The Constitutional Fix That Isn’t

God knows they tried.  Members of  the U.S. Congress in 1866 (the 39th, if you’re interested) saw to it that the 14th amendment was passed and ratified.  One of three Reconstruction Amendments, it has within it a section, section 3, called the Disqualificaion Clause, that deals with insurrectionists.  After the Civil War, of course that is something that needed to be addressed.

As with all constitutional amendments, I am sure  its prescribers felt they did their best to provide for furture implementation.  Unfortunately, the 39th Congress did not include in the wording of the Disqualification Clause any procedure for determining who is subject to disqualification.  And so the current Supreme Court found itself dealing with its third case involving a former president of the United States in Trump vs Anderson.  That is the case which the Colorado Supreme Court ruled Trump should be disqualified from state ballots because   of his invoment in the January 6th attack on the Capitol Building.

Long story as short as I understand it, SCOTUS decided to avoid the nasty political entanglement of labeling Trump an insurrectionist.   They did reverse the Colorado Supreme Court, but not on grounds of insurrection.  They took the easy way out,  simply used a federalist apporoach and ruled no state can determine the eligibility of candidates for a federal election.

OK.  Understandable.  Kind of spineless, but as Justice Barrett stated, “The Court has settled a politically charged issue in the volitle season of a presidential election…the Court should turn the national temperature down, not up.”  That’s thoughtful, but in the end did not address the primary issue.  In fact, their decision made the clause almost moot, by fiat. SCOTUS ruled that any case involving an insurrection must be enforced through legislation enacted by congress.  In other words, the Court passed the buck back to congress.

Good luck with that.  Republicans will never disqualify thier presidential candidate on insurrectionist grounds. They already proved that by not convicting Trump when he was impeached for just that.  How about Democrats.?  Hopefully that party will never be bllindsided by a presidential candidate who turns out to be a conniving, egomaniacal sexual preditor hellbent on grabbing power at any cost, but should it happen who knows.  So neither the Supreme Court, nor congress, will shoulder the responsibilty of determining when an act committed by a presidential candidate is insurrection.  Not now, probabaly not ever, if we continue to be locked into the belief of party infallibility.  I honestly think that 39th Congress would be embarrased by our current Supreme Court.  What they did is maybe politically prudent, but constitutionally negligent.

What happened on January 6th 2021, was an insurrection, and Trump incited it.  We all witnessed it with our own eyes.  If Trump should loose his 2024 presidential bid, there is a very good chance there will be more MAGA rampage.  That is the very stark reality of our political/cultural environment today, where a deranged narcissist has the perplexing capability  to cajole misguided members of his cultish following into believing his lies to the point of inflicting personal injury.  Trump has conducted a relentless attack on our laws and institutions, and exposed  ambiguity in our constitution.  Sadly, the Supreme Court missed an opportunity to clarify one of those constitutional defects.  It seems to me there should be urgency to repair any flaws in our democratic process that Trump has revealed.  November is not that far away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Rube Goldberg Supreme Court

This is nuts.  How can a group of nine supposedly super intelligent people make such a  simple issue so complicated?  The case before the court: Does the  President of the United States have absolute immunity while in office. That’s it.  All there is to it.  The case is sitting there to be considered at its extreme.  If a president commits murder, robbery, espionage, rape, any capital crime*, he should be prosecuted as any ordinary citizen would be.  The basic constitutional provision for the presidency is that that person” take care that laws are faithfull executed.”  It doesn’t take a law degree to understand that in a democracy the person in charge of supervising the law should be expected to abide by those same laws.  Jesus Christ can something be more black or white?  Well somehow SCOTUS has to muck it all up in neon colors.  Yes the president should have some immunity  from prosecution for actions performed while exercising normal duties of the office.  But that’s not the issue here.  It clearly states “absolute” immunity.

This petition by Trump’s defense team has been lingering since December 1 of last year.  The entire nation awaits a decision, and this Supreme Court you would hope is smart enough to understand  its time-sensitive importance.  But as it stands now, nothing will be done until late April.  Delaying a decision till then would likely mean any federal trail would never be completed before the November presidential election.

What the f*** is going on over there?  Are those supreme black robes all in the bag for Trump, complicit in his ongoing judicial delay tactics?  Is it all just vainglorious Supreme Court hubris?  Maybe it’s all too much for them.  After all, the country has never been subjected to a president with such mind boggling  disregard for what are considered normal constraints of the office.  Who knows what upcoming conflagration they will have to extinguish.

But come on!  It’s SCOTUS’s job to expeditiously address judicial matters in order of importance.  Other high courts have made relatively rapid decisions concerning presidential matters.  The Nixon tape case, Bush/Gore case.  In fact this court has a well documented history of  using a shadow docket to make consequential, divisive decisions about Covid vacine, gun rights, and immigration. More to the point, their decision to allow Trump on Colorado’s state ballot was a fairly quick decision.  It is clear they understood they should act before Colorado voters were slated to cast ballots. These are supposedly very smart people.  This issue should not take a lengthy deliberation, and a decision is imperative before people vote in November. The country’s opinion of this group is already lower than whale shit.  Please suprise us with some expedited decisions and maybe start  resurecting your reputation from the unplungable depths.

*In some circles you might hear the argument Trump should already be disqualified on grounds of criminal conviction- rape, and robbery.

 

 

 

Some Horseshit, A Long Shot, and Rootin’ Tootin’ Shootin’

Let’s see.  What’s there to be pissed about today.  Of course there isn’t a day that goes by without a Trump complaint.  I appologize.  I’m always dipping into that well.  It’s just so full and deep though.  Now he’s comparing himself to Navalny.  On one hand you have the Russian dissident who courageously returned to his country knowing full well he would be jailed after a sham trial,  only to be poisoned and die in prison.  And on the other you have a guy who has been convicted of sexual assault and fraud, has been indicted for 91 more crimes, and has utilized every  opportunity available to exploit our very democratic system of judicial due process.  Although half the county would like to see him in jail, he isn’t yet and likely he never will be.  Even though a court ruling has exposed his supposed business brilliance  as  fraud, very much unlike Navalny, he will have afforded to him the protection of America’s constitutional do-over- our appellate courts.  There Trump has, with decent legal representation, a reasonable chance his millions in penalties will at least be reduced.

Then you have Trump’s new grift, the one that lacks his usual originality.  It’s that black faux credit card thing,  This time it apparently is metal, and black.  As is the case with his first one, which I think is plastic, no one has any idea what it is good for.  At least you could probably scrape ice off your windshield with the first one.  Metal might scratch your glass.*

We also have the House impeachment proceedings entertaining us right now.  Come on guys!  You’re supposed to get  your shit in order BEFORE you put on your show.  After the Smirnov fiasco, the doubters are suggesting you give up the chase.  I know you are nothing if not persistent though.  Bengazi comes to mind.  Don’t you have something better to waste your time on?  Personally I don’t care.  Go ahead and keep plodding away if you really think Biden is corrupt.  The thing that really bothers me with this whole Smirnov debacle is the Fox News contribution.  That outlet mentioned the document involving Smirnov’s fictitious testimony endlessly for the past year.  Hannity probably dwelled on it a hundred  times.  But you think the channel will post any kind of an apology?  No sir, they wont mention a thing, and thus a third of the country won’t know anything about the latest duping of the GOP.  So go ahead.  Keep on with your investigation or whatever you call it.  For a change, however, you might want to be a bit more thorough with your  source verification, and keep in mind if you don’t and your witness is another backfire, you not only look once more like boobs but also chillingly complicit in Russian conspiratorial election interference.

OK. Those things are aggravating to me.  But  right now, in the present, what really pisses me off has to do with our incongruous gun laws and gun culture, specifically as related to recent disclosure of what went on during the victory celebration for the Kansas City Chiefs. From the initial general reporting you can figure Missouri has some of the less restictive gun laws in the country.  Twenty three people hit by gunfire, with one death.  I honestly don’t know the specific gun laws of Missouri.  My guess would be they must pretty much entail a vigilante’s wet dream- open carry, or concealed carry,  permitless, no training.  But what really struck me was something that was mentioned in an article I read yesterday.  According to the aritcle, almost immediately after the shootings, the Missouri legislature passed a law banning “celebratory gunfire in the cities.”  Well, that is encouraging.  But wait, what?  So, previous to passing this bill, they thought  it was a good idea to allow a large gathering of pistol packing morons to simultaneously  just blaze away at the clouds hovering above?  And I wonder, was it possible to join in the rauccous revelry with an assult rifle in Kansas City?  That was like, normal?  The worst case fears of anyone having sensible reflection of what can happen in an environment combining gun powder and testosterone  just transpired in Kansas City.  Investigators still don’t know how may people were carrying how many guns that fired how many bullets.  They know 23 people were hit.  How only one perished is an absolute miracle.

Damn I hope our legislature is paying attention. Nebraska law makers recently jettisoned the state backwards into 19th century Dodge City and Tombstone.  Worth mentioning: The trigger that triggered all the nervous trigger fingers into action in KC was the simple fact that one of the shooters didn’t approve of the way someone in the crowd was looking at him.  Referendum anyone?

*for more Trump grifting awareness, see my blog article “The Big Pimp”

 

 

 

 

The Big Pimp

This is new.  Melania is center stage in Trump’s latest grift, as well as his primo defense in the upcoming hush money case.  On Valentines day half of America got a bazaar fundraising message wherein Trump sought to demonstrate the depth of his love for his third wife Melania by refering to his lengthy list of criminal charges. If you want to see it just do the google thing.  Then you can click, and for a variety of suggested dollar amounts you can also send your love to Melania.  Say it with cash.  It’s the Trump way.

Not only is Trump counting on Melania  to provide him with some quick cash, but she is basically his entire defense in the upcoming New York  hush money suit.  Extracting himself from that predicament will require his attorneys to fancy talk a jury into believing that in paying off a porn star, he was only trying to keep Melania from finding out what a dick he is, rather than criminally falsifying business records.  Seems like a hard pull.  I mean, Trump might have snowed Melania with an eye-blindingly garish life style for a little while, but even she probably figured out what a mysogynistic superficial turd he his after living with him for a couple years.  OK.  A couple months. Um, weeks?  Chances are pretty good a jury will figure that out within two hours. Besides college basketball madness in March this year, the Political Entertaiment Champion of the World could very well provide us with some lingual gymnastices the likes of which we have never seen.

 

KC Chiefs Now 36 Point Super Bowl Favorite

Whatever the outcome of the actual game, Super Bowl LVIII will in all likelihood set an historic record for the largest point spread shift to ever transpire.  Las Vegas initially installed the San Francisco 49ers as 3 point favorites immediately after the NFL  conference championship games were completed.  But over the past two days an unprecedented surge in bets on the Chiefs has created such bookmaking turbulence that the linemakers now have Kansas City listed as a 36 point favorite.

Sammy “the Snake” Giardono, linemaker at Sin City Casino, attributes the KC betting torrent to Vivek Ramaswamy.  The former Republican presidential candidate floated the bizarre conspiracy theory that some mysterious power wants the Chiefs to win the game because the pop star Taylor Swift is dating KC tight end Travis Kelsey.  According to Ramaswamy, Ms. Swift will get a profile boost from the rigged game and then use the notoriety to endorse President Biden.  “That nut job says that stuff, its gets airtime all over Fox News, and suddenly everyone believes it.  I know this is a huge line, unheard of, the biggest in NFL history, but the money just keeps popping on the Chiefs.  It could hit 50 by game time. Who knows,” Giardono stated with subtle, but noticeable, blithesome disbelief. I Didn’t Make This Up

In canvasing Los Vegas bookmakers, they all reacted similarly.   The term universally coined for their anticipated big payday is the “swamy wamy.”

Swollen Crowd Waiting to Place Chief’s Bet

MAGA Mob Torches Polling Place after Haley Sweep

Early this morning angry Trump supporters smashed windows and set fire to the front door of the Tillson House in Dixville Notch New Hampshire, the town’s polling place for voting this year.  Apparently the mob was triggered by a Truth Social rant that Trump sent after Nikki Haley received all 6 of the hamlet’s votes.

Shortly after 1am this morning, Trump sent out this message: “RIGGED ELECTION IN DIXVILLE NOTCH!!  NASTY NANCY PELOSI, NASTY NANCY, GOT 100% OF VOTES!!  ALL POLLING NUMBERS SHOWED I WAS  LEADING HUGLEY!!!  WE CAN’T STAND FOR THIS!!  LOT’S OF SHIFTY THINGS GOING ON AT MIDNIGHT HERE- WHOEVER HEARD OF MIDNIGHT VOTING!!  NOTHING GOOD HAPPENS AFTER MIDNIGHT.  COMMUNIST DEMS ARE RIGGING OUR ELECTIONS!  MUST TAKE ACTION!!!!!”

In a related story, police arrested a half dozen people attempting to break into Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home.  Two windows were broken, but no injuries were reported.

Marorie Taylor Green Wants Congressional Investigation of Nikki Haley

Appearing to be running out of fresh people to investigate, House Freedom Caucus members have a surprisingly different target in their sights.  This time it’s not a Biden family member, or a member of the current president’s cabinet, but someone in their own party- Trump rival for the Republican presidential nomination Nikki Haley.

Paritularily adamant in calling for immediate congressional inquirey is Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.  What is so disturbing to her is what  former President Trump reported about Nikki Haley during his recent campaign rally.  Mr. Trump mentioned that she was responsible for destroying evidence and ignoring his offer to provide law enforement manpower on January 6th. Demonic Demagogic Dementia

When it was pointed out the former president was obviously confusing Haley with Nancy Pelosi, and the rest of what he said about January 6th was untrue, Ms. Greene insisted that was impossible.  “Everyone knows he has the best  congnitives because he just passed his recent cognitive test with flying colors.  And we all know how honest he is.  If President Trump says it happened, it happened. Period!

Canvassing a number of MAGA Republicans in New Hampshire  today, most offered the same advice we heard from Pete Swizzlestick.  “I sure hope anyone thinking of voting for Nikki Haley is paying attention.  I am so grateful that President Trump is on top of things and letting everyone know about Haley and all the shenanigans that went on with all that January 6th business.”

 

 

Insurrection and State Ballots *Trump Essay 1

Just a heads up.  This likely will be the first non satirical essay of several relating to Trump.  This is therapy for me.  This whole Trump phenomena is something I can not get my head around, and feel the need for sane explanation.  There are so many politcally unprecedented and morally apprehensible episodes that Trump has inflicted on the country and my psyche I could not express myself in a one thousand page book.  All of what I write about is or will be written by far more authoritative and professional people than me.  But this is all personally protective.  My blog has always been more of a journal for me than anything else.  There will be a time when history records thoroughly what went on during the period that Trump was active politically.  I want any ancestoral record of my life and character to make it absolutly clear what a soulless son of a bitch I believe Trump is.

Like many American citizens  I am conflicted a bit over the the Maine and Colorado decisions to keep Trump off  state ballots.  I can’t disagree with the logic here.  Trump incited an insurrection, he is a govermental “officer” no matter how you try and over-anylize it, and thus section 3 of the 14th amendmant should  prohibit him from holding office.  So yes, I personally think it would be great if SCOTUS would agree.  On the other hand, I do want to see him electorally defeated, certainly for democracy’s sake, but also, more importantly for me, to make sure he is not pardoned in any way for the crimes he has commited.  Of course I suppose I should say “allegedly” committed since as of now, with the exception of the E Jean Carroll sexual assault case,  you could say  none of the impending suits have been settled in court.  Well, ouside of a partial decision in the civil suit. Jesus it’s impossible to keep Trump legal engalments straight.  But I know he is guilty, for at least the crime of insurrection identified by the Colorado Supreme Court, because I SAW IT WITH MY OWN EYES!

How will Supreme Court apply Section 3 of 14th Amendment?

“Not an insurrection,” you say. What was it then?  MAGA absolutists have said it was  just a ‘peaceful protest’.  Are you shitting me?  Unless you didn’t see what happened at all, or choose to block out everything except edited video footage, a few minutes of the actual video will prove you wrong.  If that doesn’t change your mind, there’s no sense arguing with you.  I’m trying to establish reality here. I implore you to just take some time to really LOOK at the video.  And understand Tucker Carlson’s edited edition doesn’t count.   ‘Riot’ sort of works.  But that is too generic. That’s more of a Philadelphia thing.  Win or lose, that city is complety behind any of their athletic teams with some mind-boggling rioting.  January 6th was politically motivated.  It was an attempt to obstruct an official government proceeding and alter an election.  ‘Rebellion’ and  ‘insurrection’ are the common terms, specific terms, for riots or uprisings against authority or established government.  What we are talking about was that.  Take your pick.

Did Trump actually engage in insurection, or give comfort or aid to insurrectionists?  Yes, and possibly.  Regarding engagement the only defense of Trump I have heard is his speech at the elipse was political free speech.  Speech in service of a crime is still a crime.  What about giving comfort or aid?  Let’s take that part literally, texturally, like Supreme Court originalists have  history of doing.  It is known the Willard Hotel is where some of the most censorious planning of the rebellion developed.  Just up the block from the Willard is what was then Trump’s D.C. Hotel.  According to social media posts, that was a key gathering point for those trying to overthrow the election.  If someone in Trump’s administration met there to plan the insurection in any way, is that not aid?  Of course from the time Trump sent out his “be there, will be wild” invite December 19, to the 6th of January, the day Trump refers to as “the most beautiful day,” room charges skyrocketed to $8,000 a night.  I guess Trump could claim all that was going on at his hotel was greed, not insurrection.  And maybe more the reason the day was so beautiful to him.  But come on.  If you spent  8K on a hotel room you better have felt comforted.  If not, take it up with Trump.

If SCOTUS determines an insurrecton occured, what choice does it have but to uphold the Colorado court?  Lest You Don’t Believe Trump is an Insurrectionist

That’s a scarry thought.  No matter what the decision, one side won’t be happy.  Judicial pundits  are convinced the judges will be as evasive as possible and keep Trump on ballots.  Recent public conduct would indicate that for safety’s sake that makes sense.  Entrenched MAGA supporters seem to be more volatile, and more than likely to  have more ammo.  And  Trump’s attorneys have boldly asserted in true Trumpian fashion that  certain Trump appointed judges owe him a favor, and Trump himself  hinting they better come through or there will be “bedlam.”  Intimidation has no boundaries with Trump. However, it will be interesting to see how the conservative originalists handle their opinion.  They have been so adamant insisting the second ammendment must be intrpreted only in the context of when it was written, I imagine it will be challenging to be consistent concerning the 14th.

Which reminds me of one of the more ludicrous arguments insurrection deniers bring up.  As that theory goes, because there were no firearms involved, you can’t call January 6th an insurrection.  Thankfully, there were metal detectors at ground entrances so there were no long guns known to have been carried to the Capitol building.  But as arrests were made, police did find several people who had managed to slip through  with hand guns.  And  as the crowd started gathering on that morning,  media reporting shows several people wandering around with assault rifles, and even a few perched in trees and  holding long guns.  Also, Police discovered at least two vehicles that were housing veritable arsenals parked in the area. The fear of never getting their weapons back detered most people with guns from proceeding to the capitol.  No thanks to Trump, as we know. According to the Hutchison deposition he was upset with crowd size expectations and tried his best to get the metal detectors taken down so the crowd would get bigger and more visually pleasing to him.  As he knew, they were not there to hurt him.  The January 6th insurrection was a perfect example of how  damaging mob violence can be with only one shot being fired.

If Trump is elected, or someone like Nkiki Haley is elected, you can bet Trump’s immense pile  of criminal dirt will be vacuumed up and conveniently disposed of.  To imagine he is not guilty of at least a few of the over 90 indictments on record seems implausible.  But it is not his personal criminal activity that really bothers me. It’s what Trump has done to the country.  How one man could threaten our democracy so haphazardly and stir up so much hatred in society are the overlapping reasons why I hope he is ultimately held accountable and never again allowed to hold any politcal office.

Sorry. More to follow.

 

Strange Whispering Emanating from Iowa Cornfields

It’s not  the whispering voice of Shoeless Joe Jackson whifting through Iowa cornfields this time.  It’s the unabashed invitation from Shameless Don Trump, and his message is “If you beleive me, I am saved.”  Well, crapo.  That doesn’t work.  Whoever heard Trump whisper? That’s more of a Joe Biden thing. There is something eerie going on though.  More logically, it has to do with the Des Moine Register.  Recently reported information by that paper bolsters my above invented quote, and comes across  a lot quieter- because reading a newspaper is usually muted,  if read at all anymore.

In case you missed it, (and honestly people, you really should pay more attention to your local newspaper than the shit you gravitate to on social media) this very prestigious newspaper provided polling information that, to me anyway, is kind of astonishing.  Taking into account all the anti-democratic, vitriolic comments Trump has spewed recently, here is a synopsis of what the reporting found:

One forth of those polled affirmed that Trump’s quest for vengence makes it more likely they will vote for him.  14% were more inclined to support Trump based on his lies alleging fraud in the 2020 election, believing terminating parts of the constitution is justified.  50% said Trump’s plans for “sweeping raids, giant camps, and mass deportations” made him a more atractive candidate and a solid 43% were more likely to vote for Trump based on his comments that  “the radical thugs that live like vermin” in the country need to be rooted out. Pretty much the same percentage are fine with Trump’s comments about immigrants poisening our blood.

Regarding that last insult, no doubt we need comprehensive immigration reform.  Our southern border is a hot mess.  But we have been living with intermittent border chaos through six presidential administrations.  It’s jaw dropping to hear members of congress criticizing any president for immigration policy failures when the long term fix is up to them.  We need more robust border control, and we definately need immigrants to do the shit no one else wants to do and supplement our tax base, something that is becoming increaseing more critical as our population ages.  And consider this.  When a Trump supporter says something like “He tells it like it is,” they have landed right into Trump’s web of deceit.  His scare tactics, fear of  the “other,” are a huge part of his political magnetism.  My own mother fell into that trap. Fear begets hate.  Freaked out liberals and a few conservatives keep trying to mulify our hateful divisiveness by saying “this is not who we are.”  But the Des Moine Register, with its whispering ways, is telling us it is exaclty who we are. Trump’s political ascendancy didn’t create the current acerbity and angst.  Prejudice, racism and senseless hatred are a sad legacy of this country.  However, since the civil rights movement and  legislation of the 1960’s, I always had the feeling that we were slowly but certainly making progress towards equality and social acceptance.  Then Trump happened and the undercurrent of incivility burst through its fragile containment.

Trump knows he has to win the presidency again, or hope some Republican does who will pardon him.  Otherwise he will very likely become a convicted criminal, and possibly even go to jail.  He is getting more despirate by the day, but his repetitive lies that wail loudly in the wind are somehow working for him. The Des Moines Register made that clear.

I am not sure how or even if we want to reestablish “who we are” as a country, but I know to make it possible basic facts have to be accepted as truth.  Our media and politicians from both parties have to have the courage to tell the truth.  And it wouldn’t hurt to use the Trumpian playbook.  Repeat the truth over and over, and not with any kind of whispering voice, but screaming like a banshee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Former President to Sell More Outerwear and Underpants

In appreciation of the sales  response to the apportionment of his “mug shot suit,” Transendental Grifting ,  former president Trump has benevolently decided that such overwhelming gullibility should be rewarded.  “It’s totally unfair that my beautiful suit can only be shared by so few people,” the ex president said.  “So, soon, very soon, there will be a lot more of my fantastic shredded clothing out there for our great American patriots to enjoy.”

Upcoming garment scraps that are scheduled to be offered are of the suit Mr. Trump wore while inciting an insurrection on January 6th, the slacks he wore while instructing Mar-a-Lago empolyees where  to hide classified documents, the white shirt he wore during his intimidating phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Raffensberger, the yellow polo shirt he wore posing with a porn star while his wife was in the hospital recovering from the birth of his youngest son, and the special trousers that did its best to constrain his erection during his sexual assault of  E. Jean Carroll.

Included will be an interesting specialty  contribution. With a purchase of a slice of Mr. Trump’s chic transparent tennis shorts, as a bonus you will receive a small wedge of the  priceless underpants he likes to pair with that novel apparel.

Looking forward, should Mr. Trump get elected once again, you can count on him to avail the general public to free, small snippets of a shredded U.S. Constitution-  for a contribution to his 2028 “President Forever” campaign, of coiurse.

Serving America