Trump Initiatives Imperil the World

A brief look at the news these days makes it clear that new President Trump meant what he said and intends to carry out exactly the kinds of things he was campaigning on. An era of extraordinary danger is upon us. Here are some of the more ominous.

Taking health care away from millions will result in the deaths of many thousands of people. His China ideas are playing with fire and could end in global depression and even possibly war. His environmental ideas could speed the path to a mega extinction epoch punctuated by trade wars, the rise of totalitarian regimes and imperialist wars of resource acquisition. His NATO ideas could lead to the dismemberment of the alliance and a Russian calculation that wholesale aggression might pay off. In my judgment, the world has not been at as perilous a juncture since 1939, the eve of World War II.

Details of Trump-Russian Campaign Collusion

Former British counterintelligence officer Christopher Steele has compiled an extensive report based on his contacts that conclusively identifies the specifics about the Russian hacking operation mounted against the Hillary Clinton campaign throughout 2016. Particularly damning are its findings that Russian officials up to and including President Vladimir Putin were personally involved in approving and directing the operation and that Donald Trump himself was aware and approved cooperation between the top brain trust of his presidential campaign and these same Russian agents. As former Labor Secretary Robert Reich has commented, if such allegations are true they fit the constitutional definition of treason.

Here is a link to a detailed report on Steele's findings by investigative reporter Ronnie Dugger as published in Reader Supported News yesterday, January 18.  I invite you to take a close look at this report. Prepare to be flabbergasted.

As for me, I will not be watching the inauguration tomorrow. It seems to be a matter of great importance to Trump that he gets a large crowd and that his TV ratings are strong. He has lately taken to bragging about the size of his prospective audience. To do my small part to frustrate these hopes, I will have the television on to a channel that is not showing the inauguration. If you have cable an action like this will be compiled into their viewing statistics.

Why Rep. Barbara Lee is Boycotting the Inauguratiion

Representative Barbara Lee of California will be boycotting the Trump Inauguration on January 20. Her statement below concisely expresses what many of us believe about the incoming administration.

“Inaugurations are celebratory events, a time to welcome the peaceful transition of power and honor the new administration. On January 20th, I will not be celebrating or honoring an incoming president who rode racism, sexism, xenophobia and bigotry to the White House.



“Donald Trump ran one of the most divisive and prejudiced campaigns in modern history. He began his campaign by insulting Mexican immigrants, pledging to build a wall between the United States and Mexico and then spent a year and a half denigrating communities of color and normalizing bigotry. He called women ‘pigs’, stoked Islamophobia, and attacked a Gold Star family. He mocked a disabled reporter and appealed to people’s worst instincts.  I cannot in good conscience attend an inauguration that would celebrate this divisive approach to governance.
“After the election, many hoped the president-elect would turn toward unifying our country. Instead he has shown us that he will utilize the same tools of division he employed on the campaign trail as our nation’s Commander-in-Chief. We need look no further than the team he is assembling to find signals that the era of Trump will be one of chaos and devastation for our communities.

“The president-elect has named Steve Bannon, a white nationalist as his chief strategist. He has nominated Senator Jeff Sessions to the office of Attorney General, despite his long career of opposition to civil and human rights. And in perhaps the most damning sign of the chaos to come, the president-elect has expedited the process to repeal the Affordable Care Act and make America sick again.”

“To make matters worse, after the intelligence community reported Russian interference in our election, Donald Trump frequently and forcefully defended Vladimir Putin. He insulted senior intelligence officials in order to preserve his reputation and disguise the truth. The American people will never forget that when a foreign government violated our democracy, Donald Trump chose the interests of another nation over our own.

“Donald Trump has proven that his administration will normalize the most extreme fringes of the Republican Party. On Inauguration Day, I will not be celebrating. I will be organizing and preparing for resistance.”

Obama Farewell Address Looks to the Future

 

On Tuesday January 10 President Barack Obama delivered his Farewell Address at the McCormick Center in Chicago, bookending his improbable ascent to the presidency in the city where it began. The speech was vintage Obama, displaying his remarkable oratorical gifts, hopeful and optimistic despite all he's had to endure, and calling us to answer our better angels while remaining committed to staying involved to make our world a better place.

There was just a bit of self-congratulation, modest compared to what the President could have said. He pointed out that "no foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and carried out an operation in America during these eight years." We have "cut our dependence on foreign oil in half and doubled our production of renewables." "If, considering the economic conditions we came in on, someone had said eight years ago we would have been able to cut unemployment more than in half and have a record 75 consecutive months of positive job creation" that would have been hailed as quite an achievement. We also have "the lowest uninsured rate in history and the growth in health care cost is the lowest it's been in 50 years." These are all accurate assessments for which the Administration has every right to be justly proud.

Obama also administered "three warnings" based on his assessment that "American democracy is under assault." "We must guard against a weakening of the values that make us who we are," he said. The warnings had to do with income inequality, race relations and excessive partisanship. Growing income inequality threatens to poison society by denying upward mobility to average Americans, creating cynicism and desperation that finds expression in extremist solutions. It also feeds demagoguery that points to groups as scapegoats for lack of progress, turning Americans against one another.

He mentioned that some felt his election in 2008 meant the country had entered a "post-racial" phase, but that such a view is unrealistic. He said "I've lived long enough to be able to say that things have definitely improved in the past 30 years, but we still have work to do." In the fields of housing, criminal justice and education "hearts must change." He quoted the fictional character Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird that to understand another person you must have empathy, to be able to imagine what it's like to walk around in their skin.

Excessive partisanship was the President's third cautionary warning. Too often, he said, "we retreat into our own bubbles." He pointed out a "fragmentation, only accepting information that fits our opinions." We need and must accept "a common baseline of fact and information," that "science and reason matter," and that "without common ground compromise is impossible." He decried the "selective distortion of the facts." The entire tendency is, he summed up, "self-defeating." It is characterized by a "fear of change, fear of differences, and intolerance of free thought." Quoting George Washington from the first president's Farewell Address, Obama said "We should reject the first attempt to alienate any part of the American people from another."

He ended with an appeal to activism, saying that the system does respond to the strong voice of the people when it is loud and insistent. He called upon the young, who "do not see change as something to be feared" to spearhead a renewed drive for "a fair, just, and inclusive America." Leaving the presidency at just 55, one can well imagine Barack Obama continuing to serve as an active catalyst for the vision he has worked so hard to further over the past eight years in the White House.

My Experience at the Electoral College

Monday December 19 was a memorable day in my life. I participated as a member of the California Electoral College, casting one of my state's 55 Electoral Votes for Hillary Clinton, the 2016 winner of our state in the presidential election. It was a tremendous honor to be part of this traditional rite, established by Article II of the Constitution and later modified by the Twelfth Amendment. You can read about the process by which I was appointed in my blog of November 21. In today's entry I'll tell you about the process I participated in on Monday, December 19, the day the Electoral College meetings took place in all the states plus the District of Columbia.

The California Electoral College meeting took place at the State Capitol in Sacramento. We checked in at the Governor's Conference Room on the main floor about 10 A.M. There we received our credentials and our guest passes. Electors were permitted two guests, who could watch the proceedings from the galleries above the Assembly Chamber. I invited my wife Joan and Louis Campos, the Democratic candidate for my congressional district, the 22nd, who had nominated me to the Electoral College. The next scheduled activity wasn't until 1:00, so we toured the Capitol Building and went out for lunch at a nearby Mexican restaurant.

The 1:00 order of business was to attend a briefing. The Electors went to a legislative committee room to receive final instructions before the meeting convened. I got to meet a couple of interesting people. I sat between Faith Garamendi, daughter of Congressman and former Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, and John MacMurray, whose wife is a Board Member on the La Habra City School District. La Habra is a town in north Orange County where I went to elementary school. At 1:30 P.M. we left the committee room to take the elevator up to the second floor to enter the Assembly Chamber, where the official College would be convened. Joan and Louie were at the same time going up to the third floor to find a place in the gallery.

The organizers had assigned seating for us on the Assembly floor, and we had to find our name placards on the desks. I found my place on the right side of the center aisle as you faced the rostrum, fairly close to the front. Seated next to me on my left was a woman named Donna Irvine of Pleasanton, on the inland side of Oakland. A retired community college office manager, Donna was extremely happy and proud to be part of the proceedings. She had been nominated by Congressman Eric Swallwell, whom she had met five years before in his first run for congress, when he came knocking at her door walking precincts. That led to her volunteering for his campaign and eventually his nomination of her as an Elector. As I took my seat I was glad to see Joan and Louie had secured an excellent vantage point in the gallery in the front row on the left side. They had a good view of the rostrum and they and I had a clear line of sight between us. California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, the state constitutional officer responsible for seeing that the meeting was properly called, carried out and recorded, mingled on the Assembly floor and chatted with the Electors.

Assemblyman Ken Cooley called the meeting to order shortly after two o'clock. No doubt he was selected for this role due to his parliamentary expertise as Chairman of the Assembly Rules Committee. We began with a prayer from a Buddhist Priest. He called for everyone to be mindful, pointing out that Confucius, Bishop Desmond Tutu and Pope John Paul II all spent four hours a day in prayer or meditation. Following this, the College recited the Pledge of Allegiance. The Tellers (two young Democratic Party aides) then read off the roll call of Electors. Pages circulated through the floor, giving us each an official paper with our name on it to sign, verifying our attendance. Alex Padilla rose to administer the Oath of Office to the assembled Electors. We pledged to defend the United States and California constitutions "against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

We proceeded to the election of a chairperson of the College. Prior to the meeting we Electors had received an email from California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton asking us to support Elector and SEIU official Laphonza Butler as chairperson. Christine Pelosi nominated her, there was a second, no other candidates were nominated, Mr. Cooley called for voice votes of aye and nay and Ms. Butler was elected. An honor guard of six 6 Electors was selected to escort her from her seat with the rest of us on the Assembly floor to the rostrum to assume her duties. Assemblyman Cooley handed her the gavel and took a seat.

When the roll had been read, four of the 55 Electors had not been present. By pre-arrangement, Elector Christine Pelosi now nominated four replacements from the appropriate districts. They were seconded and elected in turn by voice vote as called for by the Chair. We then turned to the election of a Secretary. The same email from Chairman Burton that had asked us to support Laphonza Butler for Electoral College Chair had asked for our support for retired State Senator Christine Kehoe as Secretary. She was nominated by Pelosi, seconded and elected by unanimous voice vote. As with Butler, an honor guard of six Electors was selected to escort her to the rostrum to assume her office.

Now that all formalities and preliminaries were complete it was time to fulfill the solemn duty for which we had been summoned: the casting of our official votes for President and Vice President of the United States. At the direction of the Chair, pages came around with large, pre-printed ballots. Each of us was given two ballots on heavy card stock. The one bordered in blue had Hillary Clinton for President; the one bordered in red had Tim Kaine for Vice President. These were the candidates who had received the overwhelming majority of California's votes on Election Day. To validate the ballot all we had to do was sign our name at the bottom. If we had wanted to vote for someone else we would have had to cross out the pre-printed name of the candidate and write someone else in.

Filling out our ballots.

Pages came around, collected our ballots and brought them up to the rostrum. The pages came back around with a succession of additional official papers for us to sign. Different sets of the same materials were destined for different recipients. Some are going to the U.S. Senate, where the ballots will be officially tallied before a joint session of Congress on January 6. Others will remain in the possession of the California Secretary of State's Office. Another set goes to the National Archives. When she had received them all, Christine Kehoe as Secretary of the Electoral College counted up the vote. Both votes were unanimous: 55-0 for Hillary Clinton for President and 55-0 for Tim Kaine for Vice President. Each of these results was greeted by an enthusiastic round of applause from the Electors and the gallery.

After the vote and the signing of official documents Pelosi introduced a resolution calling on the Congress to initiate an immediate investigation of possible foreign interference in the election process. This was seconded and unanimously passed by voice vote. The Chair then thanked us for our service and called for a motion to adjourn. once that was passed official photographers took pictures and our guests were invited down to join us on the Assembly floor.

Joan, I and Louie after the vote.