Happy Thanksgiving!  Thanksgiving always brings back fond memories of early winter weather, sometimes slogging through heavy snow to reach my grandmother's house while relatives all slowly file in to share one day of the year together as a family, being thankful for everything life had in store for us all.  This year though, the nostalgia of the past is somewhat blurred, thanks to the current occupant in the White House.  Why?  Because any casual look at social media will indicate many Americans are actually dreading being together with family for this year's Thanksgiving.  In fact, support groups are being offered on line to those physically and emotionally unable to cope with the prospect of celebrating the holiday with family that could be marred by political division.  So much so, that some have offered to skip this year's holiday in order to avoid being with family simply that have vocal positions supporting MAGA. 
        I can remember times on Thanksgiving when the conversation was more focussed on that day's football games or what special program would be featured on Disney (they didn't have their own channels then- NBC was the network that most often showed Disney movies and specials).  Back then, we didn't have cable, just a tall aerial antennae and rabbit ears wrapped in aluminum foil.  We didn't have the myriad of channels available and we certainly did not have hyper-partisan barking opinion "news" channels that seem hellbent on telling us what to think and believe (See Fox News).  Thanksgiving used to be a purely entertaining holiday surrounded by family.  Now it breeds division based upon political ideologies and hyper-partisan conspiracy theories.
        So, if you are spending time with relatives this holiday, hopefully it will not be as bad as some have predicted.  My recommendation is simple.  If you know you are going to be facing a relative determined to draw you out into a political discussion - have all possible responses prepared in advance.  Be logical, sensible and determined not to allow any such discussions get "too heated."  Better yet, start spewing obvious lies out about virtually everything.  That way, when called out for lying, remind them by pointing out our dear president lies at an impressive daily rate.  But it is probably best to keep your focus on sharing a festive meal without such distractions.  It will make digesting your meal(s) that much easier.  Family, 'ya just gotta love them.
      Have a great, safe and Happy Thanksgiving this year.  May you be blessed with an upcoming year when truth, honor, integrity return to our great nation.  Happy Thanksgiving! Be well.

     As a history and government educator, I tried my best to teach my students what the American Ideals were when shared by our Founding Fathers, Mothers and Framers in establishing our great nation. Values that included “We The People” with the notions that our government was truly necessary because man alone could not be trusted to act honestly with the public under their charge.  Hence, the need to avoid an all-powerful Executive in an effort to stay away from the abuses inherent in a Monarchial system.  The result was the creation of the Constitution embracing the notions of Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances as found in Articles I, II and III.   
    For years, I taught the foundations of American democracy that included our rich history of recognizing Constitutional restraints on one faction over another and the need to keep a vibrant yet relatively young democratic-republic alive and relevant.  Under the current Trump Administration, we have witnessed first-hand a concerted effort to ignore the Constitutional powers conferred upon Congress and the Courts.  Oversight is now considered to be irrelevant when a president and his supporting political faction deem it.  Attempts to conduct oversight on previous administrations have always run into some hurtles, but ultimately the Rule of Law was adhered to as subpoenas were eventually complied with and understood to be valid mechanisms to enforce existing Constitutional Checks and Balances.
      But what about today when a president asserts “Absolute Immunity” from answering any oversight, let alone otherwise legal demands in the form of subpoenas?  How is it that centuries of Supreme Court rulings reinforcing the Constitutional boundaries of each branch’s authority are suddenly “subject to interpretation?”
     Now that I am retired, I find myself wondering whether I would even be allowed to teach in today’s classroom.  Why?  Because I have to believe it has to be increasingly difficult to teach the Constitution without having impressionable students come back at me to tell me “their parents disagree” and “You must be a Socialist/Communist for attacking our beloved president.”  How can one teach Marbury v. Madison establishing Judicial Review when the Trump Administration ignores the authority of the Courts (or at least the ones he disagrees)?   How can the Judiciary be divided solely by identifying judges by whom they were appointed – “Well that makes sense, he’s an Obama judge” or “Liberals hate America so we have to get real America-loving Conservative judges on the Federal Bench!”  Except as Chief Justice John Roberts stated, “There are no Obama Judges or Trump Judges, there are just judges who interpret the law.”  
      How could I teach and explain the process of Impeachment when the President, the GOP and their supporting hyper-partisan media constantly manipulate supporters with claims that simply defy logic, history and our very Constitution itself?  Labeling impeachment a “coup” flies in the face of the Constitution that created the very remedy. 
     America is facing a very broad education problem, including a total collapse of teaching  American History and Civics. Where I live, it is now a local school board rule that no material may be shown or distributed to students that does not first meet their exclusive approval.  During my last year, approval meant “not allowing materials that may shed a negative light on the political beliefs (ie., Trump supporters).”  Where I once taught, prayer in school is seemingly routine and okay. Promoting the high School’s Republican Club is wonderful and widely supported in the local community, but opposing it is not to be tolerated.  Indoctrinating students with an appreciation of American history and the Constitution has rapidly been transformed into showing absolute respect to the president, as if we’re all meant to remain blindly loyal to the person occupying the Oval Office instead of the Constitution.  As Theodore Roosevelt once wrote; “To announce that there must be no criticism of the president... is morally treasonable to the American public.”
     And while critical thinking skills seemingly have been abandoned along with ethical thinking, we run a serious risk that our society will slide further and further into the abyss of ignorance.  America deserves better.  So although I miss the daily interaction with my former students, I cannot fathom trying to teach History and/or American Government in this day and age of everyone “knowing” more than the professor because they saw or read a meme on social media.  America is in trouble.  The only way to really save her is to teach why our nation is great – with all of its bumps and bruises along the way.  Until then, I fear for the future of our Democratic-Republic. Being patriotic is not a left or right wing ideal – it’s something we as Americans should all aspire to.  Have a great week!

     After last night's defeat for the GOP in Kentucky and Virginia, perhaps Republican Senators will begin to appreciate that Trump is more toxic than the base they seem most afraid of.  With 2020 around the corner, and impeachment getting closer yet, will the Republicans in the Senate continue to blindly follow Trump and risk their own future elections or will they chose to find the overwhelming evidence of his corruption enough to be impeached and removed?   Although many now claim there is no evidence of any wrongdoing or anything that rises to the level of "high crimes or misdemeanors" they conveniently forget to note that the Constitution actually identified "Bribery" as an impeachable offense that is the basis for removing a president if found guilty of engaging in such a prohibited act.  With all of the evidence mounting to support a prima facie case of bribery, how can the Republicans continue to simply ignore the evidence and the duty under the Constitution to act upon it?  
    Even as the evidence continues to mount proving Bribery was attempted by Trump, his sycophantic supporters will ignore it all by convincing themselves that impeachment is just a "Democrat effort to overturn the election of 2016, because they are sore losers!"  Letters to the Editor and postings on social media confirm this delusion of the Republicans.  But, as the damaging evidence begins to pour in, one has to wonder when the American public will realize that Trump is in fact, unfit to serve as president.  After all of the demands by the Right that hearings need to be in the open, the closed door depositions have proven to be not only effective, but worthwhile as witnesses can not collaborate and coordinate their testimony before hand.  Not knowing what another witness may be testifying to makes the private depositions that much more valuable.  This  very notion played out when Ambassador Sondland was forced to "Amend" his prior sworn testimony once the transcripts of other witnesses became public.  In an obvious effort to avoid a charge of perjury, Sondland knew his deceitful "I don't recall" defense of Trump would ultimately put himself at risk of jail time.  What to do?  Come clean and tell the truth.  Which now seems to be something the Republicans want no part of - the truth. But I believe the American people, once everything is out in the open, can and will decide for themselves.
       Not too long ago, Trump boasted that any efforts to impeach him would result in a massive backfire against the Democrats.  Unfortunately for Trump, truth and justice seem to always rise to the surface when made public and under oath.  Manafort, Cohen and others went to jail for lying.  Roger Stone is on trial for lying.  It appears that jail may be a strong deterrent to making false or misleading statements to Congress - unless you are a member of Congress yourself - as nothing seems to stop the Republicans from lying about Trump's shadow "shake down diplomacy" while using Rudy Giuliani as his "secret diplomat".  Except none of it is legal and it should not be tolerated. 
       Efforts to obtain more testimony continued to be blocked by Trump's White House.  Subpoenas have been  routinely ignored and yet the Republicans still try to paint the Democrats as being "out of control."  Despite their previous rhetoric about abiding by the law, Republicans have laid waste to any notion that they are the "Law and Order party" because they really aren't - unless it can be used by them against their political enemies.  Republicans have written a lot of the process rules in Congress but never seem to expect themselves to abide by them.  The GOP should now be know as the "Party of Hypocrisy."  
         Work remains to convince Americans that we need new leadership, not only in the White House but also in the US Senate.  Based upon last night's elections, the next eleven months until the general election will certainly prove interesting.  Have a great week!