Civil Liberties

The War On Knowledge Is Horrifying And Extremely Dangerous!

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The war on knowledge is in full swing in much of America, particularly “Red” America, including the megastates of Texas and Florida, but also many other states.

War has been declared on teachers and what they teach in their classrooms!

War has been declared on librarians and book shelves in public and school libraries!

There is a constant barrage of attacks on so called “woke” ideas, which means to have compassion, empathy, and concern about those less privileged in a society where wealthy white people prevail in control, and want to limit diversity, inclusion, and equity, for poor people, immigrants, women, people of color, and gays, lesbians, and transexuals!

The hate being promoted by Ron DeSantis in Florida is escalating elsewhere, and threatening the very existence of marginal groups, and encouraging breakdown of mental health, victimizing young people in particular, but really promoting, ultimately, a return to white supremacy and advocating Christian dominance in a society that is supposed to be one of separation of church and state!

If DeSantis, Donald Trump, or their ilk win back control of both houses of Congress and the White House in 2024, then the fear that many Americans had during the early days of World War II, that we would have American Fascism taking over, maybe in the name of aviator Charles Lindbergh back then, could very well come to pass!

American freedom and democracy could end, and who could say that there would not be those politicians who would not come up with a variation of the “Final Solution” of Adolf Hitler?

This is not light banter, but rather makes clear the very serious and growing threat to basic civil liberties, including freedom of speech, press, religion, and assembly!

We could see another “Holocaust” as people of color experienced in America with widespread discrimination and brutality visited against native Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and non Christians in varying degrees, history that people like DeSantis do not want to be taught!

It is time for patriotic Americans to make clear that we are not going to allow those promoting hate and division to triumph in the future, so the upcoming elections in 2024 and beyond are not a time to sit on the sidelines and just hope for a miracle!

Actions are necessary to insure the future of American democracy and freedom, and the empathy, sincerity, decency, and compassion that Joe Biden and others like him promote, MUST triumph for survival of the nation we love!

The Supreme Court Is Undermining American Democracy And Basic Human Rights!

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America is in a tragic situation, of a nation clearly more progressive than the Supreme Court, which has now been stacked with 6 solid conservatives out to take away voting rights, abortion rights, and protect corporations at the expense of workers.

At times, some of the 6 Republican appointees surprise, but clearly, the rights of people of color, women, labor, environmental causes, and basic civil liberties are under constant threat.

And the thought that five of the 6 Republican appointments to the Supreme Court were made by Presidents (George W. Bush, Donald Trump) who did NOT win the popular vote, but rather in contested elections, were awarded the Electoral College majority in 2000 and 2016!

We are in a crisis situation, where the Court is undermining American democracy and basic human rights!

One Month Anniversary Of The Biden Presidency: Tremendous Initiatives And Goals And Early Success!

Ronald 2 Comments

It is today one month since Joe Biden became the 46th President of the United States, and there is a sense of great optimism.

The basic decency, compassion, empathy of Joe Biden is very evident, and he has staked out goals in foreign policy and domestic policy, canceling out most of the damage done by Donald Trump in his horrendous four years in office.

Biden has embraced NATO and our democratic allies in Asia;

has made clear that America will hold authoritarian governments around the world accountable for their outrageous violations of basic freedoms;

has selected an exceptional group of Cabinet and other advisors to deal with the myriad of issues he faces, greater than anyone since Franklin D. Roosevelt nine decades ago;

has committed himself to the fight against climate change;

has dedicated himself to the need for immigration reform, and to protect DACA recipients who have been living in uncertainty for the past five years;

has worked to promote the environment and conservation after the worst environmental record of any American President;

has been moving forward on a major economic relief bill;

has surpassed his goal of daily vaccinations against COVID 19 and made it a national commitment, not just left up to states alone;

has made the fight for civil liberties, civil rights, and the struggle against racism, nativism, misogyny a major commitment;

has endorsed full protection for the gay and lesbian community;

and above all, has restored the dignity and prestige of the American Presidency which was in rapid decline.

Joe Biden may not be able to accomplish everything he wishes, due to political realities, but his heart is in the right place, and he clearly is out to promote progressive goals and work against domestic terrorist groups which endanger American democracy.

Crazy Trumpites Call For Martial Law, And “Proud Boys” Terrorists/Hoodlums (Brown Shirt Storm Troopers), Promote Violence!

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With 46 days until the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, we are witnessing, including this author personally with some people he knows, the rise of crazy Trumpites who are calling for Martial Law, suspension of the Constitution and Rule of Law, and refusing to accept Joe Biden’s clear cut victory!

These people are totally nuts, off the wall, and being manipulated by religious extremists of the Jewish and Christian faiths, and are endorsing lawlessness, and violation of civil liberties and civil rights!

And the “Proud Boys”, a terrorist/hoodlum group, brown shirt stormtroopers, is growing that is promoting violence and inciting crazy people on the sidelines to support Donald Trump, as they are acting like the bullies and terrorists of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Soviet Russia in the past history of the 20th century!

It seems likely that Trump will try to stage an alternative event on Inauguration Day in Washington, DC, and not attend the inauguration of his successor, which is the norm.

This could lead to violence and bloodshed, endangering the Inauguration crowd, and making the safety of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris more difficult, and threatening their lives!

Donald Trump needs to be made to understand that any inciting of bloodshed and violence, once out of office, could lead to arrest, incarceration with no bail, and conviction on terrorism charges!

And any alternative inauguration event should not be televised live during the Presidential Inauguration, no split screen, or any attention given by news media to distract from the historic event!

America Is Returning To Its Values: Open To Immigrants; Believing In Science; Pursuing Allied Diplomacy

Ronald 2 Comments

As President Elect Joe Biden introduced his first Cabinet advisors in a press conference yesterday, it was clear that America is returning to its long held values that made it great, and a model for the world.

This is a nation of immigrants, and not just for the most successful and accomplished, but a place for people to escape to from oppression and denial of rights, and then to be successful and to accomplish, totally opposite the nativism pursued by Donald Trump and his corrupt administration!

This is a nation that believes in science, not in fake or out of date science, and is out to promote health and safety of all of its population. Donald Trump and his corrupt administration ignored and rejected science, and promoted a death cult that believes in herd immunity in the midst of a pandemic, a crime that should be pursued against those quack scientists and doctors who preach it!

This is a nation that has a role of world leadership, and cannot reject that role, and is returning to pursuit of allied diplomacy with peace loving and freedom loving nations against authoritarian governments of the Left and the Right around the world. Joe Biden will deal with authoritarians in a proper fashion, not embrace their pursuit of denial of civil liberties and human rights, as Donald Trump and his corrupt administration has done, to the disgrace of the American image in the past four years!

Joe Biden is a refreshing reminder of what made America great, and we must all wish him success in his mission of wiping out the cancer of Donald Trump, which must also include total pursuit of criminal charges against him, his family, his Cabinet members and other advisors, who committed horrible sins and actions against vulnerable people in the name of profit, greed, selfishness, egotism, narcissism, and total lack of concern for those less fortunate among us!

The American Character And Reputation Is At Stake On Tuesday: Can We Come Out Of The Darkness?

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With 48 hours to the election, the American character and reputation is at stake on Tuesday, Election Day.

Can America come out of the darkness of the last four years, and restore respect for the Constitution and rule of law, and gain the respect again of the international community?

Will morality and ethics and common decency return, or will America go into the darkness of Fascism, as occurred in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany?

Will civil rights, civil liberties, women’s rights, gay rights, immigrant rights, labor rights, consumer rights, environmental protections, and restoration of international respect for America be resumed?

Or will we go further into the darkness where Donald Trump will be uncontrollable, and the possibility of mass murder of opponents occur, with the backing of the extreme right wing groups, including the evangelicals and various militia groups, who will want war on open mindedness and tolerance and common decency?

As stated at earlier times, this is the most important election in our lifetimes, or at least since 1940, and could be as significant as 1860 and the Civil War!

Confirmation Of Justice Amy Coney Barrett Creates The Most Extreme Supreme Court Since 1930s!

Ronald 1 Comment

The confirmation last evening of new Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett creates the most extreme Supreme Court since the time of the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s Great Depression, just as we are entering into the Second Great Depression.

The right wing narrow minded view of Justice Barrett is perceived as more so than even her mentor, former Justice Antonin Scalia.

The fifth woman to serve on the Court, she is the anti Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a great woman who we could only wish had been able to live two to three more weeks, preventing an appointment before the election.

And had she lived until December, even a lame duck President could not have replaced her before January and a new President.

This only accelerates the dire need for everyone to vote, and for the Republicans to be resoundingly defeated next week for the White House and the US Senate, and add seats in the House of Representatives.

With a 6-3 extremist Court, the following areas of law are greatly endangered:

Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in general
Women’s Rights
Abortion Rights
Gay Rights and Gay Marriage
Labor Rights
Voting Rights
Environmental Reforms
Consumer Reforms
Business Regulations
Separation of Church and State
Firearms Regulation

The answer must be to expand the Supreme Court to 11 members, adding two progressives or liberal voices to the Court, making for a slight 6-5 conservative majority, but promoting the concept that Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch will, at times, side with the liberals.

It does not guarantee progressive and liberal ideas, but that has been that way for a generation, but once either Clarence Thomas (age 72) or Samuel Alito (age 70) leaves the Court, likely in the next four years, a moderate Court will be achieved. And if Stephen Breyer or Sonia Sotomayor were to leave, it would insure a Democratic President choosing their successors.

Voting for Joe Biden and a Democratic Senate insures that the right wing tilt of the Court will be short lived!

Republicans Are Out To Declare War On Women’s Rights, Health Care, Labor Rights, Gay Rights, Environment And So Much More!

Ronald 5 Comments

The Republican Party and President Donald Trump have declared open war on women’s rights, health care, labor rights, gay rights, the environment, and civil liberties.

They have become an extreme right wing party, more like a Fascist Party, disparaging the history of a party that once stood for basic decent principles.

Officeholders in the Republican Party have sold their souls to the most evil man ever to be President, and their future will be one of total destruction, as the nation turns against them in November and in the future, as they did in California after anti immigrant legislation was passed in the early 1990s.

If there was ever a time for all good, decent people to vote, and to be willing to resist with demonstrations, but without violence, it is NOW!

The nomination of Circuit Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett is a complete repudiation of the historic role of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and will galvanize all intelligent and educated women, all those who care about life in the midst of this COVID-19 Pandemic, all gays and lesbians, all environmentalists, and all who believe in racial equality and civil rights, to unite, and hopefully, defeat the forces of evil.

And if the Supreme Court with the evil intentioned Amy Comey Barrett declares abortion illegal and destroys the Affordable Care Act without a replacement, then the Democrats will have to add new members to the Court to upend the evil Trump-Republican strategy to take away basic human rights!

It Is Official: The Republican Party Has Become A Cult Around A Strong Arm Authoritarian Out To Destroy American Democracy!

Ronald 8 Comments

The Republican National Convention began today during the daytime hours, and Donald Trump and Mike Pence were renominated for President and Vice President of the United States.

Donald Trump avoided tradition and spoke for an hour, ranting and raving against his “enemies”, reminding those who know history of Adolf Hitler at his Nuremberg rallies.

We are witnessing the Republican Party officeholders swearing their loyalty to a man who has lied 20,000 times in office; has promoted racism, nativism, misogyny, white supremacy; has become a friend of authoritarians and alienated democratic nations; has undermined the judiciary, intelligence agencies, the foreign policy apparatus, and attacked the news media as “the enemy of the people”; has bullied and attacked all of his critics incessantly; has undermined our environment and civil liberties; has refused to take strong action against the CoronaVirus Pandemic; has shown no sense of compassion, empathy, decency or dignity in any form; and a legion of others sins and shortcomings that has never been matched by any previous President in more than two centuries of American history!

The party of such Presidential luminaries as Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush has been shamed by Donald Trump!

The party of such Congressional luminaries as Charles Sumner, Robert LaFollette, Sr., George Norris, Arthur Vandenberg, and Everett Dirksen has been embarrassed by the weak kneed refusal of today’s Republican members of Congress to show some backbone to Donald Trump!

Face the facts: the Republican Party has become a cult, and is unlikely to come back into respectability, even after Donald Trump leaves the scene, as he has done so much damage and harm, that the Republican Party name may very well go into oblivion!

Donald Trump Ready And Willing To Take American Democracy And The American Heritage Down With Him In His Desperate Attempt To Keep Power!

Ronald 5 Comments

Donald Trump is ready and willing to take American democracy and the American heritage down with him in his desperate attempt to keep power.

He has no limits in what he will do, including promotion of foreign collusion; suppression of votes in minority communities; spreading lies and falsehoods about Joe Biden and his eventual running mate for Vice President; and creating a crisis to try to sway the nation in October, the so called concept of the “October surprise”.

Donald Trump has no ethics, scruples, morals, and has operated as a criminal element for his entire adult life, and he lusts for absolute power and suppression of civil liberties and the Constitution.

We can expect that the last 100 days of this campaign, beginning nine days from now on July 26, will be full of tumult and potential violence, with it being designed to terrify the population to avoid going to the polls by direct threats of violence, and his continued effort to crack down on use of mail ballots.

If America comes through this constitutional crisis with a good result, it will be through widespread efforts to undermine the dictatorial desires of the most evil man ever to be President of the United States!

This is a time to pray for good results, even if not religious!