From:
slider@anashram.com
everyone has known for weeks now that trumpy was
gonna spring this guy. It was a bullshit charge
to begin with. This was to be expected.
### - versus?
Resolve after appalling Roger Stone commutation: Don't let Donald Trump
break us, America.
Jill Lawrence USA TODAY
Published 1:37 PM EDT Jul 11, 2020
This is truly the cul-de-sac presidency. Every avenue of potential accountability is a dead end. Donald Trump and his many enablers have made
sure of it.
Now comes the Roger Stone protection racket, the Trump commutation that
means his friend Stone will serve no prison time for seven felony
convictions that include lying and witness-tampering to protect — who
else? — Trump, in the special counsel's Russia investigation. It is no
less stunning for its inevitability, inspiring disgust across the
political spectrum from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (“staggering corruption”) to Utah Sen. Mitt Romney (“unprecedented, historic corruption”).
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/07/11/trump-corruption-cronyism-roger-stone-commutation-column/5420269002/
This latest example of Trump TLC for a fellow swamp creature came a day
after the Supreme Court affirmed presidents are not above the law while
all but assuring that Trump himself will be on the ballot Nov. 3 without
having to show anyone the tax returns and other financial records that
could solve mysteries like why he is so solicitous of Russia, China and
their leaders. For all intents and purposes, another cul-de-sac.
America brought low by Trump, COVID
It was also a day after I canceled, with a heavy heart, an August trip to California to see my sons. We were supposed to meet up with them in Salt
Lake City in April, but we had to cancel that trip, too. We are all
healthy and, assuming we don’t contract COVID-19, we will survive a separation that is heading toward a year or more. But it hurts.
The mounting, astonishing number of American deaths from the coronavirus
hurts. The decimated economy, the devastated lives, the stand-still of
normal life, that all hurts. And looming above it all, the tragic
recognition that none of this had to happen this way — the unavoidable
fact that other countries with stronger, more responsible leaders have not
been brought to their knees by this pandemic. That all hurts, too.
But on Friday night after the Stone commutation, lying awake as I know
many people do these days, I made a resolution: Donald Trump will not
break me. And I made a wish: Donald Trump will not break America.
One of the many painful aspects of the Trump presidency is that it has
sown fundamental doubts about our nation. A candidate can win without
showing the slightest sign of competence or conscience. A dangerous,
corrupt commander in chief can stay in office no matter what. The voters can’t always be trusted, and the Electoral College compounds the disaster. Maybe the Constitution isn’t a work of genius. Or maybe it was when the
U.S. government was born in 1789, but it needs some crucial amendments and
laws that we haven’t been bothered to pass.
Oversight erased, Supreme Court hijacked: Trump turns the presidency into
a dictatorship
The Founders gave us basic tools: Checks and balances — a president, a Congress and a court system — that are supposed to counter the tribalism
that James Madison called “mischiefs of faction.” An emoluments clause to prevent foreign gifts and influence in our new country’s affairs.
Impeachment as a way to oust unfit presidents between elections. An
amendment process that yielded the 25th Amendment, under which a vice
president and Cabinet can determine that a president is "unable to
discharge the powers and duties of his office." A free press and freedom
of speech to expose the workings of government and the qualities, or shortcomings, of its leaders.
The system is failing and we are, too
None of it has worked. A special counsel investigation and impeachment
failed outright due to tribal extremism the Founders could never have
imagined. The court system is so laboriously slow on every level that
Trump will serve at least one full term despite egregious, even criminal,
often stunningly hypocritical behavior that endangers our national
security and values.
Whistleblowers, watchdogs and public servants like Lt. Col. Alexander
Vindman have been punished for their conscientious patriotism. We have
been inundated with journalism scoops, investigations, scorching memoirs
and tell-alls — from “grab ‘em by the pussy” to stiffing contractors to dodging taxes to John Bolton’s frightening account of foreign policy
madness.
And yet, Trump is still in office, scaling new heights of corruption each
week.
We can't wait: As COVID cases top 3 million, it's past time to end the catastrophic Trump presidency. Now.
The longer the Trump presidency wears on, the more it reminds me of the
joke about the man caught in a flood, turning down rides from a rowboat, a motorboat and a helicopter because he was waiting for God to save him.
When he drowned, went to heaven and asked God why he’d let that happen,
God replied: “I sent two boats and a helicopter, what more did you expect?”
We have been handed enough evidence of corruption, incompetence,
wrongdoing and amorality for dozens of lawsuits and impeachment articles
and 25th Amendment triggers. What more did we expect?
It’s not God asking that in today’s version of the joke. It’s a bunch of very crestfallen Founding Fathers.
I know this sounds alarmist and depressive. Yet look at how many paths
we’ve gone down, how many people have risked or lost their careers, how
many Republicans have sold their souls to make sure the Trump triumphs and
the Democratic defeats keep coming. The system has failed us, continues to
fail us, and we are failing ourselves.
Don’t let him break us, America. We have work to do.
### - the roger stone protection racket? hehehe :)))
and yes, i realise it's part-electioneering here, but still contains many potential truths + shots/slices of many other people's views too!
just remember that the last election was almost an even 50/50 split?
iow: half of america likely identifies with the above, and those numbers
are growing!
'protection racket' though haha, plus how apt in the context of gangsters?
(spot on actually!)
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)
