Now maybe we know why the Republicans want to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE).  It seems that a number of President-elect Trump’s cabinet nominees are bumping into ethics-related problems in the confirmation hearings.  Darn those pesky ethics rules, the transition team might think!  Can’t the GOP see that President-elect Trump’s nominees are having problems with them?!  Why don’t they just do something about those irritating rules so that Mr. Trump’s nominees can be quickly confirmed and get on with the American people’s work?!

Could this be why congress without fanfare tried to push an amendment through that would rip the teeth out of the congressional independent ethics watchdog?  Can it be that the GOP is simply trying to help the Trump transition team and these eager nominees get on with the work that the American people want them to do?  Or is something more nefarious going on?

Although the GOP was forced to abort their effort to allow the fox to guard the hen house by removing the OCE’s independence via an amendment that would have put it under the oversight of the House Ethics Committee, they did not utterly give up on their effort to virtually take ethics out of the mix when it comes to America’s elected congressional officials in Washington.  After the uproar around their original effort settled down, according to an article in The Fiscal Times by Eric Pianin, they quietly placed a single sentence into another amendment that was passed, making it harder for the OCE to do its job in the future.  Based on that article, ” that sentence enables individual members to hide official documents that could prove embarrassing or even incriminating if they were suddenly investigated by the ethics office or the Justice Department for criminal activity.”

It appears that the GOP has no concern whatsoever about whether or not congressmen are ethical and whether they use their office and position in congress to enrich themselves.  I guess they just don’t think that the American people, whose name they regularly invoke, care anything at all about ethics as long as the job gets done.  What other reason could they have to be so determined to completely gut or get rid of the OCE?  Sure, they might have hidden things from ‘the American people’ by quietly passing a rule making it harder for those investigating them to discover their dastardly deeds; but I want everyone who reads this article to know that THE GOP QUIETLY PASSED A RULE MAKING IT HARDER FOR THE OCE AND ANYONE ELSE TO INVESTIGATE ‘THE AMERICAN PEOPLE’S’ CONGRESSMEN.

Today is the day that President Obama will leave office and, at exactly noon, President-elect Trump will be sworn in as the 45th President of the United States of America.  ‘High Noon’; that is what it will feel like for a lot of Americans.  I hope that he will not be the same man that he was during the primary and general elections and that he will work hard to be president to all Americans.

He must know that with all of the discord and potentially detrimental information that is swirling around him with regard to the possible conflict of interest that his businesses pose, his lack of effort to reassure those Americans who did not vote for him that he does not consider them to be his enemies and his apparent lack of awareness that he needs to pull America together after an extremely contentious election is creating a tremendous amount of apprehension and stress for many Americans.  I hope that he will address these concerns in his inauguration speech.

I, and I believe that all other Americans, wish President-elect Trump the best as president.  Because although we might not agree with him and how he goes about leading America, once he is sworn in, he will be the president.  I wish him well because I wish America well.  And it is in that vein that I hope that this ‘High Noon’ feeling that I am experiencing as someone who did not vote for President-elect Trump is nothing more than a bad case of overreaction brought on by a touch of Trump-inspired cynicism.

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line

What a bunch of hypocrites congressional Republicans are proving to be, that is, with the exception of Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham who, in this particular case, must be given at least some credit.  I don’t know why but so far these two men have refused to blindly protect President-elect Donald Trump.  I doubt that their stance against Mr. Trump has anything to do with statesmanship because as  I mentioned in a number of other articles that I have posted to this site, elected Republicans deserted statesmanship a long time ago, at least since the time that President Barack Obama was elected.

It amazes me – although perhaps it should not, that these Republicans’ can be such blatant hypocrites yet constantly evoke the name of the American people when talking about what Americans want and what they will not tolerate!  Allow me to provide you with two of the latest examples where, though they have tried to couch it by way of obfuscation, their hypocrisy has been revealed like the magic trick gone bad of an amateur magician performing his first trick at his first show where the smoke and mirrors effect completely fail.  I will provide these two prime examples by way of the actions of the two top GOP leaders; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan.

Senate Majority Leader McConnell is an old, cunning highly experienced politician and as such, has become very comfortable with and accustomed to showing no shame as long as what he is saying or doing serves the political purpose for his actions.  House Speaker Ryan is not quite as bad; however, it is only because he is not yet quite as comfortable as Senator McConnell is at showing, and apparently feeling, no shame.  That is likely because he hasn’t been around as long as the Majority Leader has.  But give him time; with the way that he is conducting himself now he will soon fit the typical politician mold and quickly morph into a Mitch McConnell.

Both Senator McConnell and Speaker Ryan have President-elect Trump’s back despite the fact that they know that he is badly damaging America’s image and credibility domestically and abroad.  Senator McConnell opposed President Obama on everything from the day that he was elected and still opposes him now.  Recently, he droned on about how the Democrats should stop complaining, grow up and quickly confirm President-elect Trump’s nominees like he and the rest of the Republicans did with President Obama’s nominees.  What he failed to mention was how they stonewalled President Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland, stole that Supreme Court slot like a thief in the night and fenced it to President-elect Trump for so many pieces of political silver.

According to an article in Chron, back in 2014, Speaker Ryan criticized President Obama for not receiving his daily intelligence briefings in-person rather than reading them because of how important they are to America’s security.  He said; “I have a hard time comprehending [why he would read his daily briefings rather than receive them in-person], because the primary job of the commander in chief is to keep the country safe.  And you need to get from your intelligence community, your defense community – especially when we have troops in harm’s way – what’s going on.  “Yet – according to that same article, when recently asked whether he had full confidence in U.S. intelligence agencies after President-elect Trump questioned the believability of the data gathered by America’s intelligence community and appeared to believe Vladimir Putin over that data, Speaker Ryan qualified his response when he replied; “Well, they (the intelligence community) don’t always get everything right.  We’ve seen that clearly.  But I do have faith that our men and women in our intelligence community are doing an incredible job, sacrificing for our country.  But there’s always room for improvement.”

Based on this qualified response, Speaker Ryan’s straight forward and succinct response regarding the importance of intelligence information to a president in the case of President Obama is diametrically opposed to his response regarding the importance of that same kind of intelligence information when it comes to President-elect Trump.  There are only a few reasons that I can think of as to why this would be the case and they are partisanship, political ambition and cowardice.  Possibly it is a combination of the three.

The great author, poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou once said “when someone shows you who they are, believe them…”.  I have used this quote many times before on this web site and will likely continue to do so because it is not only relevant in most situations when someone is striving to assess a person’s character but it is timeless.  There is no doubt that it is applicable and warrants reference and serious consideration whenever anyone finds themselves flummoxed while struggling to understand Mr. Trump and to separate the actual truth from Donald Trump’s truth, which in far too many cases amounts to fiction.

President-elect Donald J. Trump and Representative John Lewis have showed us who they are.  President-elect Donald Trump showed us who he is in the way that he has conducted himself throughout his adult life and during the 2016 primary and general elections.  Unfortunately, many Americans did not believe him and so voted for him to become president and lead our great country.  Representative John Lewis showed us who he is during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s when he was beaten to within inches of his life for standing up for all Americans and what he believed to be right and in his service to America as a congressman.  He showed us then, and he is continuing to show us now.

So when President-elect Donald J. Trump decided to denigrate this great statesman and civil rights icon by saying that “Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results.  All talk, talk, talk – no action or results.  Sad!”, I had no problem in picking the person with whom I choose to stand.  I don’t know about you but I choose to stand with Representative Lewis.  I choose to believe who Representative Lewis has showed me that he is rather than who President-elect Trump says that he is.  President-elect Trump is the one who is as unstable as nitroglycerin (and potentially just as dangerous) and is yet an unproven quantity in terms of being the man that he says that he is: but he has certainly proven himself to be the man that he has showed us that he is.

President-elect Trump’s apparent infatuation with Vladimir Putin and his seemingly blind desire to ‘get along with Russia’ at all costs is astonishing.  His desire is so strong that he is willing to disparage America’s intelligence community and ruin their reputation in the eyes of Americans and the world, he is willing – while he is still President-elect – to go against the decisions of President Obama and side with Vladimir Putin and Russia, and he has allowed his transition team to initiate and hold conversations with the Russian Ambassador although those conversations have the appearance of being inappropriate and raise questions by many concerned Americans.

We have yet to experience what a Trump Administration will be like.  But in two days, whether or not we are ready to embark upon that journey, we will begin to experience life in Trump’s America.  Based on who he has shown us that he is he will continue to behave just as he did during his life as a real estate mogul and during the primary and general elections.  This means that this journey for many Americans, as long as Mr. Trump is president, will be erratic and filled with stress.  We know that he is thin-skinned and easily provoked so we can only hope that those around him will, to the greatest extent possible, handle him with kid gloves whenever they disagree with him.  But if this does not suffice then all Americans – whether we are Democrats, Republicans or Independents must do our duty as citizens and hold our elected officials to account.  We must stand up for America and do our part to assure that our democracy remains as secure as it has always been and that we remain one nation: a nation which will always espouse and demand liberty and justice for all.

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line

I watched coverage of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently on CNN as he openly trashed President Barack Obama and implied that he is not a friend to Israel.  Prime Minister Netanyahu said that he told Secretary of State John Kerry that friends don’t take friends to the UN.  He said that Israel would work with its friends (he placed emphasis on the word friends) in the United States to right this wrong that the UN has committed against Israel.   Senator Lindsey Graham later followed up on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s comments by saying that he would lead the charge in blocking funds to the United Nations until the recently unfavorable resolution that was past against Israel is reversed.  The sad part of this whole situation to me is that there have not been any American politicians coming to the defense of President Obama but there have been a number of them who have criticized him for his actions.

Well, I want to weigh in on President Obama’s side of this argument.  I have disagreed with him on many things but this is not one of them.  First, I believe that Senator Graham, like the Republicans’ new standard bearer and President-elect Donald J. Trump has done since he announced his run for the presidency, is playing politics and will quickly reverse his course as soon as he detects  a shift in the political winds.  Second, what Prime Minister Netanyahu did not say during his anti-Obama rant was that friends don’t come to the United States of America, bypass the president, and knowingly go against his position on foreign policy and go directly to congress -which he knows is controlled by the opposing (Republican) Party, and make a speech that is in direct opposition to the current president’s policy in an effort to undermine him.

He also failed to mention that friends do not bypass friends, like the current President of the United States, while regularly publicly trashing friends, then go to the President-elect of the United States and trash friends to him who have protected them for eight years without allowing a single resolution against them to pass (until this one) even though for those eight years those friends, like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have reciprocated by being openly and publicly hostile toward them.  And although Prime Minister Netanyahu talked about how shameful it is that this president (President Obama)allowed this resolution to pass, he failed to mention that, among all of the American presidents that allowed UN resolutions unfavorable to Israel to pass that President Obama allowed the fewest (only one) to pass.  The maximum ever allowed to pass was 21; and that was under the auspices of a Republican President.  I wonder what Senator Lindsey Graham has to say about that?

It seems that every politician thus far has put their finger to the tip of their tongue, hoisted them up and tested the political winds, and those winds have said that no one, no matter how true it might be, should say anything negative about Israel.  Republicans have not supported President Obama for eight years so no one should be surprised at the lack of support from them now.  However, I hope that the American people will see that President Obama has been an outstanding president who is dedicated to all of the American people and that they will support him in his decision regarding the UN resolution against Israel.  I hope that they will remember that the President of the United States should be the one who sets American policy and leads America forward and not the Prime Minister of Israel.

Right now, Prime Minister Netanyahu is placing all of his trust in President-elect Donald Trump and so he has gone ‘all in’ with him and pushed all of his chips to the center of the table.  Unlike those of us in the United States, he has not witnessed how President-elect Trump operates.  It appears that he has chosen to abandon a true friend in President Obama and instead, chase after those shinny objects that is the substance of the rhetoric that President-elect Trump has offered up to him.

To all of those who have heaped the entire load on President Obama for the reason that a chasm has developed between the United States and Israel I say; take a deep breath, dig deep and find some courage, sincerely and accurately evaluate the situation, and then remove some of that burden that you have so freely piled onto his back.  Take a real close look at him as he spends his last days in office and seriously consider his persistent and honest efforts during his tenure to be president to all of the people.

Seriously consider what he has tried to do whether or not you agreed with him.  Consider the opportunities that were available to congress to try to learn from him and his unique biracial experience in order to move America forward.  Then, decide if these politicians made a real effort in the best interest of and on behalf of America or if they simply squandered a golden opportunity.  As for me, it is discouraging to see that they rejected such an opportunity and instead opted to embrace Senator Mitch McConnell’s policy of obstruction and morph into the ‘party of no’.  This party of no period certainly provided additional fodder for the successful rise of Mr. Trump to President-elect.  Although he was not the choice of establishment Republicans they have now embraced him along with Republicans throughout America who seem anxious to see President Obama leave office.

However, once President-elect Donald Trump is in office and begins to conduct the countries business in his unique Donald Trump style and implement his policies, there will likely be those who will long for the good ole days of President Barack Obama.  Instead, what they will get will be the thrill (or fear) of a roller coaster ride in reverse all the way back to the so called good ole days of the America of 50-plus years ago; the good ole days that President-elect Trump harped on during his entire campaign.  Buckle your seat belts and brace for impact!

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line

Is Senator Mitch McConnell hiding something?  Why, especially since senators from both parties requested it, is he so against having a select committee investigate Russia’s meddling in our election?  Senator McConnell’s reluctance raises serious questions in light of the fact that it was a questionable FBI search warrant that resulted in FBI Director James Comey’s letter to congress that might have cost Secretary Hillary Clinton the election.  As if this wasn’t enough, President-elect Trump offered Senator McConnell’s wife a position on his cabinet and – according to a memo to the Pentagon, Russia is not even mentioned in President-elect Trump’s defense priorities.  If the Benghazi tragedy warranted a select committee to investigate Secretary Clinton’s potential culpability in that situation, doesn’t an overt threat to our democracy warrant at least that same amount of scrutiny?

It is reasonable to believe that the Senate Majority Leader would be near the top of the list of those who would want to get to the bottom of this Russia meddling while making every effort to assure that the investigation would not become embroiled in a partisan finger pointing battle that would taint its outcome.  The fact that the Majority Leader does not want to appoint a select committee to conduct this investigation does not make him guilty of hiding something but, given the circumstances, it does make his motives suspect.  And since he is in regular contact with the President-elect, wouldn’t it benefit both of them to be as transparent as possible to avoid even the appearance of corruption?

Many of the things that President-elect Trump has said and done thus far leading up to his inauguration have been pro Russia.  And as the march to his inauguration continues, he and Russia President Vladimir Putin seem to be regularly echoing one another’s policies.  America is very divided at this point and the President-elect is not doing much to try to bring the country together.  Half of the American people are concerned that America is in essence being handed over to Russia.  This unprecedented cozying up to Russia by an American leader who is soon to become president does not appear to be a problem for those who voted for him.  But these are very frightening times for those Americans who did not vote for him.  President-elect Trump needs to address this.  It does not matter that they did not vote for him; he will still be their president, even if in name only, and so is responsible to make an effort to calm their fears.

Based on his actions thus far, there is little doubt that times will be frustrating and very hard for all middle class Americans under a President Trump administration.  And to make matters worse, the Republicans now rule in America.  Come 2017 they will control the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of the federal government, 69 of 99 state legislatures, and 33 governorships at the state level of government.  They will have total control of government in 25 states and partial control in 20 states.  Democrats will have total control of government in only five states.

With this kind of dominance, even if Mr. Trump and congress should disagree on some issues, Democrats and all of middle class America will still be in for a rough ride.  When Michael Moore was on the Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell show a few days ago he said that if you are among those who think that times will be bad under a President Trump administration, have a plan B; they will be worse.  This sounds ominous and extremely pessimistic but with the way that things are going while he is still President-elect, who knows what might happen once he becomes president; especially with a Christmas press release appearing to indicate that the GOP is crowning him as King Trump?

This is not the kind of article that I had anticipated posting just before or on Christmas.  I anticipated one that would be written under different circumstances and that would be encouraging, full of hope, and uplifting.  Unfortunately, that is not the case and it would be unfair for me to tell you otherwise.  So, if you will permit me to invoke the words of the late Walter Cronkite, that’s the way that it is on this Christmas Day December 25th 2017.

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line

President-elect Donald Trump could not be satisfied with just interjecting his personal perspective into America’s foreign policy, insulting China and tweeting it out to the world before he is inaugurated.  Instead, he is also keeping busy by running around the country insulting everyone who did not vote for him.  For some incomprehensible reason while taking his victory laps – or what he refers to as a ‘thank you tour’, he decided to thank African Americans for not coming out to vote.  There is something strange about this President-elect that causes him to find rubbing salt into open wounds irresistible.

He seems to relish this kind of thing and wrap himself in it like a soft, warm blanket as one might when they are showered with compliments and do not want to appear self-centered by responding with vociferous acknowledgement and self-serving smiles.  He does this even though he knows that he is playing with fire and if burned, it could completely ruin what little opportunity he has to honor his claim that he will be president to all of the people.  It could ruin his presidency; that is, if it can become any more ruined than it already is.  Most African Americans will remember that he thanked them for not coming out to vote; I know that I will.  His comment was totally unnecessary and unbecoming of someone who will soon hold the esteemed position of President of the United States of America.

Republican lawmakers up to the highest level continue to bless the President-elect’s behavior.  Republicans in the Senate and the House have refused to cooperate in any way with President Obama for the past eight years and instead have opted for gridlock in an effort to ruin his legacy rather than to conduct the nation’s business.  Republican controlled legislatures around the country have taken their cue from these leaders and, as a result of the behavior exhibited toward the president, felt free to implement unnecessary and harsh voter ID laws that either obstruct or block legitimate voters from voting.  The power grab that occurred in North Carolina after the 2016 election of a Democrat Governor is a good example of how far out of control Republicans have already become.  If Republicans continue to demur and allow President-elect Trump’s behavior to go unchallenged, things are sure to get worse.

I was watching the All In With Chris Hayes show the other day and Chris Hayes challenged Dahlia Lithwick (a contributing editor at Newsweek and senior editor at Slate) and, by way of his demeanor, ridiculed her when she said that Democrats needed to use the same kind of tactics that Republicans use against them to fight back.  In essence he said; doesn’t someone in the room need to be the adult and respect the rules and norms of governance?  I believe that the answer to his question is yes but I do not believe that that ‘someone’ always has to be a Democrat. Republicans and Democrats have to play by the same rules if the Democrats are going to ever be able to stand their ground let alone win.  Republicans behave the way that they do because they are accustomed to getting away with it!  As Ms. Lithwick stated; when Republicans win, they act like they have won and when Republicans lose, they act like they have won.  She went on to say that when Democrats win, they act like they have lost and when Democrats lose, they act like they have lost.

Powerful people, at some point, will always wield their power.  Politicians, big business and rich people do it to less powerful people every day.  Power seems to only understand and compromise with or acquiesce to power.  Mr. Hayes’ implication that if Democrats acted in the same manner as did Republicans that everything would just come to a grinding halt is an incorrect assumption.  Democrats have tried playing nice for at least the last eight years yet – whenever things have not gone the Republicans’ way, things have come to a grinding halt.  If both sides wield their power, common ground is more likely to be found.  Republicans have bullied Democrats for so long because Democrats have always acted like the ‘little people’; the people without power.  Powerful people are accustomed to bullying people without power.  Having said that , come January 2017, Democrats will be all but without power so my argument in support of Ms. Lithwick will likely be meaningless for a long time; at least, until Democrats can regain some vestige of real power.

During all of these years while Democrats have taken it upon themselves to be the adults in the room, Republicans have viewed this as a weakness and capitalized on it by making the Democratic Party their lackey.  They are doing that now by not standing up to President-elect Trump even though they are well aware that he is doing great damage to America and our image around the world.  Unfortunately at this point, Democrats can do very little about it.  President-elect Trump smacked down the Republican Party establishment and the Republican Party itself while during the whole time thumbing his nose at them.  Next – under highly questionable circumstances, he smacked down the Democratic Party nominee while during the whole time thumbing his nose at our democracy and all of our lawmakers including its executive branch.  Now, he intends to smack down all of the American people who did not vote for him while during the whole time thumbing his nose at us.

We the American people are not powerless.  Each of us has a vote and we should ban together and use the collective power of those votes.  We should use that power to show President-elect Trump and all of those politicians – Democrat, Republican or Independent – that we will hold them accountable if they choose to continue to demur and allow the President-elect to make a mockery of our system of governance.  And if they ignore us, we should unleash the collective power of our votes in the 2018 elections and beyond until they show us that they hear us.  We should show President-elect Trump that in America we have a government that is a ‘Government of the people, by the people, [and]for the people.’  It is not a government of the people, by Donald J. Trump and for the people.  We must not allow the President-elect to smack us down while during the whole time thumbing his nose at us.  We must not allow him to put the final piece of his puzzle into place and achieve his ultimate goal to make our country Trump’s America.

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line

President-elect Donald Trump, should he choose to be, could easily be accepted among those whose mantra is “don’t hate the player, hate the game.”  He has certainly made his bones when it comes to playing people and the latest time that he has played someone is playing out right now in the wake of his 2016 presidential election victory.  I would say that Governor Chris Christie, Corey Lewandowski, Paul Manafort, Rudy Giuliani and even Mitt Romney can be counted among those who were played and that there are still more names to come.

All of the working middle class people who voted for President-elect Trump, even if they are not getting what they deserve, are certainly getting what they voted for; and this is just the beginning.  Even union members voted for Mr. Trump in very large numbers and as a group, they will be especially disappointed by the time that he is through fleecing them.  Right now he is showing signs by way of his cabinet nominees that he has no intentions of keeping the promises that he made to them during the general election.  If his nominees are confirmed, that is when the real problems for labor and the rest of middle class Americans will really begin.

All of the people that Mr. Trump has selected to fill his cabinet positions thus far are extremely rich.  Many of them are billionaires and millionaires who either represent or have fought for big business and they are being put into place, according to Mr. Trump, to champion the cause of poor, middle class and other everyday Americans.  During the primaries and general election, Mr. Trump said that he would protect entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare and work to rebuild the middle class.  From the looks of things right now, that will not be the case.

Those school teachers who voted for him can look forward to him throwing his weight behind an increase in the number of charter schools while using funds from public education to help to assure the success of those charter schools.  Those same school teachers along with all of the other union workers who voted for Mr. Trump can look forward to an increase in the number and ferocity of the attacks on private sector and public sector unions.  These sorts of attacks have played a key part in reducing the overall percentage of the workforce represented by unions from a high of 20.1 percent in 1983 when the Bureau of Labor Statistics first began tracking this information to the current 11.1 percent.  In the case of public sector unions, based on lessons learned and best practices, these attacks will probably be fashioned after those led in 2011 by Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin since he was so successful in getting his ‘anti-union law’ passed.

If you are a union member, whether or not you voted for Mr. Trump is now irrelevant.  What is relevant is that if necessary, you be prepared to fight to maintain the rights that you have already worked so hard to gain as workers.  You must also fight to restore the power that you once wielded by first re-establishing the percentage of workers that you once represented in the work force and then exceeding that percentage.

Mr. Trump has had no problem in proving time-and-again that his promises are empty and meaningless and hold no value.  So it is reasonable for all Americans to be cautious and demand that he prove himself by showing that he can be the president to all of the people and govern fairly.  And because he is such an unconventional President-elect and appears to be confused at times as to how to prioritize his personal businesses and his responsibilities to them versus what is in the best interest of America, we should be cautious and assure that he prove himself in that arena as well.  He needs to make his bones so-to-speak; kind of like he has done as a player.

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line

Let’s set the metaphoric scene.  We are cruising at 38,000 feet and were just notified that as of January 20, 2017, all of the aircraft engines will fail.  On this particular flight, we are still months or perhaps even years away from even a glimpse of the runway where we are supposed to land let alone knowing whether we will be able to land smoothly or will experience a rough landing.  And even if we are able to land – smoothly or otherwise, will we be able to safely taxi to the terminal without being torn apart by another departing or landing aircraft that is not aware that we must cross their runway while we are taxiing?

The only ones on board our aircraft with parachutes are the white supremacist and those who voted for President-elect Trump.  So, should they choose to, they can at least bail out rather than risk a crash landing.  The instructions ring out from the aircraft’s speakers; ‘assume the crash position!’  Those of us without parachutes are left waiting for the remainder of the announcement which never comes; ‘put your heads between your legs… and kiss your a** goodbye!’  Although things might sound pretty bleak, this is not the end of the world for people of color, targeted religious groups and those who are a part of the LGBT community.

The best words that I can come up with to describe where those of us without a parachute stand are these.  At best, we are in a position where it is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick (simply because we are quick enough to parry it and thereby avoid being poked) before the potential crash and at worst before this crash,  when we are poked at, we are only grazed on the side of our face (because although we were not quick enough to parry it and totally avoid it, we were quick enough to avoid being poked in the eye).  Sounds real encouraging, right?  I wish that I could do better but I cannot.  That is how I see things going forward until we can change them.  President-elect Trump is completely unpredictable; it is likely that even he doesn’t know what he will do next.

I must admit that I am still somewhat depressed and struggling with how to deal with the trouncing that the Democrats took in this presidential election.  But I will continue to stand on principle, fight for those things that I believe in and believe that most other Americans believe in, refuse to believe that America is the kind of America that the Trump administration appears to be espousing, and look for a silver lining in the dark cloud that America has encountered with the election of President-elect Donald Trump.

This will be a tough assignment since all of the congressional Republicans have now kissed President-elect Trump’s ring and have fallen in line in support of him and his vision of how America should move forward.  Still, I hope that the rest of you who are without a parachute will be just as determined to fight for your rights and for a unified America as I am.  Because no matter how tired we might be we must continue to fight for what we believe to be right.  There is no guarantee as to what will happen if we continue to fight but if we do not, we are guaranteed to lose.

Those poor and middle class rural white Americans who voted in droves for President-elect Trump likely do not want the same thing that those Trump supporters like David Duke and Matthew Heimbach, the founder of the Traditionalist Worker Party, want.  Most of them do not feel the same way about America as does Mr. Duke and Mr. Heimbach, who has heaped praise on Russia and its president and made statements like “I see President Putin as the leader of the free world.”  They simply bought into President-elect Trump’s divisive rhetoric and hype about how he will bring jobs back to America and make America and their lives great again.

From this posting forward, I do not want to focus on President-elect Trump’s tweets, his convoluted selection of his cabinet members, his shun of the State Department or how he is upsetting Americans and foreign leaders by ignoring proper protocol.  That is all customary Washington Republican smoke-and-mirrors on his part to sucker Americans into looking in the wrong direction while he works his dastardly magic.  While it is not the normal smoke-and-mirrors, it is still smoke-and-mirrors but simply on steroids because it is being carried out by President-elect Trump.  And I believe that all of us would concede that President-elect Trump’s actions are seldom if ever normal.

Instead, I want to focus on President-elect Trump’s policies and how they will hurt all middle class and poor Americans including those who voted for him based on his empty promises.  When it occurs, and it will occur, I want to shed light on how he is stiffing them just like he stiffed Americans in the Trump University fiasco and many other Americans during the course of his business career.  I am inclined to believe that President-elect Trump wants the American people to believe that he is stupid so that we will continue to underestimate him.  President-elect Trump may be ignorant but he is certainly not stupid.  He destroyed all of his Republican opponents during the primaries and defeated Secretary Hillary Clinton in the general election because he was successful in convincing us that he is stupid.  Let’s learn from our mistake so that we can make sure that the same thing does not happen again.  As a part of that learning process and to keep abreast of what is happening, I ask that you watch (and read) this space.

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line

If you do not like what you are seeing that is fighting its way up from the bottom of the swamp – which, by the way, President-elect Trump said that he was going to drain, in America and you either did not vote or you cast a protest vote, oh well… But hopefully you can still empathize with those who had the courage to vote for someone rather than completely cop out and stay at home or toss their vote into a bottomless hole by casting a protest vote. In the event that there is any confusion as to what I mean when I say “a protest vote”, I mean one that was cast for a third party candidate whom the voter knew did not stand a snowball’s chance in hell of winning the election.

Go ahead, be angry at me and call me any name that might suit your fancy. But deep down inside, although you might consider it meddling, you know that I have reasonable grounds to question your rationale regarding your decision; reflect on this before dismissing me with prejudice. That way later, you can at least reflect on what I have said and, perhaps – in some way, profit from it in your future decision-making. To cast a protest vote does not require one to research the records of the competing candidates and then make a tough decision on which candidate to choose based on what they learned from those records.

I am confident that some researched the records while there are others who did not. To be fair to all of those who cast a protest vote, I must give credit to the ones who at least researched the records of the candidates before they made a decision. Nonetheless, it is my opinion that anyone who cast a protest vote simply did not have the courage to step up and make a tough decision; they shied away from what for them was a stress-laden choice between two equally unattractive candidates and instead chose to roll the dice and let that determine which path forward that America would take. In essence, they wasted their vote.

Granted, everyone knows the weight that an opinion carries, especially if the one who is expressing that opinion is not a bona fide expert on the subject or, at least, well-known. Obviously, I am neither an expert on the subject nor am I well-known but still, I implore you; think about it! Why? Because your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it! Maybe the outcome would have been the same…or maybe it wouldn’t have. Your vote just might have made that crucial difference; but we will never know.

Because Donald J. Trump will be our next president, there will likely be many times that the American people will have to make decisions regarding whether or not to support the decisions that he will make on which direction America should take in moving forward. The decisions that the American people make as to whether or not to support President-elect Trump in those decisions will be extremely important.

Regardless as to whether or not we decide to support him; our decisions should be based on a serious reflection on America’s history, what America is truly about, painstaking research on President-elect Donald J. Trump and his history, whether or not we believe that those decisions have the best interest of all Americans at heart and how that dovetails with who we really are as Americans. Likely we would not put this much effort into monitoring the decisions of a normal president because we would place a reasonable amount of trust in them to do their job and lead us. But this is not a normal president, it is Donald J. Trump.

Having said that, I present to you President-elect Donald J. Trump. A President-elect about whom his son, Donald Trump, Jr. said that – should his father be elected president, it would be a step down for him. America should know that this is likely the only step down that Donald J. Trump will ever take for the American people. Why? Because he will have reached his pinnacle by taking, according to his son, that step down.

From my perspective, here is the view that President-elect Donald Trump and all elected Republicans who supported him and worked so hard to block legitimate voters from voting to assure that their partisan values and views would prevail, now likely have of me. Since I poked fun of him for wasting time by showboating in his all-but-nonexistent chance of actually winning the election, taking excerpts from a couple of articles that I wrote and posted to this website is my way of eating crow. Following are those excerpts:

1. Article title: ‘Republicans On Obamacare: Back To The Future.‘ It has been a long time since the Republicans ranted on a regular basis about the evils of the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) and how they will save Americans from it by destroying it root and branch. But recently the press handed them what they believe to be a golden egg from that wonderful mythical goose that will not only prevent them from losing seats in red states that traditionally vote Republican but are now wavering, but it will help them to rid America of Obamacare once and for all. All that we have to do, these reinvigorated Republicans believe, is to generate 1.21 gigawatts of power – in each direction – to propel us through that black hole back to the point in the past where we had the optimum leverage against Obamacare, grab that leverage, and bring it back to the future; the here-and-now! Just like Doc and Marty McFly did in that car that Doc made! Voila, right?

2. Article title: ‘Should Secretary Hillary Clinton Nominate Her Own Pick To Be U.S. Supreme Court Justice And Also Replace FBI Director James Comey?‘ On October 26, 2016 I posted an article to this blog which stated that Mr. Trump and the Republicans believed that they had received a golden egg from the mythical golden goose that would help them not only to hold on to their majority in the Senate and House, but it would help them and America to get rid of Obamacare once and for all. Well, it appears that the mythical golden goose has presented them with a second golden egg. This egg is in the form of FBI Director James B. Comey. This time, however, the egg might not be so mythical and it might be much easier for Republicans to turn it into a political windfall.

Just 11 days before the election and against the advice of U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director Comey decided to send a vague letter to a number of Republicans stating that he might have found more Hillary Clinton emails that might be relevant to the Hillary Clinton closed investigation that, if actually relevant might cause him to reopen the Clinton email investigation. Say What! What does his statement really mean?

Well, Mr. Trump and the Republicans knew exactly what they wanted it to mean so they took it and ran directly to the media. As a result, the polls that were widening in Secretary Clinton’s favor took a dramatic turn and things quickly tightened up. Amazingly, Republicans still wanted to put Donald Trump in the White House!

My thoughts then were that those Republicans who at one time or another said that Mr. Trump is a con man who is unqualified and unfit to be President of the United States should be held accountable for what they are doing and at best for them, should suffer some form of severe political punishment short of not being reelected and at worst that punishment should result in the election of someone to replace them. I held the thoughts stated in the preceding sentence despite the fact that Director Comey had interjected himself into the campaign so close to election day and despite the fact that the polls showed that the gap between the two candidates was quickly closing. I shared those thoughts with others because I thought that being rid of congressmen like them would make it much easier for President Hillary Clinton to do her job in leading the country. Yes, I said President Hillary Clinton; because, in my arrogance, I was still certain that she would win.

Guess what? Mr. Trump won and is now President-elect Trump. And that means that all of those pseudo statesmen Republicans won too. It appears that self-preservation, party, and party unity – in that particular order – are way out in front of what a great majority of Americans feel is in the best interest of the country and the American people. Guess what else? Since candidate Trump has become President-elect Trump he has not changed. He continues to thumb his nose at the American political system, congress and the American people, dare them to do anything about it, and tell them – not verbally but through his actions – if they don’t like what he is doing they can shove it in their collective ear or ‘wherever.’

As much as it hurts to say it, President- elect Trump got the last laugh…so far. But if he is not careful, the big ‘I’ word (impeachment) could be lurking just around the bend for him. After all, those Republicans are quite the cunning group; their shenanigans during this election have proven that. And under the circumstances, Vice President-elect Mike Pence might be their man and just what the doctor ordered. But for now all of them, including Mitt Romney who was candidate Trump’s most harsh critic, are kowtowing and lining up to kiss his ring or ‘whatever.’ But this is not at all unusual according to President-elect Trump, after all, when he was running during the primaries he said that in the past, after he made contributions to their campaigns, he would call them up and they would always take his calls. And then, during the course of those calls, they would kiss his ring…or ‘whatever.’

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line

I read an article in The Washington Post by John Woodrow Cox on white supremacist Richard Bertrand Spencer. The article was dated November 22, 2016 and after I read it I felt compelled to coin a new word for how I feel about Mr. Spencer because while I admire his moxie and determination, I deplore – not him, but his ideals. Accordingly, this new word is ‘addemiplore’ (pronounced; ad – de – my – plore) which is a combination of the words ‘admire’ and ‘deplore’.

I took the liberty to excerpt one of the statements that Mr. Cox made in his article entitled ’Let’s party like it’s 1933‘: Inside the alt-right world of Richard Spencer. Mr. Cox said “But to those who track hate groups, Spencer is dangerous because, when he doesn’t want to, he doesn’t look or sound or act dangerous.” For exactly this reason, Mr. Spencer is indeed an extremely dangerous man. In the event that this observation by Mr. Cox is not clear enough for you, we can explore the ‘why he is a dangerous man’ a bit more deeply by way of this short anecdote. If you are ever confronted by two dogs and feel equally threatened by both you should always remember, it’s not the dog that confronts you, growls and bears its fangs at you to show that it feels that you are a threat and will attack if you do not freeze or if you continue to move forward; instead, it is the dog that will tuck its tail, lower its head and appear to cowardly slink away. That is the dog that will quietly sneak up behind you and bury its fangs in you; that is the dog that you must watch very closely.

Because, once it buries its fangs in you and brings you down, gone will be the dog that appeared cowardly and slinked away. It – in the case of someone like Richard Spencer – will immediately morph into an apex predator, grab you by the throat and hold that grip until there is no life left in you. And once it is sure that you are dead, it will take its time and completely devour you while relishing the taste of your yet warm and once life-giving blood. If this sounds overly gruesome, then I have achieved my goal. Because no matter how gruesome it sounds, I can never make it sound gruesome enough to describe what Mr. Spencer and people like him who pursue such a course are doing to the American people and the democracy that we espouse, stand for and hold dear!

Based on their comments in Mr. Cox’s article, it is Obvious that Mr. Spencer’s parents do not to agree with his politics. But like most parents who love their children, they will stand by him to the greatest extent possible without completely jettisoning the principles by which they themselves live. In other words, even if they do not support him in what he is doing, they will not give him up as reprobate unless – based on principle – they have no other choice. This is completely understandable. These things notwithstanding, I want to get back to why I find it necessary to coin a new word for Mr. Spencer and why I find him to be addemiplore.

While Mr. Spencer is a charismatic young man who can charm his audiences – friend or foe, and put them at ease with these skills, Americans must remain vigilant and not be fooled by him less we become his unwitting prey. I admire Mr. Spencer as a person who seems to hold deeply felt ideas and ideals about how he views America and who is willing to be a leader and fight for those ideas and ideals; and I would strongly defend his right to do this. But I deplore him as a person who dares to hold ideas and ideals that proclaim that all men are not created equal and are not endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights … And despite that admiration of his moxie and my commitment to defend his right to express his feelings and seek implementation of those ideas and ideals, I will even more strongly oppose him in his efforts to implement them.

These strong thoughts and feelings that I have and the pride that I have in my country and in being an American cause me to once again reflect on the meaning of the word statesmanship; a word that must surely be inscribed upon the hearts of all politicians who are true patriots. Hence, the thought that so many Republicans that I assumed to be statesmen have acted so cowardly prior to and during this 2016 general election is mind-boggling. How, in the name of democracy, could they have allowed for so many Americans to be disenfranchised in the name of party unity? How could they, and how can they, continue to observe these efforts at disenfranchisement and also stand back and watch President-elect Donald J. Trump thumb his nose at the American political system (he is breaking every rule and all of the political norms) while making a mockery of America and making us the laughingstock of the world? I can’t believe that this is happening…but it is. Have we no decency, pride or dignity left?!

The Republican party has been hijacked by Mr. Trump with the aid of Steve Bannon – whom Mr. Trump has selected to be his chief strategist, Richard Bertrand Spencer, and other white supremacists like him. Mr. Trump’s silence with regard to these white supremacists groups, until his hand was forced due to heavy political pressure, was deafening and his refusal until very recently – due to that same political pressure, to overtly denounce and distance himself from these white supremacist ideas and ideals continues to be frightening to many of the American people.

In addition to his reluctance to denounce and distance himself from these groups, he is continuing to surround himself with people who will only lead him further into the abyss; among these people are some whom many Americans associate with the white supremacist movement. Mr. Spencer is working very hard at trying to reinvent himself by referring to himself as ‘alt-right.’ But his efforts will never amount to anything more than putting lipstick on a pig; its still a pig.

And Mr. Spencer, no matter what he calls himself and how successful he might be at subtly coaxing others into calling him by that same title, he will still remain a white supremacist. And to avoid encouraging him and those like him and giving them impetus such as that which candidate Trump gave them throughout his campaign, that is what all Americans should call him. A pig with lipstick is still a pig and Mr. Spencer clothe in the title of ‘alt-right’ is still a white supremacist. He should not be so ashamed of that that he would seek to hide behind a word that he concocted, alt-right, (kind of like my made up word, addemiplore) if he harbors those beliefs.

Such a devastating defeat is hard to accept especially in light of the gigantic leap to the right which it appears that America might soon take. This defeat is even harder to swallow when Mr. Spencer and those like him who have been lurking in the shadows for so long have now decided to come out of those shadows to celebrate Mr. Trump’s victory and gloat. Although the Democrats received substantially more votes from the American people than did Mr. Trump and the Republicans, they seem content to remain silent while Mr. Trump, congressional Republicans, and the white supremacist hangers-on strive to grab the reigns of mainstream power. Right now, the Democratic Party still seems to be suffering from shell shock because of Secretary Hillary Clinton’s devastating loss to Mr. Trump and therefore are scared and unable to reason, walk or talk. Perhaps I am confusing that phenomenon with contentment. Regardless of why Democrats are not doing anything they are caught in a vacuum so where they go from here remains to be seen.

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line

Hello folks. These are obviously tough times for those of us who are Democrats but they are just as obviously ‘Happy Days Are Here Again’ times for Republicans. Did you see the big cheshire cat smile on Senator Mitch (Mr. Whack-A-Mole) McConnell’s face as he stood just behind and slightly to the left of President-elect Donald J. Trump? Well, I sure did. I can’t remember for sure but I think that I was watching MSNBC when I saw it. It was history-making, breath-taking and epic in one amazing snapshot of Mr. Whack-A-Mole at his best; it revealed the ‘appearing’ portion of his whack-a-mole method of operation (MO). He appeared because the Republicans won the election and he wants to be sure to ingratiate himself to President-elect Trump by paying him the proper homage.

I have mentioned in other articles that I posted to this site how Senator McConnell knows exactly when to disappear and remain as quite as a church mouse and exactly when to reappear and take all of the hard-fought and hard-won credit that his fellow senators more rightfully deserve. After all, they were the ones, right or wrong, on the frontlines and in the trenches taking all of the incoming fully loaded projectiles of criticism for supporting, or denigrating, President-elect Trump. But let’s give credit where credit is due, there fearless majority leader was tucked away in a bunker as near to the front lines as it is safe for a whack-a-mole leader to be while strongly leading from behind. Leading from behind; isn’t this something that he and the rest of the Republicans have regularly accused President Obama of doing?

Now, just because I said that Senator McConnell knows exactly when to reappear does not mean that he does not peek out of his hiding place from time-to-time prior to his reappearance to see what is going on. These sneak peaks are where the ‘disappearing’ and whack-a-mole portion of his MO come into play. If we talked about it from a football perspective he would be like those slot guys – Edelman, Amendola and Wes Welker. Or if we talked about it from a running back perspective, he would be like a Barry Sanders; because he can stop on a dime, all but miraculously move backwards as fast as he moves forward, change directions laterally so quickly and quickly start and move forward again that when you think that you have him corralled so reach out to grab him, you find that he is gone and you are left grasping at air. This man, Senator Mitch (Whack-A-Mole) McConnell, is amazing. Maybe that’s why it is so hard to get a drink with him; he is totally elusive, kind of like the invisible man. And you have to give him credit, the man is quick!

But I digress due to my awe of Edelman, Amendola, Wes Welker and the amazing Barry Sanders. Please indulge me though and allow me to further explain why I say that he is quick! Digression notwithstanding, I am almost as much in awe of the slot man/running back-like abilities that Senator McConnell has perfected and continues to possess in the world of politics; and at his age! Anyway, when Senator McConnell pops up out of one of his holes to see what is going on and the press spots him; before they can whack him and pull him out of his hole so that they can restrain him and ask him questions, he has ducked back into his hole and they are left whacking at air.

Then, because he did not procure all of the information that he needed when he popped up the first time, he pops up in a different place and the same thing happens all over again. He manages to successfully do this until he determines that it is safe for him to come out of his hiding place so that he can claim his prize. And when it is safe, he comes out and claims it. But this does not bother the rest of those elected officials in the Washington Republican Party pride because they know their place in the food chain and their pecking order in the pride so they patiently wait and then squabble over the remains.

As long as things are going well, Senator Mitch Whack-A-Mole McConnell will remain above ground and be available to the press. But as soon as things begin to go bad for Republicans, you will see him line up in the backfield or slot position, the count will be called – ready, s e t…, hut. Immediately the Republican offensive line will surge forward, as will the media’s defensive line and you will hear the grunts and groans from both the offensive and defensive linemen as they struggle to gain the advantage.

The supporting linebackers and other defensive backs will defend against the pass or run to the best of their ability. Whatever position that Senator Mitch Whack-A-Mole McConnell is playing, he will receive the ball. The defensive linemen, linebackers, and other defensive backs will think that they have him corralled; but when they reach out to grab him…poof, he will be gone. And they will be left grasping at air until the next time that he decides to appear. Like I said before, the man is quick!

By the way, did you see the expression on Senator Mitch McConnell’s face when a reporter asked him if he is comfortable having Steve Bannon as President-elect Donald Trump’s Chief Strategist? In the event that you did not, it looked like… Well, there is no picture – other than the original one captured, or any words that I can come up with that can properly convey that expression. But I can tell you what his response was; it was, “It’s nice seeing you guys.” Upon those words, the press personnel were chased (well, not literally…I hope) from the room. I wonder…were those code words for rescue me and get them the hell out of here? I wonder…

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line