For all of us who were alive in the mid 70s, we witnessed first hand a President of the United States who actively encouraged a crime and its cover up. That of course was Richard Nixon who ordered the break in of the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel, and then tried to cover up the whole affair after the break in was perpetrated. Fortunately the Republican Party acknowledged his part in the crime and cover up and convinced him to resign. Unfortunately he was never indicted nor convicted of this felony and was eventually pardoned of all such prosecution by his Constitutional successor Gerald Ford. That pardon, a deeply political action, denied us seeing Nixon’s day in court facing the full scale of American justice. President Biden has not issued such a pardon for Trump and his surrogates.
Today, we have a different story. Ex-president Trump has just been indicted for a crime by a Grand Jury in NY for paying off a prostitute to keep her quiet about the affair just before the 2016 election. The last part of that sentence was the actual crime, i.e. tampering with the outcome of the election via fraud, deceit, and payoffs. There are also other cases pending against Trump for election fraud in Georgia just after the election and inciting a riot and insurrection on January 6, 2021 at the Capitol in Washington D.C.
The present-day Republican Party is no longer your father’s GOP. Almost to a person, it is attempting to tear our judicial system down, screaming witch hunt, fraud, outrage, weaponized, political–whatever slander they can muster to feed their base the red, raw meat they crave. What’s missing is anyone acknowledging Trump is innocent. That doesn’t seem to be the point, which is that a former president is immune from indictment or prosecution of a crime. A cursory reading of the Declaration of Independence and the the Constitution, of course, will prove otherwise. In a monarchy or dictatorship that might be true. But in a representative democracy, all people are treated equally. No exceptions. All people are treated equally before the law.
Nuff said. A trial of Trump’s peers, which involve regular citizens like him, will follow. The American system of equal justice for all, and not Republican sycophants, will have the last word.
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My voice is an admittedly small one in the din of larger platformed voices in our multi-cultural, and, I’m afraid, highly polarized society. But, like all of us, I do what I can in my little niche of the universe to battle the encroaching forces of fascism. The following Native American story, which I share from my FB feed, says it better than I:
“According to an old Native American legend, one day there was a big fire in the forest. All the animals fled in terror in all directions, because it was a very violent fire. Suddenly, the jaguar saw a hummingbird pass over his head, but in the opposite direction. The hummingbird flew towards the fire!
Whatever happened, he wouldn’t stop. Moments later, the jaguar saw him pass again, this time in the same direction as the jaguar was walking. He could observe this coming and going, until he decided to ask the bird about it, because it seemed very bizarre behavior.
“What are you doing, hummingbird?” he asked.
“I am going to the lake,” he answered, “I drink water with my beak and throw it on the fire to extinguish it.” The jaguar laughed. ‘Are you crazy? Do you really think that you can put out that big fire on your own with your very small beak?’
‘No,’ said the hummingbird, ‘I know I can’t. But the forest is my home. It feeds me, it shelters me and my family. I am very grateful for that. And I help the forest grow by pollinating its flowers. I am part of her and the forest is part of me. I know I can’t put out the fire, but I must do my part.’
At that moment, the forest spirits, who listened to the hummingbird, were moved by the birdie and its devotion to the forest. And miraculously they sent a torrential downpour, which put an end to the great fire.
The Native American grandmothers would occasionally tell this story to their grandchildren, then conclude with, “Do you want to attract miracles into your life? Do your part.”
“You have no responsibility to save the world or find the solutions to all problems—but to attend to your particular personal corner of the universe. As each person does that, the world saves itself.’”
Written by: The Lemurian Unicorns~ Luisa Morando
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I hope you exercise your own small voice, adding truth, wisdom, and a bit of love and care to the symbiosis, as put forth by Drs. James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis, that has created and continues to create this beautiful world of ours. As an adjunct to this process, I offer my own wee small voice to help guide and inspire you. It is To Live a Life: 200 Ways to be the Best Person You can be.” Thank you.
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