Happy Safe Harbor Day, America!

 Yes indeed, Mr. and Mrs. America! Happy Safe Harbor Day!

Safe harbor law locks Congress into accepting electoral votes cast for President-elect Joe Biden

What is Safe Harbor Day, you might ask? Well here you are:

Other than Wisconsin, every state appears to have met a deadline in federal law that essentially means Congress has to accept the electoral votes that will be cast next week and sent to the Capitol for counting on Jan. 6. Those votes will elect Joe Biden as the country’s next president.

So here we are and thank goodness! We've never needed to really acknowledge this day up to now since no sitting President ever denied, ignored, disavowed our vote, our votes, our election and our Democracy. But then, we've never had this much a narcissistic, self-dealing, self-centered, greedy, thoughtless, corrupt President before now, either.

So, go! Enjoy this great and beautiful day!

Now only 6 more days until the Electoral College turns in its formal finding on the election and FORTY-TWO days until inauguration!

Glory, hallelujah!

Meanwhile, he can't leave soon enough. This came out yesterday.

Trump administration officials passed when Pfizer offered months ago to sell the U.S. more vaccine doses.

This came out today, this morning.

Trump’s Attacks on Local Officials Are Spreading Hatred and Inciting Violence

This, though---good news---also came out this morning.

Lawyers Across the Country Urge Bar Associations to Investigate Trump Legal Team

Heavens help us.

This Is It! A Way to Avoid Another President Donald J Trump!

 At last! I found it! I found the answer and way for us all to avoid any second Donald J Trump, President.

Amend the Constitution to Prevent Another Trump

This man, Rohit Aggarwal, wrote this in Bloomberg News, thank goodness! Here's the meat of the article:

A 28th constitutional amendment could keep this from happening again. First, an amendment should work against conflicts of interest by making the disclosure of tax returns well before Election Day an eligibility requirement for federal offices. And it should expand the Constitution's emoluments clause, which bars the president from accepting gifts or favors from foreign states, to explicitly include the president and his or her immediate family, and cover businesses held directly and indirectly.

The amendment should replace the Office of Government Ethics with a new entity that's responsible jointly to the president and both houses of Congress, charged not only with establishing ethics regulations but also with suspending officials who violate them. It should institutionalize the independence of the Justice Department by making the attorney general an officer who serves at the pleasure of both the president and Congress, thereby ensuring that attorneys general would not be able to do active harm for very long.

Finally, the amendment should prevent presidents from pardoning themselves, their families, their staffs and campaign officials, and perhaps even major donors to their campaigns. It should eliminate the ability to grant pardons between Election Day and the beginning of the next presidential term.

Simple. Intelligent. Important. Necessary, as we have seen these last four years.

Let's do this, America. Get the word out to your government representatives.

Quote of the Day -- Presidential Edition

 

Carl Bernstein  @carlbernstein

I'm not violating any pledge of journalistic confidentially in reporting this: 21 Republican Sens–in convos w/ colleagues, staff members, lobbyists, W. House aides–have repeatedly expressed extreme contempt for Trump & his fitness to be POTUS. 

The 21 GOP Senators who have privately expressed their disdain for Trump are: 

• Portman 
• Alexander 
• Sasse 
• Blunt 
• Collins 
• Murkowski 
• Cornyn 
• Thune 
• Romney 
• Braun 
• Young 
• Tim Scott 
• Rick Scott 
• Rubio 
• Grassley 
• Burr 
• Toomey 
• McSally 
• Moran 
• Roberts 
• Shelby

With few exceptions, their craven public silence has helped enable Trump’s most grievous conduct—including undermining and discrediting the US the electoral system.

9:10 PM • 11/22/20

Let's do this, folks.

#Throwthebumout  

Vote Tomorrow!!!

Americans!  Vote tomorrow! Be sure to vote!

And VOTE BLUE!!

BLUE WAVE!!!

Let's do this!!

86 45!!

At long last!!

Quote of the Day -- Presidential Edition

"Trump is the most psychiatrically disordered president in history."

From an article today at The New York Daily News from 2 psychologists.

Say it plainly: 

Trump is a psychopath

Thanks, Republicans. Y'all must be so proud. And happy. You love power over all else, as we know.

86 45

BYEDON

Psychologists on this President

I saw a terrific article today at Daily Kos, this one, below, that references one in the New York Daily News. While I'm not crazy about the original source, the fact is, two psychologists came to a conclusion that's difficult, if not impossible, to disagree with.

'We are psychologists, and we are convinced Donald Trump is a psychopath'

Here's the original article:

Say it plainly: Trump is a psychopath

A bit from the original article:

“Get rid of the ballots” and “there won’t be a transfer,” said Donald Trump on Wednesday. This comment is a direct and dangerous expression of his anti-democratic intention. If unstopped, Trump may well destroy our 244-year-old democracy.

It is time to stop pulling punches. It is time to stop relying on political pundits to weigh in on Trump’s behavior, which they often soften and even normalize.

We are psychologists, and we are convinced Donald Trump is a psychopath. His malignant behavior over the past four years is growing and escalating right before our eyes. Trump’s psychopathy will change us forever if he is not stopped.

This is not hyperbole. This is not an expression of "a left-wing agenda.” This is a mental health opinion based on thousands of hours of documented behavior by this president.

• He breaks norms, rules, and laws with impunity.
• He lies, on average, 15 times a day.
• He peddles fake conspiracy theories and irrational magical thinking.
• He has been accused of sexually predatory behavior by at least 25 women.
• He blames, scapegoats and gaslights as easily as he breathes.
• He undermines the vital role of the free press because he abhors oversight and accountability.
• His lies and anti-scientific advice and intentional downplaying of the coronavirus pandemic has led to countless American deaths.
• He is callous and cold and unfeeling because he has no conscience.
• He denigrates and humiliates anyone and everyone in his path.
• He has no respect for military heroes or renowned experts.
• He is racist and xenophobic.
• He incites violence and culture wars.
• He is obsessed with power and adoration.
• He is a greedy opportunist.
• He is corrupt to the core.

It goes on. I can't recommend the full, original article enough.

I will repost here only one last line from it.

"Trump is the most psychiatrically disordered president in history."

I say again...

Thanks, Republicans.

Oh, and...  86 45

BYEDON

Great, Breaking Presidential Election News Today!

I just saw this news, breaking today, out on social media. Fantastic.

Get Republicans to Vote Against Trump? This Group Will Spend $10 Million to Try

A new organization, Republican Voters Against Trump, is testing the premise of whether there are really any persuadable voters left.

Yet another group of Republicans who see this man, this President for who and what he is.

I tell you, folks, it's enough to give a person hope. Think good thoughts.

Enjoy that sunshine out there. 

Have a great day.

Must-See Articles on this President

Yes, here are some, what I would call "must-see" articles on this President that broke in the last day or two.

First, letters to the Editor at The New York Times:

Trump’s Slow Response to the 

Coronavirus Pandemic

“The case can be made that, among industrialized countries, the United States has had the worst overall response,” a reader writes.

And that writer isn't just any writer out there but a microbiologist, formerly with the Environmental Protection Agency. And that's just the first letter.

Then there is this:

Ann Coulter: "The Only National Emergency Is That Our President Is An Idiot"

Even Ann Coulter, uber Right Wing and conservative, very Republican Party Ann Coulter, of all people is not just against Donald J Trump but publicly calls him an idiot.

What's not to love about that?

And not just Ann Coulter but more Republicans are irritated by Mr. Trump.

Trump sparks GOP backlash with claim of 'total' power to reopen the country

Next up, in response to his assertion that his power as President, is absolute:

‘The Definition of Totalitarian’: Lawyers Erupt as American President Asserts That His ‘Authority Is Total’

Seems he didn't want to tell each and every state governor what to do individually on "stay at home" orders but now that we're considering taking them off, Mr. Trump suddenly thought he should, in fact, be able to tell all 50 states' governors if they should or should not take off those same orders.

Like it both ways much?

Next is this. One of my favorite things during this nightmare of a Trump Presidency is when even Fox shuts him down.

Fox Biz Host Blows Out Trump's 'Total Authority' Claim: 'The Constitution Disagrees'

Finally, at least today, is this on this President's Attorney General William Barr.

Burr sold townhouse for $900K to lobbyists who had business before his committees: report

Could this administration get more corrupt?

To which I answer, I don't think so---but they keep surprising us, don't they?

So there you have it. A brief summary of, again, what I've seen to be some of the most important articles out in the last few days.

With Republican Party groups organizing against this President and even the likes of Ann Coulter and Fox coming down, and hard, at times, on him, well, it's enough to give me hope.

Wish us all luck, campers.

This President. This Presidency

No overstatement.

The worst president. Ever.

Nixon-era White House counsel John Dean: Nixon was 'corrupt,' but Trump is 'evil'

Quote of the Day on This President and HIs Impeachment

Democratic Party Senator Brian Schatz, of Hawai'i, seemed to say it right and best Monday, I thought, about this President and his impeachment in the Senate.

Senator Schatz votes guilty on both counts of impeachment

“There are millions of Americans that have formed a basic expectation about how a trial is to function, based on hundreds of years of law and based on their common sense. Make no mistake: what the senate did was an affront to the basic idea of a trial. And for all the crocodile tears of my colleagues, all the fake outrage at the accusation, we must call this what it was. It’s a cover-up.

I don’t know what Mulvaney or Bolton or Pompeo would say, I don’t know what the documents will illuminate, and I believe it is normally very dangerous to ascribe motives to fellow senators when criticizing their vote, but it is impossible for me to escape the conclusion that they don’t want to know, that they wanted to get this over with before the Superbowl, of all things. They are afraid of this house of cards falling all the way down.

As I look at the republican side of the chamber, I know this moment in history has made their particular jobs extraordinarily difficult, requiring uncommon courage. They have to risk the scorn of their voters, their social circle, their colleagues, and their president in order to do the right thing. On one level I knew the likely outcome, but the bitter taste of injustice lingers in my mouth.

On behalf of everyone who couldn’t get away with an unpaid traffic fine, is in jail for stealing groceries so that they could eat that night, who can’t get a job because of medical debt, I say shame on anyone who places this president or any president above the law. The president is not above the law. No one is above the law. The president is guilty on both counts.”

(Scathing) Quotes of the Day on Donald Trump -- From a Long Time Republican

Fantastic, spot on writing today on this President and what he's doing to us, all of us, the Presidency and nation from the New York Times.

The Full-Spectrum Corruption 

of Donald Trump

Just a few---of the best--quotes.

First up, just the byline alone:

Everyone and everything he touches rots.

Going on from there.

A party that once spoke with urgency and apparent conviction about the importance of ethical leadership — fidelity, honesty, honor, decency, good manners, setting a good example — has hitched its wagon to the most thoroughly and comprehensively corrupt individual who has ever been elected president. Some of the men who have been elected president have been unscrupulous in certain areas — infidelity, lying, dirty tricks, financial misdeeds — but we’ve never before had the full-spectrum corruption we see in the life of Donald Trump...

...the moral indictment against Mr. Trump is obvious and overwhelming. Corruption has been evident in Mr. Trump’s private and public life, in how he has treated his wives, in his business dealings and scams, in his pathological lying and cruelty, in his bullying and shamelessness, in his conspiracy-mongering and appeals to the darkest impulses of Americans. (Senator Bob Corker, a Republican, refers to the president’s race-based comments as a “base stimulator.”) Mr. Trump’s corruptions are ingrained, the result of a lifetime of habits. It was delusional to think he would change for the better once he became president...

In any case, the Republican Party’s as-yet unbreakable attachment to Mr. Trump is coming at quite a cost. There is the rank hypocrisy, the squandered ability to venerate public character or criticize Democrats who lack it, and the damage to the white Evangelical movement, which has for the most part enthusiastically rallied to Mr. Trump and as a result has been largely discredited. There is also likely to be an electoral price to pay in November.

But the greatest damage is being done to our civic culture and our politics. Mr. Trump and the Republican Party are right now the chief emblem of corruption and cynicism in American political life, of an ethic of might makes right. Dehumanizing others is fashionable and truth is relative. (“Truth isn’t truth,” in the infamous words of Mr. Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani.) They are stripping politics of its high purpose and nobility....

A warning to my Republican friends: The worst is yet to come. Thanks to the work of Robert Mueller — a distinguished public servant, not the leader of a “group of Angry Democrat Thugs” — we are going to discover deeper and deeper layers to Mr. Trump’s corruption. When we do, I expect Mr. Trump will unravel further as he feels more cornered, more desperate, more enraged; his behavior will become ever more erratic, disordered and crazed.

And the source.

By Peter Wehner
Mr. Wehner served in the previous three Republican administrations and is a contributing opinion writer.