Impeachment

The House of Representatives has finally reached the point where it seems necessary to consider impeachment of the President. As I write this, the Congressional committees still don't know what is in the "whistleblower memo," but that fact itself is evidence that the White House is trying to obstruct the inquiry -- the memo was written more than a month ago and is required by law to be given to Congress. It may describe more benign or worse behaviors than those that have been leaked to the press regarding the request to the Ukrainian president to influence our US election. But the memo is just the tip of the iceberg; the list of already-known impeachable offenses Trump has committed is long.

We elected a criminal in a fair or at least normal election. The President's behavior has been an embarrassment and many have thought the Democrats' response was overly timid. This period in our history has revealed some weaknesses in our system of checks and balances; I hope the next few years, at least after the next election, comprise a time of rebuilding, and that the Congress addresses some of the vulnerabilities that have been exposed.

It will take a long time to un-do the damage that has already been done.

As the walls close in on Trump we can expect to see him struggle. It could get wild. He's filled the executive branch with sycophants whose loyalty is to him personally and not the Constitution or the people. They are getting rich from their government positions and will try to keep the money flowing as long as they can. I doubt they will turn on him but they might abandon him when the flames begin licking at their own feet. Trump Republicans have filled the courts with sympathetic judges, and we can expect some ... inexplicable ... rulings to come out in the heat of this process.

Prosecutors have respected a questionable DOJ rule that says that Presidents can't be indicted while in office. This is a good motivation for him to try to stay in office as long as he can -- dying while President is probably the only thing that can keep him out of prison. So he is going to fight for re-election by hook or by crook, and he is going to fight impeachment as hard as he can. Hold on to your horses.

Anti-Gay Therapy Leader Is Gay

In the years since we have had this blog, we have seen a parade of born-again preachers and gay-loathing Republicans caught with their britches down. We used to comment on it but it really is pretty much the norm. Those who are really really really opposed to homosexuality are often the ones who can't allow themselves to love as God intended.

One of the last remaining frontiers of hate has been so-called "conversion therapy." A lot of states have outlawed this kind of fake therapy which is supposed to turn gay people straight, but it keeps popping up and it has become sort of the last gasp for anti-gay ideology.

"What about people who don't want to be gay? Shouldn't they be allowed to live their lives however they want?" Sure, if it worked we'd have a whole different situation. The deal is: it doesn't work. The therapy is a hoax. A hateful hoax. They go in gay, and they come out gay. And guilt-ridden, ashamed, despondent.

The founder of one of the nation’s largest conversion therapy programs, who spent decades leading the organization, now says he is gay, apologizing for his role in the practice.

McKrae Game, who founded and led Hope for Wholeness in South Carolina, publicly announced he was gay in early June, more than two years after the organization’s board of directors abruptly fired him.

In a Facebook post last week, Game, 51, said he was “wrong,” adding: “Please forgive me.”

“I certainly regret where I caused harm,” he wrote. “Promoting the triadic model that blamed parents and conversion or prayer therapy, that made many people believe that their orientation was wrong, bad, sinful, evil, and worse that they could change was absolutely harmful."

“It’s all in my past, but many, way TOO MANY continue believing that there is something wrong with themselves and wrong with people that choose to live their lives honestly and open as gay, lesbian, trans, etc.,” he added. “Learn to love yourself and others.”

In an interview with The Post and Courier published Saturday, Game called conversion therapy “a lie” and “false advertising” and called for the dissolution of conversion therapy practices or ex-gay ministries.

Game is one of several former gay conversion therapy leaders who have since cut ties with the movement and have come out as LGBTQ.

Conversion therapy group founder comes out as gay, apologizes

We actually do have problems in this world. Gay people are not one of them. Let's move on.

Dumbest ever?

With so much going on, any blog post will immediately be out of date, so I am just going to post a comment from Twitter to open a discussion thread.

This is Silver Spring resident, sorta-Internet-celebrity, Oliver Willis, comparing our current President with a previous one:

"I'll never apologize for hating George W. Bush, who is still by far the worst president in history. But Bush is no longer the dumbest."

Ex: Trump appears to be too dumb to implement actual war crimes.

Discuss.