Author: Ronald

The Undermining Of Civility In America Long Lasting Damage, Setting Us Back From Progress Which Had Been Made In The 1950s, 1960s And 1970s

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Civility is a lost art in America, with the two major political parties no longer able to work cooperatively for American advancement.

We now live in a society in which most people only read, watch, and listen to those who profess their religious and political beliefs.

A dialogue in which both sides respect their opponents is no longer conceivable, and one wonders what event will unite the American people and allow a return to reasonable discourse.

Will we ever have a President who is able to appeal across party lines and party beliefs?

In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, there was a lot more bipartisanship on many issues, and much more “crossing the aisle”, rather than straight party line votes.

Members of Congress used to spend weekends with “friends” and their families despite different party labels.

That sense of camaraderie and shared commitment to do what is good for the nation is totally gone in 2017.

“Bad Blood” is now the norm, with little interaction, and even basic courtesies and manners are no longer utilized.

‘The Nineties” Series On CNN, Another Decade Series, Following “The Sixties”, “The Seventies”, And “The Eighties”

Ronald 2 Comments

CNN has begun this evening a multi-part series on “The Nineties”, shown over a period of two months on Sunday evenings.

It follows up on earlier series on “The Sixties”, shown in 2014; “The Seventies”, shown in 2015; and “The Eighties”, shown in 2016.

All aspects of each decade are shown, including politics, foreign policy, culture, journalism, and social change.

This series, as the three earlier ones, is well worth your attention.

After Seven Years, Republicans Seem Ready To Accept Reforms Of ObamaCare Through BiPartisan Deal With Democrats!

Ronald 5 Comments

After seven years of constant and vehement opposition of Republicans to Barack Obama’s signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act of 2010, it now seems as if the Republican Party in Congress is about ready to “throw in the towel”, and accept the continuation of ObamaCare with reforms and changes brought about by bipartisan cooperation with Democrats.

The statement of Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader, conceding the likelihood of giving up the fight to obliterate ObamaCare, was a stunning moment of concession, and shows how the Republican Party is well aware of the impact of trying to end health care coverage for 20-30 million under ObamaCare and Medicaid expansion.

The fury of constituents at town halls is very clear, and is a sign that if enough reaction on any injustice can be promoted by those who want to prevent destructive action, it can actually lead to concessions.

But this also makes clear the total panic of the GOP about the upcoming midterm elections in 16 months, which could lead to a Democratic controlled House of Representatives.

There is even concern that the Republicans could lose the Senate, although that still seems a real long shot, as only 8 Republicans, compared to 25 Democrats, face election in 2018.

The only way possible for a Democratic controlled Senate in 2019-2020 would be if all 25 Democrats or their successors retained those seats, highly unlikely, and to win three of the eight GOP seats, but that would mean winning not only Dean Heller’s seat in Nevada and Jeff Flake’s seat in Arizona, but also Ted Cruz’s seat in Texas.

To kick the obnoxious, egotistical, and arrogant Ted Cruz out of the Senate would be a major coup, but to expect it to occur is highly doubtful at this point.

All of the Senate seats will be discussed at the proper time over the next 16 months on this blog, but right now, the emphasis must be on the gaining of the House of Representatives, by winning 24 or more seats, and immediately, the retention of ObamaCare, with necessary reforms!

Trump-Putin Summit Meeting A Clear Sign That Putin Has Trump In His Grasp, Undermines Trump Legitimacy As President

Ronald 16 Comments

The Trump-Putin Summit Meeting yesterday at the G-20 Summit is a clear sign that the Russian autocrat has our President in his grasp, and has undermined Trump’s legitimacy as our President.

All the intelligence agencies are absolutely certain that Russia intervened in our 2016 Presidential election, and helped Trump to win.

Trump has been unwilling to agree to the reality and the facts, calling it “fake news”.

Different versions of the meeting by the Russian Foreign Minister and our Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have emerged from the meeting, and the question is whether Trump really pressed the issue with Putin, and whether he will simply accept their version that they did NOT interfere in our election. A “robust” and “lengthy” discussion, as depicted by Tillerson, apparently was a distortion of the meeting, another lie of the Trump Presidency!

The idea that we had a summit meeting with only Tillerson as an observer, with his close past ties with Russia when he was head of Exxon Oil, is an outrage, when we should have had H. R. McMaster, the National Security Adviser, and or James Mattis, our Secretary of Defense, in the meeting. Between Trump and Tillerson, we had a grand total of 12 months experience in diplomacy, compared to many decades of experience by Putin and his Foreign Minister. This is an outrage that everyone should be alarmed about, and one can be sure many Republicans and conservatives in and out of Congress are truly alarmed!

IF Trump does not continue to challenge Putin and resist their propaganda, he will be permanently harmed, and we will have to worry that he is in league with them to help promote his fortunes, by their planned interference in our midterm elections in 2018 and the Presidential Election of 2020.

Can one even imagine the reaction if Barack Obama had colluded with Russia, or George W. Bush, or Bill Clinton?

Can one imagine how the far Right conservatives and the evangelical Christian Right, which have embraced Vladimir Put as a “Friend”, based on support of guns and opposition to gay rights, would have reacted if, in particular, Obama had done what Trump has done, promote a “bromance” with a man responsible for deaths of journalists and opponents, as revealed by Richard Engel in a one hour special on MSNBC last evening, part of a new series titled “On Assignment”?

The idea that men and women who profess religion could unite with a totalitarian dictator such as Putin only shows the corruption of right wing evangelicals, such as Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham! The idea that right wing commentators, such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Mark Levin, among others, would just accept that Putin is no danger to America, is also a true example of how lacking in substance these characters are, only concerned about making as much profit as possible on their propaganda, and no concern about American national security!

The way things look now, Donald Trump is truly the “Manchurian Candidate”, and we are permitting the Russians to infiltrate and undermine our political system with equanimity, instead of with alarm!

Russians Invaded American Electoral Process In 2016, And Are Ready To Do It Again In 2018 And 2020 With Trump Support!

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The most alarming aspect of Donald Trump unwilling to admit that the Russians invaded the American electoral process in 2016, is that the Russians are ready and able to do it again in 2018 and 2020, with Trump being the beneficiary of such intervention, if action is not taken rapidly to prevent such a disaster from occurring again.

The fact that, supposedly, Trump brought up the issue in his private meeting today with Vladimir Putin at the G-20 Summit, which was immediately dismissed by Putin, and was followed by both sides agreeing to “move on”, is not an adequate end to the controversy, and the investigation of the issue must continue.

With all of the efforts to fight and resist Trump, it could be that we are doomed to have Trump continue to dominate, with the help of a foreign power, that our intelligence agencies may not be able to combat.

This is totally outrageous and unacceptable, and all efforts by those forces that wish to preserve the election process as totally legitimate, have quite a challenge, as the midterm Congressional elections are only 16 months from now, and the Presidential campaign will start in the middle of 2018, when it is likely that the first potential nominees will start to announce their candidacies, hoping to gain some advantage over those who wait till after the midterms, if they have an election to deal with first, before they announce.

The Congressional investigations, and the Special Counsel investigation of Robert Mueller must move forward with haste, while at the same time, all possible preventive measures are taken to keep the next two election rounds, and those that follow, totally honest and legitimate.

152nd Anniversary Of “The Nation” Magazine, The Oldest Weekly Publication In America!

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Yesterday, July 6th, was the 152nd Anniversary of “The Nation” Magazine, the oldest weekly publication in America!

Started right after the Civil War’s end in 1865, “The Nation” has always been hard hitting, principled and honest!

It has held to liberal values more than any similar publication, never diverting from it in any fashion.

It has often been attacked and vilified but has always stood proud for its beliefs in equality, justice, freedom, and against right wing extremism from wherever it has emerged.

Many brilliant scholars and authors have penned essays for “The Nation”, and has helped to make it one of the great examples of literary excellence over a century and a half of American history.

It has never had a great amount of financial support, but has somehow survived through difficult times, including the Red Scare in 1919-1920 under Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer (Woodrow Wilson), and the Second Red Scare of the late 1940s and early 1950s, generally known as McCarthyism, but much more than just one Wisconsin Republican Senator who was allowed to go berserk from 1950-1954.

“The Nation” is leading the charge against Donald Trump, and is part of the great journalistic tradition of challenging government authority, when it aims to take away our civil liberties and civil rights.

Good Fortune That Many Watergate Scandal Journalists And Investigators Are Still Alive And Able To Assist With Insight Into Trump Scandals

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It has been 45 years since the Watergate Scandal started to erupt, leading to the resignation of Richard Nixon 43 years ago.

Now that we are in the most dangerous constitutional crisis since Watergate, and actually more dangerous than that one was, it is good that many Watergate Scandal journalists and investigators are still alive, and able to assist with their insights and expertise into the Donald Trump scandals.

It is encouraging that Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who exposed the facts about the Watergate break in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters, are still actively engaged in pursuing the truth.

Also, Dan Rather, formerly the CBS News anchor from 1981-2005, and Ted Koppel of ABC News and “Nightline”, are both still pursuing the facts, and providing their brilliant analysis on what they see as more concerning than even the Nixon scandals.

Several individuals who helped in the prosecution case. led by Archibald Cox and Leon Jaworksi, 35 years ago, also are still alive and well, and able to give their expertise on comparing Watergate to the Trump scandals, with the general conclusion that this present scandal is more dangerous, constitutionally, than what Nixon represented.

Most observers believe that were Nixon alive today, he would be shocked at what Donald Trump has said and done, wondering how he has been able to accomplish so much in his corruption, and how he must be held accountable for his transgressions.

Donald Trump: Most Accessible Presidential Candidate, Least Accessible President!

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Donald Trump was just about the most accessible Presidential candidate, when he was running for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2015=2016, including phone interviews, and innumerable appearances on Cable Television.

But now, as President, he has only had one press conference in February, and has not been at all accessible in a direct fashion, to answer questions of journalists.

Instead, he attacks news media as “Fake Media”, and his Press spokesmen, Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, have often refused to meet the media on television, and nave perpetrated lies and outrageous defenses of their boss in a way that has undermined their credibility.

So Donald Trump has become the most inaccessible President, and has declared the free press to be “the enemy”, reminding us of totalitarian dictatorships of the Left and the Right throughout the past century of world history!

Trump sounds and acts more like a Third World Dictator than the leader of the “Free World”, and seems to have no scruples at all in wreaking destruction of the cherished First Amendment!

Donald Trump: Role Model For America In The World, And To Children In America? In Reality, The Massive Damage He Is Perpetrating!

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Donald Trump has done great damage to the institution of the Presidency in his nearly six months in office, and in many ways, the most tragic effect is that he has become a horrendous role model for America in the world, and also to children in America.

Massive harm has been done to the concept that boys and girls should look up to the President, as his narcissism, egomania, misogyny, racism, and nativism is teaching the worst possible values to our younger generation. It has made boys think it is just fine to mistreat and insult girls and women, and it has helped to undermine the self esteem that every young girl needs reinforced.

Most nations in the world have a very low opinion of our President, well deserved, and an embarrassment, when one considers most nations greatly admired and appreciated Barack Obama.

It insures that Donald Trump will go down as a disaster as a character model and an international leader!

And now Trump is on the world stage and about to meet Vladimir Putin of Russia at the G-20 Summit, who knows everything about Trump and can easily blackmail him!

What a mess this nation is in after six months of Donald Trump!

Strong Likelihood That Three Republican Women Senators Will Block Repeal Of ObamaCare!

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The Republican Party is fast learning of vast and vehement opposition by their constituents to the repeal of ObamaCare and the decimation of Hedicaid.

Ordinary citizens are organizing in a manner that stands out as undermining any attempt of Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and other GOP leaders to destroy all of the good that has been done on health care under Barack Obama.

Americans, overwhelmingly, want Preexisting Conditions to remain being covered, and for no lifetime cap on benefits to be continued, as it benefits the millions of Americans who are disabled, elderly, sick, and poor.

There may have been doubt about ObamaCare due to racism, but now many of those who said they were opposed, have come to realize that the Affordable Care Act, the official name for ObamaCare, a term devised by obstructionist Republicans, actually has worked very well for 20-30 million Americans, including the expansion of Medicaid.

So it now seems that there is a strong likelihood that three Republican women Senator, none of whom face election to their seats until 2020, will save the day, and prevent repeal of ObamaCare.

These three women Senators are considered moderates, and represent poor states, which also have major Opioid addiction troubles, which would also be mostly thrown to the side by cuts in the health Care plan, as devised by the Republicans.

Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia are leagued in their recognition of the issues of how many of their constituents would be harmed if the repeal of ObamaCare goes through.

Expect all three to prevent action, and possibly some male Republican Senators too, including Rob Portman of Ohio, Dean Heller of Nevada, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Jeff Flake of Arizona and others, but the three women alone will be enough to derail the despicable legislation.

It would also be nice if the two other Republican women Senators—Joni Ernst of Iowa and Deb Fischer of Nebraska–two other poor states in the Great Plains-Midwest region, were to do the right thing, and if that happened, we would have all 21 women Senators, the 5 Republicans and 16 Democrats united together on a cause worth being unified around.

But that is unlikely to happen, but Collins, Murkowski, and Capito are likely to kill the bill without any help from any other Republican Senators, and if so, they will be applauded for their courage, ethics, and compassion for their constituents!