What Will It Take?

As the accusations of wrong doing continue to mount up concerning  our Commander–in-Chief, I can’t help but wonder just what it would take before his supporters take pause and consider that perhaps he is no longer worthy of their continued, unwavering support.  So far the accusations have run the gamut from adulterer, Stormy Daniels comes to mind, and sexual assaulter, victims Temple Taggart McDowell, Jessica Leeds, Kristen Anderson, Jill Harth, Cathy Heller, Karena Virginia, plus eight more; to swindler, Trump University and the phony non-profit charity, The Donald J. Trump Foundation, to cite just two examples.


In all 14 accusations of sexual assaults President Trump has chosen to put forth the defense of denial of any knowledge or contact with these individuals, which has served as an acceptable defense for his supporters.  Additionally, most just shrug off and attribute all these sexual assaults simply to “boys will be boys” and “we all make poor decisions during our life” even though some of Trump’s escapades, involving adultery, could be interpreted as counter to the teachings of the Bible; but then again, “boys will be boys.”


Sadly, his supporters also readily dismiss any accusations made against President Trump by rallying around the old and tiresome political propaganda mumbo jumbo that these accusers are all just a bunch of “anti-Trumpers and sore losers hoping to avenge their loss in the last election.”   I couldn’t care less about the last election for I voted for neither candidate, and felt all those who ran in both primaries were unqualified for the job, and that included Hillary, Bernie, and Donald.

However, a new twist has recently been added to the list of accusations against of our current president.  Lawyers representing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, have accused President Donald Trump of raping her in the 1990s and are asking for a DNA sample, seeking to determine whether his genetic material is on a dress she says she wore during the encounter.

Carroll’s lawyers served notice to a Trump attorney last Thursday for Trump to submit a sample on March 2 in Washington for “analysis and comparison against unidentified male DNA present on the dress.”

Now most males accused of rape unanimously adopt the defense that the encounter was consensual, and sadly, usually prevail.  Ironically, President Trump has chosen to use his standard defense that he has no knowledge of this individual and never met her, and of course is refusing to comply.  Actually, this is a very clever move on his part because to use the consensual defense would be admitting to adultery.  Additionally, he is quite aware of the Department of Justice’s opinion that a sitting president is immune from criminal prosecution.

However, one has to wonder why, if truly innocent, President Trump doesn’t just provide the DNA anyway which could once and for all end the accusation and support his defense that he never even met the woman.  Why let it proceed in the media and the courts which obviously will impact him financially?   I guess the legal reasoning here is just to drag it out and ultimately, quietly pay off the accuser in an out of court sealed settlement which has been Trump’s mantra in so many other cases.

Either way as this case proceeds, I assume that President Donald Trump really has nothing to worry about, for as he once stated while campaigning for office, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue (New York City) and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”

Besides, it’s like one of my friends keeps reminding me, “I didn’t vote for Trump because he was a choir boy.” So true, and the economy is doing great and our guns are safe so why should we concern ourselves about the ethical and moral character of the one that occupies the highest office in this nation?

  

But, then again, aren’t these the qualities we preach in our churches and try to instill in our children?

Let Majority Rule

The other day I was thinking about how during most of my life lots of decisions are made by majority vote.  I remember school class presidents, junior and senior prom kings/queens, school committee chairpersons, and sport team captains being elected by all the individuals associated with those entities.  Local school superintendents, school board members, city mayors,  city council members,  state governors, state officials, state representatives, federal legislators, and various state constitutional amendments are all voted on by the entire voting public.  I think you get my point.


Sadly, the majority approach doesn’t apply when we choose the highest office in our nation or when we have what I term “hot button” or major influential issues affecting our nation.  Just think of all the rhetoric, Facebook comments, and Tweets we could eliminate and instead have time spent time on actually accomplishing positive things in our daily lives.
  

If the ‘majority rule approach’ were adopted universally, we wouldn’t have Donald Trump as president, nor some presidents of the past.  And just think we could settle this impeachment issue once and for all.  The latest polls indicate that the majority of Americans favor impeachment of our esteemed leader in a survey conducted beginning Friday, one day after senators were sworn in for the trial, with 47 percent of voters in favor of Trump’s removal, and 45 percent opposed.


However, this is only a sample poll and we should settle the issue once and for all by letting everyone vote on it and instructing our legislators to simply abide by the majority’s wishes. 


Taking this approach a step further we could settle the gun control issues, pro-choice/pro-life issues, gay rights issues, transgender issues, etc.  The list goes on and on.


Obviously, if you haven’t caught on by now I am writing this with tongue in cheek, and have not completely lost my mind.   I am fully aware that my suggestion can’t be implemented.


But just consider how much wasted anguish, stress and emotional energy we could eliminate.  Think about it, what if maybe we could change some of the rules and implement some of it.

Hard Rock Building Collapse-What was City Hall's Responsibility?

I find it interesting to note that the Mayor of New Orleans has skirted the issues about the actual involvement of the city in the recent Hard Rock building disaster.  While it is difficult for the general public to get accurate information regarding the construction process of the building, it does appear that there was some city involvement with it.


Apparently some structural changes were made along the way that required approval by the appropriate department at City Hall.  It would also seem logical, that during the construction of such a massive building in the downtown historical section of the city, that city building inspectors would make random on-site inspections to insure the construction plans were being followed and up to code.


Yet, to date, the only information we have is that the actual workers in the building questioned some of its construction.


What was City Hall’s actual involvement in this ongoing construction?  Did they have any responsibility at all, or were they simply paper pushers blindly issuing permits and approving change orders?  Is this how ALL major construction is handled in downtown New Orleans?


It would seem prudent to get all the facts surrounding every entity’s involvement in this tragedy, including City Hall’s.