Trump Wants To Be Immortalized (But Should Be Remembered For Treachery And Corruption)

The following is a post by former Labor Secretary Robert Reich:

Trump has ordered the U.S. Treasury to draft a $1 coin featuring him on both sides, for the purpose of “honoring America’s 250th Birthday and @POTUS,” according toTreasury officials. 

Meanwhile, Trump wants the Washington Commanders to name their planned $3.7 billion stadium after him. A senior White House source told ESPN: “It’s what the president wants, and it will probably happen.” Presumably, Trump’s name will be carved into a granite facade at the stadium’s entrance.

 

The giant $300 million ballroom that Trump is adding to the White House is called“the President Donald J. Trump Ballroom” on the list of donors to the project, and senior administration officials say the name is likely to stick.

Trump is moving to immortalize himself with his name etched into coins, carved into pediments, and inscribed into White House marble. He wants to glorify himself in the most permanent ways possible.

This is what fascist dictators do when in power. Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini built monuments to glorify themselves so they’d be exalted in history. 

Democracies don’t do this. They memorialize their heroes only after they’ve died, and only if the public wants them commemorated. 

Trump deserves to be remembered — but not as a hero. To the contrary: It is our solemn duty to ensure he is remembered for all that he has done and may still do to destroy American democracy. 

He must be remembered as the president who claimed without evidence that an election was “stolen” from him. Who then instigated a coup that included false electors, threats to state officials, and an assault on the U.S. Capitol that resulted in five deaths and injuries to 174 police officers. 

He should be remembered as the president who, after being reelected, tried to erase the nation’s memory of what he had done by pardoning 1,600 rioters who had been criminally convicted for participating in the Capitol attack and 77 people who had conspired with him to carry out the attempted coup. He called them all “patriots.” 

He must be remembered as the president who then usurped the powers of Congress. Who denied people due process of law. Who prosecuted his political opponents. Who violated international law by killing people he labeled enemy combatants. Who sent the military into American cities over the objections of their mayors and governors. And who openly and brazenly took bribes.

 

We must not allow Trump to erase this history with false tributes to himself, etched into silver, marble, or granite. 

Instead, after he is gone, a monument should be erected to remind future generations of Trump’s treachery and the treachery of officials who supported him. 

It would be a simple building constructed of iron and cement, containing the records of his attacks on democracy and the names of everyone who aided him. 

Over its doorway would be the words “Trump’s Treason.” 

It would be situated on the White House lawn where the Trump ballroom (since demolished) once stood. It would face Pennsylvania Avenue so that families visiting the nation’s capital — including those commemorating America’s 500th anniversary — have easy access, and will long remember this catastrophe.

A Memorial Will Honor The 146 Victims Of The Triangle Fire

This post is part of an article by David Von Drehle in The Washington Post: 

The challenge when writing history is to break the glass that separates us from the past. To connect somehow with those who lived before us and turn them back into people — not flat abstractions in funny clothes.

The glass-breaking moment for me, when I set out long ago to write a history of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire — the 1911 industrial disaster that shaped the politics of New York and later the entire nation — came when I learned that some of the victims, moments from death yet cheerfully unawares, were singing at the end of their workday. “Every Little Movement,” a hit Broadway show tune, was their equivalent of the latest from Taylor Swift. Some joke or passing remark or reference to a boyfriend had reminded one of them of the lyrics, and when she launched in, others joined her, as happy humans often do.

They were flesh and blood, as real as you and I. And then they were gone — incinerated in their ninth-floor death trap or smashed on the Greenwich Village pavement where they plunged. No publication even bothered to record all their names.

Now, New Yorkers and visitors to the city will be able to have their own glass-breaking moments at the site of the historic fire, which was the deadliest workplace disaster in city history until the day known as 9/11. The Triangle Fire Memorial, a project years in the making, will be dedicated on Wednesday at the corner of Washington Place and Greene Street near Washington Square in the heart of Manhattan.

The 146 fire victims — most of them immigrant women from Italy and Eastern Europe — will be restored as actual names of actual people, at the very spot where they passed into history. Their names are cut into the flowing steel of the monument, which — when all the pieces are installed this winter — will stretch like ribbon to ninth-floor windows, then tumble back toward street level, where it will spread its arms to embrace the building where history happened. Light shining through the incised names will reflect on a polished surface, where they will appear as if glowing.

Americans learned to build high-rise buildings before they figured out entirely the dangers that height posed. Thus, an energetic young researcher named Frances Perkins had just begun a job looking into fire risks in factory lofts when she visited a friend for tea on March 25, 1911. Her visit was interrupted by the clanging of fire bells. Looking outside, she saw smoke rising from a nearby 10-story tower.

It was about 4:45 p.m. on a warm, bright Saturday. As the workday ended at the city’s busiest blouse factory, an ash or ember — probably from a cigarette — fell into a bin of cotton scraps, which exploded into flames. Quickly consuming the eighth floor, the fire spread rapidly to the ninth, where it trapped scores of workers.

Along with thousands of New Yorkers weary of winter and enjoying the day, Perkins came running to the scene just as dozens of trapped workers leaped and fell from the windows above.

For the shocked city, the question of fire danger was settled. New Yorkers also knew that the same factory that burned had also been the center of a great labor uprising of female workers. The energy of a young century — labor energy, feminist energy, progressive energy — poured into the frame of this catastrophe. Perkins switched gears to study the question of what to do about unsafe workplaces, and from there she studied the needs of American workers more generally. In 1933, she became the first woman to serve in a president’s Cabinet, as secretary of labor to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The Triangle fire, she said, was “the day the New Deal was born.”. . .

History becomes irresistible when sympathy connects us with the past. People lost behind glass come back to life in our minds and hearts, pull us into their stories.

We see ourselves in them. We draw strength from wraiths. We learn courage from ghosts.

Obama/Bush To Give McCain Eulogies - Trump NOT Invited

 Former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush have been invited to give eulogies at the funeral of Senator John McCain -- and both have graciously accepted. Although they both ran against McCain in presidential contests, McCain respected them, and they respected him. Both have released statements honoring McCain's service to his country.

Meanwhile Donald Trump tweeted a two sentence condolence, and then repeated it in an Instagram. That Instagram contained picture of Trump -- not McCain. It seems that Trump thinks only of himself.

But McCain gets the final laugh. He made it clear before his death that he did NOT want Trump to attend his funeral.

Here is how Bill Palmer of the Palmer Report describes McCain's last slam of the imbecile living in our White House:

John McCain passed away last night, and in a sign of how most Americans felt about him, the words “American Hero” began trending on Twitter. That placed Donald Trump in a difficult position, as he’d routinely said horrible things about McCain, particularly about his status as a war hero. Trump posted a generic condolence tweet that may or may not have been subtly backhanded, but it was McCain who managed to stick it to Trump in the end.

Senator McCain’s ultimate condemnation of Donald Trump came in two different forms. After Trump treasonously stood next to Russian President Vladimir Putin and sided with him over the United States Government, an ailing McCain released a statement which called it and one of the “most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory” while slamming Trump for being egotistical and “pathetic.” But McCain’s final; proverbial “screw you” to Trump came in the form of something he set up before his death, which will now leave Trump humiliated for all to see.

John McCain told friends months ago that he didn’t want Donald Trump at his funeral. Instead he wanted former President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush to attend his funeral and deliver the eulogy. McCain famously lost to Bush in the 2000 Republican primary race for President, and then lost to Obama in the 2008 general election for President. Yet McCain chose these two men – one Republican and one Democrat – to eulogize him.

McCain thus ensured that his funeral would be bipartisan and inclusive, making it all the more glaring that current “President” of the United States wasn’t invited. Donald Trump is just barely hanging onto the Oval Office as his various criminal scandals close in on him by the minute. Now a deceased war hero has found a way to stick it to a guy who committed treason.

West Memorial - Honoring The Brave

There was a memorial service for the brave first responders who lost their lives in West, Texas. The president was there, and here's some of what he said:

"America needs towns like West. That's what makes this country great, towns like West."

"This small town's family is bigger now, it extends beyond the boundaries of West." 

"We are here to say you are not alone, you are not forgotten."

"We'll be there even after the cameras leave and after the attention turns elsewhere. Your country will remain ever ready to help you rebuild and reclaim your community."

But the most moving tribute I've read came from my friend Jackiesue, who writes the blog Yellowdog Granny. She is a resident of West, and she wrote:

So I'm sitting here watching the live feed ...watching all the people of Texas and all parts of the country come pay their respects to the brave citizens of West, Texas. Then my mind started turning ...I'm looking at the coffins, and thinking of the people in them. I'm thinking of the families..not how they are mourning them today and will for  the coming years. I'm thinking of the birthdays, anniversary's, football games, graduations, weddings, and more celebratory events they won't be here for. Because they were a first responder.

We will miss them for a year or two, and will celebrate their bravery every year but the loss is greater than just one day or a year..Because they were a first responder. It's many lives and life times. Each  death touches so many hearts and lives. A baby  will be born without every knowing it's Dad, that sweet young man will never hold that baby, kiss his wife in gratitude and love for making him a Dad..Because he was a first responder. And he would have been a Dad, not just a father. Because he was a good man. 

They were all good men and they will be remembered for not just the heroic's they showed that night, but for the life they lived right up until that moment. Because they were first responders. Daughters will go to Father Daughter dances with a beloved Uncle. Son's will win trophy's in sports with out their Dad there to cheer them on. Because they were first responders. Wives will remember each anniversary and picture in her heart how they were when they got married but he won't be there because he was a first responder. Fathers and Mothers will age and lament that sons shouldn't die before the parents, that they should have gone first, but their sons  were first responders. West, Texas will continue to live and live their lives, but  for only one reason...the first responders, never hesitated, did not shirk their duty..because they were first responders.

MLK Memorial Set To Open On National Mall

A new memorial is in place in the National Mall in Washington. It is the ninth memorial there. This one is a statue of the civil rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr. -- who understood that no American was truly free until all Americans were free to partake of the equal rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The statue can only be seen from behind a fence right now, but it will officially be opened on August 28th, the anniversary of his famous "I Have A Dream" speech in 1963. This is a long-overdue honor for this American hero.

Cowboys To Honor Their #1 Fan

You could probably ask most Cowboys fans who Wilford Jones was, and I doubt if 10% of them could tell you who he was. And yet, any Cowboys fan worth his salt knew who this gentleman was - they just knew him by another name.

As long as there's been a Dallas Cowboys franchise, "Crazy Ray" has been there, wearing his cowboy outfit and cheering his beloved Cowboys on to victory. He was not only generally recognized as the Cowboys number one fan, he was recognized and loved by millions of other Cowboys fans. For many of us, it just won't be the same without "Crazy Ray" on the sidelines next season.

Wilford "Crazy Ray" Jones has died. On Saturday at 10:00am at Texas Stadium, the Cowboys organization is holding a memorial service for Mr. Jones. All Cowboys fans are invited to come and honor this man. I hope thousands will attend.

The Cowboys will also honor "Crazy Ray" and his wife Mattie with an on-field ceremony during halftime of a regular season game this coming Fall. I'm glad the Cowboys are doing this. "Crazy Ray" was more than just a fan - he was an institution. He will be sorely missed.