Americans For Independents

Nov 25, 2023

The Thanksgiving Day 2023 edition of The Status Quo: An Electronic Newsletter is dedicated to the Veterans who understand that it is time to abandon the two-party system and embrace a movement of independent candidates. Since we swore an oath that does not expire when we take off the uniform, we are duty bound to defend the U.S. Constitution. As such, it is time every Veteran acknowledges there exists a clear and present danger to the U.S. Constitution. This threat to the U.S. Constitution is the U.S. Congress.  

Americans For Independents 

The Legislative branch of the federal government has brought America to its knees. Where Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Al Qaeda failed, the U.S. Congress has succeeded. We are a divided nation and there is no plan to unite us thanks to Congress. $33 trillion in debt and there is no plan to address the mounting debt thanks to Congress. Illegal immigrants pouring across our border and there is no plan to address this national security crisis thanks to Congress. Failing schools and a national infrastructure on the brink of collapse and there is no idea how to fix either of these national crises thanks to Congress. No wonder Congress cannot even agree to a budget to fund the federal government as required by the law it enacted. 

Like great empires before it, the demise of the great American experiment was not caused by an external enemy but from an enemy within. The corrupting influence of money on the political process coupled with the sole political objective of securing re-election by both political parties has created the joke that is the U.S. Congress. The circus that is the U.S. Congress would be laughable if it were not for two undeniable facts. First, Congress has bankrupted our nation in the name of political expediency leaving the next generation a debt they cannot pay. Second, Congress has made national security a partisan political issue where denying or blocking the other party’s programs or policies passes as governance. One example should convince every Veteran that this Veteran speaks the truth. The Republican Party supports our country’s mortal enemy, the vile Russian dictator, because Democrats support Ukraine. Congress does not serve the American people. It serves itself.  

It is time we acknowledge that the two-party system and the corrupting influence of money in all phases of campaign finance presents a clear and present danger to the American experiment in republican government. With that said, this Veteran is offering a solution to arrest the demise of this republic. The solution involves creating a true grassroots movement of supporters dedicated to electing independent candidates to replace the career politicians who rule Washington like overlords crushing any independent voice who seeks to change the status quo. The core constituency of this “Americans for Independents” movement must be America’s Veterans. We know the value of sacrifice just as we know the mission is what unites us and today that mission is to save the republic. We number in the millions, and we can reach out to millions more and once we build a base from which to expand beyond Military City, USA, we can begin to recruit America’s first responders, health care professionals, teachers and every other sensible American who understands that the time has come to change the status quo in Washington D.C.  

As each of us watches the spectacle that is the U.S. Congress, we must understand that the most corrupt government in the world is not one in sub-Saharan Africa or Central America. These nations are too poor and lack any history of democratic government to make a difference in the world. The most corrupt government in the world is the one that could be making a real difference at home and in the world but instead embraces the status quo as the motivating force behind its decision-making process. Therefore, let us give thanks on this day that we are the second from last line of defense for the U.S. Constitution. The first line of defense is of course the U.S. Armed forces but based upon what we know about its leaders, Veterans may be the last line of defense.  

When I Look at the World  

The final frontier of the struggle for human and civil rights is not the LGBTQ+ community. Not by a longshot. Neither is the most discriminated segment of society found in black or brown communities. Again, not even close. In fact, not even women can claim to be the most abused and discriminated against segment of society. However, they are a close second. The honor of being the most abused and neglected segment of society belongs to children. The children found in the freezers of adults being paid to care for other people’s children hold this honor. The hundreds of thousands of children raped by Catholic priests and told to live with it hold this honor. And of course, the millions of children who have vanished into the basements of depraved pedophiles and sadists hold this honor.  

This last honor is why the Missing Angels Legal Fund Inc. (Fund) was created in 2001. The Fund presented America’s Adults with the chance to use the civil courts and the new World Wide Web to do what the criminal courts are incapable of doing: exposing and holding accountable pedophiles if only economically. Instead, America’s adults decided paying lip service to protecting children was how they preferred to demonstrate their commitment to keeping children safe. For what it is worth, the first Defendant of the Fund’s operations plead guilty to sexually assaulting two very young girls (5 and 6 years old) and the American criminal justice system made him pay a heavy price: a small fine and probation. The second Defendant of the Fund’s operations presented the American people and the Macomb County Prosecutor (2002) with a sexual predator who raped countless young girls. Yet the people of Michigan and their elected officials could not have cared less. Years later the Sheriff and others in Macomb County law enforcement would learn just how depraved Donnie Ray Reams was and how the Fund delivered him on a platter only to be ignored. This explains why the Fund’s third and fourth “cases” were processed outside the courthouse and to some outside the law.  

Rather than focus on the indifference of the people of Michigan to the safety of their children, let us instead examine how societies around the world pay lip service to protecting children. We know how the media reports the statistics relating to the number of dead in any mass shooting, war crime or natural disaster. The number of dead is always announced as a total number and then the number of children dead is reported. This distinction between adults and children can only be understood as an effort to single out children as being different from adults. This distinction can lead one to believe that children are somehow more important than adults. Of course, this is nonsense. The number of children killed in contrast to the total number killed whether in Gaza, Kyiv, Yemen, or the latest mass shooting in the United States is just another example of the lip service adults pay to preserving and protecting children. It is simply meaningless to make such a differentiation when none is made when children are beaten, raped, and murdered.  Those who victimize children are treated in the same fashion as the Wall Street swindler or the common thief.   

What this Newsletter has been advocating since July 4, 2000, is the need to treat those who harm children differently from other criminals. This Newsletter has asserted for decades that there are more studies than can be cited here that document the problem of measuring as well as holding accountable those who commit crimes against children. That problem being the victims are either extremely hesitant to report the crime or are simply incapable of reporting the crime. In the case of 5 and 6-year-old girls, they are NOT capable of reporting they were raped by their stepfather, uncle, brother, or anyone else. Yet our impotent system of justice regards children as the reason law enforcement cannot accurately measure the number of crimes against children and/or why prosecutors have such difficulties obtaining convictions. 

We know there are a myriad of organizations, governmental and non-governmental, who work to prevent child abuse in all their ugly forms. Many of the government’s better funded law enforcement agencies are staffed with the most professional law enforcement agents in the land yet they all acknowledge that the horror of child abuse is impossible to stop since the reporting of these crimes falls completely on children. This very acknowledgment evinces a cowardice that confounds this child sex abuse survivor. If Americans treated child abusers like we treat Americans who tweet or otherwise communicate alleged antisemitic, anti-homosexual, or anti-transgender messages by judging them guilty without the chance to be heard, we would at least demonstrate a determination to hold child abusers accountable. It is no exaggeration to write in 2023 a perceived antisemitic tweet is punished more severely than first time child abusers. We do not give malicious tweeters a second chance, but we allow child abusers many bites at the apple.  

Today we know that no member of the Democratic Party will advocate for the execution of serial rapists, pedophiles, and violent child abusers because they know liberal elites especially in the media and academia will label them extremists while proclaiming the death penalty does not work. We know that law-and-order conservatives will also never advocate for the execution of serial rapists, pedophiles, and violent child abusers because they too will be labeled as extremists.  Knowing that our governments are incapable of protecting America’s women and children is nothing new. From the eastside of Detroit in the 1970s to San Antonio today, the evidence of the abject failure of our elected officials to protect the most vulnerable is all around us. Coincidently, so is the solution to preventing so many children from disappearing and so many women from being raped. The solution is not to blame women and children for not providing the evidence to convict these monsters. The solution is whenever we catch them, we make sure they never get the chance to do it again.  

Shutdown 2023

Sep 28, 2023

The Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) federal shutdown edition of The Status Quo: An Electronic Newsletter is dedicated to the children of America who are growing into adulthood believing other Americans are their enemies. These impressionable young minds are not only inheriting a world changing by the season, they must also face the online world alone. They are overwhelmed like no generation before them and it is for this reason that those who read what is true about the world must act on behalf of those who trust others to tell them what is true about the world. Otherwise we will have to live with knowing that those who fought and died defending the U.S. Constitution will have done so in vain because we failed to act when it was clear no one else would or could.  

The Sensible Majority

One-hundred and sixty (160) years ago the future of the Union, a.k.a. the United States of America, was in serious doubt. In the summer of 1863, the Confederate States of America’s most lethal force under the command of its most competent commander marched into the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with the goal of achieving victory on the battlefield. General Lee did not expect to defeat Union forces in one battle or even in a long war. On the contrary, he hoped and prayed that a decisive victory in the north would force the Union President to succumb to the pressure by so many in his own party to end the war. Marse Robert’s plan to end the war almost succeeded. 

This article poses a question every sensible American should be asking other sensible Americans as we watch the media circus commonly known as the countdown to shutdown. The question we need to be asking one another is whether the Union is in greater jeopardy today than it was 160 years ago? This sensible Veteran responds with an emphatic yes!  Although our present day civil war between red and blue states does not involve armies engaging armies with tens of thousands killed in action, this self-imposed culture war is not only working to severely degrade our ability to defend our country against enemies who have been attacking us for years, it is also preventing any hope of solving the serious domestic problems destroying the quality of life for the overwhelming majority of Americans. 

The reality of September 2023 is that our enemies continue to influence our elections, bribe our elected officials, infiltrate our corporations to steal valuable technology, hack utility companies, hospitals, and schools to secure ransoms, undermine our allies’ ability to respond to direct threats, and continue to turn our service members into traitors. Despite these constant attacks, the fringe elements of both parties offer nothing to stop Chinese aggression, Russia brutality, Iran’s continued development of its missile and drone programs, and North Korea’s commitment to develop the technology necessary to deliver a nuclear weapon to the US mainland. One fringe element knows how to ban books, harass the transgender community and obstruct the election process while the other fringe has successfully squashed free speech on all universities, made pro-choice a sin while maintaining a religious belief that government is the answer to all society’s problems. Addressing the myriad of problems degrading life for so many in America is not something fringe elements do.  Compromise and intelligent debate are the antithesis of the movement to promote the former fake President of the United States. What confounds this Veteran is why so many sensible Americans do not see it! 

As Americans celebrated Labor Day 2023 a few weeks ago, they did so hearing news of pending strikes by US autoworkers. What no one heard was talk about the tremendous progress made through political and social compromise in the auto industry over the past 100 years. For over a century, elected officials knew the value of political compromise because that is how things got done. Today, things do not get done. No laws are passed to address crises like illegal immigration because politicians and their donors know that compromises would be required to pass such legislation and most importantly that no one in Washington D.C. is willing to compromise.   

As every sensible American contemplates his or her role in saving our Republic, this sensible America offers a novel idea. Why not create a new political movement that is not based on the tired old slogans of the left and right? Why not create an organization that builds its core constituency around Veterans, active and reserve members of the armed forces, the National Guard, their families and friends? Why not create an organization to recruit, educate and train other sensible Americans to join an effort to eradicate the career politician from American life? Why not create an organization that supports Independent candidates who understand law and order and protecting human rights are not mutually exclusive. Therefore, let these words be a call to action to the sensible majority in America that it is time to root out the cancer that is bankrupting our nation, paralyzing our government and dividing us for the sake of political expediency. Failure to do so is not an option. 

With Extreme Prejudice  

She goes by many names. Gaia, Terra Mater and to Hindus, Prithvi, the Vast One. To many in the English speaking world she is Earth. The giver of life and the one who nourishes our souls merely by being in her presence. Her waters heal our bodies and in return we desecrate her rivers, oceans and endanger all life upon her including our own.  

The first message of this article is that our species’ horrific treatment of this planet will eventually be met with a response that is beyond Homo Sapien’s capacity to survive. Eventually, we will be added to the list of species that have gone extinct from this earth. What is really frightening is that we may have already done irreparable damage to Gaia with no hope for the future and we just don’t know it yet. The next few years may expose a truth that many fear. That truth being Homo Sapien is fast approaching the end of the line of a species that had long ago worn out its welcome. 

The second message is that the above realization is motivating countless young minds around the world to contemplate a new approach to saving the planet. Many young and a few old minds are realizing that saving our planet cannot be trusted to the same career politicians who today are putting on a circus while our fiscal house burns. Moreover, many of these non-violent citizens of the world are discarding the twin notions that government is the path to saving our environment and that peaceful means to accomplish that end is the only solution. On the contrary, many are beginning to accept the idea that real change only comes through action that often involves great sacrifice. Once they conclude that sacrifices must be made, the question then becomes how great a sacrifice does Mother Earth deserve.   

As these citizen warriors organize and plan to defend Gaia, they will look to men and women who changed the world. What they will find are examples of courage and sacrifice present whenever any meaningful change comes to society. What motivated Suffragettes sacrificed to secure the right to vote for half the population will provide them an idea of what awaits them in their campaign to defend earth. Even knowing what awaits them as they wage war in defense of this planet, the few who lead this movement will not shy away from what needs to be done just as America’s Suffragettes did not shy away from sacrificing themselves in their war to change the status quo. 

Men and women who do take up the call to save Gaia, they will do so remembering that a man from Brooklyn did not shy away from a level of sacrifice he believed was necessary to call us to action. Many pacifists and one former soldier of Christ were so shaken by what this one man did in a park in April 2016 that they are today re-thinking their notions of what is right and what is wrong.  If you are unaware of what happened that day do not worry. The next generation of environmental activists will know what happened. In fact, that day may become a day where motivated environmentals will come together to strike fear into the hearts of those who ravage Earth because they know it is the only hope for the future.   

To those romantics and traditionalists who doubt that violence is often required to affect real and permanent change in our world, this article provides some food for thought. Following the murder of George Flyod in May 2020, men and women of all colors, faiths, creeds and political persuasions took to the streets with their children, many just teenagers, to demand change. They risked being abused, arrested and/or subjected to violence from the far-right in and out of uniform. In the initial months following that murder, Americans marched in protest arm-in-arm across the country demanding change while many other Americans vandalized private property, stole private property and burned or damaged public property to show their anger and frustration. Americans had had enough of  law enforcement getting a pass on gratuitous violence and wanton killings. The result of those street protests and semi-organized violence/hooliganism was the criminal prosecution, conviction and imprisonment of the men who murdered George Flyod.  Of course the video of his murder would have gotten plea deals and short prison sentences for the responding officers, but that would have been the extent of accountability if that police station had not been torched and countless businesses not ransacked. That violence is what made those criminal trials a reality and no amount of spin can change that fact.

Memorial Day 2023

May 30, 2023

The Memorial Day 2023 edition of The Status Quo: An Electronic Newsletter is dedicated to those who refuse to allow the sacrifices of those who paid the ultimate price to be forgotten for the sake of political expediency.  America’s enemies abroad are legion, but it is the enemy at home who must be defeated or the sacrifices of our brothers and sisters will be meaningless.  As for the oath each Veteran took to defend the U.S. Constitution, it seems that promise has been relegated to the same place we threw yesterday’s paper.  Only in America 2023 can Memorial Day be more about selling trucks than honoring our brothers and sisters who sacrificed so much for a nation that cares so little. 

An American Oligarchy 

An oligarchy is defined as Government by a few, especially by a small faction or group who exercise political power for the benefit of the few. The word is Greek in origin and was often used to describe Greek city states like Corinth and Sparta. Yet oligarchies can exist within states run by a monarch (Middle East), a dictator (Russia), a theocracy (Iran) and in failing republics (U.S.).  In fact, a uniquely American Oligarchy was first identified in this Newsletter as the political-financial complex in honor of President Eisenhower’s famous warning of the dangers posed by the military-industrial complex. 

Unlike the military-industrial complex, which was born out of a World War and a nuclear arms race with Josef Stalin, the political-financial complex was born out of the symbiotic relationship between the career politician (Washington D.C.) and the financial industry (New York).  This relationship did not develop overnight.  The military-industrial complex took the Second World War and the spread of communism to develop while the American Oligarchy took decades to develop.  As for how the American Oligarchy developed, it can easily be explained when one understands how the relationship works. 

Like all relationships, there is a give and take between the parties.  In the case of the career politician, he or she needs a constant flow of campaign funds, inside information, and cash in order to secure re-election while Wall Street needs a guarantee that if their risky investments should result in catastrophic losses, the career politician will ensure that the taxpayer covers their losses.  When a bank fails, for example, Wall Street knows the bank will either be bailed out with taxpayer dollars.  Another example is playing out before our eyes. When another financial institution buys a failing bank the career politician’s role is to guarantee to backstop that bank’s losses.  This is a very mature relationship, and these bailouts are not just evidence of this symbiotic relationship.  They are proof of just how developed this relationship has become and if anyone doubts this assertion, they need only examine the net worth of the career politicians.  These servants of the people did not make their money serving the people.  They made it serving the few. 

Yet before any examination of how this American Oligarchy has operated, it is imperative the reader understands 1) what had to occur before this American Oligarchy could exercise such sway over our elected officials and 2) how difficult it will be to remove this malignant tumor.  Since we know a republic is a form of government based upon the rule of law, it only follows that when a republic abandons the rule of law, it is only a matter of time before another more repressive form of government takes control.  As the reader reflects upon the degree to which the rule of law has been abandoned in America, it is easy to understand how the American Oligarchy has taken root in our lawless society.  As for removing this American Oligarchy, the reader must also understand what makes this oligarchy so dangerous.  The members of this oligarchy number in the millions. It is not some banana republic where 25 families control the country.  There are 5 million American millionaires and 700 plus American billionaires who represent the power behind this political-financial complex.  These 5 million or so Americans possess a net worth of about $65 trillion and as such there is no end to their ability to buy and sell career politicians especially when they come so cheap. 

As for evidence that an oligarchy has been operating in Washington D.C., this article highlights four areas of our national existence.  By examining these areas, the reader can understand how an oligarchy begins to exercise control behind the scenes.  An oligarchy does not announce its presence but instead extends its reach into areas where the rule of law no longer exists, such as in Congress or many of the executive branch agencies including the Department of Defense.  In fact, we first see the oligarchy at work in the debacle that was the War in Vietnam. 

The policy decisions made in 1964 were not the result of the people’s will but were made by the few for the benefit of the few. In this case the few being a handful of men in the White House (aided by the CIA), a few senior military officers and more relevant to our discussion, a number of corporate leaders who knew billions of dollars could be made in saving Vietnam in the name of capitalism.  The effect this decision has had on an emerging American Oligarchy was plain for all to see in March of 2003 when the now developed American Oligarchy (also aided by the CIA) were at work in Washington D.C. to guide America into the worst foreign policy disaster since Vietnam.  The illegal invasion of Iraq is a perfect example of how the American Oligarchy works.  Men never elected to office manipulate those who were and the end result is an incredibly profitable venture for the few while the many pay the ultimate sacrifice. 

The second area of our national existence where the interests of the few trumped the interests of the many can be found in the catastrophic domestic policies following President Johnson’s decision to “wage” war at home.  Three equally disastrous domestic “wars’ ‘ would follow the decisions regarding Vietnam and these wars would not only cause untold pain and suffering for the American people but waste trillions of taxpayer dollars as well.  These social experiments were labeled as wars and were touted as Washington D.C.’s promise to reduce poverty, crime, and the nation’s growing drug problem.  One coming after the other and each failing miserably, these experiments were undertaken so the career politician could argue he was making a difference in Congress.  One need only observe the desperate poverty that permeates America’s rural communities and her inner cities to this day, listen to the reports of an Opioid crisis that is killing tens of thousands of young Americans every year and read about a rising crime rate that might never recede to know these experiments failed miserably. And like the invasion of Iraq in 2003, not a single person has been held to account for these failures.  In fact, many career politicians have been re-elected time and time again despite their failed policies. 

The third area of our national existence where we see this oligarchy at work is in the growing hatred by Americans for Americans.  This fundamental change in how Americans view one another did not occur overnight.  It began when left-wing members of the Democratic Party were convinced President Nixon was evil as opposed to paranoid for thinking correctly that the 1960 General Election was stolen from him.  Not to be outdone, the moderate and once civil Republican Party redefined political hatred when President Clinton was elected.  The hatred that Neo-Christians like Newt Gingrich spewed forth took hatred of one’s political opponent to a new level.  Then, as if to remind Republicans who first transformed politics into warfare, Democrats surpassed Newt’s level of hatred when President Bush was elected. To hear moderate liberals refer to President Bush as being like Hitler made this Veteran wonder what was happening to Americans.  Not to be outdone, it took only a few years for Republicans to perfect the craft. Today we are witnessing Republicans embracing hatred of their political opponents to such a degree that they would support a vile dictator and sworn enemy of America just to spite President Biden.  It is hard to imagine more convincing evidence that the American Oligarchy operates to divide us. They will embrace a war criminal if doing so will secure one more seat in Congress for their side. 

The fourth area of our national existence where we see the oligarchy at work involves the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few in order to dominate the many. The widening gap between the rich and the poor is a sure tale sign that the rule of law no longer protects the people.  The fortunes being amassed by the 5,000 plus Americans cited above did not come from their hard work alone.  Their fortunes are increasing because our government has embraced an unbridled form of capitalism that only a few decades ago would have been considered criminal.  Laws are enacted to aid the wealthy in their accumulation of even greater wealth.  From the tax code to the limitations of corporate and personal liability, the career politician has created an environment where all types of fraud, tax avoidance, insider trading, corporate give-a-ways, and the illegal manipulation of the financial industry are regarded as a cost of doing business in the new economy.  In short, the game is rigged and no one in Washington D.C. cares. 

When President Gerald R. Ford was sworn into office almost 50 years ago, he stated that our long national nightmare was over. The nation desperately needed to hear those words and to have that man as President of the United States. President Ford also spoke about our U.S. Constitution that day, and those are words all Veterans need to hear today. 

“Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule. But there is a higher Power, by whatever name we honor Him, who ordains not only righteousness but love, not only justice but mercy.”  

There is no higher power in Washington D.C. unless you consider the love of money as that higher power. There is no justice in Washington D.C. unless you consider what happens when a society values wealth above sacrifice as justice. There is no mercy in Washington D.C. unless you consider what happens when career politicians end subsidies that allow children to receive the only guaranteed meal of their day to be merciful. With that said, this Veteran issues a call to action in the name of those who gave the last full measure of devotion. It is up to  us to return our society to the path of equality where the rule of law means something even if that means we must do what is necessary to uproot this American Oligarchy and restore our government to the people it was created to serve. 

Our Favorite Uncle 

The May 2022 edition of this Newsletter contained an article titled My Best Friend. The article was about a man who continues to disgrace the United States Supreme Court. Since then, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas has received a great deal of attention from some of the nation’s best investigative reporters and what the American people have learned is nothing short of amazing. The most recent peek into his “pay to play with Clarence” life includes direct payments for his grandnephew’s school tuition. At least one young man calls Uncle Clarence his favorite uncle. 

The May 2022 article addressed the issue of who was responsible for the leak of the unpublished opinion that overruled Roe v Wade. Despite Associate Justice Alito’s assurances that it was not a conservative member of the Court, the issue of who leaked the draft opinion is now moot. The only issue that matters today is ascertaining if Uncle Clarence and his best friend are guilty of Sedition. To this end, the Department of Justice (DoJ) must initiate an investigation into what exactly transpired in the days leading up to January 6, 2021, with a focus on what Associate Justice Thomas’s wife was telling the former fake President of the United States concerning the legality of Vice President Pence refusing to certify the election results. This investigation must ascertain if Uncle Clarence was using his best friend and former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to convince the dimwitted former fake President of the United States that it was legal to order the former Vice President of the United States to refuse to certify the election results. If so, our favorite uncle must answer for his crimes.  

The most recent revelations surrounding his wife, a.k.a. my best friend, and the former Chief of Staff, raised the question as to whether these two Americans were acting as conduits between an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and the President of the United States in an effort to prevent Vice President Pence from certifying the 2020 election results. Associate Justice Thomas may claim through a spokesperson that he was unaware of his wife’s communications with the former Chief of Staff but like so much that emanates from his filthy mouth that too might be a lie. 

What is even more disconcerting than an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme court advising the sitting president that he has the power to overturn an election is that this same Associate Justice believes no one can or will hold him accountable. The Chief Justice and the other Associate Justices have shirked their responsibilities to the American people and to the U.S. Constitution by failing to condemn his actions. Overnight, they have destroyed the image of an impartial and upright institution and for the American people to have lost faith in the Judicial branch of our federal government means that they have lost faith in the entire federal government. How pathetic to watch as one ultra-conservative Associate Justice, cloaked in her Catholicism, sits in silence reminding us of how good Catholics keep their mouths shut in the face of injustice. As for two other conservative Associate Justices, Alito, and Gorsuch, they have already made it clear that their chosen path is not the rule of law, but political expediency. 

The removal of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice can only occur in accordance with the U.S. Constitution. Article II, section 4 of the U.S. Constitution defines both the grounds for impeachment and which part of the federal government can impeach/remove a member of the U.S. Supreme Court. As such, it really does not matter what the grounds for removal are or what evidence is needed to prove those grounds. Treason, bribery, and other high crimes and misdemeanors are the crimes for which removal is possible, but the Neo-Christians of the Republican Party will never allow that to occur. They cannot even gather the courage to remove Representative George Santos despite his blatant violations of the law. Yet if our republic is to survive, which is very much in doubt, Associate Justice Thomas and his best friend must be investigated in the same fashion the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers have been investigated. The fact that Uncle Clarence is black must not give him a free pass when it comes to sedition. Likewise, the fact that he is conservative must also not give him a pass. If probable cause exists that he and his best friend committed Sedition, they must take their seats in the dock so a jury of their peers can decide if they are in fact guilty of Sedition. 

Happy Birthday George

Feb 20, 2023

The February 22, 2023 edition of The Status Quo: An Electronic Newsletter is dedicated to the memory of President George Washington. A slave owner, an officer (Colonel) of a foreign power, an opportunist and a man among boys, General Washington created an army that not only defeated the world’s preeminent superpower, but would some sixty-five years after his death free a people from bondage in the republic he created.

President Washishington also gave birth to the idea that in a republic the peaceful transfer of power from a sitting president to the president-elect must occur as required by the law. And if he were alive today, this Veteran believes his first two actions would be 1) to begin organizing the Second Continental Army and 2) to place a cell phone call to his old friend Anthony Wayne and order him to find the former fake President of the United States and arrest him.

A Dying Nation

Why Are So Many Americans Dying by David Wallace-Wells appeared in the 2 February 2023 digital edition of The New York Times (NYTimes). Mr. Wallace-Wells is an Opinion writer for NYTimes as well as a best-selling author who writes about three of the major issues facing humanity: climate change, technology and how a changing world is changing us. His latest effort to educate us on what is happening in America addresses an issue that is having a profound effect on our nation. The issue can be summed up in a single term: excess mortality. Simply put, excess mortality means the difference between the observed number of deaths during any specific time period and the expected number of deaths during the same period.

According to Mr. Wallace-Wells, the method used to compute excess mortality is to first combine historical and demographic trends to estimate “expected” deaths in a population and then use this figure as a baseline to measure what he refers to as “surprises” such as an unusually deadly flu season or a novel coronavirus that kills millions. The result of this computation is the number of excess deaths. 

Mr. Wallace-Wells writes despite the fact that Covid-19 has been responsible for a large percentage of the “excess mortality” since 2020, there are other causes that have contributed to this excess mortality. Mr. Wallace-Wells has coined a term to describe this gap as our “excess, excess” mortality. He argues that although this excess, excess mortality can be attributed in large part to Covid-19, a large percentage of the total can be “chalked up” to other causes. This article is about one of those causes and how it cannot be measured by any scientific analysis.

Mr. Wallace-Wells offers three very cogent arguments for what is driving this “excess, excess” mortality. First, he argues that delayed care due to the pandemic may be the reason for this excess, excess mortality. Second, he argues that the secondary effects of the pandemic such as isolation, depression, alcohol/drug abuse, homicide and suicide might attribute to this excess, excess mortality. Third, he argues that the long term effect of the disease can take its toll on major organs thus leading to an increase in heart attacks, respiratory failure, etc., etc. Yet despite these logical conclusions, Mr. Wallace-Wells concedes that there isn’t medical or scientific consensus about what is driving these surprise “excess, excess” deaths. That is because the explanation does not lie in the scientific method. It lies elsewhere.

One major cause of these excess, excess deaths is the abandonment of hope. The effect on the mind and body when one abandons hope is incalculable and cannot be measured by any medical exam or test. It exacerbates every illness and ailment while magnifying even the mildest forms of depression. It reinforces doubt about oneself while adding to the feeling that we can no longer change our lives and the world for the better. The abandonment of hope is like a malignant tumor; it spreads to every aspect of our being until the desire to live is gone. The great American and soldier of Christ Billy Graham once said “Perhaps the greatest psychological, medical and spiritual need that all people have is hope.” Truer words have never been spoken.

It is only logical that the reader ask how it is that this Veteran knows so much about the abandonment of hope. The answer is simple. This Veteran has suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of childhood trauma and did in fact abandon hope before he could vote. As an officer in the United States Army, he was ordered to do things he would never have done but for service to his country causing him to again relive the trauma of his youth. At the age of 38, he became a self-appointed Soldier of Christ and struck down the enemies of Christ believing this would excise the demons that haunted him since childhood. What he learned was those battles only quenched his thirst for revenge.  At 52, he was stabbed in the back by someone he loved, causing wounds from decades past to reopen. However, by the grace of God, he was able to find peace with the help of a good Doctor and a good friend. So these words might only be the observations of one man, but they are words written by someone who knows both what it means to abandon hope and the devastating effect it has on us. 

When one looks across this ailing country, it is clear that tens of millions of Americans have abandoned hope. Many have discarded their dreams for the future for the pleasures of the moment. While others seek a way out of the never-ending sadness that comes when hope is lost. Hope has vanished for so many Americans and the despair that follows is killing us just as surely as Covid-19, heart disease, cancer, Fentanyl, homicide, suicide or the bullet fired from the legally purchased firearm of the next psychotic male. 

A Little Less Conversation

Euclid’s Axiom 5 states the whole is greater than the part. We know this universal truth to be true because it makes sense. We can understand that the entirety of something is greater than a part of that same thing. We do not need to know who Eueklides was or what the Axioms of Euclidean Plane Geometry are to appreciate this fact of life. There is another axiom of life that needs no further explanation. This universal truth is that talk is cheap and action priceless.

Talk is cheap because talk alone never accomplished anything. Talk may inspire action or change but alone talk does not change the status quo. This was a universal truth that Americans understood for over two centuries. Yet in America 2023, talk is no longer cheap. Talk finds those who profit from dividing us paid millions to deliver hate and lies in the form of disinformation. A weasel from FOX News is perhaps the poster child for this betrayal of those journalists who sacrificed their lives to bring us the truth. MSNBC has one as well.

In America, talk has not only become very profitable but it has become synonymous with action. The career politicians have convinced Americans that words equate to action and as such there is no need to change the channel on your television, log off your computer or silence your cell phone in order to make a difference in the world. Take for example the woke warriors of the sanctimonious left who spew forth ignorance believing that their enlightened tweets equate to marching in the streets of Birmingham, AL in 1965. Even more disgusting is the cowardice of the reprehensible right’s trolls who believe sending hateful and terrifying messages to innocent people is the same as serving in uniform. Cowards one and all.

What makes these lemmings so dangerous is that they and so many others in America believe change can come about with words; words filled with hate, lies and ignorance. They believe that slogans like Make America Great Again and Betting on America are enough to bring about change. Just the other day, the latest career politician to declare a bid to be president could not stop spouting off sheer nonsense in her speech. It was nonsense because no intelligent person believes she can turn those campaign promises into reality. What this Veteran wants to know is if what she was promising was misinformation or disinformation. Does she really believe she can keep those promises or does she know she cannot but wants the American people to think she can.

What is disconcerting if not unexpected is the recent revelation that Fox News executives knew the “Stop the Steal” movement was based upon a lie but continued to assure so many conservatives that the election was in fact stolen. In a real republic, where the rule of law means something, these men and women would stand trial for conspiracy to incite insurrection, not that they had the courage to actually wage one.

The American Revolution was made possible by men and women who knew the time for talking about independence had come to an end. Thomas Paine was one of them. The American Civil War came about because men and women of conscience knew that talking about the end of slavery had come to an end. Harriet Tubman was one of them. The Third American Revolution, where the career politician is expunged from political life and a Second Constitutional Convention convened in order to return the federal government to the people it was created to serve, will not come about through malicious tweets or well-intentioned texts. Words are what keep the status quo alive. Action is what will change it.

With that in mind, it is with the utmost urgency that the message of this article reaches every Veteran and each servicemember. America is a dying nation and the proof is all around us. Therefore, we must unite as a single political force. It will be our mission to recruit others to our cause while never forgetting that General Washington had only about 25% of the population behind him. We shall garner more support than that and with the help of God we shall win the day.      

Happy New Year

Jan 28, 2023

The January 28, 2023 edition of The Status Quo: An Electronic Newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Thomas Paine (1737-1809). Author of Common Sense and a soldier in General Washington’s army, he was an inspiration to many who joined the struggle to create a new nation. He wanted his nation to be an “asylum for mankind” and was ready to sacrifice his life to make it so. Unfortunately, the nation he helped create is no longer a nation of responsible citizens united for a common purpose. It has become a nation of men and women who refuse to accept responsibility for their own actions let alone those of their elected officials and no better proof exists than the election of House of Representatives member George Santos. This pathological liar and borderline simpleton is the new Thomas Paine. How pathetic. How American. 

The Spoon Feeding of Americans 

On January 6, 2023, Abigail Zwerner, a Virginia teacher, was in the middle of a lesson in her first-grade classroom when a 6 year-old boy pulled out a gun, aimed it at her, and fired. The teacher, 25 years young, was rushed to the hospital but only after she secured the classroom and made sure the children, including the shooter, were safe. Bravo Ms. Zwerner. You epitomize everything that is good in America. 

On January 2, 2023, a multi-millionaire about the same age as Ms. Zwerner suffered a heart attack while on the job. He was lucky that the very best medical care imaginable was at his worksite. Medical professionals were able to render life-saving first aid and he was transported to a local hospital where he was again provided the best medical care in the world.  

These two events present an excellent example of how the mass media has turned America into a country where the elites and those who serve them determine what Americans think is important. By spoon feeding Americans what they should believe is important, they can divert attention away from what is really important. Health care, failing schools, crushing debt and the widening gap between the rich and the poor are what is important, not the recovery of a multi-millionaire from an on the job injury. The emotional outpouring for the multi-millionaire with the finest medical care in the world was nothing short of ridiculous. Some in the media even hyped this outpouring of sympathy as the beginning of the process to unite Americans. Only the gullible and the ignorant would believe such hyperbole. 

To watch the media fall over each other to report on this tragic event, the heart-attack not the shooting, made this Veteran sick. Constant updates as to his condition and the reports of how great a man he was for buying toys for kids was too much. If buying toys for kids is what counts for greatness in America we are all in trouble. Wait. We are all in trouble because 6 year-olds are going to school armed with a weapon they clearly knew how to use and school administrators could not find despite searching him for a weapon.   

It is not the intention of this article to cast this athlete in a negative light. He may indeed be a good man who cares about children but kids shooting teachers and America’s failed education system should have been the stories the media ran repeatedly this month. Unfortunately, we know those are stories the media only reports in passing because there are no solutions to those problems in America 2023. Real solutions require compromise and that is something the career politician and those they serve cannot afford to do.

A Dangerous Time  

The Chinese government (President Xi) recently reversed the three year-old policy referred to as zero covid. This about face has shocked many around the world and for good reason. The question is why did he change course when according to him, his policy had been such a success. There must be a reason. The article offers one possible reason. 

Despite his assertions of success, the economic and social impacts of his zero covid policy have not only brought China civil unrest unlike anything seen since the June Fourth Incident, it has pushed President Xi into a corner economically and politically. As such, this failed zero covid policy may be forcing him to alter his time table for bringing Taiwan into the fold. 

We know the Chinese economy is not just critical to the world economy, but absolutely critical to the Chinese government’s military buildup and its plans for Asian domination. It only follows that any economic downturn, like the one predicted for China in 2023 and beyond, will impact President Xi’s plans to continue the rapid build-up of China’s military. According to Zhang Yesui, former Chinese Ambassador to the United States:

 “Maintaining a proper and steady increase in defense spending is needed to safeguard our sovereignty and development interests, fulfill China’s international responsibility and obligations, and promote the transformation of the Chinese military with Chinese characteristics”

The above quote from the former Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. provides a glimpse into President Xi’s mind. If President Xi believes that serious economic problems await the Chinese economy following the lifting of his zero covid policy, he may feel the window of opportunity to take control of Taiwan is closing and urgent action is required. Moreover, if President Xi wants the resources that Taiwan offers China while denying it to the West (America), he may believe the time to act is now. 

We must assume that President Xi knew in late 2021 that the lifting of the zero covid policy was inevitable and that serious economic consequences would follow. If this was the conclusion he came to in late 2021, it might explain another development in world affairs. The development in question is President Putin’s decision to invade the whole of Ukraine in February 2022.  

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014 was limited to a very finite area of Ukraine. What President Putin did not do until 2022 was move to take the whole of Ukraine. The question is why. 

This article asserts that it was only after President Xi assured him of China’s continued support both financially and militarily that President Putin launched his invasion in February 2022. This article also asserts that it was President Xi who approved the invasion because President Xi needed America to commit to Ukraine while he initiated his campaign to bring Taiwan into the Chinese fold. 

Assuming that the U.S. continues shouldering the burden of supplying Ukraine with the material it desperately needs to defend its territory, the question then becomes will that commitment diminish America’s ability to respond to a Chinese move against. The answer may lie in what we already know about Presidents Xi and Putin as well as what is happening in America.  

First, Presidents Xi and Putin knew that President Biden would divert military resources from America’s stocks to aid Ukraine in early 2022. They knew he would because it was the right thing to do from a national security perspective. Second, Presidents Xi and Putin knew that the Republican Party would use President Biden’s decision to aid Ukraine to sow discontent among Americans because they know that is what career politicians do. Third, Presidents Xi and Putin knew that America has a growing fiscal crisis that will pose serious internal and external problems for the U.S. going forward.  Fourth, and most significant of all, Presidents Xi and Putin know how difficult a time the Army is having in recruiting young Americans. Of all the morsels of truth cited above only one keeps this Veteran up at night. It is also a truth that makes this time a dangerous time for us all.  

Merry Christmas

Dec 27, 2022