Author: Celeste Crouch

Some observations since the HUGE CAVE – IN by Trump yesterday:
If the country gets to the deadline date and no compromise has been reached, anti- wall Americans should be primed and ready to march!  Non violent  marching can make people feeling solidarity with other fair minded citizens who believe such a preposterous strategy as a shutdown with so many innocent victims cannot be allowed to happen again. In addition, as  shutdowns become more frequent, recruiting qualified, high caliber applicants for government  service becomes becomes more challenging.- with a chilling impact on overall government efficiency. Shutdown are simply bad policy and must stop.
Also – lets urge House Dems to initiate a  bill that any future shutdown must include a hold on the slalaries of all members of Congress until. of course. the shutdown comes to an end. Call the bill the Share the Pain of a Shutdown bill.The bill would have no chance of passing but it would serve as a great way to remind Americans that lawmakers might not embrace  a government shutdown so readily if they actually had skin in the game.
The only good news to come out of the shutdown might be that it has now dawned on millions of Trump voters that their Art of the Deal  President displayed no deal-making skills whatsoever. He was out dueled by Nancy Pelosi and left looking doleful and clueless.  And Pelosi’s skill in staring down  Trump augurs well for the women candidates running for President in  2020. However there is no time to gloat. 
Trump foisted this suffering on innocent Americans  for a vanity wall that most Americans  don’t want or believe is worth the cost.. This malevolent, ego-driven rogue President now stands guilty of an impulsive, foolish decision aided and abetted by a bunch of amoral. self-interested GOP Senators – especially Mitch McConnell. 
 What Trump overlooked in initiating the shutdown was that the House no longer belonged to the Republicans. The Dems showed almost total unity in the voting on the two Senate bills to reopen the government. It was the GOP who showed cracks in their pro-shutdown position – six GOP Senators voted with the Dems to reopen the givernment. .
In the end, all it took was air traffic at two major airports to become  too congested  – causing safety delays and cancellations for Trump to throw in the towel. The GOP could tolerate punishing government workers to give Trump his wall. But they certainly could not abide a horrific mid-air collision or business travelers and corporate donors becoming riled up about business deals going down the drain due to flight delays.
Here is a good article from Daily Kos discussing how poorly Trump is managing  Day 2 of the 21 day interim before a compromise has to be reached. If you haven’t called Mcconnell  please do so. He has to make a good faith effort to help the bi-partisan Conference Committee reach a compromise or he too will have his favor ability polls start taking a hit – in Kentucky. Mitch is up for re-election in 2020 and Kentuckians may be getting tired of his poor leadership. 
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/1/26/1829829/-Donald-Trump-Just-Made-a-Fantastic-Argument-AGAINST-Building-His-Idiotic-Border-Wall

McConnell’s contact info:https//www.numbersusa.com/content/my/congress/328/contact

Mitch McConnell has been named the worst Senate Majority Leader since the  early 1920’s when the era of electing a Senate Majority Leader began. This appraisal comes from Norm Ornstein, a political science scholar and lauded expert on the U.S. Congress who is a registered Dem but considers himself a centrist. He shared his evaluation of MCConnell and included McConnell’s  submissiveness to Trump, his total lack of leadership re the shutdown. and damaging changes to the Senate rules as reasons for placing him at the bottom of Majority Leader rankings.  Ornstein shared this assessment on MSNBC last evening with Lawrence O’Donnell. 
This ranking for McConnell seems appropriate especially today when his enabling of Trump has fostered this record-breaking government shutdown. Pressure must continue to be put on McConnell to place a bill on the floor that will reopen the government. Any more delays on his part will simply foster more suffering and fuel the speculation that he is hiding something as well.
Unlike other Senators, McConnell as Senate Majority Leader must listen to the voices of all Americans. Call, email, fax or snail mail McConnell demanding that the government be reopened.  Consider sending your message all four ways to make sure that MCConnell gets the message. 
McConnell’s Contact Info:  This link provides phone numbers for his satellite offices as well as phone number in Washington D.C., his fax #, snail mail address and email address.  https//www.numbersusa.com/content/my/congress/328/contactHere is this week’s Americans of Conscience checklist. 
https://americansofconscience.com/1-20-2019/

The Checklist, as it does every week, warms the heart. It provides news about people all over the country, doing what they can to make things better to counter Trump’s cruel policies.. Just reading the list makes one feel solidarity with activists who refuse to remain passive in the face of great need. 
Celebrities and ordinary citizens alike, believe that the suffering of the innocent victims – government workers, contractors and ancillary victims like Native Americans rest squarely at the feet of Trump and McConnell. They also believe that this bald face cruelty, so glaring and obvious, demands action. And so in small ways and large, groups and individuals are stepping up to do what they can to aid the victims Click on any one of them to give yourself a boost  

According to this article from The Hill, some voters in the Trump base appear to be experiencing a change of heart in their allegiance  to Trump. Many of these people are describing this transformation with the question What were we thinking by voting for him?. Their original intent they report, in voting for the inexperienced, bullying, billionnaire candidate was to shake things up in Washington.  
This desire for a shake-up emanated from a a growing sense of resentment and disgruntlement with the status quo. Throughout Obama’s two terms, voters from a certain demographic group began to believed that the federal government now catered to the minorities in the country more than to their group of non -college educated whites. They felt a loss of status and respect and the idea of voting for this guy Trump who offered to go to Washington and trash the establishment seemed like a good idea at the time. 

Now inexorably, Trump’s shiny veneer has worn thin for a small segment of the Trump base. Trump’s numbers are beginning to slide. Not a lot but enough to take note.. From the Resistance perspective, this news comes with the automatic follow-up question, What took them so long to see the light?
But the anti-Trump crowd must be patient and remember that the typical Trump devotee was looking for a way to lash out at  the elites and the establishment in Washington.. These feelings went deep in 2016 and were compounded by the slow wage growth and the down-turn in manufacturing in the rust belt states over recent years. Trump deftly exploited their fears and growing animosity. 
For Trump supporters to come to the realization that he used them for his own self interest and not to serve their needs is a bitter pill to swallow. It is easier on the ego to stick with Trump and disbelieve all the evidence piling up that he has been a con man in business and remains one in the Presidency. Imagine how difficult it can be for a Trump voter to accept that  he is a criminal and maybe even an asset to the Russians as well.. That enough Trump voters have become disillusioned to show up in the polls, can be viewed as good news. 
And who knows?  This slight ticking down of Trump’s favorability numbers may not last. As the author of The Hill article suggests, the enlightenment may only be temporary and those newly dissatisfied Trump people may, alas, return to the fold.
The Resistance, however, for the time being anyway. can take heart with the recent polls. Taking the optimistic view, this tiny crack of disillusionment in Trump’s base,may foretell a gaping break – with Michael Cohen’s testimony only days away. In the meantime lets breathe a happy sigh that a few Trumpies have for now, had their epiphanies.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/426057-trumps-base-shows-signs-of-eroding-ahead-of-re-election-bid

Traverse City’s 3rd Annual Women’s March

Hope you are planning on attending the Women’s March in Traverse City or one close to wherever you happen to be.  Women made considerable political strides in 2018 – especially by winning seats   in the House and in state government positions all over the country. And talented woman plan to run for President in 2020. 
 This will be an exciting year to watch more women politicians than ever make their mark in government. Please consider starting it off with a bang.  It is hard to beat the camaraderie, signs and chants which have become core parts of the women’s marches.
Traverse City –  January 19, Saturday, 1:00 p.m. The link below gives the details.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm#search/victoria+++gutowski/FMfcgxwBVDHXXGwSmgBzqrbvrxFhlqKq

From Leelanau Indivisibles:
Save the date for this upcoming event. 
American Promise is a non-partisan group committed to getting a Constitutional Amendment that overturns Citizens United and to get money out of politics once and for all.  According to American Promise, they are already getting bi-partisan Congressional support for this idea.  One of their founders has spoken to Jack Bergman who indicates he thinks this is a good idea—although he has not given a firm commitment yet.  
Let’s show up and show strong support for the Northwestern (lower) Michigan launch of this initiative.
Here’s a petition for Mitch McConnell to place the open the government bill  up for a vote in the Senate.  Please consider signing.– https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm#inbox/FMfcgxwBVDGPCkPcKGxvrjhQpSRmbSvd

Sen. Gary Peters speaks in Suttons Bay
Michigan Senator Gary Peters will be speaking at the VI Grill on Sat. Jan 26, at 10:00 a.m. in Suttons Bay.   This event is a great opportunity to meet with the other Senator from Michigan.  (We seem to hear much more from Sen. Debbie Stabenow than Peters.)  He will explain what he has been up to and how he feels about Mitch McConnell’s actions.
And think of all the good questions that should be asked. Hope you can attend.. 

Nancy Pelosi’s brilliant move
 In her postponement of Trump’s State of the Union Address in the House to Congress on Jan. 29, 2019, Nancy Pelosi  craftily took away from Trump, for now anyway,  an event he loves.. The State of the Union Address has all the elements of pomp and circumstance in which the President is totally in the limelight -all Congress members in attendance – half of whom are partisan  bound to applaud everything a President  says and stand up when he/she puts forth a really big idea.  All of the networks are on hand along with the foreign press plus Supreme Court members, military brass and a  huge crowd in the balcony filled with supporters and important people.  What a joy  the Address offers Trump – the chance to read by teleprompter his propaganda to the nation and bask in the warm spotlight and faked adulation.
And yesterday Pelosi yanked the event right out from under him. She stated the reason was simple – that due to the shutdown Homeland Security could not adequately guarantee the security of Trump and all the VIPs attending the event.  
 Kirstjen Nielsen, Homeland Security Secretary, quickly tried to push back saying oh no, there would be enough security personnel to handle the event – even though they would all be working without a salary.. But alas (for Trump), last year Nielsen had  released a federal policy that the State of the Union event would require the highest level of security. This level could obviously NOT be met during a shutdown . So Nielsen’s last minute effort to bring the Address back to life failed due to her own policy. Pelosi, of course, knew about the policy in advance and knew that it would curtail Nielsen from coming to the rescue. .
Here is the Washington Post article on Pelosi’s “brilliant” (Post’s word choice) maneuver.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/01/16/pelosi-asking-trump-postpone-his-state-union-is-her-latest-power-play-this-shutdown-impasse/?utm_term=.ff1b3b8221d6
Trump’s pettiness on full displayAnd after a 24 hour delay from Trump about the postponement, he finally sent a letter to Pelosi.  In the letter he told Pelosi that she could not travel with the Congressional Delegation in a military plane to Afghanistan, Brussels and Egypt.  Sadly, this trip had not been publicized due to security concerns so the letter from Trump effectively outed the trip to the world. The trip for now was canceled. Here is Daily Kos article on Trump’s response to Pelosi.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/1/17/1827112/-In-fit-of-rage-Trump-cancels-Pelosi-trip-to-Afghanistan-endangering-her-and-national-security

to ask him is why it is that McConnell’s connections to Russian oligarchs and Chinese officials has received such little media attention.  Do the Dem Senators talk amongst themselves about his conflicts of interests?  What is their opinion about McConnell’s connections?

Kevin Drum takes a brief break from the  ongoing shutdown issue to tackle the hottest controversy on social media – the  Gillette ad dealing with male domination. The ad, pre-released in preparation for the Super Bowl, has already prompted  lots of press and even a call to boycott Gillette. And since the Women’s March will take place in just three days, It  seems worthwhile to send along the ad itself and Drums’s commentary about it.  Be sure to watch the ad first to form your own opinion before reading Drum’s take and mine..
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2019/01/whos-afraid-of-gillette/

Kevin Drum’s complaint here has nothing to do with the ad. His annoyance is with the Vox article that takes an extreme position about feminism. It states that feminists want to see corporations like Gillette fail. And the writer is peeved that a corporation selling men’s grooming products involves itself in the gender wars. 
All Drum wants to underscore is that extreme positions like the one in Vox can do a disservice to the ism which is being defended. . However, going over the edge with outlandish statements which this writer does. only makes the situation worse.
On this issue of the ad it is easy for me to agree with Drum. It simply conveys  gentle reminders that there are acceptable ways for men to become role models in defusing male aggression.  As Drum suggests, the ad will perhaps reach one – hundred million men which is close to two-thirds of all males in the country – remarkable coverage in the scheme of teachable moments..
 Despite the fact that some men will find the ad threatening or unnecessary, and berate it, the message will likely get through to a fair number. And no one who wants to see sexual harassment and assaults as well as bullying decrease should have a quibble with that possibility,  Once again Engler steps over the lineMaybe in just a few hours from now, John Engler will no longer by interim President at Michigan State University (MSU). The Dems are in the majority now on the MSU Board and he likely will be fired for making more inappropriate statements about the victims in the Larry Nassar scandal.
 Let’s hope he is finally fired. His hiring in the first place showed how inept the Republican members of the Board were.. And during his brief tenure he managed to keep the scandal’s waters roiling and thus hindered the healing process for both the victims and the university.  
He was the worst pick for the job. Engler had a  long inglorious record for his meanness and insensitivity before coming to MSU.  And while interim President he simply could not change his basic sexist attitude in talking about the victims. It will be beneficial for the university to have him ousted.
Here is  The  Detroit News‘ discussion of the board meeting taking place re Engler  this morning. 
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/01/16/msu-board-meet-following-englers-controversial-comments/2590880002/

Let’s keep up the heat on Mitch McConnell – because after reading this bombshell article below, you probably will agree that he deserves all of the pressure we can lay on him. Like a whack on the side of the head. this article from Alternet  goes a long way in answering the question of why McConnell  is acting as Trump’s sure – bet enabler. 
Just follow the lines in the graphic as you read the article and then wonder why this information hasn’t been made public sooner.. His marriage to Elaine Chao (now Transportation Secretary) immediately made him a multi-millionaire and thrust him ultimately on the road to becoming the Senate Majority Leader where today he holds absolute power.

Another huge perk from the marriage was his gaining of a wealthy father-in-law, James Chao, an American shipping magnate, who was making powerful connections in international circles. Chao  began doing a huge  trade business with the Chinese and Russian governments and meeting powerful leaders in both countries.   Mitch got to interact with these leaders as well. For their part, the oligarchs perceived that McConnell looked like a great mark; one who would promote their own interests with the American government. And sure enough  the millions started pouring into McConnell’s political campaign, the Leadership Fund from these Chinese and Russian oligarchs.You know the term – quid pro quo.
Even with the best intentions, McConnell is immersed in serious conflicts of interest. i.e. the swamp.    No wonder he has been been enabling Trump for the last two years. He has no allegiance to the Mueller report or opening the government  because its revelations might put an end to whatever links he has established with his wealthy international contacts. Check out the article and see why it becomes apparent that Mitch is compromised. And how is it that his wife gets to be Transportation Secretary with a father in the international shipping business?  Fearing discovery, maybe that is why he always appears to have such a woeful look on his face 
It is sickening to learn this information. McConnell is making personal  aggrandizement his first priority which puts us all in peril.
Pass this article on. More Americans need to know what McConnell is up to.
https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/how-mitch-mcconnells-weak-kneed-cowardice-makes-him-the-perfect-target-for-perfect-for-agents-of-power-and-influence/

OK. Time to turn the national spotlight on Mitch McConnell  to ask some serious questions. Today’s burning  one of course is – Why won’t McConnell let the Senate vote on the bill to open up the government which was passed in the House?  If it passed, it would force Trump to veto it – making him look like the obvious guilty party that he is. It  would put more pressure on Trump and certainly hasten the government opening.  So why the refusal from McConnell?  His stance makes him a co-equal partner with Trump as the shutdown increases the burdens on people, businesses and now the safety of the flying public. (See the next article.)
Greg Sargent, in this excellent  article in The Salt Lake Tribune today, asks this question and an even a broader one.  In the past two years at critical stages in the Russian interference saga why has McConnell worked to enable Trump when evidence pointed to Trump’s national security malfeasance? This enabling does not qualify as simply a Senate Majority Leaders supporting  the President of the same party. Rather McConnell’s decisions to acquiesce to Trump involved matters concerning the nation’s safety where partisanship  should not play a role.

Sargent points to another example of McConnell’s dangerous enabling. McConnell has maintained his absolute refusal to allow the bill to protect Mueller  be taken up in the Senate. After more and more information keeps being revealed about the scope of the Russian interference in the election, and the many Russian contacts by Trump officials, the Mueller investigation findings has escalated to the peak of national security importance
Yet McConnell stands firm on not bringing up the bill to keep Mueller safe for a vote.  Sargent even suggests the plausibility that  McConnell may have been told that the FBI had opened an investigation on Trump’s support of Russia over that of the U.S. If true, McConnell’s thwarting of the protect Mueller bill, looks even more questionable.. 
Now is the time to clog the government lines with demands that McConnell allow a vote on the government shutdown in the Senate. Lets call Stabenow, Bergman and Peters and register our grievance.. Send McConnell an email (could not get through on phone).    senator@mcconnell.senate.gov  Let him know how his obstruction of the protect Mueller bill and the opening of the government bill are no longer defensible.
https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/c ommentary/2019/01/14/greg-sargent-trump-is/
Another reason why the government needs to open.Here is a short article detailing a scary incident on a flight out of Atlanta yesterday from Daily Kos..
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/1/14/1826096/-Thanks-Trump-TSA-Slips-Up-Big-Time-Woman-Boards-Plane-With-Gun-and-Ammunition-in-Atlanta

Here is Jen Hoffman’s Americans of Conscience checklist for this Sunday, January 13.  
https://americansofconscience.com/

Working one’s way through the checklist elicits a host of good feelings. Users are given opportunities to act, make one’s voice heard, and be rejuvenated by the important work of others.
 Hoffman provides users with inspirational examples of people’s efforts to make things better for others – through public policy. the courts or simply by pressuring our members of Congress with phone calls and emails.. She encourages users to show their appreciation of these diligent activists with hard copy notes of thanks. One comes away from this impressive tool feeling much better about the state of the country. Good things ARE happening and the checklist provides an opportunity to become a part of the action. 
Thanks to the information provided in the checklist, we learn that Gov. Whitmer of Michigan is already having a positive impact on the lives of some Michigan residents. Check out the following:
Gov. Whitmer is on a rollEquality gets a boost in Michigan with a Democrat now  in the governor’s seat. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has hit the ground running  stepping right up to promote the principles of fairness and equality for two important communities in the state. 
She signed an executive order banning discrimination of people in the  LGBTQ community in all state employment and contracting positions. These people  can no longer be treated differently than their peers in state government and contracting positions or simply not hired due to their sexual  orientation. Check out the Washington Blade article below which discusses this important directive.
https://www.washingtonblade.com/2019/01/07/new-michigan-wisconsin-guvs-signs-orders-against-anti-lgbt-bias/
 She also signed another executive order requiring equal pay for equal work  The pay scale disparity between men and woman has long been recognized and challenged by women’s groups and civil rights organizations. This directive requires that all state and contracted employees be paid the same as those performing the same tasks.. 

Importantly, the directive also prohibits interviewers from inquiring  from an applicant what their salary had been in their previous position. This question helped job interviewers determine what an applicant might be willing to accept and was a typical ploy to keep women’s pay lower than that which men were paid.
Women would come into a job interview with the mind set that receiving a pay offer a little higher than they had  earned at their previous position constituted a fair offer.  They had no clue that they needed to be offered a huge increase to get on the same pay scale as men performing the same tasks..This hiring question served as a tool to keep women’s pay below that of the men’s and helped to perpetuate the gender pay disparity.  Thanks to Whitmer, the question  is no longer allowed.  
Whitmer’s equal pay for equal work directive is discussed in the article from WNEM  and is provided in the  link below.
https://www.wnem.com/news/governor-whitmer-signs-executive-directive-securing-equal-pay-in-michigan/article_2a3e92f4-1371-11e9-b03a-8fdb576448ba.html

Spending too much time in the toxic world of Donald Trump can leave one mentally drained. And this shutdown may be the most exhausting challenge of all. It has now become the  longest running shutdown ever – causing so much harm to innocent people….for no coherent reason….. with no end in sight.
Now in addition to this dismal. dismaying situation. there is  the bombshell report from The New York Times (NYT) yesterday that the  FBI had opened an investigation on Trump in May, 2017 to determine whether he had become an agent or unwitting asset of the Russians.
 This action by the FBI to question whether a sitting President might be a national security risk is incredibly damaging to Trump.  The news caused a huge reaction from a few retired intelligence officers last evening. They immediately asserted that the FBI would have been neglecting their duty if they had not acted on the evidence of Trump’s  explicit promotion of  Russian policy over that of the U.S. And they also pointed out that the FBI probably had even more evidence than has been made public to support their rationale for opening an investigation.
 On the right.  Sarah Sanders and Rudy Giuliani. responded with the per usual attacks on the FBI and the assertion that FBI agents and  the entire Justice Department  belonged to the deep state and were simply out to get Trump. Think about it. The White House spokesperson and the President’s attorney both chose to challenge  the actions of the  FBI  and the Justice Department outright  calling their investigation a set up against Trump. 
 If the comments made by these two Trump aides are to be believed, the Justice Department and the FBI have morphed  into simply  anti-Trump  institutions. and are  willing to lie about his behavior.  With this strategy, the Trump people can  dismiss all of the FBI’s findings  – including the Mueller report outright – calling them a conspiracy. 

And this leaves the U.S. in a huge predicament. The President and the pro -Trump Congress can simply ignore or attack any counterintelligence evidence which shows Trump in compromised positions with the Russians. And either Americans can believe the President’s denials or they can support the findings of the FBI and  the Mueller report.
There is no middle ground here. And this either – or conundrum  will at some point bring the country to the much talked about constitutional crisis ,,,, sooner now rather than later.. Below is the  NYT’s article reporting on the  FBI investigation on Trump. 
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/us/politics/fbi-trump-russia-inquiry.html