Call it what you may. Trump Land has a mind of its own. That is where 49 million Americans live. This is the other America which "the progressives" choose not to see. But they are there. Living under two flags: The Stars and Stripes (for the USA), and the Confederate flag for the region below the Mason-Dixon line.
That other America refuses to be ignored. It has its own ethos, its own version of history, its own heroes, including General Robert E. Lee and Donald Trump. This is the so-called "Base" which fills Trump's lungs with lots of oxygen. Yes, their highest level of education is probably a high school certificate. But they are very vocal.
Where is the mind of that "other America?" What is their symbiotic relationship with Donald Trump -America's mad emperor? Why are they sticking with him? Why does he exult in their presence? Especially when they are wearing his hat proclaiming MAGA (Make America Great Again) -A kind of swastika, not in a symbol, but in letters.
Here is what they think, what they passionately believe in, what propels them to say "Trump is the greatest American President," even as they lose jobs. Their sincerity is pathetic -but cannot be overlooked.
"Build The Wall!!" They yell. Without a wall on the southern border, they feel unsafe. When you ask them: "Would Mexico pay for it?" They do not stutter as they respond: "It may." What are their statistics on the benefit of calling for the wall? Ninety-percent has been the reduction in the number of "those invading us from the south." How about the central Americans fleeing north for fear of their lives? "That is their problem. We have to keep Americans and our jobs safe from them."
When you point out the devastation of climate change, such as Hurricane Harvey which decimated parts of the South, including Texas, they shrug it off. They mouth off what Trump has been proclaiming: "It is a hoax." "Not man-made." The Bible, to them, has replaced scientific studies regarding storms and hurricanes. Devastation is a heavenly reminder to them to build it again. A symbol of death and resurrection.
Is coal good or bad? To the other America, it is good. Good for jobs, good for energy, good for America. How about its effects on the environment, on health, on the landscape? Negligible, they say. "When Hillary attacked coal, she attacked our livelihood, our way of life." To them, smoke stacks are signs of progress, of America the manufacturer, America is bountiful.
"Are these your views also about oil exploration and refining?" No hesitation as they respond gleefully "yes." "Otherwise," they add argumentatively, "go back to America of old-America of horse and buggy." They show off with the miles and miles of oil installations. To them, when they smell oil, they smell money. The same coveted odor.
How about God? "Do you believe in God?" -you ask? They look at you as if you were stark crazy. "Jesus Is Alive," they respond, with their hands pointing at big signs making that proclamation at the entrance to most of their towns. Revival singing is their connection to the Almighty, and the words in their holy books are taken literally. Like in the case of Muslim Brotherhood which, since its inception in 1928 in Egypt, has tried to spread the belief that "The Quran Is Our Constitution."
Abortion in Trump Land is a violation of both the will of God, and of personal liberty. They regard life as beginning at conception. Roe v. Wade, as a case granting the right to abortion as "a constitutional right," was wrongly decided. Reversing it by the same high court is a course correction. "If you don't want children, give them to someone who can raise them," they insist. Yes we agree to the death penalty for adults, they point out, but not to fetuses which have no say until they are born.
"What do you think of Trump's support for people marching with swastikas on arm bands?" This is the right of those marching. The right to freedom of expression. They keep "the leftists from the North out of our streets." Without those defenders of our autonomy, Government as an evil intruder, would run our lives. The States are the decider, not Washington.
"Are you a racist when espousing that virulent type of nationalism?" No, is their quick answer. We are proud white Americans. And we shall defend the Trump call for "America First" at all costs. Even when it means that "America is for Whites only." Why? "Because we believe that the Whites are supporting the non-Whites, by their tax dollars.
And what do you think of removing the statues of southern generals, like Robert E. Lee, from your public squares? Indignantly they respond: "This is atrocious. Those generals have fought for our freedom. They lived and died for us. This is our history. Don't obliterate our history. If you don't like our statues or our flag of the Confederacy, stay out of our midst. This is our part of the United States. Don't call what happens during the Lincoln presidency 'the civil war.' Call it by its real name: 'The War Between the States.'"
Conclusion: The United States is at present, a divided country. The civil ware of old is now fought as "a cultural civil war." The demonstrators for "the Blue Wave," (democrats winning in the midterm elections of November 6, 2018) are called "the grand children of Nancy Pelosi" (the former democratic House Speaker and the next, as of January 2019.)
Regardless of the outcome of the midterm elections which won for the Democrats 40 additional seats, "the other America" is not likely to fade away. The Trump's efforts at dividing this nation threatens to be lasting. "Toward a More Perfect Union" looks today to be a pie in the sky.
For the Republican party has now been coopted by Trump. Alas!! Hate, chaos, isolation from the world are the big signs of America of today. "Power Is Fear" -to quote Trump!! The other America with tattoos over its arms has espoused it.
Note: With this posting, Alazhar Forever blog series shall terminate. Happy Holidays.
Friday, December 21, 2018
Friday, December 7, 2018
The Rule of Law vs. The Rule of Trump!!
By nearly all accounts, this is a dark period in American history. By choices made by a real estate deal maker, called Donald Trump, America stands alone in a world of diversity. The deal maker has proved to be a deal breaker. From the sanity of prior administrations, we are now in a cold war with China, compliant with the whims of Russia, in an attack mode towards Canada and Mexico.
Gone with the wind "Make America Great Again." Why? It was only an empty and destructive slogan. Its primary evisceration has been due to the fact that the Rule of Law has been confronted at every corner by the Rule of Trump. An America, under that unhinged man is threatened by being disemboweled of its true vibrancy -a Rules-based government.
Trump's wreaking ball was programmed to hit people's trust in the Constitution and laws as a first target. His early mentor, Steve Bannon opined that "the destruction of the Administrative State" is priority No. One. When they softened that term, the Trumpists began to refer to "the deep State" interlaced with conspiracies. The court system, as a by-product of the Constitution became an inviting target.
Upon his inauguration as President in January 2017, Trump has violated his Oath of Office. Under the Constitution, he has sworn that he will "to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." (Article II, Section I). However prior to that inauguration, Trump has publicly called on Russia to interfere in the 2016 elections to tip the scales against Hillary Clinton.
That call was never rescinded; in fact it was followed up by praise for Putin, one on one meeting with Putin, and by indicting Michael Flynn, his first national security advisor, by Special Counsel Robert Mueller on a variety of charges relating to connections to both Russia and Turkey.
The unlawful attempts by Trump to sabotage the independence of both the Department of Justice and the FBI backfired in two directions: The President failed to get FBI Director James Comey either to pledge loyalty to him personally, or to go easy on investigating "a good man" (Flynn), eventuated in the dismissal of Comey.
After publicly asserting that that dismissal was the result of "that Russia thing" (to quote Trump), the unthinking President put that action at the wrong door: Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton's run for the presidency -Comey's unfortunate divulging immediately prior to the 2016 elections that Hillary was under investigations (because of an innocuous finding in the emails of a former aide -Huma Abedin.
These patterns of illegal violations under the Rule of Trump could not be separated from his championing of the "Birther Movement." That phony non-issue was hurled at the legitimacy of Trump's predecessor -President Obama. That issue's central claim was that Obama was not born in the US, but in Kenya. It was contrived to cast Trump's predecessor as not a "person (who was not) a natural born citizen" (Article I, Section I of the Constitution).
When Trump was confronted by "the long form" of Obama's birth certificate from Hawaii, he hid in his usual rabbit hole. Claiming that "many people told me that," or "documents can be forged," Trump's wreaking ball was targeting the trust of the populace in the legitimacy of its constitutional system.
That fraud by Trump, which had all the hallmarks of a dishonest trickery (the crafty underhanded ingenuity) had one aim: Deception as a means of shaking the pillars of faith of the American people in their system of governance. For the production of an "interloper" occupying the White House was one of the many instruments in Trump's tool-box to induce suspicion in the electoral system.
Those Trump shenanigans paved the way to the hallucinating claims under the Rule of Trump of "fake news." That mantra became a crafty Trump mischievous activity -an industry. The press and the media were now declared by the Trump's Oval Office "enemy of the people."
"Fake news" were Trump's response to the Constitutional call in its first Amendment to "no law ... abridging the freedom of the press." Only a fake president like Trump could not comprehend that the press is for the governed not the government. His fear of the truth forces him to look upon reality as a worthless imitation passed off as genuine.
Under the Rule of Trump, the curtailment of another Constitutional right to "the freedom of speech" is a presidential prerogative. For he, being an alien to any vehicle or voice of documented news, such as CNN, catapults him in the dictatorial zone of Nixonian cover-ups. No surprise. Trump's aspiration to the demise of democracy makes him aspire to reinvent America in the mold of North Korea.
Trump's concept of "my base" rejects the notion that a president has only one base as large as the entire American population. He was not elected to take care of 49 million people who support him, but of 340 million co-citizens. His abstention from condemnation of neo-Nazism, anti-Semitism, and racism has provided a redundancy of evidence of his being unfit to be president.
The ban on Muslims, representing an unconstitutional joining of religion and the State, was rejected by the US judiciary. So in true form to his soul-mate, Goebbels of the Nazi era, another language had to be used to cover his religious fascism. Thus the term of "Middle Easterners" became a dog-whistle to his base that national security was at peril because of Muslims (i.e. Middle Easterners).
But isn't the Muslim region one of the primary locations for Trump, his family, and his organization to make more money? Yes, it is. But Trump, from the get-go, has regarded the Supreme Executive as above the law. So what if the Constitution, in Article II, Section I provides that "The President ... shall not receive within (his tenure) any other Emolument...?!"
Trump has made it public that the law is an impediment; that "I can run the country and my company at the same time;" and that higher rents from foreigners as tenants at his hotels or clubs cannot be regarded as "emoluments." Nor can the use of the White House (which is the people's house) as a sales area, like Macy's in New York City, for his daughter, Ivanka's clothes and jewelry. All of this is forbidden under the emoluments clause.
Like her father, Ivanka became a Senior Advisor to the president, and a salesperson at the same time. Is Ivanka a presidential staffer whose security clearance is limited by the law, or is she an admittee to meetings where only those with high security clearance are enabled to be participants? In Bob Woodward's book on Trump, "Fear," the issue of defining Ivanka was the subject of a "shout-out." It was between Bannon and Ivanka who defied Bannon by shouting "I shall never be a staffer."
Total vagueness!! The very environment in which the Trump's presidency lives its daily life. Such as: Is the Department of Justice intended as personal lawyers for the Presidency? No!! But this is what Trump fancied Eric Holder, Obama's attorney general to be. In the fashion of medieval kings, Trump had told Obama that he admired how Holder had protected him. Obama's response is reported to have been that the position of an attorney-general is to protect the people.
These are alien thoughts to Trump. His life parameters have always been, not external, but internal. And law to Trump is an externality -an imposition on the whims of a crafty potentate. This was reflected in many ways, including his firing of Jeff Sessions as attorney general. For appropriately recusing himself from the Mueller investigation of Russia meddling in the 2016 American elections and beyond, Sessions has been viewed by Trump as a traitor.
For a replacement, crazy Trump picked up an Acting Attorney General, Whitaker, (now gone). His main qualification was that he had publicly advocated that the Mueller probe was an over-reach, thus illegitimate.
That appointment was violative of the law. It does not comport with the Constitution's Appointments clause. Nor does it accord with the 1998 Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
Clashing with Trump on the meaning of judicial independence, Chief Justice John Roberts of the US Supreme Court struck back. Trump had attacked a judge who had ruled against his asylum policy. The President called that federal judge "an Obama judge." In a dignified rebuttal, Roberts said on November 21: "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges..That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for."
And Trump was forced to provide written answers to Mueller's questions. "Those were easy questions," Trump intoned. "I did not need lawyers to help me answer them." Those were words worthy of the captain of a sinking regime.
A quiet military resistance to the impudence of Trump as Commander in Chief cannot be missed. Its latest manifestations is the rebuke targeting Trump by retired Admiral William McRaven. As the chancellor of the huge University of Texas system, that American hero characterized in Trump's attack on the news media in a graphic way. Trump's description of the media as the "enemy of the people" was "the greatest threat to American democracy."
As President, Trump knows only one form of sacrifice. Instead of "one for all," it is "all for Trump." In the 2018 mid-term elections, Trump was not on the ballot. But at his rallies, he declaimed: "A vote for (name of candidate) is a vote for me."
He lost the House of Representatives in spite of the gerrymandering and vote suppression. But being of a psychopathic personality, Trump claimed "a near perfect victory." To his delusional mind, law is a dark cloud. It does not exist if you don't look at it!!
In the final analysis, the Rule of Trump is expected to be overwhelmed by the Rule of Law. For the latter is in the DNA of this country. The former is a foreign transplant which shall be rejected by the American body politic!!
The avalanche of indictments and guilty pleas by top aides of Trump tells us that the dawn is about to vanquish the Trump dark era.
Gone with the wind "Make America Great Again." Why? It was only an empty and destructive slogan. Its primary evisceration has been due to the fact that the Rule of Law has been confronted at every corner by the Rule of Trump. An America, under that unhinged man is threatened by being disemboweled of its true vibrancy -a Rules-based government.
Trump's wreaking ball was programmed to hit people's trust in the Constitution and laws as a first target. His early mentor, Steve Bannon opined that "the destruction of the Administrative State" is priority No. One. When they softened that term, the Trumpists began to refer to "the deep State" interlaced with conspiracies. The court system, as a by-product of the Constitution became an inviting target.
Upon his inauguration as President in January 2017, Trump has violated his Oath of Office. Under the Constitution, he has sworn that he will "to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." (Article II, Section I). However prior to that inauguration, Trump has publicly called on Russia to interfere in the 2016 elections to tip the scales against Hillary Clinton.
That call was never rescinded; in fact it was followed up by praise for Putin, one on one meeting with Putin, and by indicting Michael Flynn, his first national security advisor, by Special Counsel Robert Mueller on a variety of charges relating to connections to both Russia and Turkey.
The unlawful attempts by Trump to sabotage the independence of both the Department of Justice and the FBI backfired in two directions: The President failed to get FBI Director James Comey either to pledge loyalty to him personally, or to go easy on investigating "a good man" (Flynn), eventuated in the dismissal of Comey.
After publicly asserting that that dismissal was the result of "that Russia thing" (to quote Trump), the unthinking President put that action at the wrong door: Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton's run for the presidency -Comey's unfortunate divulging immediately prior to the 2016 elections that Hillary was under investigations (because of an innocuous finding in the emails of a former aide -Huma Abedin.
These patterns of illegal violations under the Rule of Trump could not be separated from his championing of the "Birther Movement." That phony non-issue was hurled at the legitimacy of Trump's predecessor -President Obama. That issue's central claim was that Obama was not born in the US, but in Kenya. It was contrived to cast Trump's predecessor as not a "person (who was not) a natural born citizen" (Article I, Section I of the Constitution).
When Trump was confronted by "the long form" of Obama's birth certificate from Hawaii, he hid in his usual rabbit hole. Claiming that "many people told me that," or "documents can be forged," Trump's wreaking ball was targeting the trust of the populace in the legitimacy of its constitutional system.
That fraud by Trump, which had all the hallmarks of a dishonest trickery (the crafty underhanded ingenuity) had one aim: Deception as a means of shaking the pillars of faith of the American people in their system of governance. For the production of an "interloper" occupying the White House was one of the many instruments in Trump's tool-box to induce suspicion in the electoral system.
Those Trump shenanigans paved the way to the hallucinating claims under the Rule of Trump of "fake news." That mantra became a crafty Trump mischievous activity -an industry. The press and the media were now declared by the Trump's Oval Office "enemy of the people."
"Fake news" were Trump's response to the Constitutional call in its first Amendment to "no law ... abridging the freedom of the press." Only a fake president like Trump could not comprehend that the press is for the governed not the government. His fear of the truth forces him to look upon reality as a worthless imitation passed off as genuine.
Under the Rule of Trump, the curtailment of another Constitutional right to "the freedom of speech" is a presidential prerogative. For he, being an alien to any vehicle or voice of documented news, such as CNN, catapults him in the dictatorial zone of Nixonian cover-ups. No surprise. Trump's aspiration to the demise of democracy makes him aspire to reinvent America in the mold of North Korea.
Trump's concept of "my base" rejects the notion that a president has only one base as large as the entire American population. He was not elected to take care of 49 million people who support him, but of 340 million co-citizens. His abstention from condemnation of neo-Nazism, anti-Semitism, and racism has provided a redundancy of evidence of his being unfit to be president.
The ban on Muslims, representing an unconstitutional joining of religion and the State, was rejected by the US judiciary. So in true form to his soul-mate, Goebbels of the Nazi era, another language had to be used to cover his religious fascism. Thus the term of "Middle Easterners" became a dog-whistle to his base that national security was at peril because of Muslims (i.e. Middle Easterners).
But isn't the Muslim region one of the primary locations for Trump, his family, and his organization to make more money? Yes, it is. But Trump, from the get-go, has regarded the Supreme Executive as above the law. So what if the Constitution, in Article II, Section I provides that "The President ... shall not receive within (his tenure) any other Emolument...?!"
Trump has made it public that the law is an impediment; that "I can run the country and my company at the same time;" and that higher rents from foreigners as tenants at his hotels or clubs cannot be regarded as "emoluments." Nor can the use of the White House (which is the people's house) as a sales area, like Macy's in New York City, for his daughter, Ivanka's clothes and jewelry. All of this is forbidden under the emoluments clause.
Like her father, Ivanka became a Senior Advisor to the president, and a salesperson at the same time. Is Ivanka a presidential staffer whose security clearance is limited by the law, or is she an admittee to meetings where only those with high security clearance are enabled to be participants? In Bob Woodward's book on Trump, "Fear," the issue of defining Ivanka was the subject of a "shout-out." It was between Bannon and Ivanka who defied Bannon by shouting "I shall never be a staffer."
Total vagueness!! The very environment in which the Trump's presidency lives its daily life. Such as: Is the Department of Justice intended as personal lawyers for the Presidency? No!! But this is what Trump fancied Eric Holder, Obama's attorney general to be. In the fashion of medieval kings, Trump had told Obama that he admired how Holder had protected him. Obama's response is reported to have been that the position of an attorney-general is to protect the people.
These are alien thoughts to Trump. His life parameters have always been, not external, but internal. And law to Trump is an externality -an imposition on the whims of a crafty potentate. This was reflected in many ways, including his firing of Jeff Sessions as attorney general. For appropriately recusing himself from the Mueller investigation of Russia meddling in the 2016 American elections and beyond, Sessions has been viewed by Trump as a traitor.
For a replacement, crazy Trump picked up an Acting Attorney General, Whitaker, (now gone). His main qualification was that he had publicly advocated that the Mueller probe was an over-reach, thus illegitimate.
That appointment was violative of the law. It does not comport with the Constitution's Appointments clause. Nor does it accord with the 1998 Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
Clashing with Trump on the meaning of judicial independence, Chief Justice John Roberts of the US Supreme Court struck back. Trump had attacked a judge who had ruled against his asylum policy. The President called that federal judge "an Obama judge." In a dignified rebuttal, Roberts said on November 21: "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges..That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for."
And Trump was forced to provide written answers to Mueller's questions. "Those were easy questions," Trump intoned. "I did not need lawyers to help me answer them." Those were words worthy of the captain of a sinking regime.
A quiet military resistance to the impudence of Trump as Commander in Chief cannot be missed. Its latest manifestations is the rebuke targeting Trump by retired Admiral William McRaven. As the chancellor of the huge University of Texas system, that American hero characterized in Trump's attack on the news media in a graphic way. Trump's description of the media as the "enemy of the people" was "the greatest threat to American democracy."
As President, Trump knows only one form of sacrifice. Instead of "one for all," it is "all for Trump." In the 2018 mid-term elections, Trump was not on the ballot. But at his rallies, he declaimed: "A vote for (name of candidate) is a vote for me."
He lost the House of Representatives in spite of the gerrymandering and vote suppression. But being of a psychopathic personality, Trump claimed "a near perfect victory." To his delusional mind, law is a dark cloud. It does not exist if you don't look at it!!
In the final analysis, the Rule of Trump is expected to be overwhelmed by the Rule of Law. For the latter is in the DNA of this country. The former is a foreign transplant which shall be rejected by the American body politic!!
The avalanche of indictments and guilty pleas by top aides of Trump tells us that the dawn is about to vanquish the Trump dark era.
Friday, November 30, 2018
Adopting a Muslim Brotherhood Refrain: Brainless Trump Calls El-Sisi "A F... Killer!!"
Really, Donald?! In October alone, you lied eleven-hundred times. By calling El-Sisi a killer, you deserve a membership card in the Muslim Brotherhood!! Congratulations!! You and Mohamed Morsi are soul mates -habitual liars. Both of you hold no belief in the values of your respective countries: America and Egypt.
Trump's falsehood calling El-Sisi a killer is now placed in two contexts: The "truth" context; and the "leadership comparison" context.
I am not a spokesman for the president of Egypt; have never met him; not paid by him; but voted for him. Trump has a megaphone -the bully pulpit of the White House. El-Sisi has no lobby in the U.S. Has no public relations firm in America. So let my voice, my blog, voice what I know to be the bare facts.
In the "truth" context, Donald Trump has lied to America at the rate of 30 to 40 lies daily. That is a world record. Surpassing even that of Hitler's propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels. But with a difference: Goebbels used the big lies technique. His American clone, Trump, trades in "retail." Saturating the market. And that is the president of the U.S. who came to power, not through popular majority. But through an anachronism in the U.S. Constitution -the Electoral College.
By comparison, El-Sisi, to the best of my knowledge, has never lied to the 103 million Arabs who call themselves "Egyptians." A full one-third of the Arab nation. Does not make things up. Does neither exaggerate, nor conflate.
The Islamic adage bequeathed to 1.7 billion Muslims by Abu-Bakr, the First successor of the Prophet Muhammad says: "Truth is a sacred trust. Lying is an abominable betrayal."
El-Sisi was selected by Mohamed Morsi to the post of Defense Minister for his abiding by Islamic rules of conduct. There is no greater distance morally or ethically between Trump and El-Sisi!! The former is a congenital liar; the latter is a habitual truth expounder.
Now to the "leadership comparison" context. Trump rules by fear. In an interview as a presidential candidate, he said: "Real power is -I don't even want to use the word -fear." On the opposite side, stands El-Sisi as he assures Egypt to fear neither the terrorist attacks in Sinai, nor the slow progress from a weak economy to an emerging economy, now fuelled by the discovery of vast fields of natural gas.
On freedom of trade, stupid Trump claims without evidence, that the outside world is ripping America off; that the World Trade Organization is the "worst" ever international organization; that Canada, Mexico, and China should be punished by high tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Then look at El-Sisi: delivered a Second Suez Canal; bolstered trade with Africa, the Arab homeland, the European Union (including Greece and Cyprus). Stationed an aircraft carrier at the southern end of the Red Sea to ensure freedom of navigation.
On the use of the military, Trump presides over a country which is uncertain about the use of its armed forces. To stay in nearly 120 countries, or to retrench. If staying, the host countries, including South Korea, Japan, and Germany should, as Trump demands, pay up the defense cost. If leaving, Trump is shifting the rules of engagement with the Taliban. Namely: abandonment. If Trump believes in what he says, then why does he, on November 10, scold President Macron of France for calling for the protection of Western Europe by building a European army?! Trump who insults daily, ludicrously called Macron's suggestion an insult!!
But El-Sisi, a distinguished general and commander in chief, has no such problems. The only Egyptian forces abroad are those volunteered to the UN Peace-keeping operations.
For Trump, treaties are to be shredded with abandon. He exited the Iran nuclear deal; the Paris Accord on climate change; the Trans Pacific Partnership, and the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA).
By contrast, Egypt has never abandoned an international agreement. Never!! Even in regard to the Suez Canal treaty. Nasser, in 1956, did not nationalize the Canal (it is sovereign territory not subject to nationalization). He nationalized the Suez Canal Company. All share-holders were fully compensated.
By his utterances and executive orders, Trump is an avowed racist. El-Sisi presides over a country in which the color of skin varies from white to brown, to black. All equal under the law. Dark color is even celebrated in Egyptian songs: "Asmar Ya Samarah!!"
By contrast, Trump's father was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. And he and his Donald, have denied Afro-Americans renting any of their apartments in Queens, New York.
Compare this to Egypt, a country which prides itself for its membership in the African Union (the AU). But Trump has called those countries "shithole countries." In the mold of a confirmed liar, he denied saying it. One of his lap dogs, Senator Lindsey Graham mocked that denial to Trump's face. "You said it, Mr. President."
They say that inside each bully is a coward. Fear is the bully's weapon. Trump, in desperate search for matters to frighten American citizens, has found in his tool kit: immigration. "The caravan from Central America is about to invade our southern borders. Middle Easterners are among them. Tough fearsome men."
Trump has shirked his duty to serve in the military. But suddenly he became America's savior from "the brown people's invasion." That caravan is no more than a bunch of poor refugees fleeing their countries in search for a better life.
Trump's foolish claims were rebutted by his predecessor. Obama, referring to Trump's deploying US military to "confront the caravan," described that deployment as "a political stunt." Trump called on the military to respond to any stone throwing by "rifle fire." A war crime. Again to Obama in the opposition: "Our military deserves better."
As to Egypt, thousands of Syrians and Iraqis have been peacefully integrated within Egyptian society. And the danger to America did not come from "Middle Easterners." But from American white misfits with assault rifles, condoned by mixing fictitious fear with the amity between the Republican party and the National Rifle Association.
On women and youth, the difference between Trump and El-Sisi could not be more stark.
Trump, on video, is recorded gloating over his inclination to grab women by their genitals. "When you are a celebrity, they let you do it." In Moscow, the Russians have videoed him in the company of prostitutes in his hotel room. And youth for Trump, are mere props with Trump's hats in rallies screaming for the blood of his adversary.
El-Sisi, by contrast, is a pious person, a family man, with one-third of his Cabinet made up of able women. And when it comes to youth, just study El-Sisi's regular jamborees with youth. Being inspired by the ethos of public service for country and community. Their motto is "Long Live Egypt" (Tahiya Misr). Not the dark motivator induced by Trump ("America First"). Meaning: America for the whites only. There is no "Egypt First" in the Egyptian public discourse.
When it comes to the judiciary, Trump's goal is to extend his sticky fingers of control to the Supreme Court. Thus translating "a More Perfect Union" into "control of the three branches of government." What a relief that Trump's Republican Party has lost the House of Representatives in the mid-term elections.
The battle for confirming Judge Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court was won for one obvious but faulty reason: "The President cannot be prosecuted." An affront to the Constitution, though now condoned by an Acting Attorney-General. But is expected to be soon overwhelmed by the results of the investigation by the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, in the Trump campaign's alleged collusion with Russia in its cyber attack on America.
By contrast, the Egyptian Constitution of 2014, is fully observed as it states in Article 184 that "interference in matters of justice is a crime with no statute of limitation (SOL)."
Chief of Staff, General John Kelly, has found that Oval Office business and decision making was haphazard, chaotic. In his book, on Trump in the White House, Woodward quotes Kelly saying: "The President's unhinged." And "The President just really doesn't understand anything."
Does calling El-Sisi an "F... killer" merit devoting this entire blog posting to it as a rebuttal? Yes, if you take the propaganda of the Muslim Brotherhood into account!!
That epithet comes straight from the idiotic propaganda resulting from the failure of the Brotherhood's attempt to convert Egypt from a secular State into an Islamic emirate.
Let us here recall that the Brotherhood responded to the 30 June 2013 Egyptian Revolution by trying to hold the country hostage.
After the dismissal of Morsi as a failing ideological president, the Brotherhood's goons besieged Cairo by occupying two central public squares: Rabaa and El-Nahda. For 6 weeks, that siege went on, challenging the security forces to clear those rebellious enclaves.
More than 800 persons, including police officers, were killed. Since its inception in 1928, the Brotherhood's ideology included self-victimization "in the name of God." Its call for "dying in the name of God is our fervent hope" is a pre-destination intent.
El-Sisi killed nobody. The Islamists died needlessly in that confrontation. In legal practice, we call this "suicide by the police," through the "assumption of risk."
Trump's adoption of the Brotherhood's hopeless call for a fresh rebellion brands that brainless man a Quixotic figure. Trump, though showing outward amity to El-Sisi, is a brainless fool for whom friendship is only a way of self-ingratiation.
The 19th century French philosopher, Ernest Renan provided an apt definition of "a nation." A nation is a soul, a spiritual principle. In the age of Trump, principles are mere soap bubbles floating in the air. An air-filled cavity.
As is well known, Trump is known to be obsequious toward Putin of Russia. In the language of intelligence, Trump's role in this regard is known as that of "the useful idiot."
By contrast, the President of Egypt is nobody's useful idiot.
An American friend of mine has reminded me of something regarding the history of America's presidents of whom Trump is Number 45. He wrote: "We have had a lot of dumb presidents. But I am not sure any of them (prior to Trump) have thought themselves brilliant!!"
Trump's falsehood calling El-Sisi a killer is now placed in two contexts: The "truth" context; and the "leadership comparison" context.
I am not a spokesman for the president of Egypt; have never met him; not paid by him; but voted for him. Trump has a megaphone -the bully pulpit of the White House. El-Sisi has no lobby in the U.S. Has no public relations firm in America. So let my voice, my blog, voice what I know to be the bare facts.
In the "truth" context, Donald Trump has lied to America at the rate of 30 to 40 lies daily. That is a world record. Surpassing even that of Hitler's propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels. But with a difference: Goebbels used the big lies technique. His American clone, Trump, trades in "retail." Saturating the market. And that is the president of the U.S. who came to power, not through popular majority. But through an anachronism in the U.S. Constitution -the Electoral College.
By comparison, El-Sisi, to the best of my knowledge, has never lied to the 103 million Arabs who call themselves "Egyptians." A full one-third of the Arab nation. Does not make things up. Does neither exaggerate, nor conflate.
The Islamic adage bequeathed to 1.7 billion Muslims by Abu-Bakr, the First successor of the Prophet Muhammad says: "Truth is a sacred trust. Lying is an abominable betrayal."
El-Sisi was selected by Mohamed Morsi to the post of Defense Minister for his abiding by Islamic rules of conduct. There is no greater distance morally or ethically between Trump and El-Sisi!! The former is a congenital liar; the latter is a habitual truth expounder.
Now to the "leadership comparison" context. Trump rules by fear. In an interview as a presidential candidate, he said: "Real power is -I don't even want to use the word -fear." On the opposite side, stands El-Sisi as he assures Egypt to fear neither the terrorist attacks in Sinai, nor the slow progress from a weak economy to an emerging economy, now fuelled by the discovery of vast fields of natural gas.
On freedom of trade, stupid Trump claims without evidence, that the outside world is ripping America off; that the World Trade Organization is the "worst" ever international organization; that Canada, Mexico, and China should be punished by high tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Then look at El-Sisi: delivered a Second Suez Canal; bolstered trade with Africa, the Arab homeland, the European Union (including Greece and Cyprus). Stationed an aircraft carrier at the southern end of the Red Sea to ensure freedom of navigation.
On the use of the military, Trump presides over a country which is uncertain about the use of its armed forces. To stay in nearly 120 countries, or to retrench. If staying, the host countries, including South Korea, Japan, and Germany should, as Trump demands, pay up the defense cost. If leaving, Trump is shifting the rules of engagement with the Taliban. Namely: abandonment. If Trump believes in what he says, then why does he, on November 10, scold President Macron of France for calling for the protection of Western Europe by building a European army?! Trump who insults daily, ludicrously called Macron's suggestion an insult!!
But El-Sisi, a distinguished general and commander in chief, has no such problems. The only Egyptian forces abroad are those volunteered to the UN Peace-keeping operations.
For Trump, treaties are to be shredded with abandon. He exited the Iran nuclear deal; the Paris Accord on climate change; the Trans Pacific Partnership, and the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA).
By contrast, Egypt has never abandoned an international agreement. Never!! Even in regard to the Suez Canal treaty. Nasser, in 1956, did not nationalize the Canal (it is sovereign territory not subject to nationalization). He nationalized the Suez Canal Company. All share-holders were fully compensated.
By his utterances and executive orders, Trump is an avowed racist. El-Sisi presides over a country in which the color of skin varies from white to brown, to black. All equal under the law. Dark color is even celebrated in Egyptian songs: "Asmar Ya Samarah!!"
By contrast, Trump's father was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. And he and his Donald, have denied Afro-Americans renting any of their apartments in Queens, New York.
Compare this to Egypt, a country which prides itself for its membership in the African Union (the AU). But Trump has called those countries "shithole countries." In the mold of a confirmed liar, he denied saying it. One of his lap dogs, Senator Lindsey Graham mocked that denial to Trump's face. "You said it, Mr. President."
They say that inside each bully is a coward. Fear is the bully's weapon. Trump, in desperate search for matters to frighten American citizens, has found in his tool kit: immigration. "The caravan from Central America is about to invade our southern borders. Middle Easterners are among them. Tough fearsome men."
Trump has shirked his duty to serve in the military. But suddenly he became America's savior from "the brown people's invasion." That caravan is no more than a bunch of poor refugees fleeing their countries in search for a better life.
Trump's foolish claims were rebutted by his predecessor. Obama, referring to Trump's deploying US military to "confront the caravan," described that deployment as "a political stunt." Trump called on the military to respond to any stone throwing by "rifle fire." A war crime. Again to Obama in the opposition: "Our military deserves better."
As to Egypt, thousands of Syrians and Iraqis have been peacefully integrated within Egyptian society. And the danger to America did not come from "Middle Easterners." But from American white misfits with assault rifles, condoned by mixing fictitious fear with the amity between the Republican party and the National Rifle Association.
On women and youth, the difference between Trump and El-Sisi could not be more stark.
Trump, on video, is recorded gloating over his inclination to grab women by their genitals. "When you are a celebrity, they let you do it." In Moscow, the Russians have videoed him in the company of prostitutes in his hotel room. And youth for Trump, are mere props with Trump's hats in rallies screaming for the blood of his adversary.
El-Sisi, by contrast, is a pious person, a family man, with one-third of his Cabinet made up of able women. And when it comes to youth, just study El-Sisi's regular jamborees with youth. Being inspired by the ethos of public service for country and community. Their motto is "Long Live Egypt" (Tahiya Misr). Not the dark motivator induced by Trump ("America First"). Meaning: America for the whites only. There is no "Egypt First" in the Egyptian public discourse.
When it comes to the judiciary, Trump's goal is to extend his sticky fingers of control to the Supreme Court. Thus translating "a More Perfect Union" into "control of the three branches of government." What a relief that Trump's Republican Party has lost the House of Representatives in the mid-term elections.
The battle for confirming Judge Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court was won for one obvious but faulty reason: "The President cannot be prosecuted." An affront to the Constitution, though now condoned by an Acting Attorney-General. But is expected to be soon overwhelmed by the results of the investigation by the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, in the Trump campaign's alleged collusion with Russia in its cyber attack on America.
By contrast, the Egyptian Constitution of 2014, is fully observed as it states in Article 184 that "interference in matters of justice is a crime with no statute of limitation (SOL)."
Chief of Staff, General John Kelly, has found that Oval Office business and decision making was haphazard, chaotic. In his book, on Trump in the White House, Woodward quotes Kelly saying: "The President's unhinged." And "The President just really doesn't understand anything."
Does calling El-Sisi an "F... killer" merit devoting this entire blog posting to it as a rebuttal? Yes, if you take the propaganda of the Muslim Brotherhood into account!!
That epithet comes straight from the idiotic propaganda resulting from the failure of the Brotherhood's attempt to convert Egypt from a secular State into an Islamic emirate.
Let us here recall that the Brotherhood responded to the 30 June 2013 Egyptian Revolution by trying to hold the country hostage.
After the dismissal of Morsi as a failing ideological president, the Brotherhood's goons besieged Cairo by occupying two central public squares: Rabaa and El-Nahda. For 6 weeks, that siege went on, challenging the security forces to clear those rebellious enclaves.
More than 800 persons, including police officers, were killed. Since its inception in 1928, the Brotherhood's ideology included self-victimization "in the name of God." Its call for "dying in the name of God is our fervent hope" is a pre-destination intent.
El-Sisi killed nobody. The Islamists died needlessly in that confrontation. In legal practice, we call this "suicide by the police," through the "assumption of risk."
Trump's adoption of the Brotherhood's hopeless call for a fresh rebellion brands that brainless man a Quixotic figure. Trump, though showing outward amity to El-Sisi, is a brainless fool for whom friendship is only a way of self-ingratiation.
The 19th century French philosopher, Ernest Renan provided an apt definition of "a nation." A nation is a soul, a spiritual principle. In the age of Trump, principles are mere soap bubbles floating in the air. An air-filled cavity.
As is well known, Trump is known to be obsequious toward Putin of Russia. In the language of intelligence, Trump's role in this regard is known as that of "the useful idiot."
By contrast, the President of Egypt is nobody's useful idiot.
An American friend of mine has reminded me of something regarding the history of America's presidents of whom Trump is Number 45. He wrote: "We have had a lot of dumb presidents. But I am not sure any of them (prior to Trump) have thought themselves brilliant!!"
Friday, November 16, 2018
To Achieve Ordered Liberty, Governance and Religion Have to be Kept Apart
We begin with a quote from a great American jurist. Chief Justice Warren Burger of the Supreme Court (1969-1986) said: "Ever since people began living in tribes and villages, they have had to balance order with liberty. Individual freedom had to be weighed against the need for security for all."
Lofty words uttered by Burger in his capacity as Chairman of the Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution (1987). That Constitution has massively influenced the separation between governance and religion. Its First Amendment, the first of ten Amendments. In their collectivity, they are called "The Bill of Rights," which were ratified in December 1791.
Here follows what the First Amendment states:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the rights of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievance."
In the same vein, the UN Charter, as agreed in San Francisco in June 1945, reiterated the need for not taking religion as a criterion in human affairs. Its Article I, paragraph 3 reads as follows:
"To achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, language, or religion."
The provisions above represent the summit of values to be observed by all societies and nations with one objective in mind: Keep faith in your heart, not on your sleeve. Don't brandish your religion as a global measure for approved human interaction. It does not work. Faith is not subject to negotiation or compromise. But man-made policies are concrete human products which are subject to alteration, negotiation, and accommodation.
That is where evangelism fails that global test. It claims some mythical superiority as regards to "human salvation." Salvation is for the hereafter not for the "now." The road to "the hereafter" is chosen by personal selection. But the road to "the now" is dictated by changing circumstances.
How is "evangelism" defined? Here is a general wording for it, not to denigrate it, but to keep it out of the global march towards international cooperation. Here is a reading of its omnibus meaning:
"Evangelic is teaching of the Gospel. Mainly in line of the Protestant school maintaining that the essence of the Gospel consists in the doctrine of salvation by faith. Also by good works and sacraments having no saving efficacy."
But evangelicals, otherwise knows as "the Christian Right" put God in the voting booth!! Their premier American spokesman is Ralph Reed of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. In September 2018, he boasted of the organizing power of the Christian Nationalist movement. That was at the Values Voters Summit where he wrongly predicted the failure of the Blue Wave (the capture by the Democrats of either or both the House and the Senate).
But his prediction was gone with the wind at the mid-term elections of Nov. 6. The Democrats, gaining nearly 40 new seats, have gained the House of Representatives. Reed's prophecy of "They (the Democrats) are going to be more shocked than they were the last time (2016)." Reed's prophetic utterance was as faulty as that of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt which claimed "legitimacy" in spite of the massive Egyptian crowds in June 2013 calling for it to disappear (IRHAL).
No amount of dollars spent by the Christian Nationalist movement in support of their choice for president, Trump, could avert the blue coup against the fascism of "America First" (America Uber Alles). It is estimated that movement, relying on an extensive network of conservative pastors, within the so-called "Family Research Council" had invested $18 million in 2018, up from $10 million in 2016, and $5 million in 2014.
The entire evangelical movement, which goes by various names including "Watchmen on the Wall," represents a regression from the Constitutional provision for separation between Church and State. Some of its by products are the walls represented by Muslim bans; but also by the barbed wire walls deployed at America's southern border against Central American asylum seekers.
At a rally in the State of Montana, Trump, the product of the concoction of political/evangelist/right, described that new wire wall as "the beautiful barbed wire." With military forces deployed at those borders to, ostensibly to block those migrants from "invading" the US, the cost is expected to reach $200 million. There is no specific budgetary allocation for that. But the out of control Commander In Chief (Trump) needed that foolish deployment as a political stunt.
In this lawless environment of the Trump era which is underpinned by evangelism, it is no surprise to hear J.C. Church, Watchmen on the Wall's national director to preach before November 6: "The No. 1 thing anybody can give you is the Supreme Christ. But the second greatest thing we can give this generation is the Supreme Court." Thus the evangelical needle is threaded to go from the voter, to Trump, to Congress, to the Supreme Court (as could be evidenced by the elevation of Kavanaugh to the 9th seat of the Supreme Court. What a difference between the Supreme Court of Burger and that of Roberts where 5 conservatives are aligned against 4 liberals. Kavanaugh has advocated the equivalency of "the President is above the law."
The degree of the popular rejection of the thesis of the evangelicals in the November mid-term elections could be measured by the lamentation of one of their leaders. Tami Fitzgerald, the executive director of the North Carolina Values Coalition told a pastors' meeting: "If we lose three seats to progressives, the whole Congress could be lost."
With this background of the marriage between faith and politics in view, it is no surprise to find the mindless President Trump, the creatures feature of that unconstitutional betrothal sulking in Paris at the 100th anniversary of World War I. Not only is he confronted by a hostile House of Representatives where articles of impeachment are already being considered. His elevation of "nationalism" over globalism has been forcefully rejected by this host, France's president Macron.
"Patriotism is one's love of country. Nationalism is hate of the other," said Macron with support of German Chancellor Merkel. To Trumpism, Macron and Merkel are the past. Putin and Kim Jong-Un are the future. The false dawn, as the Arabs say, that prods the human caravan to resume its trek, only to be enveloped later in total darkness.
So what do houses of worship do in the face of American law preventing them from campaigning for political causes? Otherwise they may lose their tax exemption status!! Leaders of the Christian nationalists are struggling to find a way out of this legal dilemma.
To their rescue, comes pastor Tami Fitzgerald. "I am telling you, you can talk about issues all day long as a pastor; you can tell people who you are going to vote for," She intoned. "But you must not publish that information in a church newsletter or state it from the pulpit."
Sheer chicanery -legal trickery, sophistry. Freedom of speech of the Constitution's First Amendment cannot overwhelm the injunction against "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."
Evangelism, by its advocacy and operational intent, is establishing a political religious order -an enabler of a regressive political chaos, otherwise called "Trumpism!!"
Lofty words uttered by Burger in his capacity as Chairman of the Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution (1987). That Constitution has massively influenced the separation between governance and religion. Its First Amendment, the first of ten Amendments. In their collectivity, they are called "The Bill of Rights," which were ratified in December 1791.
Here follows what the First Amendment states:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the rights of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievance."
In the same vein, the UN Charter, as agreed in San Francisco in June 1945, reiterated the need for not taking religion as a criterion in human affairs. Its Article I, paragraph 3 reads as follows:
"To achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, language, or religion."
The provisions above represent the summit of values to be observed by all societies and nations with one objective in mind: Keep faith in your heart, not on your sleeve. Don't brandish your religion as a global measure for approved human interaction. It does not work. Faith is not subject to negotiation or compromise. But man-made policies are concrete human products which are subject to alteration, negotiation, and accommodation.
That is where evangelism fails that global test. It claims some mythical superiority as regards to "human salvation." Salvation is for the hereafter not for the "now." The road to "the hereafter" is chosen by personal selection. But the road to "the now" is dictated by changing circumstances.
How is "evangelism" defined? Here is a general wording for it, not to denigrate it, but to keep it out of the global march towards international cooperation. Here is a reading of its omnibus meaning:
"Evangelic is teaching of the Gospel. Mainly in line of the Protestant school maintaining that the essence of the Gospel consists in the doctrine of salvation by faith. Also by good works and sacraments having no saving efficacy."
But evangelicals, otherwise knows as "the Christian Right" put God in the voting booth!! Their premier American spokesman is Ralph Reed of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. In September 2018, he boasted of the organizing power of the Christian Nationalist movement. That was at the Values Voters Summit where he wrongly predicted the failure of the Blue Wave (the capture by the Democrats of either or both the House and the Senate).
But his prediction was gone with the wind at the mid-term elections of Nov. 6. The Democrats, gaining nearly 40 new seats, have gained the House of Representatives. Reed's prophecy of "They (the Democrats) are going to be more shocked than they were the last time (2016)." Reed's prophetic utterance was as faulty as that of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt which claimed "legitimacy" in spite of the massive Egyptian crowds in June 2013 calling for it to disappear (IRHAL).
No amount of dollars spent by the Christian Nationalist movement in support of their choice for president, Trump, could avert the blue coup against the fascism of "America First" (America Uber Alles). It is estimated that movement, relying on an extensive network of conservative pastors, within the so-called "Family Research Council" had invested $18 million in 2018, up from $10 million in 2016, and $5 million in 2014.
The entire evangelical movement, which goes by various names including "Watchmen on the Wall," represents a regression from the Constitutional provision for separation between Church and State. Some of its by products are the walls represented by Muslim bans; but also by the barbed wire walls deployed at America's southern border against Central American asylum seekers.
At a rally in the State of Montana, Trump, the product of the concoction of political/evangelist/right, described that new wire wall as "the beautiful barbed wire." With military forces deployed at those borders to, ostensibly to block those migrants from "invading" the US, the cost is expected to reach $200 million. There is no specific budgetary allocation for that. But the out of control Commander In Chief (Trump) needed that foolish deployment as a political stunt.
In this lawless environment of the Trump era which is underpinned by evangelism, it is no surprise to hear J.C. Church, Watchmen on the Wall's national director to preach before November 6: "The No. 1 thing anybody can give you is the Supreme Christ. But the second greatest thing we can give this generation is the Supreme Court." Thus the evangelical needle is threaded to go from the voter, to Trump, to Congress, to the Supreme Court (as could be evidenced by the elevation of Kavanaugh to the 9th seat of the Supreme Court. What a difference between the Supreme Court of Burger and that of Roberts where 5 conservatives are aligned against 4 liberals. Kavanaugh has advocated the equivalency of "the President is above the law."
The degree of the popular rejection of the thesis of the evangelicals in the November mid-term elections could be measured by the lamentation of one of their leaders. Tami Fitzgerald, the executive director of the North Carolina Values Coalition told a pastors' meeting: "If we lose three seats to progressives, the whole Congress could be lost."
With this background of the marriage between faith and politics in view, it is no surprise to find the mindless President Trump, the creatures feature of that unconstitutional betrothal sulking in Paris at the 100th anniversary of World War I. Not only is he confronted by a hostile House of Representatives where articles of impeachment are already being considered. His elevation of "nationalism" over globalism has been forcefully rejected by this host, France's president Macron.
"Patriotism is one's love of country. Nationalism is hate of the other," said Macron with support of German Chancellor Merkel. To Trumpism, Macron and Merkel are the past. Putin and Kim Jong-Un are the future. The false dawn, as the Arabs say, that prods the human caravan to resume its trek, only to be enveloped later in total darkness.
So what do houses of worship do in the face of American law preventing them from campaigning for political causes? Otherwise they may lose their tax exemption status!! Leaders of the Christian nationalists are struggling to find a way out of this legal dilemma.
To their rescue, comes pastor Tami Fitzgerald. "I am telling you, you can talk about issues all day long as a pastor; you can tell people who you are going to vote for," She intoned. "But you must not publish that information in a church newsletter or state it from the pulpit."
Sheer chicanery -legal trickery, sophistry. Freedom of speech of the Constitution's First Amendment cannot overwhelm the injunction against "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."
Evangelism, by its advocacy and operational intent, is establishing a political religious order -an enabler of a regressive political chaos, otherwise called "Trumpism!!"
Friday, November 9, 2018
The American President Is "Analfabeto" (In Spanish: "Illiterate")
Franklin Roosevelt articulated courage -the ability to withstand danger. That was in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor (1941). John Kennedy addressed the commitment to country. It was in his inaugural address (1961). Bush Jr. roused the nation to seek out its 9/11 attackers (2001). Judging by these lofty standards, it is not far fetched to describe Trump as ANALFABETO.
For Trump is unable to read or write. How do we know that? He consistently is marked by a lack of acquaintance with approved patterns of speaking or writing. So when he rounds up his lips, rocks on any podium right and left, grimaces to his wild supporters hinting at a non-recognizable smile, his illiteracy gushes forward. Proving a very low IQ.
About the effects of a hurricane on Puerto Rico, he blames the ineffectiveness of federal aid on the existence of "Water - Big Water." The same trait shows again at a recent rally in Montana by his base (he has a fan club -not the presidential domain of All Americans). So he praises Montana as "the Big Sky."
Trump's ignorance shows again when he struggles to foist the incredible hoax of his being a nuclear expert. "My uncle, was an MIT scientist." Then unabashedly added: "I know about nuclear matters more than the Generals." The tragedy of not knowing is not knowing what you don't know.
Our analfabeto president relies on imbecilic phrases -pleasing to the ear, faulty to reality. Campaigning for Republican victories in the mid-term elections, he attacks the Democrats as "the Democratic Mobs," and salutes the Republican candidates as "the Republican: Jobs." Being the agent of combative divisiveness in America is his calling.
When Trump is pinned down by media questions about his sources, he yells back: "Many people told me so." And when he faces a follow-up question, his patent answer: "You go find out." Evasiveness is his nuclear option.
As to "Fake News," he is the premier savant of fake news. It is his sword and his armor. Anticipating the impact of the Mueller investigations, if they are allowed to reach their conclusions, he sows the seeds of mistrust and disbelief. His way, really his entrapment, of getting off the legal hooks. So he repeats "No obstruction; no collusion."
Tagging any opponent of Trump by a Trumpian epithet has been elevated by this American President to an industrial mass level. He mocked Hillary Clinton as "crooked Hillary;" abused Jeb Bush as "low energy Jeb;" denounced John McCain as "only a hero because he was captured;" abused Stormy Daniels, his former lover as "horse face."
In a Nazi-style attempt to intimidate opponents, he and General Flynn, his convicted former national security advisor, whipped up their mobs into yelling "Lock Her Up;" her is Hillary Clinton. Recruiting Russia as his ally in the elections of 2016, he intones: "Russia -Are you listening?" Both Putin of Russia and Kim Jong-Un, of North Korea, are "friends." But Trudeau of Canada is an adversary whose country is "ripping off America."
This analfabeto looks upon America's security in terms, not of "strength through alliances;" but in terms of "why are we still contributing funds towards NATO's defense of Europe?" His superficial view of strategic alliances, such as those with South Korea and Japan is limited to "how much it costs?" Hence his present strained relationship with General Mattis and the Pentagon.
So is his near daily attacks on the now gone Attorney-General, Jeff Sessions, and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein. "I don't have an Attorney-General," nor a "Department of Justice." His low regard for these institutions is due to his stupid belief that they are his personal lawyers. He rationalizes that their job is to protect him. They owe a loyalty oath to him, not to the USA.
Among Trump's forward "storm troops" to his rallies are agents who sell MAGA hats (Make America Great Again), for $25. Others sell a book of the President's tweets for $35 each. The title is "Just the Tweets;" agents rehearse their pitches the night before these rallies. Trumpist volunteers wearing lime green T-shirts, declaring "Voter Resistance," walk the crowds.
One supporter declares his faith in these terms: "I'm not a Trump supporter out of anger or hate." Then out of what? "He's a really good performer. He directs that excitement to policies that are really good for us." This analfabeto, otherwise known to his base as "The Voice of Good," approaches the well rehearsed crowd, a paid agent announces: "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the President."
Trump, with clenched fists, declares, as he did recently in Iowa on October 9: "The Democrat agenda is radical socialism and open borders." The same theme has been used before. In Maryland, Trump declared: "Republicans want to protect Medicare. Democrats want to raid Medicare to pay for their socialism."
Sheer lies. The Democrats program is to expand "Medicare for all." But the well-practiced agents of fascist Trump never tire of informing their cohorts: "If you don't send the Republicans back to the House and back to the Senate, it'll be tough on the president's soul!!"
But the soul of this President seems to be fixed on the preparation for a sort of an eventual civil war. As a prelude, Trump glorifies street violence. And weaponizing the freedom of speech. Just go read "The Plot to Destroy Democracy," a great book by Malcolm Nance.
Trump, since his non-merited elevation to the presidency, has amply demonstrated that he was totally unsuitable to lead. On Afghanistan, for example, he believes that his generals are weak. "There's no victories," he lamented. "You should be killing guys. You don't need a strategy to kill people."
In response to the craziness of this analfabeto, Rex Tillerson, then the Secretary of State, blurted out his assessment at the end of a cabinet meeting. "He's a fucking moron." Trump had already left the meeting.
Under Trump, the unthinkable is happening to the US. A great country is becoming a failed State!! The main characteristic of a failed state is the absence of process for decision-making and policy-coordination. Epitomized by what Trump himself had said: "I alone can fix it." Trump claims that he is very smart. Not by any measure. This ANALFABETO had personally gone bankrupt not once, not twice, but six times!!
Trump is a perpetual congenital liar. Surpasses even Goebbles. Like all snake oil salesmen, Trump is masterful in delivering his lies. If one believes in his delivery, one would have been duped in buying false merchandise. He sells fear and divisiveness. And facts are his adversary.
In these mid-term elections, Trump's party (the Republican Party) lost in a big way to the Democrats. Nearly 40 seats in the House of Representatives alone. Trump's warning regarding "a caravan" from Central America about to invade the southern border, turned into a big caravan of voters expressing their disgust with him.
Trump's reaction: "A victory," referring to the Senate which is still with a Republican slim majority. But, Mr. analfabeto, you lost the House which shall reign you in -with subpoenas and demands for your tax returns. Not to mention the outcome of the Mueller investigations.
The noose is tightening!!
For Trump is unable to read or write. How do we know that? He consistently is marked by a lack of acquaintance with approved patterns of speaking or writing. So when he rounds up his lips, rocks on any podium right and left, grimaces to his wild supporters hinting at a non-recognizable smile, his illiteracy gushes forward. Proving a very low IQ.
About the effects of a hurricane on Puerto Rico, he blames the ineffectiveness of federal aid on the existence of "Water - Big Water." The same trait shows again at a recent rally in Montana by his base (he has a fan club -not the presidential domain of All Americans). So he praises Montana as "the Big Sky."
Trump's ignorance shows again when he struggles to foist the incredible hoax of his being a nuclear expert. "My uncle, was an MIT scientist." Then unabashedly added: "I know about nuclear matters more than the Generals." The tragedy of not knowing is not knowing what you don't know.
Our analfabeto president relies on imbecilic phrases -pleasing to the ear, faulty to reality. Campaigning for Republican victories in the mid-term elections, he attacks the Democrats as "the Democratic Mobs," and salutes the Republican candidates as "the Republican: Jobs." Being the agent of combative divisiveness in America is his calling.
When Trump is pinned down by media questions about his sources, he yells back: "Many people told me so." And when he faces a follow-up question, his patent answer: "You go find out." Evasiveness is his nuclear option.
As to "Fake News," he is the premier savant of fake news. It is his sword and his armor. Anticipating the impact of the Mueller investigations, if they are allowed to reach their conclusions, he sows the seeds of mistrust and disbelief. His way, really his entrapment, of getting off the legal hooks. So he repeats "No obstruction; no collusion."
Tagging any opponent of Trump by a Trumpian epithet has been elevated by this American President to an industrial mass level. He mocked Hillary Clinton as "crooked Hillary;" abused Jeb Bush as "low energy Jeb;" denounced John McCain as "only a hero because he was captured;" abused Stormy Daniels, his former lover as "horse face."
In a Nazi-style attempt to intimidate opponents, he and General Flynn, his convicted former national security advisor, whipped up their mobs into yelling "Lock Her Up;" her is Hillary Clinton. Recruiting Russia as his ally in the elections of 2016, he intones: "Russia -Are you listening?" Both Putin of Russia and Kim Jong-Un, of North Korea, are "friends." But Trudeau of Canada is an adversary whose country is "ripping off America."
This analfabeto looks upon America's security in terms, not of "strength through alliances;" but in terms of "why are we still contributing funds towards NATO's defense of Europe?" His superficial view of strategic alliances, such as those with South Korea and Japan is limited to "how much it costs?" Hence his present strained relationship with General Mattis and the Pentagon.
So is his near daily attacks on the now gone Attorney-General, Jeff Sessions, and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein. "I don't have an Attorney-General," nor a "Department of Justice." His low regard for these institutions is due to his stupid belief that they are his personal lawyers. He rationalizes that their job is to protect him. They owe a loyalty oath to him, not to the USA.
Among Trump's forward "storm troops" to his rallies are agents who sell MAGA hats (Make America Great Again), for $25. Others sell a book of the President's tweets for $35 each. The title is "Just the Tweets;" agents rehearse their pitches the night before these rallies. Trumpist volunteers wearing lime green T-shirts, declaring "Voter Resistance," walk the crowds.
One supporter declares his faith in these terms: "I'm not a Trump supporter out of anger or hate." Then out of what? "He's a really good performer. He directs that excitement to policies that are really good for us." This analfabeto, otherwise known to his base as "The Voice of Good," approaches the well rehearsed crowd, a paid agent announces: "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the President."
Trump, with clenched fists, declares, as he did recently in Iowa on October 9: "The Democrat agenda is radical socialism and open borders." The same theme has been used before. In Maryland, Trump declared: "Republicans want to protect Medicare. Democrats want to raid Medicare to pay for their socialism."
Sheer lies. The Democrats program is to expand "Medicare for all." But the well-practiced agents of fascist Trump never tire of informing their cohorts: "If you don't send the Republicans back to the House and back to the Senate, it'll be tough on the president's soul!!"
But the soul of this President seems to be fixed on the preparation for a sort of an eventual civil war. As a prelude, Trump glorifies street violence. And weaponizing the freedom of speech. Just go read "The Plot to Destroy Democracy," a great book by Malcolm Nance.
Trump, since his non-merited elevation to the presidency, has amply demonstrated that he was totally unsuitable to lead. On Afghanistan, for example, he believes that his generals are weak. "There's no victories," he lamented. "You should be killing guys. You don't need a strategy to kill people."
In response to the craziness of this analfabeto, Rex Tillerson, then the Secretary of State, blurted out his assessment at the end of a cabinet meeting. "He's a fucking moron." Trump had already left the meeting.
Under Trump, the unthinkable is happening to the US. A great country is becoming a failed State!! The main characteristic of a failed state is the absence of process for decision-making and policy-coordination. Epitomized by what Trump himself had said: "I alone can fix it." Trump claims that he is very smart. Not by any measure. This ANALFABETO had personally gone bankrupt not once, not twice, but six times!!
Trump is a perpetual congenital liar. Surpasses even Goebbles. Like all snake oil salesmen, Trump is masterful in delivering his lies. If one believes in his delivery, one would have been duped in buying false merchandise. He sells fear and divisiveness. And facts are his adversary.
In these mid-term elections, Trump's party (the Republican Party) lost in a big way to the Democrats. Nearly 40 seats in the House of Representatives alone. Trump's warning regarding "a caravan" from Central America about to invade the southern border, turned into a big caravan of voters expressing their disgust with him.
Trump's reaction: "A victory," referring to the Senate which is still with a Republican slim majority. But, Mr. analfabeto, you lost the House which shall reign you in -with subpoenas and demands for your tax returns. Not to mention the outcome of the Mueller investigations.
The noose is tightening!!
Friday, October 5, 2018
What a Shame!! The U.S. Supreme Court Is No Longer "Supreme"
Institutions, like individuals, could be fragile. Their fragility is dictated by several factors, chief among which is how their function is perceived by those whom they are intended to serve. The confirmation hearings of Judge Kavanaugh, nominated by President Trump to the Supreme Court, constitute a historic case on the decline of public perception in the US of that co-equal branch of the American government.
Article III of the U.S. Constitution provides in its Section I that "The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court." Then it goes on to add an important condition -a sort of a character reference. "The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts shall hold their offices during good behavior."
The drama surrounding the attempted rape accusations against Judge Kavanaugh raises critical questions. The FBI fact-finding regarding his character did not prove culpability. It was a limited exercise in both duration and scope. Proving culpability requires investigating more than 4 persons. Thus the Senate's Republican majority has been poised to ram that nomination through. Could he as Justice Kavanaugh be impeached? And could Justice Clarence Thomas be impeached for Anita Hill accusations of 1991?
In theory, this is possible. In reality, it is nearly impossible. The damage to the perception of the Supreme Court as a neutral body judiciously deciding on cases and controversies (Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution) is already done. A two dimensional damage: politicization, with Republican appointees, siding with Republican-inspired causes; and Democratic appointees, casting their opinions in an opposite direction.
The Supreme Court of the future promises to be an arm of the Trump's Republican Party. Never mind for now, the moral reputational damage resulting from having seated not one, but two justices suspected of being sexual predators.
In that context, how can the US Supreme Court remain perceptionally "supreme?" This and other question marks about that 9-justices body hang over the grand edifice of that court. Even prior to the Kavanaugh historic debate. The truth is invariably hard to prove. This is exquisitely expressed in a book by Paul Bergman, entitled "Trial Advocacy" in a chapter on "Truth and the Adversary System."
On the issue of "trial," Bergman says: "Ironically, while you might instinctively agree that trial is a "search for truth," rarely can you prove "What really happened... Words have a limited power to convey real events." Then he goes on to say: "Some commentators may suggest that adversarial techniques obscure reality even further."
Even the Oxford Dictionary, when it comes to defining "truth," casts it in a muddy way. It says "quality, state, of being true, or accurate or honest or sincere or loyal." This fog is best expressed by the Arab sarcastic poem: "After much exertion, he ended up defining the term "water" as "water."
Of course, the volcanic performance of Kavanaugh before the Senate's Judicial Committee should have prevented his nomination from confirmation. Kavanaugh has dug up for all to see that politics, not law, as applicable to his case, were his true calling.
On Thursday, September 27, Kavanaugh demonstrated that there are two of him in one skin. Earlier that month, during the first round of confirmation hearings, there was Kavanaugh No.1 -a calm judicial demeanor. "The Supreme Court, he said, must never be viewed as a partisan institution." But on September 27, Kavanaugh No. 2, much like in the film "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," burst in the open, for the whole nation to see. His diatribe stunned me (as it did millions) as an attorney and a member of the Bar of the Supreme Court.
The real Kavanaugh was totally incoherent. He was vicious, betraying a hidden belief in the conspiracy theory, the trade mark of Donald Trump who nominated him as a potential shield from possible impeachment. Shouting his claims to innocence, Kavanaugh said: "This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit."
Then, as if anger is a non-disputed evidence of innocence, he dug deeper in politicizing his case. The charges levelled against him by his accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, were "fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups."
Would such a person be neutral in deciding a case which might come before the Supreme Court, assessing the guilt or innocence of Trump complaining about his violation of the Presidential oath of Office? That oath provides for "to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States?" Judges are also humans with feelings. Even while they are wearing black robes.
And common sense dictates that Kavanaugh the volcanic and Kavanaugh the judge are inseparable. In the words of former President Harry Truman: "If you haven't got common sense, you shouldn't get out of bed in the morning."
Sadly, one should ask: "Is the US Supreme Court for sale?" If not, what prompts the Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to say something to the effect of "We shall plow forth with the Kavanaugh nomination?"
September 27, 2018 and October 5 and 6, are dates that shall live in the annals of infamy. For they are pivot points for a besmirched Supreme Court, a highly dysfunctional US Congress, and a President who has been called by many, including one of his former Cabinet members,"an idiot." In today's American democracy, whose mainstays are "The Rule of Law," and a robust system of "checks and balances," those checks and balances do neither check nor balance.
The all-out war America has witnessed as of September 27, must have also terrified Chief Justice John G. Roberts, a devoted custodian of the court's prestige.
In 2016, the Chief Justice has concluded from a series of confirmation hearings, that those hearings were hobbled by rancorous partisanship: "We don't work as Democrats or Republicans. And I think it's a very unfortunate impression the public might get from the confirmation process."
Well, justice and fairness are largely about perception. They are not codified. There is a difference between "justice" and "law." Within that mix of perceptions, one factor looms large: President Trump is unhinged. A clown. And when you elect a clown, you get a circus!!
In an attempt to energize his supporters in West Virginia, Trump the Clown, on September 29, viciously mocked Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California and the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Later, he mocked Kavanaugh's accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. The President of the US, who is personally accused by 16 women of sexual offenses, naturally sided with his soul-mate, Kavanaugh.
The President of the United States depicted Feinstein as confused before he turned on her party, saying: "You see the meanness, the nastiness. They don't care who they hurt ... in order to get power and control."
Words from a man whose whole life has been about self-aggrandizing. America of today is not the America intended to be by its great founders. The world laughed at Trump, the face of America, to his face at the UN on September 25.
Yet Trump and his aides insist that the world was laughing with him. Dream on!!
Article III of the U.S. Constitution provides in its Section I that "The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court." Then it goes on to add an important condition -a sort of a character reference. "The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts shall hold their offices during good behavior."
The drama surrounding the attempted rape accusations against Judge Kavanaugh raises critical questions. The FBI fact-finding regarding his character did not prove culpability. It was a limited exercise in both duration and scope. Proving culpability requires investigating more than 4 persons. Thus the Senate's Republican majority has been poised to ram that nomination through. Could he as Justice Kavanaugh be impeached? And could Justice Clarence Thomas be impeached for Anita Hill accusations of 1991?
In theory, this is possible. In reality, it is nearly impossible. The damage to the perception of the Supreme Court as a neutral body judiciously deciding on cases and controversies (Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution) is already done. A two dimensional damage: politicization, with Republican appointees, siding with Republican-inspired causes; and Democratic appointees, casting their opinions in an opposite direction.
The Supreme Court of the future promises to be an arm of the Trump's Republican Party. Never mind for now, the moral reputational damage resulting from having seated not one, but two justices suspected of being sexual predators.
In that context, how can the US Supreme Court remain perceptionally "supreme?" This and other question marks about that 9-justices body hang over the grand edifice of that court. Even prior to the Kavanaugh historic debate. The truth is invariably hard to prove. This is exquisitely expressed in a book by Paul Bergman, entitled "Trial Advocacy" in a chapter on "Truth and the Adversary System."
On the issue of "trial," Bergman says: "Ironically, while you might instinctively agree that trial is a "search for truth," rarely can you prove "What really happened... Words have a limited power to convey real events." Then he goes on to say: "Some commentators may suggest that adversarial techniques obscure reality even further."
Even the Oxford Dictionary, when it comes to defining "truth," casts it in a muddy way. It says "quality, state, of being true, or accurate or honest or sincere or loyal." This fog is best expressed by the Arab sarcastic poem: "After much exertion, he ended up defining the term "water" as "water."
Of course, the volcanic performance of Kavanaugh before the Senate's Judicial Committee should have prevented his nomination from confirmation. Kavanaugh has dug up for all to see that politics, not law, as applicable to his case, were his true calling.
On Thursday, September 27, Kavanaugh demonstrated that there are two of him in one skin. Earlier that month, during the first round of confirmation hearings, there was Kavanaugh No.1 -a calm judicial demeanor. "The Supreme Court, he said, must never be viewed as a partisan institution." But on September 27, Kavanaugh No. 2, much like in the film "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," burst in the open, for the whole nation to see. His diatribe stunned me (as it did millions) as an attorney and a member of the Bar of the Supreme Court.
The real Kavanaugh was totally incoherent. He was vicious, betraying a hidden belief in the conspiracy theory, the trade mark of Donald Trump who nominated him as a potential shield from possible impeachment. Shouting his claims to innocence, Kavanaugh said: "This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit."
Then, as if anger is a non-disputed evidence of innocence, he dug deeper in politicizing his case. The charges levelled against him by his accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, were "fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups."
Would such a person be neutral in deciding a case which might come before the Supreme Court, assessing the guilt or innocence of Trump complaining about his violation of the Presidential oath of Office? That oath provides for "to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States?" Judges are also humans with feelings. Even while they are wearing black robes.
And common sense dictates that Kavanaugh the volcanic and Kavanaugh the judge are inseparable. In the words of former President Harry Truman: "If you haven't got common sense, you shouldn't get out of bed in the morning."
Sadly, one should ask: "Is the US Supreme Court for sale?" If not, what prompts the Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to say something to the effect of "We shall plow forth with the Kavanaugh nomination?"
September 27, 2018 and October 5 and 6, are dates that shall live in the annals of infamy. For they are pivot points for a besmirched Supreme Court, a highly dysfunctional US Congress, and a President who has been called by many, including one of his former Cabinet members,"an idiot." In today's American democracy, whose mainstays are "The Rule of Law," and a robust system of "checks and balances," those checks and balances do neither check nor balance.
The all-out war America has witnessed as of September 27, must have also terrified Chief Justice John G. Roberts, a devoted custodian of the court's prestige.
In 2016, the Chief Justice has concluded from a series of confirmation hearings, that those hearings were hobbled by rancorous partisanship: "We don't work as Democrats or Republicans. And I think it's a very unfortunate impression the public might get from the confirmation process."
Well, justice and fairness are largely about perception. They are not codified. There is a difference between "justice" and "law." Within that mix of perceptions, one factor looms large: President Trump is unhinged. A clown. And when you elect a clown, you get a circus!!
In an attempt to energize his supporters in West Virginia, Trump the Clown, on September 29, viciously mocked Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California and the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Later, he mocked Kavanaugh's accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. The President of the US, who is personally accused by 16 women of sexual offenses, naturally sided with his soul-mate, Kavanaugh.
The President of the United States depicted Feinstein as confused before he turned on her party, saying: "You see the meanness, the nastiness. They don't care who they hurt ... in order to get power and control."
Words from a man whose whole life has been about self-aggrandizing. America of today is not the America intended to be by its great founders. The world laughed at Trump, the face of America, to his face at the UN on September 25.
Yet Trump and his aides insist that the world was laughing with him. Dream on!!
Friday, September 28, 2018
What A Bad Day for America At the UN!! An Avalanche of Contradictions By Donald Trump and of Laughter At Him
In his second annual appearance before the U.N. General Assembly, Donald Trump lived up to universal expectation. By making as little sense as possible before the presidents and prime ministers of 193 member states. An avalanche of contradictions, gushing out of the mouth of a man who doesn't like to read. Supplemented by much laughter at him.
So before an organization devoted to international cooperation for peace and prosperity, the Donald gleefully announced:
So before an organization devoted to international cooperation for peace and prosperity, the Donald gleefully announced:
- American withdrawal from membership on the U.N. Human Rights Council;
- Reduction of American contributions to UN peace-keeping operations to 25% of the required budget;
- The readiness of America to use its economic might to force other nations into submission to American barriers created to the disadvantage of the freedom of trade (tariff, taxes.. etc.)
- Accused China of violating the terms of its entry into the World Trade Organization, while thanking it for its role in ameliorating the tensions between America and North Korea; and
- The primacy of national sovereignty which he favors over globalization intended to harmonize between cross-border relationship and national interest.
It was last year that Trump from the UN GA rostrum that he threatened to wipe North Korea off the map. But this year, his old threats turned to utter praise for the North Korea president. Trump's floating hostility turned this year to Iran and Venezuela. In defiance of plain truth, the unhinged American President states that the Iran nuclear deal was a embarrassment to the US and that Venezuela needed a new leadership.
Lying through his teeth, he insinuated that many countries supported his unilateral opting out of the six-party Iran nuclear deal. Not so by any means. The International Atomic Energy Agency, through its inspectors, supported Iran's assertion of living up to the terms of that deal. And France, Germany, the UK, China and Russia have manifested their incredulity about the American claims. Breaking international deals is not the kind of action to be lauded at the UN GA annual summit.
It was impossible to square the Trump's call for respect of national sovereignty and the emphasis on self defense, with his declared threats against Venezuela and its leadership. Trump had no regard for the right of Venezuela to choose "socialism" over capitalism. His disparaging remarks flew in the face of the UN Charter emphasis on non-intervention in internal affairs.
Trump's message was a blatant return to gunboat diplomacy through the advocacy of a reborn Monroe doctrine (Monroeism) under which South America had been regarded as an American protectorate. Obviously he did not take account the fact that the president of this 73rd session of the General Assembly was a fine lady diplomat from Ecuador.
Trump's message was a blatant return to gunboat diplomacy through the advocacy of a reborn Monroe doctrine (Monroeism) under which South America had been regarded as an American protectorate. Obviously he did not take account the fact that the president of this 73rd session of the General Assembly was a fine lady diplomat from Ecuador.
More of Trump's contradictions before the world body:
- His false claim that Germany shall soon by over-dependent upon Russian national gas for its energy needs. This is while the American President has, since inauguration, done his best to avoid criticizing Russia for anything, including its alleged intervention in the 2016 American election. Thus his untoward remarks about German dependency hit in 3 ways: German purported weakness; Russian politicization of its exports; and infringement of domestic affairs of two sovereign States.
- Trump's call on States to pay for the cost of their own defense, while proclaiming that America's might shall also serve the needs of its "friends and allies." No allusion to who are his or America's "friends and allies," in view of his "America First" policy.
- Trump's implied disparagement of the administration of his predecessors through his claims that America has never before seen such rates of economic growth as compared to the pre-Trump era. He has ignored the historic fact that President Obama has, in 2008, inherited an economic mess which threatened even the car industry.
And his call for observance of the right of peoples to sovereignty and prosperity flies in the face of his dealing with the Palestinian people's plight under Israeli occupation, including his recognition of Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel.
His claims to respect of the Rule of aw could not be supported by his own disregard for the US Constitution, nor by his denigration of the US Department of Justice, nor by his executive orders relating to the Muslim bans regarding immigration to the US, nor of the first Amendment of the US Constitution in regard to the freedom of expression. For in a fascist vein, he has described the US media and even journalists as "Enemy of the People."
It was a bad day for America at the UN -a forum which was largely created by the US. The UN Charter compares in many ways to the principles and values enunciated by or implicit in the US Constitution.
The world laughed aloud at America, as represented by Trump. That occurred when he said: "In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of my country." Trump's nemesis, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani seemed to have the last laugh as he pointed out another contradiction: "It is ironic that the United States government does not even conceal its plan for overthrowing the same government it invites to talk."
Trump is nothing but a reality terminator. As the UN laughed at him, he confessed from the General Assembly rostrum that that laughter was not the reaction which he expected. But the following day, the reality terminator had a different interpretation. "They were laughing with me." Really? If so, why was there no applause?! Trump's brain seems to process realities as if to shield himself from reality.
In an op ed article in the New York Times of September 28, 2018, Susan Rice, former US Ambassador to the UN during the Obama presidency, said: "In these troubling times, up is down, black is white, and America stands alone, reckless ridiculed, among the nations of the world."
In an op ed article in the New York Times of September 28, 2018, Susan Rice, former US Ambassador to the UN during the Obama presidency, said: "In these troubling times, up is down, black is white, and America stands alone, reckless ridiculed, among the nations of the world."
Friday, September 21, 2018
A SUNSGLOW Occasion Enriching the Global Debate on Immigration
A raging debate on immigration denotes global interest. Such global interest has a sizeable legal perspective. And for an organization like SUNSGLOW, whose central mission since 1999 has been Global Training in the Rule of Law, it was obvious that it should contribute to that debate.
Hence the decision to assemble a high-level panel to deal with this topic under the title of "Immigration As a Global Challenge." Implementation took place at the SUNSGLOW historical venue, namely, St. Francis College, Brooklyn, New York City, whose President, Dr. Miguel Martinez-Saenz, is a SUNSGLOW Trustee.
On August 9, the College reserved for that event the Founders Hall Auditorium (from 6:00 to 8:00 pm) where Vice President Jennifer Lancaster, who is also Academic Dean, was deputized to welcome the panelists and the select audience.
This is perhaps the first time for the SUNSGLOW management to report to our Board (Trustees, International Advisors, and Associates) through the wider medium of this blog posting.
The panel consisted of Carolina Maluje, Esq. (Miami, Florida) as the first speaker. She was followed by Dean Elizabeth F. Defeis, Seton Hall University School of Law and Advisor to the Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations. The third speaker was SUNSGLOW Vice President, Dr. Zahra Hend Shnayen. Followed by me, as the last speaker.
The entire event was moderated by the Honorable Judge Elizabeth S. Stong, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of New York, Brooklyn, New York City. Thanking her for her astute running of this event, I wrote: "No one could have run our event as exquisitely as our distinguished judge and dear friend the Honorable Stong."
And in thanking Dean Jennifer Lancaster of St. Francis College for her launching the panel, I wrote: "If the Brooklyn Bridge is a St. Francis College symbol of connectedness, SUNSGLOW is one of your bridges to the UN and beyond. For it was during the tenure of my friend, the late Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, that a formal statement by him in 1999, declared: "SUNSGLOW is a UN Partner."
Now to a selection of excerpts from what the panelists said on August 9.
Ms. Maluje reminded her audience of her immigrant background. She said:
"I also was attracted to immigration law because I come from a long line of immigrants. It seems that our family emigrates every generation, or so it appears. My father's family came from Syria (my grandparents) and my mother's family from Spain (my great grandparents). I know what it is to be an immigrant and see it firsthand. I adjusted under Reagan's law amnesty and I was fortunate to benefit from it, as well as my parents."
Then she delved into a depiction of the sorrowful portrayal of immigration laws during the present Trump administration. She said:
"Current changes during this new administration have been noticeable. Asylum law has taken a big blow in terms of protecting women from domestic violence and their relationships. Matter of A-B was a case that Attorney General Sessions referred to himself, and reversed protections for women in abusive relationships."
As to Dean Defeis, she addressed the outlook of His Holiness Pope Francis on today's suffering by the millions of immigrants in these words:
"Addressing immigration has become a centerpiece of the papacy of Pope Francis. In his first trip outside of Rome after his election as Pope in 2013, Francis chose to visit the Sicilian Island of Lampedusa, called by some, the "Ellis Island of Italy." At the time of his visit, more than 20,000 persons had died , fleeing hardship and persecution in hopes of a better life in Europe. As he spoke about those deaths, Pope Francis said it was "a thorn in my heart." The sad situation of so many migrants and refugees has been called by Pope Francis “a sign of the times."
The contrast between Canada's acceptance of its responsibilities towards today's immigration issues and that of the US was crystallized by Dr. Zahra Hend Shnayen:
"In 2016, there was an influx of refugees, due to the willingness of the Canadian administration to rescue those whose lives were in danger. In response, I joined other friends to form The Canadian Organization For The Integration of Newcomers. Through that organization, we were able to help those new Canadians in many ways, big and small. From helping them to cope with their past ordeal and present loneliness , to assisting them to become contributors to their new society. So we taught them how to look for employment; how to craft jewelry using local material; how to use the libraries."
She went on to cite the upward mobility of Canadian immigrants to top positions. These were her concluding words:
"Suffice it to note that several Canadian Prime Ministers were not Canadian born. These include Canada's second Prime Minister, Alexander Mackenzie."
Moving on to conclude the deliberations of that panel regarding immigration, I began by citing the UN Global Compact on Immigration. That instrument was announced on July 13, 2019. In this respect, I began by saying:
"On July 13, UN member States finalized the first agreement on international migration. Its title is "The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration." It should come to nobody's surprise that the two countries which facilitated that Compact (meaning a Covenant arrived at by common consent) were Mexico and Switzerland."
On the legal context of that Compact, I informed the audience as follows:
Note that that Compact deals with whatever is not at the US/Mexico border. That border, in history, shall always stand for non-safe, extremely disorderly and the apex of irregularity. These are the results of the genocidal acts and acts of war, committed by the present American Administration. Ambassadors Camacho of Mexico and Ambassador Lauber of Switzerland, said to the world from the glass house of the UN the following:
The paralysis in American decision-making on immigration was the centerpiece of my statement. Here I said:
"Our dilemma in America is that we have a Congress whose Senate, with a Republican majority, does not act to pass a sane immigration law. And an Executive, who prides itself on saying that our Constitution is archaic. And a judiciary whose 5-4 decisions by the Supreme Court shall go on forever with a conservative tilt, if Brett Kavanugh is confirmed to the seat vacated by justice Kennedy."
So the flow of migrants, hundreds of whom have died from drowning in rickety boats overloaded by the pirates of the Mediterranean, and the flow of immigrants from Central America, whose lives have been put in danger by the US "zero tolerance" draconian policies, are twin companion flaws.
Thus we concluded that SUNSGLOW event regarding one of today's hottest issues dividing our world community. And it shall not be the last.
Hence the decision to assemble a high-level panel to deal with this topic under the title of "Immigration As a Global Challenge." Implementation took place at the SUNSGLOW historical venue, namely, St. Francis College, Brooklyn, New York City, whose President, Dr. Miguel Martinez-Saenz, is a SUNSGLOW Trustee.
On August 9, the College reserved for that event the Founders Hall Auditorium (from 6:00 to 8:00 pm) where Vice President Jennifer Lancaster, who is also Academic Dean, was deputized to welcome the panelists and the select audience.
This is perhaps the first time for the SUNSGLOW management to report to our Board (Trustees, International Advisors, and Associates) through the wider medium of this blog posting.
The panel consisted of Carolina Maluje, Esq. (Miami, Florida) as the first speaker. She was followed by Dean Elizabeth F. Defeis, Seton Hall University School of Law and Advisor to the Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations. The third speaker was SUNSGLOW Vice President, Dr. Zahra Hend Shnayen. Followed by me, as the last speaker.
The entire event was moderated by the Honorable Judge Elizabeth S. Stong, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of New York, Brooklyn, New York City. Thanking her for her astute running of this event, I wrote: "No one could have run our event as exquisitely as our distinguished judge and dear friend the Honorable Stong."
And in thanking Dean Jennifer Lancaster of St. Francis College for her launching the panel, I wrote: "If the Brooklyn Bridge is a St. Francis College symbol of connectedness, SUNSGLOW is one of your bridges to the UN and beyond. For it was during the tenure of my friend, the late Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, that a formal statement by him in 1999, declared: "SUNSGLOW is a UN Partner."
Now to a selection of excerpts from what the panelists said on August 9.
Ms. Maluje reminded her audience of her immigrant background. She said:
"I also was attracted to immigration law because I come from a long line of immigrants. It seems that our family emigrates every generation, or so it appears. My father's family came from Syria (my grandparents) and my mother's family from Spain (my great grandparents). I know what it is to be an immigrant and see it firsthand. I adjusted under Reagan's law amnesty and I was fortunate to benefit from it, as well as my parents."
Then she delved into a depiction of the sorrowful portrayal of immigration laws during the present Trump administration. She said:
"Current changes during this new administration have been noticeable. Asylum law has taken a big blow in terms of protecting women from domestic violence and their relationships. Matter of A-B was a case that Attorney General Sessions referred to himself, and reversed protections for women in abusive relationships."
As to Dean Defeis, she addressed the outlook of His Holiness Pope Francis on today's suffering by the millions of immigrants in these words:
"Addressing immigration has become a centerpiece of the papacy of Pope Francis. In his first trip outside of Rome after his election as Pope in 2013, Francis chose to visit the Sicilian Island of Lampedusa, called by some, the "Ellis Island of Italy." At the time of his visit, more than 20,000 persons had died , fleeing hardship and persecution in hopes of a better life in Europe. As he spoke about those deaths, Pope Francis said it was "a thorn in my heart." The sad situation of so many migrants and refugees has been called by Pope Francis “a sign of the times."
The contrast between Canada's acceptance of its responsibilities towards today's immigration issues and that of the US was crystallized by Dr. Zahra Hend Shnayen:
"In 2016, there was an influx of refugees, due to the willingness of the Canadian administration to rescue those whose lives were in danger. In response, I joined other friends to form The Canadian Organization For The Integration of Newcomers. Through that organization, we were able to help those new Canadians in many ways, big and small. From helping them to cope with their past ordeal and present loneliness , to assisting them to become contributors to their new society. So we taught them how to look for employment; how to craft jewelry using local material; how to use the libraries."
She went on to cite the upward mobility of Canadian immigrants to top positions. These were her concluding words:
"Suffice it to note that several Canadian Prime Ministers were not Canadian born. These include Canada's second Prime Minister, Alexander Mackenzie."
Moving on to conclude the deliberations of that panel regarding immigration, I began by citing the UN Global Compact on Immigration. That instrument was announced on July 13, 2019. In this respect, I began by saying:
"On July 13, UN member States finalized the first agreement on international migration. Its title is "The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration." It should come to nobody's surprise that the two countries which facilitated that Compact (meaning a Covenant arrived at by common consent) were Mexico and Switzerland."
On the legal context of that Compact, I informed the audience as follows:
Note that that Compact deals with whatever is not at the US/Mexico border. That border, in history, shall always stand for non-safe, extremely disorderly and the apex of irregularity. These are the results of the genocidal acts and acts of war, committed by the present American Administration. Ambassadors Camacho of Mexico and Ambassador Lauber of Switzerland, said to the world from the glass house of the UN the following:
- Article 10 of that Compact informs us that it is "the product of an unprecedented review of evidence and data gathered during an open, transparent and inclusive process... We learned that migration is a defining feature of our globalized world...;"
- The Compact rests on, among other things, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, the Slavery Convention.
The paralysis in American decision-making on immigration was the centerpiece of my statement. Here I said:
"Our dilemma in America is that we have a Congress whose Senate, with a Republican majority, does not act to pass a sane immigration law. And an Executive, who prides itself on saying that our Constitution is archaic. And a judiciary whose 5-4 decisions by the Supreme Court shall go on forever with a conservative tilt, if Brett Kavanugh is confirmed to the seat vacated by justice Kennedy."
So the flow of migrants, hundreds of whom have died from drowning in rickety boats overloaded by the pirates of the Mediterranean, and the flow of immigrants from Central America, whose lives have been put in danger by the US "zero tolerance" draconian policies, are twin companion flaws.
Thus we concluded that SUNSGLOW event regarding one of today's hottest issues dividing our world community. And it shall not be the last.
Friday, September 14, 2018
Since 1882, The Rise of Egyptian Democracy Found Its Main Protector: The Egyptian Armed Forces
In Tahrir Square, in January 2011, the Egyptian Revolution I against Mubarak, was shielded by SCAF (The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces). And in June 2013, Revolution II against the Muslim Brotherhood was protected by the same armed forces. In the two uprisings, history has repeated itself in continuation of the events of 1882.
The armed forces, led by Ahmed Orabi, in support of the young Egyptian democracy of 1880, had performed the same role. Though overwhelmed by non-Egyptian factors, the oath of loyalty to Egypt administered to the officers by Sheikh Mohamed Abdo in May 1882 continued to operate for the past 136 years. It is the glue of fidelity to honor and country which still held in Tahrir for all these decades.
This blog is in celebration of that continuity which separates Egypt from a Syria, a Yemen, or a Libya, where chaos prevails, foreign interference is rampant, and bloodshed has tragically become the news of the day -every day.
Putting a date on that cohesion between civil and military in Egypt, I choose a dark date, an Egyptian Black September, namely September 14, 1882. Why? For against all odds, when the British occupation of Egypt began in July of that year, the head of state in Egypt, Khedewi Tewfik, accompanied the British army of occupation into Cairo on that Black September day.
What legitimacy could one attribute to that ruler reviewing in Abdeen Square, Cairo, a foreign army of occupation? A review which took place in front of Egypt's equivalent of the White House -namely, Abdeen Palace? Tewfik was then 30 years of age (he died in 1892 at the age of 40) fully deserving of the accusation by Orabi, then Egypt's War Minister, of "high treason."
Though the Orabi Revolution and Resistance faltered in 1882, the accolades bestowed on Orabi by his army and countrymen as "The Defender of the Land of Egypt." That honor was more than merited by the events of that time. Those events of the late 19th Century continue to reflect till today their larger meaning for an Egyptian rising democracy whose main protector is Egypt's armed forces.
The line from Orabi to Naguib and Nasser, to Sadat, to Tantawi, to El-Sisi remain unbroken, un-challenged, and permanently embedded in the psyche of that 7000-year old nation. Same nationalistic genes, same commitments, same inclination to keep on rising after every misstep.
A celebratory review of the events of 1880-1882 is in order, providing evidence of the deep roots which have historically bound a nation to its armed forces.
As foreign influence and interference in internal affairs in Egypt grew as of the 1840s, so has the resentment towards these phenomena by Egyptian society. Such nationalist fervor was spread by landowners, the educated classes and the armed forces. Following the inauguration of the Suez Canal in 1869 by Khedewi Ismail, Tewfik's father, the appetite of England and France for control of Egypt increased. Thus enhancing the national reaction in opposition, especially when it came to matters of representation, economy, or national defense.
With Egypt's first constitution of 1879, promulgated by Prime Minister Sherif Pasha towards the end of the reign of Khedewi Ismail in place, that document acquired a haloed status for all those who called Egypt their historic home. The terms Sherif Pasha, the Constitution and the House of representation stood, with a luminous circle around them, in the developing struggle for the very existence of an independent Egypt.
On the opposition side, stood Tewfik, foreign consuls, British designs over Egypt, and foreign lenders who managed to over-lend to an Egypt searching, at the time of Khedewi Ismail, to be as modern as Europe. The result was the establishment, for the first time in Egyptian political history of "The Nationalist Party" (Al-Hezb Al-Watani) in 1879 in Helwan, south of Cairo.
Crystallizing national demands, the first manifesto of The National Party was a true reflection of what the Orabi movement (the military) stood for. These included the total divestiture of the royal family of its land, the abolishment of directing the revenue from the Egyptian Rail Roads for foreign debt payment, and the capping of the interest on foreign debts at 4%.
To Khedewi Tewfik and his foreign backers, especially England, those demands were viewed as treason. The names of the party's membership were hotly sought after for banishment to the Sudan. Not only that these efforts failed. Another nationalist party was formed in Alexandria under the name of "Young Egypt" (Misr Al-Fatah).
With these developments, the tempo of confrontation between the Khedive, backed by an array of foreign powers and interests, and the Egyptian nationalists fronted by Orabi's armed forces was accelerating:
The armed forces, led by Ahmed Orabi, in support of the young Egyptian democracy of 1880, had performed the same role. Though overwhelmed by non-Egyptian factors, the oath of loyalty to Egypt administered to the officers by Sheikh Mohamed Abdo in May 1882 continued to operate for the past 136 years. It is the glue of fidelity to honor and country which still held in Tahrir for all these decades.
This blog is in celebration of that continuity which separates Egypt from a Syria, a Yemen, or a Libya, where chaos prevails, foreign interference is rampant, and bloodshed has tragically become the news of the day -every day.
Putting a date on that cohesion between civil and military in Egypt, I choose a dark date, an Egyptian Black September, namely September 14, 1882. Why? For against all odds, when the British occupation of Egypt began in July of that year, the head of state in Egypt, Khedewi Tewfik, accompanied the British army of occupation into Cairo on that Black September day.
What legitimacy could one attribute to that ruler reviewing in Abdeen Square, Cairo, a foreign army of occupation? A review which took place in front of Egypt's equivalent of the White House -namely, Abdeen Palace? Tewfik was then 30 years of age (he died in 1892 at the age of 40) fully deserving of the accusation by Orabi, then Egypt's War Minister, of "high treason."
Though the Orabi Revolution and Resistance faltered in 1882, the accolades bestowed on Orabi by his army and countrymen as "The Defender of the Land of Egypt." That honor was more than merited by the events of that time. Those events of the late 19th Century continue to reflect till today their larger meaning for an Egyptian rising democracy whose main protector is Egypt's armed forces.
The line from Orabi to Naguib and Nasser, to Sadat, to Tantawi, to El-Sisi remain unbroken, un-challenged, and permanently embedded in the psyche of that 7000-year old nation. Same nationalistic genes, same commitments, same inclination to keep on rising after every misstep.
A celebratory review of the events of 1880-1882 is in order, providing evidence of the deep roots which have historically bound a nation to its armed forces.
As foreign influence and interference in internal affairs in Egypt grew as of the 1840s, so has the resentment towards these phenomena by Egyptian society. Such nationalist fervor was spread by landowners, the educated classes and the armed forces. Following the inauguration of the Suez Canal in 1869 by Khedewi Ismail, Tewfik's father, the appetite of England and France for control of Egypt increased. Thus enhancing the national reaction in opposition, especially when it came to matters of representation, economy, or national defense.
With Egypt's first constitution of 1879, promulgated by Prime Minister Sherif Pasha towards the end of the reign of Khedewi Ismail in place, that document acquired a haloed status for all those who called Egypt their historic home. The terms Sherif Pasha, the Constitution and the House of representation stood, with a luminous circle around them, in the developing struggle for the very existence of an independent Egypt.
On the opposition side, stood Tewfik, foreign consuls, British designs over Egypt, and foreign lenders who managed to over-lend to an Egypt searching, at the time of Khedewi Ismail, to be as modern as Europe. The result was the establishment, for the first time in Egyptian political history of "The Nationalist Party" (Al-Hezb Al-Watani) in 1879 in Helwan, south of Cairo.
Crystallizing national demands, the first manifesto of The National Party was a true reflection of what the Orabi movement (the military) stood for. These included the total divestiture of the royal family of its land, the abolishment of directing the revenue from the Egyptian Rail Roads for foreign debt payment, and the capping of the interest on foreign debts at 4%.
To Khedewi Tewfik and his foreign backers, especially England, those demands were viewed as treason. The names of the party's membership were hotly sought after for banishment to the Sudan. Not only that these efforts failed. Another nationalist party was formed in Alexandria under the name of "Young Egypt" (Misr Al-Fatah).
With these developments, the tempo of confrontation between the Khedive, backed by an array of foreign powers and interests, and the Egyptian nationalists fronted by Orabi's armed forces was accelerating:
- In January 1881, the Officers Corp convened at Orabi's residence;
- There they issued a petition to Khedive Tewfik calling for replacing the Turkish War Minister, Osman Rifqi, by an Egyptian;
- Tewfik's decision was to court martial Orabi and two of his senior lieutenants. In response, the army attacked the military court, causing its members to flee, then marched upon Abdeen Palace forcing Tewfik to replace the Turkish War Minister by an Orabi loyalist, Mahmoud Sami Al-Baroudi.
- That was in February 1881. By May 1881, the armed forces and the leadership of the nationalist popular movement coalesced against the Palace and the various foreign actors.
- The people and army alliance demanded the increase of the army to 18,000, the fortification of the ports, the establishment of a lower house of parliament, and cabinet accountability before that parliament.
Such demands turned into an outright rebellion against Tewfik:
- The Orabi army refused to heed any military orders by Tewfik, including his orders to march on the Sudan to put down the Mehdi rebellion; ignored his orders to have the army dig up canals for fear of surrendering their weapons.
And when a European driving his car fatally killed an Egyptian soldier in Alexandria, resulting in a demonstration at Tewfik's Alexandria Palace (Ras El-Teen), Tewfik ordered participating army officers to be exiled in the Sudan. On September 9, 1881, Orabi marched his troops on Abdeen Palace.
Seemingly giving in to these army-people demands, parliamentary elections were held, and a House of Representatives was inaugurated in December 1881.
That was the tipping point for direct intervention by England and France:
- A joint Anglo-French memorandum was issued in January 1882 declaring extreme displeasure at the emergence of a parliamentary system in Egypt;
- It also dissembled fear for the future of Khedive Tewfik;
- The Anglo-French memorandum called, in the meantime, that the new-Egyptian Parliament should not deal with the State's budget (which included extortionist provisions for payments of debt and interest);
In defiance, a nationalist cabinet was formed, headed by Al-Baroudi, which included Orabi as War Minister. A new Constitution was promulgated in February 1882, and the rights of Parliament to debate and decide on the budget was affirmed. And in April 1882, a Turkish plot to assassinate Orabi and 40 other officers was unmasked. The Khedive, true to his colors, refused to punish the accomplices.
By May 1882, British and French naval vessels appeared at the port of Alexandria. But the French units later departed. And on July 11, the British navy bombarded Alexandria. And when the Egyptian army besieged the Khedewi Palace, Tewfik called the British for rescue.
The Egyptian drama of British occupation and the defeat of the Orabi army and the nationalist movement ended by the British entry of Cairo on September 14, 1882 escorted by Tewfik who relished reviewing them at Abdeen Palace. Thus began an occupation which lasted for 72 years.
Historically, the Egyptian nationalist movement had the solid backing of the Armed Forces.
Today, September 14, I bow my head in prayer for Ahmed Orabi in whose village in the province of Sharkia I was born. There I was also taught that love of country and community is part of faith.
Today, September 14, I bow my head in prayer for Ahmed Orabi in whose village in the province of Sharkia I was born. There I was also taught that love of country and community is part of faith.
Friday, September 7, 2018
We Shall Need MAGA After the EXIT of President Gaga!!
This is in honor of John McCain -who lived and died truthful to high principle. The highest of these principles is love of country for which sacrificing is but a pay back for its having been there for him and millions others!!
With this as an introduction, I find in MAGA (Make America Great Again) an insult by Trump to all those who strove to construct the USA. The founding fathers recognized that the Union needs constant improvement -the periodic search for accommodating changing circumstances. So when Trump calls for MAGA, he turns his back on the difference between evolution and destroying what we have.
And for what purpose? To rebuild America in his own image. But what image? His is never fixed. This president stands for an America which never was. For that reason alone, Donald J. Trump is no more than a Gaga, a senile, doddering, which in French, means "an old fool."
Yet that fool, and those who stand by him, or in awe of him, has given us MAGA as a mantra which should be our tool for repairing the damage inflicted by him on this great human experiment called America.
Trump's sordid record begins with his being oblivious of what governing the US, a complex entity of 50 sovereignties (the 50 States) is all about. He has demonstrated total ignorance of the separation of powers. The US President, under our Constitution, is no Chairman of the Board. Country and company are two different entities: The former is the vehicle; the latter is a mere dependency governed and regulated by the former.
But President Gaga does not see it that way. "I can run the country and my company at the same time," he fulminated. And "I alone can fix it," he uttered at his rallies, bamboozling his captive audience. Those poor souls have been hoodwinked by The Donald deliberate methods of deceit. Trump, a bamboozler par excellence, has explained his ignorance of the US Constitution as, if I correctly recall, "archaic; an inconvenience."
To my mind, this can only mean that "We the People of the United States...," words by which the Constitution begins, have now been abbreviated by President Gaga as "We, Donald J. Trump." Article II of the Constitution which provides for "The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America," seems to be interpreted by Donald the Narcissist as a power overwhelming all others under the Constitution.
"They have refused to defend America's national security in the face of Russian attacks. They have refused to defend the rule of law against Trump's attacks. They have refused to defend the F.B.I., the Justice Department and the First Amendment. They have refused to defend the basic civil rights that Trump seeks to deny to dark-skinned American citizens, including the right to vote and the right to hold a passport."
With this as an introduction, I find in MAGA (Make America Great Again) an insult by Trump to all those who strove to construct the USA. The founding fathers recognized that the Union needs constant improvement -the periodic search for accommodating changing circumstances. So when Trump calls for MAGA, he turns his back on the difference between evolution and destroying what we have.
And for what purpose? To rebuild America in his own image. But what image? His is never fixed. This president stands for an America which never was. For that reason alone, Donald J. Trump is no more than a Gaga, a senile, doddering, which in French, means "an old fool."
Yet that fool, and those who stand by him, or in awe of him, has given us MAGA as a mantra which should be our tool for repairing the damage inflicted by him on this great human experiment called America.
Trump's sordid record begins with his being oblivious of what governing the US, a complex entity of 50 sovereignties (the 50 States) is all about. He has demonstrated total ignorance of the separation of powers. The US President, under our Constitution, is no Chairman of the Board. Country and company are two different entities: The former is the vehicle; the latter is a mere dependency governed and regulated by the former.
But President Gaga does not see it that way. "I can run the country and my company at the same time," he fulminated. And "I alone can fix it," he uttered at his rallies, bamboozling his captive audience. Those poor souls have been hoodwinked by The Donald deliberate methods of deceit. Trump, a bamboozler par excellence, has explained his ignorance of the US Constitution as, if I correctly recall, "archaic; an inconvenience."
To my mind, this can only mean that "We the People of the United States...," words by which the Constitution begins, have now been abbreviated by President Gaga as "We, Donald J. Trump." Article II of the Constitution which provides for "The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America," seems to be interpreted by Donald the Narcissist as a power overwhelming all others under the Constitution.
- A president who regards the Department of Justice as if it were created as a law firm whose task is to "protect" him, is a president who believes that defending the U.S. should not be allowed unless it justifies his actions regardless of their dubious legality;
- A president who uses his power of pardon as a backdoor exit for those regarded as law breakers is himself a law breaker;
- A president whose call for an "America First," yet applies it as "America is for the whites only" is a president who abets racism and thus is an agent for civil strife.
- A president who ignores George Washington's call for "no entangling alliances" is a president whose thought mechanism is incapable of comprehending that that was not a call for no alliances.
President Gaga has built walls around America, not only at the southern borders. He has isolated this great country from Canada to the north; Mexico to the south; Europe except for Russia to the east; and alienated the pacific region to the west, except for North Korea.
A president who believes American adversary, Russia, and attacks the credibility of 17 American intelligence agencies, is an executive who is courting impeachment.
A president who sees in the rise of the extreme right in Europe a vindication of his own espousal of fascism is an executive who has been unfaithful to his own oath of office. That oath is specified in Article II, Section I of the Constitution in these words: "I do solemnly swear ... that I will faithfully execute the Office of President..." In essence, President Gaga, by ignoring that he is leading a country based on the Rule of Law, has destroyed his own legitimacy to occupy the Oval Office.
As for this obsequious Congress, I shall leave that assessment to David Leonhardt, the author of an op-ed column in the New York Times of September 3. Disparaging the leaders of Congress who attended McCain's funeral services at Washington's National Cathedral, he said:
"They have refused to defend America's national security in the face of Russian attacks. They have refused to defend the rule of law against Trump's attacks. They have refused to defend the F.B.I., the Justice Department and the First Amendment. They have refused to defend the basic civil rights that Trump seeks to deny to dark-skinned American citizens, including the right to vote and the right to hold a passport."
That column closed by "They were there for show, faced with a choice, they have rejected McCain's America for Trump's."
Yes, we need MAGA to repair the daily damage, inflicted on it by Trump through his raving mania through which he sees himself as a great president. A president who believes that one day, his utterances shall be regarded by history as being at par with Lincoln's Gettysburg address!! Yet a great America shall assert itself again through reclaiming the values on which it was established 240 years ago.
Trump's exclusion from attendance at the McCain funeral services was a dignified response to Trump's autocratic governance. It was also a response to Trump's denial of McCain's heroism in the service of America. A hero is a person noted for tests of courage or nobility of purpose. None of these qualities has ever fit President Gaga.
His statement that McCain was considered a hero because he was captured is so telling about the distance between Trump and the noble zone of sacrifice. Capturing a hero is the unhappy sequence of sacrifice for principle. For all his 72 years of life, Donald Trump had experienced neither principle nor sacrifice.
So go on, Donald: In this dark period of American history stick to tweeting. It is the only language by which birds can communicate with other creatures of feather. That is until our real MAGA would cleanse the Office of the President from the stigma attached to it by President Gaga!!
Yet the most cruel joke of the Trump mal-administration is the attempt to politicize the Supreme Court. This dreary process began with denying Judge Mark Garland, an Obama nominee, even the mere courtesy of a Senate hearing. So when Justice Kennedy stepped down, the Trump ultra-right machine went into an over-drive by nominating Brett Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh's record shows a commitment to the controversial principle that a sitting US president cannot be investigated, or prosecuted or indicted. In sum, a president is above the law, except through impeachment. But impeachment through the Senate is at present impossible due to the spineless Republican majority. If confirmed, the Supreme Court of the US shall suffer a dangerous tilt to the Right which shall last for decades to come.
This tampering with the Rule of Law in the US is by a President who wishes that the US public would tolerate his role-playing of a dictator. This charade shall reach its end in a humiliating collapse. Only then shall the three branches of government reclaim their soul in the system of checks and balances -the essence of US democracy.
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