Militants

"A well organized militia ..."  

   There are more guns in America than there are people.

   This number, more than 400 million, does not include military and police weapons, which are tightly controlled by leaders of these security forces. 

  The total population of the United States is about 300 million. By that figuring, there are more guns in America than there are people. We no longer have a well organized militia, so the security of a free state is not guaranteed, and is no longer essential.

   We do, however, have a National Guard, along with state and local police forces, well organized by each of the 50 United States, so their security is guaranteed.

   The founders of the United States were correct in stressing that a well organized security force is essential. But their emphasis was on being organized, not loose millions of gun carrying people with their own agendas and prejudices.

   Many gun owners may claim that they are members of a militia, but whether they are organized is another issue.

   A mentally disturbed individual with dozens of high powered guns is not essential to the security of a free state. Rather, such a person is a danger.

Word Games

"King, 'eh? I didn't vote for him." -- Monte Python 

 

   The current President of the United States faces increasing challenges from protestors who insist he is not a king and therefore should stop acting like one.

   But his recent behavior suggests he wants to be an absolute ruler. Examples include sending National Guard troops to several cities on the pretense that crime is out of control, and therefor the national government should intervene.

 Technically, he cannot send in federal troops because the Constitution forbids it, unless there is a civil war. But he can "federalize" a state-run military unit.

 The question then becomes, who's in charge? Who's the boss? Or, in a larger sense, who is king?

 Ask Monte Python.

Timing

    War is not a game. 

 Politicians act like their goal is to win, no matter the cost, and anyone who disagrees is an enemy. 

 They pass the proof of this to their military, and these are the people who die to prove the political leaders' truthfulness.

 Football coaches who originated the comment, "Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing," were referring not to players but to fans.

 (The term used here -- "fans" -- is a short version of the word "fanatic," and it refers not to players but to followers.)

 At root of all the talk of winning -- whether sports, politics or military -- is a desire for control, and some leaders are more concerned with winning than with anything else.

Name Games

President Donald Trump has renamed the Department of Defense to its original designation, mirroring his own attitude to others.

 The Department of War.

 "Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing." -- Knute Rockne.

War is not a game. That's why President Harry Truman renamed the department as World War II ended,

Control Freak

   Why is Donald Trump so angry? 

   He cannot control news media. Nevertheless, he tries.

 

   "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press."

 

    The First Amendment says Congress must not attempt to control the news media.

    But what of the President? The Constitution does not specify that the chief executive cannot try.

   The current one does try, and he is met with opposition every day.

   And this annoys him, so he tries even harder, and more often.

   In turn, this raises an even more difficult question: What if he succeeds? 

Thoughts

Memory fades 

Love does not

 

Do not get angry

When interrupted

 

Lying to your therapist

Is thoughtless and stupid

 

Old does not mean

Stupid or ignorant

 

If ifs and ans

Were pots and pans

We'd have no need

For trinkets

States Rites

    Every ten years, a nationwide census leads to changes in the way states elect members of the House of Representatives. 

  By its own rules, there can only be 435 members of that chanber, so a change in population leads to a change in membership.

 Currently, California leads the pack of states in revising its map so more Republicans will dominate the state's list of Congress members. Some states will gain members and some will lose.

 But Texas is also planning some changes, and if Canada becomes a state, as suggested by Donald Trump, it will gain a substantial number of members of the House, while other states will lose. Especially large states, such as Texas and California.

  However, every state must have at least one member of the House, no matter its population.

 The Constitution says so.

 But what if the Constitution is suspended, as some say the current president may attempt? 

 We live in interesting times.

Presidential Impunity

    Talk, talk, talk.

    "What I really meant was ..." Political yammer.

   For all the talk about a third presidential term for Donald Trump, will there be any action?

    In one way, there will be no action, since he is not eligible for a third term as President.

   The Constitution says so.

   Unless, of course, he and his allies ignore, cancel or overturn the Constitution. Or they insist it refers only to "consecutive" terms.

    But it doesn't say so.

   How can this happen? One way would be for a majority of states to approve another amendment canceling the rule that a president cannot serve more than two terms. It doesn't say they must be consecutive.

 Another way would be to suspend the entire Constitution because of war or some other excuse. But there will be plenty of action as Americans at every level argue, debate or even fight over the issue.

 All this is a variation on the issue of presidential immunity.

 Donald Trump has long behaved as if he is immune from laws -- behavioral, civil or criminal. Is he immune?

 Who ya gonna believe, him or your own good sense?

The Cycle of Twelve

    The latest cycle in the power of twelve began in 2016, when Donald Trump was first elected president.

    He lost re-election in 2020, but regained the office for a second term in 2024. eight years after his first campaign. But the Constitution prohibits a third term, specifying that a president can only be elected twice, for a total of eight years.

   It's possible that a vice president can serve as president for up to two years, then seek election to the Oval Office on his or her own for two full terms, thus enabling a total of 10 years as president.

   But a third full term, totaling 12 years, is right out. Granted, FDR served 12 years, from 1933 to 1945, when the office passed to Harry Truman. Republicans then sponsored a Constitutional amendment limiting a White House office to two elected terms.

   This is what prohibits Donald Trump from serving a third terms. He may indeed seek a third term, but unless he suspends the Constitution, he cannot.

President Musk

    Elon Musk is not (yet) eligible for the presidency of the U.S.
   But.
   If Canada becomes a state, he will be eligible. That may be the plan.
   If Canada becomes a state, as  proposed by Donald Trump, the incoming president of the United States, it would dominate the U.S. House of Representatives, with more representative members than other states, such as California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania or New Jersey.
   The House, by its own rules, has a maximum of 435 members, a policy set in 1910. California, with its population of 39.4 million, has 53 members of the House, followed by Texas, with a population of 31 million and membership of 32 representatives. Canada, with a total population of 41.3 million, would therefore be eligible for more representatives in the House that any other state.
   New York has 29 members, representing that state's population of 19 million, and Pennsylvania has 19 members to represent that state's 13 million people.
   The entire U.S. population is about 331 million, according to the 2020 Census. Canada has a population of a bit more that 41 million.
   Moreover, if Canada becomes a state, that would also mean that Elon Musk would be eligible to become President of the United States of America. Notwithstanding that he was born in South Africa, but his mother was a native of Canada, thus passing on her citizenship to her son.
   The U.S. Constitution requires that candidates for the White House be "natural born" citizens. That means that at least one parent must be a citizen, so the offspring thus inherits American citizenship at birth, and is therefore a "natural born" citizen, regardless of where he or she was born.
   Other examples: John McCain, a former senator and presidential candidate,  was born in Panama, where his U.S. Navy officer father was stationed.
   U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, also a former presidential candidate, was born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban father. He is, therefore, a natural born citizen and eligible to seek the presidency.
   Donald Trump's mother immigrated to the U.S. in 1928 from her native Scotland and had become a citizen by the time her second son (Donald) was born in New York. He is, therefore, a natural born citizen on three counts -- father, mother, and place of birth.
   A few years ago, there was a move among Republicans to have Arnold Schwarzenegger seek the presidency. He refused, knowing he was not eligible, since he was born in Austria to Austrian parents.
   Therefore, if Mrs. Musk inherited American citizenship by virtue of being born in Canada, she would pass on that citizenship to her son Elon, thus making him eligible to be president of the United States.
   Be careful what you wish for.

Guilty

    For the first time in history, an American president -- incoming, present or former -- has been convicted of a felony.
   However, the judge presiding over the case against Donald J. Trump did not penalize him, financially or with jail time.
   Whether he appeals the state court's decision to a federal system, potentially all the way to the Supreme Court, is another question. Nonetheless, he is now a convicted felon.
   The case involves lies told about his relationship with a woman in New York, and the lies were told before he was elected president, so the issue of presidential immunity does not apply. It was, at root, an event that took place before he was elected, and did not involve official government issues, either on the state or the federal level.
   Repeat: Therefore, the claim of presidential immunity does not apply.
   In any case, presidential immunity refers to things said or done in a person's official capacity as a government executive. It does not apply to issues related to a political campaign or personal activities.
   Whether Trump insists that this particular law -- or any other law -- does not apply to him, is another issue. 

Blissful It Ain't

   Ignorance may be helpful to politicians who are intent on building their power. And it may be yet more useful when listeners don't know the background of people who make headlines in their efforts to dominate public service. But when government leaders are unaware or deliberately ignore the background of newsmakers, that ignorance -- or stupidity -- can lead to harsh violence, if not outright war.

   Examples of  "blissful" ignorance: Canada, an independent nation, also recognizes the king of Great Britain as chief of state. The Canadian prime minister is the head of that nation's government. Other nations have similar details, in that the chief of state and the head of government are separate. The USA gives both jobs to its president.

   Greenland is also a self-governing, semi-independent nation, but it acknowledges that it is part of Denmark. And the Panama Canal Zone is fully part of the nation of Panama, and it always has been, even as the U.S. rented a stretch of land since about the year 1910 for a canal between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. 

  So if the U.S. wants to take over those three independent nations, as Donald Trump proposes, it could lead to a full breakdown of commercial relationships, or even to a flat-out war.

Oink, Oink

   Donald Trump sought the presidency three times. On each of those occasions, his opponents were lawyers with experience in Congress, the White House and other government agencies.
   Trump's background was in real estate.
   Yet, Trump won twice, when his opponents were women.
   What does that say about the preferences of American voters? Can you say "male chauvinist"? The only time Trump lost election was when his opponent was a man, specifically Joe Biden, a former member of the Senate and vice president to Bill Clinton.
   (An argument can be made that he did not win the first election, but rather manipulated the electoral vote in a court battle with the backers of Hillary Clinton, a lawyer, member of Congress, delegate to the United Nations and married partner with President Bill Clinton.)
   In his third bid for the presidency, Trump defeated Kamala Harris, a woman who had served as a trained lawyer, a member of Congress and as vice president with Joe Biden.