Partisan Gerrymandering

Wisconsin State Supreme Court Victory For Progressivism!

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Wisconsin, the site of the rise of Progressivism more than a century ago under the esteemed “Mr. Progressive”, Republican Governor and Senator Robert M. LaFollette, Sr., has gone through a long reactionary period in the past 15 years under former Republican Governor Scott Walker.

But yesterday, a state Supreme Court victory for the “progressive” candidate, Janet Protasiewicz, marked a turning point for the future on the significant issues of abortion rights and redistricting, which has been horribly distorted to make Wisconsin one of the most gerrymandered states for the state legislature and US House seats.

There will now be a progressive majority on the State Supreme Court after a decade and a half of horrendous right wing control of that body!

Once again, in so many races since the Presidential Election of 2020, liberal and progressive candidates have triumphed in elections, and abortion rights have been upheld in many state referendums and elections since the Supreme Court overturned Roe V Wade in June 2022 in the Dobbs V Jackson Women’s Health Organization!

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

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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 Nightmare Of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis: Establishing An Authoritarian Governorship!

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Florida has had a Republican Party dominance since 1998, when Jeb Bush was elected Governor, but looking back over the past 24 years, his time in office (1999-2007) was a clear dream as compared to the two most recent Republican governors (Rick Scott 2011-2019) and Ron DeSantis 2019- Present).

Scott was a man with a crooked background of Medicare fraud, who “bought’ the Governorship with his massive wealth, and is now Senator Scott, who refused to accept Joe Biden’s victory in the Presidential Election of 2020, and he can be seen as a traitor and seditionist!

But by comparison, the present Governor, DeSantis, is far worse for state government, as he has promoted:

Refusal to back federal guidelines on COVID 19 vaccinations and masking, causing higher cases and death rates than any other state per capita.

Interfering with setting up an additional Congressional district, by opposing representation for minorities, and attempting to promote extreme Republican gerrymandering.

Open discrimination in law against gays and transgender individuals in public schools, undermining security and safety for such children.

Banned discussion of race in discussion of American history in public schools and universities, avoiding discussion of slavery, segregation, and civil rights, and ignoring mistreatment of other racial minorities.

Promoted passage of an abortion ban after 15 weeks, similiar to Mississippi, with no exception for rape or incest.

Allowed “election police” to monitor elections, even though there is no record of any election irregularities.

Promoted allowance for drivers to threaten demonstrators who block roads, which are limitations on their freedom of assembly.

Impose term limits on school board members by state edict, after cutting pay for COVID 19 Mask Policies.

Ron DeSantis is taking away the powers of local governments, centralizing it in the state government, making him the equivalent of an authoritarian dictator, with his Republican Party willingly going along!

He is also promoting ethnic and class warfare, as he advocates “culture wars”!

Book Banning and Parental Rights are the slogans being used to justify censorship and restrictions on civil liberties!

It is urgent that DeSantis be pushed out of office this fall by Florida voters to prevent this man from running for President, and the thought that he might win the White House is terrifying!

Two Profiles In Courage: Liz Cheney And Adam Kinzinger Voting To Censure Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar!

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This author and blogger is not a fan of conservatism, and definitely not a fan of former Vice President Dick Cheney, or his daughter, Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming.

He is also not a big fan of Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger, whose conservative views are not his idea of leadership.

But both of them, Cheney and Kinzinger, have shown they have principle and are true profiles in courage, who someday will have an historian write a book on their willingness to stand up to extremist Fascist rhetoric and the danger of Donald Trump!

Both are on the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 US Capitol Insurrection, and both voted to impeach Trump after that event.

And both now have condemned Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar, just about the most extreme member of the Republican Party, who put a anime cartoon on Twitter which portrayed the assassination of New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a sword combat of Gosar with President Joe Biden.

This advocacy and portrayal of violence is not a laughing matter, and led to the censure of Gosar in the House of Representatives, with only Cheney and Kinzinger, of all Republicans, joining the Democratic majority to take such action, which has only occurred 23 previous times in the history of the lower chamber since 1789!

Gosar should be expelled from the House of Representatives, but that cannot happen unless there was a bipartisan vote of two thirds of the chamber, which will not happen.

But for Republicans to defend the advocacy of violence, and for Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to refuse to condemn Gosar’s action is an outrage that will cause much grief in the future, and particularly if the Republicans, due to gerrymandering, are able to regain control of the House of Representatives in the midterm Congressional Elections of 2022!

This whole situation reminds historians of the Congressional violence and advocacy of violence in the pre Civil War period, particularly in the decade of the 1850s!

Terrifying to think that Congress itself is becoming a battleground of extremism and violence, due to the extremism and danger of Donald Trump!

Right Wing Propaganda Attempts To Portray Joe Biden And Kamala Harris As Disasters, When Much Has Been Accomplished!

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Right Wing propaganda, whether the Republican Party, Fox News Channel, OANN, Newsmax, or various interest groups that promote domestic terrorism and white supremacy, is working incessantly to portray President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as disasters.

This is all designed to advance the cause of a Republican Congress and state government domination by partisan gerrymandering, as well as whitewash and avoiding responsibility for support of the “Big Lie” of Donald Trump and his criminal backers who incited the January 6, 2021 Insurrection on the US Capitol!

One would think that Donald Trump and Mike Pence accomplished so much in office that was positive for the American people and nation, when exactly the opposite is the truth!

Trump did great harm in so many areas of domestic and foreign policy, and the only “winner” was the extremely wealthy, who gained a massive tax cut which added greatly to the national debt, without improving the daily lives of the American people!

Mike Pence proved how much of a sycophant he was, a person supposedly “religious”, “devout”, “moral and ethical”, when he was simply a total hypocrite, with his promotion of hatred, division, and narrow mindedness. He had to be convinced by, of all people, former Vice President Dan Quayle, to follow the Constitution on January 6, 2021, and uphold the Electoral College vote that Joe Biden had won the Presidency.

Pence will go down in history as one of the absolutely worst, most disgraceful Vice Presidents in American history!

Meanwhile, Joe Biden has accomplished a great deal, including providing relief to the American economy through the American Rescue Plan, a total of $1.9 trillion in the spring of 2021. The Physical Infrastructure legislation, providing $1.2 trillion to rebuild roads, bridges, airports rail systems, broadband, environmental cleanup, and electric vehicle, is being signed into law today by President Biden.

Also, Biden has changed the harsh policy toward refugees promoted by Trump, and cracked down on the abuses of Immigration and Customs Enforcement toward innocent children.

Additionally, Biden returned America to the Paris Climate Accords, and reversed the action of Trump cutting down the Bears Ear National Monument and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and he restored protection of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.

Biden has taken strong action on vaccinations and masking, and brought about a commitment to combating the COVID 19 Pandemic, after Trump minimized the crisis and promoted false solutions. And Biden has not allowed renegade governors Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott to stop necessary action to protect the American people during this pandemic!

The “Build Back Better” Social Infrastructure legislation, held up by moderate Democrats, hopefully will be accomplished soon, as it should be, but with Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema or Arizona, and some in the House of Representatives causing problems, no certainty at this moment, but important for the future of both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and the nation at large.

Biden withdrew US military forces from Afghanistan, an action that was promoted by Donald Trump, who wanted to remove them in May 2021, rather than the actual time frame of August 2021. It was a tough decision, but America had been in Afghanistan for 20 years, and most Americans knew it was time to leave.

The NATO nations and others have seen a massive change in American foreign policy by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, restoring our good relations with our allies.

Kamala Harris has been more in the background, but Vice Presidents historically have not been in the forefront so early in an administration, and if one looks back at Mike Pence, for instance, who recalls him playing a leading role in the first year of Donald Trump’s Presidency, or really ever?

This negative portrayal of Harris simply is the reaction of having a mixed race woman a heartbeat away from the Presidency, when she has excellent credentials, were she to have to assume the Presidency!