Echo opinions in stereo - Donald Trump does not provide ethical, moral or truthful leadership!

These two echo opinion letters were published in The Lewiston Tribune, an Idaho-Washington State newspaper.

Maine Writer's aside information note: I happen to read news from Idaho, so the newspapers also send bullets to me about the state's coronavirus data. So, my sympathy to the citizens who are living in Idaho and who are challenged by the high numbers of people who are sick and dying with the coronavirus. Sadly, the Idaho coronavirus morbidity and mortality data, when adjusted for population density, seems to be high. This should be a cause to enforce a "wear a mask" mandate. But, I digress. Two opinion letters are echoed here:

VoteBlue!

Donald Trump lies because he can get away with it and Republicans are cowards when they do not call him out about his dangerous behaviors.

Civic institutions help to preserve decency and democracy. We must act to see they work on our behalf. The Supreme Court’s purpose is to ensure that each branch of government recognizes the limits of its own power.

We see the Republican-led Senate has absolutely no power as it has ceded itself to President Donald Trump.

Trump has complete power over the presidency, with few, if any, restraints. With no checks by the kowtowing Republicans in the Senate or House willing to stop him, he is now attempting to bring the third body of government, the Supreme Court, under his control.

We have witnessed other authoritarian dictatorships rise, and fall. We will see this attempt at dictatorship fall as well. We citizens will also have the opportunity to ensure the fall of Trump enablers such as Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Mike Crapo, Jim Risch, Mike Simpson and Russ Fulcher.

Through their actions, and non-actions, Republicans we thought would represent us in Congress have given their power to an authoritarian leader. 

Sadly, Republicans have shown us they no longer believe we should have political freedom and equality. They have shown us they do not represent the people; they will not fight for us.

On Nov. 3, citizens will show the supreme power of democracy is still vested in the people. 

Democracy is not for sale, nor is it obsolete.

We will vote to show Americans still maintain the rights of decency and democracy for all Americans. 

From Pat Bates, in Clarkston, Washington State, the Lewiston-Clarkston community. 

And this encore....

Grow up! #WearAMask

Donald Trump was forced to wear a PPE mask when he was critically sick with the coronavirus.

When I saw the anti-mask protesters recently active in Moscow, I was reminded of the years I had three teenagers. And at times, it seemed as if I told them to do something, they would do the opposite.

These protesters should use mask wearing not to proclaim their individual rights and religious freedom but realize how foolish it is not to wear a mask.

Why do we, the richest and in many ways the best nation in the world with sophisticated medical experts and medical care, have by far the most COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world? 

We are No. 1 with more than 210,000 deaths.

Part of the answer is terrible leadership from Donald Trump with lies, such as the virus will be over by summer, it’s a mild illness and kids are immune; his terrible recommendations, such as bleach and hydroxychloroquine, which don’t work and are possibly dangerous; and his false advice that masks are not helpful.

Unfortunately, another part of why we are No. 1 in the world in virus cases and deaths is people behaving like teenagers. In spite of every expert in the world proclaiming how helpful mask-wearing is to prevent spread of the virus, they choose to protest.

Come on people, be smart, stop acting like teenagers and protest about something else! (For example, why not protest the lack of personal protective equipment for our public safety, hospital, and long term care employees, physicians and nurses.)

David Spencer in Pullman, Washington State

Donald Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

Guest Editorial published by The Washington Post and re- published in the Idaho The Lewiston Tribune newspaper.

Donald Trump has no problem protecting tyrants like the Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Vladimir Putin

This echo editorial includes an follow up article to help explain how Trump is in violation of the Magnitsky Act

Senator James Risch of Idaho can hold Donald Trump accountable for Saudi misdeeds

It has been a month since the Trump administration flouted a legal requirement to report to the Senate on the responsibility of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. 

Rather than comply with the law, on March 4 it dispatched midlevel officials from the State and Treasury departments to obfuscate before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. They provided no new information about the killing and would not say when or whether the White House would issue a finding on the crown prince. Reactions from senators, including Republicans, were scathing: “Worthless,” was the summary of Sen. Lindsey O. Graham, R-S.C.

The bipartisan outrage is justified. In his zeal to cover for Mohammed bin Salman, who the CIA concluded ordered Khashoggi’s murder, Donald Trump is defying Congress’ authority under the Global Magnitsky Act*, which provides for U.S. action in cases of gross human rights abuses. The law allows legislators to require a finding by the president in specific cases; that provision was invoked last year by then-Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and ranking Democrat Robert Menendez (N.J.), who asked for a determination of Mohammed bin Salman’s responsibility. The Senate’s view is already clear: It unanimously approved a resolution in December holding the crown prince responsible.

Now the question is whether the Senate will act to uphold its authority under the law and prevent the Saudi ruler from escaping accountability for the gruesome murder and dismemberment of a journalist who was a Virginia resident and a contributor to the Post. Not only the question of justice for Khashoggi is at issue: The crime is part of a pattern of reckless and destructive behavior by Mohammed bin Salman that ranges from the bombing of civilians in Yemen to the imprisonment and torture of a number of Saudi female activists, as well as a U.S. citizen.

Several pieces of legislation addressing the Yemen war or the Khashoggi case are pending in the Senate and House. 

But the broadest and most useful vehicle may be a bill sponsored by Mr. Menendez and six other senators, including Mr. Graham and two other Republicans. It would mandate sanctions on any Saudi official or member of the royal family who was “responsible for, or complicit in . . . acts contributing to or causing the death of Jamal Khashoggi,” a catchall from which the crown prince could not be easily excluded. It would also address the Yemen war by restricting sales of U.S. weapons, banning refueling of Saudi planes and imposing sanctions on those who interfere with the delivery of humanitarian aid.

There appears to be broad bipartisan support for congressional action on Saudi Arabia. Mr. Menendez points out that based on its sponsorship alone, his measure could win the approval of the Foreign Relations Committee if its new chairman, Sen. James E. Risch, R-Idaho, allows a vote. At a hearing Wednesday, Mr. Risch expressed unease at Saudi human rights violations, saying, “We cannot look the other way.” If he means that, he should schedule action on the Saudi Arabia Accountability and Yemen bill.

* Why You Keep Hearing the Name Magnitsky in the News. It pops up in all sorts of places. The U.S. law known as the Magnitsky Act has been wielded against Russian officials and the Myanmar military, proposed as a tool to punish China and Saudi Arabia and invoked in the ongoing investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. There’s quite a story behind it as well.

What is the Magnitsky Act?- Reported in Bloomberg  by Lawrence Arnold

How did Russia respond?

The law infuriated people in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s circle and prompted Russia to retaliate by halting most adoptions of Russian children by American families. At a joint July press conference with U.S. President Donald Trump in Helsinki, Putin took direct aim at William Browder, Hermitage Capital’s American-born founder and a driving force behind the sanctions push that led to the law. Putin suggested that Browder and his partners in a separate company illegally siphoned hundreds of millions of dollars out of Russia -- and, for good measure, that he funneled that moneyinto the campaign of Trump’s opponent in the 2016 presidential race, Hillary Clinton. (A court in Moscow last year sentenced Browder, who lives in the U.K., to nine years in prison for deliberate bankruptcy and tax evasion.) Browder called Putin’s allegations "so ludicrous and untrue that it falls into delusion." He added, "Since 2012, Putin has made it perhaps his largest foreign policy priority to have the Magnitsky Act repealed. But none of his efforts have worked."

It’s a law signed in 2012 by President Barack Obama that authorizes some of the sanctions the U.S. has imposed on Russian companies and individuals. It’s named for Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian tax lawyer who, while working for the international investment company Hermitage Capital Management in 2008, identified what he called a Kremlin-connected scam to steal a $230 million tax rebate that Hermitage had paid to the Russian government in 2006. He was arrested, held without trial and died in a Moscow prison in 2009. The U.S. said he was beaten to death. The Magnitsky Act was written to punish "persons responsible for the detention, abuse and death" of Magnitsky by refusing them entry into the U.S. and freezing any of their assets in the U.S.

A group of U.S. senators has urged Donald Trump to consider using the Global Magnitsky Act to sanction high-ranking Saudi Arabian officials over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journalist who had been critical of the Saudi government. (The global version of the law gives the president 120 days to respond to such requests.) Earlier, two U.S. senators asked the White House to use the same law to freeze the travel and assets of Chinese officials over the alleged detention, mistreatment and forced "re-education" of ethnic Muslim Uighurs in the far-western region of Xinjiang.

Vote Blue 2018 ~ Resistance and Democracy

This echo blog is a Leonard Pitts opinion, published in the Idaho newspaper The Lewiston Tribune

Mr. Pitts writes, "This is for Rose".

Commentary Leonard Pitts Jr. ~ a Miami Herald columnist

Don't try to 'understand' Trump supporters; beat them

She is a nice lady who wrote me a nice email in which she spoke about the need to try to understand President Donald Trump's supporters. As Rose put it, "We need to not close ourselves off to how the other side thinks."

It's a sentiment I hear a lot from progressives, and it bespeaks a great generosity of spirit.

But I couldn't disagree more! (MaineWriter ~ totally agree!)

Don't get me wrong. Thinking people will always try to see past their own ideological blind spots, to put themselves into the shoes of those they disagree with. That's an admirable trait. In normal times it's a trait I would applaud with enthusiasm.

But these are not normal times. Indeed, sometimes, I wonder if we appreciate just how abnormal - how fraught with danger - they really are. Under Trump, American laws, news media and mores are under assault, to say nothing of American democracy itself.

And I'm sorry, but I don't think "understanding" Trump followers will ameliorate - or even address - any of that. Besides which, is there really so much left to "understand"?

Not from where I sit. Long before Trump even existed as a political force, many of us noted with alarm the rise of a backlash among right-wingers deeply angry and profoundly terrified by the writing on the demographic wall. Said writing foretold - and for that matter, still foretells - the declining preeminence of white, Christian America. As several studies now show, a sense of alarmed displacement among white, Christian America is the soil from which the weed of Trumpism grew.

The idea that we must "understand" those folks carries with it an implicit suggestion that in so doing, we might find some ground for compromise. It would be a great idea in normal times. 

But again, these times are not normal.

No compromise is possible here, for a simple reason Trump followers seem to understand better than the rest of us: You can't compromise with demography, can't order numbers to stop being what they are and saying what they say about the coming tide of change. But what you can do is seize the levers of power and change the rules of the game in hopes of blunting the force of that tide. That - again, look at the studies - is what Trump supporters elected him to do.

So while, it is admirable to think "understanding" can fix this country, it is also naive. Progressives should ask themselves: When's the last time you heard any Trump supporters talking about the need to understand you? You haven't - and that ought to tell you something.

Here's the thing: the rest of us have the moral high ground here. We see the same demographic writing on the wall that Trump followers see, but where it makes them angry and fearful, it leaves us energized.

Many of us are excited to see the nation that will arise from this cauldron of change.

That's because the idea of change doesn't threaten us. It will challenge us, yes, but we're ready for that. We know that this is a big country, big enough for many different kinds of people, many different ways of life. We know what it means to live and let live. And we know that welcoming the stranger, caring for the stranger, is simply what you do as a human being.

I submit that those are core American virtues. And that now would be an excellent time for progressives to exhibit a little courage in their defense. Trump followers see a nation in demographic peril, so they seek a nation where those who frighten them can be regulated into irrelevance. 

There's no big mystery about that. There never has been.

So no, they don't really need to be understood.

What they need to be is defeated. (Vote Blue!)

(Our American Democracy must be saved by Resistance voters!)

Pitts writes for the Miami Herald. 

His email address is lpitts@miamiherald.com.