WHOPPERS & WAGES

Plethora of Myths Hurt Middle-Class

Do you ever wonder why America has a federally mandate minimum wage? Well, it was designed to fix a problem. At the end of the nineteenth century, the US Congress was pressured to get rid of what was referred to as “sweat labor,” which included large numbers of women and even children who were paid “nonliving wages.” This was also a time when progressive reformers, women’s organizations, religious figures, academics and politicians pushed for a minimum wage law. The very first was enacted in 1938, but it exempted large parts of the workforce primarily because of gross manipulation by powerful owners and corporations.

You might be surprised to learn the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act set the minimum wage at $0.25 per hour, which is equivalent to $4.54 in 2019 wages. The law was challenged and the case went to the Supreme Court. In the 1941 decision of United States v. Darby Lumber Co., the Supreme Court ruled that Congress had the power under the Commerce Clause to regulate employment conditions. Of course, a fair wage is a working condition.

We now have another battle on our hands and today we’ll look at both sides. The primary argument for raising the minimum wage is the improvement to the overall standard of living it would bring to minimum wage workers. Their income levels would become more appropriate with respect to the present cost of living. It’s been ten years since the minimum wage was last increased.

Jack Kelly wrote in Forbes magazine, “A recent study by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), entitled ‘The Effects on Employment and Family Income of Increasing the Federal Minimum Wage,’ was conducted to determine how increasing the federal minimum wage to $7.25 to $10, $12 or $15 per hour by 2025 would affect employment and family income.” Kelly argued that we shouldn’t do this by stating, “Earnings would increase for many, which would lift some families out of poverty. However, other low-wage workers would become jobless, their family income would drop, and it could place them below the poverty threshold.”

National Public Radio pointed out that the CBO report claimed, “Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 would increase wages for at least 17 million people, but also put 1.4 million Americans out of work.” Okay, that is serious, particularly because COVID has already caused job losses for millions of folks.

I’m quite sure the ridiculous position that it’s better to keep people in poverty does not sit very well with those people who live under minimum standards. People in Congress who make between $179-200,000 a year have no idea how hard it is to live on $7 an hour. When whiny Lindsey Graham says the minimum wage has nothing to do with a global pandemic, he’s ignoring the bigger picture. How can Republicans say they want people to get off safety net programs yet do everything they can to keep them there? It’s just another lie that makes those living below the poverty line believe the government cannot be trusted.

The Burger King Whopper contains 660 calories – 40 grams of fat, 49 grams of carbs and 28 grams of protein. The whopper that Republicans are dishing out to keep the poor in poverty is 40 (Lindsey) Grahams of bullshit, 49 grams of donor dope and 0 grams of common sense and logic. If you pay people more money, they pay more taxes. If you pay people more money, they spend more which creates more jobs. A higher water level raises all the boats.

Most in Congress don’t care about American citizens. Sorry, but that is the only explanation I can fathom. I wrote a letter to West Virginia’s Joe Manchin (D) asking him why he’s against the increase in the minimum wage. I stated, “For someone who’s always saying he’s for the working families, how could you possibly be against a better wage?” I didn’t get a response.

We all know how hard it is to walk into a boss’ office and ask for a raise; they usually refuse. Good executives are expected to keep costs down and profits high. Workers will always want more money, but without a substantial wage increase the rising cost of living equates to less earnings. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the dollar had an average inflation rate of 1.52% per year between 2011 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 16.29%. This means that today’s average prices are 1.16 times higher than they were in 2011, and all hourly workers have suffered pay cuts since then.

I worked in business for more than sixty years and can tell you that layoffs and worker reductions always follow an economic turndown. Many businesses have shuttered, and our economic recovery will be a colossal challenge. If a business is forced to pay workers more money it may have to hire fewer people, but the employees remaining will work harder to set a course toward healing. I receive a Social Security check each month and yearly increases mirror, sort of, the cost-of-living increases. Those 1.3% annual hikes don’t put very much more in my pocket, but I appreciate them.

The disregard of working families by the Congress is why most of us don’t respect them. Someone should publish a list of all the people in Washington who vote against wage increases so we can VOTE THE BASTARDS OUT.

But ironically, one person in the great vast and powerful government of America can keep you from getting a raise for a while, and that is the parliamentarian. Yes, the person sitting to the right of the Speaker of the House of Representatives is the traffic cop of congressional action. The Parliamentarian is a nonpartisan official appointed by the Speaker and has the job of rendering objective assistance on legislative and parliamentary procedure in the House. She ruled, you cannot add a vote on minimum wage to the Recovery Act. The Parliamentarian’s current salary is $171,315 per year. I believe that’s above the minimum wage.

Book for the Recovery – Build Back Better!

How to Hire Great People: Tips, Tricks and Templates for Success

Great companies hire great people. This short, easy-to-read book will help you recruit, review and refocus your new workers into the style and culture of your company. Motivating people to do great work will manage turnover and keeping good workers at your company will maintain your success. Employee inspiration makes a positive difference in our competitive world. HOW TO HIRE GREAT PEOPLE covers everything, including testing, training, tricks and tips. Follow this guide and you’ll assemble strong teams with smart workers, and you’ll learn some time-tested techniques about how to keep them.

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The book that tells it like it is…

Gold, God, Guns & Goofballs: If you only read one chapter of this book, try “Take a Knee for America” and think about our never-ending conflicts between minorities and the police. I’m not asking you to take a stand but having a deep and honest conversation about why some people think the way they do would be productive. This is a book for the moment which seeks to start a conversation about peace. And if you are worried about social media, you really should check out the chapter called “Social Media Menace.”

Get the Kindle Version HERE. Or order your paperback edition HERE.

CONSPIRACY AGAINST AMERICA

Prosecute the Perpetrators

I recently read that the Justice Department and FBI are investigating whether high-profile, right-wing figures — including Roger Stone and Alex Jones — may have played a role in the Capitol breach on January 6. According to people familiar with the investigation, it’s part of a broader look into the mindset of those who committed violence and their paths to radicalization.

I have been a harsh critic of both Jones and Stone over the years and I genuinely believe they are terrible human beings on many levels. The First Amendment is a wonderful concept, but the misuse of its rights in ways that hurts people cannot be condoned or supported.

Donald Trump endorsed and encouraged both men, but that is not the reason I dislike them. Roger Stone helped elect Richard Nixon decades ago, and over the years many people have suffered his violent threats and intimidation. Stone repeatedly acknowledged that he had established a back-channel with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to obtain information about Hillary Clinton as well as advance knowledge about the release of emails stolen from Democratic National Committee computers.

In 2019, Stone was indicted and convicted on seven criminal charges in the Mueller investigation: one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of false statements and one count of witness tampering. He was convicted but later pardoned by President Trump, which didn’t deter him from his alleged involvement in the January 6^th Insurrection at the Capital. He’s an evil human being.

There is an ongoing investigation into potential ties between key figures in the riot and those who promoted Trump’s lie that the election was stolen from him. Sadly, that does not mean those who may have recruited or influenced rioters will face criminal charges, particularly given US case law surrounding incitement and free speech. The truth is, we have no real federal domestic terrorist law on the books.

According to news reports, officials said they are principally seeking to understand what the rioters were intending and who may have influenced their beliefs. Investigators also want to determine whether anyone who influenced the rioters bears enough responsibility to justify criminal charges, such as conspiracy or aiding the effort.

Alex Jones used his radio and internet platforms to spread many lies, hate and conspiracy theories which angered and motivated far-right lunatics. Jones, you may remember, is the guy who said that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting were false flag operations of gun control advocates. He has stated many times that “no one died” in Sandy Hook and that Stoneman Douglas survivor David Hogg was a crisis actor.

Jones was sued by the parents of slain Sandy Hook children. He eventually admitted under oath in a deposition that the deaths were real, but claimed he has a “form of psychosis” that made him believe “everything was staged.” The lawsuits are continuing and so is his website that feeds the flames of the far-right, alt-right, white supremacists and militia groups. Just being taken off Twitter, doesn’t keep one off the internet. From the WACO incident with the Branch Davidians through Obama-Hillary hating and onto supporting Trump’s extreme rhetoric, Alex Jones has poisoned many minds in America.

One could argue that there is a difference between a deep partisan, who spreads lies about his political opponents, and an anarchist, who holds a belief that society should have no government, laws, police or other such representations of authority. Anarchism is perfectly legal, and while most US anarchists advocate change through non-violent, non-criminal means, they do have a history of doing bad things. The man who assassinated President McKinley was an anarchist. The men and woman who stormed the Capitol last month causing the death of five people are anarchists.

How we handle this attack on our democracy is important. A conviction of Donald John Trump in his second impeachment trial would have been a good start, but politics and law are not always on the same beam. Let me tell you a short story that might shed some light on how we handle dissent in America.

This is all true. The year was 1970, and I was the midnight to 4:00 AM disc jockey on a progressive rock radio station in my hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At 2:00 AM, I heard a noise, looked up and saw the studio was filled with about ten student protesters. They told me that earlier in the evening they had been demonstrating in front of the woman who ran a local military draft board. They were arrested and brought into magistrate court. A group of the protesters was brought before a judge, when suddenly police officers with night sticks entered the courtroom. The lights were turned off and the kids were beaten by the cops. I convinced them to come back during the day when there would be more listeners. They were given time on a talk show the next day during the “afternoon drive” time period.

As I watched the attack on the Capitol, I kept wondering where the cops were, where the guards were or even the army! And I kept saying out loud, “What is taking them so long?” The Proud Boys, Oath keepers and Three Percenters were not protesting a war, a policy or even an injustice. They were attacking our government and democracy itself. Most in that group were ANTI-GOVERNMENT and Pro-Trump loyalists, not peaceful protestors gathered to seek redress for their grievances. Their only complaint seemed to be an illogical belief that Donald Trump lost because the election was rigged.

President Joe Biden had 81,283,098 votes cast for him, which was 51.3 percent of the total vote. He became the first US presidential candidate to have won more than 80 million votes. Trump won 74,222,958 votes, which was 46.8 percent of the total vote. We keep hearing about disenfranchising the 74 million people who voted for Trump, but wait a minute, what about the 81.2 million people who voted for the other guy? Are you saying it’s okay to disregard their choice?

The Capitol Hill thugs and malcontents need to be brought to justice so that the American public can know more about their movement and its beliefs. Parents need to learn the telltale signs of their offspring developing violent, anti-American viewpoints. Of course, we all need to know if we have this “element” in our neighborhoods. I take this seriously because many of those arrested live in the state where I reside, Florida.

When we protested in the 1960s, we clearly stated that we were against an undeclared, illegal, immoral war. We thought America would be a better place if we forgot about wars and worked toward a more peaceful world instead. When today’s far-right radicals see the world through only one man’s lies and support his ludicrously lame behavior, they are not being loyal to America, they have sworn their allegiance to Trump.

It’s obvious to me that had the rioters at the Capitol not been waving Trump flags or, God forbid, were people of color, there would have been an order to fire, you know, just like Kent and Jackson State Universities back in the day. I’m sad that five people lost their lives but it could have been worse, and it will be worse should it ever happen again. All of the influencers, inciters and rioters must be brought to justice.

Book for the Recovery – Build Back Better!

How to Hire Great People: Tips, Tricks and Templates for Success

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The book that tells it like it is…

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WHAT WE THINK OF LAWYERS

Why do Attorneys Lie on TV but not in Court?

I like lawyers. I was once was sued for $78 million and crafty attorneys got me off the hook from a frivolous lawsuit with no merit. I have experience as an expert witness in many broadcast-oriented court cases, I once testified in a lawsuit presented in court by an obnoxious lawyer. One year later, I helped that same lawyer win another case. I guess he thought I was a credible witness.

Broke-dick attorneys and ambulance chasers who have become spokespersons of ill-advised causes based on lies and deception have been spreading their bullshit all over our media. Rudy Giuliani comes to mind, as do Bruce Castor and Michael van der Veen, a personal injury lawyer from Philadelphia. Hey, a guy must make a living. I am not impressed with any of them, but who am I to judge? Any member of the opposing side would be quick to point out, they often won cases for their clients.

Submitting false statements or lying to the court is illegal, and an attorney can get in legal trouble if they’re caught. Should opposing counsel in a civil case detect dishonesty, they can move for sanctions which could result in a fine or perhaps having to pay the other side’s legal fees. This rarely happens but the downside is enough of a deterrent to keep dirty, dime-store attorneys from lying to win.

I know of a lawyer who didn’t show up in court for a divorce case. The judge found for the other party, which would have cost the “missing lawyer’s” client more than $100,000. When that client learned of her attorney’s malfeasance, she sued him for malpractice, which took years to resolve. The lawyer said he missed the court date because he was absorbed in his own divorce case and forgot. That is some rich irony.

Each US state has a bar association to oversee the legal profession and ensure that attorneys carry out their trade in an honest, fair and legal manner. If an attorney lies or practices in a shady manner, they could get dinged by their state bar and have their reputation damaged beyond repair. Attorney misbehavior is published in monthly association magazines read by every state bar member. This kind of trade shaming can lead to shunning and financial harm.

If a lawyer completely flies off the rails, the state bar can suspend their license or impose probation as punishment. As a self-governing profession, state bars typically give lawyers the benefit of the doubt the first few times. So, America’s Mayor Rudy will probably get a light spanking and be sent on his way.

An attorney with a pattern of ethics violations, such as egregious conduct or misusing client funds, could get disbarred. United States attorneys are never punished for zealously representing their clients. An attorney is expected to present the facts and law in the most favorable light for their client. Bending the law or the facts slightly, especially when addressing a jury, is not disallowed but there are lines and limits.

A defense lawyer relies on information provided by their client and there is no requirement that they investigate a client’s statements. On the other hand, a prosecutor would most likely verify each bit of information. A good attorney will judge the credibility of their client before going out on a limb. Some defense attorneys may even say to a client, “Don’t tell me you committed a crime, just tell me what happened.” I’m not sure that being kept in the dark is a permission slip for lying, but, hey, they have a job to do.

Even simple cases can have multiple legal theories of defense, each supported by different facts or circumstances. Lawyers have broad discretion to determine which combination of law and facts should be presented on behalf of their client. They also have free rein on how to present their case. Short of the other side raising objections that the judge sustains, an attorney runs his or her own show.

Lawyers must be reasonable when they present rules of evidence, rules of civil procedure, local rules of the court and precedent. The role of the judge is preventing counsel from going over a line that could steer the case in a direction preventing justice for all.

In the more than sixty cases brought to court by Donald John Trump and his allies, one judge had a great line when stating they can’t come into court and just say there was fraud, they must prove their case. When the lawyers of the former president presented questionable affidavits, one judge questioned the authenticity of signed documents. Trump’s attorney responded, “So technically – yes – if a person signs an affidavit with false information, they could be charged with perjury. But proving the person willfully lied can prove to be quite difficult in many cases.” Once the word got out that any person lying to help Trump during their testimony could go to jail, fewer affidavits were presented.

TV shows like Law & Order have given all of us some insight about how the process works, but their presentations are not always complete or accurate. There are also compelling shows such as 20/20, Dateline and 48 Hours, where we see other aspects of how the criminal justice system works. One of my personal takeaways with cold cases is the initial investigative work by the detectives can be remarkably shoddy. I don’t mean to rub the blue line people on this issue, but over time we have put a lot of innocent people in jail. In other cases, investigators spend years going after one guy who had nothing to do with the crime. Many times, the police report and file might be the only evidence a defense attorney has to develop a case. A faulty report in such an instance could be a gift for to the prosecutor who wants to quickly lock up the “monster.”

I have utter faith in the system, but we must keep a careful eye on bad judges, bad attorneys and an underfunded prosecutor’s office. We can never let our guard down. America was founded on a fair justice system and a well-written Constitution, things that many countries, such as the UK and Israel, do not have. When a lawyer lies, they endanger the system and themself. When a judge permits fabrications and distortions to be presented in court, he or she weakens the justice system. It might not be a popular decision, but those who can’t stand the heat need to get out of the kitchen. Always remember the most important line, “Equal justice for all.”

Book for the Recovery – Build Back Better!

How to Hire Great People: Tips, Tricks and Templates for Success

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The book that tells it like it is…

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POWER GRIDS & GOOFBALLS

Texas Governor Abbott Wrong Again

When some governors talk during a crisis, a short listen can reveal their stupidity. One governor in Florida and another in New York have gone out of their way to threaten people who disagree with them. Such elected officials are not well adept at dealing with the press. Instead of working with them, like Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, they develop a combative stance with reporters, peers and constituents. When they want to get a message out, they tend to overstate, dodge and outright lie about intentions and details.

On February 17, 2021, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates rebuked a claim made by Texas Governor Greg Abbott that it was the failure of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar that caused the massive, cold-weather power outage in his state that “drinks oil noon and night.” His case against renewable energy was dead wrong. He stated that solar and wind energy account for only 10% of the state’s power, ignoring the 90% of electricity sourced from fossil fuels, including oil and natural gas. Those lines were frozen.

According to an interview on Yahoo News, Bill Gates said extreme weather like the winter storm that swept across the country in recent days will become more likely as climate change worsens. Mr. Gates is advocating for an expansion of renewable energy as part of his call for the US to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Abbott blamed the outages on wind turbines and the Green New Deal, a Congressional plan for combating climate change that the Texas governor called “a deadly deal for the United States of America.” Okay, he scored points declaring his distaste of Democrats, but he wasn’t telling the truth or offering solutions to the power crisis deeply affecting the citizens of his state.

The plain truth of this Texas problem is twofold. 1. They don’t store enough gas and oil for rainy days. 2. Years ago, they decided to stay off the American electrical grid and go it alone. Maybe that bad plan originated in some conspiracy theory fed to politicians by the crooks at Enron or maybe they just didn’t understand the strength of working together. That aside, there are some facts that might help investigators understand what is happening in Texas right now.

During the 2000 election cycle, Enron gave $1.1 million to local candidates, ranging from little donations of $250 to $500 in hundreds of districts to as much as $10,000 to influential state legislators in California and other big states. Governor Rick Perry of Texas, then Lieutenant Governor, received $212,000 from Enron. They say to follow the money, and this trail goes way back to 1935. The Texas power grid is mostly isolated from the rest of the country, a setup designed to avoid federal regulation. It has some connectivity to Mexico and to the Eastern US, but those ties have limits on the amount of electricity which can be transmitted. Because Texas didn’t want to expose their operating methods, they never had to comply with federal standards.

I guess Mother Nature didn’t get the “Don’t mess with Texas” message. While a great bumper sticker slogan, it’s not a good way to prepare for dangerous challenges. Bravado has never been better than pure planning when it comes to public policy and safety.

Texas could now be borrowing power from one of two US grid systems had they joined the “electricity party” and protected themselves from a single point of failure. It’s ironic that former Texas Governor Rick Perry, who when running for president said he would eliminate the US Department of Energy, became the Secretary of Energy for the Trump administration. He obviously didn’t have a clue about what he was doing, because the very state he lives in is deeply suffering an energy emergency. What a slacker.

People are angry about their power being out and having no food or water in the “great” state of Texas. The governor is making ignorant statements to distract attention away from himself. He is creating a boogieman in renewable energy and using this disaster to put forth a regressive agenda. Does any thinking person believe that “The Mob” caused the power grid to go down? What a stupid thing to say.

Speaking of absurdity, did you hear that former governor Rick Perry suggested on Fox News that “Texans voluntarily go without heat to fend off the scourge of socialism.” Yes, I am sure that those trying to stay warm by burning their furniture are anxious to have a geo-political discussion about the evils of socialism. While the people of Texas are watching their pipes burst, this dick is playing to an audience of sycophants. I always thought he was a dullard, but now there’s proof that he is not only stupid but cruel.

I’m amazed that Greg Abbott, who was paralyzed from the waist down when he was hit by a falling tree, can’t muster enough empathy to see that his words are not helpful to suffering people. It’s the new deal in politics today, don’t connect with your people, just deny and blame. I hate to break it to Abbott, but his excuse doesn’t eliminate the need to solve this huge problem. If his wheelchair were out of power, he wouldn’t be able to move. I’m not being mean; I am just returning his lack of empathy. I wonder if he knows that battery operated scooters aren’t part of the Green New Deal.

I suggest that George W. Bush’s experience with Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Donald Trump’s mishandling of the COVID pandemic and, now, Abbott’s malfeasance with the power blackout in Texas are sure signs that many of our so-called leaders are so busy with politics they don’t spend any time planning for the “what if” issues. Many states have zero disaster planning while bulging budgets of money are wasted on projects that don’t help people or keep them safe. It seems to me that if we really want to tackle the flawed grid system in Texas, we first must address the terrible lack of leadership on renewable energy in Republican states.

The overarching issue is climate change and whether our cities are prepared for the negative aspects of what that can bring. Texas has been ignoring science and common sense. They are so married to oil that they fight the future. Always have. They will lie and blame when they should be elevating smarter people into power to devise contemporary, workable infrastructure. Few governors know what they are doing because there is no governor’s school, and they cannot learn from their mistakes because their overly large egos won’t permit it. Remember how Houston was destroyed by hurricanes just a few years ago? Well, nothing of any import was done then and now they have a new devil to combat. Abbott is not good enough for Texas. He might as well join Senator Ted Cruz in Cancun. I hear it’s warmer there.

Book for the Recovery – Build Back Better!

How to Hire Great People: Tips, Tricks and Templates for Success

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The book that tells it like it is…

Get the Kindle Version HERE. Or order your paperback edition HERE.

FINAL GRADES ON TRUMP

Historians will have fun with this guy

When we finally left school, we took with us a final grade average. If we were lucky, we got out of college with an average in the high three-point-whatever range. Even though most of us can’t brag about a 4.0, those numbers mean something. And with that on the table, I believe Donald John Trump earned maybe a 2.1 average for his four years of on-the-job training and golfing.

Let’s do a quick review of his missteps and failures, starting with public relations. Trump’s positive approval rating never exceeded 47%, which meaning 53% of Americans never thought he was particularly good as president. On the last day in office, that approval rating had fallen to 39%.

According to the internet, Trump incited an insurrection, mismanaged a pandemic that killed nearly half a million Americans, separated children from their families at the border and then lost those kids in the bowels of bureaucracy, tear-gassed peaceful protesters on Lafayette Square for a stupid photo op while holding a Bible in front of a church, tried to block all Muslims from entering the country, got impeached, got impeached again, had the worst jobs record of any president in modern history, pressured Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, fired the FBI director for investigating his ties to Russia, bragged about firing the FBI director, took Vladimir Putin’s word over the US intelligence community, diverted military funding to build his wall and caused the longest government shutdown in US history. Whew!

But what about his style? Shouldn’t he get some points for being different? After all, he called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate,” lied nearly 30,000 times, banned transgender people from serving in the military, ejected reporters who asked tough questions from the White House briefing room, vetoed the defense funding bill because it would rename military bases with Confederate monikers, refused to release his tax returns, increased the national debt by nearly eight trillion dollars, had three of the highest annual trade deficits in US history, called veterans and soldiers who died in combat losers and suckers and coddled the leader of Saudi Arabia after he ordered the execution and dismembering of a US-based journalist. Those aren’t really bad things, are they?

Maybe we need to focus on the way he stepped up to take dramatic action. Consider that he refused to concede the 2020 election, hired his unqualified daughter and son-in-law to work in the White House, walked out of an interview with Lesley Stahl, called neo-Nazis “very fine people,” suggested people should inject bleach into their bodies to fight COVID, abandoned our allies the Kurds while siding with Turkey, pushed through massive tax cuts for the wealthiest without helping working Americans, incited anti-lockdown protestors in several states at the height of the pandemic, withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords, withdrew the US from the Iranian nuclear deal and withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership which was designed to block China’s advances. Okay, maybe he didn’t always make the best decisions, but let’s not forget that he showed up for work every day, well, at least on Twitter.

Donald Trump worked effectively at making sure the United States was always in the front row. He pushed the leader of Montenegro out of the way during a photo op, failed to reiterate US commitment to defending NATO allies, called Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries, called the city of Baltimore the “worst in the nation,” claimed that he single handedly brought back the phrase “Merry Christmas,” even though it hadn’t gone anywhere, forced his Cabinet members to praise him publicly like some cult leader, believed he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, berated and belittled his hand-picked Attorney General when he recused himself from the Russia probe and suggested the US buy Greenland. Pushing to the front and colonizing another country sure sounds like leadership to me.

His grade should’ve been higher because he picked the “best people,” but he didn’t get the credit because the press refused to point out all the great things he did. In retaliation, he repeatedly called the media “enemies of the people.” He also claimed that if we tested fewer people for COVID we’d have fewer cases, violated the emoluments clause, thought that “Nambia” was a country, told Bob Woodward in private that the coronavirus was a big deal but then downplayed it in public, called his exceedingly faithful Vice President a “pussy” for following the Constitution, nearly got us into a war with Iran after tweet-threatening them, nominated a corrupt head of the EPA, nominated a corrupt head of HHS, nominated a corrupt head of the Interior Department, nominated a corrupt head of the USDA, praised dictators and authoritarians around the world while criticizing allies. See, even though more than 180 people were fired, forced to resign, or left in disgust, he always did have the “best people.”

He was constantly out there fighting for the little guy and was falsely accused of being a “racist,” when he was just maybe a little into racism. Sure, he called a U.S. Senator “Pocahontas,” used a racist dog whistle by calling COVID the “China virus,” hired and associated with numerous shady figures, including his campaign manager and national security adviser who were eventually convicted of federal offenses, pardoned several of his dubious associates, gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two Congressmen who amplified his batshit crazy conspiracy theories and awarded Rush Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom because he was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. Shouldn’t he get extra points because he honored a hateful misogynistic and racist talk show host?

We should consider that Trump was honest a few times, well, not that often, but let’s not forget how he got played by Kim Jung Un and his “love letters,” threatened to go after social media companies in clear violation of the Constitution, botched the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, threw paper towels at Puerto Ricans when he finally did visit them, pressured the governor and secretary of state of Georgia to “find” him votes, thought that the Virgin islands had a President, drew on a map with a Sharpie to justify his inaccurate tweet that Alabama was threatened by a hurricane and allowed White House staff to use personal email accounts for official businesses after blasting Hillary Clinton for doing the same thing. He sure put the hippo in hypocritical!

If this all seems bad, there’s much more. I could go on and on but that would lower his grade to FAILED. There was that time he forced Secret Service agents to drive him around Walter Reed Hospital while contagious with COVID and that fantastic presidential debate line telling the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” which they did. How did he manage to fuck up both the Census and the US Postal Service in one term? He also withdrew the US from the World Health Organization in the middle of a pandemic and did so few of his duties in his last three months that his daily schedule stated, “President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings.”

Then he finally left. Should he ever be allowed back in considering those terrible grades? After all, he’s not a minority. Equal opportunity policies don’t apply to fat, white liars.

Book for the Recovery – Build Back Better!

How to Hire Great People: Tips, Tricks and Templates for Success

Kindle and Paperback Click Here

The book that tells it like it is…

Get the Kindle Version HERE. Or order your paperback edition HERE.

THEORIES ON CONSPIRACIES

Classic Approach to Truth When Facts Are Missing

There is nothing wrong with being curious, but before getting to the truth of a matter several levels of information must be explored. The first is general knowledge, the well-known surface information. Next comes what I call the mushy part of the truth sandwich. These are the little details, typically captured in our long-term memories then glued together to form a more detailed understanding. Finally, we apply healthy doses of examination and research to drill down to a molecular level where the atomic details of an event can be clearly seen. This brings us to the truth of the matter.

Lacking specific details and knowledge we often employ a process called interpolation to fill in the blanks. One example is motion-compensation frame interpolation (MCFI) in video editing to make animation more fluid or to increase or decrease motion. When frames are missing, software inserts faux frames to “guesstimate” what happened between each of the available frames. A great example of this is footage from the security camera at the Pentagon that captured the airplane crash there on 9-11. The jet was moving at a fast rate of speed and the camera was capturing only intermittent images resulting in a herky-jerky video that had precious little detail.

When newly minted QAnon House Representative of Georgia Marjorie Taylor Greene said that there was no proof that a plane hit the Pentagon, she should have said, “I didn’t see a plane hit the Pentagon.” To say a plane didn’t do the damage would require examination of the crash site at a molecular level to determine no pieces of a plane were there. Forensic crash experts know a plane was involved, but a blurry video has led to the birth of a conspiracy theory. We can’t see the coronavirus with our naked eyes, so some can and do believe it’s a hoax. To be clear, investigators did find a large section of the landing gear and the flight recorder in the building after the crash.

It’s human nature to use an initial burst of information to formulate a concept of the matter. As explained above, this typically leads to a very incomplete picture, but millions of rabid and engaged Twitter followers can easily morph bullshit into truth. Here an example from my own life that might shed some more light on this dark concept of theories. My brother used to live in Vero Beach, Florida and he worked out at a gym there. When pictures were released of the men who flew the planes into the World Trade Buildings, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, he immediately recognized several of the hijackers as men he regularly saw at his gym. He remembered saying to himself, “Why are those skinny Italian guys trying to get into shape?” I always thought the hijackers studied aviation and lived on the east coast of Florida. Just yesterday, I learned that is incorrect.

Commercial pilot wannabees are often drawn to Florida, where we have at least 250 flight training schools. Mohamed Atta was the mastermind behind the September 11^thterrorist attacks in 2001. It was Atta who flew the first plane into the World Trade building. Atta entered the United States on June 3, 2000, and he and a cohort enrolled at flight school in Venice, Florida. Wow, I didn’t know that, and I live there!

The Venice Municipal Airport is a small operation. Once used in World War II for the Air Force, it’s now a local facility for non-commercial planes — mostly the kind of single and twin-engine types that weekend pilots fly for fun. Now it’s true that some of the 9-11 hijackers did train in Palm County on the east side of state, but I didn’t realize my sleepy town had anything to do with that tragic day.

Most of us now accept there was an attempt to overturn the results of a fair and accurate United States presidential election. Many have dubbed what Trump tried to pull off as “the big lie.” Where did that phrase originate? Well, you can find the answer on the internet. The term was coined by Adolf Hitler and used in his 1925 book Mein Kampf. He used it to describe the use of a lie so “colossal” that no one would believe that someone “could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” Do you see how that fits into the hardcore followers of Trump believing the election was stolen and thus the slogan “Stop the Steal?” It’s almost like Trump evaluated the potential of his lies by using the “Adolph Test.” If it was too outrageous to be believed, then Trump would launch the lie.

Drilling down to the molecular level, Trump lost the election by seven million votes. The election was not stolen. The plain truth is that many of the states where Trump lost the Electoral College votes usually vote Republican. It might be unfair to link Donald Trump’s big lie with the Hitler’s big lie that Germany lost World War I because of the Jews but think about it. Donald Trump’s big lie killed people.

The big lie that Covid-19 was not a crisis and would simply go away killed Americans. It was a lie, Trump knew it was a lie, but he said it anyway. He said the election was stolen from him and he won it by a “landslide.” Totally unbelievable, yet tens of thousands of his supporters came to Washington, attacked the Capitol and people died as a result. It wasn’t quite Hitler’s Operation Hummingbird, when the Nazi secret police killed as many as a thousand of Hitler’s political rivals, but it’s right out of that playbook.

Trump lost the election because everyone has been seriously affected by the global pandemic and most who voted against him believed that Joe Biden, the guy who was “hiding in his basement” and was always wearing a mask, would do a better job. Both Hitler and Trump failed to understand that some people will give you undying faith based on a lie, but they don’t want to die.

The lies, fantasies and conspiracy theories of QAnon and the Trump base, are too unbelievable to believe. Did the CIA and FBI fail us on 9-11? Yes, but that doesn’t mean that the attack was planned by the US government. Are Democrats going to do more to help people of color and build a stronger middle class? Yes, but that doesn’t mean they eat babies. The more I think, the more details of Trump’s life I remember. Many nights while lying in bed with his first wife, Donald John Trump read Adolf Hitler’s speeches. We know this because his ex told us. Why would Ivana Marie Trump, an eastern European by birth, lie to us about that?

One might speculate that Ivana and Trump’s current wife, Melania, also from eastern Europe, are spies planted to corral him, control his mind and direct him in a long-term plan of serving the Russia oligarchs. On the other hand, maybe those speeches by the Führer penetrated his brain and he wanted to be like his hero. Come on now, it’s just a theory based on extraordinarily little evidence, but, hey, it’s a classic component of effective storytelling — the more fantastic and quotable, the better.

A theory too unbelievable to be true will be repeated more often than something that gets the response, “I knew that.” When I am presented with additional facts, I am open to understanding a different truth, but after all the election lawsuits and in-depth investigation I lean to the “big lie” being exactly that. I do wonder about Rudy Giuliani. He was there for 9-11, so is he part of that conspiracy as well? He was an early arrival at the crime scene. Irony here, readers, pure irony.

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THE ARCANE TOOL OF IMPEACHMENT

Time to Wake up & Go Back to Sleep

I have found this impeachment process to be silly and unworkable. If the Founding Fathers ever thought they needed to get rid of a President, they would have just challenged the man to a duel and ended his problematic behavior. That is how Aaron Burr canceled Alexander Hamilton. Burr was a known traitor who was never convicted of either trying to steal land in Louisiana from our government or killing Hamilton. Death by dueling was not a crime in New Jersey at the time and no one could ever prove that Burr intended to hurt his country. Now we have the fate of Donald Trump laid upon the table. Sadly, it was predictable.

For all the nit picking done on both sides of Trump’s trial in Washington last week, the true goal, as stated by Mr. Trump’s wonky defense team, was preventing him from ever becoming President again. It’s a good goal, but perhaps a better one would be finding a way to prevent the return of his mob. It’s unreasonable to think that eliminating the Donald from political life will change the minds of his rabid fans. Trump may support their hate, hyper Nationalism, anti-Semitism, Neo-Nazi values, homophobia, xenophobia, misogynistic beliefs and white supremacist dogma, but their actions are all on them.

We can blame Trump for a lot of things, but they’ll all probably be wrapped up into a big, smelly bag of impeachment shit and ignored. He lied more than 30,000 times in five years, so what is the punishment for that? He stood by as his horrible immigration policies ripped families apart at the border, and he gets a pass for that? He gave rich people more money, ignored poor people and blocked growth for middle class Americans. Most importantly, he never took a stand against harmful domestic terrorists, and that led to the Capitol Hill riot. He’s guilty of inciting the insurrection, but that’s okay with Republicans because they would rather acquit the sinner than risk the loss of his base. Just like Trump wanted, they opened their states early and as the COVID killed people they chalked it up to the “cost of doing business.” Hey, the truth hurts.

So, what have we learned? Well, elections matter and saying that an election was fraudulent or rigged when it wasn’t is treasonous behavior. Trump said whatever he wanted, listened to no one else and cannot fall back on the Ronald Reagan excuse of not being aware of what others were doing around him. The Iran-Contra scandal taught us that a President can “forget” what he knows, lie about facts and insolate himself from any blame no matter how bad the crime. Trump can’t use that excuse, however, because we know the bad and harmful ideas were either his or had his strong endorsement. He’s proud of breaking the law, and to this day believes he’s smarter than everyone and untouchable — Teflon Don.

Donald’s niece, Mary L. Trump, said in her fantastic book that Trump will never run for office again. Let’s hope she’s right, because the man’s oversized prostate of an ego might lead him to take the risk. Think about what could happen if he lost another election. Why put our country through the potential of another uprising? Besides that, why would the Republican Party want a loser to lead their party? Trump’s former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley soundly threw her former boss under the bus, “I don’t think he’s going to be in the picture [2024 Election] I don’t think he can. He’s fallen so far.” She’s absolutely right, but how long will it take the Trump sycophants to figure it out? Are they so removed from reality that they can never progress to a common wisdom?

The impeachment article was focused on the insurrection itself and some say the President’s lack of response after the Capitol building was breached cannot be included as part of the charge. The incitement of the riot, however, is surely a crime and should be examined by a civil court at some time. And we must not focus on the riot only. Much else happened over the last four years. Trump executed many actions that slowly but surely tore holes in the fabric of our democracy. To disregard the sum of all the damage done would be a severe disservice to this country. If we all allow Trump’s trail of treason to be forgotten, then we are all to blame as well.

Should you feel depressed that Donald Trump wasn’t held accountable by the Senate, take heart in what the New York Times published on the final day of the trial, “If this was a conspiracy, Trump was the leader,” said Jonathan Zucker, the lawyer for Dominic Pezzola who is a member of the far-right Proud Boys group and charged with obstructing police officers guarding the Capitol. “He [Trump] was the one calling the shots.” If Mr. Trump was, in anyway, part of the conspiracy, he too may have to face federal charges in this matter. In other words, this isn’t done yet.

Donald Trump has no place in the ongoing American story. Any thinking person should realize that he knows more than he and his attorneys admit and he had been planning not to leave office no matter the results of the election. He’s the spoiled kid who screams and rants until his parent’s cave in just to shut the little monster up. Did the Republicans refusal to convict Trump enable future bad behavior from him and his gang? I hope that isn’t true; we’ll have to wait and see.

Is Donald John Trump the victim he likes to portray himself or is he an exploitation trickster? His martyr syndrome seems out of synch with a guy who was gifted a multi-million-dollar fortune when he was ten years old. He’s never had to work a day in his life and, according to Tony Schwartz, his ghost writer on the Art of the Deal, Trump never worked much at all. He just sat at his desk, made phone calls, lunched, played golf and toured projects, but it was all his minions that did the dirty work. That’s pretty much what he did during his time in the White House too.

He hired lawyers like Michael Cohen to pressure people so he would never have to get close to the dirt. He used another large team of lawyers to pound his enemies with litigations. Trump and his organization have been involved in 3,500 lawsuits, being the plaintiffs in 1,900 and the defendants in 1,450 legal actions. They were also on the losing end of 150 bankruptcy cases. On top of all that, Trump was personally named in at least 169 suits in federal court. The Donald is one vindictive son-of-a-bitch and obviously a lawsuit magnet.

We now sit and wait to see what happens next. Will Trump announce his campaign for President for the 2024 Election? Will he buy full page newspaper ads to celebrate his victory and denounce the “deep state” that was always out to get him? Will he continue to claim he won the 2020 Election by a landslide and that it was stolen from him? Will Susan Collins come out and say that Donald Trump has learned his lesson? Sheesh, I hope not.

According to CNBC, “Minutes after voting ‘not guilty’ in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the former president is clearly to blame for the deadly Capitol riot. There’s no question that Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.” McConnell endorsed the view that “President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office.” And the minority leader added, “He didn’t get away with anything, yet. We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not immune from being [held] accountable by either one.”

New charges are probably on the way. The end of the impeachment trial is the beginning of deep investigations that uncover more and greater evidence of this man’s deceit and depravity. I’m almost certain he will be charged, but let’s not be certain that he will go to jail. It’s a sad reality that there are different laws for rich people.

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THE PROSECUTION RESTS

Worst Case of Disregard by a Party

If you have been watching the second Impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump, you must realize by now the flaw in this whole matter before us. The Democratic House Impeachment Managers have done a terrific job demonstrating that a mob of far-right neo-Nazi, white supremacists and braindead militia attacked the Capitol Building and killed people, but they have failed to convince the sycophants in the Senate that Donald Trump had anything to do with it. Why?

You see, this is not a matter of truth and facts, but that may be appropriate because Donald Trump has never been honest with the American public. I would go so far as to claim Trump isn’t even trustworthy with himself. That advances a premise that the Donald suffers from not only dual personality but schizophrenia. I am suggesting the former president has a long-term mental disorder involving a breakdown between thought, emotion and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions, improper feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships and mental fragmentation resulting in extreme fantasy and delusion.

The big mystery to me is how could seemingly intelligent people in Congress not see this glaring disorder or disease? It could be they have been sucked into a “power guy syndrome.” An alcoholic doesn’t see that his drinking buddy is a drunk, he sees him as a friend. But I get it, they don’t want to piss off Trump who holds all that power they give him. They are literally letting Trump control them, and somehow, they see that as a positive.

The moderates in the Senate who would like to see Trump go away forever so they can get to the job of repairing their party, can’t muster the courage of voting for conviction and disqualification. If they were smart, they would encourage the Spartacus procedure. Remember when his troops were confronted with a demand to turn Spartacus over to the enemy, all the soldiers exclaimed, “I am Spartacus!” thus protecting their leader. If the Republicans wanted to camouflage those who would be hurt by a vote against Trump, they could all vote to convict and take pressure off specific members, but they won’t. They don’t have the courage to do what is right. They are puppets of party loyalty who are incapable of delivering justice to this horrible man.

Trump’s lawyers were given a direction and a big pep talk last night by far-right radicals in the Senate, Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee. Where in American justice do the jurors ever have a meeting with the defense to help them convince their jury to get an acquittal? Of course, we’ve been told many times that this is not a real trial, as the process veers further and further away from true American courtroom justice, I’m starting to see the wisdom in an off the cuff remark by one of Trump’s lawyers. Maybe it’s time to move the adjudication of this crime to a criminal court. Let’s make Trump defend himself along with the insurrectionists he gathered and directed. I’m sure things would go much differently.

We have seen many court cases on TV and in real life where two of more people have been charged with a crime and each says one of the others made them do it. Yes, it’s common for a defendant to argue that they were under the mystical spell of another who made them cheat, steal or even, murder. The good news is we can handle that situation. We usually give one of the defendants immunity in exchange for their testimony against the person the prosecutor believes was the ringleader. Unfortunately, that falls short of imposing proper punishment over all who share responsibility.

Had the same evidence that was presented in this Trump impeachment trial number two been presented in a criminal proceeding, Trump would have already been convicted and waiting for the pronouncement of sentence. Most experts believe that one who incited an insurrection could get a one-year jail sentence which would, at best, be embarrassing for Trump.

Far too many times in the last 14 months we have been told that impeachment is a political process, not a legal action. Why it is that? Why should impeachment be relegated to political theater? It would seem to me that a sentence of disqualification from holding any future office makes the process profoundly serious, but the partisan insanity downgrades it. I have lived through three impeachment trials now, and I have a suggestion. Why not first convict — in a court of law — the president of his crime and then hold a vote on disqualification in the Senate? Who would want a convicted felon in the White House?

My idea would require changing the Constitution to detail all the possible actions a president or vice president could engage in that would be considered criminal. This would eliminate the scenario of a president telling us that making a shakedown call to a principal of another country is “perfect.” Why not simply spell out that it’s not? Yes, I am suggesting that we need the details of every possible criminal act to be defined as illegal and applied when the need to remove a bad person from office becomes necessary. If the act of a president inciting a riot and attack on the US Capitol is a crime, spell it out then arrest the guilty son-of-a-bitch!

We already have a solid legal structure in place to do deal with criminal infractions, and if the President of the United States is not above the law, now is the time to prove it. One might argue my idea doesn’t account for a deeply corrupt and partisan magistrate who wants to remove a president, but that is precisely what we have now. There are presently 17 Republicans lacking the guts and moral fortitude to convict “their” president. It’s a miscarriage of justice. When those sycophants acquit Trump, again, the “real courts” will have to deal with his fraud and criminal behavior. Justice delayed, for sure.

This is an extreme case of disregard by a political party that we all must remember. There is already discussion about starting a new Republican party without Trump, but any astute political mind will remind us that a third-party is always the kiss of death. That tactic usually splinters the vote and delivers a victory to the other guy. Just look back to what Teddy Roosevelt’s Bull Moose did to the run by the incumbent, President Taft. Remember what happened in 1992 when Ross Perot ran unsuccessfully as an independent candidate but siphoned off enough votes to help Bill Clinton beat George H.W. Bush.

Much will be written about impeachment part two against Trump, but there are not enough words to solve the problem of division and political polarization in our country. He has been nothing but bad for America. A true crisis is the fact that months after he was soundly defeated in the 2020 Election, we must still deal with him daily. The sooner we can stop talking about Donald John Trump the faster we can begin healing our nation. Until he goes away, he remains a cancer on democracy.

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THE COUP THAT COLLAPSED

Trump Stoked an Insurrection Based on Lies

Everything that Donald Trump has said and done shows he is one pure-ass fake. Some might call what I am about to state here treason, but I will speak my mind without fear of intimidation or party affiliation, unlike those spinless Republican Senators who will not convict the former President of crimes against America.

In a different time and age, Mr. Trump would have been brought into magistrate court, charged with treason and shot on the public green the next morning. I’m not saying we should do this today, but he should know that had he lived in France during the two decades after that country’s revolution, he would have been beheaded. Sedition, treason and insurrection were not crimes one could argue away in court.

Most of America has now seen the freshly released images of the Capitol Hill riot on January 6. If Donald Trump is not to blame, then who is responsible for those crazy people who stormed the Capitol? Is it Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, 4Chan, 8Chan or maybe Charlie Chan? Could it have started with Carlos Danger and Anthony Weiner’s dick pics, or has it simply “been brewing for some time now” as I hear endlessly from the puckered pieholes of pundits and prognosticators reading the grievance tea leaves in Russian restaurants? They are all full of shit, just like Trump and his ludicrous lawyers.

I say they are stupid. Why? Trump lawyer Bruce Castor actually offered these words in the halls of Congress during the impeachment trial, “We are so understanding of the concept that people’s minds can be overpowered with emotion, where logic does not immediately kick in, that we have recognized examples that otherwise would be hearsay and said that, no, when you’re driving down the street, and you look over at your wife, and you say, ‘Hey, you know what, that guy is about to drive through the red light and kill that person,’ your wife can testify to what you said, because, even though it’s technically hearsay, it’s an exception, because it’s the event living through the person.”

Okay, let me wipe some of this horse shit off my shoes before I launch into my own personal rant. What the fuck does any of that mean? I can only assume that he’s trying to plant a seed that the bad things you will hear about are being were told by people who don’t know what they are talking about, so just ignore them. YES, that must be it! Trump’s personal lawyers are saying that there is nothing to see here and we should ignore hearsay even when it comes out of the ex-president’s mouth.

If a person lies to their attorney, and their lawyer then presents that lie as a defense in a court of law, that doesn’t make it any less of a lie. His attorneys are going try to sell the Senators and the American public a premise that Trump was merely using his First Amendment rights while talking to a group of really good people and he bears no responsibility for what they later did on Capitol Hill. Okay, let’s examine that. There are only two conclusions one could draw from that scenario. One, Donald John Trump is such a bad communicator that no one understood what he was saying or, two, the group assembled that day was so stupid they misinterpreted him.

Trump’s more than 11,000-word speech, complete with audience reaction, is right here, Donald Trump JAN 6 2021 Speech should you wish to read it. Without a shadow of doubt, his words were an incitement to insurrection. His detailed, final pitch to sell the big lie about election fraud also featured a compendium of grievances of those who have so mistreated him. Poor baby. In his final act, the martyr stood before his adoring crowd saying it’s time to take back your country, be strong and fight like hell. And let’s not forget that there is nothing good about hell.

Trump used the words “fight” or “fighting” 27 times, but only used the word “peaceful” once. It came near the end of his 75-minute speech, “We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” So, there is the “out” that his lawyers will argue for 16 hours at trial. Really? That’s it? The other 11,000 words don’t matter?

To delegitimize the rightfully elected 46^th President of the United States, Donald pulled this one out of his index box of hate and lies, “I just spoke to Mike [Pence]. I said, Mike, that doesn’t take courage. What takes courage is to do nothing. That takes courage, and then we’re stuck with a president who lost the election by a lot, and we have to live with that for four more years.” Yes, Mr. Trump, that is how elections work. You should remember; you won one.

Mike and Karen Pence Rushed Away from Danger

Trump’s berating of his Vice President and confrontation with his inability or desire to break the law could have cost Mike Pence his life, along with those of his daughter and wife. Not only did Trump stir up the mob’s viciousness, he also directed their ire to Mr. Pence. But it didn’t end with his spoken word, Trump made it worse by tweeting to the insurrectionists at 2:24 PM, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.” So, the Donald turned up the heat on Pence as the mob was in the Capitol building screaming, “Hang Mike Pence.” Loyalty?

What if the pack had captured and murdered Mike Pence? Would the Republican Senators then be more likely to convict this loser of a president and disqualify him from ever holding Federal office again? That’s a tough question, but it gives me no certainty they would convict. Their vote is always for sale and Donald Trump bought it with lies, fear and intimidation. No man or woman should have that much power.

Donald Trump’s attempted coup failed, just like most of what he tried to do as president. Hundreds of thousands of people died from COVID because of his lack of comprehension, terrible messaging and misguided policies. And five people died because of the insurrection. He should be tried in criminal court, with testimonies of those who were in the room with him as he watched the riot on TV. How did he act then? What did he say? Donald John Trump intended to upturn the results of a valid election, and we must do everything we can to make sure such a thing never happens again. Ten years in jail for the perpetrator just might be a good deterrent for future presidents.

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TAINTED JURY

The Stain on America

If you have ever served on a trial jury, you have a good idea about how that judicial process works. Some folks believe that if they just don’t vote they will never face jury duty but keeping your name off the voter rolls does not guarantee you won’t be summoned. Many state and federal court districts pull prospective jurors from lists of licensed drivers and tax records. So, if you pay taxes or have a driver’s license you have a fair chance of being selected for duty.

Before a juror can take his or her place in a legal trial, they must first undergo a vetting process known as “voir dire.” This bastardized French term means “to see to speak” or “to speak the truth.” In our judicial system, candidate jurors are presented with some facts about the case and then asked questions. For example, I was called for jury duty in a medical malpractice case. The lawyers asked if anyone or their family had a bad experience with a doctor. When I raised my hand and told them my father died after being misdiagnosed with kidney disease, I was dismissed.

A number of consulting firms do instant analyses of possible jurors to help their clients, usually the defendant’s lawyers. You may have seen the TV show BULL, in which the principal character, psychologist Dr. Jason Bull, works as a jury consultant. The jury selection process is not all that complicated. Sometimes a juror gets seated because they have experience with the subject matter. There are times a lawyer wants to seat a juror so they can help others on the panel understand the complexities of the case.

This week, the US Senate is holding a trial with no juror scrutiny, no voir dire and no process to eliminate any jurors with a major bias on the matter at hand. The case involves the 45^th President of the United States, who the House of Representatives has accused of a high crime. Click here to read the charges. Simply put, former president Donald Trump has been charged with inciting a riot by asking his loyal followers to go to Capitol Hill and stop Congress from certifying the 2020 Election, which he lost. His act clearly led to an insurrection executed by his fans and political army.

It’s important to point out that the insurrection and the impeachment vote took place while Trump was still the president. Then, last week, 45 Senators voted that the trial is unconstitutional because Trump no longer holds office. That vote was a clear indication that the jury is tainted.

That raises the concept of “jury nullification,” under which a judge can dismiss one or more jurors from being seated after discovering they held a belief that a defendant was guilty or innocent. You probably have heard that an impeachment is a political rather than legal trial. The Constitution provides the presidential impeachment process to give the Congress a way to ban a convicted person from ever again serving as a federal officer. This is the true goal of the Democrats who have brought this second case against Trump.

In a legal trial, if inadmissible evidence is mistakenly or purposefully presented to the jurors, or if any of the attorneys make improper statements during their arguments or examination of witnesses, a judge may decide that the case has been severely tainted and declare a mistrial. In an impeachment trial, however, the judge has no such recourse, even when knowing jury is highly biased.

When Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney’s leadership role was challenged by highly biased reps in her conference, the House took a secret vote to determine her future. Had that been a public vote, it’s unlikely that Cheney would have maintained her leadership role. Some members would have wanted to go on record voting against a fellow Representative who wanted to impeach Trump. Despite the fact he no longer holds office, some still fear the former president. Sad.

If a secret vote was used in Trump’s second impeachment trial, he would probably be convicted, but because each member’s vote will be in their “permanent record,” some will be unable to give a truthful vote. But before getting depressed let’s not forget that Donald Trump will soon face full legal trials with real juries. There are federal, state and local legal cases building to bring him to judgement for things like election law violations, tax fraud and evasion, jury tampering, election result tampering and, of course, inciting a riot that killed people. Trump ordered his mob to the Hill, they rioted, and several people lost their lives in the melee. Surely a wrongful death civic suit is on the way, which will cost Trump tons of money to defend himself and even more if he loses.

If I were to be called for jury duty on any case against Trump, there is no way I would be seated. I am just as biased as those Republican Senators who would vote to acquit Trump no matter what the charge. How is that justice for all? A prosecutor would be screaming bloody murder in a legal courtroom where a judge would allow such biased people to be seated on a jury, but in this impeachment trial only Senators can decide, regardless of their prejudices. Their seats were awarded by votes of the people, who were never asked to consider whether a candidate would be free from their political party’s mandates when voting in Congress. It’s a case of let the buyer beware.

The two Senators in my state of Florida, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, are hardcore Republicans who would acquit the Donald even if he were charged with murder. But wait. This is a murder case. Do they truly believe Trump didn’t cause the riot? We’ll never know. There was no voir dire requiring evaluation of their feelings before being seated on the jury.

This second impeachment trial of Trump is a tainted event in our history and a dark stain on America. For three hours, the former president failed to act during the riotous insurrection that he ignited. The man is guilty of many things, but the Republicans want to sweep them all UNDER the carpet instead of calling Donald John Trump ON the carpet for his numerous derelictions of duty. It’s a kangaroo court, and plenty of people are jumping mad — including me.

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