9 April—Yesterday, Donald Trump’s inept warlord Pete Hegseth declared “historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield, a capital V military victory by any measure,” in the peacefully obliterative non-war with Iran. But it’s clear that as things (still) stand, despite all the gratuitous and utterly senseless devastation the country has suffered (not that it’s an innocent victim, mind you), Iran is the clear victor in many if not most ways. And peace-loving Trump continues to rattle his dull-edged gilded saber at Iran for allegedly not living up to its part in the fake two-week ceasefire that was evidently negotiated by incompetents on both sides.
And international laws, treaties, conventions, pacts, covenants, protocols, and other feeble attempts to attain and/or maintain world peace continue to be ignored, abused, and violated. By everybody. With impunity.
So let’s take a break from lamenting international hostility and futility and lament the domestic futility of Connecticut First District Congressman John Larson’s purely symbolic articles of impeachment against Donald Trump and his concurrent request to Trump’s vice president toady to get to work on invoking the 25th Amendment to dump the orange menace because he’s clearly incapable of performing his presidential duties. Among other things. If only . . .
The resolution and letter are over 3,000 words between them, but they’re both well written and well worth reading. Not that Larson has anything to worry about in the Democrat primary or the general election, but both documents are sure to impress the literate voters in his district. Note that ultra-liberal consumer-interest lawyer Ralph Nader and conservative constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein (who had considered impeaching Barack Obama, inter alia) wrote the resolution.
H. RES. 1155
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 6, 2026
Mr. Larson of Connecticut submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
RESOLUTION
Impeaching Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.
- Whereas the following Articles of Impeachment were drafted by consumer advocate, lawyer, and author Ralph Nader, in collaboration with constitutional scholar and lawyer Bruce Fein.
- Whereas this Resolution is an important record to engage in conversation about our Constitution and the state of our government.
- Whereas it is not in order under the House Rules and Manual § 370 to reference wrongdoing by the President on the House Floor: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the Senate:
Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of the United States of America in the name of itself and of the people of the United States of America, against Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America, in maintenance and support of its impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors in violation of his constitutional oath of office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.
ARTICLE I: WAR POWER-MURDER-PIRACY
In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in violation of his constitutional duty to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has usurped the congressional war power enshrined in article I, section 8, clause 11 of the Constitution by, among other things—
(1) initiating war and murdering scores of putative but unproved drug traffickers in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific;
(2) committing war crimes in violation of the War Crimes Act of 1996;
(4) committing piracy on the high seas and coastal waters by theft of Venezuelan oil.
Mr. Trump has unconstitutionally initiated war as a belligerent or co-belligerent against Iran, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Nigeria, and Gaza. He has threatened military force against Panama, Colombia, Cuba, and Greenland. In all of these endeavors, President Trump has acted without constitutionally required congressional authorization.
In so acting, President Trump has articulated no limiting principle that would prevent him from declaring anyone (including United States citizens) or any country or non-state actor an enemy of the United States and killing or destroying them by military force. His criminal lawlessness has invited blowback against the United States and its citizens risking 9/11 2.0. President Trump proclaimed on March 5, 2025, that, “We are just getting started”, in replacing the Constitution with presidential tyranny.
Through his serial usurpation of the congressional war power and commission of murder, war crimes, and piracy, Donald J. Trump has acted contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of law, liberty, and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore, by such conduct, Donald J. Trump warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
ARTICLE II: MILITARIZATION OF DOMESTIC LAW ENFORCEMENT
In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in violation of his constitutional duty to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has illegally declared national emergencies and summoned the National Guard in Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, Washington, DC, and elsewhere, falsely claiming under section 12406 of title 10, United States Code, that regular forces are unable to execute the laws of the United States. President Trump’s militarization of domestic law enforcement is calculated to cow and intimidate citizens of the United States from peaceful protest against the rampant illegalities and cruel polices of the Trump administration fully protected by the First Amendment.
Through these actions, Donald J. Trump has acted contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of law, liberty, and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore, by such conduct, Donald J. Trump warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
ARTICLE III: SERIAL UNCONSTITUTIONAL DETENTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS
In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in violation of his constitutional duty to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has illegally detained, deported or attempted to deport citizens or immigrants based significantly on race or ethnicity or political opposition to Mr. Trump protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. These rampant illegalities have terrified immigrant communities, citizens, and green card holders in the hundreds of thousands or millions, including Haitians, Somalians, and Venezuelans legally in the United States. Mr. Trump has resorted to vile epithets like “garbage” to dehumanize and encourage hatred or violence against them. Among other things, President Trump has deported individuals to a cruel dungeon in El Salvador featuring torture in violation of constitutional due process and court orders. He illegally invoked the Alien Enemies Act to flout due process on the patently false predicate that Venezuela has initiated war against the United States, as the United States Supreme Court held in A.A.R.P. v. Trump, 605 U.S.___ (May 16, 2025).
Wherefore, by such conduct, Donald J. Trump warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
ARTICLE IV: RETALIATION AGAINST CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED SPEECH OR ASSOCIATION
In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in violation of his constitutional duty to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has suppressed or retaliated against constitutionally protected speech opposed to Mr. Trump’s policies.
On January 20, 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive order entitled “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship” as an Orwellian pretext for suppressing free speech or association Mr. Trump hates or dislikes. President Trump has fired or demoted Federal Bureau of Investigation agents or Department of Justice lawyers who worked on the January 6 insurrection investigation or other Federal criminal investigations or prosecutions of Mr. Trump because of putative political opinions or lack of loyalty to him unrelated to job qualifications or performance.
On January 20, 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive order “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K–12 Schooling” in order to propagandize students into believing Americans are God’s new chosen people.
The illegal Executive order is a dagger at the inculcation of critical thinking, indispensable to an enlightened citizenry capable of self-government. The Supreme Court underscored in Sweezy v. New Hampshire, 354 U.S. 234 (1957): “To impose any strait jacket upon the intellectual leaders in our colleges and universities would imperil the future of our Nation…Particularly is that true in the social sciences, where few, if any, principles are accepted as absolutes. Scholarship cannot flourish in an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust. Teachers and students must always remain free to inquire, to study and to evaluate, to gain new maturity and understanding; otherwise, our civilization will stagnate and die”.
Wherefore, by such conduct, Donald J. Trump warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
ARTICLE V: ABUSE OF THE PARDON POWER—SABOTAGING THE RULE OF LAW
In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in violation of his constitutional duty to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, issued pardons or commutations on January 20, 2025, “Granting Pardons and Commutations of Sentences for Certain Offenses Relating to Events at or Near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021”, to more than 1,500 insurrectionists aiming by force and violence, to overturn the Presidential election of 2020, including aiming to hang Vice President Mike Pence. The crimes committed before and after January 6, 2021, by individuals who received pardons included child sexual assault, production of child pornography, rape, conspiracy to murder Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, kidnapping, and domestic violence by strangulation.
There is a credible risk that President Donald J. Trump will order either officers of the United States or private parties to commit crimes, including assassinations, that will benefit Mr. Trump politically or personally and promise to pardon them in advance of their homicides. On or about April 12, 2019, the New York Times reported that President Trump personally instructed the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Kevin McAleenan, to block asylum seekers, pledging that if McAleenan faced jail time, Mr. Trump would pardon him.
President Donald J. Trump has further abused the pardon power by pardoning scores of campaign donors or political supporters who were convicted of financial fraud or drug trafficking on an unprecedented scale indistinguishable from bribery. Among others, President Trump pardoned the former President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, serving 45 years in prison for smuggling 400 tons of cocaine into the United States, eager, in his words, to “shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos”.
Wherefore, by such conduct, Donald J. Trump warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
ARTICLE VI: ILLEGALLY CRIPPLING OR DEFUNDING PROGRAMS TO PROTECT CONSUMERS, THE NEEDY, WORKERS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT
In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in violation of his constitutional duty to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has systematically crippled or dismantled agencies or programs to protect consumers, the needy, workers, and the environment irreparably impairing the health, safety, welfare, and livelihoods of tens of millions of Americans. Among other things, President Trump has indiscriminately fired Federal employees and withheld Federal funds contrary to Federal statues such as the Impoundment Control Act or the Administrative Procedure Act.
Wherefore, by such conduct, Donald J. Trump warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
ARTICLE VII: USURPATION OF THE CONGRESSIONAL POWER OF THE PURSE
In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in violation of his constitutional duty to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has refused to spend funds appropriated by Congress, has expended funds not appropriated by Congress, has diverted funds specifically earmarked for one purpose to advance a contrary purpose, and has used private funds for a Government purpose, for example, a White House ballroom, unlawfully to circumvent the congressional power of the purpose enshrined in article I, section 9, clause 7 of the Constitution, the Impoundment Control Act, and the Anti-Deficiency Act, among other things.
On January 24, 2025, President Trump froze spending on grants or loans in violation of the recission or deferral provisions of the Impoundment Control Act and the congressional power of the purse.
President Trump has also further diverted at least $500,000,000 from the sale of Venezuelan oil not appropriated by Congress to a Qatari bank to expend for United States operations in Venezuela.
Wherefore, by such conduct, Donald J. Trump warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
ARTICLE VIII: CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS—SECRET GOVERNMENT
In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in violation of his constitutional duty to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has resisted congressional oversight by refusing to disclose information or provide testimony necessary to deter lawlessness and mismanagement or to decide whether new laws should be enacted or amended or old laws should be repealed. The tip of the iceberg is Mr. Trump’s refusal to share with Congress a video showing the murder of two civilians who survived an initial strike against alleged drug traffickers off the coast of Venezuela and countless Epstein File documents wrongly classified to conceal wrongdoing or prevent political embarrassment.
Wherefore, by such conduct, Donald J. Trump warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
ARTICLE IX: PERVERTING LAW ENFORCEMENT TO PERSECUTE POLITICAL OPPONENTS AND BENEFIT FRIENDS
In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in violation of his constitutional duty to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has stripped lawyers or law firms of security clearances and initiated legally frivolous, retaliatory investigations or prosecutions of political opponents or critics to punish dissent. The targets of Mr. Trump’s political investigations or prosecutions include former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Lettica James, United States Senator Adam Schiff (D–CA), Federal Reserve Board of Governors Lisa Cook and Chairman Jerome Powell, and former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan. Mr. Trump has conversely perverted law enforcement to benefit his political friends, for example, ordering dismissal of the indictment of former New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Wherefore, by such conduct, Donald J. Trump warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
ARTICLE X: SUSPENDING OR DISPENSING WITH LAWS
In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in violation of his constitutional duty to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and to take care that the laws be executed.
On January 24, 2025, President Trump illegally discharged at least 17 Inspectors General under the Inspectors General Act of 1978, by refusing to provide Congress 30-days notice and a substantive reason for the firings.
Mr. Trump has eschewed any limiting principle that would prevent the President from refusing to enforce any law enacted by Congress thereby making its legislative power a dead letter and rendering the entire United States Code advisory only.
Wherefore, by such conduct, Donald J. Trump warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
ARTICLE XI: FLOUTING SECTION 1 OF THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT
In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in violation of his constitutional duty to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, issued a flagrantly unconstitutional Executive order on January 20, 2025, entitled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship”, contrary to section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution and the United States Supreme Court decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898) stripping a certain category of children born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof of their birthright citizenships.
Wherefore, by such conduct, Donald J. Trump warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
ARTICLE XII: SPECIOUS NATIONAL EMERGENCY—FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION DECLARATIONS
In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in violation of his constitutional duty to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, on January 20, 2025, issued an Executive order entitled “Declaring a National Energy Emergency” for the specific, illicit purpose of evading Federal laws governing the production, transmission, or export of energy. There is no credible evidence that the United States confronts a national energy emergency.
On January 20, 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued a Proclamation entitled “Declaring a National Emergency at the Southern Border of the United States”, absurdly characterizing unauthorized immigration of defenseless, unarmed men, women, and children through our border with Mexico as a military “invasion” under article IV, section 4 of the Constitution for the illicit purpose of evading immigration laws governing asylum or otherwise including indefinitely suspending physical entry by any alien all of whom are unrebuttably presumed to be “invaders”, subject to a military response including extrajudicial killings.
On January 20, 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive order entitled “Designating Cartels and Other Organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists” as a pretext to initiating an unconstitutional war against Venezuela and murdering suspected drug traffickers. The drug cartels do not plausibly meet the statutory definition of a foreign terrorist organization in section 212(a)(3)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)). President Donald J. Trump has further listed the Venezuelan Government as a foreign terrorist organization.
Wherefore, by such conduct, Donald J. Trump warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
ARTICLE XIII: DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN EMOLUMENTS CLAUSES
In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in violation of his constitutional duty to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has refused to divest himself of any direct or indirect financial interest in a wide array of business ventures intended to exploit his position as President to offer or withhold political favors to encourage patronage of these ventures by Americans or foreigners doing business with the United States to enrich himself or his family contrary to the prohibitions of the Constitution’s domestic and foreign emoluments clauses, article I, section 1, clause 5, and article I, section 9, clause 8. In so doing, President Trump has cast doubt on his loyalty to the United States and the rule of law.
Donald J. Trump has acted contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of law, liberty, and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore, by such conduct, Donald J. Trump warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
* * * * * * *
Dear Mr. Vice President,
President Trump’s statement threatening the Iranian people, where he said, “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” is reprehensible and should alarm every single American.
This statement is beyond appalling. It is heinous. Threatening the total destruction of an entire civilization is antithetical to American values. If we compromise our moral standing, we risk our leadership in the world and our national security as a result. This threat alienates our allies. It puts the lives of our brave service members at increased risk. It endangers Americans at home and abroad.
President Trump has made it clear that he views the Constitution as a suggestion, but all elected officials and Cabinet members must remember their sworn oath. The President is not above the law and must not be treated as such. This chaos must end.
It has become obvious he is incapable of executing the responsibilities and duties of the Office of President of the United States. A President who threatens the death of an entire civilization has demonstrated such a concerning degree of nihilistic egomania that he can no longer be entrusted with leading our great nation and putting the safety of the American people and our troops first. Therefore, I urge you to take immediate action to rein in the President and invoke the 25th Amendment. We must act now. History is watching.
[A consummation devoutly to be wish’d . . .]
8 April—On this day in 217 CE (formerly AD), Roman emperor Caracalla was assassinated by one of his personal bodyguards, a member of the Praetorian Guard (like the U.S. Secret Service). His legacy is the humongous—over 60-acre—eponymous public bath complex in Rome intended to ingratiate him with the great (literally) unwashed, which he named the Antonine Baths after his family name. (Born Lucius Septimius Bassanius, he adopted the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus for political reasons but was commonly known as Caracalla because he liked to wear a hoodie, known as a caracallus.)
While Caracalla is famous for his ablutionary boondoggle, he was actually a terrible head of state, a ruthless, selfish, erratic, cruel, self-dealing tyrant who abused his authority and didn’t really care about the well-being of Rome or Romans.
Remind you of anyone? Let it just be said that Caracalla is far from the only tyrant to have been offed by his most trusted bodyguards.
Moving on, then, Donald Trump’s wicked flunky warlord Pete Hegseth must have cried himself to sleep last night after announcing the two-week ceasefire with Iran, which, for all it’s worth, wasn’t unexpected. Brinksmanship is de rigueur these days, after all. As Hegseth crowed, “President Trump had the power to cripple Iran’s entire economy in minutes. But he choose—he chose—mercy because Iran accepted the ceasefire under overwhelming pressure.”
For a Princeton and Harvard man, Hegseth is a real idiot. Trump chose mercy because Iran accepted the ceasefire under overwhelming pressure? Without going too deeply into it, did overwhelming pressure give Iran much of a choice? And wasn’t what Hegseth calls mercy the whole point of the deal? And evidently economy is all that matters.
In all events, to celebrate the great ephemeral event, here are some pictures of the wanton destruction, devastation, and despoliation in Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Ukraine, and the United States, all unnecessary, lots attributable to Donald Trump and his enthusiastic warlord. Guess which is where and forgive the lousy resolution. But it doesn’t matter:
7 April—When in his first reign of terror Donald Trump appointed a group of sycophantic toadies to his cabinet, their comments to the press were were without exception full of mawkish gratitude and saccharine praise for Trump, reminiscent of prayers and supplications to gods and tyrants. Servile flattery was also evident at yesterday’s White House Iran press farce.
For instance, John Ratcliffe, Trump’s totally unqualified and incompetent—but unquestionably loyal—CIA director, whose agency has been seriously screwing up since losing 1,000 people (voluntarily or otherwise) in Trump’s second reign of terror who knew what they were doing, addressed his lord and master with a brown-nosed straight face, probably holding back tears: “Mr. President, I’ve had the privilege of seeing you act with political courage in the best interests of the United States.”
Yeah, right.
And of course Trump’s unqualified and incompetent—but unquestionably loyal— warlord Pete Hegseth had to remind the world, “None of this would have been possible without the courageous leadership and ironclad determination of President Donald J. Trump.” Trump’s most belligerent and bellicose ass-kisser also emphasized that his lord and master “doesn’t bluff and he does not back down.”
Full disclosure, in contrast to Hegseth’s feculent panegyric, Trump is known on Wall Street by the acronymic sobriquet TACO—for Trump Always Chickens Out. Presumably that alludes to Trump’s tariff impositions and reversals, often described as “the taco trade.” But if the shoe fits . . .
Trump appeared to be nodding off during Hegseth’s monologue. But who can blame him?
So at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, held yesterday on what’s left of the South Lawn before the press conference, Trump riposted a reporter’s question: “You know what’s a war crime—allowing a sick country with demented leadership to have a nuclear weapon.” He added that previous presidents have said it off the record, but “I have the courage to say it.” Courage or total lack of tact and common sense?
What a guy. And it didn’t even occur to Trump that he had just defined the United States as a war crime, a sick country with demented leadership and nuclear weapons.
And his promise to bomb things like power stations violates the Geneva Convention against targeting civilian infrastructure necessary for a population’s survival.
But that’s not all. Because Trump even boasted that the United States is—or at least will be—guilty of genocide. Without saying it, to be sure. The United Nations Genocide Convention defines genocide as “specific acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.”
And Trump, the President of Peace, this morning posted on his website: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” To his credit, if you can believe him, or assuming he even knows what he’s talking about, he insisted, “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?”
Who knows indeed. And what about beautiful? Can something revolutionarily wonderful happen? Like maybe in the United States? In all events, don’t be surprised if tonight we find ourselves dangerously closer to World War III because of Donald Trump, the demented leader of a sick country with nuclear weapons . . .
6 April—It was on this day in 1917 that President Woodrow Wilson signed the declaration of war against Germany after it had been approved by both houses of Congress, thus legally—as well as with just cause, of course—entering what was at the time generally known as the Great War and the World War. Although some pessimists, realists, and clairvoyants called it World War I or the First World War at the time, the numerical designation didn’t come into common use until the outbreak of World War II or the Second World War in 1939. Why would it have?
Yesterday, as if the unhinged tyrannical ignoramus Donald Trump has ever had the slightest inkling of or interest in anything that happened in 1917, he brought us still closer to World War III or the Third World War with his latest revulsive vituperation on his execrable antisocial medium that once again threatened to devastate Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including electric generating stations and oil wells, if the mullahs didn’t—don’t—give him his way and open the Strait of Hormuz: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”
A crazy bastard calling crazy bastards crazy bastards. And using dirty words. That’s precisely why his MAGA morons worship Trump.
In all events, that’s what the self-proclaimed President of Peace promised or threatened, the narcissist who boasted, “The only thing that can stop me is my own morality, my own mind,” the first which he never had, the second which he clearly lost. You wonder if the demented dictator is even aware of the horrendous war crimes he’d be ordering American armed forces to commit and that as commander in chief the buck stops with him, exposing him to a possible death penalty under both United States and international law. Come to think of it, he’s already committed horrendous war crimes.
Article II of the Constitution deals with impeachment of federal officers, including the president. Impeachment by Congress for high crimes and misdemeanors against the state is a political process rather than a criminal trial—even if a federal officer is in fact guilty of crimes. Donald Trump is undeniably guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors against the state, the people, and the world. He should therefore be impeached a third time—and this time convicted and thus removed from office. (And then tried in criminal court and convicted of those crimes. Along with all the others he’s clearly guilty of.)
There’s also the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which authorizes the vice president and a majority of the cabinet—or such other body that may be designated by Congress—to declare a president incapacitated and unable to govern, thus making the vice president the acting president.
So even given the virtual impunity injudiciously bestowed on presidents by the current majority on the Supreme Court, a sitting cabinet comprising demonstrably incompetent flunkies who profess complete and utter loyalty and obeisance to Trump only for their own advantage, and Trumpublican majorities in both houses of Congress scared to rub the tyrant the wrong way for their own political survival, isn’t it time for Donald Trump to be removed before he does any more damage to America and the world?
And not just from the presidency . . .
5 April—The Monitor doesn’t normally indulge in sports talk, but when Geno did a Hurley the other night after his UConn girls unexpectedly came up short against South Carolina, at least he was mensch enough to apologize for what he termed his “uncalled for” behavior and praised the winning team. We should hope so.
Moving on to less momentous stuff, then, yesterday was the 77th anniversary of the signing of the Washington Treaty, also known as the North Atlantic Treaty, which created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization—commonly acronymized as NATO—a security alliance of 12 North American and European countries that has grown to 32. The current NATO roster includes three former Soviet republics—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania (which seem always to be mentioned as an indivisible trio)—as well as some former Warsaw Pact countries—Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.
Membership in NATO requires unanimous consent—approval of all existing member nations, which must by the treaty be formally democratic and not actively invading neighbors, even non-members. The good neighbor part isn’t too much to ask, but it’s kept some wannabes—formally known as “aspirant countries”—out. In the early 2000s, for instance, not long after Vladimir Putrid came to dictatorial power, Russia allegedly considered membership but failed the two-pronged test, inter alia. Allegedly. But can’t you see Putrid doing it?
Ukraine notably and shamefully hasn’t been allowed to join NATO because the current members are afraid—not just reluctant—to rub Vladimir Putrid the wrong way. And Donald Trump, who has it in for Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, doesn’t help Ukraine’s case. Or America’s case, for that matter, since he wants to destroy NATO in his pursuit of world domination.
On the other hand, Switzerland (officially the Swiss Confederation), Austria (officially the Republic of Austria), Malta (officially the Republic of Malta), and the Republic of Ireland (officially Ireland) have chosen not to belong to NATO citing their neutrality, such as it may have been and may be. Or not.
And it’s certainly good that the airman who was shot down a couple of days ago over what Donald Trump insisted the other night was a “beaten and completely decimated Iran” was able to avoid capture and was rescued today. But what was a bird colonel doing flying a combat mission as a weapons system officer in the back seat of an F-15E?
4 April—One of the more memorable plot lines on The Big Bang Theory many years ago involved Howard’s imperfect design of a toilet for the International Space Station, which necessitated his taking a trip to fix it and thus becoming an Astronaut. A toilet? Not just a toilet, mind you, a space toilet intended for use in what’s called zero gravity, thus imposing a number of necessities, as it were, not incumbent on earthbound sanitary fixtures.
(Older readers may remember when the very word “toilet” was not used in polite society. In fact, I remember watching Follow That Man in the early 1950s at my grandparents’ place as my father’s mother prepared the Passover seder, wherein private detective Mike Barnett [played by Ralph Bellamy] referred to “a certain piece of bathroom furniture.” I can’t remember anything about the seder, of course. And in those days “pregnant” also was verboten.)
It’s likely The Big Bang Theory’s writers came up with the idea of a toilet for its comedy/snicker value. But funny as the subject of Howard’s toilet may have seemed, imagine being toiletless. Okay, you chuckle, there’s always an old-fashioned privy. And in a real emergency the squat—the anatomically preferable position for people as well as so-called lower animals, as it happens—never fails.
But when there’s no effective gravity, only micro-gravity—because gravity extends everywhere in the universe, however weak it may be at any distance from a gravitating body—to direct the flow of bodily waste, you want to separate that waste from your body for any number of hygienic and other reasons.
That’s why NASA has spent some $30 million taxpayer dollars on what it calls the Universal Waste Management System (UWMS) and touts as “a leap forward in deep space toilet technology.” The UWMS is the certain piece of bathroom furniture on the Orion spacecraft, currently in transit to circle around the moon as the Artemis II flight. In a first for a spaceship, Orion’s UWMS is mounted in its own private cubicle. Is that privy progress or is that privy progress?
A problem with the UWMS was deftly repaired by Astronaut Christina Koch, with DIY instruction from a plumber at Ground Control. Howard didn’t have to be sent up to fix it.
Incidentally, on the Artemis II mission, urine is being vented out of Orion every day and solid waste is being stored in a collection receptacle to be disposed of on return to Earth. Can’t you see Trump confiscating the space turds and giving them to his evil spawn by executive order, having them gold-plated, then signing them and selling them as collectibles?
3 April—Wednesday night, as my hot-pepper-cheddar-cheese-impregnated leavened Passover matzo was baking, I switched on the TV to watch “Your Brain: Perception Deception” on PBS. But life being full of disappointments, instead of Heather Berlin, what do I see? Goddamn Donald Trump. What a sick April fool joke!
It seems that Trump’s dilatory blather about his blatantly illegal (but nevertheless heroic, of course) non-war, strictly peaceful annihilation of Iran had preempted the regular programming, even on the network he and his evil flunkies went to illegal extremes to kill. So, since Hope and Glory had pinned me to the electric chair, I resigned myself to watching Trump excrete lie after lie while glorifying himself and actually saying nothing. In other words, same old same old.
I was able to take that crap for only a few minutes, however, so I encouraged Hope and Glory to get the hell off me and, although impeded at every step by the attention-craving little bitches, adjourned to the kitchen to see how my yeasted Passover matzo was rising.
For some reason, in the kitchen I started thinking about Herman Melville’s novel “Moby Dick; or, The Whale.” At first I couldn’t figure why, but then the epiphany: Of course, watching Donald Trump naturally brought Moby Dick to mind, “moby” meaning huge and “dick” being obvious.
But my senescently active or actively senescent mind didn’t stop there. Rather, it took me back to a homophonic riddle I’d first heard probably in Hebrew high school (which I attended under duress) some seven decades ago. Homophones are words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings, like “fore” and “four.” The riddle, then: “How do you circumcise a whale? You send down four skin divers, of course.”
Ha ha, you’re thinking, that’s punny but ridiculous because whales don’t have foreskins or even four skins. But they do. And whales, like humans, don’t have to be Jewish to be circumcised. And Herman Melville knew it. About whales, anyway.
Right around the middle of “Moby Dick,” you probably don’t recall, one of the Pequod’s crew, having removed the foreskin from a sperm whale’s penis (i.e., having circumcised the poor gent(i)le cetacean), dried and stretched it and wore it as a waterproof “cassock” while stripping blubber and who knows what else. Presumably that’s what really was done on whaling vessels.
Coincidentally, a sperm whale’s penis is about Donald Trump’s size, six feet give or take. But narcissistic Trump would doubtless prefer comparison with a blue whale’s penis, because blue whale penises can reach ten feet in length and are the biggest ones known.
Before leaving foreskins, then, you may wonder what’s done with human prepuces once they’re separated from their nourishing (usually) neonatal fathers. Well, some are put to various medical uses including but not limited to research; some are tossed as biological waste; and the least useful foreskins are planted in manure (usually bovine), in which they thrive and grow into politicians. And of course the absolutely most disgusting prepuces are known to have grown into the abominable Donald Trump and his despicable lackeys.
P.S.: You may recall that on April Fool’s Day in 1996, Taco Bell advertised in the national press that it had bought the Liberty Bell from the federal government to help reduce the national debt and would rename it the Taco Liberty Bell. Of course it was a hoax back then. And, for the record, it would require an act of Congress. But couldn’t you see Donald Trump selling the Liberty Bell and other valuable national artifacts and monuments by illegal executive order? After all, when has the law ever stopped Trump from doing whatever strikes his corrupt fancy?
2 April—Instead of a disquisition today, here’s the link to the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s latest idea to ameliorate the not infrequently screwed up traffic in inner-city Litchfield, a.k.a. the Borough, as presented at the Litchfield Intermediate School Tuesday night. Surprisingly (for ConnDOT), although the slick PDF presentation is excessively informative, the “Preferred Concept” solution isn’t at all bad.
ConnDOT reckons construction wouldn’t begin until 2029 or 2030 at the earliest and would cost $6.1 million in state and federal money. So count on construction beginning in 2032 or 2033 at the earliest and costing at least $10 million in state taxpayer funding with perhaps some federal bucks thrown in.
ConnDOT is taking comments until 17 April, as stated in the very last line of the PDF—or 14 April, the two-week public comment period, as stated on the web page the QR code alongside the 17 April date takes you to. So should you believe ConnDOT or ConnDOT?
Even if you don’t live in, pay property taxes to, or give a damn about inner-city Litchfield, you may enjoy the read:
1 April—Before going off this morning to bully the Supreme Court into dumping birthright citizenship, Donald Trump crowed that Iran had asked the United States for a ceasefire: “Iran’s New Regime President, much less Radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors, has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE! We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!”
Is that President of Peace Trump’s idea of an April fool? Or is he merely being his normal mendacious and/or delusional self, and/or is he once again betraying his intransigent ignorance? First, there’s no such animal as a new Iranian regime. It’s just the same old regime with a new dictator.
The nasty old dictator, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, may have been assassinated by the Israelis, but his son, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Kamenei, has been appointed to carry on the old man’s autocratic regime. Of course, Mojtaba, known to have been seriously wounded in the raid that killed his father, mother, sister, wife, son, and brother-in-law, hasn’t been seen since his appointment—even on video. So is he indeed alive?
In all events, new Supreme Leader Mojtaba, regarded as “his father on steroids,” is known to be even more radical, more hard-line than the old man. And, like Trump, he’s vindictive, even vengeful. If he’s not dead, in fact, we can see him becoming Trump’s new BFF or even replacing Korea’s Kim Jong Un as Trump’s lover.
But Mojtaba Khamenei isn’t “Iran’s New Regime President.” As supreme leader he actually outranks the president, who as head of the executive branch merely manages day-to-day administration. Thus the supreme leader retains ultimate authority on military matters, security, and foreign policy—including, one would think, ceasefires. That’s what being a supreme leader is all about.
The closest thing to Iran’s New Regime President, on the other hand, is Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon before lowering himself to politics, who was elected to office in July 2024. Being a moderate reformist, he really is less radical than his predecessor and likely is more intelligent—not that Trump would realize any of it—and his platform included reducing tensions with the West. But he’s still only second-in-command of the Old Regime.
So is Pezeshkian the man who asked Trump for a ceasefire—while his boss is incapacitated or even dead? Or, as is just as—or even more—likely, does Trump not know what he’s talking about and/or is he just making it up?
31 March—Ten days ago, you may recall, the Monitor celebrated J.S. Bach’s 341st birthday by the old Julian calendar, the one on the walls of garages in the Protestant parts of Germany, including his birthplace, Eisenach, when he was born in 1685. By the new Gregorian calendar, which German Protestants didn’t adopt until 1700, J.S.’s 341st birthday would be today. So happy Gregorian birthday wishes to J.S.
But that’s not all, folks. It’s no surprise that Roman Catholic Austria, along with the rest of the Holy Roman Empire, had dutifully adopted the Gregorian calendar shortly after Pope Gregory XIII’s famous bull “Inter Gravissimas” (freely translated, “Among our most serious concerns”) told them to do it in 1582. So when Franz Joseph Haydn was born a little over a month after George Washington, in Rohrau, Austria, on 31 March 1732, he was definitely Gregorian and only Gregorian.
So today we’ll celebrate Franz Joseph Haydn’s 294th birthday. Prolific a composer though he was, with over 450 major works, he didn’t come close to Bach’s 1,100. Childwise, moreover, while Bach fathered 20 kids with two wives (the first Frau Bach having died), Haydn fathered only one child—with his mistress, as it happens, since his wife was inconceivable, unbearable, and/or impregnable, and also had extramarital dalliances in their unhappy open marriage.
Haydn was a renowned conductor and performer on keyboard instruments, violin, and cello, as well as a highly successful composer and popular teacher. He earned the sobriquet “Papa” not because of his age (he died at only 77), but because of his reputation as a patient, gentle, good-natured teacher and conductor who cared for his students and musicians. Thus it’s unlikely that Papa Haydn would have performed at the Trump-Kennedy Center.
Haydn’s oeuvre was catalogued by Anthony van Hoboken in the 1930s, so you’ll commonly see references to “Hob” in identifying his works. The one with which we’ll celebrate Papa Haydn’s birthday is the allegro from his Piano Sonata in F Major, Hob. XVI:23:1:
30 March—It’s mighty white of Donald Trump to allow Russian crude oil to be delivered to Cuba. Peace-loving kind-hearted humanitarian that he is, he reasoned, “If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem whether it’s Russia or not. We have a tanker out there. We don’t mind having somebody get a boatload because they need . . . they have to survive.”
What a guy! Forget that the United States has no right in the first place to blockade or impose extraterritorial sanctions of any sort on Cuba or any other country with which we’re not at war. Of course, Trump has said that “Cuba is next, by the way.” You wonder if he’s alluding to Cuba being illegally invaded like Venezuela or becoming the next state.
Frankly, statehood for Cuba makes more sense than statehood for Puerto Rico. Cuba, after all, is only about 100 miles from the U.S. mainland while Puerto Rico is 1,000 miles away. Moreover, Puerto Rico, while rich in biodiversity, doesn’t offer much in valuable resources of any sort, but Cuba has attractive mineral wealth and—far more important—the Vuelta Abajo, where the world’s finest cigar tobacco is grown.
The Vuelta Abajo, in Pinar del Río Province, is at the extreme western end of Cuba, about 100 miles from Havana. At the extreme eastern end, about 500 miles from Havana, is Guantánamo Province, home to the celebrated or notorious Guantanamo Bay U.S. naval base, known officially as Naval Station Guantanamo Bay and familiarly and conveniently as Gitmo (from the abbreviation by contraction of GuanTanaMO).
The Gitmo facility, America’s oldest overseas naval base, has been a de facto extraterritorial leasehold of the U.S. since 1903. U.S. forces and Cuban allies had easily taken control of Guantánamo Bay for use as a naval base in 1898, during the questionable Spanish-American War, and in 1901 forced Cuba to sell or lease the land to “complete U.S. jurisdiction and control” in perpetuity—until abandoned or modified by mutual consent—as a condition of Cuba’s independence from Spain.
The original rent was $2,000 per annum, payable in gold. In 1934, the U.S. magnanimously raised the rent to $4,085—equivalent to roughly $100,000 today—but payable by check. Since Fidel Castro took over in 1959, the Cuban government has refused to cash the checks, maintaining—with complete justification—that Cuba was coerced into signing the lease. We won’t speculate on the disposition of the checks that have gone sour by now or the $269,610 the U.S. Treasury set aside for the payments. (The 1959 check was actually cashed, by the way—by mistake, according to Fidel.)
The 45-square-mile Gitmo facility is a fantastic piece of real estate, especially for a bupkes $100,000 a year, so you wonder why Trump hasn’t sold the lease to one of his family’s property grifts by executive order. Or at least tried to. The simple answer is that it would require congressional approval and too many of his corrupt congressional flunkies would demand a piece of the action to make it worth his while.
Still, Cuba as the 51st state would probably be an easier sell than Venezuela, Mexico, Canada, Greenland, or even Puerto Rico . . .