Minority Groups

Ron DeSantis More Dangerous Than Was George Wallace In 1960s Or Huey Long In 1930s

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has become an authoritarian, arrogant, dangerous leader of the third largest state in population in America, and it is clear that he is full steam ahead in his pursuit of the Republican Presidential nomination in 2024, even if Donald Trump ends up announcing for President.

Highly ambitious, and willing to do anything to promote his populist views against the establishment in every respect, DeSantis should be seen as much more dangerous than an earlier popullst, Alabama Governor George Wallace was in the 1960s, including when he ran on a third party American Independent party line in 1968, winning five states, 46 electoral votes, and 13.5 percent of the national popular vote.

Ron DeSantis clearly will stop at nothing in his quest for power, as he has now made victims of women, minority groups, gay and transgender people, children, and promoted banning books and interfering with educational curriculum, and even the right of Floridians to vote in a system based on democracy and representation by promoting extreme gerrymandering.

DeSantis is interfering with his own party in the legislature, reminding us of Huey Long of Louisiana in the 1930s, as dictatorial in approach as Long was, alarming many at the time and now.

DeSantis has adopted Trump tactics, including showing his signature in a “show and tell” after signing legislation or an executive order. But he is also smarter and more than thirty years younger than Trump, and he is hell bent on storming the opposition in his own party, and taking over the federal government with an extremist right wing agenda. He has declared war on common decency, compassion, empathy, and humanity, all represented by President Joe Biden.

DeSantis has no limits to his agenda to promote the return of America to its past, rather than its multi ethnic future, and the goal must be to stop him in his tracks from reaching the White House, as American Fascism would be the result!

The Republican Party And Donald Trump War On The Disabled

The Republican Party of 2018 has become an extremist right wing party, unwilling to put any limits on the corruption and mean spirited nature of President Donald Trump.

Not only have they declared war on immigrants, women, workers, consumers, environmentalists, minority groups, and gays and lesbians, but even have sunk ever lower by attacking the disabled.

In 1990, President George H. W. Bush signed into law the ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act), which opened up new opportunities and optimism for the future of people with intellectual and physical disabilities, tens of millions of people of all ages, who just wanted a chance to be productive in work and have access to public places.

But now, the Republican majority has introduced H. R. 620, also known as the “ADA Notification”, which would fundamentally change the structure of the ADA and would eliminate any reason for businesses to comply with the law unless and until they receive a legal notice detailing the violations that have occurred. The measure places the burden of ensuring compliance on people with disabilities rather than on businesses. It would make it harder for people with disabilities to participate in the mainstream of society. And already, even with the law, many disabled people live in poverty and are discriminated against in gaining and keeping jobs.

It is part of making business unaccountable to the population they employ and serve. It is unconscionable, immoral and unethical, but is part of the war going on against vulnerable populations, with an uncaring Republican Party unconcerned about the effects on millions of people who just want fairness and equity in opportunities to feel self worth.

On Gun Regulation And DACA, Vast Majorities Are In Support, But Trump And GOP Ignore Public Opinion!

One would think that America was a nation based on the consent of the governed, but apparently not so, in the age of Donald Trump and the Republican Party in control of our government, but only due to the faults of the Electoral College and of gerrymandering.

85-90 percent of the nation in public opinion polls support gun regulation, with the large number of massacres occurring in schools, malls, churches, and other public places, but the National Rifle Association owns the Republican Party, so when mass shootings take place, little is said other than “thoughts and prayers”, and nothing is done, even to have minimal oversight of people who purchase weapons.

The same percent want the “Dreamers” under DACA to be allowed to stay. and to have an eventual pathway to citizenship, but instead, they are being victimized by the racism and nativism of Donald Trump and the Republican Party. These young people have served in the military, attended college, held responsible employment, and have not engaged in criminal activities, but are being threatened with deportation by ICE agents, because their parents came here illegally.

America is now a nation in which these two evils of gun violence and discrimination against people who are not white Anglos has become a norm, with little done to deal with either issue.

This is causing great despair as America becomes a place that resists security for average Americans, and a sense of justice and fairness toward its minority groups.

Add to this the growing misogyny, and America has backtracked so much from the image of America as a democracy that promotes equality, justice, and fair play to all who reside in the country.

Roy Moore, The Most Extremist Right Wing Senator In The Republican Party, And Possible Sign Of Future Turmoil In Party, If He Wins In December

Alabama Republicans last night selected former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore as their nominee to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions, overcoming temporary appointed Senator Luther Strange, by a margin of 10 percent.

Although Donald Trump supported Strange, he quickly switched to backing of Moore, who faces a contest with Doug Jones, the Democratic nominee, who as US Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, by appointment of Bill Clinton, was able to gain convictions of the perpetrators of the Birmingham Church bombing in 1963 of four young African American girls in 2001 and 2002, making him a hero four decades later than the crimes, but with two Ku Klux Klan members finally being dealt justice for their crimes.

But Alabama, being Alabama, is likely to elect Roy Moore to finish the remainder of the Sessions term on December 12.

Moore would be, by his own record, the most extremist right wing Senator in decades, more so than even Ted Cruz is or Jeff Sessions was, and as dangerous as Jesse Helms was for decades.

This man wants a Christian run nation, not believing in separation of church and state, a very alarming situation.

He is homophobic, Islamophobic, and racist, in his references to minority groups as “red and yellow”, and wanting to check out all Hispanics on their being documented or undocumented immigrants.

He is a Birther, as Trump was, believing that Barack Obama was born in Kenya.

He was forced out twice from the Supreme Court of Alabama for installing a Ten Commandments statue, and for promoting refusal to accept the US Supreme Court decision on gay marriage, and wants homosexuality to be a crime worthy of prosecution.

He is a firebrand, who has the support of such right wing extremists as Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, and Laura Ingraham.

He is anti Republican Establishment, and will create trouble for Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan on Capitol Hill, and will make many controversial statements.

To imagine that Sessions would have been preferable to remain as a US Senator instead of having Moore as his replacement shows just how extremist and whacko the Republican Party has become, and it encourages other Tea Party types like Moore to challenge Republican Senators for renomination in states such as Arizona, Nevada, and now Tennessee where Senator Bob Corker has decided not to run for reelection in 2018.

The White Working Class And Donald Trump, The Ultimate P T Barnum!

Donald Trump, a billionaire, the wealthiest Presidential candidate in American history, has particular support from the white working class, which has become victims of corporate influence in politics, including the effects of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and other free trade agreements, which have been supported by the vast majority of both Democrats and Republicans, going back to the Bill Clinton Presidency.

So many jobs have gone overseas in the past few decades, limiting the ability of the white working class to gain high wage jobs, and on top of it, the growing immigration issue of undocumented immigrants, heavily from Latin America and Asia, and the insecurity felt about the reality of minority groups collectively moving toward a majority of the population by the 2040s, fuels the Donald Trump support.

But it is truly ironic that Trump employs immigrants for his hotels and other properties over native born workers, in order to save money!

The white working class is totally with its head in the sand, not realizing that Trump is a phony, who says what they want to hear, but has no real clue on the issues, and has avoided specifics on domestic and foreign policy, other than to talk about a wall on the Mexican border; to ban all Muslims from entrance to the United States; to promise everything will be fine in the future and that the world will come to “respect” us again, while having intelligence and foreign policy experts warn that he has no clear perception of the challenges of military and foreign policy!

If someone rails against the politicians, and yet provides examples of promising what is not possible to achieve, then indeed such a person is a “used car” or “snake oil” salesman, misleading ill informed voters, and one can be sure that the ultimate disillusionment will be far greater as a result, when the white working class realizes they have, once again, been bamboozled by a true PT Barnum character!

Imagining The “Impossible”: Donald Trump Vs. Bernie Sanders OR Trump (Independent), Sanders And Jeb Bush!

Impossible to believe, but it could be happening—Independent Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont as the Democratic nominee for President vs. Businessman Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for President OR Trump running on an independent or third party line, with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush as the Republican nominee!

How could this happen?

It is clear that there is an anti Establishment mentality at this time in America, and it is showing up in both political parties!

But the differences between Sanders and Trump are massive.

Sanders has no vast amounts of wealth or wealthy people supporting him, while Trump has his own unlimited resources for his campaign.

Sanders has never been a Democrat, but has served longer in government than any independent in the history of Congress.

Trump has never been a member of any party, but has flirted with Democrats before, and his views are unsettled, and not clearly Republican.

Sanders has set principles and ideas, while Trump has no ideas except to promote his own ego.

Sanders has run a positive campaign of ideas, and refuses to attack his opponents.

Trump has spent the last three months attacking the character and persona of all of his opponents.

Sanders has tried to expand his base to minority voters, while Trump has done everything to antagonize all minority groups and women.

Sanders is trying to stop the influence of billionaires, while Trump is a billionaire who is endangering the idea of a democracy with his encouragement of greed, selfishness, and egotism as a virtue to be promoted.

Sanders is a sincere, genuine, authentic person, while Trump is an egomaniac and narcissist.

It would seem that Sanders, running as a Democrat, would be favored over Trump in the Electoral College, but one could imagine the false charges that Socialism is Communism, and although Trump would not utilize it, it is certain that hate groups would promote antisemitism, as Sanders would be the first Jewish Presidential nominee.

It would be a contest between two different worlds, of a 75 year old Socialist, who would be the oldest elected first term President in history, vs a billionaire who would be past 70 and a half, and would be, if elected, himself, the oldest elected first term President in history, although four years and nine months younger than Sanders!

Five Years Of President Barack Obama, And Three Years To Go!

Today is Inauguration Day, if an inauguration was to take place, as it did in 2009 and 2013, for President Barack Obama. It is also, this year, the commemoration of the birth of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was actually born on January 15, but whose birthday is celebrated on the third Monday of January every year since 1986.

If Martin Luther King, Jr. were here today at age 85, he would be very proud of the performance of a man who has seen as much racial hatred and venom, if not more totally, than King faced in his short 39 years of life.

Obama has suffered an average of 30 death threats per day, over 10,000 a year, and 50,000 in five years, more than any President in American history, even likely Abraham Lincoln, who suffered the most vicious hate of any other American President.

Obama has been called a Socialist, a Communist, a radical, all terms used against King five decades ago. It was also used against Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s. He has been accused of being “unAmerican”, because he has a mission to provide equal access and opportunity, and the protection of human rights of all minority groups, women, immigrants, labor, as well as protect the environment and promote economic and social justice for the vast middle class and the poor.

If Obama were white, he would be attacked by the right wing, but not with the viciousness that he faces because he has an African American appearance, due to the genetics that made him look more black like his Kenyan father, than white, despite his white mother and the greater impact of her and her parents on his upbringing.

Barack Obama has proved to be a man of calmness, coolness, strength, confidence, class, dignity, and he has accomplished a lot more than his critics are willing to give him credit for, since they consider the fact that he breathes to be a fault in itself.

History will look kind on Barack Obama, while acknowledging his mistakes and shortcomings. which every President and every human being possesses.

Obama’s critics will look terrible, horrible, short sighted, hateful, and wrong in the long run of history, and future Americans will be appalled at the racism, nastiness, viciousness, and wishes to harm him, so common among the right wing talk shows on radio, Fox News Channel, conservative organizations, and the Republican Party of the second decade of the 21st century, an embarrassment to the long and proud history of Republicans in the past, who often were correct and contributory to the nation’s history.

Obama will outdo his critics, and go down as an above average President, maybe even near great, who was a path breaking President who made a dramatic difference in American history for the better!

Momentous Supreme Court Month Coming Up: Gay Marriage, Affirmative Action, Voting Rights Act Cases To Be Decided

The United States Supreme Court is entering its last month of the present session, and as usual, is leaving its most blockbuster decisions to the last weeks of its term.

Every June is momentous on the Supreme Court, as for instance, the upholding of the Obama Health Care Plan last June.

But this June is possibly more crucial when looking at history, as well as the issue of civil rights and civil liberties!

The most important cases are on Gay Marriage, Affirmative Action, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

With so much at stake, with 13 states having legalized gay marriage, and more to come in the next year, it would be wonderful if the Supreme Court went the whole distance, as it did in Loving V. Virginia on interracial marriage in 1967. It would be a major victory for civil rights and civil liberties, and stop the right wing attempt to fight gay marriage dead in its tracks! The hate mongering would go on, but if the Court ruled that two men or two women can be married, it could not be overcome by religious extremists by law!

Affirmative Action has been in effect since 1972, and remains highly controversial, but is now in danger or being ended as a method to promote the advancement of minority groups and women.

The Voting Rights Act, first passed in 1965, and renewed in 1982 and 2006, is now in danger of being curbed or ended, on the false basis that the record of Southern and other states on voting rights in the past no longer applies, but that leaves open the possibility of new voting rights violations in the future.

It is assumed that there are four votes on the Court to uphold all three cases–those of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elana Kagan.

It is also assumed that three votes to prevent gay marriage and end affirmative action and the Voting Rights Act are certain–those of Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito.

It would be a major surprise if any of these seven votes ended up differently.

The two “swing” votes are those of Chief Justice John Roberts, who has become somewhat unpredictable after, surprisingly, backing ObamaCare last June; and Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, the true “swing” vote alone, since Sandra Day O’Connor left the Court seven years ago.

Will Kennedy side with the liberals on the Court on all three cases? It seems highly unlikely at this point, but a good bet on gay marriage at the least, but the Court could choose to decide that case in a very limited manner, not an all encompassing decision.

We shall see on all three cases very soon!

America’s Future: A Majority “Minority” Nation! Time To Adjust To Reality!

The US Census Bureau has made it official: America is on the way to becoming a majority “minority” country , which will occur by the 2040s, no matter what the white majority, which has dominated America, wishes.

This is so because, for the first time, a majority of children being born are non white by definition, as in the twelve months ending June 30, 2011, 50.4 percent of the births in America were to Hispanic and Latino, African American, and Asian American parents.

Only 49.6 percent of births were to white parents.The economy, politics, and identity of the nation is changing rapidly, and we will never be the same!

Whites are no longer the majority in four states, and in such cities as New York, Las Vegas and Memphis. About 350 counties nationwide have a majority of nonwhites, and about double that number when one considers young children.

And the baby boomer generation, now aging, was vastly white, and now sees a younger generation growing up which is going to be majority nonwhite, a cultural clash already showing up in the fact that senior citizen whites are overwhelmingly Republicans, who are fighting the future, but represent basically the past that is quickly dying out before their eyes!

While whites still represent 63 percent of all Americans, the average median age for whites is 42, past prime child bearing age, while for Hispanics and Latinos, it is 27, and more Hispanic children were born in America in the past decade than Hispanic immigration to the United States in that period.

So minorities were 92 percent of all growth in the past decade, an astounding figure!

This reality is creating tensions between white elderly and minority young, particularly in Arizona, Nevada, Texas, and California.

This is a growing crisis particularly regarding education, as only 13 percent of Hispanics and Latinos have a college degree, only 18 percent of African Americans, but 31 percent of whites.

Education is the future for the nation, or else we will have a lot of minority young who cannot make a living and sustain the elderly whites who are retired and receive Social Security and Medicare.

This is the major social crisis of the future, and the political parties need to come to grips with it, and not only think about how the situation is at present. A vision for the future is essential!

Why Does The “Average Citizen” Vote Republican?

It is mystifying why the so called “average citizen” so often votes Republican! The Republican Party has no real interest in the lives of average Americans, as they only care about PROPERTY and WEALTH, not PEOPLE, as stated in an earlier entry on this blog!

So why do people vote against their own self interest as middle class or poorer people?

1. Fear, instilled by the Republican Party–fear of “illegal” and legal immigrants; fear of Muslims; fear of African Americans; fear of Latinos and Hispanics; fear of native Americans; fear of Asian Americans; fear of liberals and progressives; fear of labor unions; fear of socialism; fear of communism and Marxism; fear of educated people; fear that guns will be taken away from them!

2. Belief that Christianity must rule the nation, so as to outlaw abortion rights for women; forbid gay relationships; condemn those who are other than “good” Christians, meaning including Catholics and Mormons and only accepting Judaism in the guise of the protection of the Holy Land from the infidels, but advocating that unless Jews accept Jesus Christ, they are going to hell; promoting their sense of morality, despite how hypocritical it is; claiming to have all right on their side!

3. Promoting America as a special nation, better than all others, and therefore, promoting extreme nationalism, jingoism, and imperialism in the name of defending America from evil forces overseas, and therefore, connecting big business industrial interests to the military, what President Eisenhower warned against–the military-industrial complex! So patriotism is a major method to gain public support, with many of the middle and poorer classes being sent as cannon fodder for our military adventures overseas, which enrich the military-industrial complex!

4. Lack of education about government, which allows Republican propaganda to mislead people and get them to vote for what is against their self interest, and the goal is NOT to educate people properly, as ignorance benefits the GOP! They want to “pull the wool” over people’s eyes, and they are very effective in that regard!

The hope is that soon the middle and poorer classes will come to realize that it was the Republican Party which got us in this economic mess, and that it is time for the wealthy and corporations to pay up their fair share of taxation, and stop exploiting the masses and making them pay for the corrupt policies of Republicans on the national and state levels!