GUILTY! You're Free To Go!

Guilty! You're Free To Go!

Retiring Republican Senator Lamar Alexander released a statement stating the Democrat House Managers proved the Donald Trump froze aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens, but he would vote no on hearing from witnesses because Trump's actions were improper and did not merit removal from office. In effect Alexander said to Trump, you're guilty and free to go. 

 

How a President getting caught withholding Congressionally approved defense assistance funds to a foreign ally to strong-arm them into announcing a false investigation into a political rival who was beating him in election polls is not impeachable is beyond me. What would Trump have to do to get impeached and removed from office by a Republican controlled Senate, give Alaska to Russia? The real problem with what Republicans are doing with Trump is that he is getting treatment the average citizen, including rabid Trump supporters, would never get in court, which is no consequence after being deemed guilty. Let that sink in, Trump won't get probation community service or have to pay restitution after being deemed guilty. Tell that to those rotting in prison for minor drug possession and other offenses far less than coercing a foreign power to interfere in United States elections.

 

 Living In The Age Of White Reparations

The complete statement from Senator Lamar Alexander is below:

 

Alexander Statement on Impeachment Witness Vote

Posted on January 30, 2020

“I worked with other senators to make sure that we have the right to ask for more documents and witnesses, but there is no need for more evidence to prove something that has already been proven and that does not meet the United States Constitution’s high bar for an impeachable offense. …The Constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the president from office and ban him from this year’s ballot simply for actions that are inappropriate. 

“The question then is not whether the president did it, but whether the United States Senate or the American people should decide what to do about what he did. I believe that the Constitution provides that the people should make that decision in the presidential election that begins in Iowa on Monday. …Our founding documents provide for duly elected presidents who serve with ‘the consent of the governed,’ not at the pleasure of the United States Congress. Let the people decide.” – Senator Lamar Alexander

  

Washington, D.C., January 30, 2020 -- United States Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement on his vote regarding additional evidence in the impeachment proceedings:

“I worked with other senators to make sure that we have the right to ask for more documents and witnesses, but there is no need for more evidence to prove something that has already been proven and that does not meet the United States Constitution’s high bar for an impeachable offense.
“There is no need for more evidence to prove that the president asked Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter; he said this on television on October 3, 2019, and during his July 25, 2019, telephone call with the president of Ukraine. There is no need for more evidence to conclude that the president withheld United States aid, at least in part, to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens; the House managers have proved this with what they call a ‘mountain of overwhelming evidence.’ There is no need to consider further the frivolous second article of impeachment that would remove the president for asserting his constitutional prerogative to protect confidential conversations with his close advisers.

“It was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation. When elected officials inappropriately interfere with such investigations, it undermines the principle of equal justice under the law. But the Constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the president from office and ban him from this year’s ballot simply for actions that are inappropriate.

“The question then is not whether the president did it, but whether the United States Senate or the American people should decide what to do about what he did. I believe that the Constitution provides that the people should make that decision in the presidential election that begins in Iowa on Monday.

“The Senate has spent nine long days considering this ‘mountain’ of evidence, the arguments of the House managers and the president’s lawyers, their answers to senators’ questions and the House record. Even if the House charges were true, they do not meet the Constitution’s ‘treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors’ standard for an impeachable offense.

“The framers believed that there should never, ever be a partisan impeachment. That is why the Constitution requires a 2/3 vote of the Senate for conviction. Yet not one House Republican voted for these articles. If this shallow, hurried and wholly partisan impeachment were to succeed, it would rip the country apart, pouring gasoline on the fire of cultural divisions that already exist. It would create the weapon of perpetual impeachment to be used against future presidents whenever the House of Representatives is of a different political party.

“Our founding documents provide for duly elected presidents who serve with ‘the consent of the governed,’ not at the pleasure of the United States Congress. Let the people decide.” 

We would all hope to be so privileged to have a deciding juror like Senator Lamar Alexander if we are proved guilty but odds are that we will not get Trump justice.

Teacher's Walkout At Breaking Point - Rotten Apple

Image Attribution: Roberta F.

Public school teachers have staged walkouts in multiple states in protest for higher pay and more funding for public schools. When watching some of these teachers being interviewed, it is difficult to reconcile that individuals in our society with some of the highest education levels among us have to work side jobs and still not be able to make ends meet. One teacher said he could not afford to enroll his wife in the health insurance plan provided for him as a teacher. When reviewing a national list of average teacher pay it was eye opening. Starting salaries ranged from the low $30,000 range to the mid $40,000 range. After years of experience the top pay was still under $80,000.  Don't look at the higher end salaries in a vacuum because they are often in very high cost of living areas. Let us be reminded that these are people with college degrees and some have multiple Master's degrees. With college degrees come student loans and debt. Many of these teachers are still paying off their own student loans and now their children are ready for college. Almost all of these teachers did into their own pockets to pay for supplies for the their classrooms and students. Why have we allowed teachers and our public education system to be starved for resources the way they are. Our public schools and the people that keep them going seem to have become and afterthought, just like the American infrastructure.

Our public schools have become the place children go to five days per week while their parents are working. The kids are dropped off, picked up by a bus, drive or walk to school five days a week and show up back home later in the day. What happens during that school day is not top-of-mind to the vast majority of Americans, but not to the teachers and students. Teachers deal with the issues, attitudes and behaviors students bring with them on a daily basis. Teachers deal with the lack of resources provided to them with undiminished expectations when it comes to performance and student test scores whether they can pay their bills or not. Being a teacher may be a calling, but it should not be a sacrifice through hardship and economic deprivation. We must think of our public education system as part of our national infrastructure and if it is not invested in, it will crumble just like our highways. Funneling money into the pockets of the wealthy at the cost of everything else is a recipe for disaster. 

Thus far the walkouts have been in states that solidly supported Donald Trump in the prior Presidential election. There are dots to be connected that can not be ignored. Funding of public schools is a function of federal, state and local governments. President Trump appointed an anti-public school advocate as Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. DeVos is a supporter of moving public schools funds to private and religious schools. Teachers and those supporting them need to connect the dots and make sure they are voting in their best interests in the future. Teacher need to be thanked, appreciated and PAID! 

 DTPollard.com

 

My Obamacare Experience and Myth of The Healthcare Queen

Patient Before Surgery

While writhing in pain, I watched the United States Senate roll out their secretly created Obamacare replacement plan was really no different that the hated House of Representatives plan that cut $800 billion from Medicaid and redistributed it to the wealthy as a tax cut. The Senate changed the timing of some changes and attempted to hide takeaways by placing them in opt out options for states. As I sat there listening the “slight of word” doublespeak from one Senator after another the thought in my mind were that you people don’t give a dams about people out here suffering though a sudden medical emergency or dealing with a chronic medical condition.

You see, I am a throwaway line in the healthcare debate. I purchased my insurance through a national exchange provider in a non-Medicaid expansion state and pay 100% of my premiums for my family with $0 subsidies and have done so for years. I’m self-employed. I was watching the Senate Republicans introduce their healthcare dollars redistribution tax cut for the rich disguised as a healthcare plan in utter disgust punctuated by pain. You must understand that my pain had an expiration date and that would be the day I walked in a medical facility for an outpatient procedure to end it. I was trapped between my diagnosis and cure by scheduling dates and access to Dr. and facility, not lack of coverage or money, etc, but all are not so positioned and that was what was pissing me off so much by this new Senate plan.

I have been blessed to be in a position to handle my own business, but the Affordable Care Act allowed millions of people like me to obtain health insurance, period, in spite of some previous diagnosis like high blood pressure or diabetes without being destroyed by premiums higher than those without preexisting ailments. That is the premise of insurance, large payment pool, shared risk with a percentage of use that ensures viability of the overall plan. The Senate bill will eliminate the individual mandate requiring all to purchase insurance or pay a fine, they call it free choice, I call it gutting the premise of insurance period. That mandate increases the pool that supports the plan. Senate Republicans are telling younger, healthier people to be free riders and access healthcare through emergency rooms or doc in the boxes in retail strip shopping centers, guess what; once they access that treatment many of them will have a pre-existing condition. Those healthy young people will not always be that way.
Why do they want to gut Medicaid and what is Medicaid anyway? The following is from the https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/eligibility/index.html website:

Eligibility
Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that, together with the Children’s Health Insurance Program, provides health coverage to over 72.5 million Americans, including children, pregnant women, parents, seniors and individuals with disabilities. Medicaid is the single largest source of health coverage in the United States.   
In order to participate in Medicaid, federal law requires states to cover certain groups of individuals. Low income families, qualified pregnant women and children, and individuals receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are examples of mandatory eligibility groups. States have additional options for coverage and may choose to cover other groups, such as individuals receiving home and community based services and children in foster care who are not otherwise eligible.
The Affordable Care Act of 2010 created the opportunity for states to expand Medicaid to cover nearly all low-income Americans under age 65. Eligibility for children was extended to at least 133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) in every state (most states cover children to higher income levels) and states were given the option to extend eligibility to adults with income at or below 133 percent of the FPL. The majority of states have chosen to expand coverage to adults, and those that have not yet expanded may choose to do so at any time.

Why cut Medicaid? Medicaid covers the most vulnerable among us, Low income families, qualified pregnant women and children, and individuals receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) as examples. Obamacare gave states the option to expand Medicaid to cover nearly all low-income Americans under 65 and that is why these Senators want so take $800 billion from Medicaid and give it to the wealthy. Republicans have traded in the term Welfare Queen for a new label Healthcare Queen as a scare tactic. The latest dog whistle of Republicans is tax fairness, basically stoking resentment that those paying taxes are paying for others getting benefits of free healthcare. 
Mick Mulvaney, White House Director of management and Budget wrote said in an article published in the Miami Herald, that many social program users were stealing from taxpayers footing the bills because they didn't intent to pay it back. Mulvaney's attitude is a throwback to the era of the welfare queen talk of years gone by except the word welfare was exchanged for healthcare.

There is only one problem with the tax fairness argument and it not something they can get away with, because most people know someone in their family that are on, have used or will use Medicaid in the future and they are not all in some distant urban ghetto. We are talking about voters’ parents, disabled children or themselves having the rug pulled from under them. I have watched loved ones and friends getting long term nursing home care take their last breaths in nursing homes and did not understand at the time that their financial support for healthcare came from Medicaid. Obamacare's Medicaid expansion pays subsidies so those that financialy qualify now have health insurance, so this is where we are.

Before I could proceed to getting that supremely painful kidney stone laser blasted from by body, I had to settle up financially with the hospital for my portion and did so. A question was asked about what would happen if I didn’t have the money available.  It was explained that people without the means to pay would need to appeal to the hospital board and various factors would be considered.  I wanted the pain to end that was unrelenting and could not imagine having to suffer longer for financial or lack of insurance coverage reasons.
Finally the moment of truth arrived.  After being poked, having blood taken and hooked up to and electrocardiogram machine, the anesthesiologist came in and spoke to me. I signed some consent forms. He inserted a syringe into my IV connection and I recall being wheeled through the day surgery doors and watching my wife make the turn to go to the waiting room. The next thing I recalled was a nurse saying something to me in the same room I was in before the procedure. I opened my eyes and there was no pain. I was told the procedure went flawlessly. I left the hospital with several thoughts. My medical emergency that was not on my radar screen three weeks ago was over. The pain was gone. I was still financially viable in spite of this ordeal due to Obamacare, because my deductible was now met for the year and I was able to get a policy in spite of having a pre-exisiting condition in the first place that was not denied or priced multiple times a healthy individual’s rate.

The primary thought I had was would I transfer to pain I suffered to someone else to suffer longer or get a couple hundred dollar tax cut for myself or for millions of thousands in tax cuts for wealthy individuals just  because they were poor, aged or disabled? The answer is no. Healthcare should be like highways that we all pay for and can use. If someone wants extra then that should be what for profit insurance companies are for just like toll roads. We must remember that health insurance companies are middlemen that pay for healthcare service from actual providers. Medicare does the same thing and pays healthcare bills without a profit added on top. Sure, your plan premiums can be lowered if fewer services are required to be covered, just don’t get sick, old or became disabled. The Republican healthcare plan can lower premiums by allowing states to opt out of certain essential benefits coverage, but that would be like driving on a highway with planned potholes in certain lanes.
These politicians are treating people like property. I am familiar with property insurance and if your home is damaged to the point where it not livable by a covered loss most policies will provide for additional living expense for temporary housing until your home is repaired. If you have rental car coverage on an automobile insurance policy you can get a rental car to use until your car is repaired from a covered loss. If you are struck by an illness or ailment you cannot rent, move into or live in a relative’s body until your body is healed enough for you to move back into like a property insurance claim. The last time people were treated like property in this nation was during slavery.

Health care is personal, intimate and deeply tied to individual self esteem. The sad truth is our lawmakers’ zeal to throw the most vulnerable citizens into a healthcare wasteland for the sake of their wealthy donors show how low we have sunk. Unfortunately profit is the problem, profit from sickness. I know this is a capitalistic society, but like getting on a public highway is the way healthcare should be because it is basic like travel. We would not get very far if the roads were good only in the rich parts of the country. 

Bottom line is that healthcare should be a human right in the United States because I would not wish for anyone else to suffer pain like I had longer than I did due to a lack of money or health insurance coverage to give more money to the wealthiest among us.

Trump - Nixon on Steroids - Stay Woke – Available Now!

Why Is Trump “Punking” America?

What is going on in the United States in 2016 when it comes to politics? I have watched Presidential campaigns and voted in Presidential elections for many election cycles. I have also seen many versions of comedy parody over the years and I am convinced that Donald Trump is perpetrating a grand, nationwide political parody in the United States with his Presidential campaign, in other words, we are all being punked!

The moment I realized Trump was punking the nation was when he emphatically asserted multiple times that President Obama and Hillary Clinton were the co-founders of ISIS and then a few days later he stated he was being satirical. Trump’s string of outrageous statements from building an almost 2,000 mile border wall, second amendment people stopping Supreme Court appointments and banning an entire religion from the United States, make no sense. Trump is doing the equivalent of a mass dial prank phone call to over 300 million Americans and millions of people are still playing along thinking his campaign is legitimate. Some of you may be asking if we are being punked, when will the guy jump from behind a fake tree and let us in on the joke and what is Trump getting out of the entire charade?

Trump is running a grand social experiment and exposing the fault lines in the nation along racial, economic and social factors. Trump is trying to determine how outrageous he can get and how far he can go before his supporters and the Republican Party reach a breaking point and pull the plug on his candidacy. Trump surrogates are performing triple back flips on live television trying to justify his senseless statements. The strange thing is that Trump himself is jumping out and shouting ‘You’ve been punked’ every time he says just kidding about some over the line statement he made previously. 

Trump has raised campaign funds he is not spending and has virtually no on the ground organization in any states, so is he doing what it takes to win a Presidential race, no he is not.  Donald Trump, do us a favor, if you will not get serious about running to be the President of the United States, stop it and get out.

HOW THE TRUMP STOLE CHRISTMAS

Santa Claus

It was days before Christmas and all through the land
Everyone was cheery and lending each other a helping hand
Laser Christmas lights were shining on homes and spreading cheer
Only occasionally blinding aircraft pilots flying near
Christmas stockings were hanging and ornaments adorned trees
Waiting for presents that would be opened on Christmas day to shouts of glee
Santa Claus had his sleigh serviced and ready to go
To deliver gifts to those expecting and those who did not know
On Christmas Eve with his reindeer in rare form
Santa was having a glorious Christmas Eve night, even better than the norm
Santa landed on a rooftop and walked toward the chimney stack
When suddenly there was a brilliant light shining on his back
Santa turned and faced the beaming light
But, he could not see anything because it blinded his sight
Who goes there said the jolly old elf
Don’t move and identify yourself
Came the amplified reply from below
Your immigration papers to me you must show
Immigration papers! I’m Santa Claus out spreading cheer
Don’t you know that I do this every year!
I think I’ve heard of you, but that doesn’t make it right
For you to illegally cross our border every Christmas night
I don’t have immigration documents with me when I’m delivering toys
I bring cheer to all the good girls and boys
Yeah, I understand you say that is your goal
But, I’m Donald J. Trump and sending your ass back to the North Pole!
Santa was handcuffed and flown out of the country with the lowest of moral
While his sleigh and reindeer were impounded in a coral
Without gifts from Santa to open, Christmas morning landed like a felled tree with a thump
But, that was just the beginning of life under President Donald J. Trump

by D T Pollard

Wasting Your Vote Is Wasting Their Blood

How many have died in wars, protests and random acts of suppressive violence in order to protect or enable your right to vote as you see fit. You may have blood from someone that paid the ultimate price for your right to choose elected representatives of your free will flowing through your veins, that’s why wasting you vote is wasting their blood.

The right to vote is exercised today like one is cheering on their favorite sports team against their long term rival. Rooting interests and emotions tend to override real introspection and projection about what certain policies actually mean over time. When it comes to national elections the atmosphere has morphed into a bizarre group think and the thoughts of the day are canned, approved and rolled out via electronic messaging technology. News figures, politicians and like-minded citizens all repeat the same talking points on cue when certain issues present themselves.



The American Revolution, Civil War, World Wars and Civil Rights movement did not take place to enable a kind of fantasy political league environment that we live in today. Many Americans of a certain generation view war through the prism of video games where the combatants rise from the field of battle with the push of a reset button, but fallen soldiers on the battlefield do not rise again because there is no reset button.

Those that have fought and died over the years to protect and enable our right to live in a democracy deserve for the current benefactors of their sacrifice to take their voting privilege seriously, because for them it was worth dying for and we just have to stand in a line.

Mitt Romney – The Sham Wow Candidate!

There are several definitions of the word sham. Two definitions are:

· A trick that deludes

· An imitation or counterfeit claiming to be real

During the first Presidential debate Mitt Romney Romney instantly changed and denied so many prior positions that he became the first sham wow Presidential candidate. The sham was perpetrated on the American public and he thinks he got away with it.

Is it enough to be willing to change your positions to suit every particular audience if that seems to play the best for that moment in time? Has the concept of voting for someone because of their core beliefs lost it meaning? If Mitt Romney becomes President while constantly shifting positions in full view of the public it will mark the beginning of a brave new frontier in election politics.

A Romney win will usher in the age of situational position policies that most will consider unlikely to be the way the candidate would govern if elected to office. Consider Romney’s tactics during the primary season when he considered himself a severe conservative in order to defeat his opponents. Romney saw an opportunity to use the leverage of a 60 million plus viewing audience to break the hold the conservative elements of Republican voters had on him. After the debate Romney went back and forth on issues like abortion from saying he would not seek legislation to restrict abortion to stating he is proudly pro-life within a 24-hour time span.

If Romney becomes President by using a shifting sands strategy he will throw the world of American politics into an era of say anything, do anything to win where substance and facts matter much less than presentation. A world where facts don’t matter would be a frightening place to live.

Mitt Romney Paul Ryan – The Boss And The Axman

Mitt Romney has selected Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan as for Vice Presidential running mate and it makes perfect sense. Romney has clearly signaled his desire to protect and increase benefits for the wealthy and Ryan already has the plan written to make that happen with the Ryan budget plan. Watch out grandma, your Medicare voucher is in the mail.

Of course Romney will say that there will be no changes for those currently on Medicare or Social Security, but just throw your children under the bus. There is no doubt about what is at stake in the next election. There is a choice between moving towards a two-tier society or one that is aimed at restoring the great middle class that once powered this great nation.

There are both long and short term implications to Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan. Romney needed to change the subject because he was being revealed as an out of touch plutocrat that feels he does not have to play by the rules everyone else does. After a disastrous trip abroad that saw Mitt Romney or his tea insult one group or another at every stop he needed to shift the focus.

Mitt Romney has selected Paul Ryan as his running mate as a shock to the system, but the fact remains that it is Mitt Romney running for President. Romney has been even accused of not paying any income taxes for several years by Senate Majority leader Harry Reid and yet he won’t release more tax returns to clear up the issue. Mitt Romney you can’t hide behind Paul Ryan because you are the one running for President.

How Did President Obama Screw Up The Great Economy He Inherited?

I only have one question as I listen to Republicans talk about how badly President Obama has screwed up the economy and that is how did he mess up the great hand he was dealt? You know with the 24 hour news cycle we have today and short attention spans it’s hard to remember how things were when President Obama assumed office January 20, 2009. I decided to rent a time machine from the local Home Depot and find out how great it was.

In order for me to make a proper assessment I decided to go back a few months before the election and see how prosperous the economic picture was in order to get a feel for the economic momentum that was taking place. I plugged in the time machine and had to hurry because it was rented for just half a day. I decided to travel back to September 2008. When I arrived, I was shocked by the chaos. All hell was breaking loose and on September 15, 2008 the largest bankruptcy in United States history took place when the investment bank Lehman Brothers sought chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. I started to think that things were not going so well back then.

I decided to cruise through September 2008 and saw banks merging, credit markets freezing and a near collapse of the entire financial system. I also saw President George W Bush standing in front of a microphone addressing the nation on how dire the economic situation had become. When I got to October 2008, there was a $700 billion taxpayer bailout of financial companies that brought the economy crashing down. In October 2008, 240,000 Americans lost their jobs and the unemployment rate hit a 14-year high.

As I continued forward through 2008 towards 2009 the economic carnage continued as job losses for November 2008 were 533,000 and 632,000 jobs were lost in December 2008. I could only guess that a miracle took place in January 2009 before President Obama was inaugurated and the economy took off into the stratosphere, but I was mistaken. In January 2009 the economy lost another 598,000 jobs. The U S Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that payroll employment had declined by 3.6 million since the start of the recession in December 2007; about one-half of this decline occurred in the 2 months before President Obama was sworn in and January 2009 the month he took office.

So wait a minute, so the economy was not in great shape when President Obama took office. What are these people talking about? The U S automobile industry almost failed and President Obama intervened to save it or we could have lost another 1 million jobs. By most accounts the economy has added around 4 million jobs since President Obama took office.

I’m confused about how President Obama screwed up so badly. It seems like he actually saved a failing economy. It must be the short attention spans we have today. Oops, I’ve got to get this time machine back before they charge me for another 4 hours.

Occupy Wall Street (Disgruntled) Versus Tea Party (Company Men)

Books by D T Pollard

Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party movement is the age old struggle between company men and the disgruntled playing out on a grand stage? In both cases we find ourselves locked in a place of strife, class-warfare and exasperation caused by frustration at what appears to be a manifestation of stolen opportunity.

We have civil protests on both sides of the ledger. Occupy Wall Street seems to be an expression of frustration that encompasses an entire group of people from the long term unemployed to students that find themselves laden with student loan debt with few job prospects. Tea Party protests began as an expression of outrage against big government, budget deficits, taxation and encouraged strict adherence to the Constitution. The bottom line is that both are expressions of fears that access to the American dream is being restricted.

How can these two groups be concerned about the same issues when they seem to be composed of completely different types of individuals with opposite points of view. The Tea Party came with clearer messages and political agendas. There is even an element of sponsorship from conservative causes behind some Tea Party groups. The bottom line is they saw their way of life in the United States coming under threat. Occupy Wall Street grew out of a growing frustration of the huge income disparity between the top 1% and the other 99%.

You may ask why some in the Tea Party support protecting the 1% from any type of tax increase when most of them are in the 99%. The dynamic is not unlike working in a company undergoing employee layoffs where some don’t want to talk ill of the boss least they get released form their jobs. In other words, those sympathizing with the 1% fear making waves and those in the Occupy Wall Street group are making waves. These are not new dynamics and they often manifest in dysfunctional work environments. Now we see this type of company men versus the disgruntled on a national basis in a dysfunctional nation.

Those buying into the trickle down and don’t tax the job creators angle fear even more job losses and outsourcing if the wealthy are taxed at higher rates. Those without jobs and bleak future prospects have little evidence of the job creators actually creating jobs in the United States with their extra tax breaks and have had enough.

Can it really be that simple as a battle between company men and the disgruntled that is playing out on a grand stage as we all jockey for our space in this word with a degree of fairness in access to what was described as the American dream? I propose that it is that simple and as opportunities for individuals to advance in their lives dwindle, the friction between these groups and their supporters will continue to increase.