Month: December 2017

Donald Trump Promotes Holy War, Anarchy And Chaos In Middle East By Making The US Only Nation To Accept Jerusalem As Capital Of Israel

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Donald Trump has opened up a Pandora’s Box by making the decision to accept Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel, when every other nation in the world sees Jerusalem as a city under possible future negotiation as the capitol of a Palestinian state, and instead accepts Tel Aviv as the effective Israeli capital.

What Trump has done is introduce holy war, anarchy and chaos into the Middle East cauldron, and it will make Israel a much more dangerous place for tourists from all nations, as well as citizens of Israel, already under constant threat and danger.

There will be no possibility of negotiations over a potential Palestinian state in the future, if Jerusalem is totally off the table for negotiation for Muslims to feel they have a place in its future.

It is not that this blogger, who is Jewish, wishes to see a divided Jerusalem, but unilaterally taking this action will NOT promote any possibility of peace negotiations in the future.

Muslim terrorism will grow by leaps and bounds with this decision, and many Jews and Israelis agree that it is primarily designed to promote Benjamin Netanyahu’s right wing political agenda, and also to keep the evangelical Christian base in America behind Donald Trump.

With every nation deploring the development, Donald Trump will not benefit from his action, and it insures no chance of peace at any point in the future, and lots of death and destruction, and no positive side to the situation.

Growing Erratic Behavior By Trump Alarming, A Sign of Mental Deterioration (Dementia Or Bi Polar Disease)

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One does not have to be a mental health professional to see that Donald Trump has signs of alarming mental deterioration, either dementia or bi polar disease.

Such evidence is seen by many psychologists and psychiatrists as danger signs of the threat of Donald Trump in the Presidency, leading to possible foreign wars against North Korea and Iran, and breaking up of the long term alliances with Europe, Japan and South Korea.

Examples of the problems Trump represents include:

His loss of temper so often;

his irrational rants against his “enemies”;

his insults of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un;

his inappropriate comments in so many Presidential ceremonies and speeches;

his alienation of our allies;

his extreme anti Muslim rhetoric on a constant basis;

his attacks on his own party membership;

his obsession with fake facts and conspiracy theories;

his incessant lying, on the average five to six times a day throughout his Presidency;

his belief that his critics are out to “get” him;

his insistence on having sycophants surrounding him and worshiping his every utterance;

his lack of a sense of reality;

his obsession with hating Barack Obama and his desire to destroy all remnants of his predecessor;

his total ignorance of science, history, and knowledge of basic international affairs.

Donald Trump’s mental state is clearly the most dangerous of any President, and far more than Richard Nixon, the best case of a comparison.

So America, every day, is endangered by the Presidency of Donald Trump as we near the end of his first year in the Presidency.

New Mississippi Civil Rights Museum Besmirched By Presence Of Donald Trump, And Absence, Therefore, Of John Lewis, Civil Rights Icon

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Today, in Jackson, Mississippi, a new Civil Rights Museum opens, to commemorate the sufferings of African Americans in the history of Mississippi discrimination and violence.

Mississippi is the state of the lynching of Emmett Till in 1955; of James Meredith needing National Guard intervention ordered by President John F. Kennedy in 1962-1963 to be able, safely, to attend the University of Mississippi; and of the three civil rights workers (Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, James Chaney) murdered in 1964 by Ku Klux Klansmen, simply for the act of trying to register black voters. Also, the murder of Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers in 1963 stands out as a deplorable moment in Mississippi history.

It is the state which has the worst image of all 50 states on racism, bloodshed, and violence in the Civil Rights Era, but also of its members of Congress historically, including Theodore Bilbo, John Stennis, and James Eastland, and Governor Ross Barnett, infamous for racism and advocating prejudice and denial of equal rights to African Americans.

The opening of this new museum is a wonderful event, but is besmirched by the presence of President Donald Trump, who has a long history of promoting discrimination, racism, prejudice, and hatred in his own life experience, and his promotion of setting back civil rights during his Presidency, including his appointment of former Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions to be his Attorney General, and setting back civil rights enforcement as a policy.

Just as Donald Trump is advocating Roy Moore for the Alabama Senate seat, with his long record of racism, along with the record of Moore involved in sexual abuse of young women, including girls under the age of 18, now he is coming to an event which is pure hypocrisy on his part, and only promotes racial division ever more.

Therefore, civil rights icon John Lewis, Georgia Congressman, who was involved in the major events of the civil rights movement, and is much respected and honored by all decent people, will not be attending the opening of this museum on principle, a regrettable but understandable reaction by this great man.

Kirsten Gillibrand And Other Women Senators Wrong To Force Al Franken Out Of Office Without Ethics Investigation And Clear Cut Evidence Of Sexual Harassment

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New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and other women Senators were wrong to force Senator Al Franken out of the Senate, without having an ethics investigation first, with clear cut evidence of sexual harassment and abuse by the Minnesota Senator.

Kirsten Gillibrand acted like a bully in leading the charge in such an aggressive manner, and it will harm her in her quest to become the 2020 Democratic Presidential nominee, which she clearly is desirous of becoming.

This blogger has been skeptical of Gillibrand before, and in 2008, the idea that she would be appointed to the US Senate by New York Governor David Patterson to replace Hillary Clinton, who was becoming Secretary of State, was astounding, as she did not have the best Congressional record of the various people named as contenders for the appointment.

Gillibrand had a very conservative record in her upstate NY district, and then suddenly became very liberal, a situation which seemed suspicious to this blogger.

Although this author said back in 1998 that Bill Clinton should have resigned in the sex scandal which led to his impeachment that year, it was not proper 19 years later for Gillibrand to say that Bill Clinton should have resigned, and in so doing, smacking Hillary Clinton in the face.

It adds to the image of Kirsten Gillibrand as an opportunist, who cannot be trusted to be President, but the possibility of her being the nominee always seemed a long shot.

Now it will be less likely, with her mercenary attitude, and rush to judgment, denying us a Senator, Al Franken, who was one of the stars of the Democratic Party, and helped to cause Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from the investigation of Donald Trump, which led to the appointment of Robert Mueller as Special Counsel by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Conservation Lands Foundation And Other Environmental Groups Fight Donald Trump On Cutting Down Of National Monuments

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The Conservation Lands Foundation and many other environmental and conservation groups went to federal court this week to stop the attempt of Donald Trump, and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, to cut down two National Monuments created by President Bill Clinton in 1996 and by President Barack Obama in 2016, both in Utah.

Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, declared by Clinton, would be cut by about half, and the Bears Ears National Monument, created by Obama, would be cut by 85 percent.

The aim of the Trump Administration is to promote mining, and drilling, taking away two million acres of protected land, which also has native American sacred sites within its midst.

The purpose is also to destroy scientific, historical, and cultural areas, in the first time we have seen any President make major cuts in public lands.

The Antiquities Act, passed under Republican President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 has led to 157 National Monuments, but now the future is endangered by the reckless actions of the Trump Administration.

The reason why the author has titled this entry with one specific organization of many is due to the fact that his older son works as a lobbyist in Washington, DC for the Conservation Lands Foundation, fighting against the loss of protection of conservation lands.

And this author and blogger is proud of the fact that his son has the commitment to the environment that his dad has long held.

Are We On The Way To President Paul Ryan?

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With the growing evidence of Russian collusion and lying by Donald Trump, Mike Pence, and many others in the administration, the possibility is growing of the first time in American history where the Speaker of the House of Representatives might become President by succession.

It could have happened in 1974 had there not been the 25th Amendment, added to the Constitution in 1967.

That amendment allowed for the appointment of Gerald Ford to replace Spiro Agnew, and within eight months of becoming Vice President, Ford became President.

If this had not been able to happen, there would have been no Vice President for ten months, and Speaker of the House Carl Albert of Oklahoma would have become President, instead of Gerald Ford, when Richard Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974.

Ryan may very well have been aware of Russian collusion in the eyes of some observers, but unless that is proved to be so, he would become President if Mike Pence was forced out, and Donald Trump was forced out, and if there was no time to select a new Vice President under the 25th Amendment.

Ryan, not at all admired, and much criticized by this blogger in 2012, when he was the Vice Presidential nominee for Mitt Romney. would be a terrible successor, with his Ayn Rand libertarian philosophy, and his desire to privatize Medicare and Social Security, and end the concept of government assistance to the needy through Medicaid, Food Stamps, and aid to dependent children.

We are in a time frame where Donald Trump is a nightmare, but Mike Pence, with his overtly theocratic view of religion and government is a different nightmare, and Ryan is a third example of what horrible choices the nation faces from the results of the Presidential Election of 2016.

It will take decades to recover the damage already done, and the damage yet to be done.

Mike Pence And Spiro Agnew: Two Crooked Vice Presidents?

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It is seemingly a possibility that Vice President Mike Pence could be involved in coverup of Russian collusion in the 2016 Presidential Election, and that he has often lied about his involvement in that corrupt action.

Pence was the leader of the transition team for Donald Trump, and had to know about the illegal actions of Michael Flynn in that transition period, and in the 25 days that Flynn was National Security Adviser, before he was fired.

Pence is deeply enmeshed in the scandal that is being revealed by the investigation of Robert Mueller, and he may not survive to succeed Donald Trump, because he failed to keep himself separate from the emerging scandal.

This is very different than Gerald Ford, who insured by his words and actions that he could not be accused of any involvement in the Watergate Scandal under Richard Nixon.

Ford had replaced Spiro Agnew in the Vice Presidency under the 25th Amendment, with Agnew involved in conspiracy, bribery, extortion and tax fraud, having accepted payments from contractors during his time as Governor of Maryland and even the Vice Presidency itself, and resigned, having pleaded guilty to one felony charge of tax evasion.

So it could be that Mike Pence will go down in history as the second crooked Vice President forced out of office.

Pence is about to be interviewed by Robert Mueller, and Pence has had his own personal lawyer for months, so stay tuned as to what might happen that no one would ever have conceived when the Trump Presidency began.

Michael Flynn Pleading Guilty A Sign Of Trouble For Donald Trump, His Family, And Mike Pence

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With former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn pleading guilty to lying to the FBI, the odds of Donald Trump leaving the Presidency sooner, rather than later, are growing astronomically.

This is a massive sign of trouble for Trump, for his children—Donald Trump, Jr, Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner—and even for Vice President Mike Pence, who was head of the transition team after the Presidential Election of 2016, all of whom seem clearly to have been involved in obstruction of justice in the investigation of Russian collusion in the campaign and election.

For the first time, we have a real danger of both the President and Vice President being in deep trouble, a constitutional crisis that we have never had before, although Vice President Spiro Agnew was forced out of office independently of Richard Nixon ten months before Nixon resigned.

Unfortunately, we do not have a Gerald Ford ready to take over, but instead the horror of Speaker of the House Paul Ryan or Senate President Pro Tempore Orrin Hatch, both of whom could also be compromised in some form.

What a mess we have, and it is a challenge to the corrupt Republican controlled Congress, which seems ready to ignore all of the facts and details, and instead charge ahead at giving more to the wealthy through tax law, and wishing to destroy the New Deal and Great Society long term.

So this is a time for public demonstrations and marches, and demands that the Tea Party mentality of the Republican Party be repudiated eleven months from now, but all necessary legal steps be taken to stop the financial raping of the American people through their corrupt Republican representatives.

This is a time of despair, as little seems to be available short term to stop the disgrace that is going on as the year 2017 comes to an end in four weeks.

Puerto Rican Migration To Florida In Two Months 200,000, Double Original Estimate: A Harbinger Of Florida Turning “Blue” In Future Presidential Elections

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The effects of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico will change future Presidential elections, with the Democratic Party winning the state in future contests for the White House.

Puerto Rico is losing a substantial portion of its citizenry due to the slow and inadequate response on the island to this natural disaster by the Trump Administration.

Some Puerto Ricans, all of whom are citizens of the US, and can register to vote immediately, have migrated to New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, but the vast majority, more than 200,00, double the original estimate, have moved to Florida, preferring warm weather.

Most have settled in Central Florida, in the Orlando and Tampa areas, with the Puerto Rican population having multiplied since the 2010 Census, while a lesser number have moved to South Florida.

As long as these citizens register and vote, the largest number will vote Democratic, and in close races for the White House, that can make a difference, and it could also, over time, affect state elections for Governor and other executive offices, as well as the state legislature.

When Florida becomes reliably “Blue”, it will add 29 electoral votes in the 2020 Presidential election, and more than that once reapportionment of seats based on the 2020 Census, and in time for the 2024 and 2028 Presidential elections.

And when the Hispanic vote of any part of Latin America becomes larger and reliably Democratic, except for Cuban Americans then Georgia, Arizona, and eventually Texas will be “Blue”, and the Republicans are doomed on the Presidential level.

Only by voter suppression and discrimination will the GOP have a chance to win, and one can be sure they will use every imaginable tactic to prevent Hispanic voting, so Democrats have to work incessantly to insure that Hispanics are not denied the right to vote, including law suits to stop this disgraceful tactic of the party that, more than ever, represents the Tea Party mentality.

The Disgrace Of The US Senate: Republican Mismanagement And Corruption, Deserving Of Massive Repudiation By Voters In 2018 And 2020

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Norman Ornstein, Congressional scholar, political scientist and resident scholar of the conservative American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC, has never said or published what most people who are employed by that interest group usually produce.

He has long been condemnatory of how the Congress has deteriorated in its approach to its responsibilities. He has been bitterly critical of the extremism that has taken over both the House of Representatives and US Senate. He is known for blistering critiques of Congress and how it operates.

It is a disgrace how both bodies of Congress operate, but the US Senate is particularly a train wreck under Republican control, promoting mismanagement and corruption, and now in the process of passing a disastrous tax bill that will make the wealthy wealthier, and harm everyone else, and add dramatically to the national debt.

Mitch McConnell and his party in the Senate, along with Paul Ryan and his party in the House, have abused their power, and are voting on legislation without full knowledge of what is in it, and changing details to please certain party members, without an understanding of the short and long range effect on the American economy.

The Republican Party has become the party of evil, deserving of massive repudiation by the voters in 2018 and 2020, but the question is whether those who vote for the Republican Party without a clue or knowledge of their agenda will finally understand that the voting for the GOP is a bargain with the devil, voting for people with no principles except their own self aggrandizement without conscience of what it is doing to millions of senior citizens, disabled and sick, and struggling middle class and poor people, in the name of greed and selfishness.