Month: September 2017

Eight Months Of Donald Trump: Destabilization Of Domestic And Foreign Policy

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Today marks eight months of the Donald Trump Presidency, eight months of destabilization of domestic and foreign policy.

One wonders how much more of this America and the world can stand.

The good news is that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is steaming ahead in his investigation of the Trump scandals, including Russian collusion, obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

Mueller has his sights on Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort, and has gained a FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) wiretapping order that indicates evidence that can be used against many Trump associates and the President and family members as well.

This author published an article in February on HNN, picked up by Newsweek, that went viral, stating the belief that Trump would leave office between the James A. Garfield assassination death after 199 days and the Zachary Taylor natural cause of death after 492 days, which is matched on May 27, 2018.

Now this author would change the date to predict that by the Ides of March (March 15), the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, that we will see Trump leaving office, which would be 419 days.

The clock is definitely ticking for Donald Trump, but meanwhile, there is great concern that Trump could launch a nuclear attack or declare martial law, and it is essential for the military people around Trump–John Kelly, H. R. Mcmaster, and James Mattis–to work to prevent such actions as the investigation continues toward resolution.

Trump Threatens Extermination Of 25 Million People in North Korea, And Plans Confrontation With Iran And Venezuela: A President Gone Mad!

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Donald Trump spoke at the United Nations today, and sounded more warlike than any American President.

He seems to relish war and destruction, as he threatened the extermination of 25 million people in North Korea.

he also made clear that he intended to rip up the Iran Nuclear Agreement, which seems to be working for now, and which Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China all plan to continue to support, making Trump an international outlaw and a war criminal, if he intends to start war with that nation.

And on the sidelines, it is clear that Trump is threatening intervention in Venezuela as well.

Se Trump seems to be planning to add three potential wars or military conflicts to the problem of Afghanistan and the challenge of ISIS (ISIL) in the Middle East.

Trump is a warmonger, even though he avoided Vietnam War service due to a bone spur in his foot, a minor problem, but using his family influence to evade military service.

If Trump were to use nuclear weapons against North Korea, it would be considered a war crime, and would kill more people in North Korea, as well as the certainty of deaths in South Korea and Japan, along with American troops, families and expatriates who live in South Korea and Japan.

It is more clear than ever that the three military figures in the government–James Mattis, John Kelly, and H. R. McMaster–must go to Vice President Mike Pence, the cabinet members, and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and promote immediate removal of Trump from the Presidency, as a menace to the nation and the world.

If tragedy happens, these military men, and the top leaders of the government, will have blood on their hands, and will destroy the image of America as a nation of human rights and decency.

The time for action is NOW, and the Mueller investigation needs to move at an ever more rapid pace as well, to bring this President down, and remove him from office!

The 166th Anniversary Of The “National Newspaper” With More Pulitzer Prizes Than Any Other: The New York Times

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Today is the 166th Anniversary of a treasured newspaper, seen as the “National Newspaper” of America, the New York Times.

Founded on September 18, 1851, the New York Times has recorded America’s history and that of the world through the Civil War, the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era, The Great Depression and the New Deal, the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, The Vietnam War, The Watergate Scandal, The Reagan and Clinton Era, September 11, the Obama Era, and now the Trump Presidency and the challenges it presents to a free press.

Through it all, it has been the leader in news reporting and scoops often unique from others, and has been under attack by those who are angry that it exposes evil and wrong doing so often.

The New York Times has made its mistakes and had some stories later demonstrated to be untrue or manufactured, and is certainly far from perfect, but what source is perfect?

But it has admitted its shortcomings when they have become evident.

It is the newspaper of record, with the best index for researchers, writers, and historians. It has won 122 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper, and has the highest paper circulation of any metropolitan daily newspaper in America.

It is the only paper to have such an index going back to its founding in 1851. Any one doing newspaper research would need to search the archives of the NY Times as a beginning point for other research.

It has a slogan: “All The News That’s Fit To Print”, very appropriate for a great newspaper that has changed knowledge by its efforts in all fields of learning and public interest.

Donald Trump’s Twitter Rants Become More Bizarre, Sign Of Mental Issues Dangerous To Nation

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Donald Trump refuses to stop using Twitter, and his rants are becoming more bizarre by the day.

In the past, Trump has used Twitter to undermine relations with other nations and with leaders in Congress, as well as insult everyone imaginable.

He also used Twitter to depict himself as punching out CNN.

Now, he has used Twitter to portray himself as golfing and hitting Hillary Clinton in the head with a golf ball.

And he has referred to Kim Jong Un of North Korea as the “Rocket Man’, referring to his nuclear missile tests and using Elton John’s song as a backdrop. Trump seems to be in a total meltdown!

What sane individual, particularly the leader of the most powerful nation on earth with nuclear weapons, acts like this?

It has long been clear that Donald Trump has demonstrated more crazy behavior by the day, including the constant changes of his mind on everything imaginable.

It seems to many that he has early dementia or Alzheimers symptoms, or has bipolar disorder.

This would be disturbing for anyone, but we cannot have a President with such unstable behavior, as the nation’s safety and security is at stake.

One would think Vice President Mike Pence, along with the adult children of Donald Trump, would recognize this, and despite the loyalty that Pence might feel, and the love Trump’s children have for their father, perfectly natural, that they would realize their responsibility to America over anything else.

We are reaching a crisis which could result in a massive disaster caused by Trump’s erratic behavior, and we need courageous people, including Trump’s cabinet officers, and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to step up!

Constitution Day: 230 Years And In Danger From Donald Trump In 2017, But The Constitution Will Survive!

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Tomorrow, September 17, is the 230th Anniversary of the signing of the Constitution by 39 delegates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.

The so called “Founding Fathers” brought about a document that was not perfect, but has survived through the crises of the Civil War; the Great Depression; the two World Wars; the Watergate Crisis; and now faces the challenge of the most dangerous Chief Executive in American history bar none!

By comparison to Donald Trump, Richard Nixon was a choirboy, dangerous in many ways, but also accomplished in many ways.

Nixon contributed some real positive developments in his five and a half years as President from January 20, 1969 to August 9, 1974, while Donald Trump has accomplished essentially nothing, other than the adding of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.

Trump has threatened constitutional norms, with his attacks on civil rights, civil liberties, the news media, the judiciary, the intelligence community, and the basic institutions of government, including the government agencies themselves, which he is trying to decimate in their effectiveness and even in their numbers, when more is needed in a growing nation with 325 million people.

Trump has threatened the security and safety of millions of Americans of minority religious and racial groups, and he has had the support of white supremacists, Neo Nazis, Neo Confederates, and the Ku Klux Klan, which he tries to equate with those opposed to these groups.

Trump has undermined our relations with our allies in Europe and Asia, and the tensions with North Korea have been increased by his reckless tweets and rhetoric, and the same goes for Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, adding to the potential for military intervention everywhere.

Our relations with our direct neighbors, Mexico and Canada, are at the worst in many decades, and our closest ally, the United Kingdom (Great Britain), is becoming more exasperated by Trump’s utterances. The same situation exists with Germany, France, South Korea, and Japan, and our major rivals, China and Russia are perplexed with Trump as well.France

There is great concern that Trump might use nuclear weapons, which no official other than the Secretary of State can even discuss with him directly under present policy, and Trump has the final say on that.

There is also concern that Trump could attempt to declare martial law if there was another September 11 type of attack by terrorists, suspending the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

And to top it off, Trump seems to many to have a form of dementia, maybe Alzheimers, or just mental instability that is often a problem with aging seniors, but having him in a position which could provoke world wide war and disaster is an alarming circumstance of massive proportions.

Trump is a danger, but we must have confidence that the Constitution will survive his threat, but we must all be vigilant, and be ready to react if any threat seems evident as imminent.

The worst thing we could all do is trust Donald Trump, and sit back and just accept whatever he does, so thank goodness for the free, independent news media!

Ken Burns’s 18 Hour “Vietnam War” PBS Documentary Coming Sunday, September 17: A Worthy Successor To “Civil War” Documentary Of 1990.

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Ken Burns, who gave us his legendary documentaries over the past 30 years on such topics as “The Civil War”, “Baseball”, “National Parks”, “The Roosevelts”, “Prohobition”, “The Dust Bowl”, “Jazz”, “Jackie Robinson”, “The West”, ‘The War” * (about World War II), and other documentary jewels, is about to give us a 10 part, 18 hour documentary on “The Vietnam War” on PBS, starting Sunday, September 17.

This documentary is much needed, as a way to heal and unite the nation about its most divisive war since the Civil War.

The Vietnam War came about because of the Cold War propaganda, and it caused troubles for five Presidents of both parties from Harry Truman to Richard Nixon.

It caused the deaths of more Americans, except for the Civil War, World War II, and World War I.

It divided families and it caused mass loss of life, close to three million in the thirty years since 1945 until 1975.

Now, however, despite its Communist government, Vietnam has been friendly toward the United States, and veterans and others have visited where their compatriots died.

The Vietnam veterans who have survived often have mental and physical issues nearly a half century after the war ended, and all Vietnam veterans are now senior citizens.

This is well worth the investment to watch on PBS, and to purchase the book and the DVD.

The Modern Presidency Began Today, September 14, In 1901, With The Coming To Power Of Theodore Roosevelt

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As a lifetime student of the American Presidency, September 14, 1901 stands out as the beginning of the modern Presidency.

On that day, 116 years ago, Theodore Roosevelt succeeded from the Vice Presidency, which he had held for about six months, and became the 26th President of the United States, upon the death of President William McKinley from the assassination bullets fired by anarchist Leon Czolgosz eight days earlier, on September 6, in Buffalo, New York.

TR brought a new vision of the Presidency to the White House, an activist, aggressive, broad interpretation of executive powers, and transformed the office for the long term future.

Our youngest President, still 42, TR brought life, excitement, charisma to the Presidency, and made America a respected nation in foreign policy.

He also initiated the idea of Progressive reform, that the national government had a role in moving the nation forward by regulation and legislation, away from the concept of states rights.

There was never a dull moment in TR’s life, either in the Presidency or after, and he became a model for future Presidents of both parties, particularly Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.

With TR’s accession to the Presidency, the history of the Secret Service protecting the Chief Executive began, and remains a major burden of security to keep the President safe and unharmed.

A reminder that the McKinley Assassination is covered in Chapter 4 of my book, ASSASSINATIONS, THREATS, AND THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY: FROM ANDREW JACKSON TO BARACK OBAMA (Rowman Littlefield Publishers), now out since March in paperback from the publisher or Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Also, there is Chapter 5 in the book, which covers the attempted assassination of TR when running as an ex-President on the Progressive (Bull Moose Party) line in 1912, being shot in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on October 14, 1912 by John Flammang Schrank, but surviving his wounds.

Hillary Clinton’s New Memoir: Will It Destroy A Possible Future Candidacy Or Promote It?

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Hillary Clinton’s new memoir on her Presidential campaign is out, and the question is whether it will destroy a possible future candidacy for President, or promote it.

Clinton certainly blames herself for some of the actions and statements that doomed her, but also places a lot of blame on others, including former FBI Director James Comey; her rival for the nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont; Today Show Host Matt Lauer, who moderated a debate that she feels was poorly handled by him; and of course, Donald Trump.

She points out her belief that there was definite Russian collusion for Donald Trump; makes clear her disgust at Trump’s tactics during the campaign; makes clear her belief that Trump was and is totally unqualified on experience and judgment to be our President; and tells us she is not going anywhere into the distance, but will continue to speak up on issues and personalities, including on Donald Trump.

Clinton recognizes that millions love her and voted for her, and gave her a 2.85 million popular vote margin, but that millions others hate her with a passion, and that sexism played a major role in her defeat, along with disgust by many at her husband, Bill Clinton, even though millions of others admire and support her husband and his Presidency in the 1990s.

Clinton informs us that while she will continue to be part of public discourse, she will NOT run for President again, which seems totally sensible and rational.

While she has run twice already, there is no desire to match Henry Clay and William Jennings Bryan, who ran and lost three times; or Thomas E. Dewey and Adlai Stevenson, who ran and lost two times.

It is indeed time for fresh leadership, and so the idea of Bernie Sanders at age 79 in 2020 running for President is a terrible idea, and even Joe Biden, who this blogger loves, and believes that he would have defeated Donald Trump had he been the nominee, running again at age 78 in 2020, is not a good way to go.

Rather, we need YOUNGER leadership, such as Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut; Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti; Senator Kamala Harris of California; Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey; Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro of Texas; Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom of California (running for Governor in 2018); Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York; Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon; Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York; Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado; Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio; Senator Mark Warner of Virginia; Senator Al Franken of Minnesota; Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia; and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, among others.

Senator Elizabeth Warren is also talked about, as with Sanders and Hillary Clinton, but being in the 70s by 2020 makes her NOT a good choice, and she is also extremely controversial, and would be unlikely to gain any more support in the proper places and states to be elected President, because if anything, she is more vehement and more controversial to many than Sanders or Clinton.

Again, we need NEW leadership, with a preference for the YOUNGER part of the above group.

3 Moderate Republicans To Retire (Ileana Ros Lethinen Of Florida, Dave Reichart Of Washington, Charlie Dent Of Pennsylvania), Opening Up Seats To Democratic Gains

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Three members of the House of Representatives who are moderates, and who have had strong doubts about Donald Trump all along, have decided to “jump ship”. and not run for reelection in 2018.

In so doing, they, and others who might do the same, are demonstrating the problem of the future of the Republican Party, that it is in danger of becoming an extremist right wing party, which is anti government and the traditions of the Republican Party.

Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros Lehtinen, Washington Congressman Dave Reichart, and Pennsylvania Congressman Charlie Dent have all decided not to run for reelection, and their loss is not good for the GOP future.

All three are seen as likely to back an impeachment move against Donald Trump, so they have an opportunity to become historic figures in the process of bringing Trump down over the next months.

With Trump repudiating Establishment Republican leadership (Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell), and making a deal with Democrats and moderate Republicans on aid for Hurricane Harvey and a three month extension of the debt limit, avoiding a crisis at the end of September, it is clear that civil war is developing in the Republican Party.

This includes the right wing extremists of the House Freedom Caucus working to form a third party movement, splintering the party into factions that bode ill for the party future in 2018 and beyond.

Three Days Away, Hurricane Irma Overcome, So Return To Political Reality

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Three days away due to Hurricane Irma, with no problems, just inconvenience of loss of electricity, phones, internet, and very little damage, considering the intensity of the storm.

So now we are back to political reality, and this blogger will resume his coverage and interpretation of political and historical events which affect our present and our future.

Most important today is the 16th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and proper commemoration is in order.

But tomorrow, the future of this nation remains one of uncertainty with the erratic and weird leadership of Donald Trump, who now seems to be setting out to declare war on the Republican Party, which was taken hostage by him in 2016, and his sudden, momentary “affair” with the Democrats, who have not one ounce of trust in him, but will work with him if there is any temporary benefit to them.

This issue of Trump and the Republicans, and Trump and the Democrats, will be discussed further in future days.