Month: March 2022

Long Overdue: The Emmett Till Anti Lynching Act, Making Such Action A Federal Crime!

Emmett Till was a 14 year old African American boy from Chicago visiting Mississippi in 1955, when a white woman claimed he whistled at her and tried to grab her.

Her husband and his half brother arranged for this young boy to be kidnapped, tortured, and murdered, with his face and body left in horrific condition, which was revealed in an open casket at the funeral. Sadly, the two men were found not guilty by an all white jury, although years later, they admitted to the killing, and the woman admitted she had lied about Till making a pass at her.

Lynchings had gone on in the South since after the Civil War, and legislation had been introduced regularly since 1900, and finally, the act of lynching was made a federal crime, punishable by 30 years in prison, and signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Lynching was used as a tactic even in states outside the South, and while African American males were the major victims, there were also Jews, Italians, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans who were subjected to such heinous crimes, most often without accountability. And there have been recent examples in the past thirty years of gay Americans being victimized.

This legislation gained all but three votes in the House of Representatives, and a unanimous vote in the US Senate, and marks the end of a long fought battle to deal with lychings in more than 4000 cases from 1877 to 1950.

The killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia in 2020 was a recent example of what is perceived as a lynching, but done by firearms rather than hanging or beating. But the men involved were convicted and sentenced to life in prison, thankfully.

Racial hatred remains a disease in America, but now, at least justice is served with federal legislation.

41st Anniversary Of Ronald Reagan Shooting, And Growing Threats To Presidency By Enemies, Foreign And Domestic!

It has been 41 years since Ronald Reagan was shot on this day in 1981, the last time an American President has directly been threatened by a would be assassin.

It has been 59 years this coming November 22 since President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

This author and blogger published his study of Presidential Assassinations and Threats entitled ASSASSINATIONS THREATS AND THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY: FROM ANDREW JACKSON TO BARACK OBAMA (Rowman Littlefield, 2015, Paperback 2017), and is still very concerned about the constant potential threats to whoever is President, Vice President, and other top officials of the US government, including members of Congress.

Domestic terrorism is widespread, and has been encouraged by many of the followers of Donald Trump, culminating in the US Capitol Insurrection of January 6, 2021.

Overseas terrorism and threats are also realities that require greater protection of the President, Vice President, and other federal officeholders in exponential ways more than ever before.

Seven Hours Of Donald Trump Phone Log Of January 6 Insurrection Missing

THe House January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection investigation continues, and it has been discovered that there is a gap of seven hours of the Donald Trump White House Phone Log on that day.

It is known that Trump spoke to Vice President Mike Pence; Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville; and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and clearly there were other phone calls back and forth between Trump and many Republicans.

The committee is pursuing the gaining of information about these phone calls, as they are crucial to understanding Donald Trump’s reaction to the events of January 6 at the US Capitol.

Jared Kushner, the son in law of Trump, married to Ivanka Trump, will be questioned by the committee on Wednesday, and it will be interesting to see what comes from this, since the daughter of the President was in the White House on that day, although Kushner was not in Washington, DC but certainly knows what transpired through his wife. The odds are not much will be gained from the interview, but we shall see.

The former President has been working to prevent disclosure of his words and actions on that fateful day, but it is hoped evidence can be gathered to insure that Trump is prosecuted for his treasonous and seditious actions on January 6!

Joe Biden Becomes A Wartime President

Joe Biden has become a wartime President, alongside James Madison, James K. Polk, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush.

At this point, he looks more like Lincoln, Wilson, FDR, Truman, and George H. W. Bush than the rest of the group.

If fortune goes against him, he might look more like Madison, who saw the nation divide during the War Of 1812 and the White House being burned; like Polk, who caused a split over slavery expansion during the Mexican War that helped to lead to the Civil War a decade later; like LBJ, who divided the nation over Vietnam just as he promoted the Great Society; like Nixon, who continued an unpopular war in Vietnam that ended up in a tragic loss; and like George W. Bush, who started two wars based on poor tactics and planning, and dominated by lies and deception in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Joe Biden Speech In Poland One Of Great Presidential Speeches

President Joe Biden gave one of the great Presidential speeches of modern times yesterday in Warsaw, Poland, as he met with refugees from the Russia-Ukraine War.

He was passionate in defense of democracy, freedom, and in support of NATO as it deals with the Ukraine invasion.

His speech will be remembered much like John F. Kennedy’s Cuban Missile speech in October 1962, and Ronald Reagan’s Berlin Wall speech in June 1987, both challenging the Soviet Union, as now, Biden challenged its successor, the Russian Federation.

Joe Biden has demonstrated on this European trip a high level of energy and focus which belies his right wing critics who say he has dementia, a total fabrication.

Everyone should be proud of Joe Biden, who is proving just how Presidential he is, a stark contrast to his predecessor in the Oval Office!

Joe Biden Supporting NATO Totally As All Presidents Since Truman, Except For Donald Trump

President Joe Biden is proving he is a genuine statesman, making perfectly clear that the United States backs its NATO partners completely.

He is supporting NATO totally as all Presidents have done since Harry Truman presided over the creation of NATO in 1949, with the glaring exception of Donald Trump.

Trump was rude, nasty, and abusive toward the NATO alliance, and was moving toward breaking America’s bond with its European allies, precisly what Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation wanted him to do.

It is clear that if Trump had still been President, he would not have condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and would have refused to support NATO in opposition to Russian expansion.

So Joe Biden saved the nation and the world by winning the Presidency by the massive margin of 7 million popular votes, and winning five states won by Trump in 2016!

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas: Time To Recuse Himself In January 6 Cases, Or Retire Or Face Impeachment!

Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been controversial since his appointment by President George H.W. Bush in 1991.

Accused of sexual harrassment by Anita Hill, Thomas made it his mission upon close confirmation to attack everything liberal and decent ever since, and has been the most extreme member of the Court for three decades!

And his wife, Ginni Thomas, has been an open champion of right wing politics ever since on her own, and has put her husband into many conflicts of interest.

But now, we are learning that Ginni Thomas promoted the January 6 Insurrection, and her husband is not cooperating in allowing evidence of such conspiring by a multutude of Donald Trump appointees to be submitted to the House committee investigating the events of that tragic day, although thankfully, the rest of the Court has moved forward in that regard, ignoring Donald Trump attempting to cover it up.

Thomas shoiuld retire, or face impeachment, as he is clearly the most corrupt Supreme Court Justice in modern time, or at the last, recuse himself from all cases involving the January 6 Insurrection.

And his wife should be held accountable for her actions on that day!

Loss Of A Great Woman In American Diplomacy: Madeleine Albright (1937-2022)

America yesterday lost one of its greatest ever women public servants–former United Nations Ambassador and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in the administration of President Bill Clinton.

Albright was brilliant, courageous, principled, and always spoke her mind as the first woman Secretary of State.

This author and blogger was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend a public lecture at Florida Atlantic University by Madeleine Albright a few years ago on the role of foreign policy in the American Presidency, and I was immensely impressed.

Being a refugee from both Nazi occupation of her homeland, Czecholovakia, and then again from Soviet takeover after World War II, Albright demonstrated the great value and contributions of refugees who emigrate to America, and is an excellent argument against the ever present nativism of hatemongers.

Albright learned of her Jewish heritage in recent years, as her parents converted to Catholicism to promote protection of their family, and she appreciated greatly learning of her heritage, which sadly included Nazi murder of three of her grandparents.

Albright opened up avenues of opportunity for women with her amazing performance in high pressure diplomacy, and she warned us in a recent book about the danger of the rise again of Fascism, condemning Donald Trump as a threat to America’s future.

Her warning of the danger of Donald Trump must be part of a massive effort to insure that neither Trump or anyone of his ilk makes it to the White House and beyond!

The Republican Party Is More Horrendous Than Ever!

It is hard to believe, but the Republican Party in Congress is more horrendous than ever before!

A party which used to have a substantial number of moderate Senators in the past has gone totally nuts!

Yesterday, this author and blogger condemned the handling of the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson by Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Lindsey Graham, and Tom Cotton.

Now Marsha Blackburn is added to that list making fools of themselves in the hearings.

But even outside of that issue, now we have Indiana Senator Mike Braun who says that Interracial Marriage, declared constitutional in Loving V Virginia in 1967, should never have been accomplished by the Supreme Court.

This is part of setting constitutional law backwards, along with the threat to abortion rights Roe V Wade (1973), and Griswold V Connecticut (1965), which promoted the constitutional right to sexual privacy and legalized contraception for married couples.

Although Braun now has backtracked, it is clear that leave it to the Republicans, and they would interfere with the privacy rights of Americans, not only interracial marriage, abortion, and contraception, but also gay marriage, if given the opportunity.

This is right wing totalitarianism, denial of basic human rights, and going back to the years before the Warren Court (1953-1969) and forward!

Highly Qualified Ketanji Brown Jackson Makes Republican Senate Critics Look Ridiculous!

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing going on today in Washington DC is a mockery of the process, as Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is making her Republican critics look ridiculous.

Particularly outrageous are Senators Josh Hawley of Missouri, Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Tom Cotton of Arkansas.

These Senators had no issue with the qualifications of Amy Coney Barrett, whose qualifications and intellect were far less than those of Jackson.

Clearly, racism is rearing its ugly head, as the concept of an African American woman becoming the first ever on the Supreme Court, after 108 white men have been on the Court, and four white women, and two African American males, and one Hispanic woman.