Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, January 28, 2017

B4

OPINION 

Mountain Views-News Saturday, January 28, 2017 


SUSAN Henderson

Mountain Views

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PASADENA CITY 
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Keely Toten

THINGS TO REPEAL 

AND REPLACE

Welcome to America 2017. A country that has become the laughing stock 
of the world and whose newly elected ‘leader’ appears to be incapable of 
understanding its own Constitution.

 Welcome to the land where, through trickery and deceit, a man, who 
(as evidenced in his own words on tape), lies as a sport, manipulates the 
unsuspecting and has determined that he, and he alone, can fix things. 
(He said that too during the campaign.)

 Welcome to the ‘Democracy’ that now has a Bully King aka 
Donald Trump whose behavior and actions you want to, need to shield 
impressionable young children and teens from.

 And welcome to a country that now seems willing to spend billions of your hard earned tax dollars 
on the things that don’t improve or protect the quality of life for Americans (election investigations on 
voter fraud, border walls, etc.) rather than spending those funds on repairing our educational system or 
fixing our roads or making certain that our agencies are doing what they can to assist in preventing the 
rising incidence of communicable diseases that we used to have under control – Measles, Mumps, et. 
al. (Where the money is going to come from is also very interesting since the Bully King is hell bent on 
cutting our sources of revenue by giving corporations a tax cut). That would be our new President. Cut 
the revenue and think about later what to replace it with.

 He is the King of Repeal and Replace. Environmental regulations, Regulations that protect 
communities from corporate irresponsibility (Can you say, Aliso Canyon), and the Affordable Care 
Act (Obamacare) which covers more than 20 million formely uninsured Americans, and much more. 
Whether it’s his massive ego or not, he clearly doesn’t seem to have a grip on what he should be focusing 
on. So, why not give him a list of things that really need to be Repealed and Replaced :

1. The Obvious Twosome -Donald J. Trump, Liar In Chief and Pence – Side Kick without a voice
2. Paul Ryan who resists wearing a T Shirt that says, “I can hardly wait!” (For Trump/Pence to fail)
3. Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader who knows the difference between Executive Orders 
created when Congress fails to act and Executive Orders issued because the President thinks his title is 
King.
4. Kevin McCarthy House Majority Leader and the rest of the 75% of Republicans that have never 
worked with a Republican Administration. (Hint: It’s ok to ‘Stand Your Ground’ when the President 
is out of order.)
5. All members of Congress who refuse to work with members of opposing parties in order to come up 
with solutions that work for EVERYONE.
6. Sean Spicer, White House mouthpiece who clearly has lost his credibility because he knows that 
repeating a lie doesn’t make it true.
7. Kelly Anne Conway…..where do we start…... I think she’s a repeal and don’t ever replace! Alternative 
Facts? Donald Trump makes himself look bad enough but when she tries to justify it she makes it worse.
8. The 2016 Election. Let’s just start over again without the fake news, the Russian Influence and the 
vitriol.
9. Repeal and Replace Article II Section 1 of the Constition:


The Qualifications for the Office of the President. Currently they are simply, “Age and Citizenship 
requirements - US Constitution, Article II, Section 1

. No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption 
of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that 
office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within 
the United States. 
10. AND REPLACE WITH: 
a. You must be a Natural Born Citizen of the United States (and define)
b. Be at least 35 years of age
c. Reside as a resident within the US for at least 14 years
d. BE MENTALLY COMPETENT as determined by a group of certified psychiatrists.
e. PASS A PERSONALITY EXAMINE to determine ability to distinguish fact from fiction and the 
ability to play well with others.
f. Pass a Maturity Test to see if you can get beyond name calling and being thin skinned.
g. BE A TAX PAYING CITIZEN AND PROVE IT.
h. HAVE BEEN ELECTED AND SERVED TO ITS COMPLETION AT LEAST ONE AT THE 
LOCAL AND STATE LEVEL.
i. Have a record of community service over and beyond elected Public Service.
j. Be a decent human being. 



ICYMI: 

 (In case you missed it – things that you probably want to know)

TRUMP’S EXTREME VETTING:

Trump is going to ban visa’s to travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, 
and Yemen. He’s NOT banning travel to Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Why is Saudi 
Arabia especially not on the list? “The hijackers in the September 11 attacks were 
19 men affiliated with al-Qaeda, and 15 of the 19 were citizens of Saudi Arabia. The 
others were from the United Arab Emirates (2), Egypt and Lebanon.” HmmmTrump 
has business ties with Saudi Arabia and Egypt. And what about Turkey if you’re going 
to institute bans? Oh yes, Trump also has business ties to Turkey. Go to: http://www.
huffingtonpost.com/entry/read-draft-text-trump-executive-order-muslim-entry_us_5
888fe00e4b0024605fd591d?0lwdu2cbey5htzkt9 and read the full story.


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LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN


DICK POLMAN


MAKING SENSE

MICHAEL REAGAN

WILL THE MEN IN THE WHITE 
COATS DRAG TRUMP AWAY?

Check out the 25th Constitutional Amendment. A vice 
president, working with a “majority of either the principle 
officers of the executive departments, or of such body as 
Congress may by law provide,” can remove the president for being “unable to 
discharge the powers and duties of his office.”

 Even the craven enabling Republicans would do well to read that provision, 
because the day may come when they’re finally compelled to acknowledge — in the 
national interest — that Trump is dangerously off his rocker. We’re only six days into 
this farce, and it’s obvious already. As conservative commentator Andrew Ferguson 
rightly points out, “the candidate who campaigned as a sociopath shows signs he may 
yet govern as one.”

 The latest reminder is Trump’s alternative fact about the election. At the tail end of 
November, he said he was robbed of a popular vote victory because millions of people 
had “voted illegally” for Hillary. It was just another baldfaced lie. He had zero evidence 
of massive voter fraud, just as he’d had zero evidence that Obama was foreign-born. 
We figured — foolish us — that Trump, with his attention deficit disorder, would 
simply forget the lie and find a new one. Which he did.

 But now he’s obsessing about it again, marinating anew in his delusion. We should 
not be surprised. Sick and twisted people do stuff like this.

 On Monday night, during a bipartisan meeting with congressional leaders, he stated 
that he lost the popular vote because three to five million people voted illegally. He 
offered no evidence of mass fraud, because there isn’t any. Then during a press briefing, 
propaganda minister Sean Spicer recited Trump’s alternative fact, and said it was “based 
on studies and evidence that people have presented to him.” The press asked: What 
studies? What evidence? Spicer replied: “Studies and information he has.”

 What studies? What information? Trump is apparently still fixated on a November 
story that was posted on Infowars, a tinfoil-hat website, which declared in a headline: 
“3 million votes in presidential election cast by illegal aliens.” Problem is, the story 
had no evidence. Plus, the guy who runs Infowars has stated on the record that the 
Sandy Hook elementary school massacre never happened.

 But Trump still won’t let it go, taking to Twitter to announce, “I will be asking for a 
major investigation into VOTER FRAUD.”

 Someone in the Justice Department should tell him that illegal voting on a massive 
scale is impossible to pull off without everyone noticing it on day one. Someone 
in Justice should remind him that when Jill Stein sought recounts shortly after the 
election, his own lawyers wrote: “All available evidence suggests that the 2016 general 
election was not tainted by fraud or mistake.” But he wouldn’t listen, because he 
doesn’t do irony.

 A few Republicans have roused themselves to protest Trump’s idiocy. Mike 
Huckabee, a big supporter, told Fox News Business Network, “I have no evidence 
whatsoever, and I don’t know that anyone does, that there are that many illegal people 
who voted ... I’m not sure why he brought it up.”

 Sen. Lindsey Graham had the most substantive rebuke. “I would urge the president 
to knock this off ... To continue to insist that the 2016 election was conducted in a 
fashion that millions of people voted illegally undermines faith in our democracy,” 
Graham said. “People are going to start doubting you as a person.”

 But, all too predictably, most Republicans reacted as if jelly had replaced their spines. 
In their lust to enact their long-stymied agenda (throwing people off Obamacare, 
gutting the EPA, etc.), they’re apparently prepared to indulge Trump’s serial lies and 
delusions.

 His temperament is already a burgeoning issue. The anecdotes are piling up. But 
what’s most remarkable about a recent Washington Post story about Trump’s first week 
in office is the ninth paragraph: “This account of Trump’s tumultuous first days in office 
comes from interviews with nearly a dozen senior White House officials and other 
Trump advisers and confidants, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to 
describe private conversations and moments.” In other words, Trump aides are already 
leaking like a sieve — to the free and independent press that Trump hates.

 So the question is: How long will Republicans indulge him before they man up to 
do their duty? Will they sit silent until he rants us to the brink of a needless war that 
could get a lot of people killed? This week’s “voter fraud” delusion is merely a toxic 
appetizer.

——-

 

 Copyright 2017 Dick Polman, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper 
syndicate. 

 Dick Polman is the national political columnist at NewsWorks/WHYY in Philadelphia 
(newsworks.org/polman) and a “Writer in Residence” at the University of Pennsylvania. 
Email him at dickpolman7@gmail.com.

CLIMATE ALARMISTS WILL 

MISS CALIFORNIA’S DROUGHT

 California’s drought which the New York Times characterized 
as “unending,” ended. This is good news for everyone other than Al Gore and his 
depressing band of climate Cassandras.

 Well the rains came after all to California and it was the answer to prayer for many 
citizens. For others the rain was a splash in the face, so to speak.

California’s seven-year drought came in very handy for climate conspirators. Their heat 
hysteria convinced gullible legislators that only by seizing control of the economy and 
tightening the noose of regulation around people’s lives could a weather wipeout be 
avoided.

 It didn’t matter that California is a semi-arid state and periodic droughts are part of 
the climate package. Past droughts are in the past. The one that was just concluded was 
here right now and could be used to beat the extreme weather, coming-doom drum.

 But now it’s rained on their parade. A drought the warmist New York Times 
characterized as “unending,” ended.

 The Daily Mail reports San Francisco hasn’t had this much rain in one storm since 
1982 during the bleak Reagan years. Since the first of the year the city has had 5.53 
inches of precipitation. The California Department of Water Resources calculates 
Northern California reservoirs have added one million acres of water to storage. (Why 
water storage is measured in terms of acres like land and not in terms of gallons like say, 
water, will remain a mystery to me.)

 Roy W. Spencer on his website has startling before-and-after satellite pictures of 
before rain and after rain California. The photos from 2014 look like Haiti without the 
Clintons, while the January 2017 shots look like California.

 One of the site’s contributors says reservoirs in the state are now at 113 percent of 
“historical average storage for this date.” This is good news for everyone other than Al 
Gore and his depressing band of climate Cassandras.

 What’s more, even though I know I’m taking a risk citing them as a source, CNN 
admits 42 percent of the state is now “drought free.” This is a big increase from last year’s 
3 percent.

 Of course, as I predicted here, rain hitting parched, dry land did result in some 
flooding. That’s the only bright spot for the alarmist crowd. Turning on a dime from 
calling a predictable drought “extreme weather” the climate Cassandras will now be 
trying to panic the populace over “extreme” flooding. [...]

Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan


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