the constitution is dead

The United States Constitution is dead.

Well, maybe not dead, but it certainly is on life support.

And make no mistake about it, the cause of death is Donald Trump and his enablers in the federal and state governments, as well as the right wing media.

We have long known that Donald Trump (yes, for this one I am actually going to use his name.  While this is not a legal document, indictments require use of actual real names) has absolutely no regard for the United States Constitution.  Want proof?  Look no further than Trump International Hotel in Washington, where foreign governments and dignitaries have been lavishing business ever since he took office, billing the government for layovers at his properties overseas and here in the United States, especially at Mar-a -Lago, n clear violation of the Emoluments Clause.  His response is to refer to the "Phony Emoluments Clause" and claim that as president he is immune from prosecutions and civil lawsuits.  Notice, he does not claim that he has not been profiting off of all of this.

The phony Phony Emoluments Clause.  You know, the one that has been part and parcel of the Constitution since it was written at the birth of the nation in 1787.  Clearly, the founding fathers wrote the Phony Emoluments Clause into the Constitution two hundred and thirty-seven years ago with the thought of getting even with Donald Trump all these years later.

For perhaps a more controversial example, I point to the Good and Welfare Clause, which requires him to care for the good and welfare of the people.  No masks.  No urging of masks to protect yourselves.  No urging of social distancing.  Modelling that shows he does not care a whit about the good and welfare of the people.  On top of everything, word has spread that anyone left in his government who dares to even hint at helping the incoming administration in a smooth transition of the government will be fired, including members of the coronavirus task force, from whom critical information is going to be needed to distribute potential life saving -- no, society saving -- vaccines.  No financial assistance to those in dire need in these critical times.  No attempt to even try to come up with an aid package.  No fire side chats.  No words of comfort to an increasingly desperate populace.

Nothing.

And then there is the outright blatant attempt to steal the election.

First he tried, with the assistance of Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham, to pack the federal judiciary.  He made no bones about what he was doing, outright saying he wants the election to go to the Supreme Court, where he figures his three appointees will take his side in the fight.  Thankfully, thus far, no court, no justice has ruled in his favor on any of the phony issues he has raised to date.  Funny thing.  Even most arch-conservative judges have some sense of moral integrity and take their oaths of office seriously.

So when you bring ridiculous claims before the courts backed up by nothing, these judges will do their duty and uphold the law as written, just as conservatives say they should.

And it's not like they have not repeatedly had the chance to make their case.  Remember, just prior to the election, Trump and his minions sued in Pennsylvania to exclude absentee ballots, before any such ballot had even been cast, on the grounds that they were rife with fraud.  The judge in that case, a Trump appointee, set a deadline in the case for Trump and his gang to produce any evidence of such fraud.  The case was then dismissed when not only was no such evidence produced, but THEY DID NOT EVEN TRY.

And now, case after case around the country has been dismissed because when confronted with the requirement in any case to produce evidence backing up your claims, Trump and his minions have failed to produce ANYTHING.  In some of the cases, the attorneys involved, knowing of the disciplinary consequences their license and therefore their livelihoods may be facing have either moved to dismiss their own cases or have withdrawn from representing the Trump, the Trump campaign, the RNC, etc.

So all legal avenues shutting off in front of him, he is now resorting to calling in republican state legislators to bully them into refusing to certify state election results so that he can have faithless legislators appointed in those states against the will of the voters, who will presumably vote to put him in office when the electoral college meets.

In other and plain words, HE WANTS STATE LEGISLATORS AROUND THE COUNTRY TO DISREGARD THE WILL OF NEARLY EIGHTY MILLION VOTERS, MORE PEOPLE WHO HAVE EVER VOTED FOR A CANDIDATE IN ANY PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN OUR ENTIRE HISTORY AND APPROXIMATELY SIX MILLION MORE VOTES THAN HE GOT, SIMPLY TO STAY IN POWER AND TO SATISFY HIS UNQUENCHABLE EGO.

The 12th Amendment of the Constitution sets forth how the electoral college is appointed and how it is to vote, at least in terms of the mechanics.  For the 12th Amendment to work as intended, it is assumed that there is a certain level of good faith that must be observed.  While it does not specifically state so, it has always been assumed that the electors from each state will vote as the popular vote in their state dictates.  Indeed, earlier this year, the Supreme Court validated that very concept in a unanimous decision.

So now, he has called Michigan legislators to the White House to discuss appointment of faithless electors.  This after he called republican members of the Board of Elections to bully them into trying to change their votes to certify results in Wayne County.  For some reason, the legislators are going to Washington, although their doing so at least hints that they are going to change their long standing statements in public that they will appoint electors who will vote the will of the people in their state.

And not a peep from congress. 

Oh, Mitt Romney has blasted what is going on, but we all know that the president will never listen to any criticism of Mitt Romney.  Nothing from Mitch McConnell.  Nothing from Lindsay Graham.  Nothing from any g.o.p. senator or congressman.  No indication that anyone with the ability to stop this is going to try.

As noted above, the 12th Amendment requires the good faith of our elected officials in order to work.  If there is no good faith, there is no 12th Amendment.  In turn, if that happens, there is no legitimately duly elected government.

And if all that is allowed to happen, the United States Constitution is dead.

and the winner is...

By now, it should be clear to just about anyone who is paying attention that the only way to stop the spread of the virus, or at least slow it down before vaccines which are showing promise are generally made available to all of us is to have a uniform national response that all, or at least so much of society follows as to effectively flatten the curve.  That includes the usual calls we have come to hear for mask wearing, social distancing, etc.  As the virus proliferates, it includes banning the type of social gatherings where the virus is likely to be spread, which unfortunately includes many businesses and gathering places that we all enjoy patronizing.

By now, we have also become used to the anti-mask, anti-lockdown you cannot tell me what to do crowd, as they tout their right to make the rest of us sick and question the efficacy of just about any common sense method touted by medical experts to slow the spread.  These folks apparently believe that individual responsibility is what counts, regardless of the fact that once anyone shows any irresponsibility, it increases the risk for everyone else.  We all know that there will always be irresponsible people out there for whom nobody can tell them what to do no matter what.

But I now give you the clear winner of the debate:

A friend who lives in the middle of the country recently commented on restrictions the governor of the state this friend lives in had just imposed.  The friend challenged anyone to show where any such restrictions had resulted in a flattening of the curve or any measurable success in dealing with the virus.

In the county where I live on Long Island, we had such restrictions in place since the early days of the pandemic in March, eased a bit during the summer and now slowly being reimposed.  Our positivity rate as of yesterday was 3.49%, which we consider to be terrible.  The rate in my friend's state as of this morning was 15.6%.  While I did not comment on that particular post, as it would result in nothing more than the usual gang from the right coming down on my neck, the comments posted after my friend's challenge crystallized what the rest of us are dealing with.

The highlight; frankly, one of the dumbest statements I have ever seen, came from the genius who posted that he was fully protected from the virus by his second amendment rights.

I repeat.  He thinks the second amendment protects him from contracting the virus.

There are sane people who reside in this part of the country.  One of them asked midwest gun guy what part of the virus he planned on aiming at when he pulled out his high tech weaponry.  In response, midwest gun guy replied that if a mask can stop the virus, he can stop it with a gun.

He thinks he can shoot the virus.

I repeat.  He thinks he can shoot the virus.

Who knew?

How could all of our doctors, researchers, public health specialists and scientists have gotten it so wrong?

And why aren't our soldiers, national guardsmen, sheriffs, police departments, highway patrolmen, state and local militias and neighborhood watches out there protecting us?  For that matter, where are the second amendment enthusiasts, private militia gangs, the you can't take my guns away and you can't tell me what to do crowd?

Any minute now, I expect to hear a veritable fusillade of bullets from our duly appointed law enforcers and patriots whizzing past my windows, followed by street cleaners driving by to clean up the remaining bodies of dead viruses in the street.

Any minute now...

Any fucking minute...  

ruth

The mother of an old and dear friend passed away last week.  Ruth -- I will use only her first name to protect the privacy of the family -- was the kind of person who you could only love.  She was a completely devoted wife, mother, grandmother and friend.  Back in the stone ages, when I was in college, she was the one who would occasionally host her sons' friends and provide us with a nice home cooked meal around a large and boisterous dinner table.  She was a loud, loving, boisterous and sometimes profane sounding person, who left a mark on all of us.

I am told that she is also a statistic that our present administration would just like to forget exists, but cannot in the long run ignore.

Ruth was diagnosed with Covid back in March.  While she made an initial recovery, there were debilitating effects which required her to undergo extensive physical therapy.  Several months later, in the course of her recovery, she suffered a severely broken leg in an accident that required a number of surgeries.  After each one, my friend tells me he could see her strength ebbing.  Indeed, about a month ago, on the occasion of my birthday, my friend told me Ruth was fading away.

He also told me he blamed cadet bone spurs.

No, he did not blame him for Ruth contracting Covid.  She could have caught anywhere from anyone or anything.  Instead, he blamed him for his callous response to a pandemic that has resulted in vast numbers of unnecessary deaths.  He blamed him for creating a task force manned not with experts in epidemiogy, infectious disease and public health, but with political sycophants who appeared to be more interested in protecting the president's image than in finding a cure or therapeutic.  Most of all, he blamed him for minimizing the virus and the count of those who contracted or died from the it so as to make himself look better, Ruth now being one of those.  Ruth's death certificate may state that her cause of death was complications from her numerous post-accident surgeries, but my friend and I agree that Covid-19 was a contributing factor.

In this time of political and cultural polarization, we must not lose sight of the fact that the casualties of this time are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and friends to all of us.  Ruth was one of them.  Minimizing death counts, calling them fake news and demonizing anyone who tries to say otherwise is an insult to the memory of all of the victims, such as Ruth.  Please remember that before you start your daily rant against everyone who does not necessarily believe as you do.

And please remember to wear your mask outside and social distance as possible.  Do it for Ruth and my friend's family.

May Ruth's memory be a blessing.