Tag Archives: President of the United States

Stall Tactics 101

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Okay, so it is now official. Trump Stall Tactics™ have entered the realm of the SCOTUS. I would not have bet any money that the SCOTUS would have taken up this case. At the same time, I am not surprised that they have.

On its face, the case should be a fairly simple, open and shut issue. Presidential immunity covers a president while in office, but it does not shield the office holder from any criminal acts committed. If presidential immunity did extend to such an extent, Nixon would not have needed to accept a presidential pardon to avoid being prosecuted for his involvement with Watergate. That would put the office holder above the law and beyond the reach of the Constitution. That is not what the founders of this country intended or wrote into law.

What the current SCOTUS has done is buy Trump time to get close enough to the general election to where his case (or cases) will be delayed until after the election. That’s all this is. A delay tactic. America loses when we delay justice, and justice has already been delayed for too long.

There is no way that any of the six conservatives sitting on the SCOTUS honestly believe that the POTUS has any semblance of immunity that Trump is attempting to claim. To believe this is to also acknowledge that Biden could legally assassinate Trump under the guise of protecting democracy from an attempted authoritarian takeover and not face a single charge for his actions.

Instead, the SCOTUS is simply taking America along for an unnecessary ride that will do nothing more than further enflame tensions between Trump supporters and the rest of the country. America would be much better off if we allowed the justice system to run its course unimpeded. A ruling, or rulings, on Trump’s innocence or guilt would undoubtedly rile some folks and make others giddy. Those rulings would also end the questions and speculations and allow us to move beyond all of this.

I already have very little love or respect for politicians. I’m adding judges to this as well. This country wouldn’t be in the predicament we’re currently facing if we had politicians and judges who had the testicular fortitude to follow the Constitution and keep going. Dragging things out does no good for us as a society and damage us in the eyes of the rest of the world. How can we claim to be the beacon of democracy when our justice system can be abused to the point where it doesn’t function?

*on a personal note* My appologies for being an absent host as of late. I’ve been going so much with work and events with the kids that I don’t get much time to assemble anything more than a few words at a time. Also, I was the recipient of a laptop, so now I have another access point beyond my phone. This development should lead to more posts in the future, time willing. 

WitlessGate

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I found myself in utter amazement this morning at how much our society has devolved within my lifetime.  I was watching the ceremony of transferring the remains of President George H.W. Bush from Houston to Washington D.C. this morning when I made the mistake of going on the internet with my phone and looking at the first tab.  For more than two years, the first tab has been fixed on Trump’s twitter feed.  It was primarily for the lulz, but it also serves as a reminder that people who hold important positions are not always the best, brightest, or capable to do so.

The ceremony itself was simple and dignified.  There were no overt or outrageous elements to it.  The ceremony communicated the prestige and importance of the Office of the President and not the person himself.  There are those who supported GHW Bush, and there are those who did not.  Like other presidents who served since I have been breathing, there were things about him that I liked as well as disliked.  The ceremony wasn’t about Bush though.  It was about the office.

Now, contrast the solemn, dignified event with this from the current office holder:

My first instinct was to check a few of my other favorite tags to see what news had just dropped as he was in the middle of one of his patented Twitter rants.  Then, I surmised this was nothing more than anger spilled over from last week’s plea deal that Cohen agreed to.  My second reaction was to try to figure out who Scott Free was and why Cohen’s wife and father-in-law was all over him.  I laughed at that one for a while, and then Trump dropped one that made me come up with the title to this one, WitlessGate.

After reading this one, I thought “I’m not a lawyer, and I don’t think Trump has one either.” to myself while still laughing about poor old Scott Free.  I could be wrong, but Trump’s statement could be interpreted by some as witness tampering when you read 18 U.S. Code § 1512 – Tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant. Trump’s words could be interpreted as a means to keep Roger Stone silent avoiding testifying before the Special Counsel’s Grand Jury.  Under this section of law, there are two passages that could hurt Trump.

(b) Whoever knowingly uses intimidation, threatens, or corruptly persuades another person, or attempts to do so, or engages in misleading conduct towards another person, with intent to

(1) influence, delay, or prevent the testimony of any person in an official proceeding;

(2) cause or induce any person to —

(A) withhold testimony or withhold a record, document or other object from an official proceeding;

and

(c) Whoever corruptly–

(2) otherwise obstructs, influences, or impeded any official proceeding, or attempts to do so.

The violation of that law can lead up to 20 years behind bars.  The fact that Trump has repeatedly done this kind of stuff makes me wonder what the hell does his legal counsel do to earn their paycheck.

For those who say that the president can make these kinds of statements because they are not a violation of the law, I will advise you to check sections (e), (f), and (g) of this same statute.

(e) In a prosecution for an offense under this section, it is an affirmative defense, as to which the defendant has the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence, that the conduct consisted solely of lawful conduct and that the defendant’s sole intention was to encourage, induce, or cause the other person to testify truthfully.

(f) For the purposes of this section–

(1) an official proceeding need not be pending or about to be instituted at the time of the offense; and

(2) the testimony, or the record, document, or other object need not be admissible in evidence or free of a claim of privilege.

(g) In a prosecution for an offense under this section, no state of mind need be proved with respect to the circumstance–

In other words, the president would have to shoulder the burden of proof that his conduct was lawful if he were to be charged under this law.  Based on the text of the law, he cannot hide behind any claim of privilege and the testimony that he’s seeking to stop does not have to be admissible.  Furthermore, Stone doesn’t have to be indicted and about to testify if I’m reading (1) correctly.

One final gem.  This goes out to the crowd that believes that no sitting president can be indicted.  You may want to revisit history and rethink that position.

https://twitter.com/SpicyFiles/status/1057859047796469760

Brosephus

The president America rightly deserves

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I had to take a vacation from writing this summer.  Work was a bit more hectic.  Life in general picked up a bit of speed.  But mostly, I grew sick and tired of President Trump’s ability to suck the oxygen out of the atmosphere and manage to be THE attention whores of all attention whores.  So, instead of posting daily “tributes” to Trump, I unplugged and refocused on my personal well being.  Silly me for thinking that would solve everything.

Love him, hate him, or indifferent towards him, Donald J. Trump IS the president that America rightly deserves now.  In the seven months that he has been in office, he has simultaneously energized and angered the masses.  He has worked hard to change the definition of what’s presidential in terms of actions and behavior.  His administration and governing position is the living, breathing definition of chaos.  And, in my honest opinion, he is the embodiment of the worldwide perception of America, Americans, and Americanism.  He is famous, attention getting, controversial, wealthy*, and arrogant all wrapped up in one package.  *true amount of his wealth is not known

One of numerous political cartoons about Trump. Click to open a Google Image Search to see others.

Trump is what America deserves because we rightfully need to have an open and honest dialogue about who we are and what we stand for.  In the 1940s, our parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents went to war against Nazis and the belief of white supremacy abroad while we openly engaged in the same practice at home.  We’ve always considered ourselves to be a society where anyone can achieve that “American dream”, but we’ve continually fed into a political and business class that continually make that dream more impossible to achieve by each passing generation.  We love to tout our society based on freedom that every other country should emulate while constantly fighting to curtail the freedoms of those we don’t agree with.

Based on what we claim to be about vs what we actually practice, America is a fraud.  What better way to perpetrate a fraud than to elect one to run the fraud?

Now, before I get accused of being anti-American, I am not.  I am 100% red-blooded American as it gets.  I work to defend the country of my birth, and I take my oath to defend the Constitution very seriously.  I simply call things as I see it.  America preaches one thing and practices something altogether different.  Sometimes, it is for the better, and sometimes it is not.  It also varies from person to person based on their beliefs and perspectives.  That’s just how life operates.

The reason for me writing this is because of the Charlottesville fiasco.  I’m of the belief that he blew a serious chance to get America into a discussion to heal animosity and racial strife.  I also believe that he did not intend to lead America down that pathway as he showed himself and his beliefs on race in the words he chose.  His history has shown his racial attitudes, and I doubt very seriously that you will get a 71-year-old man to suddenly change now.

That said, this does not prevent the rest of America from engaging in that dialogue on our own.  We don’t need the president, a rabbi, pastor, or even a parent to give us the permission to start that conversation.  We can do it on our own.

At some point, we have to be honest that America was founded on the belief of White Supremacy.  It was written into the Constitution as a compromise to get slave dependent states to ratify it.  White Supremacy drove America’s westward expansion as well as our world expansion of influence as well.  Some people may not agree with that, and that’s their right to do so.  It does not change the history that has already passed.  None of us can change that.  We can only change the future.

Destroying statues and memorials does not erase history.  History is only lost when it is not taught and passed down in its entirety.  We have to learn to love our warts as much as we love our exceptionalism.  We are not a perfect country, and all of our actions in the past were not honorable.  That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t learn from the past in order to better shape the future.

I’ll go on record as being one that believes the statues and memorials in question still have a relevant place in our society.  They simply do not belong on public grounds or areas where our current government operates.  We do not erect any remembrances to the British, French, Spanish, Mexicans, or Native Americans who previously ruled lands that now belong to America.  We should be the same across the board for all nations.

Private property and museums should be free to display any and all remembrances of their choosing, without controversy, so that we can study and learn from history.  There will always be someone who will feel hurt by such displays.  That is unavoidable.  What we should be doing is ensuring that we understand and empathize with that hurt so that history does not repeat itself.

If we cannot talk openly and honestly with each other about this, then we will never learn the lessons of the past and will continue to repeat them time and time again.

 

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The Baffled States of America

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I try to be respectful towards the Office of the President.  The next four years will be an endurance test, one unlike any that I’ve ever embarked upon in my time alive.  Let me set the record straight first and foremost.  I have no personal animosity towards President Trump.  None at all.  That said, let’s get started.

First, he’s not a politician.  That’s why many voted for him.  That was the “appeal” that many Americans saw.  He wasn’t an insider in Washington, and he said all the right things in front of the right crowds*.  People seriously thought that he was listening to what they wanted and needed from the head of the Executive Branch of our government and have not been getting for decades.  He’s the one who will fix everything as he claimed that he would do, right?

Well, I can say that I have not been dazzled by his brilliance thus far, even though it’s only been a month.  Actually, not even a full month yet.  It hasn’t been a full four weeks at this point, and we already seem to be witnessing a 2mph train wreck happening during the evening rush hour.

We got warned about this long ago, but we didn’t heed the advice.  Dr. Seuss showed us how to avoid being taken for everything by a con man, a bullshit artist.  Trump is that, and then some.  Look at his history if you don’t want to take my word for it.  He has a record of stiffing businesses out of money on already agreed to contracts.  He’s avoided paying taxes for decades by assuming liability for an absurd amount of debt.  He reminds me of the guy on the street corner taking people for their money playing three card monte.  The problem is that he doesn’t know when to turn the bs off and has no idea of how to not bs people.  If there’s any one job in this country that should not be filled by a bs artist, it’s the job of being president.

We’ve been witness to this through the outright lies and doublespeak coming from people within the administration.  The apparently thin-skinned POTUS has attacked people personally or through spokespeople from everything from the size of the inauguration crowd to the portrayal of him on Saturday Night Live.  This has also been evident from the attacks on the media, the intelligence community, and pretty much everyone around the world except for Russia and Putin.  As things are beginning to show, we’re getting a good education on why he hasn’t attacked Russia or Putin.  The problem with the “breaking news” stuff about Gen. Flynn is that the only thing that’s new about the reporting is that we now have actual names of people with government positions who were communicating with Russia.

There were early reports about Paul Manafort and a server in Trump Towers that was communicating with a server in Russia.  There have also been rumors and such of other people involved with his campaign that had ties to Russia.  The Secretary of State is well-known to have strong business ties to Russia and Putin.  Individually, the rumors and innuendo don’t amount to anything that points to outright malfeasance.  At the same time, you can create an avalanche when you get enough things piled on top of each other.

At this point, there is permanent damage that has been done to the credibility of people in Washington.  It’s not like there was a vast amount of credibility to begin with, but I don’t recall any administration in my lifetime having a beginning like this.  It hasn’t been a full four weeks yet, and there’s enough stuff floating around to do about 8 years worth of Congressional investigations.  I don’t expect to see Republicans do anything at this point, as they’re likely going to try to wait things out.  It appears that Trump tried to wait things out on Flynn, and look at what it got him.

It’s not wise to try to pick a fight with the intelligence community that has taken an oath to protect the Constitution of the United States.  Especially when the intelligence community is full of people who take their oath seriously.  In case people forget, foreign enemies are not the only ones listed in that oath:

I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

5 U.S.C. §3331

Those who focus more on the leaks than the information leaked should stop long enough to consider that oath.  If the federal employee thinks the actions rise high enough to be considered as an enemy act, they have a responsibility to take actions to defend the Constitution.  I’m not saying that leaking information is always a good thing to do, but we do have some whistleblower protections for a reason.  It’s dumb to think that you could communicate with foreign adversaries and our intelligence community wouldn’t pick up on those communications.  I also saw that some of our allies also picked up communications on their own, and they have their own concerns about American leadership as a result.

If Hillary Clinton’s email investigation was so important that we had to have a press conference by the FBI about it, why wasn’t the American public told about the communications between Trump’s campaign and Russia?  Remember, Democrats left a classified briefing on Russian hacking and were furious with Director Comey.  Middle, rural America elected trump because he said that he would bring jobs back to their communities.  If they’re farmers, they will have enough manure over the next four years to keep fertilizing crops for generations.  If they’re not farmers, there’s always a need for someone to shovel the bs.  If the first four weeks are any indication, we’re in for record amounts of bs in short order.

Welcome to the Baffled States of America.  This is what some of  you voted for, and this is what we’re all going to get as a result.

*I think it’s entirely possible to say the right things to the right people.  That still doesn’t mean that you’re correct in what you’re saying, or that the people who believe you are also right. 

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Bless their hearts

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Going into the first full week of the Trump Era in America, I think I know what Trump’s job creation strategy will be.  He and his administration is going to create unheard of job growth in the media field if for nothing more than publications having to hire mass amounts of fact checkers to deal with the onslaught of “alternative facts” that seem to appear from thin air.

When I first heard that term alternative facts, I had one of those WTF moments complete with the head twist like dogs do when they see something interesting.  Facts are facts.  There is no alternative to them.  They exist or they don’t.

This whole issue came because of the new press secretary trying to defend his boss’ ego by claiming the inauguration was attended by far more people than actually were there.  There was no reason to lie about it.  The inauguration was on TV.  When the POTUS has an ego so frail that he has to lie about any and everything, it doesn’t set a good precedent for his term, especially considering we haven’t made it a full week into the four years yet.

From the inauguration speech to his address at the CIA, President Trump is setting himself up for four years of defending the most miniscule crap that he shouldn’t have to waste time dealing with.  Who cares how many people attended your inauguration?  You are not the most popular president in history, not by a long shot.  If you keep acting the way you do, you won’t become more popular than you are now.

I really want to give this president the same respect as I did the two previous that I served under.  However, I don’t trust people who are habitual liars.  Without trust, there is no respect.  Period.  I will always respect the office, but I don’t have to respect the person sitting behind the desk to show respect to the office they hold.

If we can’t get the administration to be honest about the most ordinary of things, what do we do if/when a crisis occurs and they’re responsible for telling us what is going on?  When the press secretary can’t tell an honest fact and has to spin a tale based on alternative facts, the administration should expect for the press to call them on it.  If you spread manure on a plowed field, you can’t complain about the stench afterwards.

I sincerely hope the media doesn’t cower to the threats of intimidation and other schemes to manipulate stories.  We need a strong press to keep fact separated from fiction.  If not, we risk falling for lies and misdeeds and allowing bad things to happen without any repercussions.  At the same time, the media doesn’t need to try to over hype things just to sell ad space.  This administration appears to be one that will be great for the for-profit media as well as the rest of the press.

I purposefully tried to unplug over the past few days, just to spend time with family away from electronics and such.  When you see those closest to you suffering from anxiety over the unknown, you have to do those kinds of things to ensure that they’re okay to function.  If the next four years are anyway like the past few days have been, we’re all going to need to take care of ourselves and others to stay sane and avoid being screwed over.

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