An EPA Leader Who Would Grind it Away

I have to admit that I'm compelled to watch the news the same way I did when the Twin Towers were aircraft-bombed and Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans. I feel breathless the way I did then. Every day, one part of the news collapses democracy onto the next.

Today, ignoring the judge in Oklahoma who ordered that Scott Pruitt hand over thousands of email exchanges with oil and gas companies, the Senate proceeded with the confirmation, never pausing to look at the facts. Democrats did their best to filibuster, but they just didn't have the votes in the end to stop the confirmation.

Let's stop and look at that for a moment. Thousands of emails were at issue, could apply directly to answer the question about Pruitt's suitability to run the EPA or run it into the ground. And Republicans ignored it as if it weren't an issue. I wonder what Hillary Clinton would say about the hypocrisy there. Okay, I'll say it for her. It's criminal. Lock him up.

Okay, I don't know if the emails would put Pruitt into the criminal zone, but we heard it so many times slated against Secretary. Clinton even though she was exonerated by the FBI well before the election.

It's both ironic and hypocritical.

According to the LA Times, Scott Pruitt sued the EPA fourteen times in defense of fossil fuels corporations. He's all about oil and gas. And that connects with the Environmental Protection Agency, how? According to the Senate, this is the man best suited to lead and defend the EPA?

I'm surprised I'm not grinding my teeth.

Thank you for listening, jules

Full of Holes

If I were to read the news for five minutes, I'm sure I'd find something to complain about. Russian interference in our election? Trump making a profit by forcing Secret Service to stay in Trump hotels? The administration advertising Trump businesses while being covered for Oval Office news? Congressmen who have slammed their doors on constituents and complain publicly about it?

Congressmen are putting locks and back doors on their offices to avoid angry constituents. 

Lately, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and MSNBC have been doing my work for me. They're finding facts faster than they can be reported. We needed someone  like these journalists to call foul when the Trump administration kept saying that we shouldn't complain about what was happening in the White House, that it was damaging democracy. What the hell? Free speech and government transparency are an integral part of democracy. Demanding accountability is a huge part of democracy. I'm not the only one who doesn't trust the Trump administration.

The people who leaked information about the conversations of Russian operatives with Mike Flynn before the election are my heroes. Absolutely fucking courageous, death-defying government heroes.

You know who you are. Thank you.

Here's a question for you: Why does a nominee for Supreme Court need to advertise on television?

I've been watching the Rachel Maddow show almost every night. I love that she's reporting on the very occurrences that make my skin crawl with regard to the state of democracy in the United States. There's so much happening, every single night.

But Neil Gorsuch has an ad during Rachel Maddow's show. I read that it was funded by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. 

What the hell is that? Why run an ad for a Supreme Court nominee? The ad says he's a bipartisan judge but he's not.

Every word of it goes against Gorsuch's actual judicial rulings. According to The Washington Post, he is more conservative than anyone currently on the Supreme Court.

So why run an ad?

Rachel, you need to put an end to that crap. I know you wouldn't endorse an advertisement that's full of holes.

Thank you for listening, jules

We All Need to Learn Some Constitutional Law

Okay, that was a little more than a momentary paralysis on my part. First, I was sick for a while and then we had a couple of snow days in our town. Our neighborhood power went out for four days because trees fell on the power lines and Puget Power hasn't buried many lines yet. It's like we live in a Third World country. We had no heat or water for four days. Nick's frog died. Thanks Puget Power.

After sleeping on and off for two days, I woke up this morning and wondered why we can't sue Congress for not doing its job, for the lost seat on the Supreme Court or for not pressing forward regarding Russia's involvement in our election. It's called sovereign immunity. There are some exceptions. The Federal Tort Claims Act. Can't some bright law student tell us how we can all pursue the Federal Tort Claims Act?

And Congress sets its own salaries too. Yeah, I want to work for a company in which the employees set their own salaries. Want a raise? Just raise it yourself. Want to ignore the budget while the government closes down? Just don't show up. Don't like the Judiciary branch of government that checks your power, just refuse to appoint new members when the old ones die.

Cushy job.

These days,their jobs are a little harder, what with all the crowds showing up at each Congressman's office door. But the problem with that is that they've canceled town hall events, skipped meetings, stopped answering their phones. Can they do that?

Now, Congress is not doing anything about the emoluments clause or Flynn's involvement in Russia before the election. What the hell? It's been in the news since last July that the Russian government has been messing with our election and no one has done a thing about it.

Seriously?

Don't you see all those protestors out there? You ARE NOT representing your citizens. You need to do your jobs.

So, why can't we sue them? Really? If they're ruining our government, censoring our information, ignoring treason, can't we sue? What recourse do we have then?

Is it time for us to form a militia against the tyranny of our government? Our Second Amendment laws are all that will be left of our Constitutional rights when it's all done. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine a bunch of middle-aged moms and kindergarten teachers forming a well-armed militia and marching against the government?

Right, Betsy Devos already wants kindergarten teachers to carry guns into school.

It's the bears. Remember?

Bears are not our problem. They just aren't. Our problem is that Trump and his Cabinet are making a profit as they liquidate our government and Congress has yet to use the emoluments clause. Our problem is that Trump and his Cabinet have censored scientific information that the population has a right to see and Congress isn't doing anything about it. Does the Freedom of Information Act have anything to say about it? Our problem is that Flynn has probably committed treason and Sessions isn't about to do his job and pursue it.

Shit!

I'm not a Constitutional lawyer. I need to take a class.

Thank you for listening, jules

Momentarily Paralyzed

A few days ago, I read an article that stated that the travel ban on our Muslim people is just a cover for the real agenda that Trump is trying to achieve while everyone is foaming at the mouth at the airports.

Note, the rollback in the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law. MSNBC talked about the rollback in financial regulations. This would make it legal for financial advisors to make their own financial goals a priority over those of their clients. But this story was jammed in between all the protests and immigration lawyers talking about the poor people who were stranded away from their homes and families because of the bad timing of their business trips.

Hey, I agree with all of the protesters at the airports. I wish I'd been able to join them at the airport with my sign that said they belonged here, that immigrants made this country great. It's outrageous that these people are suddenly kept out of the country because of their religious beliefs. Thankfully, the Constitution has something to say about this arrogant breach and judges are standing up to Trump. There are some heroes there. Sally Yates, who said Trump's executive order was unconstitutional and was fired for doing so. I hope Sally Yates has had hundreds of job offers in the past few days. I hope she wins the JFK Profile in Courage award. She deserves it.

But there are articles, which I can't find right now, that state that Trump's plan is to destabilize the American people, to keep us all off balance, so that he can quietly do what he really intends to do. All this quiet movement seems to have a lot to do with the richest people in the country, the corporations, and the Wall Street billionaires that have completely infiltrated Trump's Cabinet.

 And it's working.

I feel destabilized. I admit that I feel paralyzed by the way that Trump does something awful every day, sometimes more often than that. I can't even keep track of all the awful things he's done.

He insulted the Australians. He fired Sally Yates. He nominated Gorsuch, the pro-corporate judge. He stopped vetted Syrian refugees with visas and tickets from entering our country. He blocked legal residents with green cards based on the country they were traveling from. He signed an executive order to rescind the Frank-Dodd law. He created the fake news called the 'Bowling Green Massacre.' He threatened a trade war on Mexico. He gagged the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Parks. He reversed the Dakota pipeline hold. There is something new and awful every day!

And in the meantime, Trump is lining up his toy soldiers in the Cabinet, racist, corporate, billionaire businessmen with little or no experience except in opposition to the branch of government they were intended to lead.

I am stunned. I can't move. I can't remember details. I can't make calls because the phone lines to people who might reign in Trump's crazy actions have been closed. I can't send email because emails have been removed. What good will it do for me to write a letter?

Thankfully, I am not the only one who is resisting. Thousands of people picketed the airports. Thousands of people are making daily calls to their senators and to Paul Ryan. Some of them are showing up and asking to speak to their senators. The news is not blind to what Trump is doing. Read the New York Times and the Washington Post. Listen to Rachel Maddow. Lawyers are stepping forward. Psychiatrists are offering their analyses. Writers are writing. Comics are making us laugh at Trump's expense. Thank you Alex Baldwin and Jenny Lawson. And musicians are refusing to sing for Trump's sad celebrations. People are selling Bowling Green massacre survivor T shirts. People are following the Indivisible Guide and doing their civic duty to insist that their government represent them. And according to Rachel Maddow, it's having an effect. These persistent people are heroes too!

In the meantime, I'm trying not to rest too long. I'm trying to gather my wits, listen to reliable reports, and keep up my vigil against the Trump by writing, calling, and protesting. What else can I do?

Thank you for listening, jules