What will Chief Justice Roberts do? How much lower will Donald Trump decline into depravity?

Articles of Impeachment #IMpotus Obstruction of Congress and Abuse of Power
The Impeachment of Donald Trump

Letters to the editor opinion echo published in The Washington Post
"...bigotry, hatred, counterfeit photographs and more lies...."- dangerous desensitization of the media.

What will Chief Justice Roberts do?

If the Senate doesn’t permit the submission of relevant documents and the testimony of witnesses in the impeachment trial of President Trump, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. will be presiding over the beginning of the end of our democracy. Should this occur, a granite monument funded by private money should be erected with the names of the senators who pushed us into this abyss etched upon it for posterity. These individuals must be remembered for violating their oath to uphold the Constitution.

From Marian Schwartz, Charlottesville, Virginia

Keep paying attention to the president’s words and deeds

Brian Klaas* astutely described how the media and public have responded to years of escalating outrages by President Trump. The natural reaction of desensitization produces an ever-rising psychological threshold that must be crossed before behavior once considered abhorrent can elicit shock. Too many merely tune out or shrug their shoulders.

Referring specifically to Mr. Trump’s tweeting of bigotry, hatred, counterfeit photographs and lies, Mr. Klaas asked, “What will it take to shock us if he wins another term?” He concluded, “I, for one, would rather not find out.”

Bigotry - evil white supremacy- Ku Llux Klan

Indeed, we should take Mr. Klaas’s accurate observation as a clarion call. History shows that, led by small steps, populations can accept almost any behavior from their rulers. We need only to look to the horrors of the 1930s and 1940s to realize that there is no limit to the human potential for depravity. Already in Mr. Trump’s America, we have seen young children taken from their parents and locked in cages. Our president and his family appears determined to show there is no bottom beneath which he would be unwilling to sink. 

From Samuel T. Goldberg, Bethesda


Donald Trump's depravity echo:

Brian Klaas reminded us how desensitized we’ve become to Donald Trump’s many outrages and assaults on our democracy. I  admit to a sometimes glazed-eye approach to news of Trump’s daily, sometimes hourly, instances of perfidy and maladministration. Given the decline of local newspapers and the diffuse nature of today’s news sources, the problem of desensitization is difficult to overcome. This might not always be apparent to those of us living in the D.C. area, but I’ve lived elsewhere, and it is different out there.


From John Elliott, Alexandria Virginia

*Brian Klaas is American political scientist and columnist at The Washington Post. He is an assistant professor in global politics at University College London.

Leadership in New Zealand - Thank you Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

"What has happened in Christchurch is an extraordinary act of unprecedented violence. It has no place in New Zealand. Many of those affected will be members of our migrant communities – New Zealand is their home – they are us." Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

An editorial published in the Middletown Press, a Connecticut newspaper and The Chicago Tribune.

From an American perspective, New Zealand is half way around the Earth. But that perceived isolation doesn’t equal protection from evil. As the world saw in Christchurch, evil can come from anywhere and descend on anyone. 

Moreover, the internet can speed messages of hate.

On Friday March 15, at least one mad gunman attacked two mosques in Christchurch on New Zealand’s South Island, killing several dozen people and wounding dozens more. It was afternoon on the day of prayer for Muslims.

The carnage was purposeful and heinously livestreamed on Facebook. This was an abominable act of violence, designed to be seen and shared. A shooter, apparently using a helmet camera, led viewers on his rampage.

The design of the crime is all too recognizable.

• It is Pittsburgh, where a gunman killed 11 people in a synagogue.
• It is a South Texas church, where a murderer killed 26 people.
• It is a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., where the death toll was six.

It is terrorism carried out against a targeted group of victims at their most peaceful and thus vulnerable: people at prayer. 
One can speculate about a possible motive — in this case, white nationalist rage — but logic fails to justify such twisted acts.

New Zealand, like the United States, is a multicultural nation where Muslims are assimilated contributors to society. But like other groups, including Jewish people, Muslims are a highly visible minority, owing to their cultural identity and pattern of worship.

One aspect of this crime that gained immediate attention was the livestream. Early evidence suggested the internet also played a role in fomenting the gunman’s hateful ideology. 

The dark corners of cyberspace are full of such evil lunacy.

All kinds of ideas, good and evil, go viral through social media. Societies can’t outlaw hate. Government cannot regulate thought or ban words. In the United States, the First Amendment doesn’t take sides. Short of explicit threats, free speech must be free, which limits the ability of lawmakers to prevent eruptions of hate like the one in New Zealand.

But that doesn’t mean civilized societies are powerless.  (MaineWriter- Common sense regulations can be implemented without interfering with First Amendment or Second Amendment freedoms.)

Gatekeepers such as Facebook and other social media purveyors do have a responsibility to patrol and regulate their own venues. And all of us have a responsibility to eradicate racial supremacy and other vile forms of bigotry.

Two messages come at us from faraway New Zealand. (a) First is the need to call out the hatred of the mass “them,” no matter who “they” may be; and (2) teach tolerance and embrace the differences that make people of all backgrounds unique and equal.

If all of us listen, those messages have a chance of squelching these senseless acts.

This editorial is from the Chicago Tribune.

Maryland: "It's the right thing to do"- Governor Hogan

Maryland Politics

Governor Hogan calls for removing the statue of Roger B. Taney, saying it’s the ‘right thing to do’

MaineWriter- a Baltimore native (No, seriously!)

Of all the Confederate statuary targeted for possible removal, I absolutely congratulation Maryland Governor Hogan for picking the removal for one particular one, it's very long overdue.

Governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan

ANNAPOLIS — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) announced Tuesday that he wants to remove from the State House grounds a statue of Roger B. Taney, a U.S. Supreme Court justice and slavery defender who penned in the infamous 1857 Dred Scott decision that black people cannot be U.S. citizens.

“While we cannot hide from our history — nor should we — the time has come to make clear the difference between properly acknowledging our past and glorifying the darkest chapters of our history,” Hogan said in a statement. “I believe removing the Justice Roger B. Taney statue from the State House grounds is the right thing to do.”

Personally, this is a hideous eyesore. I'm glad it's gone, hopefully forever.
There may be a reason for someone to create a Confederacy museum. If so, this man's statue  could be positioned near the bathrooms.

The decision, which comes after the deadly rally of white nationalists in Charlottesville over the weekend, is a reversal for Hogan. Last year, the governor said he had “no interest” in removing Taney’s statue, and he described calls for the removal of statues and other Confederate monuments as “political correctness run amok.”

Hogan said Tuesday that he will ask the State House Trust to take immediate action to remove the statue.

The governor chairs the four-member State House Trust board, which controls the grounds of the capitol complex. House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel), Senate President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) and Maryland Historical Trust Chair Charles L. Edson make up the rest of the board.

On Monday, Busch said in a Facebook post that “the time has come for Taney to come down.” Miller and Edson have indicated that if Hogan wants to remove the statue, they will agree.

Communities across the region and country are debating whether to remove from other public spaces the names and statues of historical figures who represent a legacy of slavery and racism.

On Monday, Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh (D) announced plans to remove four Confederate statues in that city. And, in the District on Tuesday, D.C. Council member David Grosso (I-At Large) sent a letter to the National Park Service asking that it “do everything in its power to permanently remove the Albert Pike Statue,” which is located in Judiciary Square. Pike, was a lawyer and a poet who was active in the Masonic movement. He was a Confederate brigadier general.

Amelia Chasse, a spokeswoman for Hogan, said that the governor was “disgusted” by what happened in Charlottesville and that “he rightly concluded that these memorials have become a rallying point for white supremacists and bigots and he believes that their presence on prominent public land was sending a confusing and ultimately inappropriate message.”

MaineWriter: Thank you Governor Larry Hogan! Indeed, Maryland has seen enough racial riots. Our beautiful state cannot abide the negative impact of its racial history or provide fodder for bigotry.