Author: Ronald

Murder Of Tyre Nichols By Memphis Black Police Officers Totally Beyond The Pale!

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America needs its law enforcement authorities, and crime is an issue that must be dealt with effectively.

But the murder of Tyre Nichols in Memphis by five African American police officers is way beyond the pale!

Nichols was stopped for a traffic violation, and had no weapon on him.

He was 140 pounds and slight build, and was assaulted mercilessly by five police officers who each weigh more than 200 pounds.

They beat him with night sticks, punched him, kicked him, brutalized him, and if it was not for the body cam that is required in most locations in the nation, we would not have any hint of the brutality visited upon this man!

Why would there be a need for FIVE police officers to deal with one person, who was no threat to any of them?

And why chase him, when they had the information about his car, and did not need to have their adrenalin build up to the point of chasing him and murdering him, with no limits in their behavior?

This was a case of using government authority and male ego in the worst possible scenario, and it should horrify every citizen that he or she cannot be certain that they would not face such brutality by police, who clearly overreacted in the extreme, without regard for human life!

Watching the video was tormenting, and the fact of all those involved being of the same race is even more stunning!

And hearing Tyre Nichols scream for his mother was very emotional!

But the full extent of punishment must now be pursued, and police nationwide must be informed that such behavior, despite the stresses of the job, require humanity and level headedness, as no one should NOT have to fear law enforcement as if they are the Nazi Gestapo!

The MAGA Republican Agenda Must Be Resisted By Biden And Democrats!

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The MAGA Republicans who now control the House of Representatives under Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, and also have influence over some of the minority Republican contingent in the US Senate, have declared war on common decency.

Joe Biden, the Democratic Senate majority and the minority House Democratic caucus under the leadership of Hakeem Jeffries have their work cut out for them to resist and defy the lunatics who are wishing to impose their agenda on the nation.

The Republicans want to negotiate over the debt ceiling when it is their party that has added most of the national debt under Republican Presidents, and specifically, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and most egregiously, Donald Trump, in their mad quest to cut taxes for the super wealthy who do not need tax cuts, and never pay an adequate tax rate.

They have no concern over the damage that would be wrought on the American and worldwide economy by holding the debt ceiling as hostage, when it covers past Congressional actions that were enacted, so it shows that they are deadbeats when it comes to payment of financial obligations. The debt limit has been raised more times than years in the past multiple decades, and without question when the Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress!

And they wish to destroy the Internal Revenue Service, and instead of income taxes, tax everyone a flat rate of 30 percent sales tax on all purchases and expenses, an idea that will destroy the middle class and the poor, and greatly benefit the wealthy, absolutely outrageous!

The Republicans also want to make massive cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, veterans benefits, calling them “entitlements”, when taxpayers pay for these programs in their years of paying taxes, so to cut is an outrage!

Republicans are also declaring war on the need for environmental reforms to deal with climate change; to promote “clean energy”; wanting to cut national parks and conservation lands and sell them to industrial interests; necessary investment in infrastructure; along with wanting to cut the meager investment in National Public Radio and PBS, undermining the concept of educating the American public with a miniscule investment of public funds!

The Democrats need to counter the Republicans by insisting on such programs as the following:

An increase in the minimum wage, and indexed to inflation

A significant tax increase on the wealthy

Expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) to states that have not expanded Medicaid, mostly in the South, and including the megastates of Florida and Texas

Universal Pre-K for children under the age of five

A national paid family leave program

A permanent expansion of the child tax credit

And a “compromise” might be a smaller tax increase on the wealthy, and a slower increase in the national minimum wage over a longer period of time, but in exchange, the Republicans would stop holding as hostages the national debt that they mostly created without concern.

The Republicans claim to be “pro life”, and yet they show no concern for the welfare of American children who are not from wealthy families, and refuse to consider gun regulations as more and escalating numbers of mass murders occur, with 41 such incidents in the first 27 days of 2023!

International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2023, And Dangerous Nick Fuentes!

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Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking 78 years since on this day in 1945, the Soviet Union’s troops opened up and took control of the Nazi Concentration Camp at Auschwitz, Poland.

This was the horrendous beginning of the exposure that Nazi Germany had arranged for the death of 6 million Jews, and 7 million others, including gypsies, homosexuals, Catholics, and people of every occupied nation in Europe, in a multitude of concentration camps!

The shock of this mass loss of life by plan and evil deed has a significance that one can never be allowed to forget, as in our times, there is an increasing amount of Antisemism all over the world, and including the United States, which has seen tremendous escalation of hate!

And we have young antisemites, Nazi Germany supporters, racists, white supremacists, and Holocaust Deniers, who use the internet and social media to incite hate and violence!

One such person is 24 year old Nick Fuentes, who, ironically has a Mexican American father, but sows hate, and was invited to dinner by Donald Trump at Mar A Lago with Kanye West! This young hoodlum is inciting young men who are Incels, who hate women but are not gay or bisexual, supposedly, and are clearly mentally ill, to threaten women, Jews, and people of color!

Nick Fuentes is a “clear and present danger”, using the internet in a manner to provoke violence, and it is hoped that the FBI is monitoring him, as this is a potential Adolf Hitler in our midst, who cannot be allowed to provoke violence, and avoid accountability!

Social Media Reviving Donald Trump As “Clear And Present Danger”!

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Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are now allowing Donald Trump back on their social media websites.

This is due to Elon Musk, Nick Clegg, and Mark Zuckerberg, and they call it “free speech”, when it is anything but that, as it incites violence and bloodshed, for which these billionaires should be held accountable in a court of law!

They are more dangerous and abusive than any billionaires or multimillionaires of past American history!

They should be roundly condemned, and challenged as monopolies in a court of law for their transgressions!

Four “M” State Governments Now Are Democratic Controlled!

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The 2022 Midterm Elections brought about the taking of control of the executive and legislative branches of government by the Democrats in four “M” States—Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Minnesota.

This means these four states–two on the Atlantic Coast, and two in the Midwest–will now see the accomplishment of progressive goals that are not possible in the South and much of the heartland of America.

This includes promotion of gay rights, labor rights, and women’s rights, including on the subject of abortion, as well as gun regulations.

A total of 17 states will have full Democratic control, and a majority of Americans live in those 17 states.

However, the Republicans have control in 21 states, with the remainder of the states being divided in party control.

Outrageous For Speaker McCarthy To Deny Three Democrats Appointments To Committees They Have Served On!

Ronald 3 Comments

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy is demonstrating what a total disaster he is, allowing right wing extremists to have authority, and now working to deny Democrats of their appointments on the House Intelligence Committee, specifically Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell both from California, who have served on that committee honorably!

McCarthy is also taking a stand against Muslim Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, planning to deny her continued membership on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, but giving the phony liar, George Santos, positions on two committees!

This is outrageous, and the few moderate Republicans, such as Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, and Don Bacon of Nebraska, along with a few others, can prevent this outrageous violation of McCarthy to be prevented by voting with Democrats to overrrule the Speaker!

The Supreme Court At Its Lowest Public Opinion Rating In Modern Times!

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The US Supreme Court has been part of American government since the passage of the Judiciary Act of 1789.

There have been 17 Chief Justices and a total of 116 Justices, including five who served both as Associate Justices, and as Chief Justice.

We have seen diversity on the Supreme Court in recent times, with two African American men and one African American woman; a Latina woman; six Jewish men and two Jewish women; six women overall; two Italian American Catholics; 15 Catholics overall; and 92 Protestants.

The present Court has four women, and five men, but the Court’s ideological tilt is way far to the right, and it has caused a loss of favorable public opinion toward the Court, with confidence in the fairness and objectivity of the Court at an all time low in public opinion, since polls began in the 1930s.

This is a crisis, and Chief Justice John Roberts, who so much wants a good reputation for the Court which has its name as Chief Justice, has clearly lost control of the agenda of fairness to the hard right nastiness and narrow mindedness of Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, each being appointed by the first President Bush and the second President Bush.

The Report on the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization “Leak” is a farce, as the members of the Court were not put under sworn testimony as Court staff was, and no result as to how the leak occurred has been concluded, which seems like a coverup!

This will reflect over time in rankings of the Bush Presidencies, as constitutional law has been distorted by the decision of the Court to reverse abortion rights of nearly 50 years standing, after its members did not indicate in their confirmation hearings that they wished to void the basic right of privacy that has become part of the history of America since the Warren Court of the 1950s and 1960s!

50 Years Since Roe V Wade: The Battle Is Not Over, And Must Continue!

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Today marks the 50th Anniversary of the Roe V Wade Abortion Rights decision, written by a 7-2 majority of the Supreme Court, including five Republican appointments to the Court, including the author of the opinion, Associate Justice Harry Blackmun (appointed by Richard Nixon). Chief Justice Warren Burger, and Associate Justices William Brennan, Potter Stewart, and Lewis Powell joined the majority, along with Democratic appointments William O. Douglas and Thurgood Marshall. The only dissenters were Democratic appointment Byron White and Republican William Rehnquist.

After a half century, one would have thought that the right of a woman to control her own health care, and her body, would have been clearly permanent law.

But, instead, the extremist right wing Supreme Court, with appointees of George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump, by a 6-3 vote eviscerated abortion rights in Dobbs V Jackson Women’s Health Organization, on June 24, 2022.

This caused nationwide reaction, leading to six states insuring the right of abortion by vote of the people of those states, and defeat of extremist anti abortion candidates for Governor and other state wide executive offices in many states by the time of the Midterm Elections of 2022.

But the anti abortion extremists are now out to create a nationwide ban on abortion, which, if the Republicans win the US Senate and the White House in the 2024 elections, could be a reality!

This has been a 50 year effort by so called “Pro Life” forces, which want to impose their personal and religious views on the entire population of the United States, including young girls who should not be having children before adulthood, and also undermines the basic physical and mental health of women, without any concern of the impact.

So the battle for individual freedom must go on, with no relenting on the issue!

50 Years Since Lyndon B. Johnson’s Passing: His Heritage Is Immense!

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It has been a half century since the passing of President Lyndon B. Johnson on January 22, 1973.

This giant of a man and a President had massive impact on the American people and their history.

LBJ brought about the greatest social and economic reform of any President except Franklin D. Roosevelt, and many might say that his impact in some ways was greater than that of FDR.

When one considers his impact on civil rights, education, health care, and the issue of urban and rural poverty, it is clear that LBJ transformed the American psyche on these matters.

The battles he fought and overcame against Southern Democrats have now, sadly, been transformed into struggles against most Republicans, who have become the new white supremacists and are out to promote the same narrow minded “states rights” arguments to erase advancements on race, women’s rights, and gay rights, in an attempt to bring America back to the mentality of the 19th century.

Had LBJ only had to deal with domestic issues, he would be ranked in the top five of all Presidents, but sadly, his insistence on continuing and expanding the war in Vietnam caused a massive split that started the attack against American liberalism and progressivism, which he and FDR had so championed from the 1930s through the 1960s.

So his ranking is lower, although with time, it has recovered so that he is considered in the top quarter of Presidents, generally ranking as about number 10 or 11 of all the 45 Presidents we have had.

Two Year Anniversary Of Joe Biden Presidency: Should He Run For Second Term?

Ronald 10 Comments

Today at 12 Noon marks the two year anniversary of the Joe Biden Presidency!

Considering the difficult political circumstances, of an evenly divided Senate for only the fourth time in American history, and a five seat margin in the House of Representatives, Joe Biden accomplished a great deal in his first two years in office.

From a progressive view, he was the most successful in his first two years domestically than any President since Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s with his “Great Society” legislation, which was far greater, but with a massive margin of his party in control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Biden accomplished more than Democrats in the Presidency after Johnson, including Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and even Barack Obama, after their first two years in the Oval Office!

Foreign policy has been difficult, as it always is, but Biden’s strong support of Ukraine in its war with Russia, and backed by NATO, has been a very strong example of his promotion of democracy against totalitarianism, reminiscent of Franklin D. Roosevelt coming to the aid of Great Britain in 1940-1941, before America’s entrance into World War II.

Having said all the above, the question now is should Joe Biden, having reached the age of 80 precisely two months ago, run for a second term, and would he win a second term?

This author and blogger has always had great and warm feelings toward Joe Biden, going back to when he gravitated toward Biden as, in my mind, the replacement in commitment and personality traits of Hubert Humphrey, who was this author’s original political “hero”!

I wish that Biden had been able to run for President in 2016, but his son Beau’s death prevented that, as I believe he would have won the nomination, and would have defeated Donald Trump, and saved America from the nightmare four years of horrendous policies and criminal actions.

Hillary Clinton had too many barriers, including controversies surrounding her and her husband, along with simply being the first woman nominee for President. Of course, Hillary Clinton still won the national popular vote by 2.85 million, and only lost because of Russian collusion with Trump that threw the Electoral College vote to him in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Even a Republican controlled Senate committee came to that conclusion, despite the continued lying and deception that continues unabated to the present.

But the present is the issue, and this author and blogger sincerely believes that while Joe Biden would win a second term, against Donald Trump or anyone else on the horizon, that for the future of the Presidency and of Joe Biden’s own lifespan, that he should announce that he will retire.

It would make him a “lameduck President”, but freed from politics of his own ego, he could be seen as a statesman, helping to bring the future of the nation toward a Democratic Party successor, who would pursue his principles, goals, and common decency and compassion!

We need a future President who has the character traits of Joe Biden, as we do not want to promote selfishness, greed, nastiness, and lack of compassion and common decency, which too many Republicans who plan to run for President, possess as their basic character traits!

This way, Joe Biden can leave office at age 82, with head held high, having accomplished a decent record under difficult circumstances, having assisted for his own succession. And he can have peace of mind, planning his own Presidential Library and Museum, writing his own memoirs, and enjoying his wife, Dr Jill Biden, and his family in a relaxed, well deserved retirement, which is likely to lead to a longer life, than having the stress of another four years in office!

He should not join the list of Presidents who either died in office or had very short retirements, such individuals as Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, and Lyndon B. Johnson!

So, President Biden, do what is best for you and for the nation you have served so well, and announce your decision to leave office two years from today, having insured the succession of a Democratic President who will carry on with your commitment to decency, fairness, and compassion!