Friday, January 15, 2021

Reprogramming the Republican Party

If you watch "Morning Joe" on MSNBC, you probably heard Joe Scarborough's latest rant about the recalcitrant and entrenched Republican Party to which he once belonged and represented in Congress. To Joe and people like me, most Republicans in Congress have compromised their oaths of office to such an extent that they are "seditionists." That is, they should not be censored or recused but expelled from Congress. Under the law, expulsion is the remedy.

If America is to rid the scourage of bigotry in the nation, then it must purge those who advocate it through their actions and deeds. The problem is enormous in magnitude, and one former CIA analyst suggested "reprogramming."

I recommend decertifying the Republican Party as a legitimate political institution because it failed to vet and failed to prevent insurrection. Its leaders and members fomented insurrection and bigotry.

My priority concern is reaching the children of Republicans to teach right from wrong. That begins with proper education in values, ethics, history, and the American Political System. I published a book that is a good foundation for that type of curriculum titled, How to Select an American President by James A. George and James A. Rodger (c) 20127 Archway Publishing.

According to psychologists, anyone under age 25 years can still be trained and learn. Beyond that, there is a diminishing possibility.

Truly, defenestration is the answer for Republicans. That is, throw it away and start over. There is nothing worth keeping except Abraham Lincoln. 


It's over.




Thursday, January 14, 2021

Suspicious Senators

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Second Impeachment of President Donald Trump under emergency duress. They had no time for the formal presentation of detailed evidence and witnesses' testimony because the President's actions and extreme behavior warranted rapid action. Some Republicans agreed, and that is why ten Republican members joined to make the impeachment bipartisan.

Next, the Senate receives the Articles of Impeachment for their prosecution of the trial. Anticipated is that there will be a more formal review and assessment of the evidence and a more thorough investigation.

There is a looming problem: at least two Senators appear to have been complicit in inciting the insurrection and seditious acts, and they are Senators Cruz and Hawley. 

One headline is, "Thousands of Lawyers; Law Students Push to Disbar Cruz, Hawley." In addition, "Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani has faced calls for disbarment for filing frivolous lawsuits alleging election fraud but experts dismissed them as being politically motivated, noting that a state bar is more likely to act on a court finding of frivolity."

"Thousands of Lawyers, Law Students Push to Disbar Cruz, Hawley. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/thousands-of-lawyers-law-students-push-to-disbar-cruz-hawley

"Congressman Bennie Thompson, who chairs the Committee on Homeland Security, thinks that Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) should be punished after Trump supporters pillaged the halls of the U.S. Capitol last week.

Hawley and Cruz were both seen as the most vocal leaders against certifying the 2020 election results for President-elect Joe Biden and have been blamed, in part, for the riot at the Capitol which resulted in the death of five people, including a Capitol police officer."

Thousands of Lawyers, Law Students Push to Disbar Cruz, Hawley. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/thousands-of-lawyers-law-students-push-to-disbar-cruz-hawley

The question is how can these two Senators be censored or expelled from the Senate? 

Should they be permitted to vote on President Trump's conviction when it comes to trial? Are other Senators who obstructed the acceptance of the electoral results also conflicted? Should they also recuse from participating in the Trump trial?




Image from TeenVogue.com



Monday, January 11, 2021

Second Insurrection, and DHS Director Quits

A second insurrection is in the works, and Trump's DHS Director, Chad Wolf, quit today. That is alarming because the chain of command of a weakened organization just got weaker. It is riper for messing by Trump than ever before, right when Homeland Security resources are needed most during the inauguration. 


The Department of Defense will stand tall, more likely to resist Trump. However, during the transition hours, Trump will have escaped, leaving Pence in the midst and Biden on the cusp.


"Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf resigns after Trump supporters’ riot on Capitol Hill

PUBLISHED MON, JAN 11 20215:08 PM ESTUPDATED MON, JAN 11 20215:23 PM EST

Dan Mangan@_DANMANGAN

Amanda Macias@AMANDA_M_MACIAS

KEY POINTS

  • Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf resigned Monday, becoming the third Cabinet-level official to quit on the heels of the riot at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters.
  • Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resigned last week over Wednesday’s riot, which disrupted the confirmation by Congress of Joe Biden’s election as the next president.
  • Wolf, in a letter to Department of Homeland Security staff, said his resignation “is warranted by recent events, including the ongoing and meritless court rulings regarding the validity of my authority as Acting Secretary.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/11/chad-wolf-homeland-security-secretary-resigns-after-trump-supporters-riot.html?__source=newsletter%7Cbreakingnews



I quit!



Combating Political Illiteracy

The thought for the day, 'No escape for the wicked,' comes from the book of Jeremiah. The wicked will face punishment. To whom is this article referring? I am wrestling with what to do to reach the deplorable who attacked our nation via an insurrection.

First, and unfortunately, the people who need to read the story won't because they don't read. They might listen to right-wing messages formerly posted on Facebook and Twitter. They might listen to right-wing controlled media that fed them propaganda and reinforced non-factual conspiracy theories. There is a chance they might listen to family members and neighbors who disagree with them. In light of the experience shared by many, families are split because the non-thinkers will not engage in civil and rational discussion. That is the conundrum facing America.

It is very much like the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Taliban is a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist political movement and military organization in Afghanistan currently waging war (an insurgency, or jihad) within that country.

The Trump-Republicans (aka Trumpians) are an extremist collection of bigots, bullies, and fanaticism garbed in different disguises hiding loosely in various pockets throughout the nation.

Their location parallels the political footprint left in elections. Locate the Republicans who supported the baseless and fraudulent claims against President Biden's electoral win, and you will find the political boundaries and districts in which they likely reside.

Next, analyze the demographics and psychographics associated with the corresponding populations and communities. Certain demographic elements are most relevant:

education

employment

occupation

wages

age

population size 

marital status

family size

criminal record

political affiliation

organization affiliation

The challenge to understand and to size the problem from potential dangers from domestic terrorism lay in the analysis by political and social scientists.

Education is a front-line part of the solution. However, I contemplate, at what age are adult minds frozen and resistant to change and to learn?

"Brain Maturity Extends Well Beyond Teen Years : NPR. Brain Maturity Extends Well Beyond Teen Years Under most laws, young people are recognized as adults at age 18. But emerging science about brain development suggests that most people don't reach full maturity until the age 25."

Brain Maturity Extends Well Beyond Teen Years : NPR. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=141164708

NO ESCAPE FOR THE WICKED

"JEREMIAH 50:1-16

KEY VERSE: "For lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken; their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain." (Jeremiah, 50:9).

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Be warned: the wicked shall not go unpunished."

Jeremiah 50:9 For behold, I stir up and bring against .... https://biblehub.com/jeremiah/50-9.htm.

Political illiteracy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_literacy




Who are they?



Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Is opposing the counting, sedition?

Laws and regulations are for all citizens to understand. When we see laws violated repeatedly by elected officials beginning with President Trump and followed by his disciples, what are we supposed to do? How can we get justice? We look to the opposition, in this case, Democratic leaders, to take the cases to court. Other legal scholars and organizations can make the case as well. Yet, what we are witnessing is a failure to act with a litany of excuses about how difficult it is to make the charges stick.


One case in point begins with President Trump badgering and intimidating elected officials to get them to manipulate and change votes. That is illegal, and he should be impeached. 


Second, US Senators, some of whom have superior legal credentials, are leading the protest in the absence of evidence. The Courts have dropped over forty cases for being without merit and frivolous. Now, Republican Senators continue to promote fraud on Congress's floor, thus spreading the President's mendacious lies. 


They, too, should be impeached. 


Oppose the counting of electoral votes

  1. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee
  2. Mike Braun of Indiana
  3. Ted Cruz of Texas
  4. Steve Daines of Montana
  5. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee
  6. Josh Hawley of Missouri
  7. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin
  8. John Kennedy of Louisiana
  9. James Lankford of Oklahoma
  10. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming
  11. Roger Marshall of Kansas
  12. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama
  13. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia

Opposing the counting of the Electoral College votes without merit obstructs the American Political System and due process. 


The last time this happened, the Senators were expelled from Congress.

See the article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/01/05/senators-expelled-lincoln-election-trump/






Thursday, December 3, 2020

Sedition -- Where is the Prosecution?

I wrote before about “sedition” and cited an article by Stan Wilenz at the Rolling Stone. The question remains, is anyone initiating legal action against Trump and his followers for undermining the nation?


As Trump and his disciples often do, they accuse others of sedition.

Trump Health Aide Pushes Bizarre Conspiracies and Warns of Armed Revolt

Michael R. Caputo told a Facebook audience without evidence that left-wing hit squads were being trained for insurrection and accused C.D.C. scientists of “sedition.”


That in itself must be included as a seditious action.

Back in September, AG Barr told prosecutors to consider protestors as being seditious.

Barr Told Prosecutors to Consider Sedition Charges for Protest Violence

Attorney General William P. Barr was also said to have asked prosecutors to explore whether to bring charges against the mayor of Seattle for allowing a police-free protest zone.”

The New York Times

So far, I see no one putting the case together. That is disappointing


“Trump’s racist rhetoric and shout-outs to white nationalists have cleaved the nation in two, driving political polarization with an intensity not seen since the Civil War. 


His explicit encouragement of violence and armed demonstrations has menaced the rule of law. 


His brazen attempt to shake down the president of Ukraine (“Do us a favor, though”), in order to manufacture dirt against his chief political opponent — the event that triggered Trump’s impeachment — almost surely would have led to his removal from office but for the cynicism, cowardice, and partisanship of the Senate Republican majority. 


His amply documented obstruction of justice in connection with the Russia investigation — 10 offenses, according to the Mueller report; the corruption of his office to enrich himself and his family in violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause; his purposeful sabotage of the First Amendment by demonizing the free press as enemies of the people — all this and more add up to not just the worst performance of any American president, but the most subversive conduct since Jefferson Davis, who was not a president of the United States.


Trump’s subversion is an immediate existential crisis for American democracy, the worst since the Civil War. 


He has deliberately tried to discredit and delegitimize democracy itself. 


By repeatedly trashing the upcoming election as rigged and corrupt, raising baseless wild charges about voting by mail, Trump has poisoned the political wells. 


By instructing the neo-fascist and anti-Semitic Proud Boys to “stand back” and “stand by,” and instructing his goon squads to descend on the polls to intimidate voters, he has openly called for disrupting the election. 


By refusing to pledge to a peaceful transition of power should he lose the election, Trump has revealed his plan for a coup d’etat, with the connivance and unswerving support of the Republican Party.”


“The Sedition of Donald Trump”

Historian Sean Wilentz says the president and his chief accomplice Attorney General Bill Barr’s subversions of democracy have taken America to the very brink

By SEAN WILENTZ 



Image Credit: The Intercept




Friday, November 27, 2020

Sedition Watch


Sedition Watch


By James A. George, Independent Journalist, Talon Publishing


According to FindLaw, “Sedition is a serious felony punishable by fines and up to 20 years in prison and it refers to the act of inciting revolt or violence against a lawful authority with the goal of destroying or overthrowing it.


The Wiki definition is as follows: “Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or rebellion against, established authority. Sedition may include any commotion, though not aimed at direct and open violence against the laws. Seditious words in writing are seditious libel. A seditionist is one who engages in or promotes the interest of sedition.”

Listening to Donald J. Trump and his disciples, he and they are intent on undermining the American Political System including the election process. By continuing to promote baseless and fraudulent claims, they are acting seditiously to destabilize the government. Being in opposition to the incumbent party and President is acceptable. However, making baseless charges and conducting political rallies intent in disrupting the government are unacceptable. His and their actions will test the first amendment, the right of free speech.


Yet, there is the rule of law and sedition is one of them.


President Trump and his disciples have already demonstrated acts of sedition. On his departure from office, add sedition to the list of prosecutable charges against the loser-president.



From The Rolling Stone
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/donald-trump-sedition-william-barr-1073455/