Ukraine Aid Bill Passes No Thanks To Republicans

It’s a good thing Democrats are united on national security and the military threats to our allies from the likes of Russia, Iran, and China because Republicans certainly aren’t. This past Saturday, April 20th, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) brought H.R. 8035 the Ukraine Aid bill up for a vote. 210 Democrats voted for it including all Texas Democrats. Most Republicans, 112 out of 218, voted against it including Monica de la Cruz (CD-15) who represents most of Guadalupe County and southward and Chip Roy (CD- 21) representing Comal County and westward.

Republicans like Roy and de la Cruz argue that Ukraine should seek peace with Russia which will only happen if they give up the 18% of their territory currently under Russian occupation. That would be like the United States giving up Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Louisiana to end a war with Mexico. I don’t see any American accepting that so why would anyone expect Ukraine to accept it. Texans certainly wouldn’t find that acceptable.

Speaker Johnson spoke out on the bill saying “I really do believe the intel and the briefings that we’ve gotten, I think that Vladimir Putin would continue to march through Europe if he were allowed. I think he might go to the Balkans next. I think he might have a showdown with Poland, or one of our NATO allies.” Johnson added “If so, we might find ourselves sending troops to defend allies from Putin later.”

The tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and much of the other hardware we’ve previously sent to Ukraine are previous generation gear that has been sitting in storage for years. The same applies to some of the artillery shells and other munitions. Republicans as to be expected also argue about the cost of supporting a country that isn’t even a NATO member. Of course, that argument fails when you consider the cost of Ukraine’s defense collapsing and Russia’s Putin being emboldened to continue its conquest into the rest of Europe. Putin has made it very clear that he wants to restore Russia to the borders it had prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union. What message would it send to China’s leadership with regard to their desire to annex Taiwan, or Iran’s leaders or Donald Trump’s buddy Kim Jong Un in North Korea?

Aggressors cannot be allowed to win wars of conquest or others with similar ambitions will most assuredly feel freed to do the same. As it stands now Ukraine is providing the manpower and much of the materiel while the U.S. and other democracies provide tanks, artillery, planes, missiles, ammunition, and training as well as cash to pay for personnel and other needs. The Republican controlled Congress has withheld support for more than 5 months simply by denying an opportunity to vote on the bill. During that time the Biden administration used every bit of its authority to continue supplying vital materiel.

There was once a time when the Republican Party claimed to be the defenders of democracy and the world order. I would argue they weren’t alone as Democrats certainly have done their part; but in recent years, since Trump, Republicans have shown themselves to be fans of autocrats and tyrants.

Republicans must be held accountable in November and defeated in detail. Your vote, the votes of your family members, neighbors, and co-workers are important to defeating them. It isn’t too early to start talking to the people closest to you about voting for Democrats in November, the election is less than 7 months away.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - April 24, 2024

Republicans Weak

While thousands of high school girls in Iran lead nationwide protests risking arrest or death in a fight for freedom from the oppression of a government by religious leaders, Russian men either accept being conscripted into a war of conquest with Ukraine or run away seeking asylum in other countries including the United States.

Protests began in Tehran September 16 as a reaction to the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested by the Guidance Patrol for wearing an "improper" hijab in violation of Iran's mandatory hijab law. Human rights group HRANA said that as of Friday 469 protesters had been killed, including 64 children, some as young as 9 years old. It said 61 government security forces had also been killed. More than 18,000 protesters are believed to have been arrested.

Russia invaded Ukraine in March and took control of vast sections of the country in weeks but failed to capture the capitol, Kyiv. Since then Ukrainian defenders with the aid of weapons provided by NATO countries including the United States have thrown Russian troops out of much of their country. Most recently Russian forces withdrew from Kherson, the only regional capitol, they’d managed to capture. Russian troops have suffered losses in the tens of thousands. While there have been some protests in Russia they’ve been quashed by local security forces.

Russian men apparently aren’t nearly as brave as Iranian teenage girls.

It was just a year ago that Senator Ted Cruz claimed that Russia’s manly army, in which same sex relationships are illegal, was a model that our armed forces should emulate. Now, those same manly men docilely accept being conscripted and thrown into the meat grinder that the attempt to conquer Ukraine has become; knowing they’ll receive no training, no winter coats or boots, and 50 year old weapons. Cruz claimed that our “woke” armed forces weren’t as effective as they could be because we have learned to accept LGBTQ service members.  Instead, it is the “woke” Ukrainian military which has thrown back the Russian aggressors and continues the fight to free their countrymen.

In 1995 George W. Bush said about his meeting with Vladimir Putin; “I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. I was able to get a sense of his soul.” Earlier this year Donald Trump spoke to a crowd at a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago about Putin’s invasion; “I’d say that’s pretty smart. He’s taking over a country, really a vast, vast location, a great piece of land with a lot of people, and just walking right in. I mean, he’s taking over a country for two dollars’ worth of sanctions.”

Recent polls now show that 48% of Republicans think the United States is spending too much on weapons and support for Ukraine. Senator elect J. D. Vance of Ohio said earlier this year; “I gotta be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other.” Trump’s former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon said; “Every member of Conservative Inc. that backs this Ukraine war is a simp.” Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green just weeks ago said that; “Under Republicans, not another penny will go to Ukraine.”

What is it with Republicans praising authoritarian leaders like Putin? Why are they unwilling to assist those who are trying to defend their homes, their freedom, their democracy?

Published in the Seguin Gazette - December 7, 2022

Choose Wisely - Vote Democrat

Republican leaders, including Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, have been calling for violence against Democrats for several years and now that a Republican supporter has invaded Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home and beaten her husband with a hammer former President Trump and many of those he has endorsed have remained silent instead of calling for an end to political violence.

Faux New, I mean Fox News, has spent the last couple of months making spurious claims about crime in America but considering they’ve been using the FBI statistics from 2020, even if what they say is true that happened under Trump so if a president is to be blamed then blame him.

Let’s talk about objective reality, something Republican candidates don’t do much of because it doesn’t make them look good. Last week saw the release of the most recent economic statistics which show that the U.S. GDP grew at a +2.6% pace in the third quarter of this year, that’s even better than expected. Especially when you consider that Republican doomsayers have been arguing for months that the US economy is in a recession and they’ve been rooting for a downturn.

Our economy has created 10 million jobs, unemployment is at a 50 year low, and U.S. manufacturing is booming. The report also shows that in the third quarter, Americans' incomes were up and the inflation rate came down. Gas prices are falling – down $1.26 since the summer, and down over the last three weeks. The most common price at gas stations in Texas today is $3.19 a gallon. Last week I paid $2.99 a gallon.

Much of the rising cost of food is due to the current high cost of grain which is in turn caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine one of the world’s major wheat producers. The same holds true for gas prices to a large extent so if you want to blame someone blame Vladimir Putin.

Democrats in Congress and the Biden-Harris Administration earlier this year passed laws that will bring down prescription drug prices especially for those on Medicare starting next year.

Congressional Republicans have a very different agenda – they’re planning to hold the archaic federal debt limit hostage against cutting Social Security and Medicare knowing that holding up the legislation will shut down the federal government. Putting those federal employees and all those who support them out of work will cost the economy tens of billions of dollars just like it did the last time they pulled this stunt. They plan to do it so they cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans and large corporations.

The Republican’s failed economic vision is not the way to give families more breathing room and grow our economy so working families can get ahead. It’s a road map for increased poverty and shorter life spans. We know from the bitter experience of the Reagan administration that “trickle down” economics only benefits the wealthy few. Democrats see and are working toward an economy that benefits everyone. Republicans can’t conceive of an economy like that so they work toward one that benefits they’re wealthy benefactors and themselves.

When you vote, notice I didn’t say if you vote, choose wisely and vote for Democrats because they have a plan to move the country forward with peace, equity, and compassion for all of us.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - November 2, 2022

Quid Pro Quo by Any Other Name

Around 43 years ago I was introduced to the phrase "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" in Shakepeare’s Romeo and Juliet by Isaac Musselwhite, my high school English teacher. Mr. Musselwhite often reminded us that being able to quote Shakespeare was an indicator of refinement and sophistication; he claimed it would impress girls.

I can’t say that I was an especially good student and I’m still unsure that even if I had been it would have improved my chances for a date. What I can say is that Donald Trump apparently never read Romeo and Juliet and I’ll bet he can quote even less Shakespeare than I can. I’m certain of it because while he has professed “no quid pro quo” since he released the readout of his conversation with Ukraine’s President Zelensky each new document and testimony proves that he was demanding a corruption investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden and withholding previously approved and promised military assistance until he got it. Trump’s demands smell just as sweet as “quid pro quo” no matter what he names it.

First there were rumors of a whistleblower report, then rumors of its contents. Next Trump released the readout of the call with Zelensky which he called perfect but anyone actually reading it saw as strong tactics or extortion and yes, quid pro quo. National Security Advisor John Bolton suddenly resigned. Then came further evidence in the form of text messages between Ambassador Gordon Sondland and Special Envoy Kurt Volker confirming the details of a larger, coordinated effort, dare I call it a conspiracy, that also involved Rudy Guiliani and Attorney General William Barr. Next congress heard testimony from former National Security Council member Dr. Fiona Hill who said Bolton warned her that he would not get caught up in what he referred to as a "drug deal" being cooked up on Ukraine by US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. Out of the blue news broke that two of Rudy Guiliani’s Russian cronies had been arrested on campaign finance violations involving channeling Russian money to Republican candidates and are also implicated in the effort to pressure Ukraine into providing dirt on Biden. Then there were rumors that our former governor, now Secretary of Energy Rick Perry was involved and within days he suddenly announced his resignation.

On Tuesday the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor, testified in closed door hearings. Taylor’s fourteen page opening statement has been released to the public. I’ve read it and if there was ever the slightest doubt that Trump and his cronies were engaged in a conspiracy to extort political dirt on Joe Biden from Ukraine’s president in return for military assistance and a meeting with Trump that doubt has been removed. Taylor provides a very specific timeline and first person testimony regarding many conversations, verbal and written, with various members of the conspiracy. Media reports indicate that committee members and staff at the hearing gasped several times during Taylor’s testimony. I find it hard to imagine what could be more damning that Taylor’s opening statement.

Trump’s demands by any other name still smell like “qui pro quo” and since they involve him accepting a thing of value, dirt on an election rival, from a foreign nation those demands violate both the Emoluments clause of the U.S. constitution and federal campaign finance law. Attorney General William Barr’s efforts to stifle the investigation into the whistleblower complaint constitute a coverup.

It is past time for the House to impeach Trump.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - October 25, 2019

President Mobster

Imagine you manage a small business in a part of town that’s sees more than its share of crime and a wealthy guy from another part of town walks in trailing a couple big guys that look like bodyguards. Imagine further that you’re having a conversation with the wealthy guy about the local business climate, fair treatment of employees, and other topics when he changes the subject and asks very nicely to dig back in your records and find evidence that a mutual acquaintance has been involved with something shady. Then he says “You’ve got a great business here, it would be a shame if something happened to it”. Would you think he’s a mobster? If he’d asked for cash you’d probably call it a protection racket.

Donald Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, have both admitted to having had that conversation with Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine. They’ve both admitted to withholding congressionally authorized military aid, specifically weapons, from Ukraine in order to extract the promise of help finding dirt on Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Were Russia not continuing its illegal and undeclared war on Ukraine it would be easy for Zelensky to shrug off such demands but support from the United States is critical to maintaining the freedom, autonomy, democracy of Ukraine. Zelensky needs all the help he can get to respond to Russian aggression.

The fact that Trump has admitted to extortion for political gain both in his own statements and in the purported “transcripts” suggests to me that the whistleblower report is likely even more damning. Trump and his cronies have been illegally withholding the whistleblower report for nearly a month then he suddenly admits and can’t stop talking about just what the rumors have been suggesting. Based on Trump’s past use of outrageous statements to distract from more important issues I think these revelations likely mean that the report will document even worse transgressions than the early rumors suggested. Based on his actions toward Ukraine it would appear Trump actually believes that his statement  from late July, "Then I have an Article II, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president, “ is true.

Article II of the U.S. constitution says nothing of the sort. In fact Article II clearly limits presidential power, it assigns the title Commander in Chief of the armed forces, the power to make treaties, appoint ambassadors, judges, department heads and others but only with agreement of two thirds of the senate. Article II doesn’t even include the power to veto legislation but it does provide that the President “shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

Our congressman, Vicente Gonzalez, finally got on board with calling for an impeachment inquiry just hours before Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House would begin such an investigation. The House leadership has withheld support for impeachment for many months and many committee investigations have been stymied by witnesses who refused to cooperate, now that Speaker Pelosi has taken off the brakes we may see quite a bit of action from the six committees assigned to the investigation in the coming months. None of it will matter if their chairs don’t hold witnesses in contempt if they refuse to truthfully and completely answer questions and provide requested evidentiary documents.

Now is not the time to let up on our member of congress, it is every bit as imperative now as it was last week to push him to support a full inquiry into Trump’s misdeeds.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - September 27, 2019

Trump's Ethical Dilemna

"Every Republican nominee since Richard Nixon, who at one time was under an audit, has released their tax returns" according to Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. No major party nominee has failed to release tax returns since at least 1976 so what’s holding up Donald Trump? Perhaps it’s because they’ll show he isn’t the billionaire he claims to be. Perhaps it will simply show Trump has not made the millions of dollars of charitable contributions he claims to have made. Or more troubling it may be due to the connections to various Russian oligarchs whose wealth Trump relies on to fund his many ventures since no U.S. bank will lend to him. Trump’s son, Donald Jr., told a real estate conference in 2008, “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets, we see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”

Trump adviser Carter Page has extensive dealings with Gazprom, the Russian state-run energy company with strong ties to Putin and his inner circle. Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort consulted for former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovich, a key Putin ally, until his ouster in February 2014. There’s even a ledger, recently found in Ukraine, that was maintained by Yanukovich’s staff listing $12 million as fees to Manafort.

What will Trump do if Putin makes it known that he wants to complete the annexation of Crimea or perhaps all of Ukraine and if Trump protests Putin’s buddies will cutoff funding for Trump’s projects? That’s a question that concerns ethics lawyers who worked for President George W. Bush, presidential candidates Bob Dole, John Kerry, and Mitt Romney, among others. They all agree Trump would have more potential business conflicts than any prior president.

Trump’s conflicts of interest aren’t limited to Russian investors, he’s invested in 500+ companies around the world. Many are limited liability corporations related to real estate holdings, including properties in Panama, Istanbul, Mumbai, Puerto Rico and Dubai. How would Trump behave if one of those countries says they’ll nationalize his local assets if the U.S. doesn’t relent on some issue or give them preferential trade treatment?

Trump has said many times that his children and executives would manage his businesses instead of selling them off. "This is certainly going to present an unprecedented ethical dilemma if Trump wins," said Kenneth Gross, a partner at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, who provided legal assistance to several presidential candidates during their campaigns. "He can't just get amnesia. He's stuck with the knowledge of what he owns."

The Donald has waffled when describing his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump claims he's never spoken to Putin yet in 2014 Trump said he did. According to Trump, Putin "could not have been nicer" and has praised him as a canny leader who he respects. In the last week his daughter Ivanka posted on social media a photo of her and Putin’s girlfriend out sightseeing together.