Nancy Pelosi has just poked a tyrant, a demagogue, a racist, a would-be dictator in the eye. 

Donald Trump revels in standing before large adoring audiences who cheer him on.  Instead Mrs. Pelosi has said “No.”  We won’t sit in our house and listen to your rambling non-sense.  There is no law that requires we listen.  Just send us your written report on the state of the union.

Trump will likely speak in the Senate chamber and it will be broadcast on television.  But who will be listening?

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And now for something to get us all off of talking about our delusional president.

With time comes change. As a society, we (usually) get smarter, wiser, more inclusive, more accepting, and more empathetic as the years progress. (There are, of course, obvious exceptions.) For a good portion of the last century, blatant racism, sexism, and prejudice were commonly used in advertisements — by large corporation.

Following are some advertisements that the Me Too groups of today would vocally condemn.

 

Sexual Temperance Spoon

 

Lasting Charm

 

Beauty Over Brains

 

 

This Is an Ad for Coffee…

Good News, Gals!

In the cartoon next to the text, two men have no interest in a thin girl, referring to her as a “beanpole.” Later, as she’s bawling, her mother advises her to try ironized yeast tablets, which helped her gain 10 pounds. The next thing you know, the “beanpole” — now with a hunky man — is the “queen of the beach!”

There are No Words

Portrait of Anne Frank at age 12, sitting at her desk at the Montessori school in Amsterdam. (Courtesy Anne Frank House, Amsterdam)

From the Washington Post

Many have noted the historical parallels between the current debate over Syrians seeking refuge in the United States and the plight of European Jews fleeing German-occupied territories on the eve of World War II.

Among the many who tried — and failed — to escape Nazi persecution: Otto Frank and his family, which included wife, Edith, and his daughters, Margot and Anne. And while the story of the family’s desperate attempts ending in futility may seem remarkable today, it’s emblematic of what a number of other Jews fleeing German-occupied territories experienced, American University history professor Richard Breitman wrote in 2007 upon the discovery of documents chronicling the Franks’ struggle to get U.S. visas.

“Otto Frank’s efforts to get his family to the United States ran afoul of restrictive American immigration policies designed to protect national security and guard against an influx of foreigners during time of war,” Breitman wrote.

Yes, Donald Trump is the president of the United States.  I believe he dreams of being America’s first dictator. Our constitution and laws limits his power.  Here are some things that should at least give pause to his pursuit of what he believes is what is best for the United States.

President Donald Trump condemned neo-Nazis and white supremacists in remarks about the Charlottesville, Va. rally at the White House and later in that same White House statement undercut his pre-planned remarks by blaming both sides at the rally  that took place August 11 to 12, 2017. Trump defended the KKK and other hate groups saying there were good people among the haters.

He’s changed his demand from time to time and he’s changed the amount of money he’s asking for dramatically from 2 billion to 5 billion to 11 billion to 25 billion even to 70 billion dollars. And when we asked for specifics, how are you going to spend this money? What are you going to do with it? He basically says we’ll shut down the government till you agree on it.

– Senator Dick Durbin

Mike Pence swears in new Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema. At her request, she is being sworn on a law book that contains the Constitution, rather than on a religious text. (President John Quincy Adams did the same thing in 1825.) She’s the first openly bisexual member of the Senate.  Meanwhile, Rashida Tlaib, who (along with Ilhan Omar) is the first Muslim women to enter Congress, was sworn in on Thomas Jefferson’s Quran, provoking sputtering rage from Christian bigots.

On its first day this year, the House passed bills to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year, except for the Department of Homeland Security, which got a continuing resolution through Feb. 8, with no funding for Trump’s Wall. The funding is on the same terms that the Senate passed by acclamation before Christmas, but now Mitch McConnell is refusing to bring it up for a vote.

The new Congress makes the country’s political situation clear at a glance: There is one party that wants to preserve the white Christian patriarchy, and another party for everybody else. The Everybody Else Party just came to power in the House.

Americans can choose.  I stand for freedom of speech and diversity.

The hallmarks of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) are grandiosity, a lack of empathy for other people, and a need for admiration. People with this condition are frequently described as arrogant, self-centered, manipulative, and demanding.

Narcissists cut a wide, swashbuckling figure through the world. The most benign type may be the charismatic leader with an excess of charm, whose only vice may be his or her inflated amour-propre.

Does this sound like anyone you may know? Like perhaps Donald Trump?

It has been rumored that Vice President Mike Pence has dreamed of being the president of the United States since he was 17 years old.  In reality his devout Christian beliefs have taken a priority in his life.  His own words confirmed that at the presidential nominating convention in 2016 where he said in his acceptance speech where he introduced himself as ‘a Christian, a Conservative and a Republican.’  That order should have been a message. Just not all of the time. 

The truth is Pence is a smart politician who holds Christian beliefs but willingly will defer them to reach the presidency.  And so he sat silently when in the Oval Office while Trump had his explosive confrontation with Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi.  That’s not the first time he has kept his mouth shut.  Pence has been a longtime, aggressive advocate of trade deals between the U.S. and foreign countries and been a supporter of NAFTA and during his time in the House, he voted for every free-trade agreement that came before him.

The Constitution sets specific grounds for impeachment. They are “treason, bribery, and other high crimes and misdemeanors.” To be impeached and removed from office, the House and Senate must find that the official committed one of these acts.

We don’t know what charges will be brought against Donald Trump by special counsel Robert Mueller but it is easy to list the possibilities.

1. Collusion with members of the Russian government may not be illegal but being a traitor is the grounds for impeachment. The Constitution defines treason as specific acts, namely “levying War against [the United States], or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.”

2. The Emoluments Clause in Article I of the Constitution prohibits Trump from taking any money at all from a foreign state.  His ownership of a hotel where dignitaries and heads of state regularly stay and use the ballroom for events when visiting Washington D.C. is an obvious benefit to his family business.

So is Mike Pence smiling to just be friendly or is he awaiting his moment of being sworn in as the 46th president?  It’s scary but very likely.

Bah! Humbug!

It’s Christmas Eve and here I am writing about something that is sad.

Stocks ended sharply lower today putting key equity benchmarks on track to log their worst month and a year in a decade. The S&P 500 slipped 2.7% to end near 2,352.

It should be obvious what the causes are.

1. Trade war with China.

2. Federal Reserve interest rates have risen four times this year.

3. President Donald Trump has discussed the possibility of firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

4. There is a Federal government shutdown with no solution in sight.  Another such shut down could occur on March 1, 2019 when the federal debt limit will be reached.

5. Growing concerns that the economic expansion may be coming to an end.

It’s helpful to know what a “bear market” is because based on history, it looks like we could be here for a while.

The term on Wall Street is synonymous with serious, long-lasting declines in stock markets. In numeric terms, a bear market is a 20 percent or more drop from a recent peak.  The S&P 500 hit that milestone on Monday, dropping 20 percent from its 52-week high.

If this bear market is anything like the last time, it could take some time to recover. Since World War II, bear markets on average have fallen 30.4 percent and have lasted 13 months, according to analysis at Goldman Sachs and CNBC. When that milestone has been hit, it took stocks an average of 21.9 months to recover.

The good news is that bear markets do not last forever.   So have a happy holiday and think positive about the new year.