stevebannonNot at all surprising, we are seeing some very corrupt and disturbing things unfolding from Donald Trump on a daily basis. The most recent being his immediate and retaliatory FIRING of Sally Yates, the acting U.S. Attorney General, when Ms. Yates could not in good conscience enforce his extreme travel ban of specific minorities/religions coming from 7 Muslim countries due to its being unconstitutional and unlawful in her understanding.

Keep in mind it wasn’t just her decision…Trump’s extreme executive order travel ban targeting those specific minorities/religions was ultimately STOPPED (STAYED) by not one, but FOUR judges now! So that being the case, clearly Ms. Yates was on solid ground in interpreting such an executive order as being unlawful. As such, would you expect her to rubber stamp it anyway?

The U.S. Attorney General is the top executive of the Justice Department. Such a position is one of the MOST important checks and balances to unlawful and/or unethical abuse of power by a President.

Do you want an Attorney General who is a puppet of the President? Of course not. The U.S. Attorney General must be someone who is absolutely not a ‘rubber stamp’ of the President. Now, more than ever with the result of this last election, that is what is critically needed from whoever is confirmed to fill that post. Yet as soon as Trump’s executive order is not rubber stamped, what is his ego-trip reaction? He fires that person for making that educated, ethical and lawful decision. And it is naive to think that Trump is making all these moves alone…He is being guided and strongly influenced by Steve Bannon at every turn.

If not long before now, are you beginning to come around and see reality regarding the danger we face from this incompetent individual being handed the keys to the White House, while under the primary influence of someone of the likes of Bannon?

Continuing on this critical topic of the dire ethical need for a U.S. Attorney General that will not act as a Trump “rubber stamp”…If you were not aware of it, let me now inform you that Senator Jeff Sessions is Donald Trump’s pic for U.S. Attorney General. We are presently getting down to the wire on whether or not he will be confirmed by Congress.

Keeping the above clearly in mind, we have only just recently learned that Steve Bannon, one of Trump’s most controversial and closest advisers, was recently quoted in an email to the Washington Post, specifically describing Senator Jeff Sessions as “the clearinghouse for policy and philosophy” for Donald Trump’s entire agenda. (Translation: Sessions is a “rubber stamp” of all of Trump’s agenda and philosophy.)

But wait, if it wasn’t crystal clear from just that first statement from Bannon, there’s more…In that same email to the Washington Post, Steve Bannon expounds on Senator Sessions much more, saying that both he and Senator Sessions are jointly at the center of Tump’s “pro-America movement”…

Then Bannon adds the following very disturbing paragraph: “Throughout the campaign, Sessions has been the fiercest, most dedicated, and most loyal promoter in Congress of Trump’s agenda, and has played a critical role as the clearinghouse for policy and philosophy to undergird the implementation of that agenda. What we are witnessing now is the birth of a new political order.”

The grave danger and injustice goes without saying here, it is so obvious. Americans are not served by the appointment of the top executive of the U.S. Justice Department who is proclaimed as “the most loyal promoter in Congress of Trump’s agenda”. Who is served? Donald Trump.

The magnitude of corruption and ‘wrongness’ is off the scale, and openly stated here with impunity by Steve Bannon, who by the way was oddly just placed on the NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL of all things. At the moment this was done, simultaneously the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) along with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were both removed/sidelined except for ‘limited occasions’…

Yes, you read that correctly…STEVE BANNON has now replaced the Director of National Intelligence AND the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the National Security Council as a regular principals committee member, all accomplished by yet another ‘special’ Trump proclamation.

This is why I keep preaching all the time that we cannot be silent or neutral as we witness these things. Folks, THE U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL was summarily FIRED yesterday because she was not a rubber stamp for the President (as Bannon clearly describes Senator Sessions, their pick for replacing her)

The acting Attorney General did what Americans need from their Attorney General…She upheld the law to the best of her ethical understanding, and provided a check and balance to unlawful executive orders that were also stopped by four judges as mentioned above. To fire the head of the Justice Department when they perform their ethical duty has NEVER been done by any President, ever. The corruption we are witnessing is at a fever pitch, and it has only been a couple of weeks since Trump took office.

TrumpWalkingLastly, I want my readers to realize something very important…Part of this dizzying pace of controversial actions by Trump, and of course guided by Steve Bannon, is BY DESIGN. You can’t remember all the things you realized were so wrong, because something else comes up the next day that is then consumed by the “fast-food breaking news obsessed media”, instead of the most seriously corrupt and critical things remaining in the media spotlight…

FOR BUT ONE OF MANY EXAMPLES, TRUMP NOW REFUSING TO RELEASE HIS TAXES!

Did you even hear about that recently? It came out in the news, and then was eclipsed by all these other things like this minority travel ban, or Trump childishly screaming and tweeting that the press is the ‘opposition party’ and that they ‘made it look like’ he had a low turnout to his inauguration when in fact he claimed he had the largest turnout ever! (Of course a total lie. The pictures proved it and showed the truth, that Trump had a very muted turnout, compared to a jam packed Washington Mall for President Obama’s first inauguration in 2009)

All this fever pitch of constant controversy is designed to get the ratings obsessed media to focus on the newest ‘breaking news’ controversy, instead of staying focused ON THE BALL…meaning the things that are most corrupt about Trump, and constantly remaining focused on that. But Trump and Bannon know that the media is foaming at the mouth for daily ‘fast-food breaking news’, and they play them for fools in much the same way they played voters for fools in the election.

The fact that Trump PROMISED to everyone during his campaign on multiple occasions including during the Presidential debates that he would release his taxes, and then once elected has suddenly proclaimed with impunity that he now REFUSES to do so is corrupt on a level that shocks the conscience.

He’s refusing to do so for a REASON…that reason is that he is hiding something huge…he knows he can’t afford for that information to be made public. Yet, the media has been so distracted from this by other daily fast-food breaking news craziness, generally designed for that very distracting purpose, so that the public and the media have great difficulty keeping up with it all.

I do the best I can writing these columns, posting them to my blog, here and on WordPress, and of course I receive no compensation for doing so. It requires a significant investment of personal time, in addition to other responsibilities regarding running my small business.

Generally, very few take the time to chime in with support or show in any way that they share a similar ethical concern (maybe because I don’t start off showing a picture of a cat playing with a ball of yarn or bragging about what I just cooked for dinner, etc).

For example, when I covered the Sacramento Women’s March for those who were unable to attend it, and showcased some very compelling interviews from the attendees, sharing it here on Facebook first before it aired on Comcast cable access…Oddly very few even cared to check it out or show any support/feedback. (Again, it had no cats playing with each other, or pictures of what I made for breakfast, popular neutral and shallow topics.)

But now more than ever in America, we need to be ethically engaged and speaking out TOGETHER regarding the insanity of how wrong this “new political order” is as it was so boldly coined by Steve Bannon. We have a moral obligation as honorable Americans not to tolerate this, not to normalize it, and not to remain NEUTRAL as we are witnessing it. How many of you read these things…see these things…are concerned about these things, and yet you remain silent?

facebooklogoWe can’t have an attitude like, “Facebook isn’t for politics”. That is nothing but a weak, sheep-like cop out.”POLITICS” IS LIFE…”POLITICS” IS CHARACTER…

And those of us who care about this country and its constitutional values that are now being so overtly perverted MUST be engaged on these topics on a daily basis, in our daily walk wherever we are. We must speak out in a clear and honest way with those we interact with, and that especially includes on all forms of social media where we spend our time. God only knows Trump understands that with his obsession with TWITTER.

Life is too short to be PRETENTIOUS and conform like sheep to a neutral behavior that does not hold such unAmerican bigotry and corruption accountable because at your core you are afraid others might be “offended”.

Let me put it another way…Good character requires that we stand up and LIVE what we claim to believe in at ALL TIMES, and not “pretend and conform to get along”. Simply put, those who are responsible for creating this national disgrace NEED TO BE OFFENDED. Just because they are offended does not make them right!

And understand this…Those who are more concerned about possibly offending others than being actively engaged in holding such wrong accountable, then they are just as much a part of this bigotry and corruption as though they had voted for it themselves.

edmundburkeLike the famous expression goes by Irish political philosopher Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for evil to prevail is for good men (and women) to do (and say) NOTHING.” That means all the time in your daily lives, wherever you are, including Facebook and social media, now more than ever. And by the way, if Burke were here today, he would make Steve Bannon his b#tch in a heartbeat. Did that offend you? Good.

I will continue to do what I can to try to keep many of you informed about the disgraceful corruption behind all of this with Donald Trump. I will continue to encourage you to do your best to let your voice be heard as well, as this is truly one of the saddest, most corrupt and dangerous low points in our country’s history.

Connie Bryan

ConnieHdshtSmallFile1(Connie Bryan is a writer in Sacramento, CA…Check out all of her material on her website and blog at www.conniebryan.com)