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TOPIC:  SUPPORT KPFT! Ben Carson refers to slaves as ‘immigrants’, Follow-Up: ‘Special Warfare Unit Flew Trump Flag In Public. Now Navy Is Punishing Its Members’, Revised executive order bans travelers from six Muslim-majority countries, Can Republicans Be Trusted to Investigate Trump’s Russia Scandal, Former British lawmaker at heart of Trump wiretap allegations, Doomsday Cancelled – Trump is Good News for Allies and World Peace, Americans are seriously stressed out about the future of the country, survey finds , SCOTUS docket # 16-907 (Writ of Mandamus before SCOTUS) WILL BE DISTRIBUTED FOR CONFERENCE to the Justices on March 17, 2017, Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to fly two private citizens around the moon by late next year, MORE

GUEST: OPEN FORUM

Welcome to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig (@ThinkwingRadio), a listener call-in show  airing live every Monday night from 9-10 PM (CT) on KPFT-FM 90.1 (Houston). My engineer is Bob Gartner.

Listen live on the radio or on the internet from anywhere in the world! When the show is live, we take calls at 713-526-5738. (Long distance charges may apply.)

For the purposes of this show, I operate on two mottoes:

• You’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts;
  

  Houston Mayor Annise Parker [L] with Mike, just before the show. (Dec. 7, 2015)

• An educated electorate is a prerequisite for a democracy.

SIGN-OFF QUOTE[s]:

“Our concern was military members showing a partisan political allegiance to a person as opposed to the Constitution or the country .They simply cannot — in uniform in military vehicles and in an official capacity — show partisan political leanings.” ~ Lt. Jacqui Maxwell, a spokeswoman for Naval Special Warfare Group 2, said in a statement to The Washington Post that punitive actions were taken but declined to comment on the precise nature of the punishment or how many individuals were affected. (from “A special warfare unit flew a Trump flag in public. Now the Navy is punishing its members.” March 1, 2017)

1. Carson compares slaves to immigrants coming to ‘a land of dreams and opportunity’– Ben Carson refers to slaves as ‘immigrants’, By Tracy Jan and Jose A. DelReal March 6 at 4:34 PM
2. Revised executive order bans travelers from six Muslim-majority countries from getting new visas, By Matt Zapotosky, David Nakamura and Abigail Hauslohner [WASHINGTON POST] March 6, 2017 at 2:21 PM
   1. Gold Star father Khizr Khan cancels speech in Toronto after organizers report his travel privileges were under review, by Alene Tchekmedyian [LA TIMES] March 6, 2017, 1:12 p.m.
      1. Gold Star father Khizr Khan has canceled a scheduled speech in Toronto after being told his “travel privileges are being reviewed,” according to the event organizer.
      2. It was not immediately clear which government agency contacted him or what was under review. Khan has lived in the U.S. since 1980 and is a naturalized U.S. citizen.
   2. New Ban still doesn’t name any of the countries from which the 9/11 hijackers came.
   3. New Ban: Libya, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Syria (Iraq not on this list)
   4. Old Ban: Included Iraq.
   5. 9/11 Hijackers: Saudi Arabia (15 of 19), United Arab Emirates (2 of 19), Egypt, Lebanon.
   6. “Democrats and civil liberties groups said Monday that the new order was legally tainted in the same way as the first one: It was a thinly disguised Muslim ban. Trump, in his email, used the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism” to describe his concern with the countries whose citizens would be blocked from acquiring visas.”
   7. “The attorney general of Washington state, Bob Ferguson, who successfully sued to have the first ban blocked, said he was still reviewing what to do.”
   8. “The new order, Ferguson said, represented a “significant victory” for Washington state because the administration had “capitulated on numerous key provisions that we contested in court.” But he said state lawyers would need two or three days to see what action they would take in the court case.”
3. A special warfare unit flew a Trump flag in public. Now the Navy is punishing its members. By Peter Holley [Washington Post] March 1, 2017
   1. MIKE’S COMMENTARY:

     I’ve tried to follow this story and its outcome. This is apparently as far as we’ll get, at least publicly. But whatever the disciplinary outcome, the question — the problem — remains: Are these SEALS primarily pro-Constitution or pro-Trump?

     Military personnel are human, regardless of military tradition, rules and protocol. They will each have their own opinions, values, biases and prejudices. Knowing this, the American military and militaries of other democracies must, and do, constantly inculcate the culture of military loyalty to civilian control; to the nation and it’s laws rather than to anyone one person or party.

     That’s what made this incident so troubling. Someone in this unit thought that flying a “Trump” flag was a good idea, and did so. We will never know which if any of the other team members supported or opposed it.

     What we do know is that no one in the unit thought that this idea was bad enough to stop it.

     In every nation, at some point in its history, the military must choose sides: Who and what do they support? Choices and options can be murky; decisions can be difficult, and outcomes unclear.

     History pivots on such moments.

3. This former British lawmaker is at the heart of the Trump wiretap allegations, By Karla Adam [WASHINGTON POST] March 6,2017 at 4:59 PM
   1. Louise Mensch [Mensch is best known for her stint as a Conservative lawmaker ]… is the writer behind an article published on the eve of the election titled: “EXCLUSIVE: FBI ‘Granted FISA Warrant’ Covering Trump Camp’s Ties To Russia.”
   2. In tweets on Monday, Mensch emphasized that her reporting does not back up Trump’s wiretapping claim, even though the White House cited her article to justify the allegation. She stressed that her reporting refers to a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court warrant and does not mention anything about wiretapping.
4. A nude photo scandal has shaken the entire Marine Corps, By: Jeff Schogol and Andrew deGrandpre, March 5, 2017 (Photo Credit: Lance Cpl Juan A. Soto-Delgado.)
   1. The U.S. Marine Corps is investigating allegations an unspecified number of military personnel and veterans allegedly distributed nude photos of female colleagues and other women as part of a perverse social media network that promotes sexual violence.
      1. ‘I’m never reenlisting.’ Marine Corps rocked by nude-photo scandal. By Thomas Gibbons-Neff March 5, 2017 at 8:41 PM [Washington Post]
   2. Both active military and civilians can report a crime or share information on Marines United discreetly, anonymously and safely to NCIS via text, the web, or the NCIS smart phone app. The NCIS number is (877) 579-3648.
5. Can Republicans Be Trusted to Investigate Trump’s Russia Scandal – Why the congressional intelligence committees might not be up to the task. By David Corn [MOTHER JONES] Feb. 27, 2017 6:00 AM
   1. “Last week, news broke that the Senate intelligence committee—as part of its recently launched investigation of both the Russian hacking of the 2016 campaign and contacts between Donald Trump associates and Russia—had sent letters to at least a dozen agencies, individuals, and organizations instructing them to preserve records and information related to the probe. This was one of the first public signs that the Senate committee or the House intelligence committee, which has initiated its own inquiry, had begun any real digging.
   2. “But both investigations are proceeding behind a thick veil of secrecy, and there is no way to tell if the Republicans leading these efforts are mounting serious endeavors committed to unearthing facts that might be inconvenient, embarrassing, delegitimizing, or worse for Trump and his White House. So the question remains: Can these committees be trusted to get the job done?”
6. House Republicans release long-awaited plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, By Amy Goldstein, Mike DeBonis and Kelsey Snell [WASHINGTON POST] March 6, 2017 at 6:40 PM
   1. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Shelley Moore Capito (R. W.Va.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said they would vote against any reform bill that fails to protect Americans who became eligible for coverage under the ACA’s expansion of Medicaid, the government-run health program for the poor and disabled.
   2. All four senators represent states that opted to expand their Medicaid program under the ACA.
7. Doomsday Cancelled: Trump is Good News for Allies and World Peace, Peter Viggo Jakobsen {WAR ON THE ROCKS] March 2, 2017
   1. mike: “Trump’s aggressive communications strategy and his “America First” approach to international negotiations have already frightened allies into doing something his predecessors could not: increase defense spending. Fear of abandonment has changed the nature of the defense debate in allied capitals in Asia and Europe. The question is no longer whether defense spending should increase, but how much. U.S. allies in Europe are now scrambling to produce concrete plans for how they will increase defense spending in time for President Trump’s first visit to NATO in late May 2017.. His perceived unpredictability is also making military provocations and risk-taking by America’s adversaries less likely.”
   2. In the era of Donald Trump, Germans debate a military buildup, By Anthony Faiola March 5, 2017 at 7:18 PM [WASHINGTON POST]
   3. Why Sweden Brought Back the Draft – Seven years after abolishing mandatory military service, the country is now responding to “the security change in our neighborhood.”, by Adam Chandler [The Atlantic] Mar 3, 2017
   4. MIKE: It’s worth remembering that one reason the US has carried most of the military heavy-lifting is so that countries like Germany and Japan wouldn’t have to re-arm after WW2

• Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to fly two private citizens around the moon by late next year, By Christian Davenport and Joel Achenbach [Washington Post] February 27, 2017 at 6:15 PM
  • SpaceX said Monday it plans to fly two private citizens on a mission around the moon by late 2018 as part of a lunar journey that would last about a week and travel deeper into space than any human has ventured before.
• Time to talk Trump impeachment: Jason Sattler, By Jason Sattler [USAToday] Published 3:24 p.m. ET Feb. 26, 2017 | Updated 11 hours ago
  • Republicans are burying Trump transgressions. Democrats need to make sure they get noticed.
  • Bannon predicts there will be an ideological ‘fight every day’
  • Atop Trump’s agenda, Bannon said, was the “deconstruction of the administrative state” — meaning a system of taxes, regulations and trade pacts that the president and his advisers believe stymie economic growth and infringe upon one’s sovereignty.
  • “If you look at these Cabinet nominees, they were selected for a reason, and that is deconstruction,” Bannon said. He posited that Trump’s announcement withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership was “one of the most pivotal moments in modern American history.”
  • Bannon picked up that theme Thursday in his remarks at CPAC: “They’re corporatist, globalist media that are adamantly opposed to an economic nationalist agenda like Donald Trump has.”
  • Bannon also said, “If you look at the opposition party [e., the Press] and how they portrayed the campaign and how they portrayed the transition and how they portray the administration, it’s always wrong.”Bannon: Trump administration is in unending battle for ‘deconstruction of the administrative state’, By Philip Rucker (Washington Post) February 23, 2017 at 2:47 PM
• Why Trump is skipping the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, By Dean Obeidallah, CNN, Updated 4:58 PM ET, Sun February 26, 2017
  • CNN Is Considering Skipping White House Correspondents’ Dinner: The cable network, which Donald Trump has repeatedly called “fake news,” is discussing internally about whether to attend the annual star-studded dinner, sources say. By Steven Perlberg [BuzzFeed News Reporter] posted on Feb. 23, 2017, at 7:45 p.m.
  • CNN is still actively discussing internally whether it will ultimately send staffers to the event, which is scheduled for April 29, according to one of these people.
  • Plus, some in the media world are wondering whether Trump will even end up attending the event. The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.
• (UPDATE, WENT AS EXPECTED) On Tuesday [Feb 28, 2017], House Republicans Will Betray Their Oaths, Their Country, And The American People. By Dartagnan [DailyKos] Sunday Feb 26, 2017 · 9:09 AM CST
  • On Tuesday the Republican-dominated House Judiciary Committee is expected to reject House Democrats’ Resolution for a formal inquiry into the potential ethical and legal violations committed by the Trump campaign apparatus in its contacts, communications and financial transactions with Russia during the run-up to Trump’s election last November, and throughout the transition since then. It will also reject calls to examine evidence of Trump’s solicitation and receipt of foreign gifts intended to influence American policy, and the potential violations of the Emoluments Clause of the United States Constitution.
  • The evidence pointing to Trump’s betrayal of American strategic interests has (thus far) included illegal contacts between Trump emissaries and Putin officials concerning the lifting of existing U.S. sanctions, evidence that the Trump campaign was aware of and likely complicit in Russian efforts to sway the election to Trump through Russian propaganda, and evidence suggesting that Trump himself may be compromised and subject to Russian blackmail due to either his financial dealings or his unusual sexual proclivities. These issues, unearthed by our intelligence agencies, directly implicate the integrity of our national government. It’s difficult to imagine any matter that could be more compelling for investigation and resolution. This is, in essence, a  determination whether an elected President has been corrupted, compromised, or tainted by a hostile foreign power.
• Americans are seriously stressed out about the future of the country, survey finds, By Colby Itkowitz [www.washingtonpost.com] February 15, 2017
  • The American Psychological Association polls Americans about their stress every year, and it’s common for many of those polled to report anxiety around personal life issues like work and money. This time, however, people are also citing politics as a serious stressor in their lives.
  • Last year, the APA, which represents psychologists across the country, heard from its members that their patients were experiencing high levels of anxiety in the lead-up to the presidential election. Since November, those emotions haven’t let up. They’ve actually gotten worse with political talk consuming therapy sessions.
  • Because so many of its members were reporting election-related stress, the APA added questions about politics to its annual survey in August. When the negative feelings didn’t ease up, APA did another survey in January to capture stress levels post-election. In August, 71 percent of Americans reported feeling a physical or emotional symptom of stress at least one day that month. In January, 80 percent had symptoms such as tension headaches or feeling overwhelmed or depressed.
  • The survey, conducted by Harris Poll, found 66 percent of Americans reported stress about the future of the country, 57 percent about the current political climate and 49 percent about the election outcome. Minority groups, millennials, those living in urban areas, and those with a college education had higher levels of stress about the election, which is unsurprising since those demographics tend to lean left politically.
  • While Democrats surveyed were overwhelmingly more stressed about the election outcome than Republicans (72 percent to 26 percent), a majority of people from both parties, 59 percent of Republicans and 76 percent of Democrats, said they are stressed about the future of the country.
  • From Daily Kos: “MAJOR BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: SCOTUS docket # 16-907 WILL BE DISTRIBUTED FOR CONFERENCE to the Justices on March 17, 2017!”
    • BACKGROUND: Petition Before SCOTUS Seeks To Nullify Election, by FisherShannon [dailykos.com/] Feb 12, 2017 9:58am CST
      • SEE: http://revote2017.org/
    • While the world is paying attention to theatrical battles over President Trump’s executive orders and cabinet nominees, a largely unnoticed and potentially landmark case sits before the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. A petition for a writ of mandamus seeking to nullify the results of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election sits on the SCOTUS docket.
    • A petition for a writ of mandamus is a filing imploring a Court to take mandatory action in the nature of public duty. The writ – filed Jan 18, 2017 by Diane Blumstein, Donna Soodalter-Toman, and Nancy Goodman – has been assigned docket number 16-907.
    • The main argument for the writ is that, per Article IV § 4 of the U.S. Constitution, it is the job of the federal government to keep U.S. territory safe from foreign invasion. The Constitution stipulates, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion.” The petition cites evidence of such an invasion, namely the Russian hacking, and asks that the entire 2016 election be nullified, all the way back to the primaries, on the grounds that cyber-territory in the U.S. was invaded with the intention of altering the results of our Presidential election. The petitioners seek an entirely new election.
    • A response [was] due from SCOTUS on February 21 with an answer as to whether the Court will hear oral arguments in this case. The fact that this petition for a writ of mandamus is being considered is quite remarkable. SCOTUS estimates that just 0.01% of cases filed with the court are granted plenary review with oral arguments, so the odds are stacked against this case being heard, but the writ is on the docket and they hold out hope that the odds are in their favor.
    • Writ of Mandamus – Wikipedia
    • Mandamus (Latin for “We command”) is a judicial remedy in the form of an order from a superior court,^[1] to any government subordinate court, corporation, or public authority—to do (or forbear from doing) some specific act which that body is obliged under law to do (or refrain from doing)—and which is in the nature of public duty, and in certain cases one of a statutory duty. It cannot be issued to compel an authority to do something against statutory provision. For example, it cannot be used to force a lower court to reject or authorize applications that have been made, but if the court refuses to rule one way or the other then a mandamus can be used to order the court to rule on the applications.
    • Mandamus may be a command to do an administrative action or not to take a particular action, and it is supplemented by legal rights. In the American legal system it must be a judicially enforceable and legally protected right before one suffering a grievance can ask for a mandamus. A person can be said to be aggrieved only when he is denied a legal right by someone who has a legal duty to do something and abstains from doing it.
• Yemen SEAL Raid Has Yielded No Significant Intelligence: Officials, by Cynthia McFadden, William M. Arkin and Ken Dilanian [NBCNEWS.COM] Feb 27 2017, 7:04 pm ET
  • Three probes opened into SEAL’s death in controversial Yemen raid, USA TODAY
  • Last month’s deadly commando raid in Yemen, which cost the lives of a U.S. Navy SEAL and a number of children, has so far yielded no significant intelligence, U.S. officials told NBC News.
  • Although Pentagon officials have said the raid produced “actionable intelligence,” senior officials who spoke to NBC News said they were unaware of any, even as the father of the dead SEAL questioned the premise of the raid in an interview with the Miami Herald published Sunday.
• In Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro, signs of ethnic tension are on the rise again.
• DHS Immigration Memo Underscores Urgent Need for National Guard Reform: It’s time to rethink the mission and role of the already-stretched National Guard. By Ben Manski |[BillMoyers.com] February 22, 2017
  1. A general alarm has risen in response to the recently leaked draft memo from Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly outlining steps for the deployment of National Guard units, as well as other measures, across vast regions of the country to hunt down and detain those suspected of being undocumented immigrants to the United States.
  2. The Constitution of the United States disallows the use of the National Guard to invade and occupy other countries. Instead, Article 1, Section 8 provides for the use of the Guard “to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions.” Federal statutes enacted under the authority of the Constitution describe the conditions under which the Guard may and may not be used for domestic law enforcement. Most readings of those statutes are that they do not authorize the unilateral federalization of state guard units to hunt down and detain those suspected of being undocumented immigrants. Yet as a matter of constitutional law involving at least several of the militia clauses and the Bill of Rights, the question is unclear.
  3. What is clear is that National Guard law is currently broken. The United States have not been invaded since 1941, yet over the past year, National Guard units were deployed in 70 countries, reflecting former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s statement that, “There’s no way we could conduct a global war on terror without the Guard and Reserve.”
• Vitaly I. Churkin, Russian ambassador to the U.N., dies at 64, By staff reports and news services (Washington Post) February 20, 2017 at 3:05 PM
  1. Vitaly I. Churkin, who had been Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations for more than a decade and championed Moscow’s perspective on barbarity in Syria, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and other global flash points, died Feb. 20 at a hospital in New York. He died a day before his 65th birthday.
  2. Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov, said that his boss fell ill at his office. The cause wasn’t immediately known.
• FREE SPEECH: What’s constitutionally guaranteed and what’s culturally expected
  • 1^st Amendment:   First Amendment | Constitution | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
  • The Amendment protects us against Government interference in speech, press and religion.
  • NON-government interference – private businesses, publishers. Etc. – is more culturally entrenched but usually not illegal.
  • 1^st Amendment: FREE SPEECH: What’s constitutionally guaranteed and what’s culturally expected
    • NON-government interference – private businesses, publishers. Etc. – is more culturally entrenched but usually not illegal.
    • The Amendment protects us against Government interference in speech, press and religion.
    • First Amendment | Constitution | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
• The Four Freedoms: Roosevelt delivered his speech 11 months before the United States declared war on Japan, December 8, 1941. The State of the Union speech before Congress was largely about the national security of the United States and the threat to other democracies from world war that was being waged across the continents in the eastern hemisphere. In the speech, he made a break with the tradition of United States non-interventionism that had long been held in the United States. He outlined the U.S. role in helping allies already engaged in warfare.
  • Freedom from fear
  • Freedom from want
  • Freedom of worship
  • Freedom of speech
• The Four Freedoms were goals articulated by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on January 6, 1941. In an address known as the Four Freedoms speech (technically the 1941 State of the Union address), he proposed four fundamental freedoms that people “everywhere in the world” ought to enjoy:
• 1. Four Freedoms, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  • Donald Trump is making a strong case for a recount of his own 2016 election win, By Aaron Blake, Nov 28, 2016 (Washington Post): On Sunday morning, President-elect Donald Trump assured us all that a recount of the 2016 election wouldn’t change the outcome and was a waste of resources.
    • “…the president-elect is also, unwittingly and amazingly, calling into question the results of an election that he won nearly three weeks ago. The logical extension of his argument is that all results should not be trusted. In effect, Trump is lending credence to the very same recount effort that he criticized as superfluous.
• Russian Interference Could Give Courts Legal Authority To Install Clinton, By Alex Mohajer, Political Writer and Commentator (Huffington Post) 12/10/2016 06:28 am ET | Updated 6 days ago (12/13/2016)
  • …at least one federal court decision suggests there may be some federal case law on the question of whether it is possible to invalidate the outcome of an election after the fact when there is fraud, and replace a candidate benefitted by fraud with his opponent. The case, Marks v. Stinson, is the first and only known case in which a federal judge reversed an election outcome.
  • [In] a case originally brought before a federal district judge in Pennsylvania in 1993, which was subsequently appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 1994. The Third Circuit partially upheld the federal judge’s decision to intervene and invalidate a 1993 state senate election due to fraud. Interestingly, the federal district judge ordered the winner be removed from office and the subsequent vacancy be filled by his opponent.
  • In February 1994, after Stinson had already taken office, the federal judge ordered he “be removed from his State Senate office and that [his opponent, Bruce Marks] be certified the winner within 72 hours.”
  • Two of the elected officials who testified in the Pennsylvania case said under oath that they were aware of the fraud, had intentionally failed to enforce laws, and hurried to certify Stinson the winner in order to bury the story. To some, the narrative draws parallels to the Washington Post’s revelation that Republican Mitch McConnell was aware of the CIA’s conclusion that Russians had intervened and opted to do nothing.
  • The case deliberates interesting rationale that could theoretically be applied in part if, after Donald Trump assumes office, it is shown that Russian hacking (or any fraud, for that matter) robbed Hillary Clinton of the presidency. The case offers clues that imply courts may intervene.
  • There is also, of course, no constitutional Electoral College process or system in Pennsylvania, so the situations are not exactly analogous. But the reasoning behind the federal court’s decision may hold muster. It is not clear how the case would impact a presidential election.
  • | Updated 6 days ago [MARKS v. STINSON | 19 F.3d 873 (1994) | Leagle.com]
  • BREAKING: Russian Interference In The Election Just Handed Hillary The White House (DETAILS), December 10, 2016 New Century Times
    • His opponent in the race, Republican Bruce Marks was then made the winner. The judge who made the ruling, Judge Clarence Newcomer, said:

      “Substantial evidence was presented establishing massive absentee ballot fraud, deception, intimidation, harassment and forgery.”

      According to the New York Times: “Judge Newcomer ordered that Mr. Stinson, a 49-year-old former assistant deputy mayor of Philadelphia, be removed from his State Senate office and that Mr. Marks, a 36-year-old lawyer and former aide to United States Senator Arlen Specter, be certified the winner within 72 hours.”

• ======================================================
•  SOURCES WHICH MAY BE RELEVANT TO OTHER DISCUSSION:
• The worst passwords of 2016 are as lazy as ever: Please, stop using “123456.”, By Charlie Osborne for Zero Day (ZDNet) | January 13, 2017 — 14:00 GMT (06:00 PST)
• How Wisdom Teeth Are Fueling the Opioid Epidemic, By Melissa Pandika 1/22/2017, [Ozy.com] via MSN
  1. … In 2015, opioids killed a record 33,000 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About half of those deaths involved a prescription opioid. Now, a new study drills down to one source of these drugs: wisdom-tooth extractions.
  2. More than half of the opioid painkillers prescribed to patients after wisdom tooth removal surgery in a recent Drug and Alcohol Dependence study went unused.
  3. 100 million opioid pills, prescribed for wisdom-tooth extractions, go unused.
  4. Which means they’re available for misuse and abuse by patients, their loved ones or others. But the study also found that offering information about a pharmacy-based drug-disposal program, plus a financial incentive, made patients more likely to properly dispose of their unused medication, or at least plan to do so.
• Tanks Roll Through ‘Chunnel’ as Europe Frets About Trump, Russia, NBC News by Alexander Smith and Carlo Angerer and Keir Simmons 5 hrs ago
  1. … in the dead of night this week, Britain’s military sent five tanks down the 30-mile “Chunnel” to test whether it would be an effective route for forces if deployed to places such as Eastern Europe amid tensions between Russia and NATO.
  2. the potential need to fast-track forces to the Russian front served as a reminder of how seriously Washington’s allies in Europe perceive the threat on their doorstep.
  3. These allies have traditionally felt that Washington has their back, something thrown into doubt by Trump cozying up to Moscow and branding NATO “obsolete” earlier this week.
  4. Trump’s comments this week came after he suggested during his campaign that he might not honor NATO’s central tenet that an attack against one member state would be seen as an attack against all.
  5. “It’s certainly freaked people out,” according to Alexander Lanoszka, an expert in American foreign policy at City, University of London. He said Trump’s comments have brought European concerns about an emboldened Russia “into sharp focus.”
• White House vows to fight media ‘tooth and nail’ over Trump coverage, By Doina Chiacu and Jason Lange [Reuters] 1/22/2017
  1. The White House vowed on Sunday to fight the news media “tooth and nail” over what it sees as unfair attacks, with [Kellyanne Conway] saying the Trump administration had presented “alternative facts” to counter low inauguration crowd estimates.
• Trial Balloon for a Coup? Analyzing the news of the past 24 hours, by Yonatan Zunger
• Group will sue Trump over business’ foreign profits, By Cyra Master 2 hrs ago (The Hill) 1/22/2017 via MSN
  1. The Title of Nobility Clause [Also known as the Emoluments Clause] is a provision in Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution, that prohibits the federal government from granting titles of nobility, and restricts members of the government from receiving gifts, emoluments, offices or titles from foreign states without the consent of the United States Congress. Also known as the Emoluments Clause, it was designed to shield the republican character of the United States against so–called “corrupting foreign influences”. This shield is reinforced by the corresponding prohibition on state titles of nobility in Article I, Section 10, and more generally by the Republican Guarantee Clause in Article IV, Section^[2] ~ Title of Nobility Clause – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_of_Nobility_Clause
  2. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) announced Sunday night it is bringing a suit “to stop President Trump from violating the Constitution (the Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause ) by illegally receiving payments from foreign governments.”
  3. At issue is Trump’s refusal to divest from his business or place his assets into a blind trust, which would separate him entirely from his business empire. He has said his adult sons will run his business while he is in office, that they will not conduct any foreign deals and will subject any domestic deals to an ethics review.
  1. Section 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
  2. Section 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
  3. Section 3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
  4. Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
  5. Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.^[3]
• The Twenty-fifth Amendment (Amendment XXV) to the United States Constitution deals with succession to the Presidency and establishes procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, as well as responding to Presidential disabilities. It supersedes the ambiguous wording of Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution, which does not expressly state whether the Vice President becomes the President or Acting President if the President dies, resigns, is removed from office or is otherwise unable to discharge the powers of the presidency.^[1] The Twenty-fifth Amendment was adopted on February 10, 1967.^[2]
• Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
• Emoluments Clause of the Constitution (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia):
  1. The Ineligibility Clause, one of the two clauses often called the Emoluments Clause,^[1][2] and sometimes also referred to as the Incompatibility Clause^[3] or the Sinecure Clause,^[4] is found in Article 1, Section 6, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution. It places limitations upon the employment of members of Congress and prohibits employees of the Executive Branch from serving in Congress during their terms in office. The name “Ineligibility Clause” is only used by a minority of writers, as compared to the name “Emoluments Clause”.^[1][2][5]
  2. The clause states: “No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.”
• “Substantial evidence was presented establishing massive absentee ballot fraud, deception, intimidation, harassment and forgery.”
• The oath of office is given to the candidates who abided by the rules, and did not compromise their integrity. Inspite of all the Republican protestations, the oath of office should be given to Hillary Rodham Clinton and Tim Kaine.
• The intelligence community already has the evidence that a foreign government interfered in the election so that Trump & Pence would win. That foreign power was Russia. So long as Trump is in office, he will be beholden to Vladimir Putin. If Pence were to become President, he also would be beholden to Putin. The interference of a foreign power on behalf of one of the candidates invalidates the election, and the elected candidates are rendered unqualified to serve.
• I think Impeachment would take too long, and would not solve the problem.
• Impeachment would remove Trump, but then we get a President who believes GLBT people should be sent to some form of concentration camps to be reprogrammed.
• Some people are calling for impeachment. I believe impeachment would take too long. They first have to introduce articles of impeachment, then have hearings, then vote. If he is impeached by the House of Representatives, they then have to bring it before the Senate. The Senate would have their own hearings and then vote on whether to remove him from office. If he is removed from office, Vice President Mike Pence becomes President.
• John Ibanez, Yesterday at 2:31pm 1/29/2017
• The election must be overturned.
• John Ibanez’s post (which I have pasted below) persuaded me. His last two paragraphs locked it up. Essentially, this whole administration is tainted. They have all “bitten of the poisoned apple”, as they sometimes say in law. Therefore this administration must be pulled up by the roots of the Republic is to survive as we have known it.The solution may lie in a minor precedent called “Marks v. Stinson” ([MARKS v. STINSON | 19 F.3d 873 (1994) | Leagle.com]). The ruling states, in part: “Substantial evidence was presented establishing massive absentee ballot fraud, deception, intimidation, harassment and forgery.”
  According to the New York Times: “Judge Newcomer ordered that Mr. Stinson, a 49-year-old former assistant deputy mayor of Philadelphia, be removed from his State Senate office and that Mr. Marks, a 36-year-old lawyer and former aide to United States Senator Arlen Specter, be certified the winner within 72 hours.”I am now convinced that as farfetched as this may sound, it is in fact the only real solution to our nation’s current dilemma.
• Up until now, I’ve been arguing that the only to remotely realistic choices we have is Pres. Trump or Pres. Pence. I know longer believe that is even Constitutionally acceptable.
• I don’t like to engage in hyperbole, but I believe we are approaching a real existential, Constitutional crisis.

• LINKS:
• Latest: Inmates cite Trump, education as motive for takeover, By Associated Press By Associated Press [National] February 1 at 6:35 PM
  1. Inmates inside a Delaware prison where four staff members were being held hostage reached out to a newspaper in two phone calls to explain their concerns, including the leadership of the U.S., educational opportunities, rehabilitation and how the state spends money on prisons.
  2. In that call, an inmate said their reasons “for doing what we’re doing” included “Donald Trump. Everything that he did. All the things that he’s doing now. We know that the institution is going to change for the worse.”
  3. That caller said education for prisoners was the inmates’ priority. They also sought effective rehabilitation for all prisoners and information about how money is allocated to prisons.
  4. LATER REPORTED: “Early Thursday, the siege ended after police breached the building and rescued a female staff member who was not injured. They also found Sgt. Steven R. Floyd, a 16-year veteran of the Delaware Department of Correction, but he was unresponsive. Floyd, 47, was declared dead a short time later…”
• Claiming mandate, GOP Congress lays plans to propel sweeping conservative agenda, By David Weigel [Washington Post] January 1, 2017 at 7:46 PM
• Differences between Liberals, Conservatives, Libertarians and neo-Conservatives
  • Left–right politics, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    • History of the terms: The terms “left” and “right” appeared during the French Revolution of 1789 when members of the National Assembly divided into supporters of the king to the president’s right and supporters of the revolution to his left. One deputy, the Baron de Gauville, explained, “We began to recognize each other: those who were loyal to religion and the king took up positions to the right of the chair so as to avoid the shouts, oaths, and indecencies that enjoyed free rein in the opposing camp.” However the Right opposed the seating arrangement because they believed that deputies should support private or general interests but should not form factions or political parties. The contemporary press occasionally used the terms “left” and “right” to refer to the opposing sides.^[9]
  • Greens and Libertarians: The yin and yang of our political future, by Dan Sullivan (originally appearing in Green Revolution, Volume 49, No. 2, summer, 1992)
    • … Libertarians tend to be logical and analytical. They are confident that their principles will create an ideal society, even though they have no consensus of what that society would be like. Greens, on the other hand, tend to be more intuitive and imaginative. They have clear images of what kind of society they want, but are fuzzy about the principles on which that society would be based.
    • Ironically, Libertarians tend to be more utopian and uncompromising about their political positions, and are often unable to focus on politically winnable proposals to make the system more consistent with their overall goals. Greens on the other hand, embrace immediate proposals with ease, but are often unable to show how those proposals fit in to their ultimate goals.
    • The most difficult differences to reconcile, however, stem from baggage that members of each party have brought with them from their former political affiliations. Most Libertarians are overly hostile to government and cling to the fiction that virtually all private fortunes are legitimately earned. Most Greens are overly hostile to free enterprise and cling to the fiction that harmony and balance can be achieved through increased government intervention.
    • Amongst published researchers, there is agreement that the Left includes anarchists, communists, socialists, progressives, anti-capitalists, anti-imperialists, anti-racists, democratic socialists, greens, left-libertarians, social democrats, and social liberals.^[5][6][7]
    • Researchers have also said that the Right includes capitalists, conservatives, monarchists, nationalists, neoconservatives, neoliberals, reactionaries, imperialists, right-libertarians, social authoritarians, religious fundamentalists, and traditionalists.^[8]
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