impeach him or remove him from office NOW.

On the morning after the election, I wrote:

"While I accept the results of elections and he is going to be the president whether I like it or not, I for one cannot yet bring myself to even say his name right now.  My hope is that he can show me something very soon so that I can. Believe it or not, I hope he can show me something so that I can actually become proud that he is our president".

In spite of what you may have read from what I have written here and elsewhere, I truly believed what I had written at the time.  I truly hoped that with the campaign behind him, he would turn to governing, and that the immensity of the task would transform him from histrionic race baiting, misogynistic, etc. campaigner into something presidential and worthy of calling a leader.

Today, I surrender.

I am not going to get into the campaign complete with the pussy grabbing nonsense, the race baiting, and his refusal to state whether or not he would be willing to accept the result of the election if he lost.  The mere fact that he refuses to let go of the fact that he did not win the popular vote tells you he would, in fact, have willingly created a potential constitutional crisis if he had, in fact, lost the electoral college vote.

I am not going to get into the nearly all male lily white cabinet of curiosities he created to drain the swamp, including a collection of people who were primarily unqualified for the position appointed, including one who outright said he was not qualified for any position in the cabinet and then accepted a nomination to the position he now holds the very next day.  So we have a secretary of state who had no prior government or foreign policy experience, matched by a U.N. Ambassador who also had not foreign policy experience.  We have a secretary of education who does not believe in public education, but does believe we need guns in schools to protect the children from grizzly bear attacks.  We have a secretary of energy, who when he can remember the name of the agency he now heads, has no degree or experience in nuclear energy or arms, which he now presides over.  We have a secretary of the interior who has apparently discovered that a comprehensive study of national monuments he intends to remove from the protected list of national monuments can be conducted while smooching with his wife somewhere in the Greek Islands.  We now have a head of the environmental protection agency who believes he can protect the environment by removing every environmental regulation he can find.  What he does not believe in is climate change, leaving us in grand company with Syria and Nicaragua upon our withdrawal from the Paris Accords.

Etc.

No I am not going to get into that.

I am not going to get into the fact that in seven short months, he has denigrated the value of the United States of America to the point where North Korea...  NORTH KOREA... is talking and acting in terms that are being taken seriously as amounting to a threat of war against this country.  He is openly talking about starting a nuclear war with a peanut dictator, a war that considering the alliances of various countries involved, could thrust us almost instantly into a mass global nuclear event.  There is no indication whatsoever that he has given any thought to the consequences of his words or his actions that have either led to this moment or could follow his pushing the button.

I am not going to get into the fact that he cannot control himself to the point that his closest advisors have apparently given up on advising him to stay away from twitter.  I firmly believe in the first amendment, but would support legislation forbidding any president from posting ANYTHING other than perhaps directions for the public in the case of a national emergency on twitter.

I am not going to get into the fact that he violates the emoluments clause of the constitution daily via refusing to divest himself of his businesses or place them in a truly blind trust, while at the same time charging the government for offices in his buildings, rooms in his hotels, etc.  We will not even get into the nepotism involved in appointing family members to government position, who have no business being near any governmental position of authority.

I am not going to get into the fact that he can routinely denigrate in schoolyard terms anyone who has the temerity to oppose him, to the point where it can now reasonably be said that there will be no significant legislation of any kind that can be expected to be passed for the foreseeable future for the simple fact that he cannot get anyone in congress to work with him.  It takes a special kind of talent to get Mitch McConnell, whom I have previously called the worst person in the world, to no longer be on speaking terms with you. 

On the other hand, while he can routinely excoriate people, who unlike himself or anyone in his family, have spent their entire careers in public service, even if you do not agree with their politics, he cannot seem to unequivocally bring himself to condemn nazis, white supremacists and the ku klux klan.  You would think this is the easiest thing he would ever have to do; however, I have no doubt that I could get my cats to issue a clear condemnation of the nazis, white supremacists and the ku klux klan before I could get him to do it, and then not backtrack on his words the next day.  And I would not even have to offer the cats the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake you ever saw.

I am not going to get into the fact that he apparently has never seen a fact he cannot lie about.  You have to wonder about the state of the presidency when it reaches the point where you can tell the president has said a lie simply because his lips are moving.

No, I am not going to get into any of this, even though he has turned us into the laughing stock of the world from all of the above and more.

I am simply going to point to today.

1.  He has brought us to the brink of war with North Korea, while at the same time increasing the number of troops dedicated to the quagmire in Afghanistan without any apparent strategy for how that is going to end this abomination, other than his assurance that we are in it to win it, which is about the same strategy I have used in the past in playing the lottery.  Hint, I have not yet won, but inspired by the president, next week, I will spend more money to play more numbers.  In the mean time, while he is bringing us further into war, for no real reason I can discern, today, he actually signed that order disqualifying transgenders from military service.  He can point to nothing at all that shows that patriotic persons who happen to be transgender cannot serve ably and honorably.  Instead, he hides behind the canard that unidentified generals have told him they cannot absorb the cost of gender transition surgery that obviously all transgenders are using the military to obtain.  I assume I will be seeing an executive order shortly banning the military from spending any money on viagra.

The bottom line on this is that at a time, when he is ramping up military adventure, he is reducing those eligible and who are otherwise qualified to serve.  In other words, he is deliberately setting us up to have a weakened military in a time of war.  

In my book, that is treason.

2.  He has pardoned a man, who is about as disgusting a figure in public life to come along in decades, not waiting for the courts to issue their final verdict in the form of a sentence upon him.  It appears quite possible that this pardon comes simply because the man supported his candidacy early and never wavered in his support.  You can support the policies of Joe Arpaio if you want.  It is certainly your right.  He was not convicted of any such policies.  He was convicted and found in criminal contempt of repeatedly ignoring federal court orders.  You cannot ignore or support this.  This is a country built upon the rule of law.  Without respect for the law, we are no better than any tinpot dictator in any banana republic, including North Korea.

And now, I am hearing and reading about talk that he is looking for ways to pardon himself, his family, friends and cronies from anything to do with Russia and Robert Mueller's investigation.

So in one single day, putting aside all the other nonsense since January 20, he has weakened the military simply due to the fact that he can't stand transgender people for no logical reason, and undermined the rule of law in this country.

I said on November 9, 2016 that I could not bring myself to state his name.  Now I can.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A MONSTER.  HE IS A MENACE TO THE CONTINUED EXISTENCE OF THIS COUNTRY AND THE DEMOCRACY WE SEEK TO SPREAD THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

DONALD J. TRUMP MUST BE STOPPED, AND THE SOONER THE BETTER.

DONALD J. TRUMP MUST BE REMOVED FROM OFFICE FOR THE GOOD OF THIS COUNTRY, AND FOR THE GOOD OF THE WORLD.

HE MUST BE IMPEACHED OR REMOVED VIA THE TWENTY-FIFTH AMENDMENT.

WE CANNOT AFFORD TO WAIT ANY LONGER.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???

With apologies to my mother, who does not like when we use certain language in describing events and feelings here on line...

We now know precisely how sincere his statement was yesterday.  It took only a day to walk it back.  It will take a lifetime to walk back our moral standing in the world.  In the mean time, where do the rest of us go to protect ourselves from the monstrosity that occupies the White House and the under the surface evil he has unleashed.

We are back to there are bad people on all sides.  Ok, there are bad people on all sides.  How many bad people on the left yelled nazi slogans in Charlottesville?  How many bad people on the left were there with a published purpose to let the world know that Jews, Blacks, Immigrants, Gays, Transgenders or anyone "who does not look like us" does not belong?  How many bad people on the left ran down the good folk on the right with their cars, killing and maiming along the way?  How many bad people on the left put those good little nazis on the right in hospitals?

But they were just protesting the removal of statues and renaming of a park.  Never mind that the statues were offensive to a very large percentage of the citizens of this country, many of those offended not being Jews, Blacks, Immigrants, Gays, Transgenders or anyone "who does not look like us".  Where does it stop, he wants to know.

No, it does not stop at Robert E. Lee or Stonewall Jackson.  I may not have taken all the history classes at Penn, where I am ashamed to say he also attended, but if I search the back of my mind, I seem to recall something along the lines of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson being generals in an army that fought against the United States in the Civil War.  They were Americans who fought against their own country.  Translation -- they were traitors.  Worse, they committed treason against this country.  Last I looked, we did not erect statues and celebrate treason and traitors.

Yes, it does stop short of George Washington.  Last I looked, he was and is still called the father of this country.  He fought to establish this country, not to tear it apart.  I know you did not major in history at Penn, but I would have thought this knowledge was a basic requirement to entrance at the university.

This false equivalence is bad enough, but he used it to try to justify the behavior of nazis.

Think about that for a second.

The president of the United States just tried to justify the behavior of nazis.

NAZIS.

Holy shit.

He just tried to justify the behavior of nazis in this country, just barely a generation after THE greatest generation, of which I am sure he tries to think himself a part of, fought and died in a war to defeat nazis and save the free world.  Since that war, more than a generation has lived by "NEVER AGAIN".  When a list of the worst people in the history of the world is compiled, Hitler, the leader of the nazis, is always at the top.  There are countries in the world where just being a nazi is a crime.  That's how bad it is.

But according to this jerk, "there were many very fine people from both sides in the crowd".

I suppose those were the ones yelling "Jew will never replace us", because we know that the Jews had everything to do with the South being on the losing end of the Civil War, which led to the erection of the statue being taken down and the renaming of that park that all those very fine people were "concerned" about.

I may have missed the class that he apparently took at Penn where we were taught that the nazi salute was a call to arms for all the good people of the confederacy, and has since morphed into a source of cultural pride for them.  Maybe that's what those very fine people were there remembering.

Or maybe those very fine people were the ones walking around in white shirts with symbols of the old South emblazoned over their hearts, carrying tiki torches to remind everyone of the good old days when those lovable louts from the Klan rode into town all robed up and with torches so they could lynch the nearest uppity nigger.  Ah the history.  Ah the nostalgia.

Here's a clue for the clueless.

THERE ARE NO VERY FINE NAZIS.  THERE ARE NO VERY FINE GRAND WIZARDS OF THE KKK.  THERE ARE NO VERY FINE BLOOD AND SOILERS.  THOSE "VERY FINE FOLKS" ARE NOT BIDING THEIR TIME WAITING FOR THE RIGHT MOMENT TO CONVINCE EVERYONE ELSE THAT THEIR COMRADE REALLY DID NOT MEAN IT WHEN HE PUSHED US INTO THE OVENS, HUNG US FROM THE TREES ON THE EDGE OF TOWN, OR JUST SHOT US AND BURIED OUR REMAINS IN EARTHEN DAMS OUT IN THE COUNTRYSIDE.

Just because your daughter married a Jew does not make you one of us.  It also does not make you tolerant.  Some of the worst anti-semites, racists, etc., try to convince you that they are not who they really are because they "have a friend who is a (fill in the blank)".  I am sure Ivanka loves her husband.  That does not make you a true friend of any Jew on this planet, other than perhaps your son in law.

Let me clue you in further.

YOU ARE NOT ONE OF US.  YOU WILL NEVER BE ONE OF US.

There is no Jew who can now morally claim any part of their heritage and embrace you.  The same goes for people of color, women, gays, transgenders, immigrants, Native Americans, anyone who does not look like you, most people who do look like you, and anyone who has a brain and a heart.

You have ceded the moral ground permanently.  For crying out loud, the leader of fucking GERMANY, the birthplace of the nazis, came out with the appropriate statement.  She came out quickly, and without the need to be told it was the right thing to do.

The president of this country is supposed to be our moral compass.  We now have no compass, no rudder, no steering wheel, no navigational system.  We do, however, have all those good nazis and klansman who prevented an all out massacre last weekend, and their cheerleader in the white house.

We also have a congress who can now not avoid their moral and constitutional duty to this country to get this menace away from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as fast as their grubby little minds can move him.

Until then, God help us all.

white domestic terrorists

I posted this one originally in my own name.  I repost it here.

I do not care if your daughter takes a few seconds out of her very busy day to tweet out a condemnation of white supremecists and nazis as domestic terrorists.

I do not care if you send your minions to the sunday morning talk shows to tell the world that "of course" you condemn white supremecists and nazis as domestic terrorists.

I do not care if the vice-president is willing to be your sychophant once again and blame the press for your ongoing failures by pointing out that "of course" you condemn white supremecists and nazis as domestic terrorists.

Frankly, I do not even care if your wife comes out and says the right thing, even if she could only do it by plagerizing Michelle Obama yet again. At least she tried.

You are the president, the so called leader of the so called greatest nation on earth.

You are the leader of the free world.

You have sworn an oath to protect the constitution and the people of this country. That means everybody. All the citizens. All the immigrants, all the tourists, anyone here peacefully, and yes even those who came here illegally, but are simply trying to make a new life for their families without breaking any other laws.

We need to hear it from you, and not when you hide behind the anonymity of a tweet.

Go in front of the cameras. Look us in the eye. Do not read a script written by somebody else, or even by you for that matter.

YOU ARE THE FREAKIN' LEADER OF THIS COUNTRY. LOOK US IN THE EYE.

As you said to Hilary and President Obama -- call it what it is. SAY THE WORDS.

It won't take long. Maybe a few seconds. As i used to tell my sons when they were little and had misbehaved, I do not even care if you do not mean a single word of it, just say it.

Look into the camera and talk to us. Don't send somebody else to do it for you. It does not mean the same thing when it is not said by the president himself. Don't hide behind a tweet. Say it. Say the words.

"I CONDEMN WHITE SUPREMECISTS, NEO-NAZI, RACIST, ANTI-SEMITIC DOMESTIC TERRORISTS. THEY HAVE NO PLACE IN OUR SOCIETY, AND AS YOUR PRESIDENT, I WILL WORK WITH YOU TO RID THIS NATION AND THIS WORLD OF THIS SCOURGE".

Practice it a few times. Go in front of the camera and take the ten or fifteen seconds it takes to say it slowly, pronouncing each word properly. Do not make a face while saying it. Do not roll your eyes. Do not add anything else.

Say it.

Because until you do, you are part of the problem.