Religious Extremism

Theodore Roosevelt, The Food And Drug Administration, And Conservative Attack On Medical Expertise!

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In 1906, after reading the novel THE JUNGLE, by Upton Sinclair, President Theodore Roosevelt took leadership and pressured Congress into forming the Food and Drug Administration, under the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.

Now, 117 years later, a right wing Federal District Court Judge appointed by President Donald Trump, Matthew Kacsmaryk, is trying to destroy the right of women to an abortion drug Mifepristone, which has been safely used for a generation since it was approved in 2000, and is safer than many other drugs approved by the FDA.

This is a clearcut religious extremist decision, without concern of the effect it will have on millions of American women, and it cannot be allowed to stand.

The FDA is appealing this intervention, and this is a tense time as it will have a dramatic effect on the whole political system, at a time when vast majorities support a woman’s right to control her own body and reproduction!

Theodore Roosevelt, were he here in the present times, would roundly condemn this attack on the most basic federal regulatory agency, added to by later Presidents and Congresses who understand the federal government’s need for regulation in support of the American people, and the lack of religious groups having the authority to control Americans’ lives!

If one is religious, do not have an abortion, but do not dictate in a country based on separation of church and state what other Americans’ rights are!

Crazy, Tumultuous America 158 Years After The End Of The Civil War!

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Today, April 9, marks the end of the American Civil War in 1865, 158 years ago!

Today, more than a century and a half since then, America is, arguably, more divided than it has ever been, including the tumultuous 1960s!

Now, the South, once Democratic and hardline on the issue of racial discrimination, is Republican and hardline on the issue of racial discrimination!

Now, the nation that would not give women the right to vote or basic legal rights in the 19th century, is in the process of stripping away a woman’s right to control her own body, and decide whether she wishes to have children every time she engages in sexual intercourse, by choice or by force!

Now, we have a former President, Donald Trump, who has abused power massively, much more than even Richard Nixon a half century ago, and the party of Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower bows to him in a cult like fashion, ready to put him back to power and destroy all of the progress of American democracy in the past century or more!

America is on the cusp of the possible destruction of the Constitution and the rule of law, and is on a tear to provoke violence and bloodshed in the determination that the Second Amendment, which has been horribly distorted, shall rule supreme, and that anyone, no matter how mentally disturbed he or she is, is entitled to weapons of war to use on American streets!

America, a nation built on the contributions of immigrants, is once again promoting nativism against people of different colors, languages, customs, and religions, with no sense of the dignity of all human beings!

America, a nation built on freedom of religion, and separation of church and state, is now seeing religious extremists attempting to promote a national theology of white supremacy Christianity, leading to antisemitism, anti Muslim, anti Hindu, and all other religious beliefs in the name of a supposed absolute deity!

America, a nation built on three equal and balanced government branches, is now witnessing the judicial branch gone amuck, in its determination to promote an absolute, narrow minded version of the Constitution–Originalism–which refers on the nation as it was in 1787 at the time of the Constitutional Convention, as if the 236 years since then are an aberration of the original principles of the Founding Fathers!

A nation which does not grow and change is a nation in decline, and in a world where there are massive threats that create danger, that can only undermine the nation which has been a model for the world of the possibilities of expansion of basic human rights!

This is a time for reflection, and for determination NOT to allow the evil forces which surround us to achieve their wicked goals!

Parental Interference With Educational Curriculum MUST Be Overcome, As NOT Qualified To Interfere!

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Right wing reactionaries and religious extremists are interfering with Educational Curriculum in many states in public schools and even universities!

Parents who are ignorant and biased want to control curriculum, without any expertise in subject matter in most cases!

Parents can remove their child from certain activities, but do not have the right to interfere and force their ignorant will on everyone else!

At universities, parents should have ZERO interference, since college students are adults, and parents should have no say!

Parents do not have the right to dictate to attorneys, doctors, and other professionals, and the same should apply to those educators at all levels, who devote their lives to promotion of an open mind and exposure to alternative ideas!

Parents trying to dictate are like those in a mental institution wanting to run the facility, and no politician should be encouraging reckless interference in the promotion of truth and facts!

Right Wing Predictability: Call For Joe Biden Resignation, While Ignoring Threat Of Donald Trump For Five Years!

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Not an hour passed after President Joe Biden called for a national vaccination and mask mandate, and the right wing, including Fox News Channel, One America News Network (OANN), Newsmax, and a whole slew of talk show hosts on cable and radio, and many Republicans, have called for his resignation!

Of course, they also want Vice President Kamala Harris, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats to resign, based on their opposition to any government intervention in the worst health crisis in a century!

So they are libertarians, who believe all fetuses must be born, but have no concern about life of those already born, including children, who are endangered by adults and teenagers who think it is their “religious” right to refuse to consider their public responsibility to all around them, clearly “Pro Life” hypocrisy!

Ironic that those who had no issues with the infuriating moral, ethical, and illegal actions of Donald Trump, and refuse to admit that January 6, 2021 was a violent insurrection, an act of domestic terrorism, are now attacking Joe Biden for having decency, compassion, and empathy. Ultimately, the final responsibility to protect the American people, even if many of them do not appreciate federal government intervention!

Joe Biden is in a fighting mood, and he will NOT be intimidated by people who have no concern other their own selfish interests, instead of what is good and necessary for the American people at large!

46 Years Since Richard Nixon Resigned, And Nation Would Benefit If Donald Trump Did The Same, But He Is No Richard Nixon!

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In 1974, on this day, August 9, the 37th President of the United States resigned from office, succeeded by Gerald Ford.

That was a great day, as a lawless, corrupt President, Richard Nixon, pressured by Republican leaders in both houses of Congress, willingly left, still a believer that he had been wronged, but ending a constitutional crisis, and giving us a President, Gerald Ford, who was certainly not without faults. But Ford was far better than the horror if Vice President Spiro Agnew had not been discovered for his corruption and forced to resign in October 1973, as Agnew would have been even worse than Nixon, so America was saved.

Now we have a President, even more lawless and corrupt than Richard Nixon, a willing accomplice of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, a scenario that never would have crossed the mind of Richard Nixon. Donald Trump is working to destroy our whole constitutional system of government, and manipulates and distorts and lies, willing to do anything to gain absolute power by being reelected this November.

Richard Nixon had real accomplishments, despite his evil nature, and some of his greatest accomplishments are being destroyed by Donald Trump, who wishes to undo all good done under both Democratic and Republican Presidents in the ninety years since Franklin D. Roosevelt came to the Presidency during the First Great Depression.

Now, Donald Trump is presiding over a Second Great Depression, even more heartless and lacking in empathy or concern than Herbert Hoover.

And his Vice President, Mike Pence, is a religious extremist, with no principles, and hoping to impose his and his wife’s evil, narrow minded views about women’s rights and gay rights upon the nation in the future. He wishes to promote the extreme right wing views of disgraceful hypocrites, such as Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell, Jr, Ralph Reed, Tony Perkins, and others who want a theocracy in America.

So on the 46th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s resignation, the nation is faced with a crisis that may become worse, with the US Postal Service being politically manipulated to attempt to undermine mail voting. This is occurring in a time of a massive CoronaVirus Pandemic that the government on the national level and in many Republican states, including my resident state of Florida, are failing to deal with. This is creating an even greater health crisis that makes America the embarrassment of the entire world community!

Speaker Of The House Paul Ryan A Total Disaster, Caving In To Donald Trump, And Undermining Congressional Authority Against Presidents

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Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has become a total disaster, caving in to Donald Trump, and undermining Congressional authority against Presidential abuses.

Ryan has helped to undermine the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russian collusion, abuse of power, obstruction of justice, money laundering, violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, and sexual harassment and abuse by President Trump.

There are rumors that he plans to retire from Congress this year, and not too soon, as he has failed to play the role of a Speaker who puts the good of the nation ahead of politics.

He also is despicable in his craving for cutting the Social Safety Net of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, as well as cutting back on essential regulations of labor conditions, the environment, health care, and education.

He is presiding over a House of Representatives which is way out of the norm of American politics, caving in to religious extremists and the Freedom Caucus, which is anarchistic in its hatred of the federal government.

This author and blogger condemned Ryan back in 2012 when he was Mitt Romney’s Vice Presidential running mate, and his position on Ryan has not changed.

By comparison, John Boehner, with all his shortcomings, was nowhere as horrible as Ryan has been.

Randy Bryce is running as the Democrat trying to unseat Ryan from his Wisconsin Congressional seat, if he chooses to run, and whether Ryan runs or not, hopefully, Randy Bryce can be part of the expected Democratic “Blue” wave coming in November 2018. Bryce is an Army veteran, a cancer survivor, and iron worker running to give American workers in the First Congressional District of Wisconsin an opportunity to have one of their own background representing them in Washington, DC.

Gerald Ford, The Right Person To Succeed Richard Nixon, But Is Mike Pence The Right Person To Succeed Donald Trump? NO!

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On this day in 1974, the nation was fortunate that Richard Nixon resigned, and Gerald Ford became President of the United States.

We needed someone like Gerald Ford to heal the nation after the Watergate Scandal, and Ford fit the situation very well.

A respectable member of the House of Representatives for 25 years, House Minority Leader for the last nine of those years, and Vice President by appointment for eight months under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, we were fortunate that he was next in line for the Presidency, instead of corrupt Vice President Spiro Agnew, who would have been a disaster in the Presidency, dividing the nation even more than Richard Nixon.

Ford was controversial for pardoning Nixon one month into his Presidency, and it helped to cause his defeat, along with the strong right wing conservative challenge of former California Governor Ronald Reagan, but he had the right personality and instincts, and as a moderate conservative, was able to work with both parties, considering that the opposition Democrats controlled both houses.

Ford was an honest, decent man, and his wife Betty was arguably the most accessible and decent modern Republican First Lady, sharing her private turmoil with alcohol and breast cancer with the nation.

Gerald Ford lost a very close race to Jimmy Carter in 1976, so was the fifth Vice President not to be elected President, the first since Chester Alan Arthur in 1884, but he came to be admired and loved as he aged, and he ended up as the longest living President, when he died at age 93 years and 165 days on December 26, 2006, the same day of the year as Harry Truman died in 1972.

The longevity of Ford will be surpassed by George H. W. Bush if he lives to November 25, just three and a half months from now, and Jimmy Carter will pass Ford’s age on March 15, 2018, although if Bush continues to be alive, it will not break the record of longevity.

Now, however, Mike Pence would be the successor if Donald Trump is impeached and removed, or resigns from office, but Mike Pence is no Gerald Ford. Pence is much more extreme right wing conservative, unlike Ford, and is a religious extremist, promoting church and state combination in government, which is against the spirit of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. The policies and programs under Pence, while certainly likely to be somewhat different than Trump, would be dramatically different from those of Gerald Ford.

So one could wish that Gerald Ford could come back from the dead to be available to succeed Donald Trump, but sadly we are going to have to live with a President Pence at some point in the near future.

We can wish him luck, but be prepared to oppose him vigorously in the promotion of his right wing agenda, with less chaos, anarchy, and craziness, but still out of the mainstream of the American people and what they want the policies of our government to be in the future.

Three Straight 8 Year Presidencies: Are We Likely To Have A Fourth?

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As Barack Obama ends his 8 year Presidency, the third in a row, matching Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe (1801-1825), the question naturally arises: What are the chances of Donald Trump managing to be President for 8 years from 2017-2025?

It seems highly unlikely that Trump will stay in office for eight long years, but if he did, he would leave office at age 78 and seven months, about eight months older than Ronald Reagan was when he left office in January 1989.

Trump is already judged mentally unhinged by many, and his habit of sleeping very little and tweeting in the middle of the night, works against his mental and physical health for eight years.

Trump is likely to be controversial from Day One, and to believe that he will not alienate millions of Americans, beyond the majority who voted against him in 2016, is to be delusional.

The odds are good that he will face resistance from elements of the Republican Party, as well as the opposition Democratic Party over the next four years, and it is possible that a move will be made under the 25th Amendment to judge him not fit to serve, at least temporarily, leading to a long term “Acting President” Mike Pence, if Trump cannot be convinced to resign.

Mike Pence would be a dream for the right wing of the party, but likely would cause such a reaction, due to his religious extremism on women’s issues and gays and lesbians, so most likely would be a Pence Presidency ended by defeat in 2020.

In other words, this term could be like the second Nixon-Gerald Ford term, with Ford finishing the term but losing the election in 1976. But this statement is made, not to besmirch Gerald Ford, who would be far preferable to Mike Pence in every fashion, but simply the sense that this is the future, with a Democratic President in 2020, although right now, no real leader of such a transformation can yet be figured out.

War On Gay And Lesbian America In Full Swing By Religious Fanatics And Republicans!

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The shocking murder of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, along with 53 others wounded, many of them in serious condition, is a sign of the war on gays and lesbians raging in America by religious fanatics and Republicans!

The perpetrator was a Muslim fanatic, a person devoted to ISIS, but it is not just Islamic terrorism that is guilty of this crime.

It is religious fanaticism of all religions, which refuses to treat gays and lesbians as human beings with basic human rights, as much as straight Americans.

It is white Americans, black Americans, Hispanic Americans who use their religious fanaticism to hate gays and lesbians, with many people repudiating their own children and other family members.

It is evangelical Christian extremists, Catholic extremists, Jewish extremists, Hindu extremists, Mormon extremists–extremists of all religions—who promulgate hatred and prejudice and discrimination.

It is ministers who promote hate, and priests who promote hate from their pulpits.

It is Republicans who refuse to accept gay rights and gay marriage, and refuse to mention that this terrorist event involved gays and lesbians, as if the people killed do not matter.

It is Donald Trump refusing to acknowledge until just now that gays and lesbians were killed, only bragging that he was “right” that this was another example of radical Islamic terrorism, and calling on Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to resign for refusing to use that term. It took Trump two days until now finally to show concern that it was gays and lesbians who were the victims.

Donald Trump should resign from the race if he refuses to accept that gays and lesbians have the same rights as anyone else in America, including marriage rights, as decided by the Supreme Court of the Unites States.

This is a human rights crisis of massive proportions, and the religious fanatics and Republicans cannot be allowed to triumph, as this would be a crime on the scale of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust against gays and lesbians, often forgotten!

Attacks On Mosques Reminiscent Of Attacks On Synagogues And Black Churches: All Are Domestic Terrorism!

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Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to ban all Muslim immigration to the United States has unleashed a crime wave against mosques, and attacks on Muslim Americans in the past week, with occurrences taking place every day all over the country, and by one count, 19 such events in the first week after his utterances!

The promotion of Islamophobia is no different than the the anti Semitism which has led to attacks on Jewish synagogues, and the racism which has led to attacks on African American churches, going back to the Civil Rights era.

All of this is domestic terrorism, and Trump is inciting this violence, and should be held accountable for such incitement!

A small sliver of the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world are engaged in jihad and terrorism, just as a small percentage of other faiths have engaged in bloodshed and violence historically and today.

Has anyone noticed how most terrorism in America is by white Christian men, not by Muslims?  Has anyone noticed that there are Jewish terrorists who kill Palestinians who are not terrorists but live in Israel alongside Israelis?  Has anyone noticed that there are Hindus who commit violence against the minority Muslims in India?

Religious extremism has always existed, and will always exist, and of course, it is something to work against with all possible efforts!

But to label the vast, overwhelming majority of Muslims as terrorists only helps the despicable group that controls portions of Syria and Iraq, ISIL (ISIS), to gain supporters.

So the anti Muslim violence and propaganda that Donald Trump and other Islamophobes are promoting is actually the best recruitment tool for this horrific group to gain more supporters and present a long term threat to America and the Western world!