National Defense

22nd Anniversary Of September 11, But Republicans Undermine National Defense!

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It has been 22 years since the shocking Al Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the nation is still reeling from divisions on national defense and national security.

We have many Republicans who work against assistance to Ukraine in its war provoked by the Russian Federation and Vladimir Putin.

We also have Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville still blocking confirmation of military promotions in the armed services, now for seven months, over the military’s decision to allow women in the military to gain reproductive services, including abortion.

With so many Republicans supporting Russia, a mind boggling development, that party is undermining national security in a massive way, and that needs to be emphasized by Democrats as we look ahead to the Congressional and Presidential Elections of 2024, just 14 months away!

Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville Undermining Military Readiness, And Must Be Stopped!

Ronald 1 Comment

There is a dire need for the US Senate to change its policy that any one Senator can prevent a movement forward on a nomination, or a vote on legislation!

Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, who was a renowned football coach with a Physical Education degree from a third rate college, has held up approval of military promotions, causing hundreds of military personnel to be held effectively captive, including the movement forward on a new Marine Corps Commandant. This has been done in order to prevent women in the military from being able to gain the right to have abortions, if in their personal judgment, it is appropriate and wish to control their own bodies!

He also is vehemently anti gay and anti transgender, and has claimed white nationalists are not racists!

This is causing an uproar, with even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell disturbed about this mess, and the need is clear to do whatever has to be done to force movement on promoting the military readiness that is urgent for national defense!

The fact that Tuberville is a terrible Senator, who sadly defeated Doug Jones in 2020, arguably the best Alabama Senator in many decades, is a sad commentary on how extremist right wing Alabama has been for such a long time! The idea that a football coach with minimal qualifications on major national issues could end up in the Senate is a true tragedy! 🙁

Republicans Are A Dinosaur, Only Representing White Rural Areas, Wealthy, Bigots, In Nation Rapidly Changing

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The Republican Party has become a shell of its old self, and is no longer truly representative of conservative ideology.

It no longer is concerned about deficits and increase in the national debt, except when the Democratic opposition is in power.

It no longer concerned about national defense, as many of its present officeholders have attacked the military leadership for standing up to insurrectionists who attacked the US Capitol on January 6, including General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff being criticized by the likes of Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida, and Fox News Channel talk show hosts.

It is no longer concerned about truth and facts, as it attacks science knowledge and historical knowledge, and is unconcerned about global warming and climate change.

It is no longer concerned about racial equality and fairness, part of its founding principles under Abraham Lincoln.

It no longer appeals to millions of African Americans, Hispanic-Latino Americans, college educated suburbanites, urban areas, the middle class, women voters, and the younger generation.

They are more concerned about rural areas, where most people are whites, but can wield power due to gerrymandering, and the ability to control the Electoral College and the US Senate, where democracy has been under attack, and favors fewer voters nationally.

They are more concerned about representing those who hate immigrants, and people of color, and want to control women’s reproductive choices.

They are appealing to the extremely wealthy and powerful corporations, while working to undermine workers’ rights and labor unions.

They want to promote mind control and dictate to educators how science and history are taught.

They represent a dwindling white population stirred to fear by bigots in the Republican Party, who wish to resist the rapidly changing population which in 2045, will be a majority minority, with people of color together being the majority, and particularly so with people with Hispanic-Latino heritage.

Marines In 43 Countries, And Military In 100 Or More Other Nations: Absolutely Crazy And Self Defeating!

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The tragic events in Niger, where four Special Forces troops were ambushed and killed by terrorist forces, has revealed a secret that even members of Congress on the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate were not aware of.

We have been engaged in operations in that central African nation and others on that continent, beyond those in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as Central Asia, and also in Latin America and in South and East Asia.

In other words, we now know we have US Marines in 43 nations, at least, and military presence and possibly more, in at least 100 other nations.

This means we are having influence in three of every four nations of the world, all with the goal of protecting American national security and defenses in an age of world wide terrorism by Al Qaeda, ISIS (ISIL), Boko Haram, Al-Shabab, and other similar terrorist groups.

So besides the issues of Russia, China, Iran, North Vietnam, and the Middle East morass, including Syria and Iraq, we have to be concerned about insurgency in the Philippines; about pending warfare in Iraq of not just Shiite and Sunni Muslims but also the Kurdish minority; and danger of a Spanish Civil War of Catalonia (its capital in Barcelona) and the Spanish Central government; and instability in Eastern Europe in nations once thought to be finally democratic, but instead becoming extremist right wing, including Hungary, Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic

At least 43 American military have died under the watch of Donald Trump, and over 10,000 civilians have been killed due to our troops.

This policy of American engagement all over the world is absolutely crazy and self defeating, and only enriches military contractors, while sacrificing lives of our young men and women.

It is a self defeating situation, in which the wealthy benefit, and the rest of us are victims, in one way or another.

Climate Change Seen As Essential Issue By Military, Intelligence, And Security! So Climate Change Deniers Must Be Confronted And Defeated!

Ronald 4 Comments

There is more growing evidence of a dangerous trend on climate change, with 14 of the last 15 years the warmest on record; with the melting of the icebergs in the Arctic; and the growing flooding issue affecting the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Additionally, there are tons of evidence of climate change worldwide in all kinds of ways.

And yet the climate change deniers, led by Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, and others in Congress, claim that there is absolutely no evidence, and that nothing needs to be done.

President Barack Obama has attempted to draw attention to this crucial issue, with little success.

And yet, we have military leaders; we have those in the intelligence community; and we have those involved in our national security apparatus, who are only too aware of the realities and challenges of climate change, with the naval base in Virginia, Norfolk Naval Station, one clear example of many of the future dangers to our national security.

So these communities—military, intelligence, security—must continue to lead the fight as this “ostrich in the sand” mentality will undermine the future of America, if we continue to allow these deniers the power and influence that they possess!

The Republican War On The IRS Is An Anarchistic, Extremist Attack!

Ronald 6 Comments

The Republican Party has declared war on the Internal Revenue Service, the basic backbone of how the federal government operates, how it protects the nation, and advances the domestic agenda of the United States, to make it the nation of freedom, justice, and equality that it was meant to be!

If you left it to the Republican Party, which operates as an anarchistic, extremist movement against the whole structure of our federal government, they would move to repeal the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, which Republican President William Howard Taft advocated.

The Republican Party calls for abolition of the IRS, without saying how they would replace the funding that it provides for our national defense; for our multitude of federal government agencies that give Americans all kinds of services; and for protection of our elderly, our children, our disabled, our poor!

It seems that the Republican Party wants to go back to America and what it was in 1789–a nation of four million people with state governments having all of the power, or lack of it, to help maintain the safety, security, and advancement of its citizens!

Anyone who has studied American history knows that state governments have always been incompetent, inept, and too corrupt to be in charge of all of the massive responsibilities that the federal government has had since the First World War, the Great Depression, and the Second World War!

If the Republican Party were, somehow, able to accomplish what they advocate, it would lead to total chaos, anarchy, disruption, and the dissolution of a stable government!

So the right wing of the GOP is a dangerous, anarchistic, extremist group! Let’s call the reality what it is, a danger to all of America’s citizens!

Republican Lunacy Is Getting Worse By The Day!

Ronald 6 Comments

All that one needs to do is wait, and the Republican Party harms itself and its reputation!

Examples abound, such as just recently, the following:

Virginia Lieutenant Governor nominee E. W. Jackson, a minister, has stated that one cannot be a Christian and also be a Democrat!

Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who looks and acts more like former Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy as each day goes by, makes clear that he wishes, with other Tea Party radicals, to force the federal government into being shut down, until and when ObamaCare is defunded, no matter what damage it does to the American economy and our system of national defense, and payments to the elderly and disabled under Social Security and Medicare!

And Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus has threatened to forbid any Republican Presidential debates to be conducted by NBC and CNN, if they go through with plans, in their entertainment divisions, with specials on the life of Hillary Clinton, failing to see that the news division and the entertainment division are separate, and that neither station will give in to his threats! All it can do is undermine GOP attempts to gain public support, as if these two major networks are not engaged in the political campaign, it is the party that loses, more than the stations!

What is wrong with these Republicans, and many other examples, and that only a small coterie of Republicans, such as John McCain and Chris Christie, seem to have any sanity and common sense?

This portends a civil war for the future of the GOP, which will overshadow the 2016 race, as the Republican Party is self destructing before our eyes, more every day!

Reality: No Balanced Budget For Long Time, And National Debt Will Continue To Rise!

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In the midst of all the debates about who is “better” for the country, the team of Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden, or the team of Republicans Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, something is being forgotten or ignored!

There will be no balanced budget for a long time, and the national debt will continue to rise!

There is no magic potion to bring about a balanced budget, or to prevent the national debt from rising!

So whether Barack Obama or Mitt Romney is elected, one will see both the budget issue and the national debt issue continue to be a center of heated debate!

The difference is who will “benefit” from what government does–the middle class and the poor, if Obama wins; or the wealthy top two percent if Romney wins!

But it is more than that!

It is also which man will cause the national defense budget and foreign interventions to grow, adding to our burden, and it is clear that Mitt Romney, with his loose, reckless rhetoric toward Iran, Russia and China, will cause us a lot more financial burden and many more lost American military lives than Barack Obama!

And it is also what direction do we want the nation to go regarding constitutional law! Do we want more Antonin Scalias, Clarence Thomases, and Samuel Alitos? Or do we want more Ruth Bader Ginsbergs, Stephen Breyers, Sonia Sotomayors, and Elena Kagans? This will determine more of the future, economically and socially, than anything else!

It is foreign policy and constitutional law, two areas most people are ignoring, that will have a greater impact on our future than the false argument that, somehow, one or the other candidate for President will, magically, balance the budget, or stop the rise in the national debt, when neither will be able to do anything about either of those matters!