Corporations

The Gilded Age Returns: Dominance Of Billionaires In Trump Cabinet!

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It is quite clear that the “Gilded Age” of the late 19th century is returning under Donald Trump, with more than a dozen billionaires being part of his cabinet and as advisers, including most notably, although unofficially, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

The agenda is clear, to have massive tax cuts that will mostly benefit the super rich, with small tax savings for the rest of the nation.

And corporations will, sadly, dominate political discourse, and the aim seems to be to weaken or destroy the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Therefore, the well being of every day Americans is coming under attack, with no regard for the damage that will be wrought.

It seems clear that many of the American voters who supported Donald Trump, out of ignorance and stupidity, will soon regret their decision, and realize that life will be more tough for them than they could have imagined.

It should lead to a reaction with the hope that Democrats will have the opportunity to regain control of the House of Representatives and the US Senate in 2026.

But a lot of the damage that will have been done will likely be very hard, if at all impossible, to reverse, particularly with an extremist right wing Supreme Court.

Project 2025: Final Conclusions On Danger Of Extremist Right Wing Agenda!

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This author and blogger has spent a week describing the organization, the Heritage Foundation, and its threatening leader, Kevin Roberts.

There is so much that needs to be written about Project 2025, but I will summarize for now the major ideas and points, with the possibility that in the future weeks and months, the subject of this threat to American democracy, the Constitution, and rule of law will be addressed further.

Project 2025 presents a threat to the nation in so many ways:

The possibility of a dictatorship, with dangerous followers and believers in Donald Trump, imposing their will on the American people, and destroying the nation as we come upon its 250th anniversary in 2026.

The destruction of the federal government and its agencies and departments, ending the civil service bureaucracy created under the Pendleton Act of 1883.

The threat to America’s position in world affairs, with the possibility of the destruction of our foreign alliances, and instead, collaboration with authoritarian dictatorships, based upon the Communist model, despite Trump claiming the Democrats are “Communists, Socialists”!

The destruction of the environment, as climate change and global warming becomes more of a crisis every year, undermining the health and safety of millions of Americans, mostly those who are poor and deprived.

The clear racism and antisemitism and misogyny that Project 2025 promotes, in the name of white Christian nationalism and supremacy, in a nation founded on separation of church and state.

The threat of military and police control, taking away the civil liberties of the Bill of Rights and the Civil Rights Era under Chief Justice Earl Warren and the Supreme Court in the 1950s and 1960s.

The destruction of the American economy, with the continuing dominance of corporations and billionaires, and the subjugation of workers and unions, all in the name of unbridled capitalism, as existed in the Gilded Age of the late 19th century in America.

The undermining of public education, instead promoting propaganda and mistruths about history, science, literature, and other areas of the curriculum, all part of a plan to control the minds of the future generations to accept the goals of those who wish to control them in an authoritarian matter long term!

The arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment of political critics and destruction of a free press, and expanding a judiciary that promotes a right wing agenda long term!

These threats must be met by resolve to prevent this extremism from gaining power, and destroying the American nation!

College Campuses And The Israel-Hamas War

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The Israel-Hamas War in the Gaza Strip in the past seven months has led to the deaths of more than 34,000 Palestinians, including approximately two thirds being women and children.

It has become the biggest controversy on college campuses in many decades, and has led to massive demonstrations and occupations of many campuses by protesters, and by outside agitators not connected to the universities.

The ugly situation has many tones of antisemitism, endangering Jewish students, advocating violence, and calling for destruction of Israel.

Freedom of speech and the right to protest are basic constitutional rights, but it does not include the right to interfere with normal operation of educational institutions.

One can disagree with the strategy and tactics of the Israeli government, and yet also understand that a nation has the right to exist and to defend itself after the horrific massacre of about 1,200 people on October 7, 2023 by the extremist Hamas terrorist group.

One can also condemn right wing MAGA Republicans, led by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, Ohio Senator J D Vance, and other extremists, who want to employ military force to end the protests.

It is also disturbing that college students often have little knowledge and information, as they rely on social media, rather than established news sources, for their view of the world.

Colleges are supposed to be places for debates, education, empathy, and understanding, not for occupation and calls for genocide against an entire nation and people. To allow a small percentage of students and outside agitators to shut down a campus and threaten those who are opposed to their tactics is reprehensible.

These disturbances on college campuses are undermining the future of universities in the public mind, as extremism, violence, and occupation by many students and outsiders endanger public support for higher education.

It is also making more likely that many commencement ceremonies around the nation will be canceled, and this for students, who in many cases, did not have a high school graduation ceremony due to the COVID 19 Pandemic in the Spring of 2020.

Many of these demonstrators are destroying their education, as many will be suspended or expelled, will face possible criminal charges, and many corporations will be unwilling to hire people involved in civil disobedience without any conclusion.

Young people have a right to their beliefs, but not to stop the operations of universities, as many of these individuals will regret long term their youthful emotions that will not be good for their long term futures.

Every effort must be utilized to end the Israel-Hamas War and to free the remaining hostages, and Joe Biden has a major challenge ahead of him to convince Benjamin Netanyahu to change his strategy that has endangered the international community’s view of the conflict.

This issue could affect the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August, bringing back memories of the disastrous Chicago Democratic convention in 1968, that led to the defeat of Hubert Humphrey and the Presidency of Richard Nixon.

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

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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!

The Supreme Court Has Lost All Dignity, Respect, And Legitimacy, And The John Roberts Led Court Will Face Historic Repudiation!

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The Supreme Court of the United States was created in 1789 to judge the constitutionality of all laws and actions, and promote the rule of law.

In recent decades, it has become a weapon of right wing extremism, and has lost all dignity, respect, and legitimacy, and is in the worst constitutional crisis in a century!

The conservative movement to promote an extremist Court will cause a repudiation in history, as they have done great damage in the past generation in such cases as Bush V Gore in 2000 (interfering in the Presidential Election of that year); Citizens United in 2011 (that allowed corporations to be considered people); Shelby County V. Holder in 2013 (gutting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965); and now are almost certain to do in the abortion case before the Court (Dobbs V Jackson Women’s Health Organization).

Never has the Supreme Court taken away a right once granted, as in the case of Roe V Wade, alloing abortions in the first two trimesters of a pregnancy, and including the factors of rape, incest, and the life of the mother.

It is unseemly, and reprehensible, that women are being informed that religious fanatics can interfere with their personal rights to control their own bodies, and it will lead to many self mutilations and suicides by women desperate to end an unwanted pregnancy, often brought about by violence perpetrated by men!

The Chief Justice, John Roberts, will see his reputation as the 17th person to hold that position, sullied and repudiated in history, if he cannot convince at least one other conservative Justice to join him and the three Democratic appointments to uphold Roe V Wade!

The move to add membership to the Court, and promote term limits in the future, will be encouraged to occur, as the Supreme Court has lost whatever halo it has had over the past generations!

Democrats Need To Go On The Offensive, Play Hardball, If They Are To Keep Control In Congress In 2022!

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The Democratic Party has a history of staying cordial, pleasant, and being unwilling to go on the offensive and play hardball.

The Republican Party, historically, and conservatives in general, are always on the offensive, play nasty and dirty, and love to stir emotions of fear and scare as regular tactics.

This was true even before the age of Donald Trump, using the words “Socialism”, “Communism”, “Liberalism”, and “Progressivism” as code words to keep uneducated and ill informed voters to support a party that only truly cares about corporations and the wealthy, and is excellent as “pulling the wool over one’s eyes”, about what is truth, facts, and reality.

From the age of Joseph McCarthy, through Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and on to Donald Trump, their strategy and tactics have been to manipulate and deceive Americans to think they are the true party of the average Americans, which is furthest from reality.

So Democrats must become more aggressive, and go on the attack, not just against Donald Trump, but the Republican Party as a whole, as a threat to American democracy and the rule of law.

And they must emphasize the details of what they are doing with their “Build Back Better” agenda, the most advanced programs since the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson.

The “Build Back Better” programs will have a dramatic effect on everyday life for tens of millions of Americans, long overdue to make the lives of average Americans along the lines of other Western democracies in Europe, Canada, and Australia!

Twenty Years Since September 11, And The Terrorists Won! We Have A Divided America Worse Than The 1960s!

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It has now been a full generation since September 11, 2001!

Sadly, the terrorists won!

We have a more divided America now than we had in the 1960s!

There is no sense of unity, and one of the two political parties, the Republican Party, is a shell of itself, totally contradicting the heritage of the party, and now a full blown Fascist Party, which has no concern about public health, public safety, or common decency!

It is nearly impossible to accomplish any great goals, as occurred with the “Great Society” in the 1960s, as the Republicans are nihilists, libertarians, who do not care at all about anyone other than themselves. Their wealthy benefactors only care about keeping taxes low, not dealing with the many social and economic problems of a society which is becoming more inequitable every year.

The Supreme Court is the most extreme it has been since the 1920s, and is losing public respect, and there is no sense of humanity, empathy, compassion in the public sphere by close to half of the Congress, only out to promote cruelty and suffering of the masses of Americans.

So the terrorists won. and only the corporations and wealthy have benefited, and this portends future conflict that could escalate the terrible divisions now so evident in America!

Republicans Are A Dinosaur, Only Representing White Rural Areas, Wealthy, Bigots, In Nation Rapidly Changing

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The Republican Party has become a shell of its old self, and is no longer truly representative of conservative ideology.

It no longer is concerned about deficits and increase in the national debt, except when the Democratic opposition is in power.

It no longer concerned about national defense, as many of its present officeholders have attacked the military leadership for standing up to insurrectionists who attacked the US Capitol on January 6, including General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff being criticized by the likes of Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida, and Fox News Channel talk show hosts.

It is no longer concerned about truth and facts, as it attacks science knowledge and historical knowledge, and is unconcerned about global warming and climate change.

It is no longer concerned about racial equality and fairness, part of its founding principles under Abraham Lincoln.

It no longer appeals to millions of African Americans, Hispanic-Latino Americans, college educated suburbanites, urban areas, the middle class, women voters, and the younger generation.

They are more concerned about rural areas, where most people are whites, but can wield power due to gerrymandering, and the ability to control the Electoral College and the US Senate, where democracy has been under attack, and favors fewer voters nationally.

They are more concerned about representing those who hate immigrants, and people of color, and want to control women’s reproductive choices.

They are appealing to the extremely wealthy and powerful corporations, while working to undermine workers’ rights and labor unions.

They want to promote mind control and dictate to educators how science and history are taught.

They represent a dwindling white population stirred to fear by bigots in the Republican Party, who wish to resist the rapidly changing population which in 2045, will be a majority minority, with people of color together being the majority, and particularly so with people with Hispanic-Latino heritage.

Corporations And The Republican Party: Double Standard On Freedom Of Speech

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Republican Party in Congress and the states loves getting financial support from corporations, and loves that the Supreme Court in 2013 said corporations are people in Shelby County V Holder, which did great harm to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

But now, when corporations, including Major League Baseball and Delta Airlines and Coca Cola take a stand against Georgia putting barriers in the way of the right to vote, because the Republicans lost Georgia in the Presidential Election of 2020 and both Georgia Senate Seats, Republicans no longer believe in freedom of speech for corporations, and want to punish corporations that support voting rights.

So the Republican Party has a double standard on freedom of speech, and exude hypocrisy, so what else is new in Republican Party politics?

The Most Lasting And Destructive Impact Of Donald Trump: 157 Federal Judicial Confirmations For Life Term!

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After nearly three years of President Donald Trump, the realization is that the most lasting and destructive impact he has had is the reality that he has seen 157 Federal Judicial confirmations to life terms on the federal courts, including two Supreme Court Justices.

This is due to the efforts of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has made it his mission to make the federal courts as right wing extremist as possible for the next two generations.

That is about a little less than twenty percent of the total number of federal judges, now standing at 870.

Many of these confirmed judges are incompetent, inexperienced, and unqualified for lifetime appointments, but the nation is stuck with them.

These judges will promote the right wing agenda, including favoring corporations, the wealthy, and religious extremists, and working against women, racial and ethnic minorities, the disabled, the poor, and gays and lesbians.

They will also promote more Presidential powers, and undermine the environment, labor interests, and consumers.

This will become more and more a never ending constitutional crisis as the nation becomes a majority non white in 25 years, and as Democrats gain the edge in future elections with reapportionment of seats, likely winning the Presidency once Texas goes Democratic, but having a Supreme Court and other federal courts more conservative than ever since the Gilded Age and the 1920s, and holding back progress and reform.

This reality may lead to a move to add members to the Supreme Court once the Democrats gain control of the US Senate. It does not bode well for the future of constitutional government in the next 20-40 years.