I read the following excellent and timely opinion piece on The Chris Hedges Report/Substack.  It is only the second piece written by a third party I have ever posted in nearly forty years f writing social and political commentary … and echoes many of the warning signs for the future …

“The Congress shall have power … To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal,”
U.S. Constitution – Article I Section 8
 
In 2024 Donald Trump campaigned on (a) an explicit repudiation of prior administrations’ efforts to affect regimes-changes or engage in subsequent nation-building and (b) a doctrine respecting the sovereignty of …

“When hypocrisy is a character trait, it also affects one’s thinking, because it consists in the negation of all the aspects of reality that one finds disagreeable, irrational or repugnant.
Octavio Paz
Amazingly, President Trump and many conservative Republicans have argued it should be solely up to parents to make decisions regarding …

Article I, Section 8  –  U.S. Constitution
In President Trump’s unrelenting quest to reshape America’s representative democracy into a autocracy he simply ignores the Constitutional Article II limitations on his office, the role of the Legislative Branch, and the Rule of Law; while believing he is accountable to no one.
His ordering military …

“Sometimes the point isn’t to make people believe a lie; it’s to make people fear the liar.”
Anne Applebaum
Never before has any American president politicized public spaces and government buildings with banners featuring their face, a propaganda ploy more commonly associated with autocratic leaders in China, Russia, North Korea and other …

“Patriotism means to stand by the Country.  It does not mean to stand by the president.”
Theodore Roosevelt
Donald Trump increasingly makes clear, in spite of the Constitutional limitations imposed on the presidency, he intends to amass more unconstrained power for the Executive Branch and for himself, personally!
While not on the golf …

“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not be trusted by anybody.”
Thomas Jefferson
 
Credible scientific studies have concluded the Climate, despite Republican claims it’s a hoax, is fast approaching a tipping point where global warming may be irreversible.  However, America’s unique experiment in representative democracy may also be …

“I’m afraid, based on my own experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security.”
Jim Garrison
 
We were warned:

By the architect of our Constitution, James Madison; “I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by …

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
Last sentence of the Declaration of Independence
Knowing their actions would lead to war, which if lost would result in them …

“First came for the communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then …

“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not be trusted by anybody.”
Thomas Jefferson
 The signors of the Declaration of Independence understood the potentially lethal consequences of their actions yet opted to, “mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor,” by formally severing ties …

“Notice and comment is unnecessary because I am ordering the repeal,”
President Trump’s Executive Order to unilaterally
repeal energy and environmental regulations
 
Donald Trump’s insatiable thirst for and expansive interpretation of presidential power has been the defining characteristic since his inauguration.  His issuances of daily, often legally-questionably, Executive Orders and Actions have …

Of course I’m not going to do it,”
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele
 
Despite judicial orders, President Trump remains defiant when it comes to repatriating a wrongfully arrested and deported legally-protected El Salvadoran immigrant who has lived in the country for a decade, is married to an American citizen with whom …

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
Attributed to Voltaire
 
For nearly fifty years Liberals have been justifiably accused of censoring speech with which they disagree.  It has taken the form of establishing so-called free speech zones on high school and …

“he who saves his country does not violate any law”
Donald Trump
 His wildly inaccurate remark, “I have an Article II where I have the right to do whatever I want as president,” and embracing the label of “king” epitomizes Donald Trump’s exaggerated and narcissistic ego and disrespect for the Constitution!
Trump’s election …

“‘I have an Article 2 where I have the right to do whatever I want as president”
Donald Trump
 President Trump’s photo-op trip to the Super Bowl is estimated to have cost American taxpayers between $15 and $20 million, but raised no concerns from his DOGE Czar Elon Musk.
The long-term interests …

“Every 25 seconds, someone in America is arrested for drug possession.”
Human Rights Watch and the ACLU
America’s War on Drugs dates back to 1971 and is estimated to have cost our nation more than $1 trillion, sent millions of people to prison for low-level and non-violent offenses, and seriously eroded Constitutional-protected …

“Every square meter of the Canal belongs to Panama and will continue to be so,”
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino
 
Trump’s continuing threats to annex the Panama Canal and Greenland as being crucial for our national security are not only shear madness but could have disastrous national and international consequences.
Sending troops into …

“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”
George Santayana
  
Retired General John Kelly and other senior Trump’s Administration officials  confirm Donald Trump’s admiration of world leaders is limited to ruthless authoritarians including Putin, Xi, Orbán and Erdoğan, MBS, Kim Jong Un and even Hitler, whom he claims “did …

“A second Trump presidency is the most existential national security threat to our democracy in our lifetime. The global world order that the Greatest Generation fought and died for, then handed to us to sustain, will be severely damaged. Their sacrifices will be squandered if we aren’t there to defend …

“Trump demands that government actors pledge loyalty to him, as opposed to the law or to the Constitution”
Rick Pildes
 
Donald Trump’s rants claiming undocumented immigrants are all recently released criminals from foreign prisons and mental institutions and “poisoning the blood” of Americans and declaring of Haitian immigrants, “They’re eating the dogs. …

“I believe I’m the best qualified to govern and I think I’m the best qualified to win, but there are other people who could beat Trump, too.”
Joe Biden
 This week’s Republican convention witnesses the coronation of Donald Trump despite having proven he is unfit to return to the presidency.
During and since …

”The coming days are critical …”
President Biden’s alleged comments to some of his staff
 
Already sinking in the polls across the political spectrum, during his recent meeting with Democratic governors President Biden excused his dismal debate performance, in part, on his travel schedule and getting too little sleep; and he didn’t …

“I shall not seek, and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your President,”
Lyndon B. Johnson (March 1968)
Watching last evening’s presidential debate was like viewing a train wreck in slow motion.  As speculated in “For Biden – It’s Show Time”, it was essential the …

“the time is now and the place is here and … there are no second chances”
Jeanette Winterson
 
The most important date of this year’s presidential campaign is just a week away when President Biden and former President Trump faceoff in a debate hosted by CNN, where they will not be allowed …

“The American people are suffering as a result of what’s happening at the border … and someone running for president ought to try and get the problem solved, as opposed to saying, ‘Hey, save that problem!  Don’t solve it!  Let me take credit for solving it later.’”

Republican Senator Mitt Romney

The …

"I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else's brain can ever tell me."

Donald Trump

On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump spoke the following words, "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will …

                                    “Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings,”

Article I – Section 5

United States Constitution

For textualists, the embarrassing and potentially destructive circuses presently on display in the House of Representatives and Senate may be perfectly acceptable as the Constitution permits each chamber to establish its own rules.  Its drafters …

“I love the poorly educated”

Donald Trump  (February 23, 2016)

It is not surprising the leading Republican presidential candidate limits his campaign stops to adoring crowds who, without any evidence, believe his lies about a stolen election, Democrats being socialists, the Justice Department has been weaponized, and his victimhood.

Discarding his vengeance-filled litany …

“Public confidence in the integrity of the Government is indispensable to faith in democracy; and when we lose faith in the system, we have lost faith in everything we fight and spend for.”

Adlai Stevenson

America’s 244-year experiment in representative democracy and the freedoms it has bestowed on its citizens has endured …

“It’s a very detailed indictment and it’s very damning.  But I do think if even half of it is true, then he’s toast”

Former Attorney General Bill Barr

In the wake of his 37-count indictment, Donald Trump launched a predictable tirade, again baselessly claiming the 2020 election was stolen and portraying himself …

“There shall be one rule of Justice for the rich and the poor; for the favorite in Court, and the Countryman at the Plough.”

Samuel Adams

Trump avoided criminal liability during his presidency based on a Constitutionally-questionable 1973 DOJ memorandum which concluded “indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting President would impermissibly …

“I’ve done nothing wrong.”

Donald Trump  (time and again)

Had Donald Trump not transferred hundreds of classified (many marked SECRET, TOP SECRET and TOP SECRT//SCI) and other documents which, pursuant to the Presidential Records Act of 1978, are legally the property of the United States to his home at Mar-a-Lago in January …

“they are being treated so unfairly."

Donald Trump (January 29, 2022)

As the 2022 mid-term elections approach, Donald Trump continues to focus on his big lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him!

Perpetuating allegations of election fraud, Trump has taken a page from “Mein Kampf’s” rulebook: never allow the public to …

“Compromise is not about losing.  It is about deciding that the other person has just as much right to be happy with the end result as you do.”

Donna Martini

The flames of partisan tribalism have infected politics since the 1800 election between Federalist John Adams and his Democrat-Republican rival Thomas Jefferson.  …

"Our Anerican republic will endure only as long as the ideas of th emen who founded it continue dominant"

James Russell Lowell

Republican politicians must stop pandering to the president and his delusional belief he won the 2020 election and begin a process of helping to heal a dangerously divided nation.

As the …

“We’re signing a health care plan within two weeks, a full and complete health care plan that the Supreme Court decision on DACA gave me the right to do.”

President Trump (July 19, 2020)

Thursday night’s dueling town hall forums provided a stark contrast in tone, content and civility.

Former Vice President Biden’s …

“The Bucks Stops Here!”

President Harry Truman

If any military commander knew, or should have known, about potential threats to the safety of the men and women serving under their chain of command and failed to take actions to protect his forces they would be guilty of dereliction of their duty.  If …

“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.”

Thomas Paine

During recent trips to a Honeywell plant in Arizona and an Owens & Minor warehouse in Pennsylvania  both supplying Personal Protective Equipment, President Trump stood out by not using a face mask; showing disrespect …

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."

Abraham Lincoln

Shortly after President Trump’s televised signing the $2.3 trillion coronavirus economic stimulus bill, and out of the public eye, it was announced than he had issued a contemporaneous signing statement, “I do not understand, and my administration will not …

“Concentration of executive power, unless it's very temporary and for specific circumstances, let's say fighting World War Two, it's an assault on democracy.”

Norm Chomsky

Perhaps the most disturbing statement to come out of the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump was made by the aging Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz who has …

“No man is above the law and no man is below it: nor do we ask any man’s permission when we ask him to obey it”

Theodore Roosevelt

After listening to the highly-respected State Department and other officials who appeared before the House Intelligence Committee it became evident President Trump held-up  military …

“Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came”

President Trump (July 13, 2019)

For the past 2½ years I have assumed Donald Trump’s rambling Tweets and political agenda were aimed at simply placating and revving up his base.

However, his recent tirades …

"Being president doesn't change who you are, it reveals who you are."

Michelle Obama

In the wake of the recent publication of the British Ambassador to the United States, Sir Kim Darroch’s confidential assessment of Donald Trump as “inept,” “insecure,” “diplomatically clumsy”, “mired in social scandal” and “uniquely dysfunctional,” (observations with which …

“The Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing,”

Robert Mueller (May 2019)

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s final report stated, “The evidence we obtained about the President’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were …

“I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.

James Madison

Attorney General Barr concluded the “Mueller Report” exonerated President Trump, his associates and campaign of collusion with Russia during the …

“There are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual consent and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”

James Madison

Given Mitch McConnell cannot prevent the Senate from voting on a House passed resolution to overturn President Trump’s declaration of a …

“First of all, nothing at the Trump organization was ever done unless it was run through Mr. Trump.”

Michael Cohen

It began with admissions of criminal conduct by Michael Flynn, Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos and now encompasses a growing number of people who have been members of Donald Trump’s inner circle, …

“Why can’t we just invade Venezuela?”
President Donald Trump
Astonishingly, there has not been a single word of outrage from any member of Congress, Democrat or Republican, to recent revelations that in August 2017 President Trump asked top foreign policy advisers about the possibility of invading Venezuela during a meeting on diplomatic …

“They broke into the offices of one of my personal attorneys … an attack on our country and what we all stand for”
Donald Trump (April 10, 2018)
 
President Trump’s explosive tirade over recent FBI raids on Michael Cohen’s office, home and hotel suite should come as no surprise.   Again, Trump has …

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently”
Henry Ford
House Intelligence Chair Nunes’ release of a Republican-drafted factually misleading memo accusing the FBI and Justice Department of improperly using their surveillance authority against the Trump presidential campaign while suppressing a dissenting Democratic minority report is indefensible!
When Americans …

 
“United we can solve our problems and divided we have nothing.”
Louis Farrakhan
 
Early on the morning of November 9th of this year, you spoke to the American people.
“Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division.  To all Republicans, Democrats, and independents across this nation, I say it is …

“Public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the Journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of the events and issues.”
Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics
The reporting on last evening’s Republican presidential debate …

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
John Quincy Adams
What do the crop for presidential candidates really believe?
In the wake of the Fox News, CNN and CNBC Republican debates and CNN Democratic debate, there has been much justifiable criticism …

“The very essence of a free government consists in considering offices as public trusts, bestowed for the good of the country, and not for the benefit of an individual or party.”
John C. Calhouun – Speech on February 13, 1835
President Obama’s November 21st Executive Orders on Immigration were an “in your …

“The greatest danger to American Freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution”
Thomas Jefferson
Speaker Boehner’s announcement to seek House authorization initiating a lawsuit against the president is long-overdue by Congress in light of their solemn oath to “support and defend the Constitution”.
A system of checks and balances between the three …

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Presidential Oath of Office
US Constitution – Article II, Section 1

The President, all members of …

With the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, there is a deafening silence over the Administration’s threats to bomb Syria, an action which can only be defined as an act of war.  However, under our Constitution, only Congress has the power to declare war, …

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Lord Acton in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887

While many people have differences of opinion over the policies of the Obama Administration, so long as the Executive Branch acts within the limited scope of its authority as granted under Article …