Trump Senate Impeachment Trial

Donald Trump is being tried for impeachment in the Senate for inciting an insurrection on January 6, 2021, as President of the United States. This will be a serial. Stay tuned for daily updates until its conclusion.

Day 1: I’m listening to Trump’s legal defense team’s arguments on the constitutionality of trying the House impeachment of January 13, 2021. Their strategy appears to be to put everyone to sleep with rambling thoughts, falsehoods, red herrings & non-sequiturs. Zzzzzzzzz…..

Bruce Castor (above), Trump defense lawyer, “We expect our US Senators not to react to popular will.” That, and horse trading, is democracy. That’s the thinly-veiled message in their defense argument.

The defense’s visual aids stink compared to the prosecution’s. That’s what happens when you run off your entire legal team a week before the trial. David Schoen’s rambling gibberish makes me delirious with surreal images…. “I’d like to cite yet other case on the unconstitutionality of these proceedings, in the Cookie monster vs. the Muppets*, blah, blah, blah…”

* This was little-known case concerning the Cookie Monster trying to take over Sesame Street, with the rest of the cast responding by threatening to take away his cookies. I think it’s been cited as relevant here. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

This video revealed earlier today by the prosecution hits much harder, and clearly emphasizes the point of this impeachment trial. Anyone can see why the Republicans don’t want this trial.

The final Senate vote taken after 5 PM EST was 56-44 on the constitutionality of trying the impeachment. Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (KY) voted ‘No,’ proving they’re the party of fascism. Not a single Republican can give a clear reason why this trial is unconstitutional, and that’s because the Constitution is clear that it is.

But the media doesn’t press this issue too much, because some of these Republicans were in on the insurrection conspiracy, and reviewing their complicity could get ugly for the two-party system. That’s why President Joe Biden claims he’s “keeping his distance” on impeachment, when actually he’s following this very closely. Trump’s impeachment trial starts in earnest at noon tomorrow.

No comment from Joe Biden’s Press Secretary at all. Here are my questions for him. “Mr. President, how do you feel about the events of January 6, and Donald Trump’s responsibility for it? Should Trump be impeached for inciting an insurrection? Do you see these actions as a criminal attempt to steal your victory? Should Trump be criminally prosecuted?”

As US President, and the person who won the 2020 election over Trump, Joe Biden needs to answer these questions directly to the American people. Otherwise, he’s a fraud, as much as all the rest who are trying to duck this fundamental issue of democracy.

As for Vice President Kamala Harris, she’s been viewed jogging stairs at Lincoln Memorial [a BLM racialist!] over 4 million times as of this evening, but has no comment on the impeachment trial. The narrative was that Kamala Harris would be the democratic voice of the oppressed, through her identity politics credentials, but that was all campaign hype. She’s an entitled elitist, only interested in maintaining her career & privileges. Therefore Kamala Harris won’t answer any serious questions either.

Day 2: Wed 10 Feb 2021 09:00 AM EST

I read this piece from ABC News this morning titled, “Biden laser-focused on pushing his agenda as Senate starts impeachment trial.” I thought to myself, “Biden ducks Trump impeachment” would be a more accurate title. By the way, how does a semi-senile individual like Joe Biden ‘laser focus’ on anything? Pure propaganda from the corporatized fake media.

Let us review the political resumes of the current President & VP. Joe Biden, 47th VP from 2009-2017 under Barack Obama, represented Delaware in the United States Senate from 1973-2009. Kamala Harris served as a United States senator from California from 2017-2021. The Senate, which is now debating Trump’s impeachment, is where Biden-Harris came from, so their true thoughts on what’s going on is obligatory to the American people.

For White House press secretary Jen Psaki to insist at a briefing on Monday (Feb 8) that the President “will not spend too much time watching the proceedings, if any time, over the course of this week,” is not believable. Anybody with a political brain knows there’s top-secret back-channeling going on. Leaders answers these important questions definitively to their rank-and-file constituency, especially after January 6, 2021. Cowardly frauds, Kamala Harris included, hide from them.

Wed 10 Feb 2021 04:09 PM EST

The impeachment managers’ ‘Big Lie’ argument on Trump’s “Stop the Steal” campaign has been devastating to the defense. In fact, it was Donald Trump who tried to steal the 2020 election. The evidence is overwhelming and irrefutable. It’s about time we heard this on MSM.

Some other interesting facts we’ve come to learn today, included Trump spending $50 million in campaign money to fund the Proud Boys for the January 6 mob insurrection. Democratic impeachment managers are carefully avoiding the sordid history of Enrique Tarrio, head of the Proud Boys since 2018, and a “prolific FBI informer.” Enrique Tarrio has snitched on at least three major marijuana grow-houses in south Florida. J. Edgar Hoover would be livid over this public outing of an agent.

Another tidbit, Women for America First secured the permit for January 6, which explicitly forbade them from marching. Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani said on January 6 to a mob of angry Trump supporters at the Ellipse, “Let’s have trial by combat.”

Unasked questions: What were the roles of Roger Stone, Dan Scavino, Stephen Miller & Stephen Bannon in planning & organizing the attack on the Capitol? What about the rest of Trump’s inner circle? Were Republican members of Congress in on this conspiracy? What about the stand down of the National Guard? Much more needs to be dug into on these points.

Wed 10 Feb 2021 09:09 PM EST

Two weeks ago, 45 Republican senators voted that the impeachment trial of former President Trump is unconstitutional. Legal scholars & constitutional historians nearly unanimously say it is constitutional. The Republican Party still hasn’t offered a coherent argument as to why this impeachment trial is unconstitutional. It compares to Trump not admitting he lost an election. And that’s the defense the Republicans have rested on. They aren’t even considering the evidence shown, which this nation, and entire world have seen.

When Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says, “This case is over,” most people watching these proceedings could only think, “Yeah, and Trump is guilty.” But for Graham and his filthy (& cowardly) lot, it’s the opposite. This process is “unconstitutional,” so therefore they aren’t swayed by ANY of the evidence. This is how the Republican caucus is ducking the substance of the serious issues being presented. In other words, the Republicans are immune to the truth of January 6. Donald Trump is to be acquitted when it comes to a vote, even though he is clearly guilty of inciting a mob insurrection.

What this means is that the Republican Party is the domain of fascists and all their apologists. The two-party system is breaking apart, live on national television. The biggest cowards are indeed the Republicans, who can’t stand up to their biggest bully. Even when Trump is totally isolated, after his violent insurrection on the Capitol, the Republicans still cower to him. This impeachment trial was their chance to finish him forever, and take back their Party, or whatever is left of it, anyways. But they couldn’t do it. They need the Democrats to rescue them, and they know they will, so understand that there are no heroes on the other side of the aisle.

The Nazis, white supremacists, anti-Semites, anti-vaxxers, right-wing militia gun nuts, Bible freaks, etc, who obeyed Trump are the Republican Party’s base. The Republicans threw in their lot with Trump in 2016, and they will go down in flames with him. That’s what’s happening in this impeachment trial.

At this point, it is the court of public opinion that is trying this case, since it is clear that the Republicans have abstained their responsibility to be fair & impartial. Most Americans believe Donald Trump is guilty, and this creates a host of problems for those who abetted him, because Trump has neither the brains, nor the discipline to plan & carry out this conspiracy to storm the Capitol on January 6 by himself.

Many of the ‘appeals to conscience’ from the prosecution were directed towards Mike Pence, the VP whose life was literally threatened by Trump’s insurrection. Pence is seen as the conservative head of the Republicans, a ‘reasonable man’ that Democrats such as Joe Biden could work with. These appeals to Pence can be seen as an olive branch from the Democrats. Remember that Joe Biden has insisted, “We must have unity with the fascists.” Actually he said, “We must have unity with the Republicans,” but since we’ve seen that Republicans always support fascists, those two terms are synonymous in modern political science.

Tomorrow is to be the final day of evidence presentation. I, along with many others, will be watching & judging. After that, the defense is to have its turn. After Tuesday’s disaster, who knows how that will go, but it isn’t expected to take nearly as long as the prosecution’s presentation. Then there may be some rebuttal, followed by closing arguments. The Republicans sincerely hope that Trump’s lawyers do a better job of defense, because they need the political cover. In any event, the Republicans will vote down impeachment of their führer, and then they will pretend all this never happened. That’s two-party capitalist politics in 2021.

Day 3: Thu 11 Feb 2021 01:52 AM EST

Sen. Mike Lee of Utah tried a grandstand play at the very end of Wednesday’s session, when he passionately claimed the evidence about Trump accidentally calling him while trying to reach Tommy Tuberville on January 6, as the riot was in progress, was not true. Except that Mike Lee is already on record that it did happen.

The Democrats submitted anyways, and upheld his false argument, throwing out that part of the testimony. Octogenarian, Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT), the master of ceremonies, appeared very confused & taken aback by all this bluster.

“If Senate Republicans fail to convict Donald Trump, it won’t be because the facts were with him or his lawyers mounted a competent defense. It will be because the jury includes his co-conspirators,” Hillary Clinton tweeted Wednesday. This quote is notable, in that it’s the first honest statement I can recall from the former First Lady. That’s another indication of the depth of this political crisis.

For the record, these co-conspirators include US Senators: Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Tommy Tuberville, Marco Rubio, Rick Scott, and many other Trump loyalists. In the House of Representatives it’s even worse, as the conspirators there include: Kevin McCarthy, Mat Gaetz, Mo Brooks, Paul Gosar & Andy Biggs, to name the most prominent reactionaries.

Yesterday, it was announced by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey that the “Trump ban is PERMANENT even if he’s re-elected.” Trump has been banned from spreading dangerous lies & misinformation on Twitter, and all other major social media platforms. Fascists cry foul on the grounds of “free speech.” But any first-year law student knows that inciting criminal violence isn’t protected under the 1st Amendment. Yet Trump and his fascist supporters claim they are being unfairly censored & suppressed by the “radical left.” Every political argument these fascists make is a big lie, backed by the threat of violence, and covered-up by bureaucratic complacency & ruthless self-interest.

And then there’s the role of the Capitol Police on January 6. According to this report, “The Capitol Police chief resigned after the attack, two officers have been suspended and at least 10 others are being investigated for behavior during the attack including an incident in which one took a selfie with rioters. Despite this, the Capitol Police have not held a briefing to address reporters or the public since the attack.” This hasn’t been brought up in the impeachment trial either.

Much of the gratitude the prosecutors are professing to the Capitol Police officers who fought to defend them against Trump’s mob is genuine. But deep inside, there is an element of pandering to law enforcement. The uncritical acceptance of police loyalty defies logic after what happened. Too many Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and other fascist scum that stormed the Capitol on January 6, came from the ranks of the police, firefighters & military.

To those who were actually loyal and did their jobs, suffering injuries and worse in the melee, the lack of an impeachment conviction is a slap in their faces. It sends the message, “Stand by, we will need you again soon, as we can’t ensure this doesn’t happen again, because we don’t have the political will to stop this.” It gives fascists a free pass, and puts everyone else in harm’s way. It also begs the question, “If this isn’t an impeachable offense, then what is?” This question needs to be put to every Republican that votes to acquit Donald Trump.

Thu 11 Feb 2021 11:00 AM EST

As Sly Stone sang, “It’s a Family Affair,” and that’s what we have here. All impeachments are partisan, but this time it to such an extreme that it is fracturing all rules of logic, human decency, as well as the existing political set-up.

The Bill Clinton impeachment in 1998 was for perjury, in lying about an extra-martial sexual affair. That campaign was spear-headed by arch-reactionary Newt Gingrich (R-GA) and his so-called “moral majority,” which held sway in Congress. This was a filthy partisan effort to remove a two-term President through a dirty-tricks campaign, and it paved the way for the stolen election of 2000, and then 9/11.

The first Trump impeachment, in September 2019, was the culmination of the Democrats reactionary anti-Russia campaign, which began in summer 2016. The accusations were so thin (& convoluted) that most people don’t even understand what it was. They mostly know it was bullshit.

On top of that, Republican operatives came up with more compelling evidence of criminality by Joe Biden [!], which threw a big wrench into everything the Democrats had scripted. Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, received huge payoffs from Ukraine magnates, for no work. Nobody in the fake MSM mentions that Ukraine had a fascist counter-revolution orchestrated by the CIA in 2014, known as the “orange revolution” by propagandists. Here’s an example of that big lie.

The Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court hearing in the summer of 2018 is the other significant modern partisan battle, in relation to Trump’s current impeachment trial. It was the height of the Democrats feminist witch-hunting #MeToo campaign, and they choose to attack Trump’s reactionary nominee not on his public record, but on unfounded (and dubious) sexual assault allegations which went back decades, with no witnesses or evidence to confirm these accusations. It was another gift to Trump from the Clinton-Obama-Biden Democrats, in the name of partisanship.

All that context is necessary to understand this impeachment of Trump for inciting a mob to storm the Capitol. It’s much different than all the other political theater we’re used to, because the issues here are clear. Everybody understands the images, audio & arguments being presented for impeachment. It’s not bullshit, in fact it’s the exact opposite. Nothing is more important for the American people to understand than the fact that Trump is going to be acquitted, despite the massive evidence against him, and the reason is the Democratic Party.

The Dems enabled Republicans when they were echoing Trump’s “Stop the Steal” big lie campaign. There is a “prolific” FBI informer leading the Proud Boys, so why wasn’t this Capitol mob conspiracy snuffed out immediately? Etc, etc… The compromisist language weaved into their arguments makes it clear that Joe Biden is negotiating this Senate impeachment trial behind-the scenes for himself. The US President doesn’t take a pass on something this big, when so much self-interest & political power is at stake.

Thu 11 Feb 2021 04:50 PM EST

The House managers just finished their closing arguments, and it’s a devastating case against Trump. All networks have openly acknowledged that Donald Trump will be acquitted, despite the mountain of evidence and dangerous precedent it will set. The prosecution certainly knew this, so it felt much more like a pitch to the public today, which is a good strategy as the Republicans are hopeless.

House Representatives Joe Neguse (D-CO), and team leader Jamie Raskin, (D-MD) have to be considered the stars for the Democrats in this historic impeachment trial. I’ll confess that I also appreciated Ted Lieu (D-CA), and his understated style. The truth is the entire team for the prosecution was at least competent, and often above that standard, in terms of bourgeois parliamentary effectiveness. But in terms of Trotskyist historical materialism, they’re all political children, which is why they blacklist socialists.

Tomorrow, it’s Trump’s lawyers getting a second crack at trying to do something for the defense. I predict it’s going to be ugly, confusing & painful. I’m not a legal expert, but I don’t believe that David Schoen & Bruce Castor are going to be retained as Trump attorneys after this weekend. Anybody wanna bet me on that? I’ll be tuning in tomorrow, and publishing more updates, to help make sense of this madness. I’ll post more later tonight to preview some important thoughts to keep in mind.

Thu 11 Feb 2021 08:16 PM EST

Eric London of the WSWS just published a monumental 4-part series titled, “Sylvia Ageloff and the assassination of Leon Trotsky,” in which he discusses the role of US government agents in the murder conspiracy. In short, a vast network of Stalinist agents in Mexico, Canada & the US were complicit in Trotsky’s murder in August 1940. J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI abetted the crime, by allowing GPU agents Sylvia Ageloff & Ramon Mercader to travel in & out of the US freely, when harsh wartime immigration & travel restrictions were in effect, etc.

Hoover’s overarching interest was in getting the names of GPU spies in the US from Sylvia Ageloff, which he finally did. The FBI covered everything up in the US media, as part of Hoover’s witch-hunting campaign against “communists,” which led to HUAC and then blacklists. Mexican prosecutors & justice officials were silenced and/or killed by agents of Stalin. The assassins lived long & comfortable lives, and were viewed as heroes by their establishments. Killing is a dirty business.

I mention this because Proud Boys leader, Enrique Tarrio, is a known government agent, yet he did nothing to stop the attack on the Capitol. Raz Simone of CHAZ /CHOP is another example of an agent provocateur, for his role in the BLM gangland violence in Seattle this past summer. These people are very dangerous because they are unprincipled. Intelligence agencies seek to place spies like these in positions where they can betray others without their knowledge.

This type of treachery has nothing to do with democracy. All government secrets should be revealed to the public. Secret diplomacy kills democracy, and the back-channeling during this impeachment trial is proof. The nods to “national security” & calls to “patriotism,” reeked of Joe Biden’s invisible hand during the prosecution’s presentation on Thursday.

So does the Democrats rhetoric about preserving each American’s “sacred right to vote.” In 2020, the Democratic Party blacklisted any socialist opposition to the left of Bernie Sanders. It was completely centrist-right politicking until election day, under conditions where a coronavirus pandemic had wiped out the global economy and millions of jobs, creating unsustainable inequality.

Trotskyists are internationalists first. We don’t heed the call of patriotism and/or country. Our purpose is to unite the workers of the world for socialist revolution. We don’t bemoan the revealing of government secrets, we advocate for it. We don’t rush in to save a dying “democracy” that systematically disenfranchises the working class.

The greatest government attack on its own democracy, which has defined the politics of the 21st-century to date, is 9/11. There are many crazy right-wing conspiracy theories on every subject, and 9/11 is no exception. But the fact is that the US government explanation is implausible, so alternative explanations must be developed, using the evidence available & the historical materialist method. From all my reviews of 9/11, this is my best approximation of what happened on that day & why?

Whatever hit the Pentagon on 9/11 wasn’t a 757 airliner, as there was no visible wreckage. It most likely was a cruise missile strike by a CIA or military drone, as a false flag operation, to provide a pretext for their phony ‘war on terror.’ The flight manifests, passenger logs, phone calls, black boxes, etc, have been sealed by the deep state. All that stuff can be faked & manipulated by intelligence experts.

No wreckage in Shanksville, PA either, just bulldozed ground, charred with fire & smoke. As for NYC, the twin towers collapsed at free-fall speed, when they were designed to withstand multiple airplane crashes at once. Numerous eyewitness testimonies from survivors described loud explosions going off before & after the planes hit, particularly in the basement levels. Why were bomb sniffing dogs removed from the WTC buildings on Sept 6, 2001, by Marvin Bush’s security team? How did WTC 7 collapse at free-fall speed that evening? Controlled demolition using military grade thermate cutter charges is the only explanation. The 9/11 truthers have a few right-wing nuts, but overall their cause is much bigger than that. They deserve a fair public hearing.

The planes that hit both twin towers were quite possibly US military/intelligence drones. Faked flight logs, background cover stories, etc. A few of the alleged 19 hijackers turned up ALIVE weeks later. They were very surprised to be accused of being dead terrorists. Witnesses on the scene reported the smell of cordite at the Pentagon blast site, instead of kerosene which is jet fuel. Etc, etc… Testimony to all this has been officially sealed into the deep state’s hidden vaults. Recall the deep state didn’t officially exist up to a few years ago, until then it was a “conspiracy theory.”

A few days before this impeachment trial began, Q-Anon adherent (pic above) Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) adamantly insisted, “An airliner didn’t hit the Pentagon on 9/11, there was no wreckage.” Then a day later, after intense political pressure from the center-right, her tune changed to, “I also want to tell you, 9/11 absolutely happened.”

What explains this turnabout? To be part of the official ruling establishment, you can’t question the official version of 9/11. Trump did the same thing early in his term, and he was vigorously censured for it. Right-wing Q-Anon-ers advocate for 9/11 truthers, in order to steal the narrative from the left. Q-Anon advocacy for truth holds up until the establishment whips them into line. Their position has nothing to do with truth, principles or ethics, it’s about stealing the narrative for themselves.

Right-wing ideologies often have no response to direct political questions, other than violence. I recently heard the claim that there was “too much political content on Facebook,” from someone who posts pro-Trump memes & links regularly. It occurred to me how similar these interests are to Mark Zuckerberg’s, when he claims he wants to “depoliticize” Facebook. To censor & marginalize left-wing content is a political act. It’s called fascism.

Day 4: Fri 12 Feb 2021 09:20 AM EST

The CARES Act, passed at the end of last March, handed trillions of dollars to Wall Street, and told the rest of us to get back to work/school, despite a raging pandemic with mutating strains, and now a vaccine shortage. That’s a bipartisan policy of saving the rich, while imposing “herd immunity,” which is social murder, on the greater population. We are told by the ruling elites & all its representatives to go back to work, in order to pay for all this.

The class lines couldn’t be clearer. The two-party system’s pandemic response is an impeachable offense for every member of Congress, and all those in the Executive branch. Another example of an impeachable offense would be Illegally detaining immigrants at the border, who are fleeing gangland violence caused by drug cartel wars, all sponsored by Uncle Sam. The CIA is known globally as Murder, Inc., so real Marxists won’t listen to any protestations of America being the world’s “beacon of democracy.”

The two-party system instigates violence on both sides of the aisles. Anyone could make a case for impeachment against all of them. In US politics, there are hundreds of impeachable offenses committed every year, no matter who is president. That’s the Trotskyist political position, and it’s gaining popular support. Those on the right recoil at this, as their arguments become more & more unhinged, and move to attack with violence.

Fri 12 Feb 2021 01:55 PM EST

Michael van der Veen & David Schoen have it so wrong, as their presentation is only reinforcing the House managers case for impeachment to any rational observer. The video of Democrats saying “fight,” is Fox News tripe, as they’ve run it four times so far, as an exhibit. None of that speech from Democrats anywhere, resulted in a coup attempt by a mob of Trump supporters at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. That’s the issue of this impeachment trial.

Free speech & First Amendment protections DO NOT give ANYONE the right to incite a violent & unlawful insurrection. The BLM insurrections from last summer should be investigated & prosecuted by & for the public, as there was surely much Democrat/deep state complicity in that. That’s the Trotskyist position on Trump’s reactionary & pathetic defense arguments.

A good visualization to understand impeachment is that it’s a “quasi-legal & quasi-political trial.” As far as “due process” goes, THIS is the defense’s chance to refute all the evidence, and they aren’t doing it. Their lawyers have 16 hours [!] for defense, and aren’t going to come close to using even a quarter of that time.

So Trump can’t bitch about due process, without being seen as a hypocrite, because he’s refused to testify under oath, and his lawyers aren’t addressing the substance of the issue. Trump was invited to testify, and he declined on advice of all his lawyers– in record time. ALL THIS has been Donald Trump’s due process. I wrote yesterday that the defense arguments would be confusing & ugly, and I’ve already been vindicated in that by the first recess.

Fri 12 Feb 2021 02:55 PM EST

I’m watching, and imagining a text message from Donald Trump to Bruce Castor, it reads, “You’re fired!” For Bruce Castor’s sake, I hope he got paid-in-full up front. This is the painful part, which I also promised.

Trump’s tweets in the afternoon of January 6, asking his supporters to “be peaceful, and respect the police,” (paraphrased here) can be seen as Republican strategist ploys to provide political cover in the aftermath of the failed putsch. Trump, as US President, needed to condemn the insurrectionist mob directly, immediately & emphatically, but he didn’t.

The National Guard was ordered to stand down, and this has been tied to the conduct of Trump’s acting Secretary of Defense, Christopher Miller. At this point, a few tweets (which did nothing to help), can’t exonerate Trump when he planned the entire event, inflamed it, and set it in motion. The body of evidence is overwhelming, and the defense has done nothing to refute it. It’s all lies, red herrings & irrelevant arguments.

Fri 12 Feb 2021 07:09 PM EST

The defense argued for only two-and-a-half hours, before resting. As I predicted, then reported, it was a painful period of time to endure. Here’s an astonishing fact of this trial, which we learned today. Donald Trump has never personally met with any of these attorneys representing him at this impeachment trial. That’s a complete joke for the defense. And they yammer on about due process, etc.

Q & A was also a disaster for the defense. Most of the time went to the House manager side, allowing them to refute all of Trump’s defense arguments which they had just made, but still hadn’t had sufficient time to bake-in as right-wing talking points for Fox. It let the House manager side refute them, and win all four days of the trial, ideologically. It was a rout. The prosecution’s message was allowed to resound for four days, while the defense had to be completely silent for the middle two days, and was ineffective & unconvincing in the two days that bracketed them.

With each side being allowed five minutes to answer, or two-and-a-half minutes if the question was for both sides, the defense’s first question directed only to them yielded a one-word answer. It was “No” from Michael van der Veen, but I forgot the question. And so forth, for the defense. Google fact-check for Michael van der Veen: most often, fire chiefs are elected officials, but a few are appointed directly to the position. He tried to wing it, in attacking a very effective fire chief analogy, concerning free speech and its limitations, made by Jamie Raskin. I’m grading Trump’s defense team as a ‘F’.

Neither side wants to call any witnesses. I don’t see any more arguments to be made. The Senate will vote on this ASAP, and Trump will be acquitted. By any rational legal standard, this judgment is to be considered a kangaroo acquittal, and it will live in infamy. Historically, it will be seen as the death knell of the Republican Party. That’s why conservatives are so upset about this. Fascism has been discredited in front of the world, and despite a partisan acquittal, they’ve lost the ideological battle for the public mind. Almost everyone knows this decision is unjust & wrong, and yet it is what it is. It’s clear that American democracy is a dead letter.

Day 5: Sat 13 Feb 2021 07:42 AM EST

Congress can impeach an official retroactively, as long as the prosecution has a provable case. That’s what the Constitution has said, and how it’s been interpreted, for over 200 years. The Republican arguments concerning precedent are childish. It completely ignores the magnitude of Trump’s crime. Impeachment is about discouraging unlawful activity & abuse of power by a high official. It is part of the checks & balances system that the Founding Fathers built. Partisan replies as rebuttals, are just that– partisan replies.

At 10:00 AM the Senate will reconvene, and after a few closing arguments, a vote will be taken. Florida Senator Marco Rubio, an adamant Trump supporter, has said, “I will vote against impeachment at the first opportunity, as this trial has been bad for the Republican Party.” Nothing more is needed to prove their lack of interest, and their stubborn refusal to understand any of the greater historical implications. It’s all short-term gain calculations from the GOP. Most of these Republican high officials do not want the American people to know the full extent of what happened on January 6, because many of them were complicit.

Michael van der Veen claims that if Trump is impeached, then anyone can. But this was an EXCEPTIONAL breach & dereliction of Trump’s Constitutional duty. Impeachment is reserved as a Constitutional right of Congress, for just such exceptional crimes against the state. It takes political capital to move ahead with an impeachment. If it is misguided, or based on a false (or frivolous) premise, like the Ukraine-gate impeachment or the Bill Clinton impeachment, then the prosecuting Party is disgraced, and loses some of its political power. That’s the double-edged nature of impeachment which Republicans avoid in their unfounded arguments.

The Trump team & Republican Party’s outright contempt for the entire impeachment proceeding has been palpable. Their defense has often sought to label the insurrectionists, summoned by Trump, as “left-wing ANTIFA.” Let’s be clear: Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, Boogaloo Bois, etc, are right-wing fascists. They wear Trump clothing, and carry Trump flags, along with swastikas, symbols of the Confederacy, and other badges of ignorance & hate. They are the political opposite of left-wing. This is done intentionally by Republican demagogues, in order to smear left-wing dissent, and call for its political censure, thereby strengthening fascism.

Sat 13 Feb 2021 11:15 AM EST

The Senate just voted 55-45 to allow witnesses. Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler (R-WA) is to be deposed under oath, as requested by the House managers, regarding conversation House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had with Donald Trump on the afternoon of January 6. Trump’s defense objected, but Mitt Romney led defecting Republicans to defeat that motion.

Michael van der Veen (obviously Trump’s preferred litigator at this point, just for his aggressive tone) has been loudly protesting that the House Mangers have presented “zero evidence,” and yet when it is moved to allow witnesses, the defense opposes it in its arguments. The defense will, of course, have equal time to cross-examine any witnesses, but the problem is they don’t know how to do that.

The Senate is now in limbo until it decides amongst themselves how to proceed, and if they are going to call any more witnesses. There’s a LOT of internecine anger among Republican lawmakers right now. This is an overnight bombshell from Democrats strongly in favor of impeachment, call it the anti-Biden faction. Everyone thought this trial would be over today, and now it won’t be.

Sat 13 Feb 2021 11:57 AM EST

It’s important to know when to end a serial for an event that drags on much longer than expected. At this point, the impeachment trial has ground to a halt, and we have to wait for what comes next. The Senate alone has all power to make their own rules on this, per the US Constitution.

I’m directly discussing the process, because it helps people understand the content. It’s more far important in terms of revolutionary impact, to get fresh explosive content online ASAP, verses editing (& re-writing) to get it ‘perfect’ later. Proofread & correct at the end, and then move on.

There will be small mistakes along the way, but that’s part of the excessive energy & excitement which jolts everybody’s senses, and is inherent in all this. It’s all new & uncharted territory, so no one can say they are 100% correct, but this is a best approximation.

In this internet age, mine (& yours) can become a leading narrative on social media due to the power of its truth– if it gets there early & often. That’s why repeated & timely installments are the key to any successful serial. It needs to hit hard when it’s happening, and still be a comprehensive & readable narrative when it’s over– or at least time to end it, like now.

One of the hardest things in writing a serial is to proofread everything, and edit yourself at the end, when you’re tired. You need to be prepared to engage the fake media & right-wing fascists at (& above) their levels. Physical health is mandatory, but preparation really means studying history, becoming a Marxist, and applying dialectical materialism politically.

These aren’t simply events we remember as future trivia answers. Today is February 13, 2021, less than six weeks since Donald Trump’s failed coup attempt. The memories & images of Trump’s insurrection are still fresh, and they raise so many unanswered questions about the state of American democracy. Of course, witnesses should be called, many of them.

Enrique Tarrio is the leader of the Proud Boys, and a prolific FBI informer. Not just any informer, but a “prolific informer.” He should be called as a witness under oath for Trump’s impeachment trial. Enrique Tarrio could connect a lot of dots for the American people, if he told the whole truth.

Since this impeachment trial inevitably leads to acquittal, the only response that moves the working class forward is to prepare themselves for a general strike, with the political goal of organizing a socialist revolution in permanence. That’s the only way forward for the workers & youth of the world. That will be the final historical & political lesson of this impeachment trial. In the end, it will be either lawful socialism, or lawless barbarism sanctioned by capitalism.

Sat 13 Feb 2021 02:15 PM EST

While in recess, behind closed doors, Donald Trump’s lawyers have clinched an agreement that will bypass witness testimony, clearing the way for the former President to be acquitted, later this afternoon. The Black Hand (in this case Joe Biden) has intervened, and that’s it for what the American people get to know about January 6, 2021.

Sat 13 Feb 2021 02:55 PM EST

The Black Hand is the mafia, the hidden power behind the perceived power. It’s the deep state nationally. It’s the Five Families in New York. It’s the FBI, NSA, CIA, etc, who know all about YOU, while you know very little about them. For gamers, I’ve illustrated the influence of the Black Hand in my essay on Taipan, an early 1980’s turn-based Apple computer game.

Some secret deal has been struck, and we will soon see it in bipartisan policy. There are many defecting Republicans, call it the Mitt Romney caucus, who are very upset at having to take a bite out of a giant shitburger created by Donald Trump. He’s in Mar-a-Lago, FL, while his Republican “colleagues” are taking all kinds of flak, and getting no help from his legal defense team.

The closing arguments, curiously, aren’t being broadcast on NBC or CBS. After all these days, without commercial interruption, and now NBC & CBS doesn’t want people to see how this finishes. They’re showing sports. Only ABC is covering this live. I wonder why?

Sat 13 Feb 2021 03:48 PM EST

The closing arguments were more of the same from both sides. It was especially painful to re-listen to Michael van der Veen spew hatred & contempt all over the Senate, with the zeal of Joseph Goebbels. He contradicted himself so many times, that I just gave up, and starting typing this while he droned-on in the background. That’s who he is and what he represents.

I’m no lawyer, but the defense may have delivered the ugliest closing argument in the history of American jurisprudence. But make no mistake, it was a ‘winning’ argument, a Pyrrhic victory in every sense. Senates votes 57 ‘guilty’ to 43 ‘not guilty’, which means it didn’t get the 67 votes to impeach. Trump is acquitted, and that’s it, I quit. Over & Out

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Revolutionary Flashpoint: Julian Assange to be Expelled from Embassy

This piece is now a serial, until there is resolution. Check for updates at the bottom.

On Friday July 20, 2018 Russia Today published a story titled: “Ecuador to hand over Assange to UK ‘in coming weeks or days,’ own sources tell RT’s editor-in chief.”

On Saturday (yesterday), the Intercept published “Ecuador Will Imminently Withdraw Asylum for Julian Assange and Hand Him Over to the UK. What Comes Next?” by Glenn Greenwald.

WikiLeaks’ “crime” is releasing DNC emails which revealed how top Democrats fixed the 2016 primary for Hillary Clinton. Seth Rich and other DNC staffers were the source of the leaks, not the Russians. This persecution of Julian Assange has been a US-led frame-up from the start. It goes hand-in-glove with the “fake news” media blitz, Internet censorship, right-wing feminism & identity politics.

U.K. foreign minister, Jeremy Hunt (above) has threatened WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, daring him to leave the Ecuadorean embassy, “At any time he wants to he is free to walk out onto the street, and the British police will have a warm welcome for him.” Those are the words of a fascist, who employs others to do his dirty work.

Newly-elected Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno (above, in wheelchair) has been under heavy US pressure to expel Assange, as this fascist persecution campaign against WikiLeaks crosses both aisles in official American politics. Moreno has called Julian Assange “a stone in his shoe,” evoking mafia methods for his removal. The Democrats want Assange silenced because he exposed their electoral manipulations of 2016. The Republicans want Assange imprisoned because they are fascists. That’s called an elite consensus in bourgeois politics.

So basically Julian Assange (an Australian citizen) is a man without a country, being persecuted by the governments of the world and their corporate paymasters. The mass media acts as attack dog & purveyor of state propaganda. If these forces are allowed to have their way, then Assange will be forever silenced. The question then becomes: Who’s next?

Julian Assange & Wikileaks reported the truth about what’s going on. Since when has telling the truth been outlawed? The prosecution of Julian Assange represents the most reactionary & violent ideological contortions of the global ruling class. Every pretense of democracy is being threatened in a tyrannical campaign of lies & distortions against this whistle-blower journalist.

Assange’s courage, intelligence & willpower to sustain this fight against global capitalism has won him millions of supporters world-wide. It is now time for these supporters to stand up & speak out in his behalf. It can only be through direct challenge to this elitist apparatus, that Julian Assange’s freedom will be won. It is the working people & youth of the world, who value freedom of information & expression. They must unite and collectively fight for these rights, which are under siege.

Do it now!!

Update July 23, 2018 ~ 4:30 PM ET

Vladimir Putin is the shadowy figure in this conspiracy to evict Julian Assange. Russia could offer him asylum, as they did for Edward Snowden, the man who supplied the leaks on ubiquitous NSA spying. Reporting from Russia Today since their announcement on Friday has been muted.

My sixth sense tells me that Trump & Putin have an arrangement here. Putin fears Assange as much as the rest of the global ruling establishment. His interests are complex. If the US wins this campaign, then Assange is silenced, which he approves. If Assange is freed, then Donald Trump, his fascist cabal, and the US government-intelligence complex all suffer a humiliating set-back– which would be a diplomatic victory for Russia.

The only way to get above this international intrigue is for the youth & working masses of the world to free Assange themselves through collective solidarity & revolutionary action.

Here’s an interesting political theory question. Whom does Julian Assange most resemble in history, right now?  Leon Trotsky’s life ended in August 1940, at the outbreak of the second world war; with him in permanent exile, endlessly persecuted by the capitalist & Stalinist bureaucracies– meaning all the governments of the world. The working masses didn’t organize & arm themselves in time to save Trotsky from his horrible death, which he foresaw. Julian Assange doesn’t claim to be a socialist, but his actions and circumstances make him an internationalist of the same quality.

What will be needed, when Assange is inevitably hauled out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London are: 1) large numbers of militant masses, 2) a small army of courageous lawyers, and 3) anyone with media credentials (& clout) broadcasting the events honestly in real time.

It’s going to be a heated, potentially violent situation when it happens. The UK police state will be out in full force, as will be their masked cronies as fascist hooligans.  This is an international US/UK provocation on the human rights of an Australian citizen. The masses need to be organized & disciplined, yet ready to defend themselves– and Julian Assange. Anything can happen, and it probably will, soon enough.

Stay tuned!!

Tuesday, July 24, 2018 ~ 1:10 PM ET

We’re currently at the point where fascism is gathering its forces, as quietly as possible– it appears. The news that Julian Assange is about to be expelled has been widely reported, even in America, as USA Today ran a story on it on Saturday, July 21. But the newspaper of record, the New York Times has been remarkably silent. The last story the NYT published on Julian Assange was on March 28, when his Internet was cut off.

The Washington Post doesn’t see these events as newsworthy either, with nothing on Assange’s imminent eviction in a search of their online archives.

The Wall Street Journal won’t let you search their site without a subscription, but I would expect the same results there too. This proves these institutions are not journalists reporting facts in the interest of the public, but instead a corporate propaganda arm of the government-military-intelligence complex. Their job is to hide the truth and confuse the issues as much as possible.

July 27, 2018  ~10:30 AM ET

Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno is in London, ostensibly to attend a disability summit, but really to secretly negotiate the hand-over of Julian Assange to British and (eventually) US authorities. The more this situation is exposed and the facts are reported, the more problematic this covert hand-over will be. Julian Assange needs a massive show of support from youth & working people everywhere, in order to protect the democratic rights of all.

July 28, 2018 ~ 10:00 AM ET

Former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, who granted Julian Assange asylum back in 2012, has weighed in with Russia Today on this matter.

“You can be sure that he [Lenin Moreno] is a hypocrite. He already has an agreement with the US about what will happen to Assange. And now he’s just trying to sweeten the pill by saying he’s going to have a dialogue” about conditions of the transfer, Correa told RT Spanish. “I’m afraid … that Assange’s days in our embassy are numbered. [Moreno] talks about a dialogue, but everything has already been agreed with the UK government, especially after Vice President Pence’s visit to Ecuador a few weeks ago.”

Friday August 3, 2018 ~ 3:30 PM ET*

* I keep wondering to myself if I should mark the time as Daylight or Standard. I hate Daylight savings, and believe it is yet another capitalist soft power set piece. The further hypocrisy now is that Daylight savings lasts longer than Standard time in the US. We all have biological clocks that tune into daylight, and this messes with that for no good reason. It hurts working people the most.

Mostly quiet on the Julian Assange front. The latest media rumblings were Ecuadorian President Moreno’s “concern for Julian Assange’s health,” as he has no access to daylight. That makes me wonder what Julian Assange thinks about Daylight savings in America, if he knows/cares?

Right now you can feel both sides working behind- the-scenes, for what promises to be a pitched battle. Moreno has made it clear that he want s  Assange’s Ecuadorian citizenship to be revoked, insisting he can’t stay in the embassy “indefinitely.” US Vice President Mike Pence and other high-ranking cabinet members have put heavy pressure on Moreno to deliver Assange to the UK police.

What’s at stake here is a question personified: Are people allowed to tell and know the truth? Neither side is flinching, as the waters are being gently tested through the bourgeois media. When it’s time for the police state to move in and forceably remove Julian Assange, the working masses of the world will immediately spring into action through social media & the Internet. There will be massive political protests, followed by wildcat strikes. This is political economy and revolutionary theory vortexing around the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Sunday August 5, 2018  ~10:00 AM ET

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was apparently the target of a drone attack using explosives during his Saturday public address. Describing the incident, Maduro said a flying object exploded in front of him. “I thought it was a pyrotechnic fire, in a matter of micro seconds there was a second explosion to my right. You could see people running because they felt the shockwave,” he said.

The Venezuelan president accused the far-right opposition and external forces. “I have no doubt that everything points to the Venezuelan ultra-right in alliance with the Colombian extreme right, and the name of [Colombian President] Juan Manuel Santos is behind this attack,” he said. Maduro also claimed that initial results of the investigation show that several of those who paid for the attack reside in Florida. Colombia is annually the third largest recipient of US military aid, behind Israel & Egypt.

This incident (once again) has many red flags that suggest a CIA covert operation. Venezuela’s economy is in ruins, with hyperinflation heading towards 1,000,000% by end of year. The US has crippled the country with sanctions, claiming Maduro (like his elected predecessor Hugo Chavez) is a dictator who came to power illegitimately and is starving his people. US President Donald Trump has openly considered a military option against Venezuela, and calls for a coup have made it to the headlines of US mainstream media.

This ongoing violence must be seen in the light of the pressure being put on Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno to hand Julian Assange over the the UK police, so he can be extradited to the US to face a sealed indictment. The more this South American region is destabilized, the easier it is for US imperialism to hold sway. The message is clear, if Moreno doesn’t do Washington’s bidding, then he can expect to be put in the cross-hairs too.

Wednesday, August 8, 2018  ~ 10:30 AM ET

Breaking news (at least on Russia Today), that Julian Assange has been summoned by the US Senate Intelligence Committee to testify behind closed doors. This Committee is headed by leading CIA Democrat Mark Warner (Va), and also includes prominent US senators: Marco Rubio (R-Fl), Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca), Ron Wyden (D-Or), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), John McCain (R-Az), and Charles Schumer (D-NY).

As we can see there is bi-partisan consensus among the elites to silence Julian Assange behind closed doors, and censor the Internet. WikiLeaks is preparing it’s response as of this writing.

The US Senate Intelligence Committee is so-named because supposedly it provides Congressional oversite on the Intelligence apparatus. This is a misnomer for two reasons: 1) because there is no real oversite, as the deep state does as it pleases, and 2) there are very little brains on this committee of fascists pretending to be legitimate representatives of the American people.

Thursday August 9, 2018 ~ 10:40 AM ET

I live in Florida, so I caught this headline from yesterday’s Tampa Bay Times in my newsfeed this morning:

Bill Nelson: The Russians have penetrated some Florida voter registration systems

But no evidence of this is presented– classified national (in)security. Marco Rubio and the rest of the fascists on Senate Intelligence Committee are also in on this.

Senator Bill Nelson is locked in a tight race with outgoing Governor Rick Scott for his seat. This puts a criminal corporate raider (Columbia/HCA)) to the left [!] of his Democrat incumbent opponent– until he acquiesces. This is another ruse to create the pretext for mass repression of political dissent & Internet censorship. The “Russians” are dissidents like you & me, and we are not the enemy. This is the Big Lie technique being used for mind control– as another propaganda offensive,

Speaking of newsfeeds, have you noticed how much harder it is to find relevant stories now? It’s like the Internet has been scrubbed, and your searches don’t yield the fertile results it used to. That’s Google, Amazon, Fakebook and the rest of the tech giants working with the deep state to control the free flow of information. Do you agree with that policy?  Who decided on this? How can we hold these people accountable? How can we change things? These are the questions that run through my mind daily.

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Dialectical Processes

A website is always evolving– an indisputable fact of the Internet. Even if a site immediately goes stale, forgotten by its creator (like most), it’s even decaying beyond that– at a rate the Internet is advancing. Therefore, any website is either evolving or devolving.

When I began this site (with all technical assistance from friend/webmaster TomP), I had no idea what I was doing or where it was going? What this site has become is a guide-to-better-living, with much of what-you-need-to-know for understanding this crazy world we all inhabit, contained and/or linked here. This site is about taking care of yourself, while always thinking of others. That means a global scope, with respect for everything in it & beyond.

This site is dialectically materialist in philosophy, rejecting any notion of god as a universal creator (as a failed hypothesis), relying instead on actual data & rational science. This has allowed a transformative creativity in some particularly reactionary fields of modern journalism, the best example here being the sports writings. Starting from a sound political & philosophical foundation makes this possible, and it’s the only way to remove the emotional element from sportswriting, which is a major issue, even (especially) in the professional ranks.

Sports bring out the passion (good & bad) in people, which makes them a volatile subject. Most writers can’t separate their fanhood from their responsibility as journalists. These schleps love sports so much, they will say & do anything to maintain their precious access to their heroes. This is the condition of the modern American sportswriter. The amount of hackwork they collectively produce in covering the NFL, NBA & MLB is staggering. What is perhaps even more astounding, is how little of it holds up over time; as it’s mostly speculation, rumor mongering, hidden agendas, etc… with very little research, much less hard analysis.

All these people do is watch sports, so how can they be so obtuse?  In the end, it’s always a matter of perspective and class forces. Whether it’s an individual team or league in trouble, notice how it’s problems are always pinned on an individual– usually the head coach or a star player. Scapegoats are useful in all fields, and the business of sports is no different. When rabid sports fans are whipped into a lather regarding a lackluster performance, a scapegoat is singled out and moved in front of the cameras to answer impossible questions for irate fans. No one ever questions the fairness or rationality of this media browbeating, it’s just how business is conducted.

For example, why don’t these writers discuss why the Orlando Magic fail year-after-year? The reason is because if they did, eventually they would come to the root of the problem, which is failed ownership & incompetent management. That makes powerful people look bad, which is not allowed under capitalism. At least not until the Internet and a Marxist (with time & love for the game), actually does the work [1]. The result becomes their franchise history, which still holds up better than anything anyone has ever written (or filmed) on the Orlando Magic, because it speaks the truth from top to bottom.

The point has been reached in these writings where less becomes more, and further commentary becomes redundant. Therefore, the stream of new content will henceforth be less frequent, and mostly confined to pressing world political events and Marxist revolutionary theory. As for the social, cultural & artistic spheres; I believe I’ve already adequately & articulately spoken on music, film, art, sports, health, beauty, fashion, and the rest. I hope these writings will inspire others to take these ideas further.

As for health, fitness & art pieces posted here in the future, it will be mostly my own going forward. At a certain juncture, these fields become more personal in their importance; as surviving and maintaining a healthy body & mind into & through adulthood are more important than becoming a celebrity or professional athlete. I’ve already spoken enough on its power to inspire, as well as the hypocrisy & corruption.

What homo sapiens must do is come together as a species and problem-solve– in the interests of everybody & everything on Earth. If you aren’t acting, thinking, and living the way I’m describing, then you need to connect with this site and re-humanize yourself. Physical & mental health are one, they can’t be separated. If you think rudely, with hostility & ignorance, then you can’t be healthy in body. At some point this bad mind, which is full of short-cuts, justifications and excuses will undermine any attempt at physical health. Whether it’s cancer, senility, arthritis, heart disease or stroke; whatever your greatest risk exposure is, it will become the crux of your undoing if you don’t live correctly with respect for others.

This site will remain online for as long as the Internet is allowed to be globally shared. Today the Internet is a battleground. This site has been jammed, and even hacked a few times over the years. I expect it to get worse, before it gets better for people like us. RS.com is an essential tool in fighting fascism. Today’s revolutionaries need to understand Trotskyist Marxism, as well as being physically healthy, in order to command. Leaders will need this mental & physical fitness, and will be asked to prove themselves in the heat-of-battle over & over, in order to win the support of the masses.

This is what actually impresses & influences people, much more than money or any other trappings of power. Why? Because it’s on an instinctive level that people are trusting. That cuts through the hype, in a way capitalism can never do, due to its worship of money at the expense of everything else. The truth is, the best leaders are not the richest individuals. The wealthiest portfolios are actually the sickest people, and therefore need to be removed from power and any other important decision-making, due to mental illness. This is only possible in a society transformed by revolutionary socialism.

Discover & use the knowledge here to better yourself, while enjoying & sharing the music!!

If I Could Be Reincarnated

As an animal:

As a plant:

As an organism:  a virus

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