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Current Treason Factors In The United States

Current Treason Factors In The United States

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What is treason if practiced in the United States today?

The Constitution specifically identifies what constitutes treason against the United States and, importantly, limits the offense of treason to only two types of conduct: (1) “levying war” against the United States; or (2) “adhering to [the] enemies [of the United States], giving them aid and comfort.” 

Some Republicans:

It appears that some Republicans may have committed treason by helping Russia but this is only an act of treason if Russia is considered an enemy.   So far, research only shows that Russia is a rival, not an enemy of the United States.   Thus, the apparent despicable acts of some Republicans should not be considered treasonous.  But, these episodes of some Republicans could be construed as disloyal and may come close to treason.

Mitch McConnell:

McConnel may have committed treason with his decision not to support President Obama’s wish to reveal to the American public CIA reports that Russia was supporting Trump in the 2016 election.

“Republicans were—and are—more concerned with hurting Obama than they were in stopping Russia. In a sense, Republicans as a group colluded with Russia.”

January 6 Insurrection:

“If some of those who attacked the Capitol assembled in order to incapacitate Congress—perhaps even by kidnapping or killing lawmakers—then their actions could be construed as an attempt to overthrow the government, and federal prosecutors could plausibly consider treason charges.”

Donald Trump:

“a treason case against Trump himself might conceivably be built, if prosecutors could establish that he knew in advance that his supporters planned to violently assault the Capitol…”

“No amount of playacting and rationalizing can change the fact that the majority of the Republican Party and its apologists are advocating for the overthrow of an American election and the continued rule of a sociopathic autocrat.”

Summary:

It seems that the Republican Party has in the past and still is making some profound mistakes that have turned away quite a lot of support.  As a result, the party has had to resort to cheating by changing the voting laws in a lot of states to favor the Republican Party and packing the judicial courts with right wing judges.  The United States is slowly becoming less equal, less democratic, more authoritarian.  

 

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Reader’s Comment follows:

j’accuse

This Nation, this Democracy, is in trouble. The danger and threat to our Constitution is real and comes, not from foreign powers, rather it arises domestically — from within our own borders. Trump themes which are echoed in the Halls of Congress: the 2020 election was a fake; fraud was rampant in the voting; climate change is a hoax; U.S intelligence sources are not to be believed; the “insurrection” on January 6, 2021 was simply a group touring the Capitol.

The Leadership of the Republican Party is guilty of purveying misinformation and lies.

These “lies” have now permeated the psyches of many. Among the consequences: our government is crippled as the Supreme Court fails to support voters’ rights; bills have been filed in a majority of states that aim to reduce non-white voter participation in elections. Meanwhile, the Minority leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell [R – Kentucky], has brought the Congress to a standstill regarding legislation supported by the Democratic majority.

McConnell’s dictatorial behavior has the hallmarks of fascism:

“Fascism refers to a way of organizing society with an emphasis on autocratic government, dictatorial leadership, and the suppression of opposition.” [Merriam-Webster]

McConnell’s efforts to cripple the two most recent, duly elected, Democratic administrations are evident from the following quotes:

“The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”

“100% of our focus is on stopping this new administration.”

McConnell has prevented debate and votes on the floor of the Senate. He has kept his minions in line with threats to oppose legislation on: voting rights; pay equity; infrastructure updating; climate; a special commission to investigate the January 6 assault on the Capital. This infection of inhibiting and stopping the peoples’ choice for governing this country is spreading including the House of Representatives, e.g., Representative Chip Roy [R-Texas] stated his party [Republican] wants ”18 more months of chaos and inability to get things done.”

It is one matter to speak of a desire to retain and exercise power, utterances which are protected by the First Amendment [Freedom of speech] to the Constitution. That protection ceases when the words are put into ACTION!

McConnell’s ACTIONS ARE ACTS OF TREASON!

“Treason: A betrayal of trust or confidence, a breach of faith, treachery.” [Legal Dictionary]

“Engaging in any act that weakens the might of the United States” is considered “providing aid and comfort” to the nation’s enemies. [18 US Code 2381]

McConnell has forsaken the role of legislator/statesman in an attempt to grasp and retain power for political reasons despite his oath of office to protect the United States “against all enemies both foreign and DOMESTIC” [emphasis added] and at a significant cost to his country’s welfare.

McConnell and McConnellism must GO! File charges; kill the filibuster.

This threat to our democratic system of government must be removed.

Find a way!

(Author of this comment is not revealed which is the policy of this blog)

 

 

Post: July 19, 2021
Comment Approved: July 23, 2021
Updated: July 25, 2021
j’accuse comment Approved February 24, 2022

Sedition Of January 6, 2021 – Some Surprising Issues Revealed

Sedition Of January 6, 2021 – Some Surprising Issues Revealed

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This entry is part 4 of 11 in the series Donald Trump

Opinion based on facts.

Sedition Of January 6, 2021 – Some Surprising Issues Revealed

As a United States citizen and trying to follow the news closely, I have been somewhat shocked to witness a very large number of apparent quick changes in what has taken place in the past 5 years when measured to the new direction that the United States is taking with the recent appointment of Joe Biden in 2021 as US President.  I decided to try to list all the switch backs and turns, that in my mind, really show themselves and there are quite a few.  I think this is a personal effort to first understand some recent events and then get over these tumultuous events that are bothering me to help retain some personal sanity.  

Let me state a bias I have.  I do like our democratic form of government.  I know that it needs to be improved but that is probably also true with each of us.  I just recently came to realize that our nation just might slide to becoming a dictatorship and I will fight like hell to not let that happen.  Part of making this a better nation is to reflect what took place, analyze almost everything, improve what we can for the betterment of all, criticize when necessary and praise good deeds and results.

My second bias is I personally feel good when I can help another person or animal.  This is selfish of me for getting this reward but it seems to be good.  This and my other blog articles are, I guess, my selfish desire to do good for you.

Following is not in any order of importance:

  • President Donald Trump was more stupid and selfish  than most had realized.  If he had not incited the rioters to march to the capitol building as part of his speech January 6, 2021, he would not be the first president in our history to be impeached twice.  If he had just kept his mouth shut about marching, history’s trajectory for the United States would not have  bent so badly. 
  • A number of Republican congress men and women are not willing to protect the United States form of government, which someone should tell them should be a democracy.
  • The Republican Party is fractured, way less cohesive now than it appeared in 2020.  The party is on the brink of breaking apart.
  • The Republican Party was poorly administered.  They allowed a self centered, selfish leader of the party to run amuck.  There was no supervision that amounted to anything from Mitch McConnell and other party leaders to control Trump.  History books may well measure these events as profound failures of a party and some individuals.
  • The January 6, 2021, attack on Congress really revealed what maybe the most singular reason our nation is divided because white people feel they are being outnumbered leading to beliefs and resulting fears of loosing power and control leading to efforts to cement white supremacy into our nation.   
  • Quite a few Republicans utterly failed to respect whole blocks of citizens votes during the 2020 election in an effort to perform an illegal overturn of the citizens will.  Republicans need to understand that this country is owned and administered by the people through the process of voting.
  • A really shocking revelation, up to the revolt, is how close the United States had come to being a dictatorship and some of us see how easy it would be to make this actual transformation in the future.
  • The complicity of large media giants toward aiding the shift away from democracy and away from the truth  was shocking to witness.

Alternative media (U.S. political right)

  • The rather large number of really lousy ways that the American public get their facts was revealed.

Americans Who Mainly Get Their News on Social Media Are Less Engaged, Less Knowledgeable

  • The actual beliefs that some American citizens hold are utterly false.  These people fail to understand the process of deterring facts and the follow up process of arranging good honest beliefs in their minds.

Americans’ struggles with truth, accuracy and accountability

  • A number of media organizations and web sites are apparently propaganda vehicles serving up false claims and false views is way more than most people realized.
  • It is interesting to witness some children of some very important parents swing toward the good or bad side of things.
    • Keith Rupert Murdoch’s son, James Murdoch, rejects some of the FOX “NEWS” approaches.  
    • President Trump’s children seem to support their father’s views and way of doing things. 
  • It is very telling to see more friendliness and smiles for the people who work for President Biden than for Trump.
  • It is a refreshing shift to now see presidential policies for special interests businesses and groups be rejected and Biden do a fast turn toward to what is best for the whole nation.
  • The prior administration of Trump rejected science.  The Biden administration seems to embrace the truth from science and is making policy adjustments accordingly.
  • For some citizens, this government and how it operates does not work for them.  This might be one of the reasons Trump achieved a rather large following of voters.
  • The White House press briefings are way more polite, respectful ,and overall more civilized with the Biden administration than the Trump.
  • The Biden administration’s department head picks appear to be excellent, way better than Trump’s picks.
  • If we look backward to how we got here there is one rather powerful factor.  The “Supreme” Court decision in the Citizens United vs Federal Elections Commission which allowed big money to take rather silent influence and partial control of this nation and this seems to be at the root of some political corruption.  It seems rather far removed, for some, from the 2021 attack but the foundations of Democracy are being spoiled by big money corrosion.
  • Republican congress members avoid metal detectors.  One or more Republicans have carried guns into the House floor.
  • Each citizen’s attained level of education seems to be a factor for sustaining or thwarting the success or failure of our Democracy.

Trump corrupted the CDC.

Another rather shocking thing to witness, these past 4 years, was the number of President Trump boot lickers there were.

Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act pushed by Republicans and supported by Trump  is a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus bill passed by the 116th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27, 2020.  But, the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) shows a massive windfall for a small group of wealthy taxpayers from a Republican provision in the coronavirus relief bill.  According to the JCT, 43,000 individual tax filers covered by one of the provisions would see their tax liability fall by a combined $70.3 billion in 2020.  The JCT analysis shows nearly 82 percent of those who will benefit from that provision make $1 million or more, with 95 percent making over $200,000.   The provisions  all together will reduce government revenue by $160 billion over ten years.   This is just another reason some refer to the United States as a plutocracy, not a democracy.

 

I reserve the right to add more items to the above list as I come to find them.

 

Document first created: January 21, 2021
Posted January 23, 2021
Updated February 1, 2021

Is President Trump Moving Toward Being Authoritarian?

Is President Trump Moving Toward Being Authoritarian?

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Opinion with citations.

It has occurred to some that the United States of America seems to possibly be progressing toward being a dictatorship.

For example, Transparency International lowered the rank of the United States in 2016 = 74 to 2019 = 69, a drop of at least 5 points for being the least corrupt country.  The United States resides between France and the United Arab Emirates in this ranking. Also, Transparency International stated that the United States is “experiencing threats to its system of checks and balances”, along with an “erosion of ethical norms at the highest levels of power” since Donald Trump took office.

Following is a list of factors that may determine totalitarianism for Donald Trump: The Six Factors That Enable Totalitarianism by Tyler DeBrauwere.  

Factor one: The dictator and his lieutenants are unified by their political ideology and any individual that breaks this unity within the dictator’s administration will be eliminated. This also includes individuals within the dictator’s political party will be heavily pressured to conform.

President Donald Trump instills obedience through these following measures of demanding loyalty through these mechanisms:

Factor two: A totalitarian state is based upon an ideology.  For Trump, being so self centered and selfish his ideology is for him to win.   “Personalist dictatorships” are regimes in which all power lies in the hands of a single individual. It is up to government employees to understand this requirement to keep their jobs by making that single individual happy. Donald Trump appears to be a personalist dictator type.

Factor three: “Propaganda and the Terror is the whip that keeps the population in line.”
Donald Trump has Fox “News”, a sham example of a news organization because it fails evidence and truth. Fox is Donald Trump’s propaganda organ owned by a Australian-born American, “giving up his Australian citizenship, to satisfy the legal requirement for U.S. television network ownership”. “Since Donald Trump became the US President, Murdoch has shown support for him through the news stories broadcast in his media empire, including on Fox News.”  Donald Trump offers “a glorious, yet imaginary, future to a frustrated population” through is promise of “making America great again.

Side Note – Russian Intervention: Russian Putin has acted to enhance the standing of Donald Trump to diminish the United States by making some changes to the results of the 2016 election.  Russia is an enemy of the United States so why did that country help Trump?

Factor four: A directed economy where the different state’s economic sectors are appointed by and controlled by the dictator.  No evidence yet this is taking place.

Factor five: To “detach the individual from their individuality, transmuting the individual into the mass man; a member of the collective whose only purpose is to serve the regime and live by the regime’s ideology.”
We have seen this during the impeachment hearings where the members of the GOP Senate were cowered to abide by Trumps demands. We viewed a host of past renowned lawyers and politicians loosing their self identity, their integrity, for this cult personality.

Factor six: “seeks to monopolize weapons and armed combat in order to obtain further control of the populace.” The gun lobby is way too powerful to allow this to happen.

It becomes a bit clear that President Trump is not a complete calculating dictator yet. Because he is an alleged pathological narcissist, his behavior out of that alleged affliction matches some of the behaviors of a dictator because there is a parallel similarity . Sadly, in conjunction with the presidents affliction, there are other aiding factors that aids the president’s behavior.

It appears that President Donald Trump fits or comes very close to meeting four out of Mr. Tyler’s six factors. He fits being a totalitarian by creating a cult of personality but not yet using police and military, to force his will. A major component of this rising cult of personality appear to be members of the Republican Party which he controls through the help of Mitch McConnell. Many of the GOP come from former confederate states. This is because “over the course of the 20th century, the evangelical coalition entwined theology, whiteness, and conservative politics” and “in the 2016 election, 81 percent of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump”.

President Donald Trump appears to have some clear similarities to being a authoritarian but so far we might reason this is because of his alleged narcissism.  But beware that Hitler was also considered a pathological narcissist by some.

Recommended Reading: History of Totalitarianism

 

 

Revised: Feb 8, 2020

 

If Trump Is Found Guilty. (Opinion)

If Trump Is Found Guilty. (Opinion)

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Opinion

I keep hearing reports that a few government individuals, who seem to have private insight into the inner workings of the national security organizations, have stated that it is their view that President Trump is a criminal and possibly a traitor. I personally find this utterly shocking. I have had to reflected upon this because it is so loud in my mind and I am trying to figure out what follows if this is actually true. Remember, please, that what follows is pure conjecture.

If President Trump is found to be a criminal and/or traitor within the Mueller’s report, and is successfully prosecuted for such crimes, this could be devastating for a lot of the following individuals and bodies:

United States could loose some amount of respect for brining to power a dictator and/or traitor. This typically happens in more backward nations. So is the United States so backward? On the other hand, if the United States solves this problem using our legal system, this should raise our standing, not in the political realm, which has been utterly incompetent, but our legal system which should stand out as being rather strong and robust and maybe a model for other nations.

The Republican Party comprises about 24% of the total electorate. This very low number could even erode further handing way more power to the independents and Democrats. We need a two party system and the Republican Party has been run by plutocracy money interests and not the interests of the whole electorate for too long. Independents comprise the highest percent, about 42%, and they may need to form a democratic socialist party to further their aspirations and let us all see the Republican Party die off.

Vice President Pence’s power and position could vastly diminish by being put in office by an alleged despicable. He should be forced out of office if President Trump is actually found guilty.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has seen the Republicans supporting President Trump with a 90% approval rating. He has allegedly done nothing to stop Trump proving that the political system in the United States is nearly incompetent compared to our legal system. His “reward” will be written in the history books.

Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch and other federal court judge appointments, made by Trump, could be seen as as illegitimate appointment(s) and call for removal of all his appointments should be considered seriously.

All political appointments made by President Trump should go through a reconfirmation process by congress for reasons already stated.

The plutocracy that supports the Republican Party and tries to control the “Supreme” Court for it’s own selfish gains may find that the nation will, under a new expected progressive government, rewrite the tax code to favor the lower and middle classes, expand health care for all, offer free college education, thwarting climate change and more; all resulting in taxing the rich at much higher levels. The, 1%, plutocracies power of using money to buy influence needs to be diminished in this country for the betterment of all.

 

Posted February 24, 2019
Republican Banned Coretta Scott King Letter

Republican Banned Coretta Scott King Letter

The Republican Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) muzzled Senator Elizabeth Warren (February 7, 2017) from reading the Coretta Scott King Letter (1989) that recommended Jeff Sessions not be confirmed as a federal judge.

  • The letter was written by a women.
  • Coretta Scott King was the wife of a civil rights champion.
  • Elizabeth Warren is a women.
  • This took place during Black History week.

Possible summary view of this act:  White supremacist, racist, misogynist, deny free speech, fascist act.

Because the oligarch boot licking Republicans do not want you to read this document, we provide it here:

The full letter can be viewed here:  https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3259988-Scott-King-1986-Letter-and-Testimony-Signed.html#document/p1