This author and blogger is taking a break for one week, visiting family in Washington DC.
I wish all my readers a great Memorial Day holiday, and will resume commentary on Tuesday, May 31!
Washington DC
Automatic Mail Ballots Should Be Sent By All States To All Voters As A National Law To Insure Voting Rights!
Nine states and Washington, DC send automatic mail ballots to all eligible voters who reside in their states.
These states include:
California
Colorado
Hawaii
Nevada
New Jersey
Oregon
Utah
Vermont
Washington State
Washington, DC
There is no viable reason why voters have to show up in person to vote, as long as they are registered and live in the state they reside in.
Such a system of mail in voting boosts voting, particularly of poor people, racial minorities, the disabled, members of the military, and the elderly.
Voting rights were guaranteed over time, and then added to by the Voting Rights Act of 1965, along with Constitutional amendments 15, 19, 23, 24, and 26, and so therefore, there should be ZERO boundaries for voting!
If we are to remain a democracy, this needs to become a national law that goes into effect by the Presidential Election of 2024, if not earlier with the Midterm Congressional Elections of 2022!
Time For Washington DC To Be The 51st State
Washington DC has more population than two states, Wyoming and Vermont, and not much lower than Alaska and North Dakota.
Washington DC has a higher educational and income level than the above named states.
Washington DC had a proposed statehood amendment passed through Congress in 1978 that failed to be ratified within the seven year limit, only gaining 16 states approval.
The 23rd Amendment, giving DC residents the right to vote for President, and giving DC three electoral votes, was ratified in 1961, and in 1964, for the first time, DC participated in the Presidential Election of 1964.
In a 2016 DC Statehood referendum, 85 percent of the residents in DC supported statehood.
DC would be first in Gross Domestic Product Per Capita (nearly two and a half times the next state), and first in Educational Attainment, with 60 percent having an advanced degree, and 34 percent having a bachelor’s degree.
Democrats, Popular Vote, And Economic Performance Way Ahead Of Republicans
Democrats have won the national popular in seven of the last eight Presidential elections, from 1992-2020, with exception of 2004.
Democrats have had more people vote for their candidates for Congress than Republicans in the past two decades.
Democrats have only presided in the White House for one of the past eleven economic downturns, a brief recession in 1980 under President Jimmy Carter, with the other ten under Republican Presidents from Eisenhower to Trump, 1953-2021.
Under Democratic Presidents since 1961, the stock market, job growth, and economic performance have done much greater than Republican Presidents in the same period.
And yet, Democrats are at a political disadvantage, due to:
The Electoral College
Political Gerrymandering of House seats
Republicans working to undermine Democratic Presidents with the Senate Filibuster
This is why Democrats need to play “hardball”, and overcome the barriers of gerrymandering and filibusters, and move to make Washington DC and Puerto Rico the 51st and 52nd states. Also add members to the Supreme Court to overcome the political manipulation of Mitch McConnell, who helped to create a stacking of the high Court with the refusal to approve Merrick Garland in 2016, the rightful nominee of Barack Obama; and the “ram through” of Amy Coney Barrett in record time before the Presidential Election of 2020!
Expect Donald Trump To Face Legal Doomsday Soon!
Two months after leaving the Presidency and having legal immunity stripped from him, Donald Trump is about to face legal doomsday.
New York charges are moving forward with the support of Michael Cohen, and the likely cooperation of Allen Weisselberg, the Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization.
Georgia is moving ahead on charges regarding Trump’s intervention in the Georgia Presidential election controversy.
Washington, DC is investigating the involvement of Trump in inciting the January 6 Capitol Insurrection.
Also, the many cases of women claiming sexual harassment and sexual assault, more than two dozen, are also being moved forward.
Donald Trump has had a charmed life without legal accountability, but that is about to come to an end, and soon!
Second Donald Trump Impeachment Trial May Be A “Circus”!
Nine days before the second Donald Trump Impeachment Trial, the nation may be facing a “circus”, with Donald Trump seeing his five member group of lawyers resigning, because he only wants to argue in the trial that the 2020 Presidential Election was stolen by Joe Biden and the Democrats, despite more than 60 court cases, all rejecting such a claim!
Trump’s refusal to accept the results is dividing the nation in an extremely detrimental manner, and now the possibility exists that Trump might just represent himself and speak before the US Senate, an unprecedented situation, were it to happen.
And with 45 of the 50 Republican Senators voting against having an impeachment trial, the odds of gaining 17 Republican Senators to vote to convict Trump and prevent him from running for public office again seems extremely unlikely.
So the nightmare of Donald Trump continues, and endangers civil order, with the Homeland Security Department warning of major dangers from domestic terrorists, more dangerous than foreign terrorism, and continuing for many months, requiring thousands of National Guardsmen to remain on duty to protect government buildings and the city of Washington, DC.
Domestic Terrorism At Its Peak As Inauguration Of Joe Biden Occurs Eight Days From Today
America is living through a literal nightmare, after the right wing Trumpist Fascist attack on the US Capitol Building on January 6!
Nearly a generation after the September 11, 2001 Attacks by Al Qaeda, we now have domestic terrorism at its peak as the inauguration of Joe Biden occurs eight days from today.
There are reported threats not just on Washington, DC, but also on all fifty state capitals in the next week, with plans revealed for a major threat on this coming weekend, and increasing as January 20 comes upon us!
And we have a unhinged, mentally deranged President now facing a second impeachment, which is justified, but will incite ever more reaction by lunatic seditionists and traitors.
That is why this author and blogger advocates that the inaugural ceremonies be held inside a fortified US Capitol building, not outside, as is customary!
In 1985, Ronald Reagan, then the oldest President at an inauguration, now to be surpassed by Joe Biden, had his second inauguration inside the US Capitol due to the coldest Inauguration Day in American history, with the temperature being 7 degrees Fahrenheit.
There are reports that a multitude of right wing, white supremacist, and neo Nazi groups are targeting not just the inauguration but other locations, and already, the Washington Monument has been shut down, and a high unscalable fence has been built around the US Capitol site, and also the Supreme Court across the street.
Washington DC is becoming a place where security and protection is forever changing due to a multitude of plots by extremists even before this disastrous January 6, 2021 event, and this is a sad, depressing time for American democracy!
But our constitutional system of government is worth fighting for, to protect the republic that has survived Civil War, the Great Depression, and two World Wars!
Potential Domestic Terrorism Threats In Days To Inauguration Day
With 11 days to go to Inauguration Day, there is intelligence information indicating many of the insurrectionists, domestic terrorists, supporters of Donald Trump, who mounted the attack on the US Capitol building on Wednesday, January 6, are planning further violence, and will be out to create a crime wave in Washington, DC and in all 50 state capitals between now and Inauguration Day.
There are already indications that Sunday January 17 will a see major invasion by armed traitors and seditionists, and that Inauguration Day, three days later, will present a massive crisis.
So it seems to this author and blogger that the smart thing would be to do what was done on Inauguration Day 1985, when President Ronald Reagan was sworn into his second term inside the US Capitol, instead of the traditional outside ceremonies.
The reason was Reagan was the oldest inaugurated President, nearly 74, and the temperature was 7 degrees Fahrenheit, the coldest ever temperature on Inauguration Day!
Crowds that might gather near the Capitol Building would need to be limited, and an ordinance passed to disallow anyone with a firearm at the event.
And law enforcement of various agencies must be at its maximum, and plans made to arrest thousands of domestic terrorists, with the aim being to protect the government and its new leadership.
There must be no sparing of efforts to protect Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Mike Pence, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Chief Justice John Roberts, and all of the government leaders and members of both political parties.
We must not allow domestic terrorists to hijack our tradition of a stable Inauguration Day 2021!
The Trump Military Parade On Independence Day A Mockery Of American Liberty, Democracy, And Freedom
It is totally preposterous and disgraceful that Donald Trump is insisting on wasting tax dollars for a military parade on Independence Day in Washington, DC.
There has never been a national military parade on any holiday, and to use July 4th as an opportunity to promote his own grandeur is obscene beyond belief.
It also could damage the roads of the capital city, and makes Independence Day a political event, when it is supposed to be a moment of celebrating American liberty.
Holding such a parade copies what is done in totalitarian nations, and we do not need to flaunt our military might on the day that represents freedom and democracy.
Hopefully, the turnout will be lower than normal, and the networks should not televise his political speech, glorifying his disgraceful violations of civil liberties, including the disgrace of the mistreatment of migrant women and children at our southern borders.
Back From Wonderful Vacation In London And Paris With My Older Son, And Ready To Resume Regular Commentary On American Politics, Government, And History
I am happy to announce that I have returned from a wonderful vacation in London and Paris with my older son, and am ready to resume regular commentary on American Politics, Government, and History.
I had never traveled overseas since my younger son was Bar Mitzvahed in 1996 in Israel, but my older son has done a lot of travel in Europe, some for work purposes, and also for vacations. He wanted to treat me to an all expenses paid trip to my two favorite European nations, the United Kingdom and France, to honor me for Fathers Day, and for his 40th birthday, with him being born on that day in 1979.
We saw all of the historic and cultural sites I had always wanted to visit, and it enriched my historical and cultural knowledge, and increased the bonding I have for my older son, but with equal feelings for my younger son as well. This was a trip of just the two of us, since we had not spent much time together over the past decade since he moved to the Washington DC area, and myself continuing to reside in South Florida.
I was totally out of touch for the two weeks in regards to the news, and only now am catching up on the events, including the danger of war with Iran; the resignation of White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders; the threat to have mass deportation of undocumented immigrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the usual maniacal behavior and utterances of Donald Trump; and the preparations for the first Democratic Presidential debates in Miami this coming Wednesday and Thursday, June 26-27, with Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg not having the best fortune in this past week, and Elizabeth Warren seemingly surging for now, while others are hoping for a breakthrough as a result of these two nights of debates.
I plan to comment daily on those events and trends that seem worthy of the most attention, and I am glad to invite my readers to return to a daily interaction, although while visiting Washington DC in two weeks from now for tourism and family, it is possible I might miss a day or two as a result.
Thanks, everyone, for your patience, as I took the most wonderful and enriching trip imaginable in the past two weeks.