Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

It was exactly three years ago today, January 20, 2017, that I was sworn into office. So appropriate that today is also MLK jr DAY. African-American Unemployment is the LOWEST in the history of our Country, by far. Also, best Poverty, Youth, and Employment numbers, ever. Great!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2020

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Yesterday evening, Katherine and I watched Meet the Parents (2000), which we watched together more than eight years ago. I was in the mood for something funny, and I remember this movie being hilarious (though I had forgotten many of the scenes). Ben Stiller is one of my favorite actors. I often crack up just looking at him. He has wonderful facial expressions, from confused to shocked to hurt to frightened. Robert De Niro is an insufferable asshole in real life, but he's a great actor. I laughed uproariously many times. Next up: Meet the Fockers (2004) and Little Fockers (2010).

Here is the trailer.

Re: “Trump portrays himself as defender of faith for evangelicals” [Jan. 2, seattletimes.com]:

President Donald Trump said, “I’ll be taking action to safeguard student and teachers’ First Amendment rights to pray in our schools.” In 1962, mandated school prayer was declared unconstitutional. Yet the movement to mandate prayer in public schools has resurfaced. The debate is often focused on rights. I believe it to be a matter of hospitality.

Hospitality is creating space where everyone feels welcome. Children learn best in an environment where they feel welcome no matter what their religion, or if they come from a nonreligious or anti-religion family. A public-school classroom that affirms a religious norm like prayer or a strong anti-religious point of view does not provide hospitality to all its students.

My concern for hospitality is reflected in Presbyterian Church U.S.A. resolution, “Loving Our Neighbors: Equity and Quality in Public Education.” The policy’s foundation is Jesus’ words to “love the neighbor” and states, “any attempt to use public education to teach one particular religious worldview is a failure to love and respect the neighbor who has a different religious viewpoint or who has rejected any religious viewpoint.”

Caring about children in a nation with religious diversity means extending hospitality in our schools.

The Rev. Dave Brown, Tacoma, Pacific Northwest Interfaith Amigos

Note from KBJ: Nobody is advocating mandatory school prayer, Dave. Settle down.

If you listened to the flawed advice of @paulkrugman at the @nytimes, a newspaper that was going broke until I came along, you would have entirely missed the RECORD BREAKING Stock Market (and other) numbers produced since Election Day, 2016. Sorry, those are the FACTS…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 19, 2020

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To the editor:

President Trump once said, “Article II allows me to do whatever I want.” This statement about the powers granted to him by the Constitution is not true, of course, yet the president repeatedly asserts dictatorial authority. (“How autocracy takes hold in Trump’s America,” Opinion, Jan. 15)

Article I of our Constitution created a legislature and defined its powers and duties. It contains an impeachment clause, anticipating the damage that could be done to our democracy by a power-hungry president. Article I makes very clear that the legislature has the duty to oversee the executive branch.

Article II created and defined the powers of the presidency. It says nothing about “executive privilege” as a prerogative of the president to withhold vital information from Congress.

Trump publicly misrepresenting Article II, claiming he has the power to do anything that he wants, subverts the very essence of our Constitution, which is the balance of power between the three branches of government. If people accept Trump’s falsehood that the president has primacy over the Congress and the judiciary, then the Constitution will have been shredded once and for all and an imperial presidency proclaimed.

This is how democracies die. We cannot let this stand.

Don Rowland, Camarillo

Note from KBJ: Here's what President Trump said, in context:

"Look, Article II [of the Constitution], I would be allowed to fire Robert Mueller," he asserted. "Assuming I did all the things… Number one, I didn't. He wasn't fired … But more importantly, Article II allows me to do whatever I want. Article II would have allowed me to fire him," Trump claimed.

It's obvious that President Trump was talking about his power to fire a special counsel, so you're either ignorant or dishonest, Don. Which is it?

Tremendous surge in new housing construction in December, 16.9%, biggest in many years!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2020

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