Understanding the Trump/Russian Conspiracy

                   Understanding the Trump/Russian Conspiracy

The illogical connection between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin has been revealed. Naturally, the connection for Trump is about money. For Putin, it is about world domination. The nature of their conspiracy revolves around Trumps efforts to construct a Trump tower in Moscow, from which he would reap many millions of dollars. To do this though, he needed Putin's consent. He also needed financing from VTB bank, a bank that Putin controls. This was necessary, since no reputable bank would finance him. Naturally, Putin would not do this without something in return. What he wanted was for the US to drop the sanctions against Russia. He particularly wanted the Magnitsky act dropped. This was a sanction against any Russian oligarch suspected of violence against the press or others. This act prevented them from banking outside of Russia. Also, the VTB bank was under sanctions, so Trump needed the US sanctions dropped before he could finance the project. In short, the conspiracy is that Trump is selling out the United States to Russia for the billions of dollars he could reap from this scheme, and Russia would achieve the world wide domination that Putin craves.

Thus, the conspiracy to get Trump elected President of the United States was formed.It involved a massive hacking attack on the information apparatus of the United States. It also involved voter fraud, which consisted of  voters in Democratic districts being purged from the voter rolls for things like signatures not matching those on the voter registration applications. Since most people's signature is never the same every time, anyone's ballot can be thrown out. This also applies to absentee ballots, that can be discarded on the whim of an election official.  This ruse has been used since the 2000 presidential election, when enough absentee ballots were discarded in Democratic strongholds like Palm Beach and Broward counties in Florida, to sway the election to George Bush. Amazingly, it worked again in 2016, when it was also done in Wisconsin and Michigan, giving Trump the electoral vote, and thus the presidency. It worked again in Florida in 2018, where 85,000 absentee ballots were reported to have not been returned to the election board. What are the odds of that many people making the effort to go get these ballots, but not bothering to mail them back in. This can easily be checked out by contacting the people who's absentee ballots were reportedly not returned. If they say they did return them, then you can be pretty certain that these ballots were dumped.  I would bet that most if not all of these ballots were from democratic districts.

Needless to say, our democracy and it's voting  system is under attack from Russia, along with Trump and his republican cohorts. They are selling out our country for their share of the billions of dollars flowing into our political system, thanks to the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. This decision by John Robert's court, is the basis for much of the elicit Russian money, stolen from the Russian people, and laundered in the US by people like Trump and others.

So, now that we know for certain that Trump and Putin have conspired against America for their own selfish goals, what are we going to do about it? First, we must understand that we are against a formidable adversary. Vladimir Putin is as tough and cunning as they come, and he will stop at nothing to establish Russia as the dominant country in the world. He has exerted his will in most of Europe, and he has gained support from the fascist fringe, who in most industrialized nations seems to be about 30% of the population, just as it is in the US. It should be noted that Hitler only had about 24% support in Germany when he took over the government. So, you can doubt the danger that we are in at your own peril. Putin is for real.

The second thing we must do is purge from our government those who have joined in this conspiracy, either wittingly or unwittingly. Any republican, who at this point is still supporting Trump, must go. It can no longer  be excused as just party loyalty to support him. It can only be that they have joined in this treasonous activity against our country. However, unlike in Russia, we can only remove these people at the ballot box. Since we are certain that recent elections have been manipulated  by the republican party, we must work to make sure that these abuses can no longer continue. The records of all polling districts should be audited, and if any suspicious activity is noted, those responsible should be removed. Our democracy depends on fair elections to function properly. 

I truly believe that the next two years will determine if our democracy will continue to exist, or if it will become a part of the new Soviet Union. The only way to save it at this point is for Americans to fully understand what has happened here. We have come under attack by a foreign adversary, who is using the weapons of the 21st century.It is no longer necessary to mount an invasion on a country you wish to dominate. As we are seeing, it can be accomplished by the infiltration of a government by hacking the systems we depend on for information and record keeping. Also, through the manipulation of the banking system, the press, televised media, and utilities.

As the result of this ability by our enemies to influence an uninformed electorate, we must inform them of the ways they are being manipulated. This could sound somewhat elitist, but unfortunately, we can only accomplish this by enlisting some of the techniques used by our enemies to mislead Americans. We must use mass communication to counter the lies with truth. Otherwise our electorate will be inundated with "alternative facts", that become the truth when repeated over and over. Our political committee, Citizens United to Repeal Citizens United, is committed to confronting the falsehoods that our citizens will face over the next two years, and hopefully we will be able to counter this scourge against our nation.

Understanding the Trump/Russian conspiracy

The Path to Repealing Citizens United

The first step on the Path to Repeal Citizens United has been accomplished. The Democrats took back control of the house of Representatives. It would have been nice to have taken control of the Senate, but that was almost an impossibility.  There were 20 Democrats up for reelection, but only 7 Republicans exposed, and they were in strong red states. The good news is we won 7 governorships, and only lost 1. That is important for several reasons. The governors of states have a lot of influence on how the redistricting of all the gerrymandered districts goes.. 2020 is a census year, and that is when the redistricting happens. The second reason for the importance of controlling the states, is that  to rid ourselves of Citizens United, it will probably have to happen through a constitutional convention. It won't happen from the Supreme Court overturning themselves on that decision. They are more right wing now than they were when they inflicted that travesty on our country. Many think that Donald Trump will be impeached, and removed from office. That probably won't happen either, because even though the new congress can vote for impeachment with just a simple majority, it takes a 2/3rds vote by the Senate to convict.  The Republicans will still control the Senate until at least 2020.  If we can vote Trump out of office then, there will be no need to impeach. Then we can have an indictment if we put in the right Attorney General. I doubt it would be difficult to convict Trump of the many crimes he has committed while in office.

If a constitutional convention was convened , it would take 38 states voting to repeal Citizens United.There are already 19 states on the books to repeal it. It probably could not happen until 2020. I believe that if we don't accomplish these aforementioned goals in 2020, there will be nothing left to save. The government at this moment is being dismantled at such a rate, it will require some very experienced people entering the government in 2020 to put it back together. Hopefully, many of those who have been fired or left out of disgust, would come back, at least on an interim basis. While I am pleased  that so many young people have been elected to seats in the federal, state, and local governments, I think they should be cautious in there enthusiasm for changing leadership positions in congress.To rebuild our government, it will take a lot of experience to rebuild the many departments that have been decimated by Trumps ignorance, greed, and hostility. While I understand the anger toward past Democratic leaders who let the Republicans push them around, even though they were in the majority, we must use our heads.  I believe that is why they were voted out of the majority in the midterms in 2010.

I think we must insist that the new leadership on the committees do not cut the republicans any slack. They should be dealt with just the way they have behaved while they have been in power. They should be investigated for the obstruction of justice  that they have so enthusiastically participated in. I want to see Devin Nunes impeached and removed from office. His actions of revealing to Donald Trump the particulars of an investigation into his possible treasonous activity is appalling.

So, it looks like the new Year could bring some exciting things. At least we seem to be on the way back to reclaiming our country. Please send your friends to our blog. Together , we can bring our country back from the precipice.

Defending our right to vote

Sine the 2000 election, when the future of our planet was impacted by a stolen election for president of the United States, I have been a voice crying in the night about absentee ballots being discarded in Democratic districts. I have been told by democratic congressmen whom I have contacted, that it just couldn't happen.

Well, as Brian Kemp, the republican Secretary of State from Georgia has shown us, you can be disqualified from voting if an anonymous republican elections official decides that your signature does not match up with the one on record. And it doesn't have to be just your signature. It can be anything on your registration that they decide is not right. But it doesn't just end there. Your absentee ballot can be discarded for exactly the same reasons. That is why I am voting in person. At least I can cast a provisional ballot if I arrive at the polling place to discover that I have been purged from the polls. If your absentee ballot is thrown out, you probably will not be aware of it.

As a side note, yesterday I signed four checks. Because of all these attempts to purge the voter rolls, I looked at the signatures very closely. Not one looked exactly like the other. So, even if a biased election official actually looks at the signature before throwing it out, he could easily find that the signature is not exactly the same. So, we seem to have a catch 22 here. Are we going to allow our elections to be stolen like this? As an old Viet Nam era veteran and anti-war activist, I might have a shorter fuse than most. My attitude is this. If I can't vote, no one votes. Think about it. It may come to the point where we have to stand up for our rights.

You might have heard about the North Dakota republicans passing a law that to vote in the midterm elections, you must have a 911 address on your voting card. On the Indian Reservations, they have rural route numbers, instead of physical addresses. This basically prevents the Native Americans from voting. The republicans did this because the Native Americans voted overwhelmingly for Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp in the last election. Surprisingly, the US Supreme court approved this action by a 6 to 2 vote. WE are in much more trouble than most people seem aware of.
Our basic right of free speech, freedom of the press, and selecting our leaders are under attack. We basically are cornered. We have no one to stand up for us. Not the House of Representatives, the Senate, the presidency or the courts. Our only course is to vote in such numbers that they can't possibly steal enough votes to retain their power. To quote an old Viet nam era slogan, POWER TO THE PEOPLE   If you wish to donate to our cause please click.   https://secure.actblue.com/donate/citizens-united-to-repeal-citizens-united-1
thank you.

Help Save America From Putin and Trump

My name is Charles Haynes. I  am the secretary/treasurer of Citizens United to Repeal Citizens United. Our primary goal, as our name suggests, is to repeal Citizens United. We feel this is the primary problem we are having with our government right now. Massive amounts of money, stolen from the Russian people by Vladimir Putin, and his oligarchs, is being used to destroy democracies around the world. He has been laundering money through Donald  Trump and others for years. Everything is about the money in our government today. The first step in taking back our government from the grips of Vladimir Putin. and his unstable lackey, Donald Trump, is to take back the House of Representatives, and hopefully, the Senate in the mid term elections. There is absolutely no guarantee that this will happen. Trump is in control, and the Russians are still going to be manipulating our electoral process, because there is no one to stop them. We have a majority in Congress.who are so bought out by the Russian laundered money pouring into the real estate industry., that they only react to those who are supplying the money.Most of them are involved in sweetheart deals that guarantees they will make huge gains on investments in various enterprises. That is why they have no problem walking away from Congress. They are already set for life.One such deal was the medical instruments company that one republican member of congress was arrested for insider trading on.That is just the tip of the iceberg.

The second step is to take back the White House in 2020, and hopefully get many seats back in the Senate. There will be a lot more republican senators up for election at that time. If we can take back the presidency, an Attorney General can be put into place who will file charges against Trump and his criminal entourage in Congress. You may notice I did not bring up the impeachment process. That would be such a satisfying occurrence. If we take the House, Trump could be impeached with just a simple majority voting for impeachment. The problem is, it would take a two thirds majority in the Senate to convict him. Even if we won every Senate election in the midterms, it would not be enough to get a two thirds majority to convict. Even if he was convicted by the Senate, the only punishment is removal from office. He could keep all his ill gotten gains, and go on his merry way, creating havoc where ever he goes. In case we could not get him convicted, I think the best thing is to get him out of office in 2000, appoint an honest Attorney General, and using the evidence from Mueller's investigation,  put him in prison for a long time.

The third step would be to try to take as many state governorships as possible. This is critical to stopping the gerrymandering that allows a minority party to control a majority of the seats. The republicans have rarely garnered a majority of votes, but they keep winning elections. The two presidents who have done the most damage to our country, Bush and Trump,have not won the popular vote. If we could win some statehouses, we could call for a constitutional convention of the states to repeal the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court. That decision is at the core of our inability to stop Trump. The legislators who are supposed to keep in check the authority of the President, are receiving dark money to support his every move.That is the purpose of Citizens United to Repeal Citizens United. The path to this momentous action just so happens to be the same as the path  to free us from this crisis we find ourselves in.

That is where we are at now at Citizens United to Repeal Citizens United.While we are working hard to get as many democrats elected as possible, there is a possibility that we will lose our Democratic Senator from Florida, Bill Nelson. He is running a nice guy campaign against a real predator, Rick Scott. This guy has been involved in more criminal activity than almost anyone, except for maybe Paul Manafort. He oversaw the largest Medicare rip off in US history, and yet he was allowed to leave his CEO position at Columbia Healthcare, and let the company be charged. The company payed a 1.5 billion dollar fine, and Rick Scott walked away with millions. I have never heard of guy who perpetrated the crime walking away, and the company he was running. being charged for 14 felonies. That is like me robbing a bank, and my gun being charged for the crime. Anyway, we are going to blow the lid off this in Florida, our home State. We are preparing a political ad to point out his history, which most Floridians are oblivious to. We are also working on a campaign to help Andrew Gillam for governor.We appreciate your effort in securing his nomination.  He is running against a guy who has his own set of deficiencies. We must win these elections in FL.That is why we are asking any American patriot who can help us raise funds to fight this uphill battle to donate. Our FEC filing number is C00674424. You can click to donate.   https://secure.actblue.com/donate/citizens-united-to-repeal-citizens-united-1

A strong case for Medicare for All Americans, With no Insurance company BS

Most Americans have been brainwashed into thinking that we cannot afford Medicare for All. The truth is, it is the only way we can afford to cover all of our citizens, as the rest of the industrialized world does. Let me explain.

In America, 37% of every healthcare dollar goes to cover our elderly citizens on Medicare. This is not only because the elderly need more care, it is because the drugs they use cost on average 5 times more than the rest of the world pays.The reason for the exorbitant cost of these drugs, is because it was written into law under the George W. Bush administration that the cost of the drugs could not be negotiated with the drug companies. Do you think there might have been a little collusion going on there? Do you think this law could be changed with the current crop of republicans in congress? The only way to change this is to remove them form office in the 2018 midterms.

After that, maybe we can get around to using the real numbers to decide if America can afford to do what the rest of the world is doing. As I said before, 37% of every healthcare dollar goes to cover elderly Americans on Medicare. That is 125 million people.The cost per year is 1.2 trillion dollars, which is exactly 37% of the cost of healthcare in the US. The other 63% of Americans cost about 2 trillion dollars per year, which per capita is the same as it cost to treat the elderly on medicare.Also, the insurance companies are actually only covering 43%, because 20% of Americans have no coverage at all. I ask myself, how could it be that it cost more to treat the young and healthy than it costs to treat the the old and sickly? After crunching the numbers over and over, it finally came to me. The difference is what the insurance companies are profiting from healthcare. We are paying the insurance companies to do what Medicare does for us at a lower cost. No wonder they spend billions a year on lobbyist to keep this scam going.

There is another bonus to putting everyone on Medicare.The company you are working for is probably not an insurance company. So why are they stuck providing you with health coverage?If everyone was on medicare, they could just add to the amount they are already taking out for Medicare, plus take out a little more from you, and they could get out of working for the insurance companies. In most cases, you are probably already paying a portion of your insurance, so it could actually cost you less out of your paycheck.

I have heard the argument that it would be a huge fiasco to get everyone enrolled on Medicare. More baloney. The system is already set up. You could just add a portion of the population every year, until everyone was enrolled. For instance, the first year you could add everyone under 12 years of age, and everyone over 60. The following year everyone under 17, and everyone over 55. In about 5 years everyone would be covered. Until a persons age group was covered, they would just remain under the program they are already on. It is not that difficult. The only difficulty is the entrenched insurance companies and their political cohorts.

Some people might say, in another four years, the republicans might be in, and they would just change it back. It seems to me that I heard that the 1.5 trillion dollar tax break given to the wealthiest of our citizens cannot be rolled back. If they can make a travesty of that magnitude sacrosanct, then how could they not protect something like guaranteed healthcare for all our citizens.

There is just one more thing though. Do not let this become a single issue point to run on in the election, any more than race issues, sexual orientation, the economy or anything else. We must run on all the issues, but primarily on saving our democracy. When we have settled that issue, we can work on all the other stuff. Our forefathers did not foresee that we would solve all of the problems associated with making our system fair and equitable overnight, or even in several hundred years. However, I think they believed that in time we would overcome most of the evolutionary shortcomings of human nature. Though at times it seems that we are making very little progress to that end, if you look back, we have actually came a long way. We must get this ship back on course, and that can be done by wresting control from those who have proved by their actions that they have no right to govern a free people. To donate      https://secure.actblue.com/donate/citizens-united-to-repeal-citizens-united-1


A strong case for medicare for All americansA strong case for medicare for All Americans

Are Americans too stupid to remain free?

I know this question will create anger in many people, but it is a recurring question that has been on my mind since the early days of the Viet Nam war. At that time, I was a young veteran, who after a visit to a Veterans hospital, became a staunch anti war advocate. I was visiting the hospital  to get treatment for a knee injury I had sustained in a bar fight in London, where I was based as a member of the USAF. The fight was the result of an ongoing adversarial relationship we young Americans had with the local lads, over our advances to the local ladies.

What I observed at that hospital will stay with me forever. I felt like a fool, being I was the only one of the hundreds waiting for treatment, who had all their body parts. I limped out of their in tears after seeing all these young boys, every one missing at least an arm or a leg, or a face. What good reason was there for these young men to pay this price? That experience made me question for the first time, whether our government, or any government for that matter, worked for the well being of their citizens, or for the political or financial interest of the powerful members of society.

That doubt turned into a lingering anger, as I stood and watched the Chicago police riot at the democratic convention in 1968. I found it incredible that the approval for the war increased in the general population after that atrocity. Although I realized that the necessity for our involvement in the second world war, had increased our acceptance of war in general, I still could not see how people just blindly accepted the fact that we were constantly involving ourselves in these actions against other nations. Korea, Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Nicaragua. El Salvador, Honduras, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya . Could it be because none of these people look like your average American?

On top of all this, how could it be that Americans do  not recognize that in most cases, while a democrat in the presidency usually left us with a lower deficit and stronger economy, the republicans have repeatedly  left office with a higher deficit and, in some cases, like George Bush, with a destroyed economy, and two wars. And now, we have a despot for a president, who is claiming credit for an economy he inherited from Barack Obama. He has no knowledge of economics, nor has he anyone on his staff, who could give a fair assessment of the situation. His inane policies will certainly destroy the economy that Obama slowly put back together over eight years. In spite of this, we are in grave danger of him and his cronies being returned to office. While I recognize that every industrialized nation seems to have about a third of it's population who lean toward a fascist bent,they are not usually able to control the outcome of elections. However, when you have a foreign power controlling much of the information being disseminated to society, the true will of the electorate can be altered, as it was in 2016. The Russians spread the false information that they had not interfered with the results of the election, and they were almost universally believed. Anyone who fell for that has to be Stupid.

So, again I ask. are Americans to stupid to  remain free. I guess you could argue that we may not be stupid, but just easily fooled. I have heard  that a strong indication of insanity, is to repeat the same stupid act over and over again, while expecting a different outcome.If we are to have a different outcome in the upcoming midterms, we must exert some influence on our fellow citizens. We can be certain that the Russians will be doing just that. To read more on this subject, please go to my blog at https://cutrcu.cutrcu.biz

A Critical Alert For All Indivisible Members

My name is Charles Haynes. I am a member of Indivisible East Hillsborough, CD15, Florida. I am also secretary/treasurer of Citizens United to Repeal Citizens United. This is a FEC registered Political Action committee organized to work toward the repeal of Citizens United.

As you are all probably aware, this decision by the U S Supreme Court, has allowed untold billions of illegal dollars into our political system. This has created the catastrophic Presidency that we are now dealing with. Most progressives seem to think that Mueller will solve this problem eventually. Our government is deteriorating so rapidly that there may be nothing to save by the time Mueller is done. But, that is just the beginning of our problems.

Can you imagine living under Putin in Russia.? How about under the new Soviet Union, which Putin is working to establish.? That is what all the Russian involvement in every free country's elections is all about. He wants to establish a new Soviet Union, with not only the countries that were part of the old  Soviet union, but all the countries that are now free. That is all the Nato countries and North America. He has established his network in the United States, and came close in some of the European countries in their past elections. It is only a matter of time before he accomplishes his goal, unless politically aware Americans take back our country.

The only logical path to accomplish this is for democrats to take back Congress from the treasonous faction of the republican party who now control it.This will take an all out effort, because you can be certain that there will be a full scale  attempt to steal the election, as they did in 2016. Don't believe all the propaganda that Trump won fair and square. The election was stolen in republican controlled Wisconsin and Michigan, where the absentee ballots in many democratic areas were dumped without being counted, just as they were in Florida in 2000. It is critical that we gain control of the State Houses as well, because that is where a lot of mischief originates. That is the source of the gerrymandering we see all over the country. If we gain control of the State Houses, we can correct the gerrymandered districts that make it possible for a minority party to control so many seats.

Coincidentally, this is the first step to repealing Citizens United. That would make it possible to get a vote In congress to impeach Trump. Unfortunately, there is no path at this time to get enough votes in the Senate  to get a conviction. It would take two thirds vote in both the House and Senate to convict. Just gaining control of the house would help a lot in controlling Trump, though. It would also help in setting up the second part of the path to repeal of Citizens United.

That would occur in the 2020 election, when we could vote Trump out along with many Senators who would be up for reelection at that time. Then, under a new Attorney General, he could be arrested as a private citizen for the crimes he has committed, along with the republicans in the Congress who have aided and abetted him in his attack on America. That would be much better than impeachment, which has no jail time, even if convicted. With the charges of treason, money laundering, tax evasion, and untold other crimes, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

After we take our country back, the next step would be have a constitutional convention, where the States could vote to repeal Citizens United.. It would require a two thirds vote to repeal it, but it is possible. Meanwhile, we must fight as hard as we can to vote out the scoundrels. They are armed with untold billions of dollars to propagandize Americans. It is a shame, but unfortunately, it works. The more lies they spread over the air waves, the more apt they are to be believed. Trump knows this. That is why he repeats his outlandish statements every day. After all, he has been taught by a KGB master of manipulation.

That is why we have set up Citizens United to Repeal Citizens United. The only way to combat the lies they will be spouting all over the airwaves, is to bombard them with the truth. That will take a lot of money. We are only asking for small donations from as many Indivisible members as possible. Using the Bernie Sanders principal. we will not accept money from big business or billionaires, except for maybe Tom Steyer. Since it would be impossible to match them dollar for dollar, we will concentrate on areas where we do have a chance to win, not wasting money on hopeless causes. I do believe that this is our only hope, and as one of our forefathers so aptly put it, "We must,indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly, we shall all hang separately". That is the dire circumstance that we are now in.

To  DONATE CLICK  https://secure.actblue.com/donate/citizens-united-to-repeal-citizens-united-1

Many people think that after the Mueller probe, Donald Trump will be impeached, and just go away. This is wishful thinking, and nothing can be further from the truth.
For this to happen, you would have to have a two thirds majority of liberal democrats in the Congress and Senate. This cannot happen in the midterm elections. There are just not enough republicans in the Senate, who are up for  reelection in the midterms, to get the numbers needed to convict. So, Trump will be in office until at least 2020. Mueller cannot indict Trump on criminal charges.

Since Mueller can only inform Congress  that Trump has committed criminal acts that are impeachable, they would probably not vote to impeach, because they have a majority. You have seen how they have stuck with Trump throughout this debacle that he has created. They must stick with him now, because most of them who are on the intelligence committees have committed criminal acts that leave them open for charges of  obstruction of justice.

Our only way to save this Democracy, is to pursue a course that could eventually lead to the repeal of the disastrous  Citizens United decision by the John Roberts Supreme Court. That course would begin with an all out attempt to remove as many republicans from office as possible in the mid terms. This will not be as easy as one might think. The republicans have billions of dollars in the coffers, both secret dark money from Russians and others. Then we have the millions from the Koch Brothers, and other American oligarchs like Sheldon Adelson. These men think that since they have made tremendous fortunes in America, this gives them the right to rule America. The Supreme Court has decided that spending money in political campaigns is free speech, so the very rich have much more free speech than the average person. That is not what our forefathers intended. It is our duty to make sure that this won't stand. We can either join together to fight them on their terms, which is with political action, or we will eventually have to fight them in the streets, to regain our freedom. The only other option is to live with them as our masters.

If democrats could take the midterms, then they could prevent Trump from pushing some of his most disastrous actions against our government. We could then prevent him from appointing people for government positions where they pursue policies that go against the purpose of the agency they run. This would just be a holding action however. In the 2020 elections, 33 republicans will be up for reelection, with just 12 democrats. That is the critical election, because if the democrats take back the Senate in that election, along with the Presidency, we will be able to start reconstructing our Democracy. We would then have the votes to convene a constitutional convention, which would be able to repeal The Citizens United Decision. It is this decision that has created this whole mess we are in.

This is the only course that will save us. We must work like we have never before to save ourselves from these despots who wish to enslave us. It is for this purpose, that I have formed a political committee, registered with the FEC, to collect funds to counter the intense political advertising that we will soon see in the midterms. We must counter their massive efforts in the critical states where democrats are at risk. Not talked about so much, are the Gubernatorial elections in 2018. Their are 36 governorships up for election. They are absolutely critical, because in 2020 the redistricting of voting districts will convene. It is our only chance to correct the gerrymandering that the republicans have engaged in.  The governors have veto power over this process. This means, that if we elect democrats,  they can insure that there is fair redistricting.  As you can see, there are many critical aspects to our political process that are occurring shortly. If we just assume that every thing will be alright, and that Americans will see the truth about where our nation is headed, then we are lost. Please join with me on this mission to save this beautiful, though not quite perfected country that we love. If you wish to join me, I will soon  provide information on how you  can join this campaign, should you wish . Thank you for your attention to this effort.

Sincerely.
Charles Haynes
Member, Indivisible East Hillsborough

Why Citizens United must be repealed.

It should be obvious to every American citizen, that since our Supreme court saw fit to allow every billionaire, Oligarch, and criminal enterprise to pour money into our political system, our country has  been coming apart at the seams. That is the purpose of Citizens United. It is to destroy our democracy. This is the nature of greed.  Greed hates seeing others prosper. Greed feels that anything that another possesses, has been taken from them. And greed, when presented the opportunity that it has been given by the John Roberts' cabal in the Supreme Court, will make this country a dictatorship. Even worse, it will be a dictatorship under the new Soviet Union.

What do I mean by that? It is obvious that Vladimir Putin is one of the greediest men on the planet. He is not only greedy for money(he is now the richest man on earth, without earning one honest ruble.), he also has an insatiable lust for power. He is rapidly  hacking his way across Europe, subverting the political systems of the former members of the Soviet Union. He is  doing the same to members of NATO, including the United States. And all the while, we are just sitting back, thinking that Robert Mueller is going to save us from this. Robert Mueller is not going to do anything to Trump, even if he finds out that Trump has conspired with Putin to subvert our electoral system. The only thing he can do, is report to congress what he has on Trump. I bet Trump is really frightened by that. Do you think this congress will impeach Trump? To the man, they have voted with Trump on every issue, no matter how badly it hurts the average citizen. Do you know why? It all goes back to Citizens United.

Citizens United allows any amount of money to be given by anyone without having to reveal who the donor is. A lot of this dark money is finding it's way into accounts and real estate deals that these congressmen can access at a later date. Why do you think so many of them are bailing out of congress right now. They know they are going to be taken care of, and they think if they are no longer in congress, they will not be charged with obstruction of justice for their attempts to disrupt Mueller's investigation. It all goes back to the greed factor. Everyone has their price, and Putin knows he can pay that price. Particularly since,a lot of  it is money stolen from the coffers of Russia, and  laundered in the West. Foreign money is illegal if given to a campaign,even if it is not laundered money. Do you think under those circumstances, that money coming from Putin or other dictators could be traced? If you do not know who is giving it, how do you know if it is an American or not. There is so much dirty laundry money coming into this country, that many are selling out. But the most serious sell out is this. Many Americans are burying their heads in the sand, because we find it unpleasant to think about these things. It is a fact that Trump has conspired with Putin to subvert our election process and gain control of this Country. It is a fact that many members of congress are a part of this conspiracy. It is a fact that the election was stolen in Wisconsin and Michigan when Republican polling workers discarded enough absentee ballots after the polls were closed to give the electoral vote to Trump. This is why the Russians had hacked into  the voting machines in certain states without changing the vote.  What they wanted to know was in what states would the election be close enough, that they could swing it by dumping votes from blue districts.  In those voting districts, they could discard enough democratic absentee ballots to swing the electoral college vote. They really didn't have to hack the machines though. The polls taken the day before the election would have given them all the info they needed. In all fifty states, there were only three states where the candidate who was predicted to win the state did not win that state. Those states were Michigan , Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Quite a coincidence, huh? In those states, Clinton was one or two points up, and she lost by one or two points. They only had to swing 70,000 votes total to win the election. Also, there were two states where the polls were tied the day before. They were Florida and North Carolina. Trump won those states by two points. That is what happened in the two thousand presidential election where Bush won over Gore. There were thousands of absentee ballots dumped in Palm Beach county Florida, more than enough to give the election to Bush. It is impossible to know how many elections have been won like this.

Since no one seems concerned about this, what is to prevent it from happening again in November? I think it is time get interested. I have never lived under a dictatorship, but I have studied enough history to know, that very few countries ever come back from it, once they have allowed freedom to slip away. I also know that it can be very unpleasant living under the boot of a tyrant. We Americans are very spoiled by the cushy democracy that our forefathers created for us, and other patriots have died for over the years. If we are so spoiled that we cannot be concerned about what is happening right before our eyes, then there will probably be a lot more patriots having to die for our freedom, with no guarantee that it can be won back. While there are many examples of this for us to learn from, the most glaring example occurred not to long ago.

In 1932, Adolph Hitler ran against Paul von Hindenberg for the presidency of  Germany. Hitler lost with 36% of the popular vote, while von Hindenburg had about 56% of the vote. Most of Hitler's followers had a fascist tendency, a leaning that I feel  the approximate 36% who follow Trump also have. I'm not saying they are all fascist. Many are just followers and bullies, and some are Evangelical  southerners who feel their ancestors got a raw deal in the Civil War. Also, their are some who think if a man shows a lot of swagger, he must be a good leader. Anyway,You would think that with a loss by 20% of the vote, you would not have heard any more from Herr Hitler. However, he did have this group behind him who had a tendency toward violence. These were  the people who formed the Brown shirts, and later the SS and the Gestapo. Hitler used them to intimidate and frighten the opposition. They also gained control over the press. Hitler used this minority group to gain control over the country, and everyone knows where it went from there. Look around. Can you see the tendencies toward this in our country. If you can't, then go back to sleep. If you can, then you should start thinking about what you can do about it. The logical start would be to repeal Citizens United. The easiest way would be if we had enough liberal members of the Supreme Court who would vote to repeal it. Unfortunately we don't have that, and we won't have that for a long time, particularly, if Trump becomes president for life. Realistically, it would probably be twenty years before liberals could take over the court, even with Trump out of the picture.

So, how do we rid ourselves of this scourge on our society? The only way that it can be done, would be with an amendment to our Constitution. I think our forefathers would approve, since there is no way they could have conceived that a Supreme court would be so depraved as to deliberately destroy our democracy. I'm sure if they could have imagined it, they would have felt that the citizenry would have revolted, and would cause great harm to the perpetrators of this atrocity. However, it is not easy to amend the Constitution, which in the long run, might be a good thing. To create an amendment to the constitution, it requires that two thirds of the House and Senate vote for it. This cannot happen right now, even with a blue wave in the midterm. There are only eight Republican Senators up for reelection, and they are in deep red states. I wonder how that happened? Also the Democrats have twenty seats up for reelection. Even though they are in fairly blue states, it is possible they could lose a seat or two. So, a Constitutional convention will not happen.

The only other way to get it repealed is for two thirds of the states to vote for a constitutional convention. They could then vote to overturn Citizens United. As you can see, this would be a monumental task.   It would require that we have a tremendous outpouring of citizen's indignation at what is happening in our country.No matter what, we must at least regain the House, and hopefully the Senate. We cannot be confident that it will be easy, even with the blatant destruction of our government. You can never be sure the election will not be rigged. We must do everything we can to prevent this. Let your election board know that you will demand an audit of the absentee ballots, to make sure they are all counted in a close race. Absentee ballots in larger voting districts, such as big cities, are usually stored in a warehouse, until election day. In more rural areas, they are stored at the polling place. These votes are usually not counted until after the votes at the polling places are counted. I find that unusual, Wouldn't it make sense to count them the day before the election, when polling workers are not busy. For some reason, they prefer to count them in the dead of night, when no one is around.The people doing the counting can disqualify any absentee ballot they deem damaged, incomplete, or for about any reason they choose. They may not be counted at all, if it is determined that there would not be enough absentee votes to change the election in that district.  If it is a close vote, they would be counted after the polls close, usually without polling observers present. It is amazing that this little detail can still change an election. Let's fix this America.

 The first thing we must do is get out as many voters as possible. Get good honest candidates to take on these Trumpies. Expose them for what they are We know that they have many of the same characteristics as those who propelled Hitler to power.The purpose of  Citizens United to repeal Citizens United is to take on the big money that is Taking over our government. We must fight fire with fire, or in this case, money with money. The Koch Brothers have pledged a half billion dollars in ads to beat the democrats. While I know we  probably could not raise nearly that much, if we place our ads strategically, and take on those that we have a chance to beat, we could make a big difference. One thing we have are our brothers and sisters at all the Indivisible organizations, of whom I'm a proud member. Also, the beautiful young people who have stood up against gun violence, and the ME TOO organization, and all the other groups who have stood up against racism, fascism, Trumpism, and all the other ism's that are dragging our nation down. It is our intention to help fund these groups as we organize a grass roots movement that will take our country back from the gates of Hell.

There is one thing that we must do though. We must stand together under one banner, to wage this fight. So many times in the past, we have gone into important elections, with all the different factions supporting their issues, and ignoring the big picture.  The Big Picture,  is joining together to remove the fascist element from our Congress, our Senate, and our State Houses. When we do that, we can make progress on the issues that delay our Forefather's vision of this nation maturing to the point that all people are equal in the eyes of all it's citizens.  While an inability to rise to this promise of equality has been humankind's condition for as long as we have a history of our behavior,  America is probably the worlds best hope for achieving these ideals. We must not let this Democracy die under the boot of a tyrant. Let us stand together to save it. To help support our uphill battle to repeal citizens united, you can donate at  https://secure.actblue.com/donate/citizens-united-to-repeal-citizens-united-1