The Senate and the Supreme Court

At last our Senate Intelligence Committee has identified Russia as our enemy and Putin as the one who ordered the multi-faceted attack against our democratic system, our government, our allies, and against America's role as defender of the free world. 

What does that mean? It's not likely that the Supreme Court would reverse the Election of 2016, but it could reverse some of the actions taken by the President.

1. The Senate must block the Trump/Putin summit!

2. The Senate must consider Judge Garland to replace Judge Kennedy

3. No other judges should be appointed by the President before Special Counsel Mueller’s report is presented and acted upon

4.  The Attorney General must begin a bi-partisan investigation of the House Intelligence Committee.

5. The Senate must review the appointments of the President's Cabinet 

6. The Supreme Court must review its recent decisions on Immigration, Labor Unions, and Gerrymandering

7.  Congress and the Supreme Court must undo the damage by the Trump administration to G7 and NATO, our trading partners and our military alliance.

Al

Our Supreme Court strategy

A year ago, heading into the July 4th recess, our movement was fighting an epic battle to save the Affordable Care Act and to defeat TrumpCare.

The question on everyone’s mind was: can the resistance win?

The honest answer? No one knew. 

The repeal bill passed the House in May, and the Senate released their bill right before recess with plans to vote in July. Indivisibles in Maine, in particular, came out to 4th of July parades to talk to their senator, Susan Collins to plead their case and ask their Senator to vote no. And they won her over. She voted no three weeks later, helping to defeat TrumpCare. 

Now, we’re once again up against seemingly impossible odds as we head into this year’s July 4th recess.

On Wednesday, Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement from the Supreme Court, delivering Donald Trump another vacancy -- and the ability to appoint a justice who will be all-but-guaranteed to side with conservatives. If this vacancy is filled, decision after decision, we will not have enough justices on our side to stop them. Their lifetime appointment will unravel decades of legal progress. A “yes” vote on any nominee Trump’s shortlist is a vote to ban abortion, to allow discrimination against LGBTQ people, and to limit voting and civil rights.

We’re in the fight of our lifetime. And again, the question is: can we win?

The path to victory was on healthcare was incredibly narrow, but it wasn’t hard. It required massive, sustained, collective, targeted action. And that’s exactly what we need again.

Last night, our co-Executive Director Ezra Levin was on The Rachel Maddow Show (watch here!) unveiling what we believe to be the only winning strategy to defeat Trump’s complete reimagining of the Supreme Court (read our strategy here). There are two steps:

First, we have a (narrow) path to stopping Trump's nomination: all Democrats must reject any nomination and two Republicans must join them. The hard truth is that Democrats have no mechanisms at their disposal to single-handedly stop this nomination, but they must hold strong and remain vigilant. And two Republicans -- likely Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski who’ve supported Roe v. Wade -- must break from their caucus.

Second, we must retake the Senate in November. If we succeed in defeating Trump’s nominee this year but fail to retake the senate, Trump will just appoint another extremist next year. The only way to permanently win this fight is to retake the senate. Specifically, there are five flippable senate seats in Arizona, Mississippi, Nevada, Tennessee, and Texas. Are these easy seats to win? Nope. But they are winnable. If we hold the current 49 Democratic seats and then take at least two of these five seats in November, that will give us a Senate majority that can actually act as a permanent check on Trump.

That’s it. Get 51 votes against Trump’s nominee this year, and flip a few Senate seats to get at least 51 Democrats in the chamber for the next fight.

We have the winning strategy. Now, here’s how we do it. 

1. Call. Show up. Call again. This is our bread and butter as a movement, and how we most effectively put pressure on our Senators. Each and every senator needs to hear from their constituents. Indivisibles in Alaska, Indiana, Maine, North Dakota, and West Virginia: your Senators are key votes in this fight. We need to let both Republicans and Democrats know that a ‘yes’ vote on Trump’s nominee is politically toxic, and it’ll follow them for the rest of their careers. Use our resource and call script to prepare, and then make your call. We’ve set up a toll-free number at 1-844-778-3056. Use it. Share it. Keep. On. Calling.
   Your Senators will be on recess beginning today, until July 8. They’ll be home for a week working from their district offices and they’ll be at 4th of July parades, town halls, and barbeques. Read up on our resource to use these local public events to get facetime with your Senators.
2. Commit to volunteer to target voters in our five target states to flip the Senate -- AZ, MS, NV, TN, and TX.Indivisibles are e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e, and they’re already working to take back power and flip the Senate. And the stakes have never been higher. Are you ready to get to work? Sign up and commit to volunteer now. We’re building out a national phonebank to begin reaching progressive voters in these deep red states.

Conventional wisdom said that the resistance -- that you -- didn’t stand a chance to defeat TrumpCare. Republicans had full control of the House, the Senate, and the White House and TrumpCare would be the law of the land within hours of the inauguration. But you fought, and you won.

There’s a similarly narrow pathway to victory to #SaveSCOTUS. It’s not hard, it’s not complicated, and it canwin. But the only way it’ll work is if we all throw in together.

It’s been a week full of of breaking news on everything from the Supreme Court’s rulings on the Muslim Ban and Janus, and the crisis on the border hasn’t relented. It's nonstop. The certainty of widespread pain and suffering, and the uncertainty of future victory is hard to stomach. It's almost unbearable.

But while we continue fighting across different issues, our advocacy is linked by a common cause. The Trump administration does not serve the will of the people, and we have a moral imperative to use our power to demand our leaders listen to us -- or else, we elect ones who will. 

We’re fighting to save American democracy. Let’s do this.

In solidarity,

Leah, Ezra, Angel, Marí, Sarah, Matt and the rest of the Indivisible Team

WHEN is Enough Enough?

The deranged autocrat in D C created a zero tolerance POLICY regarding refugees seeking asylum from violence and destitution in our great United States of America. He separated families and incarcerated persons in to prison-like structures while preventing access to some governmental individuals,  journalists and human rights groups from having full access to the persons being detained.  Peter Schey, of the Center for Human Rights, knows this action violates the  Protocol for Status of Refugees and is illegal. . Now this same despot in D C has decreed the persons being held hostage will not have judges hear cases or be granted due process. Mr. Schey says this action breaks federal and international laws.

Even more inhumane actions involve the fact that The Department of Health and Human Services has no idea how many young persons have been sent to such states as New York and Michigan or where they are-- foster homes or institutions or abandoned.  These unconscionable events are happening in this beloved (though being weakened) democracy..

Meanwhile the ego-driven author of the despicable chaos campaigns for right wing candidates on the mid-term elections this year  as well as  for himself in 2020 There no diplomatic communication with leaders of Mexico or Honduras, El Salvador, or Nicaragua. 

When will members/supporters of his cult and in Congress have the courage and true patriotism  to rebel and make efforts to compromise, to work for the benefit of our country.? Thankfully some Republican leaders have spoken and have decided to not seek to run for office.   All citizens must vote and urge everyone to vote.  Americans have endured with the lies, bullying and tweets for too long

     WHEN IS ENOUGH ENOUGH ?

     Hannah Provence Donigan

     Commerce, MI  

 

 

 Michigan primary August 7: Register, educate, , research , vote and encourage others to do the same,  including 18 year-old youth! The youth may need to get absentee ballots  if they will not be in MI then or in the crucial  national election in November.  We must exist to resist! We must have  balanced, cooperative representatives n MI and in DC.  Let's save our democracy!

Housecleaning

The depth to which this Republican -led Federal government can sink is now clear:

There is no bottom!

It is time to clean house of the liars, of the thieves, of the swindlers, and of the con artists who have used every method of corruption to betray the American people and smudge the American dream.

We thought that we were better then all of those people taken in by demagoguery; but we learned that Americans, like all other human beings, can be tricked into buying products that are not only unhealthy, but sometimes poisonous.  

The snake oil salesmen are always out there.  All they have to do is figure out your deepest emotions, your deepest fears, and the things that give you the highest level of pride.

Adolf Hitler was able to do that in Germany in the 1930s and 40s! 

After millions of people around the world were enslaved, tortured, and murdered in Europe, Asia, and Africa a fresh idea was tried by the victorious allies and led by The United States of America.  

All over the world the American Flag meant what President Roosevelt (FDR) called, "a world attainable in our own time and generation," and founded upon four essential human freedoms: free dom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

  

He died before the battle was won, but under President Truman Americans worked to bring freedom and prosperity to those countries that were our enemies, as well as those who were our allies.   That is why the world has respected our American Flag and has America as the model to which it aspires.

Now Donald Trump has made a mockery of our Constitution and our dreams for the future.  The Republicans have betrayed our Constitution by refusing to act as the vehicle of checks and balances against a run-away President.  The national Gerrymander of Congressional Districts has left us vulnerable to the corruption that takes babies away from loving families and stores them n warehouses around the country without any system to be reunited with their parents,.

It’s time to clean house of the Republicans  that are in office today  and  expose those who put them there for what they are!  We can accomplish most of the cleanup by the end of the year!  

Al

Al's Blog - The Invisible Hand Part 5

I must admit that I was stunned by the reception Trump received from the press when he returned from his surrender trip.  He gave the North Korean dictator everything: not just everything he asked for, but everything we had given our allies to defend themselves against this ruthless dictator.  And he required none of the built-in requirements of the Iran Pact!

Where was the shock and anger from even the liberal press? 

“Well, they agreed, if it stops the threat of a nuclear war, that’s a good thing.”  That was it. No serious discussion of the impact on the rest of Asia!    

Trump literally sold out our Pacific allies in exchange, for what: … A Nobel Peace Prize?  Or was it the last piece of the puzzle Putin demanded of him? 

Trump is speaking of a summit meeting with Putin and Xi Jinping! Are we becoming the new Axis of Evil? Can nobody stop him?  Will we ever have a fair election again?  What did he mean when he told us that he didn’t need to prepare for that summit?  What did he mean when he said, “I’ve been preparing for this my whole life?”

Putin met with Kim at least once, probably twice, before this "Summit!’     

It is my guess that Putin wrote the scripts for both actors…especially Trump’s return announcement: “Americans can sleep soundly tonight.  The threat of nuclear war is over!” 

The vitriol of the 2016 Campaign continues to rage.  Trump and Putin recognize that Mueller has the goods on our likely traitorous President, his campaign, and his family. In this game of destroying the power, the wealth, the influence and the soul of the United States of America, Trump is just a mere pawn of the Chess Master.  As long as Trump’s base continues to believe the propaganda from Fox News, Breitbart, Sinclair Productions (and others whose names I won’t mention lest I give them more publicity), he will continue on his current path.

Every prediction I have made is based on my belief that our President is acting on orders from Vladimir Putin.

Look at the record of this presidency:  it is a series of divide and conquer activities:  "split the country’s unions against each other", "split the Black vote"," split the Jewish vote", "split the cities from the towns"; and worst of all: ridicule all of the leaders our allied countries. 

The Big Lie propaganda system turned even well-educated Germans into monsters in the 30’s and 40’s, and that is the new direction our America is taking.

What word, other than monster, can one call people willing to take children away from their parents and place those kids in tents erected in the middle of the desert?

 Al

Al's Blog - Invisible Hand Part 2

As I predicted Putin has finally uncloaked as a player in the Korea Game.  It is not about a friendly contest; it is deadly serious.  It also contains several dimensions: If Kim "denuclearizes" who will hold those nukes? What will happen to the explosives and their rockets?  Who will monitor the multiple processes?  Will Russia "agree" to be a neutral "third" party?  Who will ask Putin to "volunteer"?  How much weight will each of the parties carry for agreement assurances? Be assured, the logistics are not likely to match the dimensions of the Iran agreement.

How much is real, and how much is Fake News?

Was the exchange of angry messages a powerful rift between two high-strung men of equal power or a planned bit of drama to enhance an awkward charade?

As more information becomes available, I will add my thoughts, but please don't let Trump further obscure the following huge questions:

1. How much time will be required of the President?   Will he be too involved in his Nobel Peace Prize effort, to appear before Independent Prosecutor Mueller and "the Russia thing”?

*Note: Putin tramples “Populism” at home, but exports it to the rest of the world!

2. Could President Trump pardon himself for Tax Fraud or Obstruction of Justice?  Could he pardon himself for manslaughter charges of hundreds, maybe thousands of Puerto Ricans?

3. Which criminals will this "Law and Order" President pardon next?

4. Now that he has re-assembled the team that gave us the Iraq War, is he ready to be provoked by Iran?

5. What is the real purpose of his tariffs?  And why on our neighbors and allies?

Is he using them as a pretext to force Mexico to pay for his wall?  Does he want to force Canada to do something on our northern border?  Or is he trying to make those leaders look weak at home and more susceptible to "Populism?"

6. Did Trump tape world leaders crawling to him as he dangled tariff rates in their faces and made up facts he never bothered to learn just for the pleasure of demeaning those he thought underestimated him.

7.  Why is it that even a US Senator is unable to view the conditions under which hundreds of small children are held after being separated from their parents?

Al

The Trump Lawyers’ Confidential Memo to Mueller, Explained

  If you are interested,  attached is the 20 page letter that Chump's attorneys sent to Mueller.  The attachment also has  commentaries by the NYT writers.  I think the letter is extraordinary for many reasons.  As an alternative to reading the letter, you can read my take.

     As an overview, the letter is clearly intended to persuade Mueller to  give up any thought of interviewing Trump.  I can't imagine  Mueller being persuaded. I analogize  the letter to a poker player showing all his cards and then trying to bluff the other players.  This letter is crazy.  They threw out every conceivable argument against Chump testifying.  Some are hilarious.  Others are just plain stupid.    Many contain made up facts (no surprise here).  Throughout the letter they talk about the President's desire for complete transparency.  They say there has been unprecedented cooperation given by the office of the president.  They have to be kidding.  Chump has undermined the investigation from day one.   He had to be talked out of firing Mueller and Rosenstein.  He calls the investigation "phony."  While they talk about the millions of pages of documents which have been supplied, it is almost a certainty that  incriminating documents have been culled, if not destroyed.

        The letter says that all of the evidence  shows there was no collusion with Russia to influence the election and there is no evidence of obstruction of justice.  They must be kidding.  There is a massive amount of publicly known evidence of collusion.  Who knows how much additional evidence Mueller has?  The Trump Tower meeting shows  an eagerness to get dirt on Hillary from Russia.  The fact that no dirt was produced at that meeting, is irrelevant to the fact that they were colluding with Russia.  This is only the most obvious, but not close to being the only piece of evidence of Chump colluding with Russia.  Wickileaks disclosed thousands of documents from the DNC and from Leon Panetta which they had  stolen.  Remember, just days before the dump, Chump, publicly said , "wickileaks, I hope you have Hillary's emails.   Also please remember that days before the Trump tower meeting Chump announced to the world that there would be very interesting information coming out in a few days.  Of course he knew about the meeting in advance. He expected the meeting with the Russians to  produce Hillary dirt. And why did Chump write the memo about the meeting which he first attributed to his son and has is now admittedly a lie?    Why did he feel it necessary to go to great lengths to cover up the meeting?  How about hiring Manafort, a known hack for Russian interests.  How about getting a change in the Republican platform.  Collusion?  Case closed.  Amazingly the lawyers admit that Chump dictated the memo and more amazingly they say it was truthful.

        I found the lawyer letter interesting because it mostly dealt with the question of obstruction.  I think that the question of collusion with Russia is much more important.  The obstruction question goes to the cover up of the collusion.

         For me the most disgusting part of the letter is a passage which says that "there have been astounding public  revelations about the corruption within the FBI and the Department Of Justice which appears to have led to the alleged Russian Collusion investigation and establishment of the special counsel in the first place."  I found that statement breathtaking.  Robert Mueller is the former head of the FBI.  My guess is that Mueller probably does not take kindly to a description of the FBI as "corrupt".  Furthermore, Mueller was appointed to his position by the "corrupt" justice department.  Did the lawyers intentionally want to alienate Mueller?  It so, they  surely succeeded.    

            The letter says that the president is so busy with the nation's business that he doesn't have time to be interviewed by Mueller.  Let's put aside the golf game for the moment.  Last week Chump supposedly went to Texas to meet with the victims of the latest mass shooting.  That was a convenient excuse to go to a couple of fundraising events.  Hardly the country's business.

            The letter says that with all the testimony already obtained plus the mountain of documents, Mueller has more than enough information.  Therefore he does not need Chump's testimony.  It is so interesting that Chump's lawyers feel compelled to tell Mueller what he needs.

            The letter states explicitly that Comey lied when he said that Chump asked him to go easy on Flynn.  Stunningly, the letter says that they are advising Chump to not testify about this issue.  They said that Flynn did not lie to the FBI.  It says that Flynn was confused.  Funny, I thought Flynn plead guilty for lying to the FBI.

             The letter says that it is impossible for Chumpto obstruct justice because the crime needs for there to be a "proceeding" such as a trial.  The lawyers are dead wrong.  The letter flatly denies that Comey was fired because of the Russian investigation.  I guess they are admitting that you can't take the word of Chump.  The letter says that Chump can terminate the special prosecutor for any reason or for no reason.  That sounds to me like the definition of obstruction of justice.  Did the lawyers think they could intimidate Mueller.  My guess is that he is non intimidatable.

            I will close with this.  The letter ends with the statement that  if the president  is required to be interviewed, It would demean the office of the presidency throughout the world.  Let me give a newsflash to Chump's lawyers, the office has been horribly demeaned by their client.  It goes without saying there is much more to laugh or cry at in the letter.  I leave it to you to read more.  Thanks for listening.

                                                                                                                                          Richard

                                                                                                                     

https://www.nytimes.com/intera ctive/2018/06/02/us/politics/t rump-legal-documents.html