republicans

by

Wake Up America! Trump is Working Towards Nulifying the Next Election!!!


My title sounds a bit bizzare but is it? We are supposed to be a country that has three equal parts of government, the President, the Congress, and the Judiciary. But what we have witnessed has been Trump combining the three into one, him. It seems that if something seems legally suspicious on Trump’s part he merely defers to the SJC and they have consitently given him the rubber stamp he desires.

Let’s back up to Trump on day 1. He gives the hundreds of men and women who purportated an insurrection against our government a pardon!!

He has openly stated the DEI must be done away with and that he is limiting the number of people who can come from other countries to study at our universities. This defies all logic. Diversity is all about having a “diverse” work or study place. Republicans do not like that but the reasoning is beyond belief. Equity, this is about giving any person an equal chance at whatever they are doing regardless of their color, religion, or ethnic background. That was the Civil Rights act of 1965!! But in Tumpland, that cannot be tolerated. And then there is inclusion. We are told we must be all inclusive in anything we doing which means giving everyone an equal chance. I think these ideals scared Trump since his MAGA followers are largely non-college grads who watch only Fox news. But they forgot what happen to Fox news when it was shown that Fox was deliberately airing items that it new were not true!

In case you were not watching, Trump is systematically, along with his Allies, ruining the lives of people with regard to their health care. First he took aim at Planned Parenthood because they perform abortions. The truth is, 90% of all women who go to Planned Parenthood are not their for an abortion but for information. Planned Parenthood does not push women into having an abortion, just the opposite actually. Why is it the Trump and his MAGA minions not see this? Because it is a truth he simply cannot deal with. Now he has taken aim at Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act. Democrats have maintained that millions upon millions of Americans, Republicans included, rely upon this act for insuranced they can afford. Part of the bill to reopen our government maintains the ACA and that does not sit well with Trump and his billionaire buddies who will get a tax reduction from monies now go to the ACA!!

Tump has the Speak of the House, Mike Johnson, toeing the line of not engaging in discussions with Democrats over getting this bill passed. Chuck Shumer, who Trump dearly hates, has requested that two Democrat, two Republicans and Trump sit down and hammer out a solution. Trump refuses. Why? Because he knows he will not get his way and it is his way or the highway.

Trump has muted the Judiciary, blunted the Congress from doing its business, and brung a high degree of power to the Excutive Branch. There is a parallel here. This is exactly what Hitler did. He consolidated power to become all powerful and one of Hitler’s first moves was to eliminate elections. Then he went after undesireables, a.k.a. Democrats in the U.S. Trump is only withholding Congressionally approved funds from highly visible universites in blue states. He has sent out the Texas National Guard to Chicago to quell all the violence there, when in face violent crimes have dropped 40% in the last 10 years, and, this also is probably an illegal act under Chapter 32 of the U.S. Code, the National Guard of a state may only be used in its own state. He also took U.S. Marines to Los Angeles which is absolutely against the law according to the law found in Chapter 10 of the U.S. code which says that active duty soldiers may not be used against American citizens. He has done it and not a single Republican has called foul. Well, I, an unaffiliated voter, am calling foul!!!

Republicans are supposed to be all about small government and pushing as much power down to the states as possible. Is Trump doing this? No!

Wake up America!! Your country is being stolen from you piece by piece by a despot!!

by

Keeping Donald Trump Out of Office!


It is not too early for the Republicans to start making moves to insure that Trump is never in office again. It is unlikely that any rivals will overtake him but his ability to win the election can be negated by someone like Chris Christie splitting the ticket from running as either an Independent or party name of his choosing.

Trump said very vocally and without equivocation that he wants to be a dictator for a day. And he goes on to say what he would do in that one day. To anyone foolish enough to believe he would want such power for one day is unfamiliar with the history of dictators. They always come in as reformists but none has ever made any reform which was good for their country. And none has ever been dictator for just one day. 

Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to our Democracy and it is time for his followers to realize who he really is. For reasons that deny reality, they have chosen to look the other way when it comes to the federal criminal crimes he is faced with. We actually had this situation once before in our country in the form of Warren G. Harding, a Republican. Harding was facing federal racketeering charges when his death pre-empted any such procedings and was replaced by very honest Calvin Coolidge. Consider that Harding died in 1923, just 100 years ago. And here we are again.

Even though I voted for Joe Biden in 2020, I do not consider him a strong enough candidate to insure a Democrat victory over Trump. Biden is not listening to people of his party. They overwhelmingly do not want him to run in 2024. A better choice? Right now I would say that person is Gov. Gavin Newsom of California. Newsom is 25 years younger than Biden and would be much more amenable to the young people of today. Those young people are not likely to vote for Biden, Trump either, but just skip that part of the ballot! Biden does not seem to recognize his liabilities and thinks that simply stating he is fully up to the job is just not enough nor is he believed by the general electorate. And I am one of those. It is believed that Newsom is preparing for a 2028 bid for President but why not have him now? The DNC, which holds so many purse strings, can easily tell Pres. Biden that they will not support his candadicy and that should put an end to Biden.

Furthermore, working against Biden is his perception. He has not explained the workings of our economy to show that the President, regardless of who it is, has only limited power to affect our economy. Life is full of things that are beyond the control of people and the national economy is one of them. People do not realize that it is the decisions made in the board rooms of America that have the most to do with inflation or the pricing of products. About the only place where government makes a difference in America is with corn farmers and milk farmers who are each subsidized by the government, although the disposition of those products should be of concern.

There has never been in the history of our county a time quite like this one. Republicans tie Biden to every problem at our borders even though they know full well that the Biden administration has already beefed up border security and has not implemented any new policies that were not existant during the Trump administration. Biden, although, as failed to counter this perception with appropriate comments. He has very seldom used the “bully pulpit” to forward his policies and these are just some of his failures that could lead to his loss to Donald Trump next November. Do we really want that? Decisions, hard ones, must be made now.

by

Wither Mental Health in the United States


We are by far the richest nation in the world. But we are 20th in the world in dealing with mental health issues. What countries do we trail? Pick pretty much any country in western Europe plus Japan and you start to get the idea. According to the Well Being Port, which is based on the well-being of any one country versus its mental health care. We are number 3 in well-being worldwide. That means that we rank 20th in mental health paints an even gloomier picture of our approach.

What is mental health? According to the report cited above, 1 in 5 Americans will encounter and mental health crisis at some time during their life. But among those figures, and one least written about is addiction which includes alcoholism. According to the World Population Review, the rate of alcoholism and addiction in the U.S. is among the highest in the world. I think this speaks loudly to our desire to take on these health issues directly. Again, countries such as Sweden, Austria and others have a much lower rate of these diseases. This is not a statistic anomaly, but a reality.

It is strange that anytime a Republican speak of mental health, it is only when there has been some sort of mass shooting. They are most certainly only trying to curry favor with the NRA and have no real empathy for those who suffer a mental illness.

The streets of the cities of the U.S. are littered with the mentally ill. There was a time when such people could be institutionalized until they were stabilized and of no danger to themselves or others. But in the 1970s Democrats in particular, viewed this as involuntary incarceration. If you care to wax philosophically about the, yes, that state is true. But is that good policy for those who suffer? It definitely is not. But also in the 1970s, there was a lack of psychiatric facilities for pure mental illness and a lack of facilities to treat those with drug and alcohol addiction. That has changed somewhat, although medical hospitals are want to treat the mentally ill past 2 weeks and almost uniformly refuse to provide in-patient care for drug and alcohol abuse.

This year, as our debt limit crisis is apparently avoided, Democrats refused to cut back on funding for mental health. But that is like saying, I will pay you 25 cents for your $1 product. Republicans on the other side, tried to reduce funding for those on public assistance. Well, news flash to the Republicans in denial, many of those on such assistance get government aid in the form of public assistance. The answer here is, if you want to reduce how much you pay into public assistance, put more into programs that directly assist those with mental health issues.

In a chapter of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, written over 80 years ago, Dr. Silkwood, at that time, described alcoholism as a health issue and not one of moral character. And yet still today we treat these individuals as pariahs of the general public. Many employers upon discovering an employee with drinking problems that lead to substandard work, fire such individuals rather than help them find assistance. They simply cite the lack of quality work as the reason for the firing. In truth, it is the combination of these factors. If a person get cancer, they cannot be summarily discharged because they miss so much work. There is a little known law by the public which is a portion of the American with Disabilities Act call the Reasonable Accommodation portion of the law which requires companies to work with people who present every sort of disability. Alcoholism and addiction are most definitely disabilities.

In short, we are failing all around to treat the most treatable illnesses today. Some mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and psychosis, defy physicians best efforts to contain them. But for the most part, people with mental illnesses can be fully productive provided they receive proper mental health care. Personally, I have what is called, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I have been on medications for over 40 years and there is little likelihood that I will ever fully recover. And yet, I lead a quiet but happy life. That is because via good health insurance and the Veterans Administration, I am fully cared for. But I believe I am in the minority who receives such care.

It is long overdue that our politicians, of any stripe, step up to the plate and put forth a rigorous plan that attacks the root forms of mental health in our country. We would do well to publicly fund treatment facilities for anyone who suffers any sort of mental illness. The result of this would be two-fold, they would get well and they would become healthy supporters of our economy. This might sound like a huge influx of cash by our federal government, which it would be, but it will reduce the costs of funding other portions of our public sector.

We each have a duty to help those in need. We cannot turn a blind eye to such problems and call ourselves good people. It is good to practice the help as you would wish to be helped thinking we must embrace.

by

You Cannot Read This


I recently saw a list of books that are banned in at least one state if not many. Among them are D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterly’s Lover, The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Anjelou, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the list goes on!

I read several of these books while in high school and I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would want to ban them. They are classics for a reason. Each is very well written and by authors whose legacy of being among the great American Authors will remain unblemished.

Florida’s governor, Ron DiSantis leads the way of deciding who can read what. And he is not alone but simply stands out more than most. God forbid in the state of Florida that a student might want to read The 1619 Project. What happens to that person if they do, that high school student? Are they expelled? Are they punished? Or are they simply inquisitive about the world around them and how we got here. Should that student follow up with The Grapes of Wrath and then Tortilla Flats, is that student on his road to perdition?

Conservative American politians claim they are here to fight to the end to preserve a person’s 1st Amendment rights, but does that right not include the liberty to read what he or she likes? I guess they think pouring all their efforts into making sure everyone in America has a ton of guns and not worrying about preserving a person’s right to choose.

Oh! There is that phrase! “A right to choose.” Hmmm, sounds like something a pro-choice person would say. But is not pro-choice also inclusive of the right to choose what any one person desires to read? Let’s see, they won’t ban Hustler Magazine, but they will ban To Kill a Mockingbird! The foolishness of this should be apparent to all Americans.

And one last thought, Texas is the only state in the union that sets a long-standing standard as to what material is included in high school history books. God help us because what is next?

by

SINGING THE ABORTION BLUES


According to the 2020 census, approximately 30% of Americans are Evangelicals with another 12% members of the Mormon Church. That is 42% of all Americans and that number may increase to close to 50% with the addition of conservative Roman Catholics. I bring that up because of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. It comes under thefirst portion which states that: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. “

In its landmark decision last year, the US Supreme Court said that the original Roe v. Wade decision was flawed and overturned it. That court was packed by Republicans with very conservative justices, most, if not all, can be included in the numbers I quoted above. Theirs was a political decision, to be sure, and not one of Constitutional Law as they are required. The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision was a 1st Amendment decision about a person’s right to privacy which included what happens between a doctor and his patient.

Yesterday the state of South Carolina declared that it intends to create a law which subject a woman who has had an abortion to either a prison sentence or 30 years or the death penalty! It takes absolutely no genius to figure out who is I abehind such a draconian statement.

I am someone who for his lifetime has been against abortion, however, I also realized that it would never be my body in play. This is the exclusive territory of women. Therefor, I became an anti-abortion/pro-choice man. It was my feeling that far too many abortions were simply a matter of convenience and not one of necessity.

The pro-life movement wants all embryos to be allowed to grow until birth. But it is at that point that they take a hands-off position. That baby born to a 13-year-old who lives in poverty is now that family’s problem. That is quite simply unacceptable. If you are to win the pro-life argument, you must take responsibility for all fetuses brought to term until that child is in a safe and secure situation that does not include any individual state taking responsibility for that child’s welfare by putting it into the fostFer parent style system. It should be that if you are going to be pro-life that you must give $250 a month to the state to care for these children who are born to parents who are unable to care for the child.

Furthermore, these pro-lifers have no consideration for the costs heaped upon low-income families who simply cannot afford either the costs of birth and then the costs of child care. The pro-lifers are single minded. They first shut down Planned Parenthood which is a 90% educational institution and 10% abortion. They have taken away the education these poor women need to prevent conception and thereby eliminate the need for abortion.

Our nation is now in a crisis of life. They call themselves pro-lifers but in reality, they are simply imposing their religious beliefs upon people who do not share that belief which means they are in violation of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution. The SJC’s decision was one of religious belief and not one of law as required by their position.

by

Wither the Republican Party?


Since 1854, the United States has had a strong Republican party and with the exception of 1912, when the party was split by Teddy Roosevelt and his Bull Moose party, and again with Ross Perot’s Reform Party in 1996, the party has stood strong. But this next election cycle could once again split the party in a matter that will affect it for many years to come.

I find it stunning the 60% of registered Republican votes support Donald Trump and this despite a latinity of his bad acts. And he is buttressed by Marjory Taylor Green who is on the far-right wing. Should Trump win in Iowa, anything is possible. But the party, where most of its elected representatives are centrists, needs to take control. And that can only come via it taking control of the narrative be played to Republicans and Independents who are right leaning. To date, the RNC has done nothing to take back the narrative of a “stolen election,” “the big lie,” and by owning its mistakes by refusing to partake in the January 6th Committe hearings and then allowing two of its leaders to fall to challengers. One more member, who I have called a “Fascist,” is Ron DeSantis and his campaign to control the thoughts and minds or the people of Florida. I do not, for the most part, agree with Liz Cheney’s politics but I gained great respect for her standing by principles that all members of Congress should adhere to, and I include Adam Kinzinger in that narrative.

Political parties win when they are run by the centrists of their party. These centrists are the deal makers of our nation. These are the people who actually make our government run smoothly; not as Congress is being run today. But make no mistake, each party needs its members who are more conservative or more liberal than the majority to bring in opposing thoughts to caucus discussions.

I do hope the Republican Party finds a way to make amends with Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger by finding a place for Cheney and backing Kinzinger as its choice for the seat he once held. It is the right thing to do. I ask of the Repulican Party leaders to do one thing and one thing only, just do the next right thing.

by

Slashing Programs is NOT the Answer: Republicans Take Note!


I read in today’s (March 9, 2023) Boston Globe how many Republicans are looking at slashing our foreign aid programs, making medicare receipients pay more and other cuts which only affect those on fixed incomes or of limited means. For my entire adult life I have paid into Medicare, and I continue to do so at age 74. This is NOT an entitlement; this is an investment I made for help exactly at this time in my life when I am no longer a part of the workforce.

We are the richest nation in the world, and it is not even close. Supporting Ukraine in its battle and supporting disadvantaged countries is something we owe the world.

President Biden has suggested increasing the tax rate for anyone who makes over $100,000 a year and yet Republicans are complaining! They can afford it! Republicans need to remember that the darling of their party, Ronald Reagan put a 20% minimum tax on such people and his threshold for such a tax was much lower.

Taxes are not the boogeyman Republicans make them out to be. Nowhere in the industrial world are its citizens taxed less. I suggest that raising the individual tax deduction to $25,000 will insure that lower income families are not affected by rising taxes. Even more, I recommend that this deduction be raised each year according to the rate of inflation.

A tax a rate that ensures those families making over $1,000,000 individually be mandated to pay the 20% minimum tax as Pres. Reagan suggested. This would be a start to reducing the national deficit. It should be, and is, that those people who make over $100 million a year pay nothing! This shows the absolute need for Congress to fix the tax code and close loopholes that favor only the very wealthy to super wealthy. That should be their focus and not cutting those things they are suggesting.

by

Why Democrats Will Lose the House and Senate


Ever since 1932 when Franklin D. Roosevelt took on Herbert Hoover for the Presidency, first in the mind of voters has been economics, with the exception of 1944, a war year. Roosevelt’s campaign built on the failures of the Hoover administrations failures in the banking community, something Hoover, trained as an engineer, had little clue on a cure to the nation’s ills. In most elections the cry of “it’s the economy stupid!” has taken center stage. This election cycle is no different!

For about two months following the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Democrats made hay. But since then, starting in early August, inflation and supply chain shortages have been front and center in the national consciousness. Democrats have stubbornly stuck to their abortion issue.

The year between presidential elections, the party not in power has historically made gains and frequently taken control of the house and senate. That, all by itself, should have put the Democrat Party on alert. But add to it, inflation and the declining purchasing power of the dollar, Americans, as history shows, will vote with their pocketbooks!

Nancy Pelosi has a compelling long-term outlook for our nation’s future. But that, unfortunately, is not how the American public at large votes. Democrats needed to keep such issues among elected officials and then educate the American public in non-national voting years, the importance of such issues. But even more, and along those lines, Democrats have shown little action in showing America why Republicans have no better chance of changing the economic climate than do they. They have not shown that what is being experienced in the US is in fact a global issue in economics. By simply making Americans look beyond America’s borders would at least give Americans pause to reconsider political campaign claims.

The Democrat’s war cry should have been “What is the Republican plan to change our economic ills?” Republicans do not have a plan, just a war cry. Leading Democrats needed to admit that they, any more than Republicans, can do precious little to cure what is actually a global issue. About 23.5% of Americans have a college degree, however, most of them have no education in economics. In a country where education should be of primary concern, few politicians, from any party, take the time to actually educate their electorate. I suspect that is because to do so would cause that electorate to actually question their political claims.

Democrats resistance towards addressing the top 5 issues on Americans’ mind, none being abortion, will not only lead to their losing both the house and senate, but in my estimation, the Senate will break 53 – 47 in the Senate and about 235 – 200 in the house, both in favor of Republicans.

by

North Carolina’s Vile Political Ads


I am a new resident of North Carolina having moved here just a year and a half ago. We moved here from Massachusetts in no small part to escape New England’s harsh winters. Over the last several months, we have been bombarded with political ads from both Democrats and Republican. By and large, I have found all these ads to be very disingenuous. Democrats have run ads against a woman called Sandy Smith claiming court filings show her to be a dangerous person. They showed documents that were requests for restraining orders against her. I think if the restraining orders had been put in place, they would have shown such documents. This leads me to believe that no such order was ever given.

The Republicans have been particularly egregious in their ads with claims that are on their face false. A woman named Cheri Beasly, a judge on North Carolina’s Supreme Court, is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated. Her opponent is a Trump acolyte named Ted Budd. One of their ads claims that Beasly in her present office has allowed sex offenders to go free without any tracking. Behind this is a North Carolina law for lifetime ankle GPS monitoring of these offenders. What they fail to mention is why she refused such restrains and what she her decision actually was. I suspect that Beasly found the NC law to be in violation of the 6th which bars “cruel and unusual punishment.” I think it likely that she did order tracking on these offenders. They ads claim that Beasly is putting children in danger because of her decisions. Such fear mongering tactics rely upon the electorate to take them at face value and not question what is being said.

I have long said to people that they should not let other people do their thinking for them. The only outlet I know of which challenges political claims is the site factcheck.org. As an organization that is not aligned with any political party, the site takes on various claims made by politicians and their campaigns.

I am registered as an independent. There are things about each political party which causes me pain. But I cannot help but wonder how much of what is happening in North Carolina is happening in other states, particularly those states that are turning “purple” as the old solidly conservative North Carolina is. Someone, somewhere needs to come forward and speak the plain truth about the various lies and half-truths being foisted upon the American public and it needs to happen now.

by

Political Tomfoolery


In this election year, the Republican Party has taken our economic condition as its cudgel. Similarly, the Democratic Party has taken abortion as its cudgel. Neither position helps the American public to any great degree.

The Republicans a very disingenuous in using the economy. In my undergraduate studies, oh so many moons ago, I minored in business administration. But even in those days, it was made very clear to us that we live in a world of a global economy. Simply put, every nation in the world is affected by the actions of either a handful of large economies of any single nation or that of a handful of small nations tied together.

Over the last 10 years, one of the world’s largest economies, China, has affected the rest of the world. China supplied, and still supplies, the world with electronic components and toys among to many other items. In return, China imported many food stuffs, particularly from the United States. When the corona virus hit the world, supply lines everywhere were negatively affected. Christmastime last year those supply line issues were shown to us via the major news outlets. Everything seemed to be in short supply, which was true. And who was to blame? Absolutely no one! The simple fact that many workers were too ill to work caused shortages which were entirely because of the pandemic. Recently, China has taken the stance of cancelling many of its food imports.

During those two years, many of those workers dropped out of the work force entirely, some never returned. Additionally, sectors such as transportation laid off huge numbers of their employees entirely because of the lack of demand. But in all cases, many of those workers who were of an age to retire, did so. Others got themselves trained for jobs which were still available and did not return to their previous job. Were there no pandemic, it is not unreasonable to assume they would have stayed on well beyond today. This was not because of the action or inaction of either political party. It was a simple and predictable part of economics. One such example is the oil industry. When demand goes down so do prices, a simple principle of economics. But the response of oil producing countries was to lower supply, an entirely reasonable response. This has the effect of raising prices even in a down economy. But this particular industry is somewhat unique. As the demand for oil started to rise, there is no reason for oil producing countries to increase production even though the United States was able to get OPEC to briefly raise production. Recently, OPEC decided to reduce production again.

Americans, thinking locally have taken this personally, and have disregarded this as a global issue, which, of course, it is. Right now, it is President Biden who is taking the heat for something over which he has no control, a global issue. The entire world is suffering the effects of higher oil prices with no country immune.

Our economy, like every economy in the world, is affected by the whims of stock markets, and in particular, that of the “futures” guessing game within stock markets. Easily spooked and too often wrong, these markets affect the prices we pay in the supermarket. Does the President of the United States or the entire 535 members of Congress has any sway over these things? It is foolish to think they do.

Politically speaking, neither party has the power to change our present economic situation. The best tact for each party is to explain to the public the truth, as I have just laid out, how our challengers with China, the war in Ukraine, the problems with the European Union economies, political unrest in Africa, food shortages world-wide, and so many other ills, all play into the economy in which we now find ourselves. One of the best moves, which Pres. Trump started, and which Pres. Biden has continued in earnest, is to make America lest dependent on supplies from other countries. No place is this more evident than in the automobile industry where new car availability is difficult at best. Pres. Biden has called upon industry to manufacture more electronic components here rather than relying upon other countries to supply them. But that is not an isolated example. Our export deficit has been plaguing us for decades with U.S. businesses sending more jobs overseas in search of lower manufacturing costs. There is one place that politics can take action, if unpopular to business, the resulting effect would be positive to Americans, in supply availability but in job availability.

It would be far more responsible were politicians to honestly educate Americans on the realities of economics than playing the us-against-them ideology being practiced today. All 535 members of Congress plus the President and his political appointees are responsible for seeing that through.