Donald Trump ignores American flag desecration he demostrates patriotic hypocrisy

 Echo opinion published in the Boston Globe by Joan Vennochi

Let’s talk about Donald Trump and American flags

The democracy that those Trump supporters demean - i.e., they want to destroy 😡 gives them the right to that free expression.

In the days leading up to Memorial Day, there was a lot of talk about the flags flown at homes owned by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr.

Judge Samuel Alito is unqualified to serve on the Supreme Court

As The New York Times first reported, an inverted American flag — a symbol embraced by rioters at the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — was flown outside Alito’s Virginia home soon after that event. He blamed it on his wife and said he had nothing to do with it. Two years later, a Pine Tree flag, also known as an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, was displayed at Alito’s New Jersey vacation home, the Times subsequently reported. As of this writing, Alito had not responded to questions about the beach house flag, which has also been adopted by “Stop the Steal” MAGA supporters. 

Democrats, however, along with an array of legal scholars and ethicists, have been arguing that Alito should recuse himself from cases involving January 6th because those flags show bias.

They do. But beyond the implications for Alito and the Supreme Court, the flag controversy reveals yet another contradiction about Donald Trump, who is consumed by them. Trump’s kissing, hugging, and caressing of the American flag has turned it into a symbol of allegiance to him and the MAGA movement — so much so that in a blue state like Massachusetts, simply flying an American flag in its proper, upright position can be taken as a statement of support for TrumptiDumpti!

The pickup trucks with streaming American flags invariably boast a Trump sign, too. Trump merchandise is awash with American flags and Trump rallies feature enormous American flags. As a result, non-Trump supporters are not big on flag displays.

As a candidate and as president, Trump also said he would support laws criminalizing flag burning. 

Yet, weirdly, an inverted American flag is a symbol of his favorite movement — the one that supports his false claims that he won the 2020 presidential election. Yet people who believe in the integrity of the electoral process shy away from flying the flag, at least in this part of the country. Isn’t it sad that a former president with such low regard for the democratic process has been able to take ownership of what is supposed to be a symbol of democracy? Like so much about Trump, it doesn’t add up.

From the start, Trump and his supporters have used the flag as a way to divide, not unite. Right after his 2016 election, Trump tweeted, “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag — if they do, there must be consequences — perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!” While he was president and protests were breaking out over the murder of George Floyd, Trump also said he would support laws criminalizing flag burning and that it was time for the Supreme Court to take up the issue again. Of course, thanks to a landmark Supreme Court decision, the burning of flags is considered protected speech, and so is the inverted flag that Alito said his wife put up.

My father was a World War II veteran who proudly flew a flag outside our home. I have some wonderful photos of him saluting it alongside his then-young grandson. If he were still alive, I’m sure my dad would still fly a flag — as a patriotic American, not as a Trump supporter. That sense of common cause beyond political differences is what’s missing from America right now and no one seems to know how to get it back. But there are moments when we still try. The more than 37,000 American flags that were set up on Boston Common over the Memorial Day weekend to honor the men and women of Massachusetts who have died since the Revolutionary War while serving their country were also a tribute to a shared bond, not necessarily to shared opinions. Flags will wave again during Fourth of July parades and concerts.

At the same time, a former president and current presidential candidate who wraps himself in flags has supporters who are flying upside-down flags as a symbol of resistance to election results. Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia went on social media to tell people to turn their American flags upside down while criticizing efforts to hold Trump and others accountable for January 6th. The democracy that those Trump supporters demean gives them the right to that free expression.

Meanwhile, a Supreme Court justice allowed an upside-down flag to be flown outside his home. When it was reported, he expressed no contrition about it or gave any sign that he will recuse himself from cases related to January 6th and Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020, election.

No one should talk about Trump and American flags without thinking about that.

Supreme Count Justice Alito blames his wife but surely he knows how to use a pair of scissors?

Echo opinion letter published in the New York Times: So, “We’re Suddenly Living in a ‘My Wife Did It’ Moment,” by Gail Collins and Bret Stephens (The Conversation, May 21):

Also, check out "Re “A Time-Honored Political Tactic: Throw Your Wife Under the Bus” (NYT front page, May 20):  The justice’s wife, Martha-Ann Alito, was in a feud with neighbors at the time over an anti-Trump sign so she hugn an upside down flag on their yard to protest the neighbor's protest. 😠(Maine Writer- do the Alito's live in a trailer park❓- just sayin' 😕😉)

Justice Samuel Alito says that his wife owns half of their home so she has “the constitutional right” to express a “Stop the Steal” opinion by hanging a flag upside-down in their front yard, as well as “a moral right” to express her opinion independently of her Supreme Court justice husband.  (Maine Writer-  Mrs. Alito has a right to hold her own opinions, but she also has a responsibility to protect her husband's judicial integrity.  If Alito says, "My wife did it, not me....then my quesiton is, could he find a pair of scissors and cut the offensive upside down flag symbol down?)

Hey Alito...enough with the flags!

Our Supreme Court justices are expected to maintain not just the reality of no conflicts of interest that might influence their rulings, but also the “appearance” of no such conflicts.

To neighbors and now the nation, the flag made it appear that Justice Alito believes Donald Trump’s lies about a stolen election, and thus would rule in favor of Trump in related cases. Blaming his wife makes a sham of his own responsibility not to appear political.

No!❗ A spouse may not express views in public that a justice is prevented from expressing. Were that to be the case, all justices could encourage their spouses to broadcast opinions the justice is barred from saying. That way lies madness.

From James Berkman in Boston Massachusetts

Donald Trump's immigration deportation is plan will terrorize all minorites!

Echo opinion by Jamelle Bouie in The New York Times:

Trump's failed border wall!  Now he wants export all immigrants. 

Among the worst episodes in American history are those moments when the federal government deploys the full weight of its power against the most vulnerable people in the country: the Trail of Tears and the Fugitive Slave Act in the 19th century and Japanese internment in the middle of the 20th, to name three.

If he is granted a second term in the White House, Donald Trump hopes to add his own entry to this ignominious book of national shame.

Trump’s signature promise, during the 2016, presidential election, was that he would build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico. 

Worse! His signature promise, this time around, is that he’ll use his power as president to deport as many as 20 million people from the United States.

“Following the Eisenhower model,” he told a crowd in Iowa last September, “we will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.”

It cannot be overstated how Trump’s deportation plan would surely rank as one of the worst crimes perpetrated by the federal government on the people of this country. 

Most of the millions of unauthorized and undocumented immigrants in the United States are essentially permanent residents. They raise families, own homes and businesses, pay taxes and contribute to their communities. For the most part, they are as embedded in the fabric of this nation as native-born and naturalized American citizens are.

"Mexico will pay for it❓" IDTS❗ 

What Trump and his aide Stephen Miller hope to do is to tear those lives apart, rip those communities to shreds and fracture the entire country in the process.

“The Trump immigration plan,” notes Radley Balko, a journalist who writes primarily on civil liberties, in his Substack newsletter, “would be the second-largest forced displacement of human beings in human history, on par with Britain’s disastrous partition of India, and second only to total forced displacement during World War II.”

What is the plan, exactly? It begins, as Miller explained in an interview with Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk last year, with creating a national deportation force consisting of agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Border Patrol and other federal agencies, as well as the National Guard and local law enforcement officials. The administration would empower this deportation force to scour the country for unauthorized and undocumented immigrants. It would move from state to state, city to city, neighborhood to neighborhood and, finally, house to house, looking for people who, according to Trump and Miller, do not belong. This deportation force would raid workplaces and stage public roundups, to create a climate of fear and intimidation.

Of course, in the heat of the moment, it isn’t actually all that easy to determine who may be an unauthorized or undocumented immigrant. But these won’t be selective apprehensions. How could they be? Instead, what we’ll see in practice is an indiscriminate roundup of anyone who might appear to be an immigrant — a mass campaign of racial and ethnic profiling.

Because it would be beyond the capacity of the federal government to immediately return detainees to their “home” countries, the Trump team also plans to build “vast holding facilities that would function as staging centers” for immigrants on land near the Texas border. Internment camps, essentially.

It is worth remembering here that in addition to its wanton cruelty, Trump’s policy of child separation was also noteworthy for the poor conditions suffered by separated families living in government facilities. Child detainees lacked adequate food, water and sanitation. There were also reports of mistreatment, as in the case of the Border Patrol agents who were accused of telling detained women to drink out of toilet bowls.

Now, imagine the conditions that might prevail for hundreds of thousands of people crammed into hastily constructed camps, the targets of a vicious campaign of demonization meant to build support for their detention and deportation. If undocumented immigrants really are, as Trump says, “poisoning the blood of our country,” then how do we respond? What do we do about poison? Well, we neutralize it.

There are roughly 10.5 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States, according to a recent estimate by the Pew Research Center. Trump’s number of “probably 15 million and maybe as many as 20 million” is pulled from nowhere — an assumption based on the inchoate sense that the official numbers are wrong and there must be more “illegals” to apprehend than anyone truly realizes.

To reach this goal, Miller and Trump would almost certainly have to round up citizens as well. But that is also part of the plan. On the first day of his second term, the campaign has let it be known, Trump will sign an executive order “to withhold passports, Social Security numbers and other government benefits from children of undocumented immigrants born in the United States.”




Neither Trump nor Miller appears to have made any distinction between the undocumented children of undocumented immigrants and the native-born children of undocumented immigrants, which fits their opposition to the Constitution’s guarantee of birthright citizenship through the 14th Amendment. Under the Trump deportation plan, citizenship will not save those who have the wrong background.

The Trump campaign’s promise to detain and deport millions of immigrants, along with many American citizens, is a promise to plunge the country into an authoritarian nightmare. It is also a promise of strife and pervasive civil conflict.

It wouldn’t be the first time that Americans responded to an effort of this sort with violence. With the passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, which essentially deputized all authorities and private citizens in free states as slave catchers required to return all escaped slaves to their enslavers, came widespread, armed resistance to efforts to carry out the law. You did not have to be sympathetic to the plight of the enslaved to be outraged by the notion that you could be dragooned into acting as a bounty hunter for state-sanctioned human traffickers.

The political consequence of the Fugitive Slave Act, to the dismay of Southern lawmakers, was to radicalize countless Northerners against the so-called Slave Power and raise sectional tensions to a point of almost no return. The law did not cause the Civil War, but it was the provocation that set the stage for a decade of conflict that led, inexorably, to war.

Do we not think that a mass deportation program, with roving bands of armed agents, would result in similar upheaval? Do we not think that there would be violent resistance to agents storming homes, churches and businesses to seize and detain people? And do we not think that a Trump who wanted, during his first term, to shoot protesters would see this as an opportunity to do so — a hoped-for chance to invoke the Insurrection Act, mobilize the military and crush his political opponents?

We talk often, these days, of illiberalism. It is has become a bit of a buzzword. Often the focus is illiberalism in elite spaces, usually the classrooms and common areas of selective colleges. Sometimes the focus is on particular politicians. But what we are seeing here from Trump isn’t simply a distaste for liberal values; it is a taste for genuine tyranny and bona fide despotism, one that complements his endless praise for dictators and strongmen.

Rhetoric matters, and what candidates say is not simply for show. 

At every opportunity, Trump has placed the mass deportation of millions of people at the center of his campaign. It is a promise. And the promises a presidential candidate makes while on the trail are the promises a president tries to keep.

Vote Democrat in 2024 to protect Democracy. President Biden is competent to save the Constitution from Trumpziim

Echo opinion published in the Los Angeles Times:

This 2024, presidential election is not about, say, whether we should put more ethanol in jet fuel or whether we should even be able to control our own bodies. It is about whether we will have the ability to debate or vote on any of these issues ever again.

Although Trump is not clear on issues when evasiveness suits him. But Trump doesn’t have to deal with the issues, because that’s not what this election is about. It is about whether we will have a democracy when the smoke clears.

We as readers and voters need to know about the not-so-secret plans to fill government positions with people whose primary qualification is that they are loyal to Trump. We need to know what this country will look like on the first day of the dictatorship.

If former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) is correct in stating that we are “sleepwalking” into a dictatorship — and I believe she is — the media are not safeguarding us with truth, but are instead acting more like a sedative.

From Larry Margo, Valley Village in Los Angeles, California

Senator John Cornyn criticized by Texas constituents because he does not support gun safety policies

We're begging you, Sen. Cornyn. Please just make buying guns harder. Echo Opinion letter published in the Houston Chronicle:

Right side of the gun debate: Regarding "Big Bad John Cornyn turns gun-shy as Biden closes the gun show loophole | Editorial," (May 14, 2024): 

Senator John Cornyn should be ashamed by the fact that gun violence is the number one killer of kids and teens in America. 

As the parent of an elementary schooler, I fully support closing the gun show loophole, which has allowed individuals who sell guns via mail order, flea markets or gun shows to sell without first conducting a background check.

That loophole could allow felons, juveniles and the mentally unstable ready access to these weapons. The Biden administration’s action does nothing to impact individuals who are legally authorized to carry guns. They are still free to exercise their Second Amendment rights.

Two years ago, soon after the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, I attended the protest against the National Rifle Association convention. The sign that stood out to me said, “Please, just make it harder.” We are begging you Senator Cornyn. Please just make it harder❓

From Laura Kennedy, in Houston Texas

Why is Cornyn going back on the best thing he’s ever done for my family (passing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act)❓ Keeping the loophole in place means keeping convicted criminals' ability to access firearms, no questions asked. Why would any sane person support this❓ Why is Cornyn so willing to go out on a limb for criminals and so unwilling to do more to protect innocent kids❓

Senator Cornyn opposes the policy of universal background checks to include internet and gun show sales. A McCourtney Institute for Democracy’s latest Mood of the Nation Poll shows that 86% of Americans, and a majority of Republicans, support this policy. So who opposes it, besides Cornyn and a few other like-minded elected officials? The NRA, that’s who. Their mantra must be "any weapon, to any person, at any time." Oh, and let me say that I am a gun owner.

I would like to ask the senator one question: Why should someone who cannot walk into a brick-and-mortar gun store and purchase a weapon due to an inability to pass a background check be able to purchase weapons freely at a gun show or on the internet? It is a simple and seemingly logical question. Virtually every American believes that there are people in this country who should not be able to own guns — convicted violent criminals, people who are mentally ill, so on.

President Barack Obama issued an executive order that basically said if you are collecting federal disability payments and your disability is mental illness, you will not be able to pass a background check to purchase weapons. Former guy Donald Trump signed into law a bill passed by the Republican majority to reverse that policy. Any weapon, to any person, at any time.

When will Republicans get on the right side of gun laws and put people ahead of special interests? We are not talking about banning Americans from gun ownership here, just some sensible and popular policies.

From Rob Hellyer, in Houston Texas

“I will say, over time, though, the U.S. economy has benefited from immigration," Federal Chair Jerome Powell

"Bureau of Labor Stasticis, however, all of the net job growth since the pandemic — all of it — is the result of foreign-born workers who’ve made their way back into the economy"

Echo editorial opinion published in the Houston Chronicle

“In October of (1717), a Philadelphia Quaker - born in Jamaica- named Jonathan Dickinson (1663-1722)Jonathan Dickinson (1663-1722) complained that the streets of his city were teeming with ‘a swarm of people… strangers to our Laws and Customs, and even to our language.’ These new immigrants dressed in outlandish ways. The men were tall and lean, with hard, weather-beaten faces. They wore felt hats, loose sackcloth shirts close-belted at the waist, baggy trousers, thick yarn stockings and wooden shoes ‘shod like a horse’s feet with iron.’ The young women startled Quaker Philadelphia by the sensuous appearance of their full bodices, tight waists, bare legs and skirts as scandalously short as an English undershift. The older women came ashore in long dresses of a curious cut.”

David Hackett Fischer, “Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways In America”

Jonathan Dickinson was staring down his Quaker nose at Scots-Irish immigrants, an early contingent of more than a quarter-million people who would arrive at our shores in waves through much of the 18th century. (Many would find their way into Appalachia and eventually to Texas.)

Farmers, laborers, craftsmen and small-business people for the most part, they came from the war-ravaged borderlands of Great Britain, and as Fischer notes, they faced intense prejudice from ethnic groups that arrived earlier. He quotes one writer who described them as “the scum of two nations.” An outspoken Anglican clergyman called them “the scum of the universe.”

Through the centuries, this nation of immigrants, this nation that from the beginning has relied on the energy, hard work and ingenuity of its newcomers, has struggled with the fact that the “golden door” remains open, inexplicably, long after we and our own folk are safely inside. The culmination of our fear and apprehension was the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 barring all future Asian immigration and setting race-based quotas for immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. (Johnson-Reed was the law for more than four decades.)

A hundred years later, the same nativist fears and xenophobic inclinations are not only roiling the nation but also threatening to undercut a growing economy. Now that Donald Trump has laid bare his ambitious plans for border security and immigration policy, it’s time to review basic facts about immigrants among us, documented and otherwise, and their effect on the economy.

Climbing out of the pandemic aberration the past couple of years, many Americans feel bad about the economy and too many experience real hardship, but we’ve avoided a recession, added hundreds of thousands of jobs month after month and are gradually getting a handle on inflation. The share of native workers between 25 and 54 years old is somewhat higher than pre-pandemic employment levels. 

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Stasticis, however, all of the net job growth since the pandemic — all of it — is the result of foreign-born workers who’ve made their way back into the economy after the Trump administration threw sand into the already troubled gears of the immigration system.

“We don’t set immigration policy. We don’t comment on it,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley in February. “I will say, over time, though, the U.S. economy has benefited from immigration.”

As Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell noted recently, immigrants are willing to take jobs that native-born Americans simply won’t do. We see it all around us: Immigrants are the ones taking care of the elderly, harvesting fruits and vegetables, busing restaurant tables, building houses, cleaning hotel rooms. (Remember those six workers who died while filling potholes on the night that Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge came down? They were from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.) Immigrants also are filling high-tech positions that would otherwise go unfilled, because not enough of us have the necessary skills.

Here’s another immigrant fact we see with our own eyes: Immigrants start new businesses, thereby creating jobs, at a much higher rate than native-born Americans do. That food truck parked in an inner city gas station parking lot or a little Tex-Mex eatery in a dusty Texas town are obvious examples, but they’re not the only ones. According to a 2022 study by the National Foundation for American Policy, 55% of U.S. startup companies valued at more than $1 billion were founded by immigrants.

Ruth Ellen Wasem, an immigration expert formerly with the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT-Austin, points out in a 2020 report that immigration has added “trillions to the gross domestic product each year.” But do immigrants displace native workers? The research shows they’re “complementary,” not competitors, leading to net positive job creation, though the earning power of some native workers is “stunted.”

So let’s just wipe out those advantages to our nation, shall we? That’s effectively what Trump proposes to do if he wins a second term in the White House.

In a recent Time magazine cover story — a story that set off warning signals on numerous fronts — the former president vows he’ll round up every suspected undocumented man, woman and child in this country, an estimated 11 million people. He would rely on local law enforcement and the National Guard to track them down and then — if he follows the advice of former aide Stephen Miller, the anti-immigration zealot — relocate them to massive internment camps along the border until they can be deported. (Would any person in this country with brown skin or an accent, whatever their immigration status, feel safe if Trump is reelected?)

Despite the fear-driven prejudices that Trump cynically stokes, towns and states around the country are recognizing the vitality of newcomers and are working to accommodate their presence. Utica, N.Y., for example, old and tired and emptying out for decades, is one of several Rust Belt cities that have developed strategies not only to attract immigrants but also to help them adapt to their new communities. As Susan Hartman writes in her recent book “City of Refugees: The Story of Three Newcomers Who Breathed Life into a Dying American Town,” the effort has been successful. The newcomers, about a quarter of the city’s population of 60,000, “have been an economic engine for the city,” Hartman writes, “starting small businesses, renovating down-at-the-heels houses, opening churches and other places of worship — and injecting a sense of vitality to its streets.”

Closer to home, Dallas is the first city in Texas to earn the Certified Welcoming status awarded by a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization called Welcoming America. 

Wasem, the former LBJ School professor, led a recent study of the Dallas effort and found, as she summarizes in The Hill, “immigrants boosted all Dallas residents.”

That hasn’t stopped Gov. Greg Abbott from hosting preening Republican governors from other states eager to take selfies at the border and denounce the Biden administration’s handling of immigration. We agree with the governors in this respect: Americans should not have to tolerate an unremitting crisis at the border or a disastrously organized, poorly managed immigration system or a Congress that plays politics year after year with that broken system. 

Local jurisdictions, especially those close to the border, should be compensated. for the extra burden they bear. Like cities and states around the country, the United States of America should be able to welcome newcomers fairly and efficiently, with an eye to border security. Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, a multibillion-dollar boondoggle that has done nothing to fix the border, is certainly not our way, but we have to admit that the golden door is tarnished and broken.

The nation desperately needs people of good will to tackle the problem like one Republican elected official many of us remember. On January 19, 1989, he spoke these words about immigration: “We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our strength from every country and every corner of the world. And by doing so we continuously renew and enrich our nation. While other countries cling to the stale past, here in America we breathe life into dreams, we create the future, and the world follows us into tomorrow. Thanks to each wave of new arrivals to the land of opportunity, we’re a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge, always leading the world to new frontiers. This quality is vital to our future as a nation. If we ever close the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.”

They called him “Dutch,” but his ancestry was Irish on his father’s side, Scottish (and English) on his mother’s, not unlike those immigrants who offended a proper Quaker in the City of Brotherly Love 271 years earlier. 

Ronald Reagan’s paean to our immigrant past — and future — was his final speech as president of the United States. "Anybody from any corner of the world can come to America to live and become an American. We draw our people, our strength, from every country and every corner of the world."

Speaker Mike Johnson is abdicating his oath to support to the Constitution. He puts Trump first!

Echo opinion letter published in the The Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper (Georgia):  House Speaker Mike Johnson should support judicial system, not Trump.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a Trumpti-Dumpti puppet

The specter of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., appearing at the Trump trial in New York to support the former president and disparage the court system was deplorable. 

This "Bible thumping" man is second in line to the U.S. presidency and should support the American judicial system and the rule of law, not call the proceedings 😡 “corrupt” and a “ridiculous prosecution.”

There has been no credible criticism of the trial from reputable authorities; on the contrary, there is widespread belief that the trial has been conducted in a fair and competent manner by the presiding judge.

Speaker Mike Johnson is misplacing his fealty to Donald Trump rather than to his responsibility under the oath he took to support the American Consitution.

After Johnson had recently worked with Democrats to pass several bills of national importance, it gave me some hope that the speaker showed some signs of bipartisan leadership. But when he felt compelled to display his fealty (sworn loyalty❗) to the former guy Trump, in such an obsequious (i.e., excessive obiedience❗) manner, I realized that for him, it is politics above the Constitution. 

From Larry J. Pett, in Atlanta, GeorgiaLARRY J. PETT, ATLANTA

President Biden impressively presidential during West Point graduation speech 2024

Remarks by President Biden in Commencement Address to the United States Military Academy at West Point | West Point, NY

President Joe Biden at West Point graduation 2024

In his address to the Army's newest officers, President Biden reaffirmed his commitment to fight against tyrants and threats to peace, freedom and openness. He vowed to support Ukraine and called for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that includes the return of all hostages. Biden also condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iran for escalating conflicts in their regions.

President Joe Biden: Thank you, thank you, thank you. (Applause.)

General Gilland, Secretary Wormuth, General George, members of Congress. And, by the way, one of the members of Congress up here, I’m flying up with him, and he’s bragging about being from this district and maybe graduated from this academy. Stand up, Ryan. Stand up, Congressman Ryan. Stand up, Congressman (NY18). Fellow graduate right there. (Applause.)

Faculty, staff, soldiers, officers, family, and friends –most of all, West Point Class of 2024.

In 1776, British forces had driven General Washington’s army out of New York City. The British Navy dominated the coast of New England. If they could control the Hudson, they could cut colonies half — divide and conquer, a classic strategy.

But General Washington saw it coming. He knew there was a place on the Hudson where the river bent with a plateau overhead. The Americans placed artillery batteries along the river, stretched an iron chain across the water, and built a fort on a plain called West Point.

West Point, George Washington said — (applause) — George Washington said West Point was the “key of America.” He was right. The British never captured the Hudson. They failed to divide and conquer us. And a few years later, they surrendered at the Battle of Yorktown. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yeah!

THE PRESIDENT: You got it, man. (Applause.)

The most powerful empire in the world defeated by an army of ordinary people driven by the sacred cause of freedom. And I might add, you’re about to become full-time members of the most honorable and the most consequential fighting force in the history of the world — that’s not hyperbole — of the world. That’s the truth. (Applause.)

Ever since, men and women of West Point have stayed true to this mission. And today, 1,036 graduates of the Class of 2024 will join the Long Gray Line that has never failed us and never, ever will. (Applause.)

Together, you survived the Beast Barracks and countless hours of PT. You completed rigorous academics at th- — America’s first, toughest engineering school in the country. You met the highest standards of discipline.

And, of course, no one is perfect. Even Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower were written up from time to time — you know I’m not kidding — (laughter) — when they were cadets here at West Point.

If that sounds familiar to you, maybe I can help you today. In keeping with a longstanding tradition, as Commander-in-Chief, I absolve all cadets on restriction for minor conduct offenses. (Applause.) If you have any questions, the Superintendent can clarify what “minor” means. (Laughter.)

Of course, your time here wasn’t all difficult. The class did plenty of celebrating every time you beat Navy. (Applause.) Now, look, lots of West Point classes have some wins over Navy. But not every class, over a four-years period, beats Navy 51 times. (Applause.) As they say in Delaware, “You done good.”

A few weeks ago, I was honored to present the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy to the Black Knights at the White House. I told them I don’t take sides. But my son, Beau, was a decorated major in the United States Army. He spent a year in Iraq. And he always made it clear who he expected the family to root for in the game in Philadelphia. (Laughter.)

Parenthetically, I was appointed by my — the fellow I ran against when I was 29 years old to the Naval Academy. I was one of 10. I wanted to play football. And my — the day I was supposed to go down for the interview, a classmate of mine who was also one of the 10 appointed to be chosen from — a kid named Steve Dunning — came to pick me up. And I had found out two days earlier they had a quarterback named Roger Staubach and a halfback named Joe Bellino. I said, “Hell, I’m not going there.” (Laughter.)

I went to Delaware. (Laughter.) Not a joke. (Laughter.)

And, by the way, that — that same fellow, he was a wonderful man. I had — in our last debate, when I was 29 years old, he — the first question he was asked at the debate was, “Do you have any regrets, Senator Boggs?” And he said, “No.” Then we came to the very end of the debate, where I spoke and then he was to conclude. He stood up, and he said, “You know, I was asked if I had any regrets. I said no, but I have one: Had Joe Biden gone to the Naval Academy when I appointed him, he’d still have seven months left on and wouldn’t be able to run.” (Laughter.)

Cadets, as proud as your country is today, your families are even prouder. (Applause.) At R-Day four years ago, because of the pandemic, they could not spend the day on post. It was a challenging way to begin the West Point experience. So, I’m thrilled today so many of your loved ones get to see you here.

To everyone who helped raise these remarkable young people, this is your day as well. Because we know, as the English poet John Milton wrote, “They also serve who only stand and wait.”

Cadets, it’s time for you to stand up now and thank your parents. Stand up. (Applause.) Turn and thank them. You owe them big.

The Class of ‘24 is an extraordinary group. You include the Army’s all-time home run leader; athletes who have swum laps around Manhattan Island, which I could never quite figure out — (applause) — and the son of an Iraqi interpreter for the American forces, one of your class’s two Rhodes Scholars.

You hail from all 50 states and 12 countries. Some of you are third-generation West Pointers. Others are the first in your family to join the U.S. Armed Forces. (Applause.) And at least one of you has a twin brother graduating from Annapolis this year. (Laughter and applause.)

I tell you what, I don’t want to be at that family reunion. (Laughter.) Every time you show up to the Army-Navy game, I don’t know how the hell you’re going to do it. But any rate. (Laughter.)

Look, I wish I could praise every single cadet one by one, because you deserve it. You make our entire nation proud, and that’s not hyperbole. You do.

As your Commander-in-Chief, let me say again: Congratulations. You’ve earned every bit of what you’ve (inaudible) going to get today.

Look, the motto of this class, “Like None Before,” was an appropriate choice for your class, because you’re graduating into a world — as a student of history, I can tell you — “like none before.” I’ve been a senator since I was 29 years old, never left government. And ladies and gentlemen, the world is not only changing rapidly, it’s also the pace of change is accelerating. And the range of missions that our servicemen are carrying out are “like none before” as well.

There’s never been a time in history when we’ve asked our military to do so many different things in so many different places around the world all at the same time.

Right now, American soldiers are supporting brave Ukrainians in their fight for freedom. Our soldiers are working around the clock to keep munitions and equipment moving by land, sea, and air. They’re training Ukrainians on how to use advanced weapons systems, like HIMARS, Patriots, and Abrams tanks, and they’re sharing lessons in Tactical Combat Casualty Care with Ukrainian medics and surgeons.

There are no American soldiers at war in Ukraine. I’m determined to keep it that way. But we are standing strong with Ukraine, and we will stand with them. (Applause.) We’re standing against a man who I’ve known well for many years, a brutal tyrant. We may not — we — and we will not — we will not walk away.

Putin was certain that NATO would fracture. I remember them — right after being elected president, before — right after I was sworn in, and we talked about this very issue. In the fall, he had tied — that fall, he decided to — look, I shouldn’t get into this, probably — (laughter) — because it gets me a little excited. But Putin was certain that NATO would fracture.

I said to him in Switzerland that, “You want the Finlandization of Ukraine; you’re going to get the Finlandization — you’re going to get the NATO-ization of Europe.” He had a brazen vision, which we stepped up and stopped. Instead, today, the greatest defense alliance in the history of the world is stronger than ever. Finland and Sweden are our newest members, and they’re tough.

In the Middle East, while we conduct urgent diplomacy to secure an immediate ceasefire that brings hostages home, our Army and Navy have deployed a temporary pier in — on the Mediterranean in record time to increase lifesaving aid to the Palestinians. The U.S. Air Force has conducted food drops, delivering tens of thousands of meals to the people of Gaza.

In the face of Iran’s recent unprecedented attack on Israel, we brought partners together, including Arab nations, to repel the sustained assault.

The man running the operation on the ground: General Erik Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, West Point ‘88. General Kurilla did a superb job.

I was in the Situation Room with our national security team. He was on the screen from the region. He knew the attack was coming, but we weren’t sure precisely when it would begin. Then, at 6:34 p.m., the general said to me, “Mr. President, we just got multiple ballistic missile launches from Iran toward Israel.” Six minutes later, he said, “There are 30 missiles in the air.” Four minutes after that, he said, “There’s 75 missiles in the air.” Then he said, “Over 100 missiles in the air.”

Under incredible pressure, General Kurilla and the Combined Joint Task Force performed exceptionally from sea, air, and bases nearby. Thanks to the — 99 percent of the missiles and drones of Iran never reached their targets because of the quality of our forces. We swiftly ended — (applause) — we swiftly ended what could have been a devastating attack, and we deescalated the conflict, when it easily could have gone the other way.

On the other side of the world, in the Indo-Pacific, we deepened our alliances. We’ve created new ones, like AUKUS, our new strategic partnership with Australia and the United Kingdom. Or the trilateral cooperation we’ve forged with Japan and the Republic of Korea that no one thought was possible: two of our allies cooperating on strategic defense thanks to our leadership. We’ve begun the new trilateral partnership with Japan and the Philippines as well.

We elevated the Quad — together with Japan, India, and Australia — to advance free, open, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific. We’re standing up for peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits. And we’ve depended on our strategic partnership with Vietnam.

I wonder if the classes of ‘74 are here today could have imagined that they were sitting where you were at the same time and during Vietnam.

The upshot of all this: Across vastly different regions and very different challenges, our women and men in uniform are hard at work strengthening our alliances, because no country has allies like ours; investing in deterrence, so anyone who thinks they can threaten us thinks again; defending our values by standing up to tyrants; and safeguarding the peace by protecting freedom and openness.

Thanks to the U.S. Armed Forces, we’re doing what only America can do as the indispensable nation, the world’s only superpower, and the leading democracy in the world.

Never forget: America is the strongest when we lead not only by our example of our power but by the power of our example. You can clap for that. (Applause.)

I want to mention one additional way we’ve made progress. Every member of our Armed Forces must always be safe and respected in the ranks. For the first time in nearly a decade, rates of sexual assault and sexual harassment have gone down across the active-duty forces. (Applause.) It’s long past time to end the scourge of sexual violence in the military once and for all. And we can do this.

Cadets, make no mistake, there remains a hard-power world. You can’t draw any other conclusion when powerful nations try to coerce their neighbors or terrorists attempt evil plots. That’s why I’m making historic investments in our military, overhauling our defense industrial base.

For decades, America has had the most powerful military in the world. And that happens because we choose to make it happen. I have always been willing to use force when required to protect our nation, our allies, our core interests.

And when anyone targets American troops, we will deliver justice to them. That happened earlier this year, when three heroic members of the U.S. Army Reserve were killed in an unmanned drone attack near — in northeast Jordan.

In response, we launched dozens of successful airstrikes against Iran-backed militants. And we’ll never forget to honor the memory of those warriors who gave their lives in the fight against terrorism.

Cadets, West Point had made you — has made you leaders of character. In minutes, you’ll be United States Army officers. In time, some of you will serve in powerful roles at headquarters, the Pentagon, even in the White House. You’ll confront challenges that previous generations of soldiers couldn’t imagine.

When that happens, hold fast to your values you learned here at West Point: duty, honor, country.

Hold fast to your honor code, which says, quote, “We will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate those who do,” end of quote.

And above all, hold fast to your oath. On your very first day at West Point, you raised your right hands and took an oath — not to a political party, not to a president, but to the Constitution of the United States of America — against all enemies, foreign and domestic. (Applause.)

Members of the Long Gray Line have given their lives for that Constitution. They have fought to defend the freedoms that it protects: the right to vote, the right to worship, the right to raise your voice in protest. They have saved and sacrificed to ensure, as President Lincoln said, a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the Earth.”

West Pointers know better than anyone: Freedom is not free. It requires constant vigilance.

And for ev- — from the very beginning, nothing is guaranteed about our democracy in America. Every generation has an obligation to defend it, to protect it, to preserve it, to choose it. Now, it’s your turn.

Remember what over a thousand graduates of West Point wrote to the Class of 2020 four years ago: The oath you’ve taken here, quote, “has no expiration date,” they said. Not for you, not for your country. It’s important to your nation now as it’s ever been. Keep it, honor it, and live it.

Cadets, let me close with this. In the early days of our nation, as General Washington said, West Point was the “key of America.” Today, you’re still the key because of your commitment to protect what makes America “America.”

We’re unique in the world. We’re the only country in the world founded on an idea. Other countries are founded based on geography, ethnicity, religion, or other attributes, but we’re the only one founded on an idea — not figuratively, literally. And the idea is we’re all created equal, deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives.

But ideas need defenders to make them real. That’s what you, the Class of 2024, are all about: defenders of freediom –fr- — freedom, champions of liberty, guardians — and I mean this — guardians of American democracy.

And just as this historic institution helped make America free over two centuries ago, and just as generations of West Point graduates have kept us free through every challenge and danger, you must keep us free at this time, “like none before.”

I know you can. I know you will.

For we are the United States of America, and there is nothing — nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together.

May God bless you all. And may God protect our troops.

Congratulations, Class of 2024. (Applause.)

Justica Samuel Alito must recuse himself from any cases relating to the January 6 insurrection

Echo opinion letter published in the Herald Times Reporter, a Wisconsin based newspaper:  

Supreme Court must uphold laws and show respect for our flag

Justice Samuel Alito is a highly conservative voice on the Supreme Court, and often noted for his adherence to the originalist principles (although the "originalists" wrote the document in 1787❗) of our founding fathers. At least that is what the Supreme Court and Chief Justice John Roberts would like us to believe.

Beyond the courtroom, Alito’s personal life is intertwined through his marriage to Martha-Ann Alito. Martha-Ann, a former attorney herself, has been described as Justice Alito’s closest confidante. However, she is an activist with her own personal agenda, which includes the false narrative of “Stop the Steal.”

The New York Times has reported that our American flag was displayed upside down in the Alito front yard of their home in West Coldwell, New Jersey. This occurred in the weeks after the insurrectionist crimes were committed in Washington, D.C.

This in-your-face Trump-style hypocrisy has no shame.

Remember the Trump-nominated members of the Court who misled the public during their confirmation hearings about Roe v. Wade? Those justices were deliberately deceptive. Alito is trying to dismiss this disrespect for our American flag by blaming it on “neighbor squabbles.”

Chief Justice John Roberts must remove Alito from all cases that relate to the January 6 insurrection and upcoming elections. We, as citizens, must demand that the Court uphold our laws and show respect of our flag. If not, our democracy is truly at stake.

From Barbara Welnetz in Manitowoc, Wisconsin

Donald Trump a loser in the Bronx and at the Libertarian convention

"...protestor told the news outlet, “He’s a crook, a liar, and a cheat. And he tries to make money off people."

Few Supporters and Several Protesters

Echo report published in OK! Former guy Donald Trump repeatedly praised himself over the (#FakeNews❗) crowd size of supporters who attended his (white people only😵) rally in the Bronx, N.Y., on Thursday, May 23, referring to it as an "outstanding turnout." 

However, a local New York evening news report from ABC7's Jim Dolan revealed a different story about how many people attended by exposing a live overhead view of the event.

The video shared on the local news showed a stark contrast to how Trump and more conservative networks like Fox News were presenting the crowd size. The report also showed that a good number of people at the rally were protesters.

Dolan first featured the comments of local Bronx residents who showed up to protest Trump. One resident called the presumptive GOP nominee a "big fat bigot" and claimed that "he just doesn’t have any love in his heart for anyone, anyone of color, anyone who’s in the LGBTQ+ community.”

A second protestor told the news outlet, “He’s a crook, a liar, and a cheat. And he tries to make money off people. And that’s what he’s doing right now.”

B-roll of the event shown to viewers during the local news report painted a remarkably different picture than what Trump boasted about during the rally.

Dolan then pivoted to the home states of the pro-Trump rallygoers in attendance, revealing that many of them were from "out of state."

"Go out there. Look at all of them," one protester told the outlet. "Call that a pocket check out of where they came from. Tennessee, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Texas."

One pro-Trump rally-goer claimed he was from New York, but he was not from The Bronx, but rather from Queens.

“Donald Trump can now say he held a rally in the South Bronx, home to immigrants and minority communities, and that it was well attended,” Dolan explained, wrapping his report.

“It’s just not clear that the people who attended were from the Bronx. The campaign controlled who got in, and the campaign, of course, picked only supporters.”

Maine Writer.....And for the Trumpzi encore.....
‘No wannabe dictators!’: Donald Trump booed at Libertarian convention: Jeers ❗ suggest Republican presidential candidate Trumpzi faces a challenge in broadening his appeal. (Reported in The Guardian)

Never Trump❗

Donald Trump, the former US president, has suffered the rare humiliation of getting booed and heckled during a raucous speech to the Libertarian National Convention.

Trump’s rocky ride at a Washington hotel on Saturday night, including cries of “Bullshit!” and “Fuck you!”, underlined the challenge that the Republican presidential nominee faces to broaden his appeal both left and right on the political spectrum.

“The fact is we should not be fighting each other,” Trump pleaded. “If Joe Biden gets back in, there will be no more liberty for anyone in our country. Combine with us in a partnership – we’re asking that of the libertarians. We must work together. Combine with us. You have to combine with us.”

The appeal went down like a lead balloon as delegates booed, jeered and shouted insults. It was a stunning rebuke for a man who has become accustomed to cult-like rallies where his every word is cheered to the echo.

The Libertarian party, which prioritises small government and individual freedoms, typically gains 3% or less of the national vote but its members could yet prove crucial in swing states this November. Trump’s clumsy attempt to court them resulted in him scolding them instead.

Taking the stage, he was confronted by Libertarians, who have their own factional disputes, shouting insults and decrying him for running up huge federal deficits and enriching pharmaceutical companies with the coronavirus vaccine development. A smaller core of diehard Trump supporters clad in “Make America great again” hats and T-shirts chanted “USA! USA!”. One person unfurled a Palestinian flag.

Amid this melee, Trump’s appeal to Libertarians to vote for him or join his campaign were repeatedly rebuffed. Referring to the four criminal indictments against him, he joked: “If I wasn’t a libertarian before, I sure as hell am a libertarian now.”

The ex-president quoted an article written by political commentator Deroy Murdock arguing that Libertarians should vote for Trump. The crowd again erupted in boos and jeers.

Trump retorted: “Only if you want to win. Only if you want to win. Maybe you don’t want to win. Maybe you don’t want to win. Only do that if you want to win. If you want to lose, don’t do that. Keep getting your 3% every four years.”

Trump went on to argue that Libertarians should make him their presidential nominee or at least vote for him in the election. Again there were boos and wails of derision. He went on: “The Libertarians want to vote for me and most of them will because we have to get rid of the worst president in history and together we will.”

The Republican promised that, if elected, he would put a Libertarian in his cabinet and others in senior posts. Again the crowd made clear its dissent. Ever the salesman, Trump prodded: “Pretty good. That’s pretty big.” But this 💥time the old tricks did not work💢❗

Recommended reading for Trump attorney Todd Blanche

File this echo essay under "fun reading".  😂

Published in The New Yorker by Zach Helfand.

Donald Trump's defense attorney Todd Blanche should have taken a tour of the Manhattan court house where he has been couped up with his client while enduring the saga of hearing about the Stormy Daniels sexual encounter, now forever entered into the public record.  

MANHATTAN, NY- Falsifying business records in the first degree is a class-E felony in the State of New York, carrying a possible prison sentence of four years. It’s not often a marquee charge. A few years ago, for instance, a teacher in the Bronx gave her principal a fake vaccination card, in a bid to get a day off to recover from the side effects. Charge: falsifying in the second degree. (She pleaded guilty, and it was knocked down to a violation after she completed community service.) The public, however, has got pretty jazzed about the crime recently. At the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, at 100 Centre Street, people have been standing in line down the block, sometimes a day in advance, for a chance to see a case in person. Some observers have said that the fate of the country hinges on falsifying businessrecords. What’s all the fuss?

The courthouse had two active falsifying cases the other day, before Judges Gregory Carro and Juan Merchan. Carro presided over courtroom 1300, part 32, on the thirteenth floor, off a corridor that looked as if the Penn Station basement had decided it was too bright. A window was open in the back, through which resounded loud hammering from construction next door.

The court was called to order, and defendants began coming forward for pretrial hearings. One looked dazed. One was missing a leg. Someone’s cell phone rang in the gallery. “You gotta silence that phone!” an officer shouted. Every few minutes, a defense attorney, looking confused, walked the aisle yelling a client’s name.

At last, the falsifying case. The defendant was called forward. No one appeared. His attorney, Brian Hutchinson, found Assistant District Attorney Karl Mulloney-Radke in the gallery and whispered to him, “He’s in the bathroom. He’s nervous.” (Hutchinson said later that his client was a model citizen in court: “He’s stayed awake the whole time.”)

The defendant had been a New York City Health & Hospitals officer. According to prosecutors, a different officer had been escorting an inebriated man from Bellevue Hospital after discharge and had stomped on the man, then slammed him to the ground and left him there, apparently unconscious. The defendant was accused of holding the man down during the beating. Charge: official misconduct. Prosecutors said that he later filed paperwork about the incident which failed to mention the use of force. There’s your falsifying rap.

The defendant appeared after a few minutes: skinny, middle-aged, bald, with glasses and a blue mask. He wore jeans and carried a blue plastic shopping bag.

Carro said, “All right. What’s the offer?”

“On this case, the people’s offer is for the defendant to plead to two misdemeanors,” Mulloney-Radke said. The D.A. was seeking two years’ probation, with a ban on employment as a peace officer in New York.

The defendant whispered to Hutchinson, who wore a black pinstripe suit and a purple tie. “He is interested in the offer, Judge,” Hutchinson said.

“The Assistant District Attorney is going to ask you some questions about the incident,” Carro said.

Mulloney-Radke addressed the defendant: “Do you admit that in New York County, on January 8, 2022, that with intent to defraud, you omitted to make a true entry in the business records of Bellevue Hospital, and, specifically, referring to a Health & Hospitals police-response card, you failed to report a use of force by another officer, in violation of your duty to do so? Do you admit that, sir?”

“Yes, sir,” the man said.

“That’s satisfactory to the people. Thank you, Your Honor.”

The man walked with Hutchinson to the elevator bank and left with his shopping bag. Hutchinson stayed behind. What did he make of the falsifying charge? “My opinion is that the paperwork was a lot less egregious than the actions of the other co-defendant,” he said.

The case, which was handled by the D.A.’s police-accountabilit yunit, had taken a long time to complete. “I’ve had one other case with them,” Hutchinson said. “That was related to an escape attempt. My guy”—who’d been arrested, held at Rikers, then hospitalized—“managed to get out of a fifth-floor window.” The man had allegedly shimmied down a makeshift rope he’d fashioned from tied-together sheets, before falling. “Got up and walked away,” Hutchinson added. “Managed to get a taxi.”

Hutchinson said he didn’t know that his case was just one of two falsifying-business-records matters at the courthouse, perhaps because the other one was adjourned for the day. It seemed interesting, though, involving a lot of counts of falsifying—thirty-four in all. Word was, the case was in the middle of testimony from a famous porn star, who’d told the court that she’d used a magazine to spank the defendant, who subsequently told her that she reminded him of his daughter. The defendant, a seventy-seven-year-old man originally from Jamaica Estates, in Queens, has thus far not pursued a plea deal. ♦