I think someday we will all be shocked at how close our Justice Dept was to being totally shut down

[kentuck]

That we will discover the machinations and maneuverings of Mueller and Rosenstein and the FBI to desperately contain the efforts of Donald Trump and his confederates in the House to sabotage the efforts to find out the truth about Russian involvement in our elections.

We will be shocked to learn how close we were to losing everything and establishing a dictatorship in this country that would have led to extreme suffering and loss of freedoms.

People will way, "If we had only known..." We had faith in our Justice Dept that they were too strong to be defeated by an international crime syndicate, allied with the Russian Mafia and their leaders. We never knew it was so serious?

My hope is that we do survive this crisis and that the above does not come to fruition. This is the subject that I am most concerned about.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Gas prices damn near doubling tomorrow will take the focus off of the treason.

Rump is following Putin orders on Iran.

America, where are you? I cant find you.

[TheBlackAdder]

19. And those redneck yahoos, with their big trucks, rollin' coal will get pissed off they can't drive.

[NewJeffCT]

21. don't worry

they'll just blame it on Obama and/or Clinton.

[TheBlackAdder]

25. No doubt.

[A HERETIC I AM]

30. Doubling?

The futures market seems to disagree with your sentiment


http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/energy/crude-oil/light-sweet-crude.html

[Hortensis]

2. "Desperate" is the WRONG word for our side. THEY are desperate.

Our government has shown tremendous resilience, both built into it initially by our constitution, and developed over more than two centuries of judicial decisions, institutional practices, and deeply ingrained ethical standards of behavior.

This administration is so shocking not because they're failing but because morally bankrupt and astonishingly ignorant and incompetent criminal types elected to power don't understand or appreciate the systems meant to control power and wrongly imagined they could be just steamrolled out of the way.

They're wrong and in the process have maneuvered themselves into various legal traps as the wheels of justice their own actions began are grinding. The Mueller investigation is only one part of this machinery they may be able to impede briefly but cannot stop. Since they are newly desperate as this closes in on them, we should expect desperate and ruthless attempts to escape before this ends.

But in spite of worried speculations by experts in the face of legal holes and uncertainty about legal decisions, in a government of, by and for the people, all officials must be accountable to the people and none can be above the law. To decide otherwise would be revolution by judicial fiat. And that's not going to happen.

[kentuck]

3. Normally, I would agree. But our country has never faced a threat like this...

It is different this time because the threat is internal. It is totally unpredictable.

"None can be above the law." When Donald Trump is not held accountable to a subpoena, as would any other citizen, then we will know that not all must adhere to the laws. Our Constitution never envisioned such a threat as the one we now face.

I hope and pray your confidence is well-placed. I think it is much more serious than any of us now imagine.

[Hortensis]

8. Yes, but we've had huge internal threats before.

I used to have a copy of the constitution purchased at a checkout stand. It was a very thin thing about 3x5 inches, just some pages folded in half inside a fragile cardboard cover. The entire second half was explanation. Only the pages before the staples in the middle were constitution.

There was a huge lesson in that to me. It made me a "loose constructionist" at 17 or so because no way could you run even the original 13 states before technology turned the world upside down without a whole lot of judicial interpretation.

So EVERYTHING in those basic sentences had to be tested and interpreted in court, and retested and reinterpreted many times over the centuries as the world changed like a runaway express train taking us to "no one ever knows where."

And in the beginning many powerful people, and ordinary too, in our nation simply could not believe in a government that was not modeled on European authoritarian lines favoring elites over ordinary people. Conservatives then tried mightily to interpret to establish what they believed was the natural order in law, and failed.

Their conservative descendants don't believe in equality and liberal democracy either, not in their guts, and have been challenging and attempting to re-interpret to destroy liberalism in government ever since, as they are now. And they've always mostly failed.

And -- ultimately -- they will this time too. This isn't a new nation, just an old one with an old legal hole that's never happened to be tested and filled before. We have deeply ingrained notions about the relationship of the citizenry and our government. I don't think a lot of people have thought about what an enormous thing it would be to overturn that relationship.

Not just that, but if SCOTUS put the president beyond the legal control of not just the people but of the legislative and interpretive branches, the drastic act of actual removal of presidents from office would be, in many cases, the only way to secure the balance of powers intended by the constitution.

One thing we know, too, even good presidents never have all the power they need to do what they feel they really must, and it's too easy to imagine future presidents breaking laws flagrantly and frequently, including those written specifically to constrain their powers (a lot, lot more than some recent not-good Republican presidents have been doing).

[kentuck]

10. We've had threats before but never from within the White House from a madman...

This is no ordinary Benedict Arnold.

I would say that if we survive this ordeal, I think our country may be stronger for it?

But we are losing ground every day.

The Supreme Court seems like a useless part of our government at this time. I hope they can get involved soon.

[maddiemom]

17. Benedict Arnold had what he FELT was a legitimate gripe to set him off.

He didn't start out as just a greedy conman out to line his own and a few other pockets.

[eleny]

15. Of for and by the people doesn't function when oligarchs own & manipulate the voting machines

I don't know how long it will take for a majority to realize this and act before it's too late. I'm joyous over the prospects of this November's election results. But it won't surprise me if Dems don't prevail in both the House and the Senate - which they should given the telltale signs.

I agree with where you say the desperation exists. They're also the most powerful. And they'll be using that power to manipulate the levers of our democracy and try to convince us that the voting majority asked for the results which the powerful engineered. The sad fact is, to me, that they're using our institutions against us. The militarization of the police and the weakening of our school and health care systems also function as controls.

[Hortensis]

16. Well, it's only sensible to worry about election theft.

We share that concern, all right. Also the need to undo the increasing authoritarianism. However, that's nothing new. It's been far worse in the past. And for all the appeal of authoritarianism to many on the right, the worry about an authoritarian takeover is actually highest there.

When I wake up in the middle of the night I also worry that we could go the way of democracies that have fallen to fascism. We won't be safe until we get enough power to destroy the new ultrawealthy classes who can and do take control of governments by by issuing orders to legions of clever underlings. Fortunately, the governments of many nations are faced with this same existential threat.

[eleny]

22. I keep telling myself that our institutions will hold

And that I have a part in making that happen.

[Hortensis]

29. I believe they will, not just wishful thinking but seeing how

well they've held up so far and how badly the right's doing. Their voters may have gone crazy, but they're approaching a point where the more aware are eventually going to have to choose between party loyalty and turning the dining room into a bedroom for mom or kicking over the party bucket and keeping mom's Medicare and Medicaid.

Besides, can't get out of the reality that to a real extent our system has already failed in a few ways, though not collapsed, thanks to bad voters, including some on our side. So willy nilly, do we really have a choice but to help make it right again? This's our row.

[maddiemom]

20. Common sense obviously dictates that we honor the popular vote, and get rid of the electoral college

but n-o-o-o, even after 2000, which should have been a large clue. Anyone want to guess what might be the reasons for this negligence? And PAPER BALLOTS, please! Ignoring what keeps pounding us over the head only means the PTB like things just the way they are.

[eleny]

23. Yup

And stubborn as sheep, people just stand around and do nothing. I guess we need to be as energetic and determined as border collies.

[maddiemom]

26. Great dogs (and film)!

I've seen demonstrations, as a local man used to train them. Just amazing, and they seem to enjoy their work so much! Watching a "cutting" horse work cattle is amazing too, since sometimes the rider doesn't even have to do much reining.

[eleny]

27. That's my all time feel good video

Their intensity is an inspiration.

[Orsino]

4. I'll bet you three bottle caps and a water ration people will ask, "What's a justice department?"

Are you looking to be exiled to the Forbidden Zone?

[kentuck]

5. That's too real to be funny.

I could see something like that really happening.

[procon]

6. I'm concerned too, and I sure don't know a solution

The multi-pronged and well coordinated assault on key government agencies is increasing by the day. I don't think this assault is managed by the Republican Party, not the same GOP that can't govern, can't pass their most cherished legislation, or even stand by their oath of office.

That leaves outside actors like wealthy influence peddlers, lobbyists with deep pockets, and a handful of foreign actors not just limited to Russia and Israel, who are either acting separate or in concert to manipulate both Trump and the GOP to achieve their purposes.

The US is far behind the curve when it comes to identifying all the hostile forces -- foreign and domestic -- at work here. And the Republican will stall making the necessary changes as long as they are benefitting.

[RandomAccess]

9. Don't count your victories before they're complete

It ain't over yet. There's nothing to say that they won't continue their efforts to make this a de facto oligarchic dictatorship.

[kentuck]

11. I have no doubts but that you are correct.

But I am trying to be optimistic. Every day looks more bleak, in my opinion. I expect Mueller and Rosenstein to be gone any day now and the Republicans will do nothing to replace them. Let's hope we make it to November and the people make some sort of change. I do not have a lot faith that they will.

[RandomAccess]

12. I'm hoping and (my version) of praying with all my might

Didn't mean to bring you down -- just wanting people to be realistic.

[kentuck]

13. Realistically, I think Trump has already taken control of most of our government already.

He controls the Executive Branch with an iron fist. Nothing happens without his approval. He also controls the Legislative Branch with his sock puppets, McConnell and Ryan. He has his own group of Congressmen that are working with him to dismantle the Justice Dept and the FBI. The AG and his subordinates know that they can be fired at any moment and are operating in a deeply defensive position. He is well on his way to taking complete control if the people do not vote differently in November. I am not holding my breath for that to happen. The Democratic Party offers little opposition at this time.

[RandomAccess]

14. Sigh

Now I'm depressed. Sorry I spoke up.

But I refuse to give up hope.

[askyagerz]

18. We can only see the surface right now.

Someday we will find out just how deep the swamp went

[bigbrother05]

24. The one thing he is right about is the Deep State, but they ain't Dems

Since at least Nixon and realistically before WWII, the arch conservatives have methodically put their folks in place throughout the government and business.

They most often kept their actions cloaked behind think tanks and editorial comments, but since Reagan they have emerged. Now Trump represents open warfare on our democracy. He isn't an ideologue, but an opportunist. He doesn't care about anything except self enrichment. Remember when W said dictatorship wouldn't be too bad as long as he was the dictator and passed it off as humor. Trump isn't joking and the dark forces are behind him.

We still have a chance to correct this in 2018 & 2020, but the window is narrowing by the hour. They know the demographics are changing against them and this is their best chance to change the rules for generations to come if they succeed.

[askyagerz]

28. I'm just hoping this will make them brave enough

To abandoned the trenches long enough for us to catch them in the open field. Their smugness just might end up saving us from generations of hidden dark forces. I think they actually started to believe their own hype.