Author: reillymgray

 

 

U.S. Senator and candidate for President of the United States, Elizabeth Warren, said at the June 26, 2019 Democratic debate that “The insurance companies last year alone sucked $23 billion in profits out of the health care system.  $23 billion.  And that doesn’t count the money that was paid to executives, the money that was spent lobbying Washington.”  This statement was declared “Accurate” by PolitiFact.  The cost of healthcare has skyrocketed.  When I signed my first contract as a Public School Special Education Teacher back in 1999, healthcare was included as a covered benefit.  The yearly contracts included a small increase each year which is fair as teachers become more proficient with each year of experience and the fact the cost of living increases each year.  About five years ago, teachers became responsible for a portion of the healthcare costs because the cost to the district became overwhelming.  Each year since, the portion has increased which has resulted in pay stagnation or even pay reduction.  It is one thing to make a sacrifice if it helps my community, but to enrich executives, stockholders and lobbyists is totally unacceptable.  Healthcare is just one example of how the top one percent is pillaging our economy for personal gain.  Big pharma, for profit prisons and detention centers, tax loopholes for the wealthy, offshore accounts….

Corporate socialism and free market for everyone else?  Really?  What will it take to make the system fair for everyone?  Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren? Or are they too far to the left to win a general election?  Is there a more moderate candidate that can make the necessary changes?  Maybe Kamala Harris or Pete Buttigieg or Joe Biden?  The one thing I do know is that if the Democrats don’t win the majority in the senate, change will be impossible for whoever is elected.  So get out and VOTE!!!

Livable wages including healthcare and benefits will solve many of our problems.  Hoarding at the top benefits the very few.  Anyone working full-time should be able to afford a modest home, a car, food, clothes, access to the internet, and the ability to save a portion of their income for a vacation, college for their children, or a home improvement project.  If small businesses cannot afford to pay their employees a livable wage, then employee pay should be supplemented.  Also, anyone willing to work full-time at an entry-level job should have the opportunity to increase their skill level through community college or tech school certificate programs for a minimal cost.  We must rise from the bottom as trickle down from the top has proven not to work.  The top tends to keep most of the wealth produced by the bottom for themselves.  Gainful employment for all should be a national goal along with stopping the robbers at the top!

Vitriolic is a new word that I’ve learned since I began following politics more closely.  Maybe politics have always been vitriolic and I just never noticed.  Vitriolic means caustic or severe, corrosive, cutting or sharp.  Has politics become more vitriolic with the growing popularity and proliferation of conservative and right-wing media?  I remember hearing about the John Birch Society 30 or 40 years ago, but it was kind of a fringe thing promoted basically by word of mouth, person to person.  But now we have many conservative and right-wing TV and radio shows with Fox News leading the way.  According to Wikipedia, Fox News has been described as practicing biased reporting in favor of the Republican Party, the Trump administration and conservative causes, while slandering the the Democratic Party and spreading harmful propaganda intended to negatively affect its members’ (Democratic Party) electoral performance.

Fox News was launched on October 7, 1996 by media mogul Rupert Murdoch who installed Roger Ailes as the founding CEO.  Roger Ailes is the creator and designer of Fox News.  A book about the life of Roger Ailes called The Loudest Voice in the Room by Gabriel Sherman was made into a Showtime mini-series called “The Loudest Voice.”  The Washington Post published a critique of this mini-series called “The Loudest Voice ‘really sticks it to Roger Ailes” by Hank Stuever which was then published in the June 16, 2019 edition of the Burlington County Times.

According to Stuever, the mini-series describes Ailes as a political operative, right-wing paranoid, manipulative network producer, who has carried within him a rueful, seething rage and bitterness since childhood, and who was a failure as a decent human being.  He counter-programmed to the forgotten American conservative with a sneer at the liberal tech-topians who just launched MSNBC.  He purposely appealed to a simplified patriotism using belligerent commentary, leggy blondes and a jingoistic fealty to the flag.

It has been reported that information provided by Fox News is 85% false.  It is an assault on decency wrapped in false patriotism.  It is the magnification of the rage and bitterness stemming from one person’s unhappy childhood.  Ailes needed a therapist, not a platform.  The demonization of democrats and liberals in general by the right interferes with the ability for discussion and compromise which is necessary for good government. I don’t know if there is any hope of healing for the 40% of voters who have bought into the vitriolic Ailes worldview.  Conservatives and liberals must work together for the survival of our democracy.  I have tried to meet halfway, but the other was unwillingly to move just a little to the center.

According to 52 United States Constitution Section 30121(a)(2), it shall be unlawful for a person to solicit, accept, or receive a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value from a foreign national.  Opposition research information of a political opponent is considered a “thing of value.”

The Trump Tower meeting involved Donald Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, Rob Goldstone and at least five other people who gathered to receive “dirt” on Hillary Clinton from Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya who was a self-described informant to the office of the Russian Prosecutor General.  Members of the Trump campaign met directly with a foreign national with ties to the Russian government to receive a “thing a value” which is an obvious violation of the law.  They did not report this contact to the F.B.I. and when asked lied that the meeting was about Americans adopting Russian children.

Christopher Steele and the Clinton campaign had no direct contact.  Ironically, Fusion GPS, a private investigation company headquartered in Washington D.C., was originally hired by The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative political website, to do opposition research on Trump and the other Republican presidential candidates.  When it became clear that Trump would be the probable Republican nominee, they stopped funding the investigation.

Then the law firm Perkins Coie, on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the DNC , retained Fusion GPS to continue the investigation.  Fusion GPS hired retired British Intelligence (MI6) Russia Desk officer, Christopher Steele to investigate.  He complied his findings in a dossier of raw intelligence memos.  He was so concerned with these findings that he reported them to both British Intelligence and the F.B.I..  Then the dossier was made public by BuzzFeed digital media.

Conservative commentators express no difference between these two events.  One said that the Clinton contact was “laundered” through the law firm and Fusion GPS before it reached the Clinton campaign.  To me these two events are not the same.  Even though the Trump campaign was found to have over one hundred contacts with Russia, the Mueller report was not able to prove conspiracy beyond a shadow of a doubt.  Was the road that led to the Steele Dossier legal?  I think so, but I’m not a lawyer.  The main difference, for me, is one was immediately reported to the F.B.I. and the other was not.  I am finding that searching for the truth and what is right in the field of politics is an daunting and overwhelming task.  I listen to opposing arguments from both sides and hear them use the same claims against each other often in highly hypocritical fashion.  Opposition research is legal.  What happens when the research leads to numerous contacts with a hostile foreign government?  You notify the F.B.I. which is exactly what Christopher Steele did.  So, finally, there is my answer!  Trump Tower illegal, Steele Dossier legal.

I found a complex answer to this question in a washingtonmonthly.com article in the July/August 2018 issue by David A. Walsh titled How the Right Wing Convinces Itself That Liberals Are Evil.

To my surprise this hatred has its roots in McCarthyism and the fear of communism from the 1950s.  In the right-wing worldview, liberals are socialists, communists, secularists, perverts, leftists and traitors who hate America and are part of a secret international communists conspiracy.  Civil rights, gay rights and feminism are part of this liberal agenda.

Walsh writes that conservatives “…believe the liberals are evil and will do anything, legal or not, to further their anti-American, anti-Christian, pro-feminsits, pro civil and gay rights agenda.  And in their minds justifies any means necessary to stop this communist, now socialist threat…” including, “…putting forth conspiracy theories and out right lies.”

“…conservative leaders have long depicted liberals as enemies of the the state.”

They believe, “The mainstream media and academia cannot be trusted because of the pervasive, totalitarian nature of the liberal culture.”  The civil right movement was considered a “…communist liberal front group” that drew “…conservative scorn.”

In the 70s and 80s the religious right “…conflated liberalism, socialism, and communism under the broader umbrella of ‘secularism’ and built alliances with one another [Evangelicals, Catholics and some Mormons] to combat this scourge …united in the oppositions to abortion, gay rights and feminism.”

In Ann Coulter’s Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism, she defends Joseph McCarthy’s view that accuse “liberals of being… traitors who hated America.”

“…that a vast left-liberal conspiracy was both undermining the country and using dirty, underhanded tactics to do so rhetorically justified an anything-goes strategy on the part of the right.”

The free enterprise system must be rescued “…from the clutches of liberalism, which would otherwise inevitably lead to communism.”

“The idea that the left is depraved, corrupt and ruthless has been an important strain of American conservatism since the movement began.”

Fox News was created in 1996 and was considered “…necessary, the argument went, because conservative journalist and conservative perspectives were shut out of main stream board-casters.  Fox News present an unchallenged right-wing worldview to millions of viewers, twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year.”

Liberals have been villainized by the right.  Somehow people who support civil rights for cultural and religious minorities and the LGBTQ community, and who support helping the poor and disabled, and support livable wages that include healthcare and pension are evil.  Somehow holding the corporations and wealthy accountable (product safety, environmental protection and financial honesty, e.g.) is evil. How can human rights and honesty be villainized by the religious right?  Somehow people who would benefit from Democratic policies have been convinced by the right that these policies are unAmerican.  This is mind-boggling and is going to require greater thought.  Unsubstantiated conspiracy theories have created a destructive movement in America and must be left behind.

Below is an excerpt from my January 5, 2018 blog entry titled “Party Principles.”  This is where the right and the left must begin to talk.  The answer is to return to our principles and begin a discussion that will lead to balanced compromise.

Republican Principles.

1. Smaller government to preserve the sanctity of the individual.
2. Support the federalist system of government meaning less federal government and more state control.  Against centralized government.
3. Fiscal conservatism, limited taxation and government spending to ensure greater individual liberty.
4. Strong national defence.
5. Individual liberties, responsibilities and duties.
6. Tolerance, inclusiveness and responsibilities.

Following this list of enumerated principles was an additional paragraph that added free enterprise, and equal rights, justice and opportunity for all including persons with disabilities, and human rights.

Democratic Principles.

1. More regulation, universal healthcare.
2. Provide services for the poor.  High earners pay higher percentage of taxes.
3. Equal rights for LGTB persons.  Support for Roe vs. Wade.  Embryonic stem cell research.  Regulate right to bear arms.
4. Government should protect the people.  Protecting every individual for an equal society sometimes at the expense of economic freedom.

Following this list of enumerated principles was additional qualifying paragraph.  Democrats believe that parties motivated by self-interest are willing to behave in ways harmful to society unless government is prepared and empowered to constrain them.  Regulation is necessary when individuals, corporations and industries pursue financial gain at an intolerable cost to society and become too powerful to be constrained by other social institutions.  Democrats value educators and trust science.

 

Russia influenced the 2016 election through cyber attacks and is looking to do the same in 2020.  Their intention is to undermine our democracy.  Russia will greatly benefit by undermining the alliance of the democratic nations of the world.  By weakening democracy around the world, Russia will be undeterred from violating human rights and  will engage in diminishing the freedom and economic opportunity of its citizens while using torture and murder to silence its detractors.  This will clear the way for Putin and his Russian Oligarch friends to steal the wealth of their nation and then the world.  And, now we have a President who refuses to hold Putin accountable for his crimes against the United States allowing him to rob us of our freedom and our ability to earn a living.

Why is the Trump administration and the Republican party allowing this to happen unchecked?  Is it because they hate liberals so much that they are willing to allow our democracy to be destroyed?   Tune in next week for more information.

America has been known for protecting and standing for human rights throughout the world.  During my life time, we have recognized our own shortcomings in some of these areas and have fostered change in civil rights, women’s rights and LGBTQ rights.  Now we need to fight for “financial and economic rights.”

Wages have not kept up with the cost of living while collective bargaining organizations have been gutted.  Job opportunities providing a living wage are much harder to find today.  Regulation or de-regulation is favoring stockholders at the expense of stakeholders.  CEOs, board members, stockholders and the wealthy are pillaging the American middle class.  Pillage means to strip ruthlessly of money or goods by open violence.  By breaking unions and increasing the cost of good and services, including prescription drugs and healthcare and higher education, the middle class is being bled dry.

A potential example of this pillaging has come to light this week as Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Treasury Secretary, is suspected of aiding hedge-fund manager, Eddie Lampert, of siphoning more than $2 billion from Sears resulting in the company’s bankruptcy and the loss of thousands of middle class jobs.  Sears has been an American staple since the pioneer days and one greedy, ruthless person has robbed it of all its assets at the expense of thousands of Americans.

Where is the integrity, decency, ethics, morals and fairness that have been connected to America?  Is it lost to “ruthless Darwinian competition?”  Is this a response to the promotion of mediocracy in which “everyone gets a trophy?”  I think we can find the middle ground between “ruthless Darwinian competition” and “everyone gets a trophy.”  The middle ground involves empathy and empathy is what makes us human.  It’s not wrong to recognize natural talent and hard-work while providing opportunities and encouragement for everyone else rather than shaming for not being the best.  Every team member has value!

Legislators must create regulation that provides livable wage jobs and immediately stops the pillaging of the middle class by the wealthy class.  The survival of American democracy requires it.

What is it?  Where did it come from?  Why is it happening? Is it dangerous?  What does it mean to our everyday lives?

According to Steven Hahn in The Populists Specter (thenation.com January 28-February 4, 2019 issue), populism has become “…a term meant to encapsulate the rage often found among white and native-born voters across Europe and other parts of the Western Hemisphere, who regard themselves as victimized by established political institutions, the corrupt practices of politicians, and the influx of immigrants from afar.  …these ‘populists’ appear to be united by shared grievances and  by a disposition to place the blame not on the workings of the economic system or the excesses of economic elites (though anti-Semitic currents suggest some of this), but on the the threats posed by immigrants to the national culture and economic well being.”  He continues, Populism “…seems to defy accepted political rules and norms, transgress recognized boundaries, and veer toward authoritarian solutions.  Most of all, it threatens the institutions and practices associated with liberal democracy, long believed to be the foundation of American political culture….”

In The People vs Democracy, Yascha Mounk writes about the causes of  liberal democracy’s crisis and decomposition as follows.

• slow rate of economic growth since the 70’s
• corporate offense against unions
• insulation of political elites from popular pressure
• expanding power of the executive and judicial branches of government
• social media disseminating extreme ideas
• erosion of ethnic and cultural homogeneity

Mounk states “…these developments have dramatically increased economic inequality, raised deep suspicions about the integrity and responsiveness of political institutions, and encouraged the rise of nationalist movements that place immigrants and other ethnic and religious minorities at the root of their predicament.”  He continues, this has “…caused liberal democracy to unravel into two strands, ‘undemocratic liberalism’ and ‘illiberal democracy (populism)’.”  He argues, that polling and related surveys “…show not only the erosion of trust in political institutions and democratic norms but also a growing support of authoritarian leadership, including military rule.”

William Galston in Anti-Pluralism writes that “Populism is tribal.  It feeds on feelings of economic and cultural vulnerability and thrives on binary and simplistic portraits of the world (‘us’ versus ‘them,’ the ‘people’ versus the ‘elites’).  It draws strength from the ‘incompleteness of life in  liberal societies’ and attacks vital norms, pluralism chief among them.”

Barry Eichengreen (The Populist Temptation) suggests that “…populism is marked by anti-elitism, authoritarianism, nativism, bellicose nationalism, demagoguery, and destruction.  Populism is ‘corrosive’ and brings out the ‘ worst of [its] followers arraying the general public against the intelligentsia, natives against foreigners, and majority groups against minorities.  Populists revel in flouting restraints and disregarding expert opinion, and although they are willing to have the government advance their agenda, it is not clear what their agenda is beyond punishing their enemies.”

Populism is a response to the loss of economic security.  It strives to tear down what they think are the causes of this economic insecurity, liberal democracy and immigration.  The danger is that in destroying liberal democracy we are vulnerable to authoritarian rule which means giving up our role in a representative government.  I believe that our current system of government is unbalanced, but I don’t think tearing it completely down is the wise answer.  Rebalancing the three branches of government to ensure checks and balances is an imperative first step.  Campaign finance regulation to remove big money from government is another step.  Legislative regulation to protect all Americans from greed and investment in healthcare, education and infrastructure are essential to protect our democracy.  Let’s fix it, not destroy it.  Democracy is the foundation of America.

Trump reflects this populism with his authoritarian tendencies, despicable treatment of immigrants, binary thinking of us vs them, destruction of norms and disregard for expert opinion.  This is not America!  We are smart, welcoming, and civil!  The 2020 election is the opportunity to get us back on course.  Democracy will always be a work in progress just like each of us.  It is always changing and we can make it work for everyone.  Vote!

Following politics is a head spinning activity.  Everyone is trying to get their way no matter how harmful it is, even to themselves.  In  the meantime most Americans are struggling.  Average Americans, which is most of us, earn about $56,000 per year, while 48% of Americans earn less than $30,000 per year.  This is not a respectable income for citizens of the greatest and wealthiest country in the world.  All work is valuable and deserves a livable wage which is by my estimation $25 per hour (40 hours per week 50 weeks per year) with an extra $5 per hour for healthcare and another $5 for pension.  That is $70,000 per working person per year for a total of $11 trillion.  It is doable.

Somehow over the last 40 years, workers have become devalued and stockholders have become overvalued.  It’s like you hold a buffet style dinner party and the first people who arrive take all the food, far more than they need, stuffing it in their purses and pockets to take it home leaving everyone else with the scraps to share.  And, its as if the rules of decency have been deregulated or ignored.  What is really frightening is, the early hoarders don’t recognize that they’ve done anything wrong and they blame those who arrived after them for their own state of lack.

Both sides ( Democrats and Republicans) need to find common ground so that average Americans can live comfortably not extravagantly.  Our democracy cannot survive this level of income inequality.  The top 1% (those earning $400,000 and above per year) are out of touch with the experiences of the majority of Americans.  In response I offer the following observations.   If your wealth hurts fellow Americans, stop!  If your integrity is diminished by dealing with unscrupulous business people or Oligarchs, stop!  If your patriotism is dwindling so you can make deals with hostile foreign governments, Stop!

A successful society provides livable wages and comfortable living conditions for all workers and supports the arts and sciences that move humans forward.  It provides training/education/healthcare opportunities for all, not free but affordable.  And, it helps those with challenges.  The new and growing “gig” economy does not provide livable wages and benefits.  It is going to create a class who is in debt without healthcare and pension and in 40 years will become a class of senior citizens who live in poverty.   We need to find common ground for the common good through fair legislation that includes all Americans.

How many lies can one espouse or overlook to hold the party line at the expense of our democracy and our standing in the world?  For me this is a rhetorical question that doesn’t have an exact answer, but I do know that it is ultimately destructive and not good for America.

Volume I pages 1-2 of the Mueller report states that “…the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome…” and the “…Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian effort….”

It is a fact that the Trump campaign and Russia worked in concert to elect Trump in 2016 undermining our democratic process.  Since Trump believed on some level that this was illegal, he obstructed the investigation in a multitude of ways which are outlined in Volume II of the report.

Trump and other Republicans are calling the investigation a hoax which it is obviously not and declaring it over which it is not.  Their only focus is staying in power and not on searching for the truth.

What do they get from this power?  I am not exactly sure, but it might be to protect those who fit into their definition of an American.  As I have been observing their behavior more closely since November 2016, I have a very cynical view of the Republican definition of an American.  It is as follows, wealthy, white, straight, suit wearing, Christian, male and no one else.  Everyone else is undeserving of the rights and protections provided by our democracy.  And, they believe they are entitled to all the wealth.  This seems to be their motivation for lying and overlooking wrongdoing and incompetence even at the expense of their own integrity.

Right now, the number one party line holder is A.G Barr and his number one job is to protect the American people, all the people.  And he is not doing that!  He needs to resign!  He has trashed his reputation and legacy.  For what, is a mystery!

I am ending this week’s blog with a message for the wealthy from the Bible.  “For you, brethren, were [indeed] called to freedom; only [do not let your] freedom be an incentive to your flesh or excuse [for selfishness], but through love you should serve one another” Galations 5:13 (Amplified Bible).  … and not just yourself and those who fit your narrow definition!

 

 

 

United States Attorney General William Barr provided a summary of the Mueller report that hides the truth from the American public who he was sworn to serve and allowed Trump to falsely claim NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION.

Even though, the investigation could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the campaign did not coordinate with the Russian government, Trump feared that his actions and the actions of his campaign team would be found unlawful.

Volume II page 76 states that “…the evidence does indicate that a thorough FBI investigation would uncover facts about the campaign and the President personally that the President could have understood to be crimes or that would give rise to personal and political concerns.”  This is proof of someone who knowingly committed crimes.

Volume II page 78 states that “…when Trump heard that a Special Counsel had been appointed to investigate Russia and matters that arose from the investigation Trump said, ‘ Oh my God.  This is terrible.  This is the end of my Presidency.  I’m f…..ed.'”  This is the reaction of a knowingly guilty person.

In light of Trump’s actions, one would surmise that he was worried that he had in fact colluded or conspired with Russia to taint the election. Trump did not become a subject of the investigation until he repeatedly attempted to obstruct justice.

Volume II page 7 states that Trump was not personally under investigation due to the investigation into Russia meddling, even when the actions of the campaign were included.

Volume II page 2 of the Mueller report indicates that if they had confidence after this thorough investigation of the facts that the President did not commit obstruction of justice we would state so, but, based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgement.  THE REPORT CANNOT STATE THAT THE PRESIDENT DID NOT COMMIT OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE.

The Mueller report provides overwhelming evidence that Trump obstructed justice, but Mueller could not bring charges because Volume II page 1 of the report states that “The Office of Legal Counsel is of the opinion that a sitting President cannot be indicted.”  Therefore, impeachment or censure by the United States Congress is the correct action and NOT a summary that covers up the facts by A.G. Barr.

Currently, Trump is obstructing the Congress’s right and obligation to bring the evidence to the American public.  Sadly, the impeachment process can not be concluded before the 2020 election.  As a result, it is up to us to vote in order to bring this travesty to democracy to an end.  When Trump leaves office in January 2021 he can be indicted for his  crimes, but if he gets re-elected the statute of limitations will have run out by the end of 2024 and he will go scot free after destroying our sense of decency and our standing in the world.

Don’t board the plane for Neverland, study the facts and hold our public servants ( a role that is nonexistent in the mind of Trump) accountable.  It is up to you!