A TANGLED WEB

3 August, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: A Tangled Web

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive!”  (You may have thought, as I did for many years, that the quote was from Shakespeare; but no, it’s apparently from Sir Walter Scott. No matter.) The tangled web I refer to here is your long-term relationship with Russia, about which I read again online today, in an article in the Los Angeles Times: “Why Rohrabacher’s Name Keeps Coming up in The Russia Investigation.”

There’s a chart in the article that shows your connections to such luminaries as Paul Manafort, Rinat Akhmetshin, Natalia Veselnitskaya, et al., in connection with efforts to overturn the Magnitsky Act, which imposed sanctions on Russian oligarchs and prevented their access to American banks. The mover and shaker behind that act was Bill Browder, whose explosive testimony shed much light on that infamous Trump Jr. meeting, purportedly to gather dirt on Hillary Clinton. It was in revenge for the Magnitsky Act that Putin issued his edict forbidding the adoption of Russian orphans by Americans—hence the pretense that the meeting had to do with “orphans.” What now seems apparent is that Putin, with the great wealth he has amassed through corruption and extortion, was personally affected by Magnistsky, and was determined to see it overturned. He thought the Trumps could help.

Clearly, he miscalculated. Congress has now effectively tied Trump’s hands with regard to the sanction, and rightly so. I wonder what position you now take. I recall another article, a while back, which described how the FBI was constrained to sit you down and warn you that you were in danger of being enlisted as a Russian spy! I hope you listened to the warning. But with the Russia scandal now threatening the presidency of your dear leader, I do wonder where you stand? Are you still, as earlier described, Putin’s best friend in the US Congress?

I myself believe, as I have said earlier, that Trump has for years been involved in laundering Russian money. I hope the Special Counsel will be able to tell us the whole truth.

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

"A REAL DUMP"

2 August, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: “A Real Dump”

In these words, reportedly (in a golfing magazine!) does your president describe the place that we have generously given him to live for the next four years—G*d knows, we hope no more! The dump he refers to has been good enough for countless presidents more gracious than himself. I think you’ll agree that the last occupants, the Obamas—G*d, how we miss them!—were a wonderful family. It was clear to anyone who paid attention that they regarded living in “the people’s house” as a privilege, not a burden.

Actually, the words apply pretty nicely to… himself!

Anyway, if Trump doesn’t like the place, so far as I’m concerned he’s more than welcome to leave it. And the office, too, which appears to bore him. A more ungracious boor has never before darkened the White House doors. Good riddance, if he leaves. Or is chucked out.

Do you have anything to say in his defense?

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

MY BIRTHDAY!

1 August, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Town Hall

Bravo to you for showing up to confront a rather hostile crowd at Politicon in Pasadena. I read about it in the Los Angeles Times. It took place, however, a good long distance from the district that you represent.

Thus far, however, I have heard no plans for you to take the same risk and show up for the 48^th District Town Hall, scheduled for this evening at Aliso Niguel High School. I’m still hoping that you’ll have changed your mind before the event. Your constituents deserve the opportunity to ask their questions and let you know what they have on their minds.

It is, by the way, my birthday. Quite a large number, which I don’t feel obliged to share with the rest of the friends who read these letters, whether via Facebook, where I link to them, or on my blog, The Rohrabacher Letters, where I post them. Suffice it to say I have lived long enough to have acquired a small measure of wisdom and have earned the right to voice my thoughts in public.

I still await a personal response from you. Perhaps one of these days… You could always drop me a line, of course, or send me a card to congratulate me on reaching the threshold of yet another year on planet Earth.

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

RIGHT SPEECH

30 July, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Right Speech

My Facebook “friend,” the distinguished painter Eric Fischl—you may know of him?—posted a request yesterday regarding that speech your president gave last week to a graduating class of police cadets on Long Island. I watched that speech with as much dismay as did the artist. Here’s what he asked his many friends to communicate to their congressional representative:

It was foolish and irresponsible for President Trump to have so cavalierly joked that police shouldn't worry about being so careful with their suspects when physically arresting them. He is tone deaf to the hyper-sensitive issues that have been swirling around police brutality against the black and latino communities for years. You need to distance yourself from him on this issue. Unless, you actually believe that it is OK?

For myself, I don’t think it’s OK. First, I don’t think it’s OK for the president* of the United States to engage in this kind of rabble-rousing. Like the infamous Boy Scout speech, it’s a particularly venal use of the so-called bully pulpit. It’s the way Trump goes about begging for the approval, if not the adulation of large crowds of people, as he did so successfully in his campaign rallies. It is certainly beneath the dignity of the office that he occupies.

As to the content of the speech, it reflects the cynicism and the cruelty that lie at the heart of this man’s character. We are a nation built, as we so constantly reiterate, on the rule of law. It is not simply immoral but unlawful for police officers to treat suspects—even proven criminals—with anything but restraint. Your Trump, as I recall, in the same tone, called for the resumption of torture in a campaign speech. This is not only un-presidential, it is fundamentally opposed to all the values that we Americans claim to hold dear.

"Right Speech" is a Buddhist concept. It means, essentially, "speak no evil." The president makes a mockery of such common decency  My Facebook friend is right: you must distance yourself, publicly, from the president on this issue.

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

NOT A LETTER, TODAY...

... but a reminder:

There can be no rest for those of us who rejoice at the vote against repeal of Obamacare. Now Tr*mp threatens openly--and with apparent glee--to use his office to sabotage it. We must not let this happen. 

Even though based on the conservative, market-based approach with which I fundamentally disagree, the Affordable Care Act succeeds in bringing us one step closer to a recognition of the basic human right to health care in this country. I like to think that our outrage has played an important part in protecting it against 7 years of unrelenting, vitriolic assault from Republicans. Their fury, it seems to me, is explicable largely by the fact that it was the accomplishment of a Democratic and, um... African American President. Oh, and it's a new "entitlement."

As today's NYT editorial points out, it lies entirely within Tr*mp's power to do exactly what he says he plans to do. He MUST be stopped. Republicans in Congress won't do it. Nor will Rohrabacher. It's up to those of us who care about the health and welfare of our fellow citizens.

KISS!

28 July, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Your KISS solution

I’m sure the sense of utter relief I feel on the (I hope final) death blow to “repeal and replace” is shared by the vast majority of my fellow Americans, if not by you. We have been left twisting in the partisan political winds for far too long. Senator John McCain’s vote, late last night, put paid to the “skinny” version—which was in fact so skinny as to be invisible. It was simply a ruse to throw the already stinking corpse back to the House for you members of Congress to resuscitate. You must be happy, I assume, to be relieved of that responsibility. But who knows…

A propos of which, I read your KISS (the sainted Ronald Reagan’s “Keep It Simple, Stupid”) op-ed piece on the health care piece in USA today. Your solution is to shift responsibility for pre-existing conditions over to Medicare and leave everyone else to fend for themselves, so far as health care insurance is concerned. I’m afraid your solution is too simple. Even Trump had begun to notice what “nobody knew before”, that health care is a thorny issue. I think, first, you’d have trouble persuading your Republican colleagues to add massively to the costs of Medicare. And then, what happens to all those who in their infinite (and probably juvenile) wisdom opt out of insurance altogether, only to be hit by a disastrous accident or serious illness or disease? Do we just let them die? Or force them and their families into financial ruin, in view of their irresponsibility?

So what happens next? It’s unconscionable to “let Obamacare fail”, as your dear leader suggests. You Republican members of Congress, along with the Senate, must now work together with Democrats to improve the health care system that we have. In many ways, it is working well for the American people. It needs good faith efforts to make it work still better.

And of course, as you’re by now tired of hearing me say, there’s always single-payer… (KISS!)

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

TOWN HALL!

 28 July, 2017

  

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: TOWN HALL—YOUR DISTRICT!

I know that many others are asking you to attend the District 48 Town Hall meeting scheduled for August 1^st at Aliso Niguel High School. Let me add my voice to theirs. I recognize that it is being organized by others than your own staff and supporters but you are, after all, the representative for all of us in the US Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike. It is incumbent on you to meet with your constituents—even those, perhaps particularly those, who disagree with you.

I’m particularly sad to say that I myself unable to attend, due to a vital, long-scheduled and impossible-to-postpone medical appointment in Los Angeles. August 1st also happens to be my birthday, which I would otherwise be only too happy to celebrate in your distinguished but elusive company. I trust that others will be able to do so in my stead.

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

Letter #114