So many things I'd like to do;
So many places to see.
And I feel like
There's never enough
Time for anything else
That I might desire to undertake.
Something I'd like to pursue;
But the world's just spinning around;
Keeps me head and foot-bound
Don't know what to do.
Give me just twelve hours
To add to my day.
Keep all your wealth and your money.
Take your fame and power for time.
Just give me twelve hours.
Time isn't cheap.
You pay so dearly.
I'm trying to make every minute count;
Penny count.
Spending my time seems like all I do.
Can't save up for rainy days.
Can't invest in an instrument to
Earn satisfaction to draw from.
When far-in-the future, I need to feel
Just what my value has been.
There's no interest that's coming or due.
Dividends are so precious and few.
Don't know what to do.
(from We Were Eight Years In Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates)
". . . And so the most powerful country in the world has handed over all of its affairs - the prosperity of an entire economy, the security of some 300 million citizens, the purity of its water, the viability of its air, the safety of its food, the future of its vast system of education, the soundness of its national highways, airways, and railways, the apocalyptic potential of its nuclear arsenal - to a carnival barker who introduced the phrase "grab 'em by the pussy" into the national lexicon. It is as if the white tribe united in demonstration to say, "If a black man can be president, then any white man - no matter how fallen - can be president." And in that perverse way the democratic dreams of Jefferson and Jackson were fulfilled. . . "
After taking office, Trump asked FBI Director James Comey to abandon the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election—which the FBI had already connected to Michael Flynn.
When Comey refused to alter course, Trump fired him. . .Trump then admitted the firing was over “the Russia thing” in a televised interview. . . In a tweet months later, he stated that he “had to fire Michael Flynn because he lied to the FBI”— further affirming that he dismissed James Comey in an attempt to quash the FBI’s investigation.
2. Profiting from the Presidency
The Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause prohibits the president from accepting personal benefits from any foreign government or official. . . Trump has retained his ownership interests in his family business while he is in office. . . Thus, every time a foreign official stays at a Trump hotel, or a foreign government approves a new Trump Organization project, or grants a trademark, Trump is in violation of the Constitution. . . For example: shortly after he was sworn into office, the Chinese government . . . gave preliminary approval to 38 trademarks of Trump’s name. Then, in June, China approved nine Donald Trump trademarks they had previously rejected. . . And every time he goes to golf at a Trump property, he funnels taxpayer money into his family business—violating the Domestic Emoluments Clause.
3. Collusion
In the middle of the 2016 election, Trump’s son was invited to meet with a Russian national regarding “information that would incriminate Hillary and…would be very useful to” Donald Trump . . . The Russian, Natalia Veselnitskaya, had ties to high-ranking Kremlin officials. . . Trump Jr. took the meeting. He said, “I love it,” when told Veselnitskaya may have had dirt on Clinton. Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner also attended. . . Federal law prohibits campaigns from soliciting anything of value from a foreign national. . . After journalists broke this story, Trump personally dictated a public statement on behalf of his son that lied about the intended purpose of the meeting. . . This relationship between the Trump team and the Russian national raises questions of whether the campaign aided a hostile foreign power’s active operation against the United States.
4. Advocating Political & Police Violence
When Trump gave cover to the neo-Nazis who rioted in Charlottesville and murdered a protester, he violated his obligation to protect the citizenry against domestic violence. . . When Trump encouraged police officers to rough up people they have under arrest, he violated his obligation to oversee faithful execution of the laws. . . When Trump shared anti-Muslim content on Twitter, he violated his obligation to uphold equal protection of the laws. . . This represents a pattern of disregard for some of the president’s basic responsibilities as defined by the Constitution.
5. Abuse of Power
President Trump’s decision to pardon Joe Arpaio amounted to an abuse of the pardon power that revealed his indifference to individual rights and equal protections. . . Joe Arpaio was convicted for contempt of court after ignoring a court order that he stop detaining and searching people based on the color of their skin, which constitutes a violation of their rights. . . Pardoning this conviction goes against the Fifth Amendment, which allows the judiciary to issue and enforce injunctions against government officials who flout individual rights.
6. Engaging in Reckless Conduct
High-ranking administration officials involved in foreign affairs have signaled that Trump does not have the capacity to make informed decisions in the event of a military crisis.
Even worse, his actions could spark a needless confrontation stemming from misunderstanding or miscalculation. . . We see this in full effect every time Trump tweets or makes a public statement taunting and threatening the North Korean regime. . . The president may be the “Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States,” but that does not give him the right to behave in reckless or wanton ways that put millions of lives at risk. . . If he is unfit to perform his duties as Commander in Chief, he cannot be allowed to remain in the position.
7. Persecuting Political Opponents
President Trump has repeatedly pressured the Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate and prosecute political adversaries like Hillary Clinton. . . This is not based in concerns with national security, law enforcement, or any other function of his office—it is an attempted power play, plain and simple. . . There’s no question that this constitutes an outrageous and inappropriate abuse of executive branch powers and serves as clear grounds for impeachment.
8. Attacking the Free Press
President Trump has repeatedly attacked the concept of an independent press. . . He’s called critical coverage “fake news” and journalists “the enemy of the American people,” made threats to change libel laws and revoke licenses, and his battles with CNN led him to try to interfere in the AT&T/Time Warner merger. . . This demonstrates his unwillingness to respect and uphold the Constitution, and disdain for the crucial foundations to our free society. . . Thanks to Free Speech for People, whose white paper, ‘The Legal Case for a Congressional Investigation on Whether to Impeach President Donald J. Trump,’ served as the basis for this list.
9. Violating Immigrants' Right to Due Process
Enforcing its new “zero tolerance” policy, the Trump administration separated as many as 3,000 immigrant children from their parents at the southern border. This policy was meant to deter families from attempting to cross the border. . . The children and their families have been held in internment camps and cages with what lawyers call “inhumane conditions” . . . Due to negligence, the Trump administration has no plan to reunite all children with their families, even deporting some parents while their children remain detained. . . Thanks to Free Speech for People, ‘New ground for impeachment hearings: cruel and unconstitutional imprisonment of children and their families,’ served as content for this impeachable offense.
10. Violating Campaign Finance Laws
Donald Trump knew disclosure of his extramarital affairs with Stephanie Clifford (A.K.A. Stormy Daniels) and Karen McDougal could hurt his chances at winning the 2016 election. . . At the direction of Trump, Michael Cohen and American Media, Inc. (AMI), the publisher of the National Enquirer bought the rights to the women’s stories and forced them to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements to prevent them from going public. . . Cohen admitted to making illegal, hush-money payments to hide Trump’s affairs in the fall of 2016, just weeks before the election. . . Federal prosecutors, and Trump’s co-conspirators Cohen and AMI, all say that Cohen made the payments at Trump’s direction, “in concert with the campaign,” and with the intention of helping Trump win.
Trump is an unindicted co-conspirator because he directed Cohen to “cause an unlawful corporate contribution” and an “excessive campaign contribution” by paying the two women hush money with the intent to influence the election.
(from Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham)
". . . If we can keep the vessel of state as steadily in her course for another four years, my earthly purposes will be accomplished.
-Thomas Jefferson
I think you ought to get a damn kicking, you red-headed son of a bitch. You are a pretty fellow to be President of the United States of America, you dirty scoundrel.
-Anonymous. . . "
(from Thomas Jefferson; The Art of Power by Jon Meacham)
". . . Both Federalists and Republicans believed the fate of the United States could turn on the confrontation of the hour. In the broad public discourse, driven by partisan editors publishing partisan newspapers, there seemed no middle ground, only extremes of opinion or of outcome . . . "
(from Thomas Jefferson; The Art of Power by Jon Meacham)
". . . the beginning of wisdom, Jefferson thought, might lie in a meeting of the principals out of the public eye. Se he convened a dinner. Jefferson believed things could be worked out, he said, for :men of sound heads and honest views needed nothing more than explanation and mutual understanding to enable them to unite in some measures which might enable us to get along. . . No deal meant disaster. It was clear, Jefferson wrote, "that if everyone retains inflexibly his present opinion, there will be no bill passed at all for funding the public debts, and ... without funding there is an end of the government . . ."
(from Thomas Jefferson; The Art of Power by Jon Meacham)
". . . The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them....Do not be too severe upon [the people's] errors, but reclaim them by enlightening them. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress, and Assemblies, judges and governors shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions; and experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind. . . "
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(from Thomas Jefferson; The Art of Power by Jon Meacham)
". . . authorities were now reaching ever more deeply into the lives and fortunes of Americans-Americans who watched such assertions of power warily, fearful that despotism was at hand. . ."
". . . Should we be worried about this flight from mere lying to post-truth? . . . Even if all politicians lie, I believe that post-truth foreshadows something more sinister. In his powerful book On Tyranny, historian Timothy Snyder writes that “post-truth is pre-fascism.” It is a tactic seen in “electoral dictatorships”—where a society retains the facade of voting without the institutions or trust to ensure that it is an actual democracy, like those in Putin’s Russia or Erdogan’s Turkey. . . In this, Trump is following the authoritarian playbook, characterized by leaders lying, the erosion of public institutions and the consolidation of power. You do not need to convince someone that you are telling the truth when you can simply assert your will over them and dominate their reality. . ."
The church of music
Holds no ham and oyster suppers
We're all just deacons
With our boots upon the ground
Marching into mystery
In command but
Still can't quite see
The church of music
Won't require your weekly presence
You'll find it stays with you
No matter where you are
No dogmatic postulates
No demands on
Your fidelity
It can end the darkest night
Carry you through the hours
Know not if it’s wrong or right
Make no mistake
It’s divine
This church of mine
There are no fiery demons
In what I believe
It’s not for me to say
Who’s what and where they go
All things flowing naturally
No controlling
Power over you or me
Stricly spiritual
No trace of any politics
Lurking in the mix or in the fabric
Only what is good
No room for hate and no deceit
Honesty
Sincerity will move you
And me
This church won’t interfere
With what you think or do
Your body and your mind are
Yours and yours alone
No one tells you what to say
No one criticizes
What you feel inside
It can heal the deepest wound
Shine a light in the darkness
Warm a chill in any room
Make no mistake
It’s divine
This church of mine
". . . sometime between the 1860s and 1936, the (Democratic) party of small government became the party of big government, and the (Republican) party of big government became rhetorically committed to curbing federal power. How did this switch happen? . . . Eric Rauchway, professor of American history at the University of California, Davis, pins the transition to the turn of the 20th century, when a highly influential Democrat named William Jennings Bryan blurred party lines by emphasizing the government's role in ensuring social justice through expansions of federal power — traditionally, a Republican stance. . . Republicans didn't immediately adopt the opposite position of favoring limited government. "Instead, for a couple of decades, both parties are promising an augmented federal government devoted in various ways to the cause of social justice," Rauchway wrote in a 2010 blog post for the Chronicles of Higher Education. Only gradually did Republican rhetoric drift to the counterarguments. The party's small-government platform cemented in the 1930s with its heated opposition to the New Deal. . ."
. . . is grossly misinterpreted by many in relation its use regarding repression, deception or even selfishness. True power is a much more positive concept. It brings to my mind things such as consoling in the event of a death or assisting victims of a natural disaster. Walking along the calm ocean recently reminded me again of power; a power over which no one exerts any control.
Power also brought to mind this song. (I disregard its reference to 'he' - it's a personal thing)
. . . bit at time is advice well taken
In so many instances
Such as food, strong spirits and love . . .
(from https://aeon.co/ideas/moderation-may-be-the-most-challenging-and-rewarding-virtue)
". . . Our political scene offers a clear sign of the little faith we seem to have in this virtue (moderation) without which, as John Adams memorably put it in 1776, ‘every man in power becomes a ravenous beast of prey’. . ."
. . . in a million years
Could I have imagined
If it were possible at all
To live a million years
That folks would be so careless
In the choices that they make
Due to simple unawareness;
Lack of facts; one large mistake
I understand frustrations
And the powerless one feels
I appreciate the waiting
For some benefits to appear
But it may be mere misjudgement
That combined with pure disgust
Which led so many people
To choose what they thought they must
". . . Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is calling for the repeal of the Second Amendment to allow for significant gun control legislation. . . The 97-year-old Stevens says in an essay on The New York Times website that repeal would weaken the National Rifle Association's ability to "block constructive gun control legislation.". . . Stevens was on the losing end of a 2008 ruling in which the high court held that the Second Amendment gives individuals the right to own a gun for self-defense. He had previously called for changing the Second Amendment to permit gun control. . . Stevens says the decision in that case, District of Columbia v. Heller, "has provided the N.R.A. with a propaganda weapon of immense power.". . . "
