Impeachment is a Real National Tragedy

This is a sad day for America when the Speaker of the House has called for an impeachment inquiry of the president.

Impeaching the president of the United States is as much a political decision as it is a legal decision. Without the support of the public it is not likely to happen.

I am not a lawyer but I have read the constitution. It is written in words that most people can understand.

Article II – The Executive Branch

Section 4 – Disqualification

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

That is easily understood by me to mean that attempted bribery by the president is an impeachable offense. That appears to be Donald Trump’s attempt to obtain information about a political opponent from the Ukraine is all about. We just do not know that is what he did. A whistle blower statement that has not been released is the evidence to proceed with an impeachment. We don’t even know who the whistle blower is.

If the whistle blower statement and associated information is denied to congress that would most likely lead to congress charging Donald Trump with high crimes and misdemeanors.

Donald cries of “witch hunt” will not deter the congress if there is public support of impeachment. That is the political side to Speaker Pelosi’s statement that there will be an impeachment inquiry.

Given the overwhelming GOP control of the Senate the removal of the president is not a likely outcome. In fact an impeachment vote or threatened vote, by the House of Representatives could make the next presidential election campaign one of the nastiest in America’s history.

The Man of Hate

Read from a teleprompter were words written by his staff to convey an idea that he doesn’t really believe but he hopes will mollify those who are horrified by current events. That is what Donald Trump did on Monday, August 5, 2019.

“In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy,” the president said, reading from a script that scrolled on a teleprompter in front of him. He added, “Now is the time to set destructive partisanship aside — so destructive — and find the courage to answer hatred with unity, devotion and love.”

Does anyone believe he really cares? I don’t.

This is the man, after the Charlottesville attack said there are “very fine people on both sides.”

After the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida Trump said ‘we will act.’ The president hosted a discussion at the White House about school shootings. Several students from the school recalled the shooting that they survived. No new laws were even proposed. Trump did nothing and voiced his support for the second amendment.

We will see Donald Trump visiting El Paso and Toledo (oops, I mean Dayton) offering words of prayer, condolences, and telling us that we are all united against hate. His speech writers are very good.

He will return after the next shooting and all of those that will follow.

Collusion and Obstruction of Justice

Is the joke on us?

Merriam-Webster definition: secret agreement or cooperation especially for an illegal or deceitful purpose.

Donald Trump’s actions meet that definition!

Does the evidence add up to a case for obstruction, even though the Mueller Report chose not to make a decision on that? Yes. “Our investigation found multiple acts by the president that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations, including the Russian-interference and obstruction investigations.”

President Donald Trump is saying he did not know in advance about a Trump Tower meeting between his campaign associates and important Russian officials after a CNN report said Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen claims the President knew in advance.

Robert Mueller’s investigation was obviously flawed. His entire investigation was the result of Donald Trump’s firing of James Comey, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), after Trump asked him to “go easy” on investigating Michael Flynn. That was obstruction of justice.

Trump insisted he never had any business dealing in Moscow but the Washington Post reported The report said “While Donald Trump was running for president in late 2015 and early 2016, his company was pursuing a plan to develop a massive Trump Tower in Moscow, according to several people familiar with the proposal and new records reviewed by Trump Organization lawyers.”

President Trump says the Mueller Report was a “complete and total exoneration” — “no collusion, no obstruction.”
No. “While the report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.

Trump in 2016: ‘I love WikiLeaks,’ Trump now: ‘I know nothing about WikiLeaks’

Trump’s cozy relationship with Russia’s Vladimir Putin has all the earmarks of traitorous behavior.

Will Donald Trump be impeached? Probably not. Nancy Pelosi sees no purpose if the Senate will not find him guilty. His removal from office will have to be the result of the 2020 election.

Money laundering to get your children into the most honored universities

What will it take to get my kids into UCLA, USC, Stanford, or another Ivy League university? Do I have to bribe someone?

Can money buy anything you want even if it means you cheat? Apparently for many wealthy people the answer is Yes!

Money laundering is the generic term used to describe the process by which criminals disguise the original ownership and control of the proceeds of criminal conduct by making such proceeds appear to have derived from a legitimate source. The processes by which criminally derived property may be laundered are extensive.

The parents, who were charged last month with conspiracy to commit fraud, were charged on Tuesday in a superseding indictment with conspiring to launder bribes and other payments through a charity run by Rick Singer, the mastermind of the scam, as well as by transferring money into the United States to promote the fraud, prosecutors said.

If Lori Loughlin and 15 other parents don’t plead guilty they could face some real prison time. Did these people understand that their actions were at a minimum fraudulent? What did they think bribes given to a non-existent charity was if not an act of money laundering?

I would love to sit on the jury to hear their defense. That is not going to happen. It appears the case will be tried in Boston.

In just six days New Zealand banned military-style semiautomatic weapons” and assault rifles

This all happened after the killing of 50 people at two mosques in New Zealand. New Zealand is a country that holds the right to bear arms a very important freedom.

Compare that action with the United States which has the right to bear arms included in its constitution.

The following chart from the Los Angeles Times.

There has been no ban on ownership of assault weapons in the United States.

Twelve Republican Senators who honored Their Pledge

The issue is do you support the United States Constitution, as you swore to do when you became a senator, or do you support a president who believes he has the power to do as he wishes?

Meet the 12 GOP senators who honor their allegiance to the Constitution and voted to terminate Trump’s national emergency:

Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee
The retiring Tennessee lawmaker said that he supports the president on border security but that the emergency declaration sets a dangerous precedent. “His declaration to take an additional $3.6 billion that Congress has appropriated for military hospitals, barracks and schools is inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution that I swore an oath to support and defend,” Alexander said in a statement Thursday ahead of the vote.

The three-term senator, who is also a member of the Appropriations Committee, announced last December that he would not run for re-election in 2020.

Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri
Blunt is a senior Appropriations member and the only one in Senate GOP leadership to support the termination measure. He has previously raised concern about the precedent it would set. Blunt was re-elected to a second Senate term in 2016. (He served several terms in the House before running for Senate in 2010.)

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine
Collins co-sponsored the resolution out of concern for the precedent an emergency declaration would set for the powers of executive branch. She’s known for bucking her party, splitting with leadership on efforts to repeal the 2010 health care law in 2017. That independent streak has become part of Collins’ brand in Maine, where she remains popular.

But the four-term senator is likely to face her toughest re-election next year, with Democrats raising millions of dollars for a yet-to-be-determined challenger after she voted for Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh. Collins is a top target in a state Hillary Clinton won in 2016, and Democrats will be arguing that she’s voted with her party much more often than not. Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates her re-election Tilts Republican.

Sen. Mike Lee of Utah
The senior senator from Utah, first elected in 2010, announced his support for the resolution Wednesday. The announcement came after Trump rejected his last-ditch effort to curtail future national emergency declarations, which could have provided cover for GOP senators to support Trump’s declaration.

Lee is among the most conservative senators in the chamber who has been focused on restoring Congress’ power. “For decades, Congress has been giving far too much legislative power to the executive branch,” he said in a statement announcing his decision. Lee is up for re-election in 2022.

Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas
The two-term senator announced on Twitter shortly before Thursday’s vote that he would support the resolution. “I share President Trump’s goal of securing our borders, but expanding the powers of the presidency beyond its constitutional limits is something I cannot support,” he tweeted. Moran also attached photos of his handwritten notes outlining his position. He’s up for re-election in 2022.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
Murkowski, who is not up for re-election until 2022, is among the more moderate senators and has proved that she is not afraid to break with her party and Trump. She explained her support for the resolution on the Senate floor earlier this month, saying, “Congress is a co-equal branch of government and as such Congress should stand up for itself.”

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky
Paul announced at a GOP Lincoln Day dinner earlier this month that he would support the resolution, noting that Congress did not appropriate the funds Trump was looking to use for the border wall. “If we take away those checks and balances, it’s a dangerous thing,” the two-term senator said.

Paul has described his political views as libertarian, and has been known to break with his party on foreign policy and surveillance issues. He was re-elected to the Senate in 2016 after a failed White House bid, and he will not face voters again until 2022.

Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio
The two-term senator announced in a floor speech Thursday that he would support the resolution. He had been working with Lee on legislation relating to national emergency powers, which hit a roadblock when Trump rejected the deal. Portman said Thursday that he supported Trump’s request for border wall funding, but that an emergency declaration was not necessary to secure those funds. Portman said the declaration would set a “dangerous precedent” and “opens the door for future presidents to implement just about any policy they want.”

Portman won re-election by more than 20 points in 2016 and won’t face voters again until 2022.

Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah
Although Romney is a freshman senator, he entered the chamber with a high profile as his party’s 2012 presidential nominee and the former governor of Massachusetts. Romney has been critical of Trump in the past, and said before Thursday’s vote that he would support the resolution.

Before Trump officially made his move, Romney said that he did not believe declaring a national emergency was the right approach, and that he “would also expect the president stay within statutory and constitutional limits.”

Romney won the open Utah Senate race in 2018 by 32 points, and he is not up for re-election again until 2024

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida
Like many others, Rubio warned of the precedent set by Trump’s national emergency. He said in a February statement that while he agreed there was a crisis at the southern border, “a future president may use this exact same tactic to impose the Green New Deal.” Rubio won re-election by 8 points in 2016 after an unsuccessful run for the GOP nomination for president. Trump carried Florida by just 1 point that year.

Sen. Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania
The conservative Pennsylvania Republican has occasionally broken with the president in the past, particularly on Trump’s use of tariffs. Toomey told the Philadelphia Inquirer on Thursday that he supports Trump’s effort to build a border wall, but the declaration of a national emergency was “a very important separation of powers issue.”

Toomey narrowly won re-election in 2016 when Trump won Pennsylvania by less than a point.

Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi
The two-term senator, who’s the chairman of the Commerce Committee and the second-highest-ranked Republican on the Armed Services panel, had “serious reservations” about what an emergency declaration would do to the separation of powers. “The precedent we set this year might empower a future liberal President to declare emergencies to enact gun control or to address ‘climate emergencies,’ or even to tear down the wall we are building today,” he said in a statement earlier this week.

The Power to Pardon

Paul Manafort is what I call a “smart ass” who thinks he can do as he pleases. His imprisonment was something he did not see coming.

Donald Trump has the power to pardon anyone for a crime. Article 2 Section 2 “The President … shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.”.

The likelihood that Paul Manafort will spend the next 7½ years in prison is small.

Manafort, “I accept responsibility for the actions that led me to be here today, and I want to apologize for all I contributed to the effects on people and institutions.”

“I stand here today to assure the court that I am a different person who stood before you in October of 2017,” he said.

Judge Jackson listened to Manafort and then imbued, “Saying ‘I’m sorry I got caught is not an inspiring plea for leniency,” and reminded him that the court “is one of those places where facts still matter.”

Pleas for a pardon will not be public but I am betting that they are already being prepared and will be made very soon.

The Trump pardon will happen quietly while other news events will the focus of most of the media.

Declaring a National Emergency should freak out (frighten) most Americans

Once again the U.S. government is faced with a possible shutdown that will impact about 800,000 workers. Its cause is the same as the last shutdown. President Donald Trump wants $5.7 billion dollars to build a border wall and congress is only willing to allocate $1.3 billion dollars.

To avoid another shutdown Trump will sign the law and then he could obtain the balance of the money by declaring a National Emergency that would give him the power to take the additional funds from any other funded project or any department. And he has the authority to do that.

So what’s wrong with this scenario?

What we have here would be the overturning of a constitutional requirement that all funding must be made by the congress.

Texas Republican senator John Cornyn summed up the problem succinctly when he said to CNN on February 4, “The whole idea that presidents — whether it’s President Trump, President Warren or President Sanders — can declare an emergency and somehow usurp the separation of powers and get into the business of appropriating money for specific projects without Congress being involved, is a serious constitutional question.”

I can imagine the congressional response to Trump usurping congressional authority would be taking the question to the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court supported Trump, you can kiss the Republic of the United States goodbye.

We will be left with a dictatorship.