Queen Elizabeth II

Jake Tapper Blunder: Suggesting Biden Invite Trump To Attend Queen Elizabeth II’s Funeral!

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CNN’s Anchor Jake Tapper has created controversy with his suggestion that President Biden invite former President Donald Trump to attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral as part of the official US delegation for Monday, September 19.

Ordinarily, it would not be unusual that former Presidents be invited to state funerals of foreign leaders.

But this is a special case, as Donald Trump is still, 30 months after the January 6, 2021 Insurrection at the US Capitol, refusing to acknowledge that Joe Biden is the legitimate President.

Trump is still promoting the “Big Lie”, and undermining American democracy long term, with the cooperation of much of the Republican Congressional membership.

With Biden stating Trump is a threat to democracy promoting a “Semi Fascist” movement, and Trump calling Biden “an enemy of the state”, there is no justification for a Presidential invitation to Donald Trump to attend the state funeral in London.

If anything, Trump would make the funeral be centered on himself, not on the respect and admiration for Queen Elizabeth II, who could not be more diametrically opposite from Donald Trump!

That should not be rewarded, anymore than if Jefferson Davis had been acknowledged by Abraham Lincoln at the time of the Civil War.

This blunder by Jake Tapper could undermine his reputation, and even his position, at CNN, as it is already causing massive outrage!

Contrasts In Leadership: Queen Elizabeth And Donald Trump

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Leadership characteristics matter, whether ceremonial, such as the late Queen Elizabeth II, or leaders with power and impact on the destiny of their nations, such as Donald Trump.

Character, decency, dignity, compassion, ethics, morals, sincerity, empathy, genuine nature are all terms that describe what people need to see from their leadership at any level of government or society.

But we live in an era where there are many evil, nasty, uncaring, immoral, unethical, insincere leaders.

The model should be Queen Elizabeth, not Donald Trump and his ilk!

Sadly, too many Republican party leaders are very much like Donald Trump, not like Queen Elizabeth in nature.

All public figures leave a legacy, and historical reputation does matter!

This is an issue that should become the major factor in electing future leaders at all levels, to work toward the advancement of human existence, not the pursuit of power for selfish, personal interests!

The Death Of Queen Elizabeth II Of The United Kingdom A Sad But Expected Event

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This blogger was seven years old when Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom became Queen in February 1952.

For most Britons, and most of the world, she is the only British monarch they have ever known.

While she had limited power in a constitutional monarchy, Queen Elizabeth represented dignity, grace, charm, wisdom, and so much else.

She was a model for good behavior and basic decency in a world that lately has had too many cases of public leaders who disgrace their offices with bad behavior.

Her loss, sad but expected, at the age of 96, creates a challenge for the new King, Charles III, and for the new British Prime Minister, Liz Truss, who just became the leader and presented her credentials as part of the last public duty and public appearance of the Queen two days earlier.

There will be a large mourning period for ten days, and then Queen Elizabeth’s funeral on Monday, September 19, when she will be buried alongside her beloved husband, Prince Philip, who died in April, 2021, two months before what would have been his 100th birthday!

God Bless the Queen, as she kept her commitment to public service!

Joe Biden’s First Foreign Trip To NATO And Summit Meeting With Vladimir Putin: A Major Challenge

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President Joe Biden will be traveling overseas for the next week and a half, visiting the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, including restoring relations to the way they were before the Presidency of Donald Trump, with all of our European Democratic allies.

Also, he will visit Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, and most importantly, he will have a face to face summit meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, June 16, a most important moment in the relationship with our adversary.

Russia is testing us in many ways, and it will be important for Biden to reassert our leadership, as compared to Donald Trump’s willingness to give in to Putin, as he did early on in his Presidency.

Biden has made clear that while he needs to deal with Putin, he is not going to flatter or bend to his will or threats. Instead, he will challenge Putin on Russian cyber hackers who have been engaged in ransomware attacks on US companies that are increasing rapidly. He will also challenge him on many other issues, as Biden fully realizes that Putin is a “killer”, and that the democracies represented in NATO will stand up against Russian autocracy!

Let all decent people wish Joe Biden good fortune in this next ten days!

February 6–One Month, One Year, And One Queen Elizabeth II For 69 Years!

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Today, February 6, is day to remember.

February 6, 2020 saw the first death from the COVID 19 Pandemic. Donald Trump refused to take this pandemic seriously, and we have seen in one year a total of 460,000 deaths, more in one years than the four years of Americans fighting in World War II.

February 6, 2021 is one month since the Capitol Hill Insurrection promoted by Donald Trump. that led to five deaths and over 100 injuries to Capitol Hill police, and threatened the lives of all Congressmen and Senators, and most importantly, Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the two constitutional officers in the line of succession!

Donald Trump now faces his second impeachment trial in one year, having been found not guilty on February 5, 2020, the day before the first COVID 19 death.

One has to wonder if Trump had been removed from office on February 5,2020, would Vice President Mike Pence, becoming President, have pursued a policy that would have prevented the massive loss of life America has suffered in the year since the end of that trial?

And February 6, 1952, 69 years ago, Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne of the United Kingdom, upon the death of her father, King George VI, the longest reign by any monarch in British or English history.

February 6 has one happy event, but sadly, two very depressing events that have transformed our history!

The Worrisome Issue Of Age In The Presidential Campaign Of 2020

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The issue of age will rear its head in the 2020 Presidential campaign, whether one likes it or not.

We have five Presidential contenders who will be in their 70s or reach that decade while in office, and two who will reach their 80s early in the term.

The ages of these five contenders at the time of inauguration are as follows:

Bernie Sanders, 79 and four months; Joe Biden, 78 and two months; Elizabeth Warren, 71 years and seven months; Jay Inslee, 69 years and eleven months; John Hickenlooper, 68 years and eleven months.

Either Sanders or Biden would be older than Ronald Reagan was when he left office, and Sanders would be older than Donald Trump if Trump finished a second term, with Biden only three months younger than Trump would be at the end of a second term.

Warren, along with Sanders and Biden, would be the oldest first term inaugurated President, nearly a year older than Trump when he took the oath in 2017.

Inslee would be with just a few days younger than Ronald Reagan when he took the oath in 1981, with Hickenlooper just a year younger than Reagan was, so either still would be the third oldest President on Inauguration Day.

When one considers how Reagan seemed to be declining mentally in his second term, and that Trump seems to many to have mental issues with his behavior and actions, one has to wonder whether Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden reaching their 80s early in the term is not a danger in theory. Also, since Warren would be in her mid 70s at the end of the term, and Inslee the same age as Reagan when he ran in 1984, and Hickenlooper only one year younger than Reagan or Inslee, one has to be concerned about the potential for mental deterioration, let alone the danger of physical health crises.

Few world leaders historically have served into their late 70s or early 80s in a high stress position, as a chief executive. Two exceptions are Winston Churchill of Great Britain, who left power past age 81, and West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who was well past 87 when he left office. Only Adenauer would be older than Sanders or Biden at the end of a second term in the Oval Office.

Of course, there have been Kings and Emperors who were in office beyond the age of 80, as with Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, and recently retired Japanese Emperor Akihito, but neither has had real constitutional authority over government policies.

So the issue of age cannot be ignored as a worrisome issue, sorry to say!

The Complete Destruction Of The Reputation Of Rudy Giuliani Before Our Eyes

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Rudy Giuliani once had a career one could admire.

Rudy Giuliani began as a Democrat, became an Independent, and then a Republican politically.

He became noted as the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York during the 1980s, prosecuting significant cases against Organized Crime , and against corrupt corporate financiers.

Giuliani served as New York City Mayor from 1994-2002, and the quality of life improved, and the rate of violent crime went down dramatically.

Giuliani was Mayor at the time of September 11, and was hailed for his reaction and performance in that tragic moment, and was honored as Time Magazine Man of the Year, and given an honorary Knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in 2002.

After first entering the Senate race of 2000 in New York against Hillary Clinton, he withdrew after a prostate cancer diagnosis, but recovered from that. He became engaged in a business career, but was for awhile the front runner in polls for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination, perceived as a liberal in that race, but then faltered. He also considered running for Governor of New York in 2010 and for President in 2012, but chose to do neither.

Giuliani became an informal cyber security adviser to Donald Trump in 2017, after many decades of knowing and associating with him, and became part of his legal team involving the investigation of Trump for Russian collusion and obstruction of justice in April 2018.

Despite an impressive career in many ways, Giuliani has, in the eyes of many observers, totally destroyed his credibility and his reputation, and has become noted as a person who many think has had mental deterioration, based on his public statements and activities.

He has become a massive liar and manipulator, similar to those characteristics in Donald Trump.

He has disgusted many people who once admired him, and his private life of now three failed marriages, including a very public and messy second divorce while he was Mayor of New York, has caused many people to dismiss his earlier achievements.

When Rudy Giuliani says something, it is soon shown to be pure propaganda and working to confuse the situation surrounding Donald Trump.

So we are witnessing the complete destruction of Rudy Giuliani’s reputation before our eyes.

A few generally unknown and surprising facts about Giuliani:

When he was a Democrat in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Giuliani volunteered for the Robert F. Kennedy campaign in 1968, was a Democratic commiteeman on Long Island in the early 1970s, and supported Democratic Presidential nominee George McGovern in 1972.

Giuliani’s father served time in Sing Sing Prison for felony assault and robbery, and was an organizer for the mob in Brooklyn, all this after having trouble holding a steady job.

Also, Giuliani considered a career in the priesthood, laughable, when one considers his love life since his youth.

Also, Giuliani was blamed by some for the tragedy of September 11, for having decided to locate the Office of Emergency Management in the World Trade Center, undermining coordination between police and fire forces, and causing lack of preparedness of first responders at the time of the attack. And many observers feel that Giuliani built up his reputation as a “hero” on false pretenses.

In any case, Rudy Giuliani remains highly controversial in 2018 as he has been all of his public life.

Donald Trump’s Further Unraveling At Rallies In Florida And Pennsylvania: How Degraded Can He Become?

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It is hard to conceive of, but Donald Trump has further unraveled at rallies he held this week in Florida and Pennsylvania.

First, the audiences, consisting of the most ignorant, delusional, despicable people imaginable, all treating him as if he is a God! How sick and disgusting these crowds were, true examples of what Hillary Clinton correctly called “deplorables”, but even that word is too nice, as trash and garbage might be the more appropriate terms!

But then to Donald Trump, attacking Mexican Americans, who are more than 36 million people in America, eleven percent of the population of the nation, only a small amount less than the African American population, saying they are worse than how he described them in his announcement speech in June 2015? This is far worse than anything Alabama Governor George Wallace ever uttered in his Presidential campaign in 1968!

Trump continues to attack John McCain who is still hospitalized and clearly dying of cancer, and one wonders, when McCain passes, will Trump say something totally disgusting about his death?

Trump continues to deny Russian involvement in the 2016 campaign, while his national security team makes clear what Russia did, and the direct threat they are presenting every day now.

Trump lies all the time, including about the reality that he was 15 minutes late to meet Queen Elizabeth II, and that he, inappropriately walked in front of her, blocking her.

Trump has refused to allow undocumented immigrants who have broken no laws, and who are married to American citizens, to remain, even after clear pleas for clemency, as just happened with a woman forced out, breaking up a marriage, with that woman saying about Trump, “May God forgive you!”

Trump is a very sick and demented man, clearly deteriorating before our eyes, but Vice President Mike Pence is like a bobblehead doll, nodding yes standing on the left behind every Trump rant!

Donald Trump has led a life of darkness, of being in league with demonic forces, and Karma will come, and Donald Trump will pay the price for his lying, his meanness, his nastiness, his lack of humanity, compassion, empathy, ethics, morals, and decency.

This is a continuing nightmare, seemingly with no end, and will likely lead to widespread violence against journalists, who he is constantly attacking with viciousness, and it could lead to the total breakdown of order, and the outbreak of civil war.

Something has to give, and someone needs to step in and excise the cancer in our midst, before our enemies in the world totally overcome us!

Prince Harry Wedding And American Presidents–NO To Trump, Yes To Obamas, Clintons, Bushes!

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Prince Harry of the British royal family, and his future bride Meghan Markle, will be married on May 19 at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in England with the entire British royal family, including his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, in attendance, along with many members of other royal families and world wide government leaders also present.

But President Donald Trump will not be there, as he has decided, basically with intervention by the British government, not to visit the United Kingdom, as he is not welcomed by his international behavior, and the worsening of the ties between the US and the UK, unprecedented since the beginning of the 20th century, when Theodore Roosevelt became a much honored and admired American President in the former “mother country”.

Trump would embarrass the British government with his reckless rhetoric, and controversial actions, and has turned down the chance to open up the new US Embassy in London, which he claims is a big financial waste of money, that Barack Obama incurred, when in actuality, plans for a new embassy were agreed to under his predecessor, George W. Bush,

This is just another of the multitude of lies that Trump engages in regularly, an average in the first year of his tenure of 5.6 times a day, or over 2,000 such lies in 2017.

So Trump will NOT be at the Royal Wedding, and who wants him there? NO ONE!

But Barack and Michelle Obama are close friends of Prince Harry, and most assuredly, will be invited.

Additionally, Bill and Hillary Clinton, George W. and Laura Bush, and Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter should be invited, along with George H. W. and Barbara Bush, although the senior Bush would most certainly not be able to attend, but still should be invited.

It would be a smack in the face of Donald Trump, but well deserved, and appropriate!

Giant Historical Figure Fidel Castro Dies, A Transformative Figure, With Great Negative Impact On The World!

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Fidel Castro of Cuba, the most significant figure in Latin America in the 20th Century, and one of the most vicious dictators of modern times, passed away at age 90 on Friday.

He left behind a legacy of a brutal dictatorship, which while making some improvements in health care and education, took away any semblance of civil liberties and civil rights, and imprisoned, tortured, and murdered dissidents in great numbers over more than a half century of rule.

Castro was the longest lasting leader of modern times, with only Queen Elizabeth II of England having come to office about seven years before Castro took over the capital of Cuba, Havana, on New Years Day 1959.

Who would have thought that someone who came to power on the island of Cuba, which had been a playground for wealthy Americans, under the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, at a time when this author was in high school, would last in power for a half century, and then be replaced by his younger brother, Raul Castro, a decade ago, and still rules?

Castro became the dire enemy of the Unites States, and Cuban exiles fleeing to Florida in 1959-1960 and again in 1980 (the Mariel Boat Lift) and constant escapes since then, have affected the history and politics of Florida and the Republican Party, with Cuban Americans flocking to support of the party after John F. Kennedy failed in his attempt to remove Castro from power in the Bay of Pigs Fiasco in April 1961. This made Cuban Americans the one Hispanic group that would refuse to support the Democratic Party, as many Cuban Americans saw JFK as a Communist for failing to succeed to remove Castro. This led to the most dangerous moment in the Cold War years, as Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Union’s leader, formed an alliance with Castro, who had declared himself a Communist, and installed Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, with the Cuban Missile Crisis bringing the world closer to the danger of a nuclear war than any other event in history before or since. Only with the cool headed leadership of JFK was nuclear war averted.

Castro was a maniacal figure, who also abused the rights of gays and lesbians in Cuba, and initiated aggression overseas by supporting national liberation movements in Latin America and Africa, and the people of Cuba suffered economically under his five decade rule. Few more influential and significant dictators have existed, and those he is often compared with–including Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, and Benito Mussolini–only lasted 25, 12 and 21 years compared to his 47 plus years.

The question is how Cuba will evolve now, with brother Raul Castro, age 85, having said he will leave power in February 2018, only 14 months away, and also how Donald Trump will react to the death of Fidel Castro, after Barack Obama had begun new relations with Cuba in 2015.