US Constitution

Constitution Day: 235 Years And Counting, But Question About Its Survival In Future!

Today is Constitution Day, the day in 1787 when the Founding Fathers signed the Constitution.

No one in their right mind would think that those who signed the Constitution believed there should be no changes ever made, or that what was in the Constitution was cement that could not be altered.

And yet, today, we have a majority Supreme Court which thinks we should go back to 1787, what is called “Originalism”.

This is pure insanity, and undermines the ability of government to adapt to changing times.

Most of what is considered “normal” today in constitutional terms is far from just the original document, and reflects the changing times.

And we are faced with a threat, greater than the Civil War or the Great Depression and World War II, to our ability to maintain a constitutional government based on the rule of law, as Donald Trump and his minions are a dire threat to America’s democratic future!

First Time Ever A Constitutional Right Granted Has Been Taken Away: Abortion Rights!

This has been a very emotional, disturbing 24 hours, causing the rise in blood pressure in millions of Americans!

The Supreme Court has taken away abortion rights after 49 years, as the right wing extremists on the Court, appointed by Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump, both of whom lost the popular vote in Presidential elections, have decided women should not control their own bodies.

This has never happened before, to take away a right granted, and to say that abortion is not in the Constitution, is a ridiculous argument! For instance, political parties, Cabinet members, end of African American slavery, rights to vote for women and racial minorities, Social Security, Medicare, and a massive number of other activities and basic functions of government, all came AFTER the writing of the Constitution 235 years ago! Originalism is preposterous in running a goverment centuries later!

The Trump appointed Justices lied in their confirmation hearings when they said Roe V. Wade was established law, as if it was, there is no justification for making women bear children, especially those who have been victims of rape or incest, or where life and well being of the mother is at stake!

The Court Justices lying are grounds for their impeachment and removal, as they tricked Senators who voted for them, including Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Susan Collins of Maine!

Donald Trump Should Be Facing Charges For January 6, 2021 Insurrection!

With the January 6 House Committee deep into its public hearings and testimony about the January 6, 2021 Insurrection, the evidence is building up of former President Donald Trump’s direct involvement and incitement of the horrendous events of that day at the US Capitol.

Can any sane person really believe that Trump does not have a major input into what happened, including his association with the “Proud Boys” and “Oath Keepers” domestic terrorist groups; and the involvement of a multitude of people around him in laying plans for the chaos of that day?

Can a President who endorsed harm against his own Vice President, Mike Pence, be allowed to go without charges that any other person would face?

It is clear that Donald Trump knew and knows he lost the 2020 Presidential election, but his own ego and Fascist authoritarian leanings made him unwilling to accept reality!

It is a difficult issue for the Justice Department and Attorney General Merrick Garland to take action, but if the Constitution and rule of law are to matter in the future, then Donald Trump must face charges!

Liz Cheney And Adam Kinzinger Are Heroes For Upholding The Constitution And Rule Of Law!

As the January 6 House Committee has opened its public hearings, one thing is very clear!

Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois are heroes for upholding the Constitution and rule of law!

Sadly, there are only a handful of other Republicans who are upholding the Constitution and rule of law in the 2022 Republican party.

Cheney is in a battle for her House seat, after having been stripped of her third ranking position, as House Republican Conference Chair. Despite her father, Dick Cheney, having been earlier a Congressman for ten years, the Wyoming Republican Party has repudiated her, and she faces a hotly contested primary with a Donald Trump endorsed opponent.

Adam Kinzinger is not running for reelection, since his seat has been eliminated by the loss of an Illinois Congressional seat in the 2020 Census, but he has also been repudiated by the Republican Party in his state, and even by family members.

History will record them in a positive fashion, while the historical image of their opponents, including Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, and innumerable others, will be condemned for sure!

Confidence In US Military Leadership Grows Under General Mark Milley And The Joint Chiefs Of Staff

General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General Kenneth McKenzie, head of the US Central Command have added stature to the image of the military by their recent actions.

Bob Woodward’s new book tells us that Milley informed his counterpart in China after the election and after the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection that the government was stable, and that Donald Trump would not be a threat to unleash a nuclear attack.

McKenzie yesterday apologized for the drone attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, which took by mistake the lives of ten civilians, including seven children, on August 30, after the attack by ISIS K terrorists killed 13 American military men and women at the Kabul airport during the evacuation from Afghanistan. The purpose was to kill terrorists, but was a horrible misjudgment, which sadly happens in times of war and conflict.

The idea that the US would issue an apology is a welcome situation under the circumstances, and humanizes the military, which is a good thing to occur.

We are fortunate we have patriots in the US military who are there to protect, preserve and defend the Constitution and rule of law, and prevent the horrors of a nuclear war unleashed by a dangerous, mentally deranged President, who wanted to seize power by coup, and has no scruples, ethics, or morals!

We are fortunate also that our military can admit and take ownership for a horrible blunder, but compensation should be paid to relatives of the ten who were killed.

George W. Bush Makes Clear Donald Trump Is A Threat To Democracy

Former President George W. Bush gave a great speech on September 11, comparing the foreign terrorism of September 11 to the domestic terrorism of January 6, 2021.

Bush defended American democracy, and condemned Donald Trump supporters who lay siege to the US Capitol.

The speech so upset former President Donald Trump that he felt a need to attack Bush, but the guilt of what Trump perpetrated showed through.

Donald Trump is a psycho, a dangerously unbalanced man mentally, and he has to be prevented from becoming a threat to our Constitution and rule of law a second time.

It is urgent that he be prosecuted and have a cell in prison on a permanent basis, and his family members, including his wife Melania, who disgraced the First Ladyship, and his first three children and son in law need to be pursued for their encouragement of lawlessness!

With all of the faults and shortcomings of George W. Bush, he partially redeems himself by defending our democratic system against the totalitarian bent of Donald Trump and his ugly supporters!

The Supreme Court Reputation Has Been Seriously Tarnished, No Longer Seen As Representing Moderation!

The John Roberts Supreme Court reputation has been seriously tarnished, no longer seen as representing moderation!

By deciding to go along with an extremist Texas abortion law, in a one paragraph middle of the night statement, which includes no exceptions for rape or incest, and allowing private citizens to sue anyone engaged in promoting abortion, the Court has done one of the worst ever actions, which will be compared to such other issues as Dred Scott V Sandford (1857) and Plessy V Ferguson (1896), and a small group of other reprehensible decisions!

Chief Justice Roberts himself recognized how terrible this 5-4 decision was, so despite earlier personal expressions of being anti abortion, he joined the three liberals on the Court in opposition.

Roberts knows his own historical reputation has been permanently damaged, as the Court has become dangerously radical right wing extremist, with the three reprehensible appointments by Donald Trump showing their true colors!

The fact that the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett switched the Court balance from what it was under the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg right before the Presidential Election of 2020 is reprehensible!

But also, the fact that Brett Kavanaugh was the second Court Justice to face accusations of inappropriate sexual conduct, along with Clarence Thomas three decades ago, and now they decided the private lives of women, is totally infuriating!

And the fact that Neil Gorsuch gained an appointment after a full year of no replacement of Antonin Scalia, and that Merrick Garland was denied even a hearing as his replacement, makes all three of Donald Trump’s Court appointments questionable and wanting!

It is further proof that the Supreme Court has lost whatever aura it had, as a fair, reasonable body!

To reverse a decision of nearly 50 years, when the tradition of the Court is to uphold legal precedent normally, and that it has such a dramatic effect on more than half the population, is beyond the pale!

If Hillary Clinton had won the Presidential Election of 2016, which this author and blogger and tens of millions of Americans think is the truth, the Supreme Court today would not be in the crisis atmosphere it is in!

It requires an attempt to add members to the Court, because otherwise, the Court is on a tear to the promotion of Fascism clear and simple, and that cannot be allowed to move forward toward ultimate destruction of the Constitution and rule of law!

The idea that two Presidents, George W. Bush and Donald Trump,who lost the popular vote, could add two and three members to the Court respectively, which otherwise would have been appointees of Al Gore and Hillary Clinton, is simply outrageous and unacceptable for the long haul!

It will permanently destroy the reputation of a very evil man, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who brought about this travesty!

When one thinks back to the mid and late 1970s, we actually had a 7-2 Republican Court by party affiliation, but it included moderate Republicans, which included statesmen, including William Brennan, Harry Blackmun, John Paul Stevens, and Chief Justice Warren Burger!

So action must be taken to expand the Court, as we are in a constitutional crisis that will only get worse if no action is taken!

Six Months Since January 6 US Capitol Insurrection

It has been six months since the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection.

Over 500 seditionists and traitors to the US Constitution have been arrested for the domestic violence, bloodshed, and destruction they perpetrated on the cradle of American democracy, and they need the full effect of law enforcement to be brought upon them.

The investigation of what happened that day is moving ahead whether or not Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell and the Republican Congressional members want it to procede.

Those members of Congress or their staffs who collaborated in the events of that day need to be prosecuted and expelled from Congress.

White supremacy must be eliminated from the halls of Congress, and Donald Trump needs to be indicted for insurrection, treason, and sedition, and be shown in handcuffs, and sentenced to federal prison, as in the same disgraced company of such traitors as Benedict Arnold, Aaron Burr, Jefferson Davis and others in the American past!

A salute to Republicans Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois for being supportive of the January 6 House Committee creation, and Cheney’s accepting membership offered by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi!

Enhanced defense and readiness for the US Capitol is essential, due to the right wing threats of more violence, due to the QAnon promotion of the crazy idea of Donald Trump returning to the Presidency in August.

And greater protection is required of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, their families, and the same for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and other Democratic and Republican members of Congress who have expressed loyalty to the Constitution and rule of law!

Republicans Will Rue Continuing Loyalty To Donald Trump, As It Will Destroy Their Party!

The Republican Party is in its death knells, and seems not to realize it.

The continuing loyalty of many sycophantic Republicans to a man who lost the popular vote massively two times, who was impeached twice, and had the only bipartisan impeachment in American history, is stunning.

The Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives in 2018 during the Presidency of Donald Trump, and then lost the Senate in 2020-2021, and lost five states Trump won in 2016—Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona.

139 House members and 8 Senators in the party voted to refuse to accept the victory of President Joe Biden in the Presidential Election of 2020, and in effect, incited and encouraged the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, causing the death of five people, including Capitol police officers.

And these traitors, seditionists, white supremacists, racists, nativists, misogynists continue to undermine American democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law four months later, and insist on promoting the “Big Lie” that Donald Trump won, and they refuse to accept the truth of Russian collusion in the Presidential Election of 2016.

They continue to back a Fascist authoritarian who has no interest in issues facing the nation, as a result of his failure to deal with the COVID 19 Crisis, and still has one third of the nation defying science, and promoting lawlessness, violence, and repudiation of common sense and facts!

There is a movement developing among responsible conservatives, including former office holders, some courageous members of Congress, and conservative spokesmen, who understand that Donald Trump and his extremist right wing movement is poisoning the atmosphere, promoting division and hatred, and threatening the political, economic, and social stability of the nation as it faces a multitude of challenges, both domestic and foreign.

So the “crazy” Trump followers in the Republican Party will rue the day they gave their loyalty to the madman in Mar A Lago, as it is in process of being destroyed!

Elise Stefanik Sells Her Soul To Grab Third Ranking Position In House From Liz Cheney

New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik has sold her soul to Donald Trump at the young age of 36, grabbing the third ranking House Republican leadership position from Liz Cheney.

Starting off as a moderate Republican, Stefanik has now proved she is a sycophant, bowing to the Fascist dictator, Donald Trump, who is destroying the Republican Party.

By all rights, Stefanik should lose her seat, as she has no conscience, and cannot fathom that Liz Cheney is totally accurate in her view of the January 6 Capitol Insurrection.

Instead, Stefanik has swallowed the “Big Lie”, that Donald Trump won the Presidential Election of 2020 over Joe Biden, when more than 60 legal cases, and the Supreme Court, proved otherwise!

Stefanik is a traitor to American values, and will go down in history as having backed a criminal conspiracy, while Cheney will go down in history as a “Profile in Courage”.

This has nothing to do with whether one agrees with Cheney on her conservative values, which this author disagrees with profusely, but simply standing for American democracy and the Constitution against an authoritarian, Fascist take over that is destroying the heritage of the Republican Party in history!