THE MUELLER HEARINGS (As some of us heard.)

(The second paragraph has been corrected to read "No one can deny that what the report revealed was true.) (There is also an additional response from Dr. Carin Horn.) As I am continuing to receive responses from my readers, I will try to add them directly to the text. The newest is one from Truman Conner. All of the respondents are currently Texas residents unless otherwise noted.. Thanks for your understanding.

Although I downloaded the complete Mueller Report, I have to admit I did not read it. I relied on news reports that detailed the important points as they understood them. Then, my son sent me a remarkable, hour-long video that contained readings by some well-known stars in the entertainment industry. Of course, they had to edit it and only read the highlights, but it is well worth watching even now. The Mueller Report That and all of the news pundits leading up to yesterday's Congressional hearings prepared me for them - I thought. 

Like many others that I've heard from, I was disappointed in the way Robert Mueller came across - a lot of it was due to the accusations of some of the Congressional members, notably the Republicans, and their rapid-fire delivery of the questions in the first session, which made it very difficult for anyone to understand them. Thus, Mueller sometimes stumbled over his answers. I guess I also expected some outrageous discovery that we weren't privy to beforehand. No one can deny that what the report revealed was true. The Republicans spent their time trying to destroy Mueller's reputation and integrity as well as that of others involved in gathering the damning evidence. But they never once gave evidence that the conclusions of the report were untrue.

Once all of the investigations are completed, and we are entitled to view Trump's finances - and their possible entanglement with foreign entities that are holding him hostage - I don't think anyone in the United States can refute the truth that he is the most corrupt, and absolutely the most incompetent president the United States has ever had. He and his administration have done their best to destroy our democracy, and have placed us in a dangerous position in the world. 

I agree with Nancy Pelosi that impeachment is not the answer as long as the Senate is Republican-controlled. The most obvious solution is to vote Trump and the Senators who are supporting him out of office.

The following views were sent to me at my request by some of my long-time friends as well as my son.

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The following is from C. Denson Hill (Denny), a professor of mathematics at Stony Brook University in New York. He has a second home in Poland where he lives when school is not in session. He was the first to converse with me on the hearings via email.

"I watched the whole thing live from Warsaw, and it was very tiring. During the first part, before I became fatigued, I wrote down these names:

Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-TX 4th Dist.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-TX 1st Dist.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio 4th Dist.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-FLorida

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Florida

"Then I got too tired to continue.. To Texas, Ohio and Florida, I would say: It is unbelievable that you could be so stupid as to elect these baboons to represent you!!! Better to choose a random w**** from a house of ill repute, then at least you might find a modicum of honesty, integrity, and someone who does not vastly underestimate average human intelligence."..Denny

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My answer:

"I agree with you. Needless to say, I would like to kick the Reps from Texas in their respective rears. John Ratcliffe in particular was full of hate.. I noticed when he finished his tirade he couldn't get out of the chambers fast enough! He doesn't represent our district, but I'd still like to tell him off. Same is true of Gohmert. However, he graduated from Baylor, so he is probably a good Baptist. This may account for his support of Trump. He probably is an anti-vaxxer, an anti-abortionist, and thinks that if he is wrong and Trump is ousted, he'd love to see Pence in office! In my humble opinion!

"In the first session, I thought Mueller came across as old and confused. He redeemed himself somewhat in the second session. The interviewers in the first were rushing through their questions due to their five-minute time limits. I had a hard time understanding their questions as well.

"I thought the summations at the end were pretty easy for most to understand. Also, there are still ongoing investigations..perhaps/likely more indictments. So much is going on that Mueller was unable to speak of (due to ongoing investigations or classified material) that will possibly help indict the POTUS, hopefully all will come out before the election."..Marilyn

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"I fear that the vast majority of the people in the U.S. do not have the

attention span, or the patience, to glean the damaging info there. Barr and Company have muddied the waters way too much.

"And I also fear that, partly due to the corrosive effect of talk radio, (FOX News), etc., the GOP can still win simply by repeating over and over the words, 'socialist' and 'communist', independent of all other considerations. (To say nothing about Gerrymandering and the electoral college.) Sad.."
..C. Denson Hill

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"My very first impression is that Mueller does not enjoy speaking in public! He also has a very developed vocabulary and it seemed to go over the heads of some. Can y'all not retire Grandpa Gohmert??? Lord he is a nut ball!"...Rita Bauknight (North Carolina)

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"I am very disappointed in Mr. Mueller’s performance yesterday. He did confirm that Trump is the liar we all know, but did not really present any smoking guns after two years (at least that he was willing to talk about). I had put my hopes on much, much more."... June Curry (Oklahoma)

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This next one is from my Number One Son, Craig Young. He wrote this while in a spirited debate on his Facebook site:

"During his testimony today, Vietnam war hero Robert Mueller affirmed

that Cadet Bone Spurs Trump could be prosecuted for crimes (there will be more than just obstruction - there is still a counterintelligence investigation ongoing) once he leaves office. I take comfort in that.

"Mueller made it clear that because of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion, he was precluded from indicting a sitting president. The report indicates the Constitution provides the only remedy, which is impeachment by the House and removal by the Senate. Mueller gave overwhelming evidence of 10 instances of obstruction of justice in his report. In fact, those of us outside the Fox News bubble know that almost 1,000 former federal prosecutors (both Republican and Democrat) signed a letter saying that any citizen other than a sitting president would easily be indicted for felonious obstruction.

"The bottom line? The Russians interfered (attacked us) in the 2016 presidential election to aid candidate Trump and harm candidate Clinton. The Trump campaign welcomed their help and even provided them with campaign polling data and battleground state strategies. Trump lied about having business dealings with Russia during the campaign (Trump Tower Moscow). Trump has demonstrated fealty to Vladimir Putin and denigrated our intelligence agencies. The Republican Party is aiding and abetting the most corrupt, dishonest, and incompetent president in the history of this nation."...Craig Young

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"Saw an interesting Internet 'headline' that said something along the lines of Mueller’s hearing was a Republican victory if you didn’t listen to it!!!!! Sure would be nice if we could all put the politics aside and honor each other as Americans.

ADDENDUM:

"My comment about putting politics aside was not intended to disparage anyone about  his/her political passion. I am a Registered Independent, (because it) is not allowed by the State of Texas to vote in a primary election without declaring a political party preference!!!! Some of your readers may not know that. Anyway, I follow world news and global opinions, especially those concerning our current administration. Unfortunately we appear to be a country of nonthinking idiots that lack the willpower to overcome the negativity that prevails and is the signature of the Trump administration.

"I don’t have an answer as to how we can fix our political differences but I know that the 2020 Democratic candidates for President must stop taking Trump’s confrontational bait and build a united policy that promotes our greatest good as individuals and a nation. Without a strong front for positive change and right human relations, Trump will win a second term.".. Dr. Carin Horn 

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"I did not watch the hearings, but instead monitored twitter and then read recaps/opinions in The Times this morning. My (VERY DISAPPOINTED) takeaway from the investigation and the hearings is that they were the product of a stand-up guy who understands that we are in some warped environment where it does not matter if the leader commits crimes."...Kevin Curry (Mexico ex-pat)

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"I watched about 90% of it and I feel like Mr. Mueller was set up as a patsy. All those words in that document! That in itself, was enough to drive someone crazy!

"And, now that they have done all this...what are they going to do?  No matter what one's party that they attach themselves to...what do we know that is going to better an everyday person's life?"
..Mary Smith Hendricks

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"Yes to all of the above regarding Mueller.  The Democratic Judiciary Committee's primary goal was to bring public awareness of Mueller's report to American people who either have not read the report, nor appreciate the gravity of the Trump administration's flagrant violation of the pertinent articles of the U.S. Constitution. Even after this six hours of testimony from Mueller, I think it is highly probable that a large element of non-educated don't have any idea about the consequences of Trump's presidency. Much of our citizenry don't have critical thinking ability, and you have no further to look than Ballinger, typical of today's voting demographics. 

"I don't recall who said, 'You can fool some of the people all of the time; all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.' (It was Lincoln.) First time in my life I am seeing these words of wisdom questionable as so many of our people, and members of U.S. Senate and House are unwilling to stand up for our democracy. What a sad commentary, isn't it?"..Truman Samuel Conner

(Truman's first response is listed in the "comments" section below.)

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The fallout from yesterday's hearings will continue. The appeal cases to force the witnesses who have been held in contempt for Trump forbidding them to testify, should enlighten us more. Especially his attorney Don McGhan's testimony.

I would still like to hear from more of you regarding your feelings about this subject. Do you believe what's been given to us in the Report so far? Do you agree with the characterization of Trump and his campaign (assisted by the Russians)? Let me know.

Peace,

Marilyn

An excellent review of Mueller's testimony:
Actually, Robert Mueller Was Awesome

TIME MARCHES ON

Today is a special day. It is my youngest child's 50th birthday. Since the following post was written 11 years ago, he's changed a bit. No longer scaring me to death on dirt bikes or scuba diving or bungee jumping, and instead of vacations spent in Big Bend to ride dirt bikes with his friends, he now goes there to golf with his friends. Today he is relaxing in the mountains of Ruidoso, New Mexico with his family - wife Amy, son Travis, and daughter Kelly. I think he plans to play a little golf while there as well.

Matthew is not only a great son, but also a wonderful family man. He allowed me to post the following on my class blog way back when - and he's quite the story teller. Even as a little boy he could spin a yarn.

FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2008

"I don't know why I'm not gray..."

This guy has been my son for 39 years now. I don't know why I am still surprised when he does things that scare me half to death. Bungee jumping, dirt bike riding (photo at left), scuba diving, jet skis... He's always involved in something that should turn my hair gray! He has two children now, and I was beginning to think I could relax. His call from Arizona last week telling me the following "little tale" assures me my days of worrying for his safety are not over.

When he told me about his adventure, I was getting confused. I said, "Why don't you write about it, Matthew?" He hesitated, then told me he already had. Seems he subscribes to a blog for off-road riders, either on motorcycles or four-wheel drive vehicles. He had asked them about good roads to go off road on while he was on a business trip to Prescott, as he had some time to kill and decided to explore the mountains around Jerome. For some reason, he didn't rent a four-wheel drive Jeep as he planned. But the weather was beautiful when he started out, as you can see in the first photo. He made me promise not to leave a comment on the off-road blog (like, Oh, my gosh Matthew, you could have been killed!). I promised.

I got his permission to put this on our blog. And I was the mother who was scared when he was scuba diving with sharks and giant stingrays all over the Caribbean! He sent beautiful underwater pictures from those expeditions.

       

"I found FR413. Unfortunately, two-wheel drive Chevy Trailblazers, serious thunderstorms,  

 6300' elevations, rock slides, and mud do not mix.

When I got almost to the top, I was surrounded by serious storms, 40 mph winds, rain, and more rain. I was screwed. The road had started to wash out and I was losing traction. A three foot boulder came tumbling down, bouncing like a super ball about five yards in front of me as I approached the top of the pass. My rental two-wheel drive was pelted with pea- and golf-ball size rocks.

I will never forget that image of the boulder bouncing down the hill, thinking of the damage that it could have done to me and the rental.

I gassed it as there was no place to turn around and I could see blue skies in the distance. Then I saw this:

No place to turn around. After I backed out of the slot, there was a wall on one side and a 1000'+ drop on the other. And it was steep and muddy and raining cats and dogs.

I had to back out about a half a mile to find a place that I could "barely turn around". I had to inch up to the drop-off and then pull forward to the wall several times until I was pointed back down. I would get out of the truck each time to judge my distance to the drop. I was concerned with getting stuck and the side of the road collapsing sending me over the edge.

Remember the three-foot boulder from my trip up the pass? Now, the road back down (where I had just come from), was completely blocked from the rock slides. I got out of the truck and could hear the rocks still falling around me and it was still raining like no tomorrow.

I was trapped. Nowhere to go, up or down. Rocks falling all around me, on the side of a mountain in a thunderstorm.

I was ready to abandon the truck and call 911 for help. I grabbed my cell phone. No coverage. I was thinking about waiting the storm out (I had enough water and snacks to last a few days), but I was not comfortable with the thought of riding a landslide off the side of the mountain.

I kept thinking about my wonderful kids and wife. And how long it would take for someone to find me.

I got out of the truck and somehow managed to clear a path through the landslide. I would not be surprised if I did not move a rock that weighed at least 300 pounds. It kept rolling and bouncing all the way down. I could not see it hit the bottom because of the clouds, but I could still hear it crashing for what seemed like an eternity.

I made it back down to Jerome and then to Prescott, and I am currently sitting in my hotel room nursing a six-pack.

I am flying home tomorrow and had a route picked out that would take me to Crown King and then down in to Phoenix. I'll stick to the pavement for the rest of this trip.

Somewhere on the mountain. Note the water running next to the wall.

This is a ghost town/old mine on the way up. I would like to have spent some time here.

~ Matthew Rider

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You know what? I'm still not gray. Finally, a few gray hairs sprinkled here and there, but certainly not put there by his antics. Now it's my grandchildren putting the fear in me! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY BOY!

WITH LOVE,

MOM

WE ARE ALL MIGRANTS

El Paso, TX

I have posted a previous piece written by my oldest grandchild Cameron Young regarding this trip to the border that briefly told some of their experiences there. A Brighter Future... The following article, written by Cameron, was recently published on the Unitarian Universalist website. UUA Southern Region 

This take on what Cameron calls "borderlanders" brought back dramatic images of my childhood growing up in Texas. From second-graders having DDT put on their hair to rid them of lice, to the 16-year-old Mexican boy who barely fit into our 4th grade desks as he joined us for the couple of months he was able to come when cotton-picking time was finished and his family had not left to return to Mexico. Even as a young child, I felt sorry for the treatment of these children who had no choice as to where they had been born. Today, the immigrant children being held  in confinement at our borders, elicits the same compassion. Hopefully, the actions of people like Cameron will help shine a light on the abuses of our brothers and sisters seeking asylum, and the history of our complicity in some of the unfortunate circumstances that have driven them to seek refuge in our country. The land of the free.

Todos Somos Migrantes: Journeying Toward Collective Salvation 

        

El Paso, TX; the U.S.-Mexico Border; the line between two different worlds which begin to blend the closer in proximity they become. If it were an abstract painting, the U.S. and Mexico would show up on the canvas in radically different colors and textures, yet I imagine the artist would take her hand and smear it at the places the two countries conjoin, leaving the area of Juarez-El Paso particularly indistinguishable, just as the two cities look like only one from a birds eye view. Juarez-El Paso is an environment of effortless pluralism the type that has sparked nationalist hysteria throughout our country, but I view such pluralism as beautiful, perhaps even anthropological art smeared by the hand of God. Border historian Oscar J. Martinez characterizes U.S.-Mexico borderlands as a place with “powerful transnational forces [which] pull large numbers of borderlanders into the orbit of the neighboring country with a resulting array of cross-boundary relationships and lifestyles.”

In January of this year, I made a trip to this part of the border as part of a contextualization study with my peers at Brite Divinity School. It featured a week full of powerful interactions with numerous borderlanders from all walks of life - clergy and activists to academics to refugees - in one moment, I even found myself praying in a federal courthouse as approximately 30 migrants and refugees, many of whom were barely over the age of 18, would be simultaneously sentenced to prison or deportation.

One truly transformative person we encountered was when we visited the Border Farmworkers Center and met its Executive Director, Carlos Marentes. Marentes has oft been compared to his late colleague and mentor, having been called the Cesar Chavez of the West. The U.S. has a long history of abuse and exploitation of migrant farmworkers, from physical abuse, to employers’ failure to pay already minuscule wages. Carlos was quick to give us information chronicling the history of such exploitation, which frequently goes unpublished. He included a picture of workers being sprayed with the pesticide DDT, at the border as part of the Bracero program in the 1950s. Marentes has made it his life’s work to advocate on behalf of migrant farmworkers to prevent such abuses from occurring.

Talking with him was also a powerful reminder of how deeply intertwined our realities are with the workers. For starters - our food. He pulled out a bucket of chili peppers as a physical example of the painstaking and thankless labor that goes into nourishing our bodies. So striking that someone else’s physical pain could manifest in my physical nourishment.

Marentes also provided some insight regarding the causes of such a magnanimous wave of migration. He explained that most agricultural land in Mexico operated under the Ejido system, meaning most of it was community owned - such a foreign concept in our capitalist society. The Ejido system began to decline mid-20th century when the World Bank created dependencies on loans for farming technology, and died with the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, championed by then president Bill Clinton. Allowing U.S. corporations to negotiate with Mexico’s financial elite, the U.S. demanded that the Ejido system be abolished from Mexico’s constitution, allowing foreign interests to buy those lands and force its inhabitants to either leave or work for a fraction of the rewards. Think about that - U.S. corporations now have enough power to change a country’s constitution. And it wasn’t just Mexico, comparable trade policies have been enacted elsewhere, devastating thousands of self-sustaining communities across Latin America, because that is what capitalism inherently does.

NAFTA ushered in an unprecedented level of prosperity for much of the U.S. and unprecedented levels of poverty for Mexico. In that, I have to acknowledge the money in my pocket and the food that I eat is tainted. But while this exploitation of citizens might have brought immediate gratification for us, there are long term ramifications for us, too. This caused millions of workers in Mexico to come to the U.S. to seek work, ramping up what is often referred to as the “immigration crisis (yeah - the U.S. caused it).” This ultimately led to a nationalist backlash and Trumpism, which has certainly sent many of us into a frenzy. More so, these policies boosted the Agricultural Industrial Complex in North America, which is now one of the leading contributors of climate change in the world.

Universalism. What happens to one happens to all. The subjugation of laborers across the world that our country has helped cause, has rendered us lost too. Lost in anxiety over our political climate. Lost over the state of our planet. As Universalists, when we say our salvation is wrapped up in others, it is not a theological abstraction - it’s a reality. And when we speak of salvation, it is not of some hypothetical afterlife. It is Here. Now. Just as Juarez and El Paso, despite being on other sides of a fence and belonging to two separate human social constructions we call countries, they are the same from the perspective of our vast universe. With millions of migrants and refugees journeying toward their salvation - their literal saving, it behooves us to journey with them. Because, in the long term, our saving is also contingent upon it.

We are all migrants. Todos Somos Migrantes.

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Cameron Young is a native Texan and lifelong Unitarian Universalist. Having grown up in those programs, they developed a particular affinity for youth and young adult ministry. Prior to joining the UUA, Cameron served as a lifespan religious educator in Fort Worth, Texas for five years, having helped to implement their congregation’s first ever Coming of Age, Spirit Play, and Young Adults programs. Cameron also served a two-year elected position as Young Adult Co-Facilitator at General Assembly. Cameron has a Bachelor of Music from Louisiana State University and is currently a seminarian at Fort Worth’s Brite Divinity School. A professional musician and classically trained singer, Cameron has performed in numerous operas, musicals, is a member and co-founder of DFW’s Uptown Carolers, a professional Christmas caroling company, and also recorded with Grammy award winner Leon Bridges on his debut album. In their spare time, Cameron is an avid traveler, die hard fan of Dallas sports teams, and devoted coffee drinker.

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This grandmother speaks:

After reading this several times, the policies Cameron speaks of that "boosted the Agricultural Industrial Complex" and raised the level of our contribution to climate change, raised my hackles. It brought to mind how dismayed I was to learn that "The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) 2015 report on foreign investment in U.S. agricultural land found that at least 26.8 million acres of privately held farmland were held by foreign owners, marking a steady increase over the past 30 years."Foreign-Owned U.S. Farmland  What American investors did to Mexico, foreign countries have been doing to us, China being one of the largest contributors. That fact and the increased industrialization of farming exacerbates the plight of farmers as well as those seeking to work for them.

It behooves us to seriously think about what we can do to help the immigrants desperately trying to gain entry into our country. As we are complicit in their reasons for doing so, we must be complicit in - as Cameron puts it, "their salvation". Listening to the solutions the candidates for our next Presidential election put forth, we can at least make efforts to vote for one who puts forth the most logical, compassionate ways to alleviate the "humanitarian crisis" we are facing. We already know that Trump's ways always favor the corporations.

Peace,

Marilyn