More Stuff That Pisses Me Off

I used to believe in the strength of the Constitution. I used to believe that people who ran for office believed in the sacredness of the Constitution, the rule of law, and the ability of each branch of government to do its job for We, the People. Sure, I knew there were crooked politicians because that's  the nature of the beast. I was cogent while Nixon was president, and I'll admit, the resignations of both Spiro Agnew and Tricky Dick rattled me, but in my pea brain, I held on to the notion that more elected officials were committed to the good and welfare of We, the People than were crooked.

Well, that ship has sailed. 

A few things occurred this past week that have set my teeth on edge. 

Back in July of 2024, the Grifter-in-Chief told an audience of Christian evangelicals:

Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.

"I love you Christians. I'm a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again, we'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote,

A year later. President Felon continues to remind us he cannot win an election without "assistance." In order to facilitate GOP control of congress, Texas is gerrymandering the state in such a way that can give five more districts to the GOP. I bet you didn't know there was a name for this: competitive authoritarianism.  A pro-democracy group called Civic Nebraska  really provided the best explanation:

Competitive authoritarianism refers to a system in which elections are still held, courts still convene, and newspapers still publish, but the very structures meant to ensure fairness, accountability, and civic participation are systematically hollowed out from within. In a competitive authoritarian regime, the surface-level features of democracy remain intact, but their integrity has been corroded.

Read that last line again. That kinda sums up what we are seeing and experiencing right now, dontcha think? 

And if the measure is successful in Texas you can bet your sweet butt other states will follow. 

Gov. Newsom

Therefore is it no surprise that Governor Newsom of California is sending a question to the voters asking if they should reapportion the state's congressional districts. From Newsweek:

California Democrats' ability to do so may hinge on the outcome of a ballot measure Newsom announced last week that would allow a new map drafted by legislators to temporarily replace the boundaries drawn up by the state's independent redistricting committee following the 2020 census.If the ballot measure is successful, it could neutralize efforts from Texas Republicans. But if it fails, Republicans may be able to net several seats in not only Texas, but also other GOP states like Indiana and Missouri.  A new poll from Newsom's pollster, reported by Axios, suggests a majority of voters are prepared to support the ballot measure. 

The poll, conducted by David Binder, showed that 57 percent of California voters are in support of the proposal. Only 35 percent were opposed to it, while 8 percent remained undecided. 

Among Democrats, the ballot measure had 84 percent support, while only 13 percent opposed it. Among Republicans, 79 percent were opposed, the poll found, according to Axios.

Gerrymandering has always been an issue, but this is raising it to an entirely new level. One can almost see the guts of American democracy....or what we thought was American democracy slowly seeping onto the floor. The redistricting is not the simply window dressing for congressional domination; it speaks to a broader coalition to alter our democratic process. 

Hegseth

Continuing along the line of increasingly aberrant behavior originating in the White House, President Felon has, on several occasions, referred to uniquely unqualified Pete Hegseth as his Secretary of War. Last time I looked, that wasn't a cabinet position, but that didn't stop President Felon from using the sobriquet, which leads a number of sources to report that he plans to rename the Department of Defense the Department of War. Of course, his statement in the Oval Office on Monday lends credence to this:

I don’t want to be defense only. We want offense too.

Well, he's already pretty offensive, but this adds a new layer to the playbook he seems to be using. From Politico:

[When] “we won World War I, World War II, it was called the Department of War. And to me, that’s really what it is,” Trump said at a press event with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung. “Everybody likes that we had an unbelievable history of victory when it was Department of War. Then we changed it to Department of Defense.”

Thereby implying success at wars went down the tubes with the name change and by changing it back, the world is suddenly gonna think he is more powerful with bigger balls? Nah, I don't think so. At least not with Hegseth leading any sort of charge. 

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

And speaking of name changes, watch for The Kennedy Center to no longer be The Kennedy Center. According to NPR:

Republicans recently voted, as part of the "One Big Beautiful Bill," to dedicate $257 million towards improving the Kennedy Center, but to withhold significant funds unless the building's opera house is re-named after first lady Melania Trump.

JFK's grandson, Jack Schlossberg posted this on social media:

The Trump Administration stands for freedom of oppression, not expression. He uses his awesome powers to suppress free expression and instill fear. But this isn't about the arts. Trump is obsessed with being bigger than JFK , with minimizing the many heroes of our past, as if that elevates him. It doesn't. But there's hope — art lasts forever, and no one can change what JFK and our shared history stands for.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

First LA, then Washington D.C, now President Felon has his beady eyes on Chicago. Baltimore is in his sights as well. I'm thinking that Minneapolis-St. Paul can't be too far down the list. For a guy who claims he's trying to get the Nobel Peace Prize as well as the golden ticket to heaven, this is not the way to go. Dispatching armed National Guard troops into cities is not a normal power of the president. The state governor is the only one who can do that. 

From the New York Times:

President Trump directed the Defense Department on Monday to take a larger role in domestic law enforcement, including by “quelling civil disturbances,” as he threatens to broaden deployments of the National Guard in cities run by his political enemies.

The executive order, released by the White House on Monday morning, also formalizes the creation of specially trained National Guard units in the District of Columbia and all 50 states that can be mobilized quickly for “ensuring the public safety and order.”

This is a direct contradiction to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. The Brennan Center for Justice has a pretty good explanation. You can read the whole thing, and it is worth reading, but for brevity's sake, this is a good explanation of what happened during the summer of 2020:

In the summer of 2020, President Trump deployed the DC National Guard into Washington to police mostly peaceful protests against law enforcement brutality and racism. Simultaneously, over the objections of DC’s mayor, the administration asked state governors to deploy their own Guard personnel into Washington in Title 32 status, and 11 governors did so. Although these out-of-state forces were nominally under their governors’ control, it was later revealed that they were reporting up through the DC Guard’s chain of command for “coordination” purposes. That meant they were ultimately taking orders from the president. In this way, the Trump administration brought a large, federally controlled military force into Washington and used it for civilian law enforcement, all while skipping over the procedures in the Insurrection Act and evading the political costs of invoking it. That is exactly what the Posse Comitatus Act is meant to prevent.  

Moreover, the deployment of non-federalized, out-of-state Guard forces into a jurisdiction without its consent represents another threat to the Posse Comitatus Act. When operating in Title 32 status, Guard forces are exempt from the Posse Comitatus Act because they are under state command and control. A key part of that control is the governor’s right to decline a particular federal mission. That right is meaningless if the president can simply approach a different governor and ask her to deploy her state’s Guard into the unwilling governor’s state. In this scenario, the cooperating governor becomes a fig leaf for the president to use the military as a police force anywhere in the country, free from the constraints of the Posse Comitatus Act.

In  the case of troops dispatched to LA earlier this year, President Felon invoked Section 12406 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code that allows him to call up the Guard under certain circumstances. California state officials immediately filed a legal challenge to the deployment which a federal judge ruled as illegal before an appeals court blocked the ruling. While Washington D.C. is a federal district, don't expect the other cities to just sit there. 

The last thing I'm gonna mention is the Justice Department. The amount of money being wasted on retribution against President Felon's "political enemies," is disgusting. The amount spent on this shit could be feeding children and caring for Veterans who are being screwed left and right. 

Never in my wildest imagination did I believe We, the People, could elect a grifter who put power and pockets above all else. And what's worse, We, the People, elected him twice...but with a strong economy between the two elections. We are rapidly becoming a banana republic with a doddering old fool as titular tinpot dictator. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

I'm meeting with the lawyer and the finance guy next week

to make sure my ducks are in a row. 

It's a good thing to do.