Sunday, February 23, 2025

President Trump complained about politicizing DOJ and the FBI, but he is doing it even more

The Eric Adams affair is troubling.  President Trump and Emil Bove are clearly politicizing government agencies after having complained that they were politicized in the prior administration.  7 Federal employees and 4 NYC employees have quit in protest to cancelling the charges against Eric Adams.  It is an extremely strong statement that so many people would quit and the lead Federal person, Danielle Sassoon is a conservative.  This is very problematic!

The Trump administration also seems to be vindictively pursuing US citizens who it considered to be enemies, with no evidence that those people have done anything wrong.

On the other hand, as is often the case, the left-wing media and Democrats are mischaracterizing two letters that were sent by U.S. Attorney Edward Martin.  As explained below, I'm concerned about Martin.  However, I insist upon honesty about what happened which I explain below:

Senator Schumer spoke out against Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh at a March 4, 2020 abortion rights, by saying: " I want to tell you Gorsuch.  I want to tell you Kavanaugh.  You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price."  I remember being upset that he would say that.  However, the next day, Schumer said "I should not have used the words I used yesterday….My point was that there would be political consequences…I am from Brooklyn.  We speak in strong language.  I shouldn't have used the words I did, but in no way was I making a threat."

His apology would have been better if he hadn’t included the “I am from Brooklyn.  We speak in strong language.” wording and “political consequences” doesn’t seem consistent with directly addressing Supreme Court judges and saying “you will pay the price”.  Nonetheless, he apologized and that should be the end of it.

Rep. Robert Garcia said: ““What the American public wants is for us to bring actual weapons to this bar fight.”  He has not apologized for what is clearly inappropriate wording.  Instead, he said “no reasonable person would view my comments as a threat, and that elected members of Congress have a right to denounce the Trump administration…. I will not be silenced.”  I think reasonable people would wonder about the meaning of his statement and we, of course, fear that unreasonable people, stimulated by the lies and misleading comments coming from both sides, will become violent.

Ironically, the liberal press refers to the letters from Martin as intimidation but fails to mention that the statements by Schumer and Garcia were intimidation.

Below you can find 9 sources I read about this situation.  Thousands of people have criticized Musk, but Martin sent his letter only to those who used improper inflammatory language.  If people want to criticize Martin for that, that’s fine, but it is improper to misrepresent it as an effort to silence critics of Musk.

I have serious concerns about U. S. Attorney Edward Martin. 

  1. He has advocated for the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol
  2. #1 becomes more significant in that he is accused of not pursuing threats made against federal prosecutors, FBI agents and judges by January 6 defendants to whom Trump granted clemency.
  3. Denise Cheung quit, after being pressured by Bove and Martin to issue grand jury subpoenas in investigating EPA-related contracts.  Given her objections, I feel strongly that the administration should have backed down.  It seems, from her explanation, that they did back down, instead demanding that she freeze funding pending the investigation.  Apparently, she cooperated with the FBI in sending a letter to the bank, but Martin felt it wasn’t explicit enough relative to criminal investigation.  It seems to me that an investigation is appropriate and freezing the assets pending investigation is appropriate and that Ms. Cheung did not object to those steps.  Matin and Bove seem out-of-line.  What may have happened here is that the Biden administration did not find grantees for the money, so rather than leaving it ungranted, in which case the Trump administration might be able to choose not to spend it, they granted it to Citibank to hold pending grants.

Here are some other links about the letters from Edward Martin regarding the threatening wording:

The letter sent to Robert Garcia

 Responsible reports:

Washington prosecutor probes threats against DOGE, takes aim at Schumer | Reuters

US attorney launches probes into whether Schumer, Garcia made threats to justices, Musk (MSN)

Acting U.S. attorney for D.C. opens inquiries into Democrats, alleging possible threats to DOGE, Supreme Court justices - CBS News

Poor headlines:

DOJ Sends Letter to Democratic Lawmaker Over Elon Musk Criticism - Newsweek

House Democrat says DC’s top federal prosecutor is trying to silence critics of Elon Musk - POLITICO

Irresponsible reports:

Federal prosecutor threatens California congressman for criticizing Elon Musk (MSN)

DOJ Sends Letter to Democratic Lawmaker Over Elon Musk Criticism (MSN)

House Democrat says DC’s top federal prosecutor is trying to silence critics of Elon Musk  (MSN)

Note that I’ve labeled 3 MSN reports as irresponsible, but I also found one that is responsible reporting.

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Messages to Politicians

When reviewing my communications, remember that my goal is to have an impact.  That can influence how I phrase things.  It is important to support politicians who show courage as well as criticize those who don't.

Senators' URL protocol is www.Senator'sFamilyname.senate.com.   From there, it is generally easy to send a message.

House URL protocol is https://FamilyName.house.gov/contact/

If you have supported them in the past, it is critical to include that in any critical message; otherwise, they'll brush your message off.  I have deleted such comments in my messages below. 

Sometimes they won't accept email out of their district.  In that case you can call them.  In one case, I had to lie by saying I was in their district.  Otherwise, I couldn't leave a (thankful) message.  I apologized and admitted I am not a constituent in the message I left.

2025-03-04: To Senators Moran and Marshall

Worse than Afghanistan or Munich: You are COMPLICIT

Afghanistan and Czechoslovakia could not defend themselves without foreign troops.  Afghanistan was a civil war, whereas Russia invaded Ukraine.  Munich bought time for Britain to asrm and organize to counter Hitler whereas Trump is siding with the aggressor.  Biden weakly under-supported Ukraine, setting Trump up for a victory.  He could have threatened Putin and negotiated a more favorable treaty.  Your cowardice in not opposing Trump when appropriate is a stain you’ll not only have to live with the rest of your life, it will also end up being your legacy.

2025-02-27: In response to a survey from Sharice Davids, I commented: "Very interesting.  You offer 16 priorities for Congress but do not include balancing the budget (my #1 budget priority; you do offer reducing government waste); allowing inner-city students to get a decent education (my #2 with my favorite approach being public charter schools), immigration or national security.

Miss Davids highlighted the following options in her cover message:

Cutting the Medicaid health care program.
Repealing tax cuts that lower people’s health premiums.
Gutting emergency nutrition assistance for families.

The full list was:

1.        Creating jobs and growing our economy.

2.        Addressing rising costs in our economy.

3.        Protecting Medicare and Social Security.

4.        Improving health care and lowering the cost of prescription drugs and premiums.

5.        Protecting reproductive rights.

6.        Supporting public safety and addressing crime.

7.        Protecting our democracy and the voting rights of all eligible voters.

8.        Ending partisan bickering in Congress.

9.        Preventing gun violence.

10.   Securing our borders and immigration.

11.   Supporting our kids in K-12 and higher education.

12.   Protecting our environment and tackling climate change.

13.   Investing in transportation and infrastructure.

14.   Helping local small businesses in Kansas.

15.   Eliminating government corruption and ensuring stronger ethics rules.                                           Cutting wasteful government spending.

20 2025-02-26: 

Senator Moran responded to my 2/21 message (below).  My message to him today explains how he responded to my 2/21 message:

I sent you an email expressing disappointment because you have not had the courage to rebut President Trump's recent lies about Ukraine.  Your fellow Republican senators Rounds, Kennedy, Cramer, Tillis and Thune showed such courage.  In response, you sent me an undated copy of a July 27, 2023 article you wrote with Mike Pompeo.  I was already aware of that article appropriately supportive of Ukraine.  Your response underscores that you were willing to tell the truth about Ukraine when it was politically expedient to do so but are unwilling to do so today.   It also seems unusual to send out an article with no indication of the date that it was written.  Were you hoping that I'd think it was current?  I've voted for you consistently and I've respected you.  I don't think your current cowardice and misleading response reflect your character.   I hope that you can dig deep and find the courage to represent our nation's principles.  Please don't abandon your responsibilities when we most need you to fulfill them.

2025-02-21:

I applauded the following Republican Senators: Mike Rounds (SD), Thom Tillis (NC), John Kennedy (LA), John Thune (SD), Kevin Cramer (ND) and Republican Representatives Don Bacon (NE) and Brian FitzPatrick (PA) or speaking the truth about Ukraine.  I wrote "Thanks for defending United States integrity as regards Ukraine.  FYI, I'm a 'No Labels' guy; we greatly appreciate independence and integrity."

I wrote to my senators (Marshall and Moran): Why don’t you have the integrity of Senators Mike Rounds (SD), Thom Tillis (NC), John Kennedy (LA), John Thune (SD), Kevin Cramer (ND) and Representative Don Bacon (NE) to speak the truth about Ukraine and defend the honor of the United States?


2025-02-17:  Danielle Sassoon is the US Attorney who resigned rather than end her case against Mayor Eric Adams.  I could not find a LinkedIn account for her, so I went to her Facebook page today and “liked” several entries. 

I also sent the following message to my two Republican Senators (Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall):

               Is President Trump intent on making President Biden look strong???

If President Trump ends the Russia vs. Ukraine war on terms favorable to Russia, he will damage his legacy and make President Biden look strong.

2025-02-12: To Congresswoman Sharice Davids

Oops!  I lost it, but, in response to her survey, I told her that:

1) I'd love to see Congress resolve the debt (as she seemed to be suggesting) but Congress has refused to do so.  We have few patriotic politicians as our politicians value their political career more than our nation's (or the world's) needs.

2) It is terrible that we force children to attend terrible inner-city schools.  We know that public charter schools are much better, but the teachers' unions fight them tooth-and-nail because the teachers' unions (like politicians) treat their power as a higher priority than the kids' education.

3) Although I've been an environmentalist for at least six decades, I consider nuclear war to be our most existential threat.  Our nation's strategy in that regard has been terrible, inadvertently encouraging the spread of nuclear weapons.

2025-01-25:

To Senator Jerry Moran

President Trump has pushed for some good ideas, but they MUST be done properly as separation of powers is critical to our country's success.  I noted with interest that you confirmed  Pete Hegseth's nomination.  I wasn't sure you would endorse him.  When he does well (as I hope he will), I'll point out to people that you put your political reputation on the line for him.

To Senator Roger Marshall:

President Trump has pushed for some good ideas, but they MUST be done properly as separation of powers is critical to our country's success.  

I noted with interest that you confirmed  Pete Hegseth's nomination.  When he does well (as I hope he will), I'll point out to people that you put your political reputation on the line for him.; he wouldn't have made it without your vote.  Of course, credit/blame goes both ways.