By any objective standards, the Trump presidency has been a Grade-A clusterf**ck. The Administration's swamp full of "the best people" proves to be more corrupt every day. The number of uninsured Americans is rapidly ballooning. We have surrendered our leadership of the Free World. Dictators have a friend in the White House. The US has gone into deep hock in order to give billionaires a huge tax break. It couldn't get any worse, could it?
Well, maybe. A new Ebola outbreak has been reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There have already been 34 confirmed or suspected cases. WHO has sent an experimental vaccine to the area. Volunteer medical personnel are trying to contain the emergency.
So far, the outbreak is nowhere nearly as large as the 2014-2016 epidemic in west Africa. In that tragic episode, which hit Guinea, Sierra Leon, Liberia, and Nigeria, 28,000 people were infected and 11,000 died of the disease. With massive financial help from the rest of the world and the efforts of thousands of brave medical workers, the epidemic was finally stopped.
The American response to this earlier epidemic was admirable. Over 3,000 US DOD and health workers were sent to the affected counties to provide training to local healthcare workers, construct fifteen Ebola treatment units, help track transmission routes, and distribute tons of medical and relief supplies. The US donated more than $2.4 billion in Ebola response activities.
Strong leadership from then-President Obama and quick action from Congress to provide emergency funds helped to make a potentially horrible scenario a lot less tragic. These actions show us how a great country responds to an international medical emergency.
At a time that today's new Ebola crisis cries-out for American leadership, we have the worst possible person occupying the White House. Given Trump's past statements, we can hardly expect that America will lead international efforts to stop the new epidemic.
As part of an effort to renege on a passed and signed spending bill, the Trump administration announced last week that they want to claw-back $252 million in money earmarked for combating Ebola outbreaks.
But cutting funding for fighting Ebola isn't all. During the 2014-16 epidemic, Trump clearly showed us how he feels about US leadership in fighting these outbreaks. In a series of 100 tweets, Trump showed us that he would have no intention of sending US troops to lead international relief efforts. He would abandon the heroic US doctors and nurses who risk their lives to help others. He would close the borders, cowering behind his little wall while the rest of the world is consumed by a global pandemic. Here are just a few examples of Trump's thoughts on how to deal with an Ebola crisis:
Tropical African countries are at the epicenter of the deadly Ebola outbreaks. These countries are poor and need resources to fight the Ebola scourge. The US can and should provide massive aid and personnel to help extinguish the outbreaks. Stopping the disease as soon as it appears is much preferred to waiting until it goes global.
However, we have a President who is attempting to cut monies allocated to battle Ebola. We have a President who dismisses the afflicted countries as "shit-holes". We have a cowardly President who thinks that we should abandon the brave healthcare workers who travel to help others. At a time that the world needs strong American leadership on this crisis, we have the paranoid, "America First" Trump. This is not normal. This is not right.
Donald Trump has debased the office of President more than anyone in modern times. Just one example is his constant use of grade school nicknames for political opponents. "Crooked" Hillary, "Little" Marco, "Liddle" Bob Corker, "Lyin' " Ted, "Pocohantas" Warren,"Crazy" Bernie, "Low-Energy" Jeb, and "Cryin' " Chuck Schumer are just a few cases of Trump's juvenile name calling.
With his moronic insults, Trump has single-handedly opened the floodgates of vile political discourse. But turn-about is fair play. People now feel free to, in turn, call the President himself any one of a number of insulting nicknames. An internet search reveals many lists of funny nicknames for the President. No single one has stuck, but most folks seem to have their favorite.
The most obvious trumpian traits for mockery include his bizarre skin color, his severe comb-over, his lack of morals, his childish temperament, his affinity for dictators, his desire to send others into battle, and his overwhelming stupidity. People seem to avoid other prominent trumpian traits in inventing nicknames for the Donald, including his gross obesity, his multiple marriages, his bigotry, and his constant lying.
The most popular Trump nicknames pertain to his non-human skin color. He seems to think that spray-tanning himself some shade of orange looks natural. "Angry Pumpkin", "Dork a L'Orange", and "The Orange Shit-gibbon" have all been used. "The Angry Creamsicle", "Agent Orange", and "Cheddar Boy" are popular. Others have called Trump "The Orange Slug", "The Tangerine Tornado", "The Talking Yam", and "The Banana Republican". Never one to hold back, Rosie O'Donnell has called called him "The Orange Anus" and a "Human Shit-Stain".
Trump loves him some Putin. And Erdogan . And Xi Jinping. In fact, Trump admires most despots and dictators. His own authoritarian tendencies figure into quite a few of his nicknames, including "Mein Trumph", "Genghis Can't", "Twitler", and "Hillbilly Hitler".
Some of the most popular nicknames combine Trump's artificial skin color with reference to his disturbing hero-worship of dictators, leading to "Minute-Maid Mao" and "Orange Caligula". Combine that with his uncanny resemblance to the Italian dictator and you get "Mango Mussolini", "Cheeto Benito", "Fanta Fascist", and "Il Douche".
Trump goes to great lengths to try to hide his baldness. The pompously-vain man actually thinks the weasel on his head looks good. This has led to nicknames such as "Hair Furor", "The Human-Toupee Hybrid", "Comb-over Con-Artist", "The Comb-over Kid", and "The Bouffant Buffoon."
Another Trump trait is his child-like temper. The leader of the Free World flies off the handle at the slightest provocation. A three-year-old has a steadier disposition. This has led to nicknames such as "Man-Baby", "The 70-Year-Old Toddler", "The Sophomoric Sniveler", "Trumpelthinskin", "Prima-Donald", and "The Bald-Faced Crier".
Multiple medical deferments kept Trump out of Vietnam. Being a veteran should no more be a requirement of our President than experience in law, farming, accounting, or science. However, Trump's infatuation with military parades and his tendency to send soldiers into harm's way on a whim open him up to ridicule. This has led to Trump nicknames like "Cadet Bonespurs" and "4-F5".
Trump is one of the stupidest men to ever occupy the Oval Office. Several clever nicknames reflect that fact, including: "Dolt 45", "IQ45", "Forrest Trump", "The White Kanye", and "Dumb Corleone".
Trump lacks a moral compass. His business record is sleazy. For example, he has been sued 3,500 times for stiffing contractors and non-payment of wages. Many popular trumpian nicknames refer to that fact. He has been cleverly called "Darth tax eVader", "Don the Con", "The Man of Steal", "Donnie Darko", "The Grifter-in-Chief", and "Boss Tweet".
Still other nicknames refer to his sleazy personal life, including "Donnie Tic-Tac", "The Mango Molester", "King Leer", "The Assaulter-in-Chief", and "Jack the Gripper". Making history as the first President with both a fixer and an alias, he has been referred to by some as "President Dennison".
In addition to the multitude of clever insults of Trump, there are several very appropriate anagrams of Trump's name. I especially like: "Adult Porn MD", "Lord Dampnut", and "Dotard n' Lump". But the prize goes to: "Damn Turd Pol".
In the new politics of the Trump Age, personal insults are fair game. Donald Trump loves to call his political opponents names, and he has opened himself up for reciprocation. There are many clever names for the President that play on his spray-tan, his comb-over, his love of authoritarianism, his militarism, his legendary stupidity, and his lack of morals. No single popular nickname has emerged from the pack, but we are still early in Trump's single four-year term. What is your favorite?
A good way to get a Trumpista's head to explode is to state the fact that there were no major scandals during President Obama's eight years in office. Obama recently stated that this is something of which he is especially proud. There were no grand juries investigating the executive branch. No FBI investigations of massive wrongdoing. No pardoning of White House aides. No indictments of Cabinet members.
Sure, there were many imaginary Obama "scandals" that only gained traction in the Fox/Breitbart/Red State/Newsmax/Alex Jones/Rush Limbaugh media bubble. Benghazi TM, Fast & Furious, Uranium One , and IRS-gate come to mind. But none of these were actual scandals. After careful examination by reputable reporters, none of these silly kerfuffles were found to merit the term "scandal".
But the lack of any actual scandals during the Obama Presidency did not keep the far-right media from generating false controversies. Let's compare some of the real scandals of the first fifteen months of the Trump Presidency with what happened during Obama's eight years in office:
Trump's Attorney General lied during a Congressional hearing about his contacts with Russia. In a letter, he lied about justifications for firing James Comey. Obama's Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, took intense right-wing heat for speaking to former President Clinton on an airplane.
Donald Trump, Jr met with Russians and corresponded with Wikileaks' Julian Assange. Ivanka Trump received coveted Chinese trademarks for her business on the day after she dined with the Chinese President. Obama's daughters were condemned for wearing their dresses way too high.
Trump had extramarital affairs with a porn star and a Playboy bunny and paid them to keep it quiet. Obama was ridiculed by the right for wearing "mom jeans".
Melania Trump worked in the US illegally before getting her work visa. A promised press conference on the topic never happened. Mrs. Trump posed for naked pictures (link NSFW) in British GQ Magazine. Michelle Obama suffered brutal attacks from the right because of her efforts to improve school lunches and for wearing sleeveless dresses.
Trump said some of the Nazi marchers in Virginia were "very fine people". Obama was accused by the right of inciting a "war on cops" when he spoke-out on the national problem of black people being killed by police.
Trump and his companies have been slapped with legal suits 3,500 times for stiffing contractors and non-payment of wages. Obama was derided for wearing a tan suit.
Trump has played golf at least 102 times since taking office. At his current rate, Trump would play golf 772 times over the course of an eight year (dear God, no!) period. The right wing media frequently criticized Obama for playing golf. Obama played only 333 rounds over eight years.
Trump claimed that John McCain is not a hero because he had been a POW. Trump proceeded to attack a Gold Star family. Obama was crucified by the right as unpatriotic for saluting a Marine while holding a coffee cup in his hand.
Trump leaked classified information to Russian dignitaries during an Oval Office visit. Trump's leak may have jeopardized the life of an Israeli intelligence operative. Obama sent shock waves through the right-wing world when he propped his foot on the Oval Office desk.
Trump defends dictator Vladimir Putin, no matter what. Just this week, he congratulated Putin for winning his county's Potemkin election. He refuses to criticize Putin for attacking one of our closest allies. He has ignored Congress' call for sanctions on Russia for interfering in our elections. Obama was bashed by the right for ceremonial bows to the Saudi King and the Emperor of Japan.
Trump was issued a court summons for violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution. Obama was lampooned by right wing pundits for spending too much time on his NCAA basketball brackets.
Trump's Cabinet is a herd of hogs at the taxpayer trough. His Treasury Secretary spent a million dollars on air fare in nine months. His HUD secretary spent $35,000 on an office dining room set. His EPA Chief spent $25,000 on a "cone of silence". His HHS head resigned in disgrace because he was too good to fly with the hoi polloi in commercial aircraft. Obama's Secretary of State used the wrong server for her e-mails.
We are now living in in a whole different world. The days that major presidential "scandals" involved the First Lady's wardrobe choices and the President's March Madness bracket picks are over. In just the first fifteen months, the Trump Administration has made serious scandal a daily occurrence. This is not normal.
I have seldom agreed with Jim Sensenbrenner on issues. However, I never questioned his devotion to America or his patriotism. Until now.
Sensenbrenner is right in the middle of the Nunes memo scandal. The memo, written by the staff of Congressman Devin Nunes, unveils classified information for a blatantly political purpose. It is a clumsy ruse to cast doubt on the motivations of law enforcement agents at the FBI. It is a ploy to end an investigation of the meddling in our elections by a hostile foreign power.
The memo seeks to bully the FBI into submission. It tries to convince us that the FBI has no right to investigate collusion of the Trump campaign with agents of Russia. In a tweet this morning, Trump chimed-in, "The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans ... "
Our own Congressman is not innocent in this attempt to subvert American sovereignty and rule-of-law. Like many others in the GOP, Jim Sensenbrenner has piled-on to harm the reputation of the FBI. On January 19th, he signed a letter to Nunes to release the memo. A copy of Sensenbrenner's appeal to release classified information can be found here.
Sensenbrenner's letter, cosigned by sixty-three other House Republicans (but not a single Democrat) stated "This important memo will be of interest to anyone who cares about America and our democratic system of government. We are writing to request the immediate release of this document to the public, as well as any relevant ancillary information. The audience of this document should not be limited to members of Congress -the American people deserve to know the information it contains."
In a January 19 press release, Sensenbrenner implied wrong-doing on the part of the FBI, saying "The American people deserve to know the full extent of any surveillance abuses by the intelligence community. This memo should be released publicly so that we can begin to restore trust in government.”
The Nunes memo selectively discusses the FISA warrants for FBI surveillance of Trump foreign policy adviser, Carter Page. This man was identified as a Russian asset during investigation of a Russian spy ring in New York City. Page later gave an anti-American speech in Moscow. With his deep involvement with a Presidential campaign, it was no wonder he was under FBI surveillance. The agency would be remiss if Page wasn't being watched.
The odd thing is, Sensenbrenner asked for release of the memo that impugns the integrity of federal law enforcement without actually reading the memo. He had no idea of what sensitive classified information he was calling to be divulged.
Just last Sunday, at a Germantown town hall meeting, Sensenbrenner claimed that he had not read the memo. In response to a question, he said, " Now, have I seen it? No. And the reason for that is, if I saw it, I couldn't talk about it. And when it is released, I want to be able to talk about it." So the Congressman was clamoring to have a memo released, while having no idea what it contained. (13:13)
During the same meeting, Sensenbrenner further expressed his endorsement of the GOP's war on the FBI, saying, "I think there's some problems at the top of the FBI that need to be addressed, because I don't think that the FBI should ever become a political police force." (10:10) Sensenbrenner does have some power to bully the FBI. He is a member of the Judiciary Committee, the group that oversees the agency.
In his blind devotion to the President, Jim Sensenbrenner has jumped on the crazy train. He has bought into the wildest conspiracy theories of the far right. He is putting his crumbling party over our beloved country. His reckless partisan actions in attacking law enforcement are beyond the pale. He no longer acts for the good of America. He must be replaced in November.
Each December, the staff at Radio Free W.O.W. selects the biggest Political Winners and Losers of the past year. 2017 has been an incredibly busy year in the political arena. We had little difficulty in identifying Losers in this Walker/Ryan/Trump era. Winners were a little harder to come by. Here are our nominees:
Losers- The 8,900,000 American children who count on the Children's Health Program (CHIP) to access medical care and the 700,000 Dreamers who face deportation to countries they don't know. All are still waiting on Congress to do something about their situation.
Winners-The children of Wisconsin after Tony Evers won the State Superintendent race with 70% of the vote. The only areas carried by his wack-a-doo opponent, Lowell Holtz, were (sadly) my own Washington County and adjacent Waukesha County.
Loser- Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke. Clarke was a regular fixture at far-right events. Known for a chest full of cereal-box medals, cowboy hat, and deaths at his jail. Clarke gave definition to the term "snowflake" when he had his deputies detain a man who looked at him meanly.
Winners- Lovers of the English language. 2017 politics popularized a number of formerly obscure and interesting terms like emoluments, dotard, collusion, narcissist, the Dunning-Kruger effect, and cofeffe.
Losers-The 58 people killed in October's Las Vegas shooting. The 26 people killed at a church in rural Texas in November. The other 14,683 Americans killed by gun violence in 2017. The 29,893 Americans injured in 2017 by gun violence. Still, Congress only offers thoughts and prayers instead of real solutions.
Winners- Foxconn executives for getting an unsophisticated rube of a governor to give them a cool $3 billion to locate a plant in southeast Wisconsin. This is the largest public subsidy to a foreign company in US history.
Loser- American leadership in world. We alienated our closest allies (Canada, Mexico, UK, France, Germany, Australia) while sucking-up to dictators (Russia, China, Turkey, Philippines). We ceded moral leadership by dropping-out of the Paris Accord. We alienated Arab friends with the move of our embassy to Jerusalem.
Winners- All of the comedians who have given us a bit of comic relief in these trying political times. Special kudos to Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Samantha Bee, Alec Baldwin, Anthony "the Mooch" Scaramucci, Melissa McCarthy, Omorosa Manigault, and Randy Rainbow.
Losers- The tiki-torch-carrying, polo-shirt-wearing Nazi wannabes who marched in Virginia in August. Of course, Trump thinks that some of them are good people.
Winners- Billionaires. The ultra-rich usually win, but their wholesale purchase of Congress is paying-off big-time. They are getting a huge tax break, despite what it will do to the middle class and to the national debt.
Losers- All of the politicians who betrayed the public trust by acting in sexually inappropriate ways. US Senator Al Franken, Senate candidate Roy Moore, Rep. John Conyers, Rep. Blake Farenthold, Rep. Trent Franks, and Rep. Joe Barton are the latest examples to come to light. One of the worst violators still occupies the Oval Office.
Winner-Robert Mueller, for assembling a top-notch team of investigators. They are carrying-out a thorough and impeccably honest investigation of interference in US elections by a hostile foreign government. Four solid indictments down and many more to follow.
Losers-The hardworking taxpayers of Wisconsin who were forced to pay $245 million for school vouchers and another $12 million for tuition tax credits to send other people's children to private, mostly religious, schools.
Winners- Democrats in deep red regions. Whether in W.O.W. counties, Indiana, or Texas, dedicated Democrats everywhere are making a difference. We always have an impact on purple-state statewide races. Sometimes, we can even pull-off an upset, as in the Virginia and Oklahoma legislature elections or the Alabama US Senate race!
Loser- Donald Trump, who showed that he has very weak political influence. His heavily-endorsed gubernatorial candidate in Virginia lost. His heavily-endorsed primary candidate for Alabama Senate lost. His heavily-endorsed general election candidate for Alabama Senate lost. Is there a pattern here?
Winners- The Washington Post, The New York Times, Politico, and the few other media outlets that still conduct investigative reporting. You are needed now, more than ever.
Losers- The 3.5 million people of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands who suffered from September's Hurricane Maria. FEMA's weak response was a national disgrace. The islands did, however, get badly needed paper towels. We also were amazed to discover that they are islands in the middle of the ocean.
Winners- People of the resistance. Millions of American patriots who were awakened by the most granny-starving, hate-filled, rights-restricting agenda the country has ever seen. They raised their voices through the Woman's March, the March for Science, airport rallies, taking a knee during the National Anthem, calling Congressional offices, knocking doors for candidates, and participating in town halls. America is now woke.
I never thought that I would say this, but thank you, Mr. Trump ! Because of your recent actions to sabotage the Affordable Care Act, I will get my health insurance for free in 2018.
My wife and I can be considered an Obamacare success story. We are both retired, but not quite old enough for Medicare. For the last four years, we have purchased insurance through the Federal ACA Exchange. Each year, our retirement income was too high for cost-sharing subsidies, but we kept our IRA income low enough (<4 times the poverty rate) to qualify for tax credits at the end of the year .
Thanks to the ACA, our insurance costs have stayed comparatively low. The available tax credits are based on the Second Lowest Cost Silver Plan (SLCSP) for each county's exchange. In the interest of saving money, we have always bought one of the less-expensive, higher deductible Bronze Plans.
After tax credits, our monthly out-of-pocket costs for insurance for 2014-17 has averaged $400/month. That is substantially less than we paid for similar insurance before implementation of the exchanges. Thank you, President Obama!
Of course, we signed-up again for 2018 coverage. It was fast and easy to re-enroll online at https://www.healthcare.gov/. We did not need help, but telephone operators are available for those who do. But if you also plan to get your 2018 insurance through the Exchanges, please hurry ! Open enrollment ends on December 15 this year.
Several companies, including the carrier we used from 2014 through 2017, dropped out of our exchange for 2018. In Washington County, we went from a choice of 41 plans in 2017 to just 20 plans (offered by three companies) for next year. Both Anthem and Molina cited the "uncertainties" in Washington as their reason for exiting the Exchange. This was a polite way of saying that Trump and his HHS Secretary have been purposely sabotaging the law.
There are certainly fewer choices this year than in the past. Still, the Marketplace is thriving, despite the moronic "Obamacare is dead!" bleating from the Saboteur-in-Chief.
Trump has done everything he can to kill Obamacare. He refused to allow the Government to spend funds allotted for publicizing the Exchanges. He has cut the enrollment window in half. He has berated Obamacare at every opportunity, often confusing many into believing that the program no longer exists. Worst of all, he has played politics with the lives of Americans by reneging on the law's Cost Sharing subsidies (CSR) provision.
CSR helped especially poor people afford insurance. It remitted money directly to the insurance companies in exchange for lower rates on Silver plans they bought on the Exchanges. After Trump welched on the government's payments, the insurance companies were still legally required to provide the lower rates to poorer people. In order to stay out of a Trump-induced bankruptcy, most of the remaining exchange insurance providers drastically raised the prices of their Silver plans.
The huge Trump-caused price increases only affected Silver plans. For examples, the Bronze plan that we selected for 2018 is only 16% more than the similar Bronze plan that we had in 2017. In contrast, the Second Lowest Cost Silver Plan (SLCSP) for 2018 is a whopping 67% higher than the SLCSP for 2017.
With our Bronze plan increasing by just 16%, and the SLCSP, upon which federal tax credits are based, increasing by 67%, we will end-up paying zero dollars for our Bronze plan. That is correct. We will get free health insurance in 2018. Through his ham-handed efforts to kill the Affordable Care Act, Trump has inadvertently made insurance much cheaper, or even free for many of us. Thank you, Mr. Trump !
The destruction of labor unions has long been a goal of the extreme right. In almost every GOP-controlled state, legislation has been passed that weaken unions through Right-to-Freeload (RTF) rules.
While no employee can be forced to join a union in any state, unions must represent all workers in a unit. RTF laws allow some to refuse to pay for that representation. It allows some to freeload on the backs of their co-workers who diligently pay their dues.
RTF laws certainly weaken unions. The unionization rates in RTF states average only 8.1%, compared to 15.3% in states where workers pay the cost of their representation. Without strong unions, all workers in RTF states suffer, not just the unionized ones. Wages are lower, poverty is higher, and worker safety is poorer. For obvious reasons, these laws are often called "Right-to-Work-For-Less".
Workers in states that have not imposed RTF average 19% higher income than those in RTF states. Of the ten highest income states, not a single one has an RTF law on the books. Of the 12 states with the lowest average pay, 10 are RTF states.
But, it's not just pay. The weaker unions in RTF states cannot push as strongly for workplace safety. RTF states have a horrendous 50% higher rate of workplace-related deaths.
There are currently 28 states with RTF laws. The most recent states to impose these laws are Wisconsin (2015), West Virginia (2016), Kentucky (2017), and Missouri (2017, delayed for referendum). However, not content to bring economic ruin to just the red states, the extreme right is trying to cripple unions nationwide through the court system.
On Thursday, the US Supreme Court* agreed to hear a case brought by Mark Janus, an AFSCME-represented public employee in Illinois. Janus evidently feels put upon by the union and thinks that he is entitled to union protections without paying for them. The case is being bankrolled by the National Right-to-Work Foundation, as well as Liberty Justice Center, part of the Koch network.
The case will be heard early next year. A decision will be handed-down in late Spring or early Summer. If the case is decided broadly in Janus' favor, it will impose Right-to-Freeload on public-sector employees across the country. Such a decision will greatly weaken the labor movement and workers' rights in America.
The Court* is closely divided along ideological lines on the issue. A similar case was argued in early 2016, involving an employee and the California Teacher's Association. After the death of conservative demigod Anton Scalia, the Court* split 4-4 on the case. The death of Scalia, who would likely have decided against the union, brought a temporary break in the effort to implement RTF through the courts.
All last year, President Obama was denied his Constitutional right to name Scalia's replacement. In one of the most heinous and blatant power grabs in US history, the Republican Senate refused to even consider the President's moderate replacement nominee, Merrick Garland. This outright GOP theft of a Supreme Court seat leaves the legitimacy of the Court* in question for years.
However, Senate Republicans such as Mich McConnell and Ron Johnson wasted little time in breaking previous Senate rules to allow the new Republican president to confirm a nominee with only 51 votes. Getting his marching orders from the Federalist Society, Trump nominated a far-right ideologue, Neil Gorsuch for the post.
Based on his past record, there is little doubt that Gorsuch will join with the far-right majority to cast his stolen vote against worker's rights. There is no doubt that he will side with his corporate masters to weaken unions. There is no doubt that he will legislate a nation-wide RTF law from the bench.
One of my Facebook friends is an Illinois public sector worker. She has the conflicted position of being strongly pro-union, but voted for Trump. She is very worried about the pending case and how a negative decision will affect her future job security.
It never crossed her mind (or crossed the minds of the 37% of other union members who voted for Trump) that her candidate would act to weaken her voice in the workplace. It never occurred to her that her President would install the deciding Court* vote to kill her union.
