Hey Cabinet members, please be heroes

Dear members of the Cabinet,
You can be heroes today. You have the power to end this trainwreck of a presidency today. All you have to do is invoke the 25th Amendment. Clearly 45 is not fit for office. Call it "health reasons" if you want. Just do it. Save the Republic. Yes, that sounds a tad dramatic, but that's where we are.
This president is not acting in the best interests of the country. That is not a partisan statement. It's just fact. He is putting our alliances at risk. Our international reputation is in tatters. He seems far more concerned about how events impact Russia than the U.S. He does not "get" separation of powers. He, frankly, does not "get" much of anything. He is toxic and he needs to go.
This untenable administration will end soon. Count on it. But how soon and will your tenure end with his? I expect a President Pence would be more inclined to keep you around.
Let's face it, some of you are not particularly well liked by the majority of the American public. Some of you seem to have been chosen specifically for your antipathy toward the agencies you run. But now we are in a constitutional crisis. You can all come out as patriotic heroes by putting the nation's needs before your own. Set the ship of state aright before this president does even more irreparable damage to our country.
All of you got into politics because you want to serve the public good. Serve it now by invoking the 25th Amendment. History, this country, and the world will thank you.

Open letter to my members of Congress

Dear Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn and Rep. Mike McCaul,
Quick question. Do ya'll like your jobs? Want any chance of keeping them beyond 2018 and 2020? Read on.
You may think your seats are safe, given how conservative our state of Texas is. But think again. Many of us are tremendously troubled with events in Washington and your unwillingness to stand up for democracy and the rule of law that the current president is making a mockery of. Most recently and egregiously, he fired the FBI director and admitted in a televised interview he did so to impede the FBI investigation into his administration's alleged ties to and collusion with Russia to influence the 2016 election.
I have made numerous calls for months now to all of your offices demanding that #trumprussia be independently investigated; that 45 be removed from office as he is mentally and morally unfit; and insisting that you hold public town hall meetings to listen to constituents' concerns. I have asked to see some outrage from all three of you about this president's blatant hostility toward the judiciary and a free press.
So far, nada. Zip. Zilch.
Appeals to your patriotism, morality, and logic have failed so let's try a different tack - craven self-interest.
Do you want to keep your jobs? The voters of Texas *will* have congressional representatives who hold this president accountable for his high crimes and misdemeanors. You can stand up now to 45 or you can go down with him later. Those are your choices, your *only* choices at this point.
It's all about timing now. Democrats are screaming for justice. Midterms are coming and the Dems are likely to regain control of at least one house of Congress. Republicans joining with civic-minded Democrats now for a bipartison investigation of 45's alleged collusion, witness tampering, obstruction of justice, emoluments, etc. will have a better chance of surviving the inevitable voter backlash next year. It is in your own best interest to at least feign concern and get out of Democrats' way.
SS Cheeto is sinking. Be a rat. Abandon that ship and swim toward the Good Ship Accountability while Texans still have a half a mind to toss you a political life preserver.
Signed,
One Disgusted Constituent

Regarding walls, bridges and Trumpian economics

The current president and his budget are all about walls instead of bridges, both literally and figuratively. Plans are proceeding for the grossly ill-conceived "border wall" with Mexico even as crucial infrastructure like bridges continue to crumble from decades of neglect.
Build bridges, not walls.
Meanwhile, 45 wants to increase funding for the military - an armed human "wall" to protect us from supposed dangers "out there." Meanwhile, 1) home-grown xenophobic militants who greatly need monitoring and re-education apparently are invisible to 45 and 2) targetted groups do not pose the threat 45 thinks they do. He seems to have built a wall for himself impermeable to logic, facts, and intelligence reports. Sad. America already vastly outspends other nations on the military.
Build bridges, not walls.
Trump's budget decimates cultural and scientific programs that enrich our nation's community life far beyond the meager amounts they cost. Programs like the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities artfully construct bridges between cultures. Other federal programs make science understandable and useful in our daily lives, such as breathing (EPA) and weather reports (NOAA/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Parks and forestry services help preserve and protect our nation's natural heritage and resources. Also under the budget ax are programs which benefit specific at-risk groups like the rural poor, the elderly, and racial minorities.  All these minute expenditures must be protected as they offer a bridge, albeit a shaky one, to a decent life for these vulnerable populations.
Foreign policy under the trump administration seems to focus not just on building new walls instead of bridges but in burning bridges which already exist. Foreign aid funding would be slashed under this budget. Meanwhile the State Department's general budget also faces heavy cuts when its work is more important than ever.
Build bridges, not walls.
Yes, this president seems hell-bent on constructing walls even though the clear road forward would be to build and strengthen bridges. We the people need to speak out and resist. Trump's walls should be met with sledgehammers and artful graffiti. We the people likely will have to build some bridges on our own between ourselves and those under threat of hunger, poverty, isolation. Early America's barn-raising tradition, in which neighbors joined together to help one another may be a useful model for this.
Build bridges, not walls.

Jeff Sessions was warned

Jeff Sessions was warned about perjury, lying under oath to his Senate colleagues during his confirmation.
He was given an explanation.
Nevertheless, he persisted.
Sessions clearly had contact with Russian officials as a trump surrogate during the campaign. He has no business, zero, being this nation's "top cop." He did not have business becoming a federal judge in the 1980s and was rightfully denied that post for his well-documented racism.
That issue came up during confirmation hearing yet voices raising those racism concerns were silenced. We all remember that now infamous Sen. Mitch McConnell statement to Sen. Elizabeth Warren: She was warned; she was given an explanation; nevertheless, she persisted. Jewelry, T-shirts, even tattoos have been made with that phrase.
Now it is time for Sessions to sit down and be quiet. He is clearly part of a much bigger problem of Russian interference with our nation's executive branch. That interference must be thoroughly and independently investigated. All who are tainted must leave or be removed from office. Our national sovereignty is at stake.
Those of us who love our country must warn, explain, and persist in calling out collusion with foreign governments. Those who collude with Russia have no business being public office. Those who collude and lie to Congress under oath about it, need to be gone yesterday.

UPDATE - AG Sessions has recused himself from investigating alleged Russian ties to the trump campaign. That is not enough. He needs to resign. Or be fired. And face perjury charges.

A grownup helped 45 with his (hate) speech

It had sentences and stuff!
Yes, 45 did manage to read complete sentences from his dreaded Teleprompter last night. He even condemned racism and anti-semitism and *seemed* to mean it early in his speech. Don't be fooled, though. His cabinet and his policies attest to bigotry of the highest and most dangerous order. The vast majority of last night's speech followed along with that nationalist theme. It was a bit more subtle. He used his indoor voice but the menace was there, just under the surface.
It was there when he used fear-triggering words to describe immigrants and Muslims and the "need" for a wall on our southern border. It was there when he went on about high crime, though violent crime has been declined for many years. It was there when he used his favorite phrase "radical Islamic terrorism" while ignoring the white supremacists who have killed and maimed so many Americans. And it was there when he spoke of standing by law enforcement without mentioning that such support *must* come with accountability. Numerous police departments have ongoing poor relationships with the African-American communities in their towns due to officers shooting unarmed African-American civilians. No mention was made of *that* racism.
ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) roundups should alarm us all. Contrary to what 45 says, the vast majority of those being rounded up for deportation are not drug dealers and gang leaders. They are working parents trying to support their children. They are business owners who support their communities. They are our neighbors.
It is as if 45 wants us to fear and hate immigrants, Muslims, and people of color. I won't. But I will fear and speak out against an administration that promotes such bigotry through their words, actions, and what they leave unsaid.

Gender reassignment from Texas' lieutenant governor

The lieutenant governor of the grand and glorious state of Texas just gave me a sex change. It came in a letter with a fancy gold seal and spiffy "state of Texas" watermark. Confused? So was I, a woman named Elizabeth, when I looked at the envelope and enclosed letter both addressed to "Mr. Eli J----."
Below is my initial Facebook response to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

<<Lt. Gov. Patrick - This would almost be funny if it were not so sad. Your office just sent me a letter in response to a discussion I had with one of your aides about the grossly ill-advised "bathroom bill." I thought you did not like transgender people. So why did your office give me a postal sex change - addressing me as "Mr. Eli J-----?" Please explain this one, I am waiting. Did your office assume I was male because I have a voice and an opinion? Does it not occur to you that women stand up for people's rights? Are you simply wishing that all of us #nastywomen would just disappear? Seriously, I want an explanation. And my lady parts back. Thanks. Ms. ELizabeth J-----.

PS: Do I have to use the men's room now, 'cause ewww.>>

Yes, this is funny in a way, but it also illustrates the problem transgender people face - a government official overruling their decision about their gender identity. It is jarring for a person to be addressed as though they were the opposite gender. Those who are transgender have put considerable thought and heartache into deciding they are not comfortable with the gender "nature" assigned to them. Their choice should not be overruled.
This letter also shows a lack of listening. The man I talked with for a good 20 minutes had plenty of time to discern whether I was a rooster or a hen. There is no excuse for truncating my identity and erasing my womanhood. It is offensive and demeaning. Oh, it's just a clerical error, you say? No, things like this matter. Knowing who you are talking to matters.
I do have a followup response:
<<Dear Lt. Gov. Danielle Patricia,
Thank you for your letter of Feb. 22. It was a gift, allowing me to gain a momentary glimpse of what transgender people experience on a daily basis, the disjunction between who I am and how someone else might arbitrarily label me. I offer that back to you and hope it proves illuminating.
Your friend, Eli/zabeth>>

Resisters - We Must Multi-task

I understand the logic behind the current #resist narrative that we should all immediately drop all other causes and focus exclusively on the trump/Russia angle as the best and fastest way to end this nightmare of a presidency.
However, people are being harmed right now by this administration and the bigotry it enables. We must not turn a blind eye or rationalize "We'll fix that later" to these real and present dangers.
America has a shameful history of putting off until "later" the needs of vulnerable populations in order to focus national attention on some grander, broader good. Cases in point: the slavery issue in the Continental Congress and African-American women in the suffragette movement. In both instances, African-Americans were told their needs would have to wait until the nation was formed or until white women got the vote.
Let's not repeat that sin. We can and must impeach and end this toxic presidency AND mitigate/stop its immediate and ongoing harm to our most vulnerable populations.
"Later" is too late for the hundreds of thousands of undocumented Latinos under threat of mass deportation.
"Later" is too late for African-Americans facing violent racism utterly unprotected by the new attorney general Jefferson B. Sessions, deemed "too racist" in the 1980s for a federal judgeship but inexplicably confirmable now.
"Later" is too late for women and girls lacking affordable access to basic reproductive healthcare.
"Later" is too late for our Jewish and Muslim neighbors whose bodies and places of worship are daily being attacked by haters emboldened by the current administration.
"Later" is too late for the disabled, particularly those with "invisible" disabilities such as heart or mental/emotional issues as the current administration appears to believe a disability is not "real" unless it can be seen.
"Later" is too late for foreign or foreign born scholars, technicians, scientists, and laborers who cannot gain entry to this country to fulfill crucial professional roles in our nation.
"Later" is too late for the indigenous peoples trying to protect their sacred land and the natural resources crucial to all of our environmental survival.
Yes, "later" is too late.
We have to multi-task. We must insist loudly and persistently that the Congress do its job. Launch an immediate, full, independent investigation into 45's relations with the Russian government during the presidential campaign, throughout the transition, and in these early weeks of new administration. Meanwhile we must hold ourselves and one another accountable for sheltering and defending those around us at greatest risk of deportation and hate crimes. This multiple-front battle will be exhausting but we can all rest, you guessed it, later.