Proposed 28th Amendment

The usual disclaimer: Booze is in the usual place, beer is out in the mudroom, and dinner will be Gyoza... The tip jar is at the link. Thanks, as always to everyone who has chipped in.

I’m going to start with the proposed amendment, then we can discuss what and why:

Twenty Eighth Amendment to the Constitution:

1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President without a full medical evaluation to include a cognition examination by a team of three doctors, one each selected by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Minority leader or leaders of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House.

2. The President shall have annual full physicals with a cognition evaluation, by a team of doctors as described by article 1.

3.These physicals shall become a part of the official record of Congress and shall be reviewable by the public.

4. No privacy law, security classification, nor other instrument, except a constitutional amendment, shall override the right of the people to see these reports.

5. In the event that the President is determined by this team, to be incapable of serving, the Twenty-fifth amendment is immediately invoked.

The suggestion by David Axelrod and others on the left that “questions should be muted and set aside for now, as he’s struggling through this.” Should be met with scorn and derision.

Yes, yes, it’s the ‘Christian thing to do” bla bla bla. But here’s the things that bother me:

1) This cancer, even in it’s fast growing version, does not spring forth fully grown like Athena from the head of Zeus. It takes years to get from Stage 1 to metastasize into bone cancer, as we’re now told it is. To believe that the most medically examined man this side of the Apollo astronauts had it going on for this long, undiscovered, is beyond any thinking individual’s credibility.

2) Some of the treatments for this sort of cancer include “Testosterone Deprivation Therapy,” which causes memory loss, dementia, unsteady gait, and loss of muscle mass. Others, like Chemo also cause similar “chemo brain.” This is all a little bit too on the nose for Biden’s behavior during his presidency.

3) With the release of the Hur tapes, and the sudden publishing of Tapper’s book, this is an awfully convenient time to “discover” this condition.

4) Biden is not the only person whose situation needs to be questioned, on this issue. Giving it a pass until after he dies runs into “Justice delayed is justice denied.” And

5) I’m not Christian, nor am I feeling very Christian toward a group that completely subverted the Constitution.

The Democrats, including most specifically the Democrats whose behavior and motives are in question right now, over these events, keep talking about a “Constitutional CRISIS!!!” every time Trump opens his mouth. Honestly, I can’t think of a more Constitutional Crisis event than a secret, unelected cabal of individuals acting as for the president, with full presidential power, and hiding this from the nation.

Now, let me make clear, that this isn’t about “LET’S GET BIDEN!” That’s just a happy side effect. This is bigger than that. This is at least the second, probably the third, and maybe the fourth time that this has happened. The first two were before the twenty-fifth was passed in 1967. Specifically, I’m talking about Wilson, and possibly FDR. We know for a fact that Wilson was not running things for the last six months or more of his term in office, and there’s some question as to how on-the-ball FDR was towards the end.

Then we have the lone Republican, and one of my heroes, Ronnie Reagan. We know he was starting to suffer from Alzheimer’s before the end of his second term, what we don’t know, is how bad it was, and whether or not he was “still in control.” Finally, we have Biden, who at one point in 2020 actually said, “I have cancer.” If he had it then, it was something that the people had a right to know before they elected his ass.

Were the orders given, the laws signed, and the pardons granted, produced legally or not? Serious business here, if Biden was a meat puppet, as I have often accused him of being, is ANYTHING that the cabal pulling the strings did LEGAL? This is a vital question, and one that needs to be decided by SCOTUS. In the meantime, and just as vitally, we need to take positive measures to ensure that this never ever happens again.

This experience has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Vice President, and the cabinet can not be trusted to perform their duties under the twenty-fifth amendment, without some further impetus to force their hands. Now as originally written, the Constitution would have been enough of an impetus in and of itself, because the VP was supposed to be the guy that came in second in the election. Who better to make sure the president is on the ball, than the guy from the opposition, who wanted the job?

Of course, that didn’t really work for a bunch of other day-to-day reasons, having to do with the fact that having the VP fighting you every step of the way, as you try to do what you promised, is just not viable. If humans were perfect, and the VP could set aside the animosity of working for his opponent, it would have been a great system… However, humans, are, sadly, human.

Let’s review this proposal one article at a time:

First article. Basically, you shouldn’t be able to run for office unless we are sure that you can fulfill the duties of the office. In this hyper partisan environment that we live in, we can’t trust the members of a party to not gloss over their candidate’s incompetence, and indeed, incontinence. Thus, the panel of three doctors, one of which at least will be from the opposition party to the candidate. This model is used throughout the rest of the articles.

Second article. Self-evident. We cannot, as a nation survive another cabal of unelected individuals acting as if they were president. This is how civil wars and revolutions happen. “Madness of King George” anyone???

Third article. This is vital! Biden’s string pullers got away with this because he had a personal physician instead of the usual “team from Bethesda” caring for him, and everything got hidden behind HIPAA and Patient Privilege. This must never happen again. The president is like Caesar’s wife. He must not only be above reproach but must be seen and perceived to be above reproach. This is a way of ensuring that coverups are much harder to pull off.

Fourth article. This is to “HIPAA and Security classification proof” the amendment. It insures that neither current, nor future laws regarding medical privacy keep the people from finding out if their president is a drooling meat puppet. It also ensures that someone doesn’t pull a fast one with something like “As the President, I declare that this health evaluation is classified Top Secret SCI drawer Water Gate, and not releasable due to it’s potential to damage international relations.

Does this mean that I don’t think the President should have any privacy when it comes to medical issues?

YES! It does. If you don’t like that, don’t run for President! You’re a Genie, Phenomenal Cosmic Power, Itty Bitty personal space. Comes with the job, deal with it.

Article five. This should be self-evident, and not need to be spelled out, but we keep seeing people like, oh “The Squad” saying “Well, it doesn’t say I can’t…” We can’t count on common sense, we must spell out everything. I am absolutely certain that the founding fathers thought the constitution was plain, simple, and obvious, yet we have huge arguments over what “The People” mean, or what that comma does, as far as changing the meaning. So, let’s make it clear. If you’re incompetent to stay in office, it’s required that the VP remove your ass, and get sworn in.

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While we’re talking about Presidents, and SCOTUS;

SCOTUS continues to send mixed messages on immigration, they overturned a Nineth Circus ruling that Trump couldn’t strip “Temporary Protected Status, from Venezuelans, who are here due to claims of Asylum. This, of course has the left screaming for blood, much like the right was last week, when SCOTUS ruled that illegal aliens have the right to a hearing before being told they can’t stay.

Look, my crystal ball is extremely murky on what SCOTUS is doing right now, other than trying to minimize their footprint. Every judge everywhere in the US (at least if they’ve got a brain) wants to avoid being the person who creates a “precedent setting ruling.” Yes, it can get you famous, but it can also get you shot, or vilified by history.

I had to hedge my bets on my ‘every judge’ piece, because there’s that brainless fuck Boasberg,

who seems to think that being the district court judge who tried to break the power of the President, is going to be his path to glory. For normal judges though, below the appellate level, avoiding having a famous case named after you is the way to go… The trouble with the SCOTUS is that they seem to have the same mindset, and that just doesn’t really work. They exist to be THAT guy. The guy that established the rule. Whether they get it right, or they get it wrong, they are the people who have to make the ultimate “this is legal/not legal” decision. They seem to try and avoid that at all costs, until it becomes an “edge of revolution” level issue. Of course, even when it does, and they do decide, (McDonald V Chicago, District of Columbia V Heller, etc.) they’re ignored if the guys that don’t like ruling think they can get around it, so then we have more cases like NY State Rifle and Pistol Ass. V Bruen, and I’m sure we’ll have more, before the various parties finally get it that “The People” means everyone, and “Keep and bear arms” means what it means. But I digress.

Back to the immigration piece, I’m not sure where we’re going to end up on this, and I don’t think SCOTUS is either. They’re winging it. That scares me just a little, because there’s a whole lot of things headed their way for a decision.

It’s a profitable time to be a lawyer, because every hamlet, village, town, and “authority” (like Sound Transit Authority) is suing the executive branch every time they are told to do, or not do, a thing.

For example, Sound Transit and King County Metro is suing the Trump administration because Trump said, “if you don’t quit hiring based on sexual preference, and color, I’m not going to give you any more money.” Funny, in the 1960s we had these suits against the very people that are now plaintiffs, because they were hiring based on sex and color, and that wasn’t OK. But then it was white men getting hired, and blacks, women, gays, etc. getting passed over. They lost back then, and they should have. Now they’re suing because THEY want to be able to keep discriminating once again, it’s just now, it’s straits and whites that they don’t want to hire. And they don’t think the federal government gets to say where they spend their money. “Just shut up and cut checks, Bitch!” They explained.

In the same vein, Washington State is suing the federal government again (right now, WA is suing the federal government on 36 separate cases.) Of course, the state doesn’t have to pay for all of this lawfare out of their budget, they just pass the cost to the taxpayer, whether the taxpayer wanted them to sue or not!

This time, it’s because the federal government had the audacity to tell the state that it had to cooperate with federal law enforcement officers, on federal cases!

I mean, can you imagine?

The federal government thinks that they have the right to arrest people for federal crimes, and the state just has to allow it?

Not only that, but they have to not impede the federal cops in their jobs?

I mean, the GALL!

Of course, the state is also suing a couple of counties, because they chose to assist the federal government, and ignore the state capital’s demands that they impede the feds whenever possible. See, it’s OK for the state to tell the feds to fuck off, but it’s not OK for the county to tell the state to fuck off, that the Federals have precedence.

Why I’m moving out of California (north) reason # 753.

One last little bullet, While Washington state, and Seattle in particular are still doubling down on raising the minimum wage to “fix” the cost of living, even the other Washington; The District, is admitting that it was a stupid idea. The Democratic mayor of Washington D.C. wants to repeal the minimum wage increase for tipped workers, because (get ready for a shocker) it had the unintended consequence of less people working and lower wages, because more and more restaurants are going out of business, or cutting hours, and people are tipping less.

“Nearly 70% of [restaurants] have already been forced to cut hours and lay off staff,” according to the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington. “In 2024 alone, the city saw a record 74 closures. The consequences of inaction are not hypothetical — they’re happening now.” I know, shocking, right? For more on this, Thomas Gallatin article on DC restaurants, which is the source of that quote.

Imagine a world where Washington DC figured this shit out before California or Washington State!

Guess what? You don’t have to imagine it, you live there.

QOTD: “I have to tell you directly and personally that I regret voting for you for secretary of State.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Of margaritas with MS 13 member Kilmar Abrejo Garcia fame.)

“Your regret for voting for me confirms I’m doing a good job.” Sec. State. Rubio.

Yours in Service,

William Lehman