Don't Get Me Started with Linda Sharp

Bounced Checks and Imbalances

I have always been intrigued at the running our our government.  Like many of my generation, Schoolhouse Rock made such a grown up subject accessible by incorporating catchy tunes and funny graphics.  So at a young age, I could literally "school" an adult on how a bill becomes a law.

Moving through middle school, I enjoyed Social Studies classes as they took me on an international trip around the globe always landing back home where our form our governance was aspirational.

High school literally had Government as a required class and I soaked up even more about our founding, our documents, our processes, our place in those processes, and of course, checks and balances.

Our founders were many things - adulterers, hypocrites, slave owners - but they knew what they had run from in England and were determined to form a "more perfect union" here.  Checks and balances were integral in creating a form of government in which power was not absolute to one branch, one person.  They had their fill of kings.  They knew the pitfalls of absolutism, the danger of unchecked power.

So they formed three branches - the judicial, the legislative, and the executive.  Three components with equal power would provide checks and balances insuring one branch could never become more powerful than another, could never move towards a monarchy, authoritarianism, despotism.

And it had worked.  For centuries.  Because those who were elevated to positions of representation and power by society through voting seemed to understand the sacred trust placed in them.  They may have loved the power and privilege that comes with position, but they also seemed to take their oath of office to defend and protect the Constitution seriously. 

For the President: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

For the Vice President: "I do solemnly swear 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 I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

For the Legislative branch:  "I 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." 

For the Judicial:  "I, [NAME], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as [TITLE] under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.''

Serious words.  Written so the person privileged to be repeating them feels the weight of the office, the responsibilities, and the history.  As Lin Manuel Miranda scribed, "History has its eyes on you..."

Great men and women have taken the oaths throughout our history.  Many have proven themselves to be both humble servants and stalwart stewards deserving of their offices.  They have protected our Constitution, they have placed country above party, they have never forgotten the purpose of our governance is to make a better life for the electorate, not just for themselves.

But what we have been seeing since Trumpism became the new People's Temple cult makes the days of Nixon seem quaint by comparison.

Through the last three years of jaw dropping violations, nepotism at its extreme, and the executive branch literally endangering entire groups of citizens, I, like so many, still held out hope for those checks and balances to protect us, to rein in the savagery, to save our Constitution.

What we have seen today makes it frighteningly, depressingly clear:  our government is peopled with cowards who place their access to influence far above their oaths of office.  Checks and balances no longer exist.  Every check has bounced, and the imbalance tips towards the GOP's love of power, no matter the cost.

Trump was impeached.  That is irrevocable and a stain he will wear long after he has turned to clay colored dust covered in straw colored hair.  The Senate cannot undo that.  But what they are doing today in refusing to allow witnesses in what should be an honest, sober, measured trial is insure more impeachable behavior to come from the Resident of the oval.  They refuse to see documents; they blatantly walk out during the sessions in which the rules dictate they remain in their seats;  they cover their ears and refuse to hear from witnesses; they have made a mockery of the oath they took before this "trial" began, and shredded the oath they took when they stepped into public life. 

By refusing to use checks and balances to hold the executive accountable they have told the public (which over 75% want witnesses and documents) to fuck off.  They have treated the Constitution as so much Charmin.  They have, despite more evidence coming out daily, telegraphed to Trump that he is free to run amok as long as he tweets in their favor.

One has to wonder how many of them are also involved, how many of them will vote to cover their own asses, how many of them truly believe they are untouchable as long as they faithfully suckle at the tangerine power teat.

And just how many of them know the next election has already been undermined.

They certainly do not fear the electorate.  (Well, they may fear the rabid MAGAt base and their penchant for personal threats and violence.) 

I have watched and listened to all I could stomach these past weeks.  The lies, the hubris, the blatant asskissing.  I have watched a Chief Justice play no more role than a potted plant would have if draped in a robe and placed in the same seat.  And I have watched with so many others as democracy has not died in darkness, but in broad daylight.  The Constitution shot, as it were, on Fifth Avenue and no one gave a tinker's damn.

McConnell and his cadre of toadies were never going to remove Trump from office.  No one thought that.  But those of us who still had some faith in decency, probity, responsibility held out hope for something akin to fairness.

Ahhh, my sweet summer child...

And it's not just Romney, Murkowski, Collins - the supposed "rational" ones of the GOP - who could force witnesses.  I am so tired of hearing their names as if the rest of the vipers don't exist, don't bear thinking about.  Every GOP Senator is culpable in what comes next.  Every GOP Senator owns the evidence that will surely continue leaking and dripping (today's oily puddle being Cipollone was in the scribble loop on the entire Ukraine quid pro quo, so basically a fact witness acting as a defense attorney during this farce).  Every GOP Senator is responsible for the horrors Trump and his coven move onto as they normalize and excuse his prior acts and behavior.

Their souls are bankrupt which is why the checks have bounced.  Their loyalty so one sided that the imbalance is breathtaking.

Any one of them could be, if not a hero, at least not a coward.  They could stand up for what is right, for what is fair, for what is obvious.  They could stand up for our Constitution. 

Lin Manual also wrote these words:

Let me tell you what I wish I'd known
When I was young and dreamed of glory
You have no control
Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?

 

Those in Congress, those in the Senate, those in the judiciary who have enabled the downfall of our nation will be remembered for their misdeeds, their complicity, their tacit approval of despicable, traitorous, treasonous, illegal acts performed by the executive.  To them I say, while FOX may control the poisonous Flavor Aid narrative fed to the Trump cult currently, they will not be chronicling the history, they will not be the ones telling your story in the end.

 

History, and every decent, patriotic citizen, does indeed have its eyes on you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vote.  That is all we can do now.  We outnumber the rubes who wear their red hats and still believe Mexico is paying for that defective sham of a wall.  We must mobilize in numbers too big to ignore, too overwhelming to change at the ballot box, too brave to allow this nation to endure any more of this aberrant, abhorrent, criminal enterprise.

Soleimani, Soleimani, Baloney

I read.  Voraciously.  Everything that matters.  And things that have no impact or import.  I know places, I know names.  I know more pop culture than I probably should.  I know events both current and past.  As a citizen of the world, I consider it part of my responsibility to know, to care, to learn.  It makes life more interesting, but it also makes it less frightening.  As they say, the more you know, the more you know.

And as I always say, the questions the human mind can conjure are typically more scary than the answers.  We are wildly creative that way.

That being said, I admit that 24 hours ago, I had zero idea who General Qasem Soleimani of Iran was. 

But here's the difference between me and the hordes who are cheering "We're #1!" and beating their chests over his assassination:  I have not stopped watching, listening, reading since it happened.  I have been educating myself as fast as possible because what happened has tremendous import, horrendous potential consequences.

And no amount of bleating "We're #1!" like some deranged sheep is going to stop what happens next.

And there will be a next.

It likely will not be symmetrical, meaning it won't be over there and obvious.  It will more likely be asymmetrical and affect our lives here.  Cyber attacks, power grids, etc - all are easy targets.  All would disrupt life here immediately for a protracted period.

But back to Soleimani.  He has been a figure of death, subterfuge, violence for decades.  He did not just emerge on the scene.  And despite what Trump and his ill equipped minions would tell you, has always been planning attacks.  So some "imminent attack" is so much smoke and mirrors from an administration whose main mouthpiece has now been caught in over 15,000 whoppers since taking office.  And for the record, his litany of lies makes it impossible to believe anything that comes out of his mouth on the best of days, much less the worst when lives are on the line.

This was not some "AH HA!  We finally found you!" moment either.  Bush and Obama both had their chances.  Soleimani's locations have not been some unknown, unmapped, unfindable locales.  Both of those Presidents chose to NOT assassinate him. 

So what separates Trump from them and this attack from their inaction?

KNOWLEDGE.

Knowledge and facts and wisdom and a deep bench of internationally intelligent advisors.

Soleimani was a man revered, yes, also feared, but a man who was referred to as a "living martyr" in Iran.  He was known for referring to himself in humble terms as the "smallest soldier" and not one for the asskissing by his troops.  He was smart, brutal, and decisive.  He was the architect of any number of shadow wars.  He had brought the Islamic Republic to the edge with the USA.  And the blood he shed could fill swimming pools.

He was not a good guy.  In fact, no one - blue or red - is defending him on any level.  The world should be better without him now breathing in it.  His influence, his plots, his plans, his death count are legend.  But in assassinating him - and make no mistake, this was no mistake - we have broken open Pandora's Box and can now only wait to see what horrors emerge.

Cheering about being some awesome nation or how we opened up a can of whoop ass is the height of ignorance.  These idiotic chants and faux patriotism are rooted in having absolutely zero idea what the word implications means.  Every beer gutted, red hatted MAGAt who is pretend Marining some "OORAH!" and fist pumping cannot pronounce Soleimani, let alone explain who he was and why it actually matters.

That every expert, pundit, ex-Intelligence official is out in force literally using words like "I pray that the worst does not happen"?  It means that the past three years of watching every norm, safeguard, defense, and protocol be effed in the A by this administration is coming home to roost.  We have intelligence services gutted and maligned.  We have integral positions in our governance and defense that have gone unfilled.  And we have a reality TV host whose main claim to fame was saying "You're fired" now in charge of our collective destiny.

A spray tanned, self indulgent, lazy, corpulent, intellectually incurious man child with access to the greatest super power on the planet is calling the shots.  And he has no idea what he is doing.  No care about what comes next.

An emperor with no clothes, impeached just two weeks ago (yes, dullards, he was impeached - the location of the papers has zero bearing on that), whose greater lies and subterfuge continued to come to light just yesterday with a new batch of unredacted emails and today with the revelation that his loans were underwritten by Russia - this is the guy now ferociously wagging the dog. 

He's the stripper throwing copious glitter into the air to divert attention and get the handsy guys to temporarily back off.

It cannot be allowed to work.  Congress can and must multitask.  It must demand briefings about what led up to this assassination at the same time digging into the latest, very damning evidence about this cretin and who owns him, and by extension, us.

And you, me, the electorate MUST care enough to keep up.  Read, research, watch, listen, CARE.  If ever a time existed when "Google is your friend" - it is now.  Use it.  Read several sources, not just one. 

We  tend to sit back in this country and act like we are untouchable.  Yes, we have our own game of Mass Shooting Roulette to contend with daily, but we skate through our days largely ignoring the world stage and what happens on it.  That is a luxury Trump has blown out of the water.  We have few allies.  Pay attention to that.  The ones speaking up so far?  Not defending Trump or the USA.  They are stunned that they were not consulted.   Yes, MAGAts, that would be protocol.  At least it was when we had allies.  When we had a rational, thoughtful adult in the Oval instead of a bombastic toddler with a shitty diaper.

We are very touchable.  And Iran is not some backwoods, cave riddled desert with no resources.  Just like Soleimani was not some Osama bin Laden on the run.  He was a General with a military state behind him, not some splintered ideology running from safehouse to safehouse.

Thousands more of our young military members are being deployed.  You will notice there are no Trumps, Pences, McConnells, etc in their ranks. The rich and powerful care only about their own interests and consolidation of power.  They do not care how much of your child's blood gets spilled in the process.  For Trump, these service members are merely tools, a means to an end.  And right now, the end is distraction.  Think not?  Those unredacted emails and his loans should be front and center in the news right now.

They aren't.

As the baloney bullshit continues to be spewed and the tension ratcheted up, the best we can all do is to stay informed, gas up your cars, and think about what shape you would quickly be in if the power grid around you goes down.

Soleimani may be dead.  But his soldiers are not, the Iranian government, having threatened "harsh retaliation" is not, and the clock is ticking on the consequences they plan.