Nobody Is Above The Law… Impeachment

by with No Comment FeaturedPolitics

The night before only the 3rd vote in US history to impeach a sitting president, New Yorkers gathered in Time Square to chant, “Nobody is above the law.” Nobody… surprisingly a point of contention considering some would argue that doesn’t include the highest office in the land, Commander-in-Chief, 45th president of the United States, Donald J. Trump.

Following the Civil War in 1868, Andrew Johnson became the first president in US history to be impeached. Nearly 150 years later, Bill Clinton become the second. And with the exception of some unforeseen wild event, Donald Trump will become the third. A shame for Donald Trump considering he survived the Mueller investigation, only to get caught up in a quid pro quo regarding his attempt to pressure Ukraine’s leaders to dig up dirt on Hunter Biden and his father, senior statesman and Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden.

(Sidenote: Hunter Biden sat on the board of directors for Burisma, a Ukraine-based energy holding company from 2014 to 2019 while his father, Joe Biden, who was Vice President at the time, oversaw policy regarding the Eastern European nation. Hunter had no experience in Ukraine nor did he have a background in the energy sector. While it’s not illegal, him having a paid board seat on the other side of the world is bizarre, it doesn’t add up, and should be questioned.)

I digress… back to US presidential history…

It’s important to note that while Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton have both been formally impeached, neither of them were removed from office through impeachment. And neither will Donald Trump. While the House of Representatives have more than enough votes to impeach him, the Senate does not. Nevertheless, Trump felt the need to write a 6-page rant disguised as a letter to Nancy Pelosi where he exclaimed, “More due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials.”

6 pages of that…

Nearly a year from the 2020 elections, how will this impact the electorate? Specifically independents and voters in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania… three states which all went blue for the previous 6 presidential elections before 2016.

Will it even matter? Or more importantly, which Dem will capitalize on this historic moment, win the nomination and carry that momentum to the general election?

Similar Read: Important Takeaways From Mueller Testimony

Trump’s December, A Week To Remember

by with One Comment FeaturedPolitics

This has been a rough month for the Trump presidency, especially the week of December 17th, 2018… certainly a week to remember…  

The government shutdown, although a partial shutdown, it’s still significant considering Trump requested $5 billion for border wall funding and failed to get the votes needed from Congress. It’s important to note that Republicans currently control the three branches of government, yet have failed to deliver on the Trump’s campaign promise. The Dems won the House in the November midterms, so expect this fight to continue with Trump and Republicans losing leverage as he prepares for the second half of his first term.

Pulling troops from Syria and Afghanistan, an announcement that came from left field has everyone including our allies shaking their heads and trying to prepare for the aftermath of such a decision. It’s rumored that Turkey President Erdoğan informed Trump of his plan to move in on the Kurds and Trump made the decision to pull our troops shortly thereafter. It’s the ultimate betrayal to our allies and the news certainly shook members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans.

James Mattis, Secretary of Defense, immediately resigned following Trump’s announcement to pull troops. Mattis, a highly respected military official, leaving the White House is a historic resignation. His resignation letter didn’t even include the generic salutation most cabinet resignations mention. Scheduled to officially leave his post in February, Trump has decided to replace him much sooner… on January 1st, former Boeing Executive Patrick Shannahan will assume the position as acting Secretary of Defense. Shannahan’s authority will be extremely limited until he’s confirmed by the Senate. 

The markets are down… a lot. In fact, the markets are having their worst year since the Great Recession. Trump often brags about the markets regarding the success of his Presidency and policy decisions, but he’s avoided the topic as of late. Many fear that the run might be over. On Sunday (12/23/18), Steven Mcuchin, Secretary of Treasury, called the Chief Executives of the United States 6 largest banks (Goldman, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, BOA, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley). He reported that they have “ample liquidity” to continue lending to consumers and businesses, unlike times during the 2008 financial crisis. But why is such a confirmation needed? 

Trump signed First Step into law, aka the Criminal Justice Reform Act. While it only impacts the criminal justice system at the federal level, which is roughly 10% (181,000) of the total US prison population (2.1 million), it’s certainly a historic piece of legislation; yet, failed to get the news coverage it deserved. So what exactly does the bill do…

  • It further reduces the disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentences at the federal level, which partially addresses the mass incarceration of Black and Brown people in this country.
  • It takes several meaningful steps to ease mandatory minimum sentences under federal law.
  • Inmates can now get “earned time credits” by participating in more vocational and rehabilitative programs. Such credits would grant them early release to halfway houses, which would increase their opportunities to participate in educational programs and likely reduce the recidivism rate.

All of this news is amidst Mueller’s Russia investigation which continues to be a staple in the daily news. Rumors have surfaced that Mueller will release his report as early as February, but who knows. Either way, this has been a rocky December, especially the week of December 17th. And with Dems taking over the House, it won’t get any easier for Trump and top Republicans to govern. 

The US House – Opening Volleys of a New Regime

by with No Comment FeaturedPolitics

By a narrower margin than any mid term “wave” in recent history, the Democratic Party has now regained the House, and along with that, the chairmanship of the House’s most important statutory committee – the Ways and Means Committee.  The Constitution says that the budget process must begin in the House, making setting budget priorities one of the single most important special functions of the entire body.  In the chorus of America’s electorate in returning control of the House to Democrats, the primary concerns were healthcare (specifically preservation of pre-existing condition protections), rising deficits resulting from corporate tax cuts, and the cost of “the Wall”.  Now in his first resounding action as he prepares to take the gavel, Richard Neal, likely the next Ways and Means Chair has stated that among his first actions as chair will be……  to demand Donald Trump’s tax returns?

President Trump was among the first presidents in modern history not to publicly release his returns – even though the president has no more need to do so than any other private citizen.   Candidates have done so largely to show transparency.  While IRS firewalls exist specifically to make certain that elected officials may not influence IRS actions against themselves, and while elected officials have statutory audits that mandate laser focus on the propriety of their taxes, the decision to release them is their own.  However, most candidates have decided that even if there were awkward issues in their returns, that to face the American electorate without releasing their own returns was too risky to contemplate.

President Trump has continually resisted such a release, citing such issues as audits most of which seem like changing the subject because he just doesn’t want to, and he chose to face the voters (as was his right) without the release.  Most Americans on both sides assume that the release of his returns is likely to show that despite his wealth, Donald Trump pays very little in taxes.  While many Democrats have tried to associate this with not paying his “fair share”, and while there may be a strong argument to that case, Trump is also unique to history in not having been a part of any branch of government before his presidential election – meaning that even if he’s paid nothing in taxes, that the laws that governed Trump’s tax payments were passed without any of the President’s doing.  More to the point, those tax systems were hashed out in the House Ways and Means Committee which now seeks to order the President to turn them over – and not because of any specific issue… But because every other President has done so and he has not.

The Democrats have been given a limited mandate of power to show they can deliver on the issues the current administration has put on the back burner.  If they can use the House to set budget objectives, preserve benefits to Americans and return to an environment of civility in the public sphere, perhaps they’ll be rewarded.  This is my country.  Regardless of my own “side”, I wish the House leadership success, and hope they listen to those who have given them this opportunity.  I strongly implore them not to focus first on political posturing.  If their early priorities really are seeking the president’s taxes, impeachments sent to a Senate unlikely to convict, and lines in the sand that create a government shutdown, this foothold given by one of the most precarious margins in recent history may instead ensure this president a second term and deliver all three branches of government back to the Republicans in another two years.

What Are We Doing?

by with No Comment FeaturedPoliticsTrump Administration

Seriously…what are we doing? Are we ready to talk about what’s happening to this country? Like, REALLY talk about it?

These last few days, this last week, month, two years, have been tiring to say the least. Democrats won control of the House – that’s great – but are they going to make effective use of their political gain? The win is not progress enough, something real and tangible needs to happen. 

In the last few weeks, bombs were mailed to Trump’s political opponents. Black people were targeted and murdered in a grocery store after the shooter couldn’t get into a church. Eleven Jewish people were killed in yet another shooting that was not only en masse, but an anti-Semitic hate crime. A mass shooting at a yoga studio. The individual callout of each Republican who did not support Trump lost their seat. Trump completely disregarded the reality of the election outcomes. Not to mention, forcing Jeff Sessions to resign… 

I can’t even begin to detail the laundry list of other hate-filled heinous acts or misguided (at the least) political bungles that have occurred on both small and large scale since the beginning of Trump’s Presidency. Can we talk about Trump’s rhetoric, what it’s doing to this country, and why half the country seems to have no qualms with the lack of morality and ethics left? Yes, the win Tuesday night is progress for Democrats, it’s moving forward and that’s terrific. But the long haul is not close to over and winning the House is not enough. If we don’t deal with what is really happening, we have a long road and a dim future ahead. 

The Day After: 2018 Midterm Elections

by with No Comment FeaturedGen ZPolitics

Two years ago I wrote a piece on the day following the 2016 presidential election. I was full of emotions that day—sad, angry, confused, frustrated, devastated, scared, and most of all, hopeless—and I needed to express them somehow. Two years later I’m here again to write a new version of my post-Election Day thoughts. This piece, however, will not be nearly as emotionally charged as the original. I have a lot of feelings about last night’s election, but above all else this time I feel hopeful.

​I want to start by talking about Election Day itself. One question that often gets asked is why Election Day is not a national holiday. I believe it should be. People are missing out on the opportunity to vote because they have to go to work or class. I also believe that on Election Day, all public transportation should be free. All people should have fair and equal access to voting and I believe that includes free transportation to get to the polls. Uber and Lyft have already implemented free rides to polling places on election day, so public transportation should be doing the same in order to ensure that everyone has a chance to vote. If we want to continue the pattern of growing voter turnout, we need to make sure that everyone has equal opportunity and access.

I also believe that every state should have same-day voter registration. A lot of people miss out on the opportunity to vote because many states require registration to be completed weeks before Election Day. Allowing people to register through the day of the election gives more opportunity for people to be able to vote. Voting should be a quick and easy process that everyone should have access to. After speaking to a few first-time voters yesterday I realized the process of voting might not be intuitive to those who have never done it before. There should be someone available at all polls to assist first time voters and anyone else who might need help.

​When it comes to the results of yesterday’s election, I have a lot of mixed feelings. However, like I said before, the emotion I’m feeling most strongly is hopefulness. As a registered Democrat, I am overjoyed to see the flip of the House of Representatives. Although the Dems were not able to flip the Senate as well, I find some joy in other smaller victories. For example, record-breaking numbers of women were elected to the House. There were many firsts of this election as well. For example Sharice Davids, the first openly gay and Native American woman to be elected to Congress, Jared Polis, the first openly gay male Governor, and Ihan Omar, the first Muslim woman in Congress.

​Although we may not have come away with the “Blue Wave” that so many people were hoping for, I see the victories from this election as a step in the right direction. I feel very optimistic about our future and I hope we continue to make history going forward in our elections by pushing for more minority representation in out Congress.