My Thoughts by Robert Gray

  Trump, aided by his GOP, is putting this country on a collision course with a military coup or an armed citizen uprising. The Constitution gives SCOTUS final say on what is, and is not, constitutional. Trump, Congress, and even the American people might not like it, but that is the way it is unless and until the Constitution is changed. Our nation is built on the Constitution.  Our nation IS the Constitution.  The Constitution required Trump to swear an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.  It required every US Executive Officer, every member of the US Congress, every state governor, every state Executive Officer, and every member of a state legislature to swear to support the Constitution. None of those oaths include a duty to the President. Should Trump ignore SCOTUS, he is breaking his oath and violating the Constitution. If he did so, would he not be an enemy of this nation?  And what greater "high crimes and misdemeanors" would be needed...

  Why is it so hard for people to accept peace right now and at all costs?   And that any agreement bringing such peace is a blessing given by those willing to develop and sign those agreements who should be properly thanked for their effort?   Especially to avoid another World War?   Just let Putin have what he has already taken and sign a ceasefire agreement to prevent the deaths of more Russian soldiers (and let’s not forget those brave Ukrainian soldiers).   Then no more bullets (and other things) flying across great farmland that doesn’t offer any protection. Think of the parents of those Russian soldiers who are dying (and let’s not forget the parents of the brave Ukrainian soldiers who are dying).   Think of the hardships already experienced by Putin with the Russian Hoax and how horrible that was for him. Let’s make a deal to end this war and have peace.   It’s hard.   These two guys hate each other – one hates the other simply for existin...

  Trump as deal-maker in history 1777 – Philadelphia falls to Britain.   Trump proposes a deal to end the fighting.   A deal to just give up and let Britain continue to rule America. 1814 – Washington DC falls to Britain.   Trump proposes a deal to end the fighting.   A deal to just give up and let Britain continue to rule America. 1862 – Battle of Shiloh.   General Grant almost gets his ass kicked.   Trump proposes a deal to end the fighting.   A deal to just give up and let the Confederate States go. 1863 – Battle of Gettysburg.   Over 51,000 dead.   Trump proposes a deal to end the fighting.   A deal to just give up and let the Confederate States go. 1918 – Germany Spring Offensive.   Germany nearly breaks through Western Allied Front.   Over 500.000 losses.   Trump proposes a deal to end the fighting.   A deal to just give up and let Germany have Europe. 1941 – London Blitz.   Approximately 3...

A follow-up to my first blog post. People must understand that the courts can't save us from Trump, no matter how they rule because they have no enforcement power.  Lower federal court rulings are complicated because no decision is final until SCOTUS rules which brings the full force of its constitutional power to interpret the Constitution. If SCOTUS rules against Trump, the first option is that Trump backs down per his constitutionally-required oath to uphold the Constitution. Crisis anverted  and Trump can't be punished for his interpretation of the law.  But ignoring a SCOTUS ruling is de facto unconstitutional which brings us to the second option which is Congress' constitutionally-required oath to uphold the Constitution and its' constitutional power to impeach, convict and remove. But failure by Congress to take action does not absolve Trump. He is only getting a pass by persons in violation of their constitutional duty and oath.  The third option is that ever...

  Somehow, this Musky-smelling turd has to be reined in. He tweets that all fed employees will soon receive an email requesting to know what they did the past week and failure to respond will be considered resignation. Two hours later, fed employees get an email from OPM giving them 48 hours to identify 5 things they did the past week. No mention of forced resignation. Apparently Musk has the authority as Trump's personal lapdog (or the other way around) to direct OPM to send such an email. Maybe saner minds at OPM chose to leave out any mention of an illegal forced resignation. But it seems they were too chickenshit to point out the absurdity of the request and refuse to send it. The first absurdity is that such a request is outside the realm of OPM which would have no way to evaluate responses. A second absurdity is the timing over a weekend with no consideration of workhours or leave. Musk himself double-downed on the demand by claiming it would identify employees who don'...

 Trump and Musk are promoting a worthy goal to save federal money using one laudable means of downsizing and reorganizing government. But many of the processes they are using are absolute bullshit intended for a show of quick results.   First understand that there is a difference between employees and personnel positions.  Employees are the people who are hired to work in positions. Positions exist on paper to identify the personnel needs of an organization. Qualifications, job description and salary are key defining position elements. Position salaries are used to develop budgets but whether that budget is actually expended depends on if the position is actually filled. If you budget X dollars because you expect a position to be filled, but you do not fill that position, you have saved X dollars. But what is the value of such savings if you needed the position filled?  I can budget X dollars for groceries and if I don't buy groceries I saved X dollars.  Is...

There sure is s ome crazy shit going on with the immigrant issue. You can hate on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) all you want even if you feel you have to get in the last word about the overall issue of immigration control. I don't give a rat's ass because that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about a Border Czar (Tom Homan) who was once ICE Acting Director, a Border Patrol agent,and police officer with both an A.S. and B.S. in Criminal Justice who is publicly showing the world on TV just how ignorant he is about constitutional rights. AOC has been telling people that when ICE shows up, they have the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney, the right to require a warrant for searches - you know, the same rights that anyone who watches any TV law enforcement show would know. Lawyers will tell the general public to use these rights during any encounter with law enforcement. Telling people about these rights is a basic 1st Amendment right. And this...

I just finished reading Shadi Hamid's February 17, 2025 op/ed piece in the Washington Post, "Why I still criticize Democrats more than Trump" .  In this piece, Shadi writes that he is  more critical of Democrats because he expects them to live up to their ideals.  He asks the question, " As much as moral condemnation might make us feel good, what does it accomplish".  He advocates against the easy and simple criticism of Trump and prods us to ask why Trump is so popular. Because I do like to read and comment on such op/eds, I saw where WaPo started off its comment section with this question -  " What are your thoughts on the idea that Democrats should be held to a higher standard because they claim to uphold certain values?" I immediately thought that the person (or AI) who wrote that question was implying that others should hold Democrats to a higher standard when I believe it should be Democrats evaluating how they hold to their own standards.  But I...

  There has been a lot of recent attention given to President Trump's Executive Orders released (and continue to be released) during these first few weeks of his second term. Each one has its own individual issues and concerns but one overriding question for many is the constitutionality of Trump's actions. Many people are saying we are in the midst of a constitutional crisis. Given past and present comments by Trump, VP Vance, allies, aides and supporters, it is clear that the current Executive Branch administration believes it is the federal courts causing a crisis by interfering with Executive Branch "legitimate" authority.  But is this exercise of authority actually "legitimate"?  If not, what's next?  To answer such questions, we first have to look at the source - the Constitution of the United States,  written in 1787, ratified in 1788, and put into effect in 1789. The US Constitution Article III, Section 1 states that, " The judicial power o...