Texas

Long Overdue For 11 States To Expand Medicaid Coverage!

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Hard to believe, but in 2023, there are still ELEVEN states that have refused to take care of their poorer citizens by expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare)!

Eight of these eleven states are in the South, including the megastates of Texas and Florida, and that should be used by the Democrats against Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis, when and if they announce for President, which at least, DeSantis is expected to do soon!

The other states that are recalcitrant, and show lack of concern for the lives of their less fortunate citizenry are Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee!

Also, outliers outside the South are Kansas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming!

It is time for these eleven states to stop their resistance, and protect human lives, as much as they are pushing for protecting every fetus in the womb!

Arizona And Georgia Key States Now, NOT Florida And Texas!

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As a result of the Midterm Elections of 2022, after the Presidential Election of 2020, it is clear that Arizona and Georgia are the key states for the Democrats, although they do not make up for the Republican dominance of Florida and Texas!

But with Pennsylvania and Michigan also becoming more likely Democratic based on recent elections, and adding the Northeast and Pacific Coast, the Midwest states of Illinois and Minnesota, and a few Mountain states, such as Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada, the prognosis for the Democrats in 2024 and beyond, is looking good, in regards to the Electoral College!

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Is Appealing To Right Wing Authoritarians!

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It has become clear that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is perceived as the likely alternative to Donald Trump, among other Republicans who might seek to run for President in 2024.

What is clear is that Ron DeSantis is smarter, more intelligent than Donald Trump, which makes DeSantis very dangerous.

DeSantis is appealing to right wing authoritarians, based on his utterances and actions in office.

He has promoted the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation in Florida, persecuting gays, lesbians, and transgenders in the public schools, and dictating what can be said by educators in classrooms regarding sexuality and students.

Along with other Republicans, he is aiming to avoid the subject of race in the teaching of history, distorting the truth of the American past. He has attacked CRT (Critical Race Theory), which is not taught in schools, but he also does not want the unfortunate reality of racism and discrimination in the American past to be taught at all in schools and universities.

DeSantis is promoting book banning, affecting libraries and schools, and encouraging parents and school boards to promote censorship, interfering with students right to read books that should continue to be available.

He has promoted the anti abortion movement, and weakened gun safety laws, making the state much more dangerous to its citizens.

Anyone who is critical of him is attacked, including Walt Disney World, and Democratic prosecutors elected to office, who he dismisses from their positions on political grounds.

DeSantis has suppressed the vote, aiming to make it more difficult for the basic right of citizens to vote.

He has promoted gerrymandering that took away two House of Representatives seats from African Americans.

DeSantis resisted the COVID 19 Pandemic, working against vaccination requirements, face mask mandates, and stay at home orders, and this has led to Florida having the third most deaths, but not far behind California and Texas, although they have much larger populations.

He sent 50 Venezuelan refugee migrants who had applied for political asylum legally to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, as part of his political strategy to challenge the Biden Administration, but showing no concern about the cost to the state of Florida, and the lack of concern or respect for people escaping a left wing authoritarian dictatorship in Venezuela.

DeSantis is very hostile and antagonistic toward the news media, and bans them from many press conferences, only allowing right wing news media, including Fox News Channel to be present.

He is seen as appealing to right wing authoritarian promoters, and therefore, is seen as a threat to American democracy and the rule of law, were he to be nominated for and elected to the Presidency!

The Nation In Crisis Over Mass Gun Murders

Ronald 1 Comment

This author and blogger was on vacation in DC to see his older son, but the news cycles did not give him or anyone a break!

The shocking mass murder of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas by an 18 year old disturbed young man who purchased two AR-15 style rifles, is incomprehensible to fathom!

It has happened too often before, and yet the nation is paralyzed and unable to react, due to the evil power of the gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, and almost all Republicans in Congress and in state legislatures!

Ironically, the party that is “pro life” to the point of wanting to prevent any and all abortions, is unwilling to do anything to protect children in schools, as well as adults in all kinds of situations, including theaters, shopping malls, supermarkets, nightclubs, churches, synagogues, mosques, outdoor concerts, and every other imaginable location!

America is killing its children, while demanding every fetus must be born, an absolute insanity, and no compassion is witnessed in Texas about the horrendous disaster, and the unwillingness of law enforcement to go in and attempt to save the children and teachers!

Texas has become the model of the absolute worst in America in so many ways, with Florida a close second, and this indicates the disastrous future of the nation if gun rights win out over human rights to live!

The Attack On Teachers And Librarians

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Those individuals who dedicate their lives and careers as teachers and librarians are facing a crisis unseen in American history.

The Republican Party and the extreme right wing has declared war on teachers and librarians, promoting censorship and direct threats against those who promote free inquiry and tolerance!

The move of some state and local governments, and of some right wing media, such as Fox News Channel, One America News Network (OANN) and NewsMax, to threaten lawsuits and loss of employment to those who educate our children and to ban books and other materials some find objectionable, is an attack on the Bill of Rights and the promotion of truth and facts!

No wonder many teachers and librarians are leaving their professions, as state laws in Texas, Florida and elsewhere allow for parents or others to begin lawsuits, when such people are not qualified to dictate what the curriculum should be in schools, or to ban books and other materials on book shelves in libraries!

Does anyone promote that medical doctors, attorneys, accountants and others be subjected to ignorant parents and extremist elements to dictate their fields of work and what are acceptable policies and programs?

This blogger and author could not imagine trying to teach in the public schools at any level in today’s environment, where not only is there conflict over teaching of “Social Studies” and “Science”, but also even Literature, Foreign Languages, and most crazily, Mathematics!

Why should the state of Florida, for instance, be able to ban certain Math textbooks on the crazy idea that they contain CRT (Critical Race Theory), and they do not have any connection at all?

How can anyone deal with students at any level in any curriculum field without recognizing the role of teachers and librarians in educating students on issues of race and sexuality, which are and will be dominant factors in their future lives?

This attack on educators and librarians is a movement toward totalitarian and authoritarian Fascism, and the battle against such evil is joined, and must be fought to ultimate victory!

Texas And Florida Governors Are Promoting Mass Death By Reckless Policy On Vaccine Mandates!

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The second and third largest states in population, with about 50 million people, are Texas and Florida.

Their Republican governors, Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis, have demonstrated they are totally reckless in their attack on vaccine mandates, including dictating not only to school boards, but also all private businesses.

Both governors are promoting mass death, with 68,000 deaths and counting in Texas, and 56,000 deaths and counting in Florida.

So about one out of every six deaths is in those two states alone, as the COVID 19 Pandemic has killed about 700,000 Americans and counting.

And people of color are even more often the victims, and both governors have no concern, as they both work to be potential Republican Presidential candidates in 2024.

Both Abbott and DeSantis will go down in history as two of the absolutely worse governors in American history, and not just on vaccine mandates, but on so many other issues, including racism, women’s rights including abortion, and refusal to have serious attempts to promote gun regulations.

Additionally, both states are trying to deny people of color, poor people, young people, and the elderly the right to vote!

Texas Has Become The Pariah On So Many Issues!

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The state of Texas has become a pariah on so many issues.

Its decision to ban all abortions after six weeks, and allow citizens to sue and win a bounty of $10,000 against anyone who helps a woman gain an abortion is outrageous!

Its decision to create the most stringent limitations on voting rights, designed to prevent people of color, the young, the disabled, and urban centers from access to voting with reasonable rules is also outrageous!

Its plans to gerrymander the state in such a way as to make fair elections impossible in the future is also outrageous!

Its refusal to allow masking to be required to protect children and staff in public schools is also outrageous!

Its allowance for open carry of firearms is a danger to everyone, and mass killings will increase, and is also outrageous.

The state has right wing elements that have spoken about secession and treason, and is very willing to do everything possible to promote white supremacy in a state that is more than ever a state in which people of color, particularly Hispanic and Latino, but also Asian American and African American, are being treated in a discriminatory manner!

Texas was one of the most horrific racist states before the Civil Rights Movement, and now it is reverting to extremism that is shocking and detrimental to the people of the second largest populated state, and the courts seem unwilling to do anything about it!

Texas should face boycotts, court cases, and other moves to hold the right wing extremist legislature and Governor Greg Abbott to accountability, as this is not a situation that can be overlooked, as the danger is that this cancer might spread to other states!

Afghanistan Crisis May Harm Joe Biden’s Agenda In Congress, And His Public Opinion Support

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The Afghanistan Crisis over evacuations may harm Joe Biden’s Agenda in Congress.

After accomplishing so much in his first seven months in office, there are Democrats now who are alienated from Biden, on the issue of infrastructure, with moderates and progressives with different views on timing of the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill, which has gained Republican support, and the Human Infrastructure bill, with no Republican support.

The issue of Voting Rights legislation is also in trouble, as Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Florida, and other states are setting up voting barriers for future elections.

Afghanistan, and the way Joe Biden has dealt with it, has also made some Democrats highly critical of the failure of the Biden Administration to plan removal of Americans and Afghans who helped the war effort on a timely basis, rather than the total chaos and anarchy now occurring at Kabul Airport.

Joe Biden’s public opinion support on his Presidency and on Afghanistan policy has been high, but now there is danger of that support collapsing.

And there are Republicans and right wing talk show hosts who are calling for Joe Biden to resign, or that he should be impeached, although there is no chance of any success on impeachment or conviction, and clearly, no possibility of resignation.

But the situation in Afghanistan muddies the waters dramatically!

56th Anniversary Of Voting Rights Act, Now A Major Crisis Of American Democracy!

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On this day in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, supported by Democrats, but also a substantial number of Republicans, who understood that voting rights were the central human right in a nation that was a democracy.

It was a reaction against the denial in the former Confederates states of the South to enforce the 15th Amendment of 1870, which gave men of color the right to vote after the Civil War.

Now, America is again in a crisis, as the Supreme Court cut back enforcement of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, in Shelby County V. Holder, and many Republican states are now claiming voter fraud in 2020, when it did not exist, and are passing all kinds of restrictions to prevent minority voters, young voters, and poor people from their constitutional right to vote.

Texas, Georgia, Florida and Arizona, and their crooked, corrupt governors and state legislatures are trying to fix the results of future elections, by making it impossible or extremely difficult for people to vote, and Texas has seen the Democrats in the state legislature for the past month and more, leaving the state and coming to Washington, DC to promote a restoration of the Voting Rights Act.

These Texas Democrats face arrest and possible imprisonment, which should not be permitted, and instead, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the right wingers in his state and others, should face prosecution for what they are attempting to perpetrate.

H R 1–For the People Act, and H R 4–John Lewis Voting Rights Act, need to be passed into law now!

Texas State Legislature Has Gone Totally Bonkers On So Many Issues!

Ronald 2 Comments

Texas has a long history of racism against African Americans and Latino Americans, but the state has gone way beyond those reprehensible examples of prejudice and hatred.

Now they are making it ever more difficult for people of color to be able to vote in future elections.

They have also made abortion practically impossible with their newly enacted laws that prevent a woman after six weeks, long before most would even know they are pregnant, from being able to have an abortion, and already, the number of abortion providers has been restricted in recent years.

Also, all restriction on guns are coming to an end, which alarms law enforcement professionals.

And the state is making it clear that teachers of the social sciences are not permitted to teach about the true history of America and of Texas, the realities of slavery, Jim Crow segregation, and about the extermination of native Americans, and other unpleasant truths, what the opponents call “critical race theory”. Instead, only a patriotic version of history is to be taught, which will hamstring teachers, and yet will not, necessarily, prevent students from learning the truth elsewhere, and wish to discuss it in classes.

As an historian and political scientist for a half century, if this author and blogger were much younger, he would be unable to “practice his craft”, teach truth and facts, and this is totally outrageous!

Lawsuits on all of these issues are essential, as Texas is undermining the rule of law in so many ways!