Civil Rights

Another Florida Republican Presidential Contender Flops: Florida Is NOT America!

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The state of Florida may be the third largest state in population, but it is clear that despite the Republican Party domination of state government in the past generation, that its office holders have very little appeal nationally.

So in 2016, former Governor Jeb Bush and Senator Marco Rubio both flopped badly, and now Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, despite an early boost after his 59 percent victory in the gubernatorial election is 2022, is on the way to a total collapse in his campaign to stop Donald Trump from being the 2024 Republican Presidential nominee.

Even in Florida, DeSantis is way behind Trump in public opinion polls, and his extremist right wing agenda is not having any success on a national level.

Trump, himself, resides in Florida part of the year at Mar a Lago, but was really a New Yorker, and has never run for public office in Florida.

DeSantis’s mean spirited, nasty, narrow minded, and unlikeable personality is flopping badly, and law suits are in process to stop his hateful legislation toward women, African Americans, Gay and Transgender Floridians, undocumented immigrants, and his censorship in Education, and Health Care intervention in a dictatorial manner!

Clearly, Florida is NOT America!

247th Anniversary Of American Independence, And Nation’s Democracy Is Endangered!

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Today is the 247th Anniversary of American Independence, and with only three years until the Semiquincentennial of our nation’s history, American democracy is in great danger!

The threat that Donald Trump might return to the White House and promote revenge and fascist demagoguery is horrifying, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also presents a “clear and present danger” to our nation, with his attacks on the rights of women, racial minorities, gays and transgender people, and his promotion of an extremist Christianity and authoritarianism that represents great harm!

The Supreme Court is the most extreme in a century, taking away basic human rights that were extended by earlier Supreme Courts, but now effectively robbing Americans of rights they have worked so hard to attain!

Many state legislatures are undermining the right to vote, and interfering with education, health care, and at the same time expanding gun rights leading to mass murders with no regulations of who can have what firearms in their possession!

Just as Abraham Lincoln was in the right place at the right time in the 1860s; and Franklin D. Roosevelt in the right place at the right time in the 1930s and early 1940s; so is Joe Biden today’s equivalent of what is needed to preserve democracy!

The efforts must be made to assure that Biden can continue his good deeds after two and a half years in office, and overcome the many crises the nation faces, the most dangerous since the 1960s, and in many ways on the level of the 1860s and 1930s-1940s!

Associate Justice Clarence Thomas On Campaign To Take Away Indian Treaties!

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Native American rights and enforcement of treaties with the US government are, historically, a major problem.

Associate Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch has become a champion of such rights, but the Court overall has typically undermined the rights of indigenous peoples.

And now, Gorsuch’s colleague, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, is on a tear to strip native Americans of protections that they do have, a real oddity why Thomas is involved in a growing feud with Gorsuch and supporters of native American rights and treaties.

Thomas is clearly a mental case, out to destroy all amity and decency in his quest to undermine rights not only of women, native Americans, and even people of his own race, but also that of gays and transgender Americans.

Thomas has been on the Supreme Court for nearly 32 years, and it is long overdue for him to retire, particularly after the revelations of ethics violations with his accepting financial advantages from billionaire Harlan Crow.

If he stays on the Court until early 2028, approximately another five years, Thomas will surpass the longevity of the longest serving Supreme Court Justice, William O. Douglas. He is already the 12th longest serving member of the Supreme Court in American history!

Gerrrymandered State Legislatures–Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, Texas And Other Republican States!

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Gerrymandering of many state legislatures, particularly in “Red” states, has led to the movement to take away democracy.

This is particularly noted in Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, and Texas, as those state legislatures take unprecedented action to strip voting rights, abortion rights, gay rights, and to reject any regulation of guns, despite consistent, every day, occurrences of gun massacres!

The “red” states are the centers of greater carnage than in “blue” states, which are totally the opposite of the “red” states on the major issues of civil rights.

Many state legislatures have become the center of autocratic leadership, such as Ron DeSantis in Florida and Greg Abbott in Texas, but also including many other states!

Celebration Of Journalism At White House Correspondents’ Dinner!

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Last night, for the first time since 2016, the profession of journalism was celebrated at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington DC.

The years in between had included Donald Trump boycotting the event, and then the COVID 19 Pandemic made such events not possible for a few years.

President Joe Biden saluted the importance of the profession of journalism, which has been under vicious attacks by the extremist right wing Republican party elements, led by Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, and a multitude of other authoritarian leaders, with only a small percentage resisting such condemnation of the truth of events.

Journalism is what keeps a nation free and informed, and it is the job of journalism to expose facts, truth, reality, no matter what or who it exposes to the light of day!

Journalism and journalists are under constant attack, and in many nations, including the Russian Federation, Iran, mainland China, North Korea, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and a multitude of other nations that attack democracy, journalists are arrested, tortured, and murdered.

These journalists are true heroes, and America must not allow the forces of evil in this nation to destroy the First Amendment, and suppress the reality of the attack on women’s rights, civil rights, gay and lesbian rights, gun regulations, voting rights, education, environmental advancement, and so much more!

Donald Trump Raves About Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un, And Republicans Stay Silent!

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Former President Donald Trump is demonstrating yet again how dangerous and crazy he is, and yet the Republican Party acts prostrate toward him!

Trump went on Fox News Channel and was interviewed by Tucker Carlson, who we know has said he hates him, but still has him on his show, as the goal is, ever after, to make money for Carlson and Fox News Channel by allowing Trump to spew forth his authoritarian impulses!

Trump praised Communist dictators Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation, Xi Jinping of China, and Kim Jong Un of North Korea, lavishing them with glowing statements about how smart they are, and how brilliant they are, despite their well known record of human rights violations against their own populations, and threats to their neighbors.

And although one might say Putin is NOT a Communist, since the Russian Federation supposedly replaced the Soviet Union in December 1991, reality is that Putin WAS a Communist functionary in the Soviet KGB in the 1980s.

Imagine this, Communism was the enemy to decades of Republicans from the time of the Russian Revolution to the downfall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

It made the careers of innumerable Republicans, including the infamous Senator Joseph McCarthy, President Richard Nixon, and a massive number of others.

But along comes Trump, glorifying and praising these dangerous and unstable authoritarians, who could also be termed “Fascists” in their tactics, such as past horrors as Adolf Hitler of Germany, Benito Mussolini of Italy, Juan Peron of Argentina, and Francisco Franco of Spain in the 20th century.

The differences between “old line” Communists and modern Fascists are miniscule, and to have an American President praise such tyrants, and his party stays silent, is truly proof that the Republican Party and Fox News Channel are a danger to American freedom, security, and democracy!

How is it that Republicans have completely changed their perception of foreign enemies, and are engaged in similar tactics to undermine the civil rights and civil liberties of millions of Americans, who do not fit the image of white supremacy Christianity?

What has happened that the party of Lincoln, TR, Ike, and Reagan has reached this point?

A Salute To The Free Press And Committed Journalists!

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As the year 2022 goes into the history books, and 2023 brings its new challenges, it is time to applaud and salute the free press and committed journalists for pursuing truth and facts, and continuing the never ending battle for freedom and democracy in the United States and worldwide.

Those who attack the free press in America and elsewhere are enemies that must be challenged and confronted in every way possible, as it is the free press that promotes progress and shows us reality.

Evil is a force that is always present, but we must thank committed journalists, newspapers, periodicals, and cable and internet websites that continue to pursue the goal of expanding basic civil rights and humane outcomes in the midst of the constant barrage of mistruths, propaganda, and discrimination.

So whenever someone attacks the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, Politico, Huffington Post, and a multitude of other news media, they are attacking all decent people who simply want to live their lives wishing for the promotion of peace, tranquility, and the protection and betterman of human rights worldwide.

International Relations Becoming More Dominated By Authoritarian Leaders

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The world in 2022 is becoming more dominated by authoritarian leaders than any time since World War II, a sign of major challenges for President Joe Biden.

Already, the Russian Federation, China, North Korea, and Iran are constantly challenging America and its democracy.

But now, Saudi Arabia, under Mohamed bin Salman, in cooperation with Vladimir Putin, is cutting oil production, and creating an economic nightmare of higher oil prices, just as the Midterm Elections of 2022 come upon us in one month.

The Democrats already have problems with inflation and higher mortgage rates and this despicable action by Saudia Arabia, in lead with Putin, could very well undermine the push to protect American democracy in the upcoming elections, and prevent protection of abortion rights.

This will be a very difficult month, with growing sense that MAGA Republicans and Donald Trump could end up in control of government, and undermine, in league with an extremist right wing Supreme Court, many of the progressive
advancements in government and civil rights that have occurred in the years since the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson!

Right Wing And Republicans Gone Mad: The Threat To Destroy Modern Times!

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It is becoming very clear that right wing conservatism and Republicans have gone mad, as they wish to destroy modern times, and the advancements of the New Deal, Great Society, Warren Supreme Court, and promotion of change under Barack Obama and Joe Biden!

If they had their way, and it is becoming more likely, we would see women’s rights, civil rights of racial minorities, gay and lesbian rights, and privacy rights of the past generations being erased!

And corporate domination over workers’ rights would be worse, and agencies designed to make America a better place, such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, would be denied the ability to do their work, or even maybe be eradicated!

And the role of evangelical religion would grow ever more rapidly, despite the fact that the majority of the nation is far less religious over time than it has been in the past!

It is difficult to be optimistic about the future in a nation which has gone into reverse on so many issues, both within Congress and in the federal judiciary, due to appointments by former Republican Presidents, including George W. Bush and Donald Trump!

Supreme Court On Mission To Take Away Basic Civil Rights

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The most extremist Supreme Court since the late 1920s and early 1930s is on a misssion to take away basic civil rights!

Taking away a basic right for women to determine their own future regarding pregnancy is wiping away 50 years of reproductive freedom, and there are no exceptions for rape, incest, or life of the mother, absolute insanity!

And the fear is that the right to contraception for couples; the right for gay marriage; and even the acceptance of gay entitlement to privacy in their own lives–all are in question with this right wing extremist Supreme Court!

Some observers even wonder if the acceptance of interracial marriage might be under challenge.

This right wing radical attack on basic human rights must be faced and fought in every way possible!