Month: September 2022

Contrasts In Leadership: Queen Elizabeth And Donald Trump

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

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!

Unveiling Of Barack And Michelle Obama Portraits At Biden White House A Celebration!

In the midst of difficult and stressful times in America, yesterday was a glorious day of celebration as Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama returned to the White House to unveil their official portraits that will be added to the White House Art Collection, and rejoice with Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden!

The portraits of both the President, by artist Robert McCurdy, and the First Lady, by artist Sharon Sprung, are gorgeous art, and it was an opportunity for the Obamas and Bidens to get together and celebrate the accomplishments of both Obama and Joe Biden in the Presidency!

Usually, the portraits of a President are unveiled in the administration of his successor, but that was not possible with Donald Trump, who constantly savaged the Obamas, and promoted the theory that Obama was not born in the United States, the so called “Birther” theory!

One has to wonder if it will ever happen that there will be unveiling of portraits of Donald Trump and Melania Trump in the White House art collection, but if so, it will not be during the Joe Biden Presidency, as Trump still refuses to accept that Joe Biden was legitimately elected President in 2020!

Republican And Conservative Advantage In House, Senate, Electoral College System, Despite Popular Vote Advantage For Democrats

The American political system is in bad straits, in what seems like a losing battle for popular vote to determine who runs our government.

The system has become stacked to favor Republicans and conservatives.

Republican legislatures in many states promote gerrymandering, which hurts Democrats massively, not only in the state governments, but also in setting up House of Representatives seats. An example is Florida, which used to have four Congressional seats that favored African American representation, but now has been halved to two such districts.

Fewer people regularly vote nationally for Republicans, but they have near to a majority even before the election in 2022 for the House of Representatives, and it is likely they will control the lower house of Congress despite having fewer total popular votes nationally.

Also, the US Senate has a situation in which Republican Senators, presently half the Senate, are elected by a population of about about 142 million Americans, while Democrats, presently the other half of the Senate, are elected by a population of about 184 million Americans!

So 60 percent of the nation’s population is being underrepresented, while 40 percent is overrepresented.

The idea that Wyoming has two US Senators with only about 600,000 people, while California with nearly 40 million peoples has two US Senators, is an abomination, but simply has evolved that way over time, so the US Senate is anti democracy to the extreme!

Additionally, the Electoral College favors the small, mostly Republican states, this despite the Democrats winning the national popular vote seven of the last eight Presidential elections, from 1992 through 2020, with the one exception of 2004!

So the idea of democracy is under attack, and the right wing Federalist Society has managed to “fix” the Supreme Court, with a strong 6-3 margin, with only Chief Justice John Roberts able to be considered, most of the time, as “moderate”.

So a constitutional crisis exists, with white supremacists working to insure that American democracy fails completely as we reach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026!

Nine Weeks To A Crucial Midterm Election Across America!

It is exactly nine weeks until what, arguably, is the most crucial midterm election in modern times.

Of course, that is easy to say, and probably has been said in many past midterm election cycles.

But the danger of “MAGA” Republicans and Donald Trump is the greatest domestic threat since the time of Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Second Red Scare of the 1950s.

Donald Trump remains a “clear and present danger”, and sadly, there are millions of Americans who continue to support him, despite the horrors of the January 6 Insurrection, and many who keep on giving him money as he spews hate and division, and continues to lie incessantly!

Women Democratic Governors And Nominees Work To Insure Abortion Rights In Midterm Elections

The Democratic Party has a substantial number of women governors, and women gubernatorial nominees, who would insure that abortion rights would be restored or kept as they are, despite the Supreme Court move against abortion rights in June!

This includes the following Governors:

Laura Kelly of Kansas
Janet Mills of Maine
Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan
Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico
Kathy Hochul of New York

Also, the following gubernatorial nominees:

Stacey Abrams of Georgia
Diedre Dejear of Iowa
Nan Whaley of Ohio
Nellie Gorbea of Rhode Island

And three open seats with Democratic women nominees:

Katie Hobbs of Arizona
Maura Healey of Massachusetts
Tina Kotek of Oregon

At this point, the odds would favor all five sitting Governors to be reelected; a tough battle for four nominees against sitting governors; and excellent possibilities for three open seats women nominees.

The elections most likely to gain attention are:

Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan
Stacey Abrams of Georgia
Nan Whaley of Ohio
Katie Hobbs of Arizona

Labor Day Should Remind Us Of Significance Of Labor Unions In American History!

Monday is Labor Day, a celebration of the contributions and sacrifices of generations of workers who struggled to honor the efforts of working people, who had to combat the power of corporations and commit themselves to reform and humane treatment.

The first national holiday came about in the Presidency of Grover Cleveland in 1894, just as we had the Pullman Strike, which led to the imprisonment of Socialist Eugene Debs, but led to the growing success of organized labor over the next decades.

The ultimate triumph of organized labor came in the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and while much of the nation, particularly the Southern states, worked against unionization, there was expansion of labor union membership nationally.

Sadly, the Presidency of Ronald Reagan saw labor union growth come to a halt, and has only recently started to increase once again.

But membership in labor unions is only in the midteens in number right now, when it once was about a third to 40 percent.

President Joe Biden, however, is a champion of organized labor, and will speak on Labor Day tomorrow in Pittsburgh, to commemorate labor, and call for the further expansion of unions for workers!

In the Presidential Election of 2020, Biden gained the backing of 56 percent of union households, crucial to his victories in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania in particular!

Potential For Democrats To Gain Multiple Senate Seats In Midterm Elections Of 2022

The potential now exists for the Democrats to gain multiple Senate seats in the Midterm Elections of 2022!

With six Republicans Senators retiring, at least three of those seats could go to the Democrats, along with three Republican Senators running for reelection having troubles in their reelection campaigns.

Pennsylvania with John Fetterman; Ohio with Tim Ryan; and North Carolina with Cheri Beasley, all have a good shot to win what have been Republican seats.

Additionally, Florida with Val Demings and Wisconsin with Mandela Barnes could see the defeat of Marco Rubio and Ron Johnson. And the longest serving Republican Senator, Chuck Grassley, running at age 89 for another six year term, also has a tough race from retired Admiral Michael Franken that should not be ignored.

Four Democratic Senators have major challenges to keep their seats—Mark Kelly in Arizona; Raphael Warnock in Georgia; Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada; and Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire.

Also, Mike Lee in Utah has a strong independent, Evan McMullin, trying to defeat this loyal Trumpite, and Democrats are backing him.

Rand Paul in Kentucky has a strong African American opponent in Democrat Charles Booker, and the defeat of Paul would be welcome, but unexpected.

In Missouri, Democrat Trudy Busch Valentine will try to stop Republican Eric Schmitt, another tough race without an incumbent, but Schmitt favored to win.

The possibility of up to a 4-5 seat gain for Democrats is in the cards, if the present trend in polls continues!

Joe Biden Makes Clear In Philadelphia Speech The Dangers Presented By “MAGA” Republicans!

President Joe Biden delivered a blistering attack last night in Philadelphia, the “Cradle of Liberty” against former President Donald Trump and the threat of “MAGA” Republicans to American democracy and the rule of law!

Biden pulled no punches, abandoning the idea of bipartisanship, which he had promoted for so many years in the US Senate, as the vast majority of the Republican Party has become, as Biden calls it, “Semi Fascist”.

The speech reminded this author of similar speeches by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in defending his “New Deal” in the time of the Great Depression, and FDR’s strong rebuttals of “isolationists”, who opposed his foreign policy in the lead up to World War II!

It also reminded this author of Harry Truman challenging the Republican Party in 1948, the famous “Give Them Hell Harry” campaign for reelection, which seemed hopeless, but with the result of a stunning election victory against all public opinion polls at the time!

Defeat Of Sarah Palin For Alaska House Seat A Major Win For Democrats As Midterms Loom!

The victory of Mary Peltola, an Alaska Native, for the open House seat, over former Governor and 2008 Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, is a major win for Democrats as the Midterm Elections of 2022 loom on the horizon over the next two months.

This is the first Democratic win in Alaska for the House seat in a half century, with Don Young holding the seat for the Republicans since his election in 1973 and until his death earlier this year, after a record setting 49 years, the longest of any House or Senate Republican in American history. His wife had been, ironically, an Alaska native!

While Peltola will have to compete for the seat again in November, it would seem likely that she would triumph over Sarah Palin once again, and retire the outspoken, Trump like supporter, from public life, or at least, from making moronic statements as Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert do regularly in the House of Representatives, embarrassing themselves and the Republican Party!