In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome!
Thursday, December 19, 2019
TRUMP DISRESPECTS DECEASED GOVERNMENT WATCHDOG, U.S. REP. JOHN DINGELL
The late U.S. Rep. John Dingell was a force of nature. In his spirit, I loved the eloquent, principled December 17, 2019 New York Times column by his widow, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell's explaining her vote to impeach President* DONALD JOHN TRUMP. In retaliation, did you hear the response from that twice-impeached bully, an energumen who evidently does read The New York Times, as evidenced by TRUMP's ghoulish crude statement about Reo. Debbie Dingell's late husband, John Dingell, possibly being in Hell.
What an unChristian utterance at Christmastime.
What a blowhard is your "President," Dr. Michelle Serge Pawlowski, D.Sci. Yes, you. You empower evil. We will pray for y'all.
We need more leaders like John Dingell. I miss John Dingell.
For 47 years, he was a government watchdog, a model of a good Congressman, a faithful public servant in the spirit of our Founders. He was always asking questions, demanding answers, expecting democracy. He chaired both the Energy and Commerce Committee and its Oversight and Investigations subcommittee: his hearings were legendary and exposed waste, fraud, abuse, misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance, flummery, dupery and nincompoopery from sea to shining sea. Rep. Dingell's pointed "Dingell-grams" to agencies spurred action. He will be missed. I learned a lot from watching him.
Footnote: when I was a lawyer for ethical employee whistleblowers, Rep. Dingell wrote the Department of Energy about the Varnadore v. Oak Ridge National Laboratorycase, protesting DoE paying Martin Marietta defense lawyers in a case where the Wage-Hour Division ruled putting a man in toxic office quarters was illegal retaliation under environmental whistleblower laws. It was the first time in the history of the nuclear weapons plants complex that the federal government refused to pay legal bills for one of its polluting retaliatory contractors. One letter helped transform DoE contracting.
Later, Rep. John Dingell's office referred me the case of EPA Office of Inspector General Senior Special Agent Robert E. Tyndall. More here: https://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2006/12/letter-slavins-work-saved-life-of-us.html
Here is Rep. Debbie Dingell's New York Times column:
Opinion Debbie Dingell: Why I Will Vote to Impeach Trump My decision comes after careful study of testimony, investigative reports and history.
By Debbie Dingell
Mrs. Dingell is a Democratic representative from Michigan.
Dec. 17, 2019 The New York Times
No one enters Congress hoping to impeach the president. But when duty demands it, we have no other choice. Our founders included in the Constitution a provision for impeachment, a provision to be used only in the face of the gravest threats to our democratic republic.
Deciding how to vote cannot be accurately portrayed in tweets or sound bites, so I welcome the opportunity to explain my thoughts.
Unlike many others in the Democratic Party, I was, at first, hesitant about impeachment. As one of the few who predicted that Donald Trump could win the election, I made clear that I would work with him if he would help the hard-working men and women of my district in Michigan.
I worked with his team on lowering drug prices, improving trade policies, addressing the opioid crisis and updating major conservation efforts. We made progress in some areas.
I have also opposed many of this administration’s positions, including threatening to take away protections for people living with pre-existing medical conditions, withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, instituting a travel ban affecting Muslim-majority countries and tearing families apart at the border.
These policies were wrong, but they were not impeachable offenses. Our democracy supports dissenting opinions, and I respect the office of the presidency.
Pressure began early this year for me to call for impeachment. The billionaire Tom Steyer ran advertisements in The Detroit News and The Detroit Free Press and on news websites and social media calling for impeachment. People in my district had strong opinions everywhere I went, from the grocery store and farmers markets to church and my bagel place.
At the time, my constituents were focused on the Mueller report into Russian interference in the 2016 election, which they hoped would provide a case for impeachment. But it wasn’t clear. What the report did reveal — a finding that was often overlooked in the focus on the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russians — is that Moscow is trying to divide our country.
Then, in October, came reports that Mr. Trump and his administration withheld congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine while asking for a foreign government to investigate one of his political rivals. An inspector general appointed by Mr. Trump found that there was a credible, urgent and potentially immediate threat to our national security.
No matter the party affiliation of the person occupying the White House or the party of the majority in Congress, our founders built our Constitution on a system of three equal branches of government, with very clear oversight responsibilities delegated to the Congress. The whistle-blower report required Congress to investigate the facts and follow the issue.
News outlets seem to assume that House Democrats and Republicans have been as obsessed with impeachment as they are, and that every single Democrat had her mind made up from Day 1. But the truth is that many of us on both sides have remained focused on kitchen-table issues that matter to everyone.
While the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees undertook the job of gathering the facts, House leaders and other committees worked to lower prescription drug prices, protect the environment, restore voting rights to citizens and devise trade deals that level the playing field.
A vote as serious as impeaching the president of the United States deserves thoughtful, reflective and deliberate attention. Each day, after attending my own committee hearings and markups, meetings and events with constituents, I would come home to start my own studies on the impeachment inquiry.
I read testimonies from firsthand witnesses, parsed the majority and dissenting opinions from the committees’ reports and listened to the voices on both sides. I spent weeks reading the Constitution, constitutional scholars, the Federalist Papers and papers from both the Nixon and Clinton impeachment processes.
By the end, I was convinced: The facts showed that President Trump and his administration put politics over country by asking a foreign government to investigate a political rival while withholding military aid that affects our national security.
Further evidence showed a clear obstruction of Congress. Blocking key witnesses from the administration from testifying and even intimidating sitting witnesses sets a dangerous precedent.
If we don’t address this abuse of power, we abdicate our constitutional and moral responsibility. Failing to address it would also condone these actions as acceptable for future administrations.
Did President Trump’s actions rise to the level of a threat to our democracy? Yes. Future generations and historians will judge us if we did not address these dangers. I will cast my vote to protect our Constitution, our democratic republic and the future of our country.
Here is Debbie Dingell's response to TRUMP's trumpery from The Washington Post:
After Trump suggests John Dingell is in hell, Rep. Debbie Dingell says: ‘My family’s still hurting’
It was the most profuse
President Trump attacked Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell and her late husband, Rep. John Dingell, during a Dec. 17 rally in Battle Creek, Mich. (The Washington Post)
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Less than an hour after being impeached, President Trump suggested during a campaign rally that the late Michigan congressman John Dingell might be “looking up” from hell — remarks that Dingell’s widow said “really hurt.”
“Mr. President, let’s set politics aside,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), whose husband, a World War II veteran and the longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. history, died in February at the age of 92. “My husband earned all his accolades after a lifetime of service. I’m preparing for the first holiday season without the man I love. You brought me down in a way you can never imagine and your hurtful words just made my healing much harder.”
Dingell appeared Thursday morning on CNN, and host Alisyn Camerota queued a clip of Trump’s incendiary remarks with Dingell on a split screen. Her face remained stoic through Trump mimicking her voice in a phone call he made to Dingell after her husband died.
AD
ADVERTISING
But her eyes closed tightly for a moment when Trump arrived at the line she knew was coming.
“John Dingell loved this country. He believed in bringing everybody together. He believed in our democracy. And my family’s still hurting,” she said.
But Dingell declined to escalate the war of words with Trump, telling Camerota that going “tit-for-tat” would descend to “his level.”
“I don’t want to politicize his death. It is still something that I’m really grieving over,” she said.
“We should take a lesson from this and all respect each other, period. ... Some things should be off limits,” @RepDebDingell says after President Trump implied that her late husband, Rep. John Dingell, is “looking up” from hell. https://cnn.it/2Z39z5q
Trump made the comment while complaining that the congresswoman had voted to impeach him, even though he purportedly gave John Dingell “A-plus treatment” during his memorial services. Trump insisted he did not expect anything in return for such treatment. But he nevertheless expressed disbelief that Dingell would support impeaching him after she thanked him in a February phone call. At the time, Trump had ordered flags lowered to half-staff.
AD
“So she calls me up: ‘It’s the nicest thing that’s ever happened, thank you so much,’ ” Trump said at the rally, mocking the congresswoman’s voice while recounting their call. (Dingell challenged Trump’s recollection Thursday and said he called her.) ” ’John would be so thrilled. He’s looking down.' … 'I said, ‘That’s okay. Don’t worry about it.’ ”
The crowd seemed unsure how to respond to Trump’s insult. Some groaned. Some cheered and clapped. Trump quickly added, “But let’s assume he’s looking down.”
Then he returned to Debbie Dingell, whom he also called “a real beauty,” noting he had been watching her on television during impeachment proceedings. “I look at her, and she’s so sincere, and what happens? ‘I vote to impeach Trump,’ ” he said.
Debbie Dingell’s colleagues and elected officials on both sides of the aisle widely condemned Trump for implying her husband was in hell while politicizing his death as a way to bash the congresswoman’s impeachment vote, calling the president’s words “reprehensible” and “shameful.”
AD
“What kind of a person says such things?” asked Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D).
“How dare you?” asked Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.). “I have no words for the pain you are causing my dear friend Debbie Dingell and the people of Michigan right now.”
John Dingell was a national treasure, a true patriot and a hero to many of us in Michigan. What kind of a person says such things? Is this what America has become? My heart aches for @RepDebDingell. Our country deserves better than this man. https://twitter.com/detroitnews/status/1207496725860093953 …
John Dingell served in Congress for nearly 60 years, from 1955 — when he replaced his father — to 2015, when he retired, and when Debbie Dingell succeeded him. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), called him a “great American who made a profound impact on our nation,” while Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) called him “my good friend and a great Michigan legend.”
“I’ve always looked up to John Dingell,” Upton wrote on Twitter. ” … There was no need to ‘dis’ him in a crass political way. Most unfortunate and an apology is due”
John Dingell was a great American who made a profound impact on our nation.
Debbie, the love & devotion you shared is an example to us all. While this President seeks to divide and hurt, let us lift up that love & remember the wonderful legacy of such a good & decent man.
Trump’s remarks on Wednesday echo his unrelenting attacks against the late Arizona senator John McCain even after his death, which have drawn criticism from Republicans. In the same way Trump attacked Dingell for voting to impeach him despite “A-plus treatment” for her deceased husband, he went after McCain’s loved ones for not sufficiently thanking him for McCain’s funeral.
AD
“I gave him the kind of funeral he wanted, which as president I had to approve,” Trump inaccurately said in March, apparently referring to authorizing the military transport of his body. “I don’t care about this. I didn’t get a thank-you — that’s okay. We sent him on the way.” He then added that he never liked McCain and “probably never will.”
Trump’s comments targeting the Dingells appeared to particularly resonate with McCain’s widow, Cindy McCain.
She told Debbie Dingell on Twitter, “I’m terribly sorry. Please know that I am thinking of you.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Wednesday. Trump was impeached on abuse of power by a vote of 230 to 197 about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday evening, while the campaign rally was underway. He was impeached on charges of obstruction of Congress by a vote of 229 to 198.
AD
John Dingell’s death in February, following complications from prostate cancer, drew an outpouring of love and condolences from members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. On Feb. 8, the day after he died, Trump issued a presidential proclamation lowering the flags to half-staff for one day “as a mark of respect for the memory and longstanding service” of the congressman. A military plane also flew members of Congress from Washington to Dearborn, Mich., for Dingell’s funeral but could not land due to severe weather, so Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) led the group in an in-flight memorial service.
But on Wednesday night, Trump appeared to take credit for the memorial, saying, “I gave everything,” while referencing the Capitol Rotunda, where some deceased politicians have lain in state, such as McCain.
Dingell rejected Trump’s version of events on CNN and said no such requests or arrangements were made.
AD
“John Dingell wasn’t in the Rotunda,” she said. “I didn’t want anything that was out of the ordinary or something where somebody would do something special.”
The World War II veteran was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, she noted, as a benefit of his service.
“The only person she spoke to while making arrangements was Speaker Pelosi,” Maggie Rousseau, a spokeswoman for Dingell, told The Washington Post. “And [Trump] called her after everything had been arranged.”
On Wednesday night, as news of Trump’s insult spread across the Internet, some unearthed tweets from John Dingell that disapproved of Trump’s behavior.
“We’ve had presidents of almost every stripe, but this one will be remembered as the smallest and most vile,” the former congressman wrote on Christmas Eve last year. “A petty man with no interest in a greater good for us. All I want for Christmas is January 20th, 2021.”
AD
Trump has previously used John Dingell’s funeral to attack Debbie Dingell for supporting impeachment. On Dec. 14, the congresswoman made media appearances on Fox News and MSNBC to discuss why she “leaning” toward voting yes on impeachment, citing the White Houses’s attempts to “block key witnesses from testifying” and an inspector general’s concern that the president had undermined national security. That evening, Trump sent out a Twitter missive.
“The last time I spoke to Debbie Dingell was her call thanking me for granting top memorial and funeral service honors for her then just departed husband, long time Congressman John Dingell. Now I watch her ripping me as part of the Democrats Impeachment Hoax. Really pathetic!” he wrote.
The congresswoman appeared to take that outburst in stride, writing back to the president that she would always work with him “when he wants to help hard-working men and women,” but that she would also hold his administration accountable. “We can walk and chew gum at the same time,” she said.
AD
Wednesday’s attack, however, exposed her grief in a public way, prompting Dingell to plead for a social course correction.
“We need more civility in this country. Some things should be off limits,” she said. “And you know what, we’re all human beings.”
No comments:
Post a Comment