Our Mandate in a Post-Trump World

By Martie Hevia | Blue Beach Song™

| UPDATED: 2017-March-13 |

NOTE: Hyperlinked words link to articles. | Find the facts. Get informed. Stay informed. The truth matters.

Since the election on November 8th, I have gone through various stages of grief, shock, and disappointment. Each day brings further news, revelations and allegations about our new President and the people with whom he chooses to surround himself.

Serious concerns persist about Vladimir Putin’s involvement in the 2016 election and the degree to which he helped elect Mr. Trump. At the same time, new concerns continue to emerge about Donald Trump’s conflicts of interest; his insensitive comments and inappropriate behavior; his propensity to lie; his possible mental instability or illness; his lack of knowledge and experience for the job; his illegal past acts and current lawsuits…it’s endless.

Whether we read the morning papers, watch the evening news, or engage through the day in social media or with each other, we cannot escape the incessant noise, anger, lies, and allegations.

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Alternative Facts? Fake News? Lies? Conflicts of Interest? Emoluments Clause? Logan Act? Russian Hacking? Russian Election Interference? 3-5 Million Fraudulent Votes? Muslim Ban? Deportations? Border Wall? White Nationalism? KKK? Alt-Right? Audited Taxes? Pussy-Grabbing? She Persisted? The Resistance? MI6 Russian Dossier?

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Incredulous accusations are lobbed like grenades from all sides: the media is the “enemy of the American people” or “Trump’s opposition party”; the media is “fake news” and the President spreads “fake news”; the White House peddles in “alternative facts” and Congress is beholden to lobbyists; Trump is a “pathological liar,” who may be a Russian Manchurian President, who may be mentally ill or emotionally unstable or simply “an ignorant, incompetent, impulsive narcissist in pursuit of dictatorial powers” …at the end of the day, who or what can you believe?

The drumbeat of war that our new President pounds is deafening. He seems to be at war with everyone and anyone who disagrees with him – members of the media and minority groups; the judiciary, the intelligence community, the government, and his own White House staff; personalities, politicians, protesters, and popes; business partners, contractors, clients, and customers; actors on TV shows and trolls on Twitter – no one is exempt.

The worse part is not that he sees enemies everywhere, but that his drumbeat of war hate and intolerance is resonating in others. There is an increase in hate crimes and hate speech targeting Jews, Muslims, Mexicans, and the LGBTQ community. There is an uneasy feeling around the country, a malaise. We are on guard with our families, our co-workers, our neighbors. Trump or Clinton? Clinton or Sanders? Voter or non-voter? Resistance or Trumpette? Friend or foe?

No wonder so many of us at times feel attacked by others, assaulted by lies and hate; helpless or hopeless; in disbelief or despair. We have fallen down the rabbit-hole and find ourselves in Trump-World, where right is wrong, facts are lies, foes are allies, allies are enemies, and enemies are everywhere. What can we do?

We can take that incessant drumbeat of lies and hate and make it our call to arms.

We defend our values, because they are under attack. Who we are is under attack.

We are under attack by those who dissemble and divide, who breed fear and hate, who appeal to greed and selfishness.

We are under attack by those who demean, dehumanize and demonize anyone who is different or who opposes them.

We are under attack by those who wish to build walls instead of bridges.

We are under attack by those who deny science and embrace ignorance, who bury the facts under a mountain of lies or delete scientific data from government websites.

We are under attack by those who wish to permanently destroy our public lands and environment for temporary financial gains.

We are under attack by those who would grow nuclear stockpiles rather than healthy children.

We are under attack by those who are willing to sell or sell-out our collective national soul, our constitutional legacy, our beacon of freedom, in exchange for a ruble.

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“There’s something happening here, What it is ain’t exactly clear”

–Buffalo Springfield, For What Its Worth (1966)

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We may not know what is happening right now – much like we didn’t know about Watergate and the Pentagon Papers scandals until whistleblowers contacted the press and the press investigated – but we know something is wrong and we simply cannot afford to bury our heads or wallow in despair and do nothing.

We need to get involved in big or small ways.

We need to protect our national identity as a brave and welcoming country of immigrants – no bans, no walls.

We need to protect our constitution, our inalienable rights and our free press – because, no, the press is not the enemy of the people.

We need to resist apathy for our country and antipathy for each other.

We need to educate ourselves on the issues, seek out the facts, and stay informed.

We need to defend truth from lies and right from wrong.

We need to speak truth to power and hold power accountable. A democracy demands that of its citizens.

At times, it will become necessary to protect each other from each other.

We will need to protect the vulnerable from the powerful, the victim from the bully.

We will need to call out intolerance, in all its forms – be it prejudice, bigotry, xenophobia, sexism, racism, antisemitism, and anti-Muslim hate.

We will need to fight injustice, ignorance, greed and fear, which only serve to divide us.

We will need to fight for human rights, civil rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, immigrant rights, indigenous rights – everyone‘s rights.

And we can begin this fight, this resistance, this journey, with one small step. We can begin by cultivating empathy in ourselves, so we can be a safe place for others.

We have a duty to protect our planet for posterity, but we also have a duty to create a better world for ourselves, for our children, and for our community, because the alternative is just not acceptable…it is the drumbeat of a hateful history wanting to repeat itself.

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Is this the President you want?

Is this the America you believe in?

Is this the World you want to leave for your children?

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1. Press is the Enemy: A President who tells us the Press is the enemy of the American people, but refuses to say a bad word about Vladimir Putin or denounce Russian hacking and interference in our 2016 election?
2. Soldiers Who Are Captured: A Commander-in-Chief who does not like soldiers who are captured, but sought five deferments from service?
3. Use Nuclear Weapons: A presidential candidate who asked his foreign policy adviser why the U.S. cannot use its nuclear weapons and now as President wants to increase the stockpile?
4. Obama Conspiracy Theories: A man who has accused President Obama of being a Muslim foreigner and the founder of ISIS, of orchestrating the leaks from Trump’s White House and wiretapping Trump Tower?
5. Trump Conflicts of Interest: A President who is supposed to protect our country from enemies foreign and domestic, but is impeded by his ever-mounting conflicts of interest? A President who refuses to release his taxes, or divest from his international businesses, or admit to his 30-year history with Russia, or disclose his heavy indebtedness to Russia and China?
6. Waste Taxpayer Dollars-Weekly Vacations: A President who has to go on Florida golfing weekends at Mar-a-Lago, every weekend, at a taxpayer cost of $10 Million a trip?
7. Waste Taxpayer Dollars-Protect Multiple Properties: A President who wishes to maintain his Trump Tower home, costing the taxpayer $500,000 every single day?
8. Don’t Like to Read-Intelligence Briefings: A President who does not take daily intelligence briefings by our intelligence agencies because he’s “a smart person,” preferring short and simple only-when-needed intel briefings…but gets his intelligence from Breitbart News?
9. Don’t Like to Read-Staff Reports: A President who does not want to read anything from his staff that is over one page in length, and then only with brief bullet points?
10. Don’t Read-Executive Orders: A President who signs executive orders without reading them, surprised to find he gave a permanent seat to a White Nationalist, while removing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence?
11. Watch TV & Tweet: A President who spends most of his day watching television and tweeting about it?
12. Isolationism: A President who has expressed doubts, at different points in time, about our commitments to NATO and the United Nations?
13. Terrorism: A President who calls out “Muslim” terrorism – calling for a Muslim ban, but does not denounce acts of terrorism and murder by white “Christian” men?
14. Deportations: A President who is asking local police to help in rounding up undocumented immigrants, with plans to place them in for-profit prisons, separating parents from their children?
15. Anti-Environmental Protection: A President who has signed executive orders getting rid of regulations that protect our environment, with the wish to open public lands to corporate profits in drilling, fracking, logging, and pipelines?
16. Trump Hires-Cabinet of Billionaires & Generals: A President who appointed a cabinet of Billionaires and Generals, most of whom are not qualified for the job, have conflicts of interest, and lied to Congress in their nomination hearings?
17. Trump Hires-Education: An Education Secretary who does not believe in public education?
18. Trump Hires-EPA: An EPA Secretary who has repeatedly sued the EPA?
19. Trump Hires-Energy: An Energy Secretary who thought he was accepting a job as ambassador for the oil and gas industry and once advocated abolishing the Energy Department?
20. Trump Hires-Treasury: A Treasury Secretary who was known as the foreclosure king?
21. Trump Hires-HUD: A Housing and Urban Development Secretary whose only job experience is as a brain surgeon and refers to slaves as immigrants?
22. Trump Hires-HHS: A Health and Human Services Secretary who wants to provide “access” to healthcare, but not coverage?
23. Trump Hires-Labor: A Secretary of Labor nominee who does not believe in minimum wage, but believes in eliminating labor through automation?
24. Trump Hires-State: A Secretary of State who received the ‘Russian Order of Friendship’ from his friend, Vladimir Putin?
25. Trump Hires-Economic Lobbyists: An Economic Policy Team stacked with lobbyists?
26. GOP-Party-Above-Country: Republican lawmakers who put party above country?
27. GOP-Pro-Russia: A GOP that allowed Trump to change their platform to prohibit providing aid to the Ukraine against Russian aggressions? Republican lawmakers who are now pro-Russia or view Vladimir Putin favorably?
28. GOP-Congress Partisan Investigations-Trump: A Republican Congress who refuses to investigate Trump’s tax returns or his conflicts of interest or his personal Russian connections, but eagerly and repeatedly spent years and hundreds of millions of dollars investigating the Clintons?
29. GOP-Congress Partisan Investigations-Clinton: What urgency was there in investigating a Clinton real estate deal where they lost money; or a blow job in the Oval Office; or Secretary Clinton’s emails and use of private servers, commonly used by many in government, including her predecessors; or 13 congressional hearings to investigate four American deaths in Benghazi, when the Republican congress was equally responsible for slashing funds for the security of consulates and embassies, but they never investigated President G. W. Bush’s State Department for the 60 deaths and 13 attacks on embassies and consulates in his tenure, nor did they investigate the 241 deaths at the Marine compound in Beirut under President Reagan?
30. Trump-Russia Connections: Trump has long bragged about his extensive Russian business deals and knowing Vladimir Putin, that is, until he ran for President. As candidate and as president, Trump has gone out of his way to praise Vladimir Putin and refuse to criticize him. As a candidate, Trump hired as his campaign manager, Paul Manafort, a well-known lobbyist and political consultant with Russian ties. Still, both as candidate and President, Trump insisted he had nothing to do with the Russians and no one connected to his campaign had spoken to the Russians. But everyday we discover how deep and long the Trump-Russian connection really is. He hired, before he fired, campaign surrogate Michael Flynn as his National Security Advisor – a man who met with Vladimir Putin and visited Russia numerous times, and had communications with the Russian Ambassador regarding Obama’s sanctions, which he lied about. He hired Jeff Sessions as Attorney General who lied to Congress about having conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, both at the GOP convention and in his Senate office. A Trump foreign policy advisor, J.D. Gordon, also admitted to meeting with the Russian Ambassador at the GOP convention, along with Trump national security advisers Carter Page and Walid Phares. Trump’s most trusted advisor,  his son-in-law, Jared Kushner also met secretly with the Russian Ambassador and has extensive Russian and Chinese business deals. His daughter Ivanka has her own extensive personal Russian connections. Trump, himself, is said to be the one who pushed for the Republican platform to be more Pro-Russian and prohibit aid to the Ukraine in case of Russian aggression. And, of course, let us not forget the Trump-Russian Dossier, which is proven more and more true every day, compiled by former MI6 agent, Christopher Steele – the man who compiled a FIFA Dossier the FBI used to bring down their corrupt executives – and who worked for free on the Trump-Russia dossier because he was so seriously troubled by his findings. This Trump-Russia story is not going away, it is only getting deeper and darker. This will be bigger than Watergate ever was.

Martie Hevia (c) 2017 All Rights Reserved | @BlueBeachSong

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In Germany, they came first for the Communists,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . .
And by that time there was no one left to speak up.

– Pastor Martin Niemöller, 1945

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NOTE: There have been many versions of this famous poem. And that is because Pastor Niemöller never wrote it down as a poem. The content evolved organically from speeches he gave, and sometimes changed from speech to speech. However, his preferred version, as he stated in a 1971 interview, is the one above.

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A brilliant and powerful poem about who we were as a country and who we are becoming in a Post-Trump world. A must-watch. -Martie

Lady Liberty: A Poem by Brad Geyer | BradMan (http://therealbradman.com/)