WWGD - What Would George Do - Whatever Happened To Nonviolent Protests

July 29th, 2020

My Dear America:

Like many Americans at this point in time I feel as though I know George Floyd even though I really didn't know him.  Before writing this post I did check out George Floyd on Wikipedia and quite frankly I was surprised to learn a couple of things about the man whose murder has sparked, or at least contributed to, a Revolution not only in America but all over the world.

What I found out on Wikipedia was that George Floyd had been arrested many times before the incident in Minneapolis in which he lost his life.  

What I also found out from Wikipedia was that George and Derek Chauvin, the Police Officer who kneeled on George Floyd's neck had worked security at the same  club in Minneapolis, The El Nuevo Rodeo Club. It seems clear to me that if George Floyd and Derek Chauvin worked at this club at the same time in the same job (Security) that they would have known each other.

Did they know each other and if they did how did they get along, is a question that I would like to ask Derek Chauvin, since he is the only one alive who could answer it.  

Also between 1997 and 2005 Wikipedia reveals that George Floyd was sentenced to jail terms eight times on various charges including drug possession theft and trespass.  In 2009 he was sentenced to five years in prison for armed robbery in a home invasion.

So Wikipedia tells us that George Floyd was no angel. He did nothing, however, that deserved the death penalty.

George's family tells a story, however, of a man who loved his family and was loved by his family.  He was, at least in later years, hardworking, athletic, religious and took an interest in helping young people.  It certainly seemed as though George had worked through some of his early problem behaviors and appeared to be on the right track prior to his death.  

Surely George Floyd never contemplated dying under the knee of Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis on the day he did die.  Surely George Floyd could never have anticipated the extreme international reaction toward his killing that we would all see happening every day on the streets of America.  

We have seen it, though.  Largely through The Black Lives Matter Movement. The Death of George Floyd is something that nearly everyone in the world is aware of by this time.

For the most part, the Black Lives Matter George Floyd Protests have been Non Violent outpourings of emotions in which the leaders of the movement condemned the burning of stores and buildings, looting and attacks on police. 

Then came Portland, Oregon, where the Trump Administration, although they were not asked to do so by either the Mayor of Portland or the Oregon Governor, sent in unidentified Federal forces dressed in camouflage to begin picking up individuals off the street and carting them off in unmarked vehicles.  

Some called these unidentified forces Storm Troopers. Although they hopefully were not carting people off to death camps like Hitler's followers did to  European Jews during the Second World War, The whole look and feel of the Trump-Barr Portland Action certainly had a Nazi Gestapo feel to it.

The truth is that according to Michael Moore's "Rumble" Emergency Podcast System the protesters were holding their own in Portland and in some respects were winning the battle against the Trump-Barr Shock Troops.  Unfortunately though, people were getting hurt and there were some instances of overreaction on both sides of the Portland struggle.

I've been thinking a lot about George Floyd during the past weeks.  I think that George would have mixed feelings about the protests that have developed to express outrage about his death on the streets of Minneapolis.  I think that he would be proud that his unnecessary death would have been the straw that broke the camels back when it came to excessive police violence against mainly black males. 

This apparent police entitlement to not only harass blacks but in some cases to kill them goes back a long way historically, especially in the south.  The beginning of policing in America can be traced back in time to the Slave Catchers who returned escaped Black Human Beings to their Owners in an America that is long gone, although the racism that allowed some human beings to own other human beings is certainly not gone.

The Civil War was fought between the North And The South because the Southern States refused to accept the end of slavery in their states.  Southern politicians called it States Rights but in reality they were fighting for the States Rights to own Black Human Beings.  

After the Civil War, although there were always some decent police officers there were other officers who sometimes carried out lynchings of black people for the flimsiest of reasons.  Some of the most violent members of the Ku klux klan we have learned over the years turned out to be southern sherriff's and police officers.  Indeed, some of the Mississippi Klan members who murdered Civil Rights Workers, Schwerner, Goodman and Cheyney turned out to be law enforcement officers.

Getting back to Portland and Black Lives Matter and George Floyd I have some thoughts.  I am not black and I am sure that members of the Black Lives Matter movement may not agree with me but I have a long history of working with people of all colors as a Social Worker.  

I know that the emergence of the Black Lives Matter Movement has been a long time coming and that the leaders of the movement have every right to take advantage of the incredible power that has emerged from this movement.

I would ask the leaders of the movement, however, to give some thought to where the movement ends up if, as we have already seen, Donald Trump uses the movement and the protests to unleash the troops at his disposal to stir up violence and turn American Citizens from being supporters of Black Lives Matter to supporters of Donald Trump.  

I would suggest to the leaders of the movement that they should continue to condemn burning, looting and other forms of violence.  

Today, on the day that we have buried John Lewis, one of the genuine heroes of the Civil Rights Movement, would be a great day to renew the Black Lives Matter Movements' commitment to Non-Violence.

If Donald Trump is able to portray the Black Lives Matter George Floyd Movement as a violent Anti American Group he will have found a way to win
re election.

Clearly, the Re Election of Donald Trump would be the worst thing that can happen to the Black Lives Matter Movement.  

It is time for Black Lives Matter Leaders to realize that instead of simply protesting in the streets they might do well to analyze the fact that we have less than a hundred days left before our November Election.  

We have a chance in this upcoming election to vote out the worst President of the United States that I have witnessed in my lifetime.  At the same time we have a chance to vote in one of the best qualified individuals that we could find to be President, Joe Biden.  

We also have a chance to vote out of office all of the Republican cowards who refused to call Donald Trump to account for his misdeeds and voted not to impeach him in the United States Senate and House of Representatives setting him up as a genuine Dictator with no reason to control his worst behavioral instincts.

I think that George Floyd would agree with me that we have progressed tremendously since his death.  But, If the end result of George Floyd's death is the Re Election of Donald Trump for another Four years our Democracy may be  thing of the past.  I sincerely ask those leaders of the Black Lives Matter Movement to Re Evaluate their strategies, goals and efforts before it is too late.

Certainly Black Lives Matter should not slow down their efforts at legitimate protest but getting off the streets for a couple of months and putting their efforts into doing what they can to get Joe Biden elected would definitely accomplish more than staying on the streets and letting Donald Trump use the movement for his own dark purposes.

Black Lives Do Matter and that is why in November everyone capable of voting must vote.  Don't be complacent and assume that the polls showing Joe Biden as the likely winner are right.  We need to remember what happened in 2016 when the polls showed that Hillary Clinton was going to win.  Many Trump voters will not admit to the fact that they are Trump voters.  We must get every reasonable voter out to the polls.  Certainly every committed Trump voter will be there.  We must also be there to protect our Democracy from Trump and his Republican minions.




Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

John Lewis Is Dead - Long Live John Lewis

July 27th, 2020




My Dear America:

John Lewis is no longer alive to travel to the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. where he spent much of his life.  He did, however, travel there today and is resting there for a short period of time in which many Americans who loved him and respected him can visit him before his long Dedicated American Journey comes to an end in Alabama, where he began his Journey through History so many decades ago.

I have learned many interesting things about John Lewis in the past couple of weeks.  I have learned mainly that John Lewis was not only a student of History but he was a truly Historical figure himself.  He readily told people about his Civil Rights struggles not because he was bragging but because he wanted people to know how far we had come in America and also how far he had come on his Civil Rights Historical Journey.  He knew, however, that we still had a long way to go to get to the Promised Land.

John Lewis was born into a large but loving family in Troy, Georgia.  Many of his siblings have been helping to see him off on his Journey during the past few days.  

John's parents were not Civil Rights leaders and they found it difficult to accept the dangerous path that John set out on once he connected with a voice on the radio that deeply moved him.  That voice belonged to Martin Luther King Jr. who was so impressed with a letter sent to King from John Lewis that King sent John a bus ticket and encouraged John to come and Visit Martin, which the "Boy From Troy." did.

John Lewis impressed Martin Luther King with his sincere dedication to Civil Rights.  John was still a very young man when he joined Martin Luther King on his Nonviolent Road To Revolution.  Some of Martin's partners in Civil Rights who were Leaders in their own right recognized that Martin Luther King saw something special in John Lewis and felt that Martin saw John almost as a son.

What everyone in the Civil Rights Movement saw with John Lewis was an incredible bravery in the face of Honest To God Terror.  By now nearly everyone has seen the disturbing news footage from the Selma Alabama State Police Assault on peaceful marchers at the Edmond Pettis Bridge in Selma in which John Lewis was leading the march when he and the other marchers were savagely attacked.  What today's young people may not realize is that this brutal news footage showed the rest of America just what black citizens were dealing with in the south in the 1950s and 1960's and it turned many Americans into Civil Rights supporters.  It was one of those seminal moments that shook America to its core.  

John Lewis returned to the Edmond Pettis Bridge year after year when he became a Member of Congress and he took other Congress people with him, both Democrats and Republicans and showed them proudly where he got his head bashed in and was almost killed.  The Edmond Pettis Bridge was not the only danger zone for John Lewis.  He was beaten and arrested over and over in many different places in the south.  Many of his contemporaries in the Civil Rights movement did not expect John Lewis to live until he was 30, never mind make it until 80.  But he did make it to 80 and he made his life a monument to History.  

Outside of members of his family Two people who he really admired were Martin Luther King J. and Robert Kennedy, both of whom were killed by assassins. When Robert Kennedy was killed in Los Angeles John Lewis, who was at the time a trusted member of the Kennedy Campaign Team was waiting in Robert Kennedy's hotel suite for Kennedy along with many other members of the devastated Campaign team.  Months before Kennedy's murder Lewis had to suffer through King's assassination.  The loss of these two Mentors was crushing but not enough to turn back John Lewis.  He had seen in his observation of Kennedy on the road just what politics could do and he began and continued his political Journey winding up in Congress.

John Lewis was one of the "Big Six" leaders of the 1963 March on Washington and was one of the speakers who President John F. Kennedy worried most about.  Other leaders including Dr. King and A. Philip Randolph asked John to tone down his proposed speech and he did but his speech was still fiery.  SNCC, The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee the group that John Lewis helped to start and was a leader for became more militant as time went on and John had to leave the group because he still believed in Nonviolence, and did throughout his life.

Nonviolence almost killed him many times over the years of the Civil Rights Struggle.  He was a Freedom Rider and worked in Mississippi during "Freedom Summer," the summer that three of his friends were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan and their bodies buried in a dam.

Certainly if there was someone who deserved to be angry, hateful and resentful about the many tragedies he had seen and endured over his lifetime it was John Lewis.  But as he did his job in the halls of United States Congress he did not brag about himself.  He did not hate anyone.  He even forgave the self confessed Ku Klux Klansman who visited him in Congress confessing to have beaten John bloody back in the day when John was a Freedom Rider and involved in a Sit In at a Lunch Counter in Nashville, Tennessee.  When these two old men met they cried together and John forgave the Klansman for beating the the Civil Rights Icon.

One of the highlights of John Lewis's life was the Election of Barack Obama to be the President Of The United States.  Obama loved John Lewis and treasured his friendship with The Civil Rights leader.  So did Bill Clinton.  John was looking forward to this year's election when he could vote for his long time Congressional compatriot, Joe Biden.

"They don't make Em Like That Anymore" was an expression my mother used to use.  I think that expression is more than appropriate to apply to John Lewis.

God Bless you, Brother.  You were one of a kind.  That's for sure and you will be sorely missed by everyone who knew you.


Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher 

A New And Disturbing Brand Of Justice In America - Thanks To Donald Trump And William Barr

Friday, July 24th, 2020



My Dear America:

Shortly before Donald Trump took over the reins of The United States Government in January of 2017 he posed a very odd question in one of his tweets.

"Are we living in Nazi Germany" was the question he posed.

It was a strange question, indeed, since at that point in time we were still living in Barack Obama's America, where the United States Justice Department still had a relatively good reputation and, for the most part, was widely respected.

Few people at the time that Donald Trump proposed this weird and inappropriate question knew what we in America know now.  

Back in the early days of 2017 we had no idea of the extent of the cruelty and injustice that Americans and immigrants would experience under the Thinly Disguised Sociopathic Megalomania of Donald Trump. 

Most Americans did not know that Donald Trump, a man who seemed proud of the fact that he read very little, did have a favorite book that he read over and over nearly every night.  Ivanna Trump, his wife at the time, knew what book it was.  She saw Donald reading it all the time and, I guess she thought it was OK for Donald To be poring over the speeches of Adolph Hitler every night before he went to bed.

We now know that Donald Trump's disturbing fascination with Adolph Hitler, as well as many other brutal Dictators, was not a good thing and, I suppose, that Donald's odd questioning of whether we were all living in Nazi Germany should have been a Bright Red Flag announcing that there were going to be some very Hard Times ahead in the United States Of America.

Looking back over the nearly four years of the Trump Administration it seems as though when Trump took over the White House he seemed to at first attempt to listen to reason from some of his advisors and appointed White House Staff, as  well as Cabinet Members, at least partially on the basis of Merit.  

One of Trump's First Appointed Cabinet Members was United States Senator, Jeff Sessions, an early and enthusiastic supporter of the Trump Campaign for President.  Trump Advisors indicated that Trump liked and respected Jeff Sessions and throughout the Campaign for the Presidency constantly asked Senator Sessions for advice.  

The close relationship between Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions didn't last, however.  Almost immediately after the firing of FBI Director James Comey and the appointment by Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein of Robert Mueller as a Special Prosecutor to investigate the relationship between the Trump Campaign and the extremely inappropriate efforts by Russia to assist Donald Trump to get elected, there were serious problems created for Attorney General, Jeff Sessions.  

I never cared much for Jeff Sessions.  I disagreed with many, if not most, of his legal views and his background was marked with clear evidence of his racism.  Yet, when push came to shove in the matter of the Russia Investigation Jeff Sessions had the integrity to do the right thing and recuse himself from directing the Investigation as Attorney General because of his close association with the Trump Presidential Campaign.

When he did that, though, his good relationship with Donald Trump flew out the window and never came back.  Donald Trump, furious that Sessions was complying with the law by recusing himself, saw that he had lost control of the possibility of killing the Russia Investigation and although Trump didn't have the guts to fire Sessions, Trump spent almost every  waking minute of every day disrespecting Sessions on Twitter and on Television and suggesting that Sessions resign as Attorney General.  

To Sessions credit he refused to resign and eventually Trump had to do the deed and fire Sessions, when Trump finally came up with someone he could appoint to be Attorney General who we would soon learn didn't have any integrity at all and would do anything Trump asked him to do.  

Matt Whittaker, was a Republican Loyalist who had little to recommend him for the position of Attorney General, other than the fact that he was a Lawyer, and he was appointed Acting Attorney General by Donald Trump.

Whittaker did what he could to impede the Russia Investigation but he was a lightweight in comparison to Robert Mueller.  Whittaker's Low Rent Resume and his arrogant and stormy interactions with Congressional Representatives and Senators made it clear that he would never be approved by Congress as a permanent Attorney General.  So while Trump was OK with Whittaker as a place holder in the Attorney General's Office, Trump continued to search the swamp  for an Attorney General, who could not only be approved by Congress but who Trump could absolutely control.

Although it took Trump awhile to find the right candidate Trump eventually found the right guy for the job of Attorney General.

William Barr was not only a Lawyer but he actually had previous experience working as Attorney General of the United States during the George H.W. Bush Administration.  

I remember watching one of Barr's Senate Confirmation Hearings and thinking "

"Wait a minute.  What is going on here?  Can Donald Trump actually be nominating an appropriate Candidate for Attorney General?"

I wasn't wrong to think that.  Barr made a good impression and said the right things in the Senate Confirmation Hearings.  To listen to Barr tell it he and Robert Mueller were Good Buddies who spent time with each others families.  I have to admit that after the Senate Confirmation Hearings I thought that we had dodged a bullet and found an Attorney General to be proud of.

Clearly all of us who were impressed with William Barr should have read the letter of application he had sent to Donald Trump indicating that as Attorney General he would follow any and all orders given by the President.

Donald Trump had found his man.  

Since becoming United States Attorney General for the second time Americans have watched in horror as the real William Barr has emerged onto the scene and has begun to dismantle and destroy whatever Justice was left in the United States Justice Department.

First order of business for William Barr was to put the screws to the Mueller Report.  Barr shut down his supposed good buddy, Robert Mueller and his Russia Investigation team almost immediately and indicated that he wanted a very quickly produced Mueller Report.  When Congress demanded copies of the report Barr refused but put together what he termed were a summary of the highlights of the report.  Later on when Barr was forced to turn over the actual redacted report to Congress it was clear that Barr's highlights of the Mueller Report were disturbingly skewed in favor of the President.  

Barr has had to be constantly reminded that although he was appointed by President Trump he was meant to be the "American Peoples Lawyer" not the "President's Personal Lawyer."  Despite his previous experience as Attorney General, William Barr does not seem to have mastered that concept.  

Barr has ripped through the Justice Department throwing almost all norms out the window.  He has killed the prosecution of Michael Flynn, who had pleaded guilty twice of lying to the FBI.  With regard to the FBI Barr seems to have put targets on the backs of those FBI Agents who had the gall to follow the law and investigate Donald Trump and his campaign links to Russia in the 2016 Election.  Barr interceded in the Prosecution and sentencing of Trump buddy, Roger Stone in an unprecedented and clearly inappropriate way to try and get Stone's sentence reduced.  Following this disturbing move by Barr, Donald Trump, just days prior to Roger Stone's reporting to prison following his conviction Stone was brazenly pardoned by Donald Trump.

When Trump wanted to clear out protesters in Lafayette Park across the street from the White House so that he could hold a bible upside down in front of St. Johns Church in Washington, Barr was in charge of clearing out the protesters while Barr, The President and other Trump Administration Officials followed the President to his destination and looked as foolish as Trump, as they did it.

In a recent Friday night "News Dump" Barr announced that Geoffrey Berman, U.S Attorney for the Southern District of New York was stepping down from his position as U.S Attorney and Barr was appointing a golf buddy of Trump's who had no relevant experience to take over as U.S. Attorney.  There was one problem, though.  Berman had never told Barr he was stepping down.  Berman learned that he was stepping down from a news report.  When asked about it Berman, who was in charge of several Trump related investigations, stated that he had not resigned and had no intention of stepping down.  Berman was eventually fired but before his departure he negotiated that one of his trusted Assistant U.S. Attorneys would be the one to take his job, at least at first.  

The latest Outrages produced by Barr and Trump seem to be a rather diabolical plan by the duo to kill the Black Lives Matter and George Floyd Murder protests in Portland, Oregon by flooding the streets with unidentified Federal Secret Police in unmarked vehicles and arresting innocent people on the streets of Portland while using Gestapo tactics to do so.  

Donald Trump and William Barr are making it clear that in the near future the Trump - Barr Gestapo may be on their way to your town to spread their terror to innocent protesters and bystanders just like they have done in Portland.

Perhaps Someday Justice will return to the United States Justice Department but in the near future Trump and Barr will be trying to scare the hell out of Average Americans in an effort to keep this Disastrous Duo of Trump and Barr in power for four more years.  

The truth is that there will be no guarantees of Justice in America as long as Donald Trump is in the White House and William Barr is in the Justice Department.



Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Important Announcement for Everyone: Check Out Our New "Podcast For A Lost Nation" Available For Free on Spotify and Other Podcast Sites - Also Get Your Free E Book "Donald Trump And The Death Of Democracy 2020" on Smashwords

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2020



My Dear America:

First of all let me apologize for not having posted anything on "Letters To A Lost Nation" for more than a month.  Although I was not posting anything on this Blog I was rather busy during the past month putting together the finishing touches on a book I have been working on for many months and a Podcast  that I was preparing.  

That book is called "Donald Trump And The Death Of Democracy 2020."  I believe the title of the book says it all. The book is a collection of postings from this Blog beginning back in 2015 when Donald Trump was running for President up to and including the beginning months of 2020.  The book is currently available for FREE on several E Book Platforms at Smashwords.com.  Just look for Jerry Gallagher in the search bar and you will find "Donald Trump and The Death Of Democracy" by Jerry Gallagher listed along with my other books.  

"Donald Trump and the Death Of Democracy" by Jerry Gallagher is also available in a Large Print Paperback Version on Amazon.com.  The Paperback book is available on Amazon at the lowest cost Amazon will permit which is six dollars and four cents. There is also a Kindle E Book Version of the book available on Amazon at the lowest cost Amazon will permit which is 99 cents.  Just go to the "Books" category in the Amazon Browser Bar and type in the name of the book, "Donald Trump And The Death Of Democracy 2020".  Or you can  type in Jerry Gallagher.  Then go to the second page listed under Jerry Gallagher and find the book on that page.  I don't know why Amazon doesn't have all of my books on the same page but they don't.

In addition to Preparing and Publishing my book I have also been busy this past month preparing to release a Podcast on Spotify called "Podcast For A Lost Nation"  The Podcast will generally deal with many of the same subjects that the Blog deals with but I am hoping that some episodes of the Podcast will differ from the Blog Postings.

Although I will make no money from the sales of "Donald Trump And The Death Of Democracy" or from the Podcast, "Podcast For A Lost Nation" I will be able to state truthfully that I did not write the book or create the Podcast just to make money because I will make no money from either project.

Quite Frankly, I am proud to announce that these two projects are presently ready to go and I look forward to anyone interested in what is going on in our country to get a copy of the book and/or to listen to the Podcasts.  

Every day we are presented with a reality that none of us could have expected in our lives.  Our country is being run by a madman, a criminal, a vicious monster with no positive feelings for other human beings in his heart.  And as he sees the impending end of his reign of terror he is becoming more dangerous and unhinged in his actions with each passing day.

It is a time to be informed and prepared for the worst because, like the Pandemic that Donald Trump tried to convince us was not real, things are going to get worse before they get better.  

Regardless of what the Pandemic situation is in November we must all vote.  And we must vote for the far Saner of the two Candidates.

Hands down, that is Joe Biden.




Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher