired our best minds and installed sycophants who have their own dirty secrets to hide. This is all about keeping a sociopath;s secrets from seeing the light of day. This is madness.
People are only valuable to a sociopath/narcissist if they serve the imaginary stories they tell themselves. So I ask why is Trump in charge of our pandemic at all? Why are the doctors not fully in charge? Why does a non-doctor have any say on our pandemic response? Would you let a plumber be in charge of your heart operation? Numbers don’t lie. Look. April 4th, 2020.
The math for the USA will be the worst on the planet, and we’re supposed to be thankful. I don’t feel thankful. As of this April 15, China had 3500 deaths and we have 17000. Our Covid deaths have now equaled the published number of Trump’s daily lies.An American has now died for every lie President Trump has told. And it gets worse. China, a country 3 times larger in population, (which means its 3 times as crowded) – is experiencing a much better per capita outcome than we are expected to have. Sometimes I think we deserve this, sad to say, for leaving a known criminal in office for 3 years.
USA is expected to lose 100,000 souls, if we keep our social distancing in place through summer. China will likely have 5000 deaths when we have out 100, 000. Basically we will have done 60 times worse than China per capita, and Trump tells us he did a great job? Since when is doing 2% as good a China, a country that had no corona warning, a great job?
Donald Trump’s uncaring ineptitude at the helm of our virus response is an ongoing threat to all of us. He threw out a meme that “impeachment may have distracted him” – a little. He straddled that idea to put it in our heads for a reason. He’s going to make it illegal to challenge him very soon. We can’t have this now! There will be other critical life and death decisions.
We need doctors fully in charge of our pandemic response. No Trumps. No Kushners. No sycophants. Since doctors and nurses lives are also at stake, I think they should insist on being in charge or just not show up. That would not last ten minutes. Trump would have to put Fauci fully in charge.
Donald Trump Did Not Prepare for a Pandemic Because Trump Never Plans Ahead for Anything
They call it “prepared” because you have to do something before the bad thing happens to be “pre-pared”. But Donald just does not care enough about anything to prepare. He wings everything. And we are paying a heavy price for his failure to prepare the USA for what we will now endure.
It did not have to be this way. If China lost 5000, and they were first to experience the pandemic, countries with wise rulers should have done better than China, not 100 times worse. This also means if we just ended up doing as good as the Chinese, who had no warning, we would only have lost 2000, not 200,000. Donald Trump’s way of steering our ship may cost us American 198,000 souls. I’m sorry, but this is reckless driving.
We are all watching in horror in these corona press conferences while a mad king struggles with his psyche pretending to care about “America” in the midst of the largest pandemic in 100 years. And our mad king will never stop playing the imaginary game he repeats in his own head and really fight for our causes. Trump wouldn’t know how to even begin that process.
Instead, if he does not like a Governor, he doesn’t call them. He actually said that. He said, “it really doesn’t make any difference”. That’s a quote. Trump said, he doesn’t stop Pence from calling them. This man should not be in charge of our fate any longer in any realm. But if we leave Trump in charge of our virus response we will get what we deserve.
Fellow Americans, this is madness. And this really is the way empires collapse. I have no idea why people on “both sides” here in the USA don’t unite tomorrow to serve our common need to survive this pandemic with as little loss of loved ones as possible.
Fellow Americans. There is only one reason our loved ones are dying in these numbers. There are corporate forces that wanted us divided and Trump did a great job at that. Do not be swayed by the scapegoating and firings of real patriots that will now begin from the Trump administration. That is the dictator’s handbook play now. Divide, weaken and conquer. We must not waiver from our mantra: We are all in this together now. People say “stay safe”. I say “get smart”. I’d say stay smart, but we have not been smart have we?
This war to keep Americans divided did not begin with Trump, but Donald Trump is in charge now of that war now. It’s not a war for Americans’ interests – it is a war against Americans’ interests. I don’t know if it was jealousy for what we had here, or just the plucking of ripe fruit by criminals pretending to be statesmen, but we let it happen here. The goal of that war force is to keep us divided and keep us needy. Big business has intersected with a greedy king to keep everyday Americans powerless and establish a permanent ruling class. That’s the story behind the poor virus response. They like it this way!
April 5th 2020 : What we can expect now from Donald Trump is the following. This week coming up will be really bad and terribly sad for America, which was and is highly unprepared to fight this contagion. He has anointed himself as the head general in this “war” – with his “invisible enemy”. This is not a war. This is a medical crisis brought on by years of neglect by the GOP which Trump now heads up. The own this. But Donny views this pandemic as his “treasure trove”. That’s phrase he used But instead, they will look to change the “chain of command”. That’s why the Navy captain was fired. Trump will seek to make it “dangerous” or “illegal” and punishable by immediate imprisonment ( or worse ) to challenge his as commandeer of the virus response in any way. He can say it’s distracting him and he is needed for the virus fight. This is why he is on the stage every day, – to play “war room”. But Donny Trump is not fighting the virus beyond making sure all that make his presence are tested. He is still fighting for one thing: to stay in power so he is not prosecuted for his crimes, against the American people. That’s you and me. And we have to speak up now.
Fellow Americans. Fake News is dead if we want that now. Coronavirus response requires we be scientific and empathetic if we are to survive this pandemic and remain the United States of America. Donny Trump has neither of these characteristics and we all know that.
This virus will kill a lot people, much more than it had to here due to a mad king’s uncaring ineptitude, but coronavirus will also kill many of our pre-corona ways of being. The age of fake news can be one welcome casualty of the pandemic. We must welcome that death. Respect for science and expertise must rule now. If coronavirus can do that much for us, it can perhaps save the species. People will need the real facts now so they can arm themselves. Something dies. Something is born. That’s the way of nature. We must make sure something good is born from all the “death” we will experience due to a mad king;s ineptitude.
Wouldn’t it be nice if our best and brightest were solely in charge when we had health emergencies? Wouldn’t it be nice if all Americans knew that this country was doing its level best to keep us safe so our children grow up healthy?
We must all stay home. This will hit those without savings hardest. Those with money will emerge poorer as well but they will get through. People will try to game the system. War profiteering is the standard in Trump’s criminal presidency. We can’t let that be okay. Watch the GOP politicians. They are notorious during these bailout cycles.
People’s appetites for big gatherings have gone away, and probably for a few years. Live sports? It’s going to be made-for-TV only for a long while. I have no appetite to watch a basketball game during this pandemic. Do you? Trump talks like we have to get back to work, but something tells me our appetites have changed permanently, and many business models that worked pre-virus, will become permanent casualties of our changed appetites.
This is madness. Trump loves to say “nobody could see this coming”. What on earth does that mean? There were plenty of people who saw this coming. The doctors in the World Health Organization warned him In January and the first reports were in December. A grocery chain in Texas has prepared for this since January, and they are doing pretty well with it. Google it.
Donald Trump knew this virus was coming to kill us and did not think for one second about American lives. He though political games. He thought “treasure trove.” Our elected president used his criminal survivalist gut about a virus. He was in trouble with Russia. Impeachment was on the front page. He asked himself, “maybe this virus can help me?” Trump tells himself, ”I’m going down for my crimes if I’m not re-elected.” That’s what this is all about now anyway. It’s about keeping Donald Trump out of jail. And we all are suffering and our loved ones dying for this. How crazy this is? Put Pence in charge today.
This virus does not have a soul. Like all living things, it seeks to stay alive. Coronavirus grows inside the bodies of other life forms. It originated in bats. Bats like to hang together in the dark and in large numbers. So this virus was designed to spread from bodies that hang close and it does not particularly light sunlight. Coronavirus’s shape is like a weapon. It’s a ball with spikes emanating like spokes in all directions. It sticks to cells like a sticker you pick up in the brush. Coronavirus injects its dna into other cells through the ends of its spikes. That’s how it takes over another body – cell by cell. Coronavirus deploys like a quick cancer.
If the virus stays within one person, it either kills that person or that person wins the fight and the virus is vanquished by one’s antibodies. Coronavirus is a very formidable and clever little enemy. It knows not to kill the young. They will be old in due time. It waits. It acts as a herd thinner for the weak. But that’s not perfect math. It can take anyone. That’s the singular way of our common enemy and we now have to out-think it. We’ve got the brains over this virus. We can beat anything we set our minds to. And we need a leader who really cares and is not distracted or distract-able. I’d say we deserve such a leader, but that’s not true. We have the leader we deserve now. Maybe we will deserve better soon.
Since coronavirus spreads by touching from one animal to another, if we just stay apart – especially through the summer with its light – we can outwit this pandemic and it can be almost gone before next winter. But we have a president who knows that staying apart will slow the economy and that’s not what he is there for. Trump is there to make money for the forces that want Americans to be divided and weak.
The actual job of being president requires he delegate our most serious tasks to our most serious experts. We do have those in the USA. Serious and knowledgeable experts. They saw this coming and told our president, and now he owns this.
Why is a potus like Trump so dangerous during a pandemic? Trump needs to be surrounded by people who are criminal enough to keep his crimes secrets. These inner circle associates are even allowed to do their own crimes, as long as they keep it fairly quiet and keep the others’ crimes secret. And what kind of real expert works this way?
Donald Trump wakes up every morning and remembers he needs to win another election. He knows he may have to face the music when his reign in over. Fight. Fight on. That is who he is. Like the virus he has a single purpose.
We can’t have this now. We are fighting a totally different war than Trump is fighting. We are fighting a war for our lives and the lives of our family members and Donald Trump is fighting a war to stay in power.
I am hereby calling for a bill in Congress to be advanced banning Donald Trump from officiating in any way in our war with the virus. Pence will do fine for now. Pence seems to be taking it seriously. At least he is not a disturbed man-child.
It’s time to save ourselves. We’ll need both sides unified to demand this now. The lovers and fighters. And right now. This week or many more will die than need to. Maybe someone you know and will miss. And then you won’t even forgive yourself. We have our common enemy now. Its name is coronavirus. Let’s unify to defeat the virus – left and right. And lets unify to insist on a caring empathetic president. Honestly, anyone of us could do a better job handling this crisis. Anyone of us would just let the experts handle it all and give the experts of our full support. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to do that. Just a caring soul.
Let’s insist Pence finish this job. He may even do a half decent job. Trump should not be allowed to talk to Pence about this in any way either. Trump and the virus must be quarantined from each other. And neither can a Kushner or any other Trump be involved with the virus response. I hear Kushner has a hand in the respirator business. Enough!
Trump can stay on as president and preside over other affairs and even run for president again. We don’t care. But we can’t have him playing a game in his mind, while running this country in a deadly serious war with a virus.
If millions die for Trump to stay on as president – you know – the way he spoke about his “good friend” Chairman Chi – president for life, – so be it for Donny. That is the character of the man holding the most important job on planet earth, at least to Americans.
This is madness. Trump is orchestrating our virus response by playing it by ear and with no regard for the lives of others. Just let Fauci make all decisions and let Pence finish the virus response.
If need be, use the 25th Amendment, but in a slightly altered way. Use it to get Trump off this virus response project. He can even stay on as president as long as he stays away from the response with no financial interest, investment or profit on anything coronavirus. Pence and Fauci can be in charge. Trump can go back and play golf. No rallies. Watch the Kushners too.
Joseph Aronesty
3/26/20
These Four Prior Posts Reveal Why This is Happening
AMERICA ONLY WON WW2 BECAUSE WE WORKED TOGETHER AS A TEAM.
In WW2 we let FDR have a 3rd term because we knew we were at war and could not afford to be divided. We can’t afford this inner division today either – but we don’t seem to know that. Dems must show the American people they can unite their party if they expect the country to believe they can unite the country. Both sides will respect that. After all, if they can’t unite the “left” how can they unite the country?
We are at war in the USA. We are at war with foreign enemies that want to exploit our riches. We are at war with Trump’s GOP party selling our rights and assets to the highest bidders. We are at war with Mother Nature, who seems to want to get rid of us for our polluting ways. And at the same time, we are at war with each other, which makes it difficult for Americans to prevail at any effort.
I am old enough to remember first-hand the spirit of the WW2 generation. They were not the greed is good generation nor the it’s all about me generation. The greatest generation citizens resigned to do their parts to defeat German Nationalism with a spirit of teamwork and without ego. Now we have a combination of corporatism and American Nationalism to defeat. And they are about to shut the door on democracy. The moment the Senate acquitted – it was really over. Praying for votes in this rigged environment is not a plan. Hoping there will be a fair election is not a plan. It is a hope or a prayer.
Trump knows exactly how long he has to completely take this government over – from the justice department installations to the election fixing with our enemies. Trump is working every day to have our democracy be gone before the 2020 election. Why? Trump knows the term that follows his presidential term may be a prison term.
On July 27th, in Doral Florida, when Donald Trump said “Russia, if you are listening, I hope you are able to find the 30,000 emails … you will be mightily rewarded by our press” he was in violation of the Espionage and Sedition Act.
Though much of the Espionage Act seems to refer to communication technology we rarely use any more, and focuses on acts committed during war times, the heart and soul of the act is on target for today’s times. Further, the nature of war has changed drastically over the last 100 years. Cyber war versus nuclear power countries has largely replaced wars with bombs. Putin is the world’s true pioneer and leading expert in modern cyber war – a war where words are the weapons and installing loyalists into foreign governments can get Putin the nearly same result he might desire from a physcial war.
Section 2 of Espionage Act ( parentheses are mine emphasis )
Whoever, with intent or reason to believe that it is to be used to the injury or the United States (to affect free and fair elections hence subvert the will of the American people ) or to the advantage of a foreign nation (Putin’s Russia), communicated, delivers, or transmits, or attempts to, or aids, or induces another to communicate, ( Trump asked someone to hack his opponent’s computer and release what might be found and suggested that person would be mightily rewarded ) deliver or transmit, to any foreign government, or to any faction or party or military or naval force within a foreign country, whether recognized or unrecognized by the United States, or to any representative, officer, agent, employee, subject, or citizen thereof, either directly or indirectly and document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blue print, plan, map, model, note, instrument, appliance, or information relating to the national defence, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than twenty years.
Since Donald Trump invited Russia to hack a presidential candidate’s computer on national TV, I believe he is guilty of espionage. I believe our DOJ can act immediately via the Espionage Act of 1918 and indict him for an act espionage.
The main Trump is not guilty legal argument I see out there goes like this:
All Trump said was that he hoped Russia could find emails that Hillary Clinton deleted from her private server. Common sense says that he only wants to get his opponent, Clinton, in trouble, which is fair game. Say what you will about Trump’s tactics, he wasn’t looking to harm the U.S. or benefit Russia.
I argue that inviting a foreign enemy to affect an American election does indeed do harm to the USA. The USA is more than just our communal land, people and resources. The USA is also our way of governance. And the bedrock of our government is our free and fair, unhampered, unhacked elections.
Further, an invitation to hack a presidential candidate’s computer is tantamount to an invitation to open the back door to a home. Sure, you might tell a robber “only take stuff that belongs to my opponent”. But in fact, that is not how a hack or a robbery works. Once the door is open, anything can be robbed and things may spiral to violence or murder. So the person who invites that robbery is both complicit and indictable. The invitation is also a criminal act.
An invitation to hack any political election is a criminal seditious act that does real harm to the United States.
Will a distric attorney or senate member please look into this and address it ASAP? We don’t have to let this happen to us.
Added January 13th 2021, one week after the January 6th insurrection.
The 14th Amendment also says people who are involved in insurrection, – or even comforted an insurrectionist cannot serve in our government. Look here: 14th Amendment.
The 14th certainly makes Donald Trump unqualified to serve, as he was the central figure in the Jan 6th insurrection.
Something has changed in America, and pretending otherwise is no longer safe. If a sitting president can deny, delay, or obfuscate the outcome of an election, then democracy itself is in jeopardy. And if one political team claims the right to question or refuse legitimate election results, then the opposing side logically inherits the same right. That is not a threat —it is a consequence. Just like in a football game, there has to be an level playing field with the same rules for both teams in order for the true winner to gain the moral highground to take the reigns of government in a democracy.
If Team Trump were to deny, delay, or obfuscate the procedures or results of the 2026 midterm elections, then Team Democracy would face a choice: accept a broken democracy, or prepare a constitutional, collective response. The publishing of said constitutional, collective response should be created now, well ahead of the midterms, so there is no chance of getting caught flat-footed in November.
One possibility is for the Democratic Governors Association — or a similar alliance of state leaders — to announce today that they are standing together to defend free and fair American elections. An Article Five–style pledge — “you come for one, you come for all” — would signal unity and strength. The purpose would be to prevent foul play and its resulting mayhem in November.
Let me lay out the logic plainly. Many Americans believe the country is already in a political war — a conflict not of weapons but of institutions, trust, and power. Democracy, once a radical idea, depends on citizens choosing representatives who argue and negotiate within agreed rules. Authoritarian systems do not operate that way.
The Founders wrote about “self-evident truths” for a reason. Evidence literally means from what is seen; video hides in the word evidence. And today’s polls reveal most Americans feel they have seen enough. With the midterms approaching, the question is not whether citizens should reject results they don’t like; they should not, of course. Elections carried out by longstanding rules, with broad participation and lawful procedures, must be accepted regardless of outcome. Americans have done this before. Many disliked prior results, but the system held because people respected the process.
The fear today is totally different: that elections may be contested not through law but through power. If attempts are made to delay or undermine the midterms, states should be prepared to respond lawfully and collectively. Governors could announce that, in the event of clear election interference, they would enact their emergency powers to protect their citizens and institutions — including reconsidering how and to whom federal tax dollars are paid and managed until constitutional order is restored.
This would not be a declaration of separation, nor the creation of a new country. It would be a conditional safeguard ; a contingency plan meant to preserve constitutional norms if they are threatened.
Such a stance might resonate with many Americans across the political spectrum. Distrust of federal power is not new; it has appeared in movements from the Tea Party to modern progressive coalitions. The idea of states asserting greater autonomy has deep roots in American history.
And here is the strategic point: if citizens know there is a peaceful, organized, constitutional backup plan, attempts to manipulate elections lose much of their power. Deterrence works when the consequences are clear and there is a feeling of reassurance. History shows that would-be strongmen respect strength. Institutions survive only when people are willing to defend them collectively.
This is not a call for chaos or refusal to accept legitimate outcomes. It is a call to prepare calmly, lawfully, and transparently ,so that no leader, from any party, can undermine the rules that make democracy possible.
Because if a sitting president can deny or delay the outcome of an election, then democracy itself is already in checkmate; and Americans of every political belief should refuse to accept that future.
Joseph Aronesty (2026) Inspired by Thomas Paine’s Common Sense (1776)
Introduction
In January of 1776, a short pamphlet began circulating through the American colonies. It was written not for scholars or statesmen, but for ordinary citizens. Its purpose was simple and radical: to explain, in plain language, why submission to concentrated power was neither natural nor necessary.
The pamphlet was Common Sense, and its author, Thomas Paine, did not argue that King George III was uniquely wicked. Instead, he made a far more unsettling claim—that monarchy itself was a flawed system, and that placing excessive authority in any single individual inevitably corrupted both ruler and ruled.
Nearly two and a half centuries later, the outward forms of power have changed, but the underlying dynamics have not. Titles evolve. Justifications adapt. The language of authority modernizes. Yet the temptation toward autocratic rule—and the willingness of people to accept it—remains a constant of political life.
What follows is not a historical reenactment, nor an argument about personalities. It is a modern restatement of Paine’s central insight: that free societies do not lose their liberty all at once, but by failing to recognize familiar dangers in unfamiliar forms.
Paine wrote to awaken his contemporaries to patterns they were already living through. The purpose here is the same.
On the Nature of Concentrated Power
There is a persistent belief among free people that power, once granted, will restrain itself. Human history offers no support for this belief.
Power does not seek balance. It seeks continuance, expansion, and ultimately immunity from challenge. Democracy dies not because of a moral failing of individuals so much as a predictable feature of absolute authority once it is detached from regular accountability. The problem is not that one person becomes all-powerful, but that many people slowly grow accustomed to absolute power.
The defenders of concentrated power often argue that a strong executive is necessary to protect the nation. Yet history repeatedly shows the opposite: such power rarely protects a people from danger, but very often protects the autocrats from the people.
Personal rule—whether it wears a crown, a uniform, or the language of popular mandate—rests on a simple inversion of responsibility. Citizens are told that judgment is a burden best surrendered. Loyalty is redefined as obedience. Dissent is reframed as weakness, or worse, betrayal.
This is how liberty erodes without being formally abolished. No proclamation announces it. No constitution need be rewritten at first. The shift occurs in tone, in expectation, in what citizens come to tolerate in the name of order. A free people does not wake one morning to discover itself unfree; it arrives there by degrees, persuaded that exceptional power is both necessary and temporary.
At this stage, the question is no longer whether power has overreached, but whether the public has forgotten why limits existed in the first place.
Those who argue that “this time is different” must answer a hard question: different from what? From human nature? From history? From every prior instance in which concentrated power promised stability and delivered submission?
A government of laws depends on citizens who understand that strength lies not in domination, but in restraint. When restraint is abandoned—when power is admired for its force rather than its limits—the transition away from self-government has already begun, whether it is acknowledged or not.
On Why Free People Surrender Their Judgment
The loss of liberty rarely begins with force. It begins with a sense of relief.
Democratic self-government is demanding. It requires attention, disagreement, patience, and the humility to accept that no single voice—including one’s own—is sufficient. In uncertain times, this burden feels heavy. When a confident figure offers certainty in place of complexity, many experience not alarm, but comfort.
This is the first seduction of personal rule within a democracy. People do not abandon freedom because they despise it, but because they are persuaded that freedom has become impractical. They are told that debate is weakness, that disagreement is disorder, and that unity requires obedience. The promise is simple: trust me, and you may rest.
What is surrendered first is not rights, but personal judgment.
Fear plays a central role, but not always in obvious ways. It is not merely fear of enemies, foreign or domestic, but fear of instability, fear of social conflict, fear of economic uncertainty. A population anxious about its footing becomes willing to trade liberty for reassurance, even when said reassurance is largely performative and offers no real relief.
Those who resist this trade are often caricatured as dangerous, radical, unrealistic and disloyal the leader’s cause. In this way, caution and protest are recast as cowardice, and submission as strength.
The most effective autocrats do not demand admiration; they cultivate dependency. They position themselves as indispensable solutions to problems they continuously emphasize and rarely resolve. Each new crisis reinforces the narrative that only extraordinary authority can preserve order, and that ordinary checks are luxuries of a calmer time.
None of this requires the suspension of elections or the abandonment of constitutional language. The words remain. The habits change.
The final psychological shift occurs when people come to believe that resistance is futile—that the trajectory is inevitable, and that adapting is wiser than objecting. At that moment, power no longer needs to coerce. It is sustained by resignation.
And so, a free society depends not on perfect leaders, but on citizens who retain the nerve to think, to question, and to withstand the discomfort of disagreement. When that nerve is lost—when convenience replaces vigilance—no external enemy is required. The erosion is complete from within.
On How Institutions Are Emptied Without Being Overthrown
Free societies often imagine that tyranny arrives by spectacle—tanks in streets, constitutions burned, courts shuttered. In reality, institutions are more commonly hollowed than destroyed.
The outward forms remain. Elections are held. Legislatures convene. Courts issue opinions. Yet their authority is gradually diminished, not by decree, but by disregard. When power is personalized, institutions are tolerated only so long as they comply. When they resist, they are portrayed as illegitimate, corrupt, or obstructive.
Another method of hollowing out a democracy is selective obedience. Rules are praised when they benefit the powerful and dismissed when they restrain them. Enforcement becomes inconsistent. Precedent is ignored. Over time, citizens learn that law is not a standard, but a tool—applied unevenly and explained afterward.
Once this lesson is absorbed, trust in government collapses. Faith in institutions declines, while faith in the authoritarian rises. The public, weary of complexity, begins to see institutions as theater and the individual leader as the only “real” actor.
At this point, institutional failure is not an accident; it becomes evidence used to justify further consolidation of power. The damage itself becomes the argument.
On the Myth That This Is Inevitable
Perhaps the most paralyzing belief in any republic is the belief that decline is unavoidable.
When citizens are repeatedly told that norms are obsolete, that restraint is naïve, and that past standards cannot survive modern pressures, they may come to accept erosion as adaptation. What was once alarming becomes familiar. What was once resisted becomes expected.
Yet history shows that inevitability is often an illusion created by momentum and fatigue. Systems do not collapse because collapse is natural, but because enough people conclude that resistance is useless. The belief that “nothing can be done” becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Those who benefit from concentrated power rely on resignation. It discourages participation without provoking opposition. It replaces outrage with detachment, and engagement with cynicism. A disengaged citizenry is far easier to manage than an angry one.
The most dangerous phrase in a free society is not “this must be done,” but “this cannot be stopped.”
On the Duty of the Citizen in a Free Society
Thomas Paine understood that liberty is not sustained by declarations alone. It is sustained by citizens willing to accept the inconvenience of freedom.
Self-government demands more than periodic consent and voting, It requires continuous attention, the courage to dissent, and the refusal to confuse comfort with stability. It asks citizens to tolerate disagreement and to defend principles even when doing so is socially costly.
Liberty does not depend on optimism, but on memory—the memory that concentrated power has always justified itself as necessary, temporary, and benevolent. A government of the people is a historical exception, not the rule. It survives only so long as citizens remember that order imposed without consent is not democracy, but quiet submission.
A free people need not be perfect. But they must remain awake.
The moment citizens surrender their judgment in exchange for reassurances, they trade a difficult freedom for an easy dependence. History offers many names for this arrangement. None of them describe a democratic republic.
By Joseph Aronesty (2026) Inspired by Thomas Paine’s Common Sense (1776)
Introduction
In January of 1776, a short pamphlet began circulating through the American colonies. It was written not for scholars or statesmen, but for ordinary citizens. Its purpose was simple and radical: to explain, in plain language, why submission to concentrated power was neither natural nor necessary.
The pamphlet was Common Sense, and its author, Thomas Paine, did not argue that King George III was uniquely wicked. Instead, he made a far more unsettling claim—that monarchy itself was a flawed system, and that placing excessive authority in any single individual inevitably corrupted both ruler and ruled.
Paine’s genius lay in his restraint. He did not rely on personal attacks or partisan loyalty. He appealed to reason, history, and human nature. His aim was not to inflame, but to prepare: to help Americans recognize patterns of power they might otherwise accept out of habit, fear, or fatigue.
The authority of the crown, Paine argued, depended less on force than on consent—consent given gradually, often unconsciously, in exchange for promises of stability and protection. Once citizens surrendered their judgment, resistance became not only difficult, but unthinkable.
Nearly two and a half centuries later, the outward forms of power have changed, but the underlying dynamics have not. Titles evolve. Justifications adapt. The language of authority modernizes. Yet the temptation toward personal rule—and the willingness of people to accept it—remains a constant of political life.
What follows is not a historical reenactment, nor an argument about personalities. It is a modern restatement of Paine’s central insight: that free societies do not lose their liberty all at once, but by failing to recognize familiar dangers in unfamiliar forms.
Paine wrote to awaken his contemporaries to patterns they were already living through. The purpose here is the same.
On the Nature of Concentrated Power
There is a persistent belief among free people that power, once granted, will restrain itself. Human history offers no support for this belief.
Power does not seek balance. It seeks continuance, expansion, and ultimately immunity from challenge. Power does not seek balance. It seeks continuance, expansion, and ultimately immunity from challenge. This eventuality is not so much a moral failing of individuals as a predictable feature of authority once it is detached from regular accountability. The problem is not that one person becomes all-powerful, but that many people slowly grow accustomed to the all-powerful.
In every age, those who seek extraordinary authority insist that the times demand it. Crisis becomes their justification. Disorder becomes their evidence. Conditions of instability are permitted—and sometimes encouraged—to argue that ordinary limits can no longer apply. What begins as a temporary measure soon hardens into habit, and habit, once accepted, becomes doctrine.
The defenders of concentrated power often argue that a strong executive is necessary to protect the nation. Yet history repeatedly shows the opposite: such power rarely protects a people from danger, but very often protects itself from the people.
Personal rule—whether it wears a crown, a uniform, or the language of popular mandate—rests on a simple inversion of responsibility. Citizens are told that judgment is a burden best surrendered. Loyalty is redefined as obedience. Dissent is reframed as weakness, or worse, betrayal.
This is how liberty erodes without being formally abolished. No proclamation announces it. No constitution need be rewritten at first. The shift occurs in tone, in expectation, in what citizens come to tolerate in the name of order. A free people does not wake one morning to discover itself unfree; it arrives there by degrees, persuaded that exceptional power is both necessary and temporary.
But power granted in exception is rarely surrendered voluntarily. Once a single figure becomes the symbol of national strength, any limit placed upon that figure is portrayed as a threat to the nation itself. Institutions designed to restrain authority are dismissed as obstacles. Laws are treated as inconveniences. Norms are mocked as naïve.
At this stage, the question is no longer whether power has overreached, but whether the public has forgotten why limits existed in the first place.
The great error is not trusting leaders, but trusting them too much—trusting them with powers that no individual, however well-intentioned, can safely hold. Free societies are not preserved by faith in men, but by suspicion of unchecked authority. That suspicion is not cynicism; it is civic maturity.
Those who argue that “this time is different” must answer a hard question: different from what? From human nature? From history? From every prior instance in which concentrated power promised stability and delivered submission?
A government of laws depends on citizens who understand that strength lies not in domination, but in restraint. When restraint is abandoned—when power is admired for its force rather than its limits—the transition away from self-government has already begun, whether it is acknowledged or not.
On Why Free People Surrender Their Judgment
The loss of liberty rarely begins with force. It begins with relief.
Democratic self-government is demanding. It requires attention, disagreement, patience, and the humility to accept that no single voice—including one’s own—is sufficient. In uncertain times, this burden feels heavy. When a confident figure offers certainty in place of complexity, many experience not alarm, but comfort.
This is the first seduction of personal rule within a democracy. People do not abandon freedom because they despise it, but because they are persuaded that freedom has become impractical. They are told that debate is weakness, that disagreement is disorder, and that unity requires obedience. The promise is simple: trust me, and you may rest.
What is surrendered first is not rights, but judgment.
Once citizens accept that independent thinking is divisive or dangerous, they begin to outsource discernment. Assertions are valued over evidence. Confidence is mistaken for competence. Repetition replaces proof. The language of strength becomes more persuasive than the substance of truth.
At this stage, loyalty undergoes a quiet transformation. It no longer means fidelity to shared principles or constitutional limits, but allegiance to a person who claims to embody them. To question the individual is presented as an attack on the nation itself. This confusion—between country and ruler—has undone republics before, always with popular consent.
Fear plays a central role, but not always in obvious ways. It is not merely fear of enemies, foreign or domestic, but fear of instability, fear of social conflict, fear of uncertainty. A population anxious about its footing becomes willing to trade liberty for reassurance, even when the reassurance is largely performative.
Those who resist this trade are often caricatured. They are labeled unrealistic, disloyal, or dangerous. In this way, caution is recast as cowardice, and submission as strength.
Another psychological comfort soon follows: identity. When political loyalty becomes personal, it also becomes tribal. Agreement signals belonging. Dissent risks exclusion. In such an environment, many suppress private doubts rather than endure public isolation. Silence multiplies, and the appearance of unanimity grows—not because conviction is universal, but because dissent has become costly.
The most effective autocrats do not demand admiration; they cultivate dependency. They position themselves as indispensable solutions to problems they continuously emphasize and rarely resolve. Each new crisis reinforces the narrative that only extraordinary authority can preserve order, and that ordinary checks are luxuries of a calmer time.
Over time, citizens who once insisted on limits begin to argue against them. Safeguards are dismissed as outdated. Independent institutions are accused of obstruction. The rule of law is reframed as an impediment to decisive action. What once protected liberty is now portrayed as its enemy.
None of this requires the suspension of elections or the abandonment of constitutional language. The words remain. The habits change.
The final psychological shift occurs when people come to believe that resistance is futile—that the trajectory is inevitable, and that adapting is wiser than objecting. At that moment, power no longer needs to coerce. It is sustained by resignation.
Yet history suggests a different lesson: that resignation, more than rebellion, is what entrenches personal rule.
A free society depends not on perfect leaders, but on citizens who retain the nerve to think, to question, and to withstand the discomfort of disagreement. When that nerve is lost—when convenience replaces vigilance—no external enemy is required. The erosion is complete from within.
On How Institutions Are Emptied Without Being Overthrown
Free societies often imagine that tyranny arrives by spectacle—tanks in streets, constitutions burned, courts shuttered. In reality, institutions are more commonly hollowed than destroyed.
The outward forms remain. Elections are held. Legislatures convene. Courts issue opinions. Yet their authority is gradually diminished, not by decree, but by disregard. When power is personalized, institutions are tolerated only so long as they comply. When they resist, they are portrayed as illegitimate, corrupt, or obstructive.
This tactic is effective because it reframes accountability as interference. Laws are no longer the expression of collective will, but impediments imposed by distant or unaccountable forces. Independent judgment is recast as sabotage. Expertise is treated as arrogance. In this environment, the erosion of institutional authority appears not as an attack on democracy, but as its defense.
Another method of hollowing is selective obedience. Rules are praised when they benefit the powerful and dismissed when they restrain them. Enforcement becomes inconsistent. Precedent is ignored. Over time, citizens learn that law is not a standard, but a tool—applied unevenly and explained afterward.
Once this lesson is absorbed, trust collapses asymmetrically. Faith in institutions declines, while faith in personal authority rises. The public, weary of complexity, begins to see institutions as theater and the individual leader as the only “real” actor.
At this point, institutional failure is not an accident; it becomes evidence used to justify further consolidation of power. The damage itself becomes the argument.
On the Myth That This Is Inevitable
Perhaps the most paralyzing belief in any republic is the belief that decline is unavoidable.
When citizens are repeatedly told that norms are obsolete, that restraint is naïve, and that past standards cannot survive modern pressures, they may come to accept erosion as adaptation. What was once alarming becomes familiar. What was once resisted becomes expected.
This sense of inevitability is carefully cultivated. Each broken convention is framed as a necessary response to unprecedented conditions. Each expansion of power is justified as an exception. The accumulation of exceptions is rarely acknowledged, and their permanence quietly assumed.
Yet history shows that inevitability is often an illusion created by momentum and fatigue. Systems do not collapse because collapse is natural, but because enough people conclude that resistance is useless. The belief that “nothing can be done” becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Those who benefit from concentrated power rely on resignation. It discourages participation without provoking opposition. It replaces outrage with detachment, and engagement with cynicism. A disengaged citizenry is far easier to manage than an angry one.
The most dangerous phrase in a free society is not “this must be done,” but “this cannot be stopped.”
On the Duty of the Citizen in a Free Society
Thomas Paine understood that liberty is not sustained by declarations alone. It is sustained by citizens willing to accept the inconvenience of freedom.
Self-government demands more than periodic consent. It requires continuous attention, the courage to dissent, and the refusal to confuse comfort with stability. It asks citizens to tolerate disagreement and to defend principles even when doing so is socially costly.
The responsibility of the citizen is not to idolize institutions, but to insist that they function as intended. Nor is it to place faith in individuals who promise relief from democratic strain. The strain is the point. It is evidence that power remains contested and accountable.
Liberty does not depend on optimism, but on memory—the memory that concentrated power has always justified itself as necessary, temporary, and benevolent. A government of the people is a historical exception, not the rule. It survives only so long as citizens remember that order imposed without consent is not democracy, but quiet submission.
A free people need not be perfect. But they must remain awake.
The moment citizens surrender their judgment in exchange for reassurances, they trade a difficult freedom for an easy dependence. History offers many names for this arrangement. None of them describe a democratic republic.
Send this letter to Republicans in Goverment in your state.
Amplify this letter . Post it in editorial news. On social media. Any way you can.
Dear Congressman ___________,
I am writing as a deeply concerned constituent. Much of what I am seeing and hearing from President Trump in his second term has shaken my confidence that our government is acting in the best interests of American families.
The President speaks about tariffs as if Americans do not pay for them. But we do — through higher grocery prices, higher household costs, and increasing financial strain. He ran on making life better at home. For many of us, life is not better, either economically or in terms of community safety.
I support lawful immigration enforcement and the removal of individuals who pose a real danger. What I do not support is profiling people based on accent or appearance, or policies that undermine basic due process. I am a Republican, and I am not a racist. These actions do not reflect American values.
I am also deeply troubled by the continued lack of transparency around the Epstein matter, and by repeated statements from the President that contradict publicly available facts. Trust in leadership depends on honesty, and that trust is eroding rapidly.
Foreign policy statements and actions have added to my concern. Talk of acquiring Greenland, strained relations with NATO allies, and unexplained financial dealings abroad project instability rather than strength. America is less respected internationally than it was, and that has real consequences for our security.
I believe our country is heading toward either severe political backlash in the midterms or a broader constitutional crisis. Neither outcome is good for the Republican Party or for the nation.
One action I have imagined is to use the 25th Amendment and install JD Vance before midterm campaigning begins. Just say based on a year of what Trump has said and done in his first year of 2.0 we deem Donald Trump is no longer fit to lead our great nation, our military and be our commander-in-chief. Call it dementia if you must. As I see it, it comes down to finding a way to reign Trump in – or replacing him.
I am asking you to take seriously the constitutional responsibilities of checks and balances. The world is becoming more dangerous, not safer, and our leadership should be reducing risk, not amplifying it. I want a future where my children, my neighbors, and yours are safer and more secure.
If meaningful steps are not taken to rein in these actions, I cannot continue to support candidates who refuse to uphold constitutional norms. I believe many Americans — across party lines — feel the same way.
If you don’t understand how Vladimir Putin dismantled Russia’s democracy in his first 24 months in office, you won’t understand how democracies erode anywhere — including here at home. What happened in Russia didn’t start with tanks, riots, or a military takeover. It began with paperwork. It began with “reforms.” It began with things that looked technical, boring, maybe even reasonable.
Russia in the 1990s was messy, corrupt, chaotic… but it was a democracy. Elections were real. Governors were elected. The press was noisy and often critical. Independent television networks investigated the Kremlin. Oligarchs funded opposition parties. Courts sometimes ruled against the president.
All of that ended shockingly fast, and almost nobody realized it until it was too late.
Step 1: Control the Story
Putin’s first move was not economic or military — it was informational. He moved to seize NTV, the only major independent national television network. Using Gazprom as the battering ram, the Kremlin took over the board, installed loyalists, and drove critical journalists into exile.
( Trump’s version of this is to align with FOX News and other media outlets. He has a loyal oligarchs, Larry and david Ellison, buying up the major media companies. Trump uses the same meme Putin used, “fake news”. He did not make that up. I have always said, “Trump is taking dictator lessons from Vladimir Putin. Some say Orban, but Orban is a desciple of Putin.”
Donald Trump had no historical knowledge of Russia when he ran for president in 2016. He was a game show host, casino owner, real estate trader, and a white-collar criminal, looking to get richer. Putin was the richest and most powerful person on the planet in 2016. He still may be that, because i tis certain that Putin has Trump compromised by taping the election-help vs. Hillary Clinton conversations, KGB style. Remember, the translator’s notes were destroyed by Trump after his Helsinki meeting in 2017. He knew he had to cover his traitorous tracks. )
With that quiet corporate takeover, Russia no longer had a national platform capable of scrutinizing power. For most Russians, reality itself now came through a Kremlin-approved lens. Once the state controls what citizens see, everything else becomes easier.
The effect on everyday Russians has not been good. Russia’s economy is under significant strain, facing high inflation, labor shortages, weakening currency, and increased taxes. Most Russians struggle with costs and high inflation, peaking over 10% in early 2025. Central Bank rates are at 21%, slowing growth and keeping prices elevated. The Russian economy suffers from labor shortages and falling behind technologically.
Step 2: Break Federalism
In his first year, Putin created seven “federal districts” headed by presidential envoys — essentially political commissars — who could overrule elected governors. Soon after, he gained the authority to dismiss governors outright.
The message was simple: regional power is tolerated only if it aligns with the president’s agenda. Sound familiar? (This is why governor’s powers and sovereign state power is so important to preserve in the USA.)
Democracy works when power is shared. Putin ended that in a single legislative stroke.
Step 3: Turn the Upper House Into a Rubber Stamp
Originally, the Russian Federation Council was made up of governors and regional legislative heads who were elected and accountable. Putin replaced them with appointed representatives, loyal to him alone not to Russian voters.
Checks and balances require independence. Putin quietly erased it.
Today, Trump is effectively the Speaker of the House. No one seems to have the patriotic focus to challenge him.
Step 4: Rebuild the Security State
Putin surrounded himself with former KGB and FSB officers, expanding surveillance powers and re-politicizing the police. These “siloviki” became the backbone of his regime: a loyal, disciplined, unelected class with institutional muscle. Sound familiar?
Democracy can survive a run of bad politicians. It cannot survive an intelligence apparatus aligned with a single man’s agenda.
Step 5: Neutralize Economic Rivals
Putin gathered the oligarchs and offered a deal: Stay out of politics, or lose everything. MBS did the same thing. Trump helped MBS locate and round up the Saudi oligarchs as his first foreign act in 2017. Our FBI knew where they were all hiding. Trump 1.0’s first foreign destination was to Saudi Arabia, and he still calls MBS “a great guy” even though he killed an american journalist, something Trump brushed off at “stuff happens”.
Most of the Russian oligarchs folded. The ones who didn’t — Boris Berezovsky, Vladimir Gusinsky — were exiled or stripped of their assets. This was the elimination of independent financial power. Without competing power centers, political competition withers.
Step 6: Engineer a Dominant Party
Putin built United Russia, the machinery that would later dominate every national election. It was designed not to inspire loyalty but to enforce it. A democracy without competitive parties is just a ceremonial exercise.
(Trump rails jail the democrats and has asked for the execution of our Generals and potential candidates like Senator Kelly and Eric Swalwell. He calls is retribution, but it’s the Putin way to take over a large democratic country.)
Step 7: Rewrite Election Rules
Russian elections didn’t disappear — they were simply redesigned. Small parties were squeezed out by new technical requirements. Candidate registration became a weapon. The Central Election Commission fell under presidential influence.
Everything looked legal. Everything looked procedural. But slowly, the ballot box became a controlled environment.
We will see how our midterm elections of 2026 go. But Trump will certainly try to fix them, and if his GOP party loses, they will deny they were fair, and perhaps not “seat” the winning candidates, the way they did to the Arizona representative, Adelita Grijalva.
The Lessons to Learn from the Russian and Hungarian fasicst takeovers
Russia’s democracy did not die because Putin was especially bold. It died because he was subtle.
Putin didn’t destroy institutions. He captured them, the way Trump has captured the CDC and BOE.
Putin didn’t outlaw opposition. He starved them out.
He didn’t cancel elections. He fixed them.
And the world — including the Russian people — kept waiting for a dramatic moment, some unmistakable sign of authoritarian takeover. It never came. The end arrived through a thousand bureaucratic cuts.
Democracies rarely die in one night. They die quietly, procedurally, in full view.
Why This Matters for America
The United States is not Russia. Our institutions are older, stronger, more resilient. But they are not invincible. Every democracy is vulnerable to the same pattern:
media capture
politicized law enforcement
weakened courts
attacks on independent governors
parties hollowed out into loyalty machines
elections rewritten through “legal adjustments”
The methods are subtle everywhere, because subtlety works.
If there’s a single lesson from Putin’s first two years, it’s this:
The moment to defend a democracy is before the crisis is obvious. After that, the slide is much harder to stop.
America’s strength has always been that its people do not sleepwalk through history. We debate. We argue. We shout. We vote. We hold the line.
Maybe that’s what holding on to love for a country actually means: caring enough to notice the early signs — and caring enough to act before the damage becomes irreversible.
My song to save America is waiting for an artist to make this patriotic meme of love for the real American democracy go front and center in our pop culture. We need a few rallying songs to keep ourselves inwardly aligned and resolved to not allow this country to go fascist. If you know people in our military at any level, make sure they know not to follow illegal orders.
Why Trump was ideal to help Russia end American Democracy
Knowledge is power. I was blessed with a full scholarship to U of P in 1966 and studied there through 1971. My favorite two courses were Political Science taught by CJ Burnett, and Russian History taught by Alexander Riasanovsky, who was a political refugee from Russia and has written volumes on all things Russian. I got to thinking that had Trump, a fellow student at Penn in 1968, actually studied that Russian history course at Penn, he might not have sought election help from Putin in 2016, or at least, would have been more skeptical about trusting Putin.
This page is a synopsis what Riasanovsky taught. He was one who knew first-hand and explained things we all should understand these days in easy to understand and colorful ways.
Alexander Riasanovsky’s Core Lens on Russia
He taught that Russian history is driven by:
A chronic, urgent desire to “catch up” to a West they both admire and resent.
That creates a duality:
Admiration → desire for Western technology, industry, recognition
Resentment → anxiety, humiliation, jealousy and an imperial reflex to compensate for those inner feelings
He traced this Russian psychology back to Peter the Great:
Under Peter the Great, Russia forced itself into modernity to avoid becoming Europe’s “backward cousin”.
Successes fueled pride, but gaps fueled paranoia.
Putin plays this chord perfectly:
He needs the West as a foil
His legitimacy depends on portraying Russia as standing upto the West
Any Western advantage = personal insult = retaliation
That was the psychology behind the Russian 2016 election interference:
If Russia can’t rise by achievement, it will rise by sabotage.
Russia’s Identity Crisis He Taught Explicitly
He argued Russia has never resolved:
“Are we European?”
“Are we Asian?”
“Or are we a unique civilization destined to dominate both?”
That uncertainty produced nationalism with an inferiority complex. He told students: “Russia is too big to be ignored and too insecure to be trusted.”
If only a certain Penn undergrad had taken notes…
Someone who studied Riasanovsky would’ve learned:
1️⃣ Russia does not make alliances. It makes leverage. 2️⃣ Gratitude spells weakness in Russia — Putin only believes in debt and dominance. 3️⃣ Helping Trump wasn’t friendship — it was a hook. 4️⃣ Once you take the help they offer, you belong to them forever.
Putin doesn’t care who runs America. He cares that he has a hand on the wheel.
During the Cold War of the 50’s, Khrushchev went on record saying, “We will destroy America without firing a single bullet”. Putin 1s Khrushschev’s disciple.
Riasanovsky taught:
“Russia wants the West divided — and itself essential.”
Divide to defeat; 2016 was a masterclass in that Russian doctrine.
If only Trump had been the studying “type” at Penn, he may have thought more clearly about Putin’s real goals in offering him election help. Instead, he continues to serve as a useful idiot in the arsenal of Russia’s stance against America, the West and the East.
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After 30 years of the super powers, Russia, China and the USA not detonating nuclear weapons to “test” them, today, Donald Trump declared the USA will immediately resume nuclear testing. There is talk Russia and China will follow.
Tariffs are Congress’s job. By treating tariffs as presidential orders, Trump is imposing a “King’s Tax” on every American. That tax falls hardest on working families, who spend a larger share of their income on necessities and imported goods. Trump ran on lowering prices. Now, with his tarrifflation, consumer prices are higher than ever before. Tariffs are not just bad economics — they are unconstitutional, if not approved by Congress.
This is how democracies fall: leaders bypass checks and balances and concentrate power into the executive branch. That’s how Putin did it in Russia; Trump is trying to do the same thing here. He thinks because he won an election he can break the rules, which are the foundation of a democracy. We need to collectively say “no” to tariffs as a people, even if Congress and the courts won’t do this.
The response to these tariffs should be be large, public and sharp. The tactic is to force him to show his real hand to us all on TV and media as well. Put him in a position where he either accepts Congress’s role or acts like a king. Either way, Americans will see the truth.
Blue state governors can and should band together and refuse to enforce Trump’s tariffs at the state level until they are approved by Congress. The Constitution states: “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises.” People understand that plain language. Amplify and campaign on “no tariffs without Congressional approval”. Be like Nike and “just do it”.
Whoever starts this plan and created this seminal event, has a good chance of becoming the heroic next president of the new reborn United States. Democrats who wonder why their party is doing so poorly should take away: it’s because theyare not protecting their constituents from Trumpism. So start. Start right away. What have you got to lose?
Senators can and should challenge these tariffs in court. They must frame the fight clearly: “Tariffs are the people’s business. There is no emergency that necessitates the added burden that tariffs are imposing on all Americans. Congress represents the people and the Constitution protects the citizenry. Tariffs should be neither collected nor paid until Congress approves them, as it is written. We will not respect a Supreme Court if it aids or comforts insurrectionists as per 14th, sec 3″.
Governors, in particular, have the power to declare what is clearly a real emergency: we have a president who seems oblivious to the pain he is causing, on many levels, to American citizens, and their loved ones.
We need to create a seminal event, much like January 6th was for MAGA, but based on the Constitution, and its abuse by a would-be king. That day could be dubbed “the day a union of governors stood up to Trump and simply refused to do his bidding –or, the day Trump’s illegal tariffs died in the USA. That day, according to polls, will be cheered on by the vast majority of Americans. When Trump reacts like a grade-schooler or a dictator, or both, which is a certainty, it will also be remembered as the day Trumpism died in America.
If we are afraid to take chances, if we are afraid to be as outrageous as Trump is, we cannot win. If we are afraid to fight, and even die for this cause, which is the cause of our children as well, we cannot win. We might as well get started now.
Waiting for election results is not a plan when one party does not care about the rules. We have the chance to unify the country against Trumpism now. Americans on all sides are unified on this topic of tariffs. Announce that tariffs are not going to be collected in blue states until Congress approves them. It wont cost a penny, and it will be very popular, not only in blue states as well. Gove Trump a week to take them all down. Set a date, and stick to it. We are in a war, act like we know it.
For nine years, I’ve been speaking out—loudly and consistently—about the threat Donald Trump poses to American democracy and the free world.
But credit should be given where it’s due. Iran has never demonstrated the responsibility required to possess nuclear weapons, and firm action was needed. A significant portion of global instability stems from Iran-backed terrorism. So in this case—good job. Good decoy. Good on listening to your generals. And good on not making it all about yourself, Donnie.
We now find ourselves in a new world, much like the one after 9/11. If Trump plays this moment wisely, he’ll pull ICE agents off the streets, stop manufacturing domestic enemies, and begin preparing the homeland for real threats—such as potential attacks from Iranian-backed terrorist networks, possibly even on U.S. soil.
If he can pivot away from his anti-democratic, anti-immigrant, anti-classic-American rhetoric and adopt a “one nation, working together” message, Americans will notice. Only then can the political divide that’s been paralyzing our country begin to heal. And only then can the greatness he so often speaks of emerge organically—because true national greatness can’t be forced. It grows from unity and shared purpose.
Donald Trump has a chance—this very week—to evolve. But if he starts taking personal credit for this mission, as though he masterminded it himself, and keeps belittling Joe Biden (who likely would have listened to the same generals), it will be clear he’s still more interested in division than unity. That mindset only makes it easier for our enemies to succeed—and pushes America closer to a dangerous precipice.
So the question remains: Can Donald Trump evolve as a president, or even as an actor playing the role of a president—into a unifier? Maybe. Maybe he’s tired of being the Divider-in-Chief. Maybe he’s starting to think about his legacy, as any mature mortal should.
I sincerely hope so. We all want to get back to our lives and feel confident that our democracy—and our country—are in steady, caring hands.
THE ENGLISH CODE 