Merrick Garland

Biden Justice Department Needs To Prosecute Traitors In Congress Who Promoted Insurrection!

Ronald Leave a comment

Once Merrick Garland is confirmed as Attorney General of the United States, which should happen next week, it is essential for the department to prosecute traitors in Congress who promoted insurrection on January 6, 2021, with emphasis on the “ring leaders”, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, along with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana.

In theory, all of the 139 House Republican members, about two thirds of the total Republican contingent in that chamber, and all 8 of the US Senators, who refused to authorize the election of Joe Biden even after the Capitol Insurrection, should be expelled and prosecuted, but the leaders of the Sedition are more likely to be pursued, as the instigators of the treason!

And the people around Donald Trump, including the former President, also need to be held accountable, so that this domestic terrorism is stopped dead in its tracks!

And every single American who stormed the Capitol and can be identified, needs to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law as well!

Merrick Garland The Right Person To Be Attorney General Of The United States!

Ronald Leave a comment

Merrick Garland is the right person to be Attorney General of the United States in these difficult times legally, due to the disaster of Donald Trump.

Denied a hearing for the Supreme Court in 2016, after his nomination by Barack Obama, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Republican Senate not willing even to meet with him for consideration for the position, Garland now comes on the scene and will do what is right regarding the many outrageous legal actions and maneuvers of the Trump Presidency, including the horrifying Capitol Insurrection on January 6, 2021.

After a long career of prosecutions, including the investigation and the prosecution of the Oklahoma City Bombers in 1995, and service as Chief Judge for the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit for 23 years, Garland will restore the good name of the Justice Department, and will remind us of morality and ethics in law enforcement.

Garland could end up as the most significant member of the Joe Biden Cabinet!

Criminals In The Republican Party: Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Kevin McCarthy And Others Need To Be Prosecuted!

Ronald Leave a comment

As the Second Donald Trump Impeachment Trial came to an end today, with only seven Republicans joining the Democrats for conviction, ten votes short of the two thirds vote required to convict, one thing is very clear!

The criminals in the Republican Party who promoted sedition and treason, and refused to accept the Electoral College votes, even after the Capitol Insurrection on January 6, 2021, need to be prosecuted by the Justice Department and Attorney General Merrick Garland, once he finally has his hearing to lead the Justice Department, and is confirmed.

It is clear that the Republican Party has delayed hearings for Garland, who already was mistreated in 2016, when his nomination to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court was prevented by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

It may well be the most difficult position in the Biden Cabinet to be Attorney General in the present political climate, but justice demands that the Justice Department pursue prosecution of Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the ring leaders in the promotion of Insurrection, but also six other Senators who joined them, as well as 139 House members, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California.

And while now Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was not part of the treason-sedition crowd, he should be condemned for failing to support the conviction of Donald Trump!

The Destructive Impact Of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Needs To End In Georgia Senate Runoffs!

Ronald 1 Comment

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is the most powerful Republican in Congress, having a leadership position for 18 years, as Senate Majority Whip from 2003-2007; Senate Minority Leader from 2007-2015, and Senate Majority Leader from 2015-2021, with his future as either Majority Leader or Minority Leader depending on the two Georgia Senate runoffs taking place next week.

McConnell has been much vilified for his obstructionism tactics under President Barack Obama, and his refusal to allow hearings for Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland in 2016. Also, he focused on adding over 200 judges to the federal judiciary, including three Supreme Court nominees, under President Donald Trump.

McConnell will be 79 in February 2021, nine months older than Joe Biden, and the two men have worked together over the years in the Senate and the Vice Presidency years of Biden, so it is hoped there might be some cooperation and bipartisanship, but one cannot count on that.

And the Georgia Senate runoff elections next week will decide the exact role of McConnell.

McConnell has the distinction of being the longest serving US Senator in Kentucky history; and the longest serving leader of Senate Republicans in US History, and now starting his seventh term.

So within the next few months, McConnell will go from being presently 23rd longest serving Senator in American history to being 16th longest, as seven Senators ahead of him include not only Joe Biden, but also others he will pass between January 3 and the end of March. And if he stays in the Senate until the end of his seventh term in January 2027, just less than two months short of age 85, he will have passed all but six Senators, or possibly seven, if Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa wins reelection in 2022 at the age of 89.

While in many ways McConnell is despicable and horrendous, his longevity is amazing, and he will go down in history as a major “player” in the history of the US Senate and the Republican Party!

The Hall Of Shame: Rudy Giuliani, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy Lead The Pack!

Ronald 1 Comment

The Republican Party has become a total embarrassment and disgrace, which will scar the memory of great Republicans of past generations.

Republicans are refusing to acknowledge the massive 7 million popular vote win of Joe Biden, as Donald Trump continues to act in an unpatriotic, uncooperative manner, including showing grace in defeat, inviting Joe and Jill Biden to the White House, and cooperating with the transition team on so many important matters, including the COVID 19 Pandemic and the National Security of the United States.

The Hall of Shame includes many, but leading the pack are the following:

Rudy Giuliani, once the much celebrated Mayor of New York City, who has made a fool and mockery of himself in his endless quest to destroy the victory of Joe Biden, and it is clear that Giuliani is seriously demented, mentally ill, and needs to retire from public life, although he also faces the danger of prosecution, that even a Presidential pardon may not totally exonerate him from a potential prison term.

Ted Cruz, who has humiliated by Donald Trump regarding his wife and father, and yet has become a total sycophant, and was willing to argue a case before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court until the Supreme Court yesterday rejected in one sentence any challenge to the results of the Presidential Election of 2020. This blogger and author has always found Cruz to be the most despicable possible would be President, and thought in 2016 that Cruz on paper was more dangerous than Donald Trump, and the recent escapades of Cruz just add to the total disgust felt about this disgrace!

Rand Paul, who also alarmed this blogger when he ran for President in 2016, advocating the preposterous libertarianism of his father, former Congressman Ron Paul, who is now retired, but has a horrid history of antisemitism and racism in his past, and his son, if anything, much worse, in his delusions. This includes his denunciation and regular attacks on Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is the true hero of the present Covid 19 Pandemic. This monster plans again, like Cruz, to seek the Presidency in 2024, and both of them are a cancer on the future of the Republican Party!

Mitch McConnell, who hopefully will NOT be Senate Majority Leader after the Georgia Special Senate Elections Runoff on January 5, as he has been the most destructive Senate Majority Leader in memory, going back to making clear his desire to make Barack Obama a one term President. He also denied Obama the right to the appointment of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in 2016; refused to have dignity and prevented a Supreme Court replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg with only weeks before the Presidential Election of 2020; and lacks respect for his former colleague, Joe Biden, in refusing even now to acknowledge that Biden will be inaugurated on January 20, 2021.

Kevin McCarthy, the Republican Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, from California, who has been a horrid leader of his party, making former Republican leaders Paul Ryan and John Boehner, look good by comparison, when both were obstructionists, and in the case of Ryan, like McCarthy, total sycophants to the evil of Donald Trump!

The Ten Most Disgraceful United States Senators In The 116th Congress

Ronald Leave a comment

The United States Senate is a great institution, which has had 1,984 members in its 232 year history since 1789.

It has had its heroes and champions, but also some of the worst demagogues and villains imaginable.

As we come up to the 2020 elections, this is a time to look at who this author and blogger considers to be the ten most disgraceful US Senators in the 116th Congress.

There will be disagreement on any such list, of course, but this author and blogger sees the top ten most disgraceful US Senators to be all Republicans, unconcerned about the COVID 19 Pandemic, the economic collapse in what is fast becoming the Second Great Depression, and the racial injustice that prevails in our society.

So here goes the list, with ranking of the level of evil being attempted below:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky—who has shown complete hypocrisy on the Supreme Court regarding Merrick Garland in 2016 and Amy Coney Barrett in 2020, and is someone who should be defeated for reelection in November, but in Kentucky it is hard to get people to understand the depth of his venality on so many matters and issues. Were he to lose next month, it would be a massive victory of major proportions!

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham of South Carolina—who has a much tougher challenge to reelection, and has gained the enmity of many people who see him as having totally abandoned any sense of ethics or morality regarding President Donald Trump, including allowing his former friendship with the late Senator John McCain to be thrown aside with abandon, since McCain’s passing in 2018.

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas—who this author and blogger thought in 2016 was more dangerous and terrifying than Donald Trump, and who remains a truly evil, dangerous, egocentric threat, and with plans to run for President in 2024.

Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas—also seen as certain to run for President in 2024, and perceived as particularly dangerous in his views and outlook on just about any major issue that arises.

Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin—who has been an outrage and totally corrupt and manipulative, and makes one wonder why his state chose him twice for the Senate in 2010 and 2016 over their exceptional Senator Russ Feingold.

Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri—who is the youngest Senator at present, having defeated Claire McCaskill in 2018, and with grand ambitions to run for President in 2024, with a very hard Right set of values that makes him totally terrifying to any sane person!

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky— who is a fake libertarian and total phony, but seems likely to run for President again in 2024, and one wonders why anyone would go to this privately licensed eye doctor, who is not accredited by national organizations which he has repudiated, and who expresses the weirdest ideas imaginable, not impressing anyone who has intelligence!

Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma—who is running for reelection at age 86, and rejects science and climate change, and if he survives, would be one of just a few who would be in office in their 90s, a horrific thought! Oklahoma can do better than this, but unlikely Inhofe will lose next month, sadly!

Senator Rick Scott of Florida—-a felon who got away with Medicare and Medicaid fraud, and was elected twice as Governor and now to the Senate by less than one percent of the vote each time, and who did great harm in the Sunshine State when Governor, and is often called “Lord Voldemort” of the Harry Potter series, as Scott resembles him in appearance, but without the smashed nose, lol!

Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee—the only woman in the group, but with a long held reputation as an extremely nasty, mean spirited Congresswoman, who sadly was elected to succeed Bob Corker, who was a reasonable conservative Republican and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, who turned against Donald Trump, and retired in 2018.

I welcome commentary and viewpoints on this list!

Hope That At Least Four Republican Senators Will Delay A Vote To Replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ronald 5 Comments

This is a very depressing time, and Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell are adding to it by the outrageous rapid move to promote a Supreme Court nominee to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg so quickly.

With only six weeks until the election, and with the normal period before the process for a Supreme Court nominee being about 75 days, what is the hurry to do this?

In 2016, the Republicans refused to consider a Supreme Court nominee for an entire year, rather than allow Barack Obama to put Merrick Garland on the Supreme Court!

The argument was that in the year of a Presidential election, no replacement for the Court should be considered.

If the Court could do with eight members for a year, then they can do with only 8 members until January, when the next inauguration takes place.

No one can argue that if Donald Trump were to win a second term, of course, he could pick a replacement.

But if Joe Biden win the election, then the new President should make the choice for a lifetime appointment of about 30 years.

A hopeful sign is that two women Republican Senators—Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine—have stated that the elected President in November should make the appointment, and that they do not support a rapid replacement before the election or after if Joe Biden wins in November.

Collins has been very disappointing in supporting the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, and she is in deep trouble in her Senate reelection campaign in Maine.

Murkowski does not have to face voters until 2022, and in the past, she won reelection to her seat against both a Republican and a Democrat in 2010, so she is more to be trusted than Collins.

But there is also Mitt Romney, who one would think is principled enough based on his opposition to Donald Trump, that he could be a third vote.

Four votes are needed, however, to stop a nominee from being confirmed for now, and Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Grassley of Iowa, has said in the past he is against a replacement in an election year, so maybe he will also oppose a quick action.

There is also speculations that Cory Gardner, in a tough race in Colorado, might wish to avoid voting on a nominee before the election.

There are also those Senators seen as more moderate conservatives, but none of them can be relied upon: Rob Portman of Ohio, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.

Of course, Mitch McConnell himself, and Lindsey Graham, both facing election in their states, had posed the same principle in 2016, but not now, so purely, both are hypocrites. One can hope that possibly their opponents will gain more funding and possibly defeat them, although the odds are long.

Then, there is Ted Cruz, a despicable piece of trash, who also said the same thing about election year appointments, but now is on a list of potential Supreme Court nominees, although Trump has said a woman will be selected next week!

All of the other Republicans running for reelection seem unlikely to show any principle, although Ben Sasse of Nebraska is one we could hope might do so, but seems unlikely to have the courage to take a stand.

So we may end up with a 6-3 Court, setting us back to the 19th century in so many ways, and if nothing else, it should encourage more than ever before for massive contributions to Democrats for the Senate and for Joe Biden nationally, as this nightmare of Donald Trump must come to an end in November!

Time For Mitch McConnell To Be Retired: A Detrimental Effect On The US Senate And The Nation

Ronald 4 Comments

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has been a disgraceful, reprehensible leader in the US Senate, and is coming up for reelection to what would be a seventh six year term in office, if he wins in November.

He will be 79 in February, meaning he would be in the Senate until age 85, a good argument for retiring him, but far from the best.

He is the longest serving Senate Republican leader in American history, and longest serving US Senator in Kentucky history. He has been Senate Republican leader for 14 years, the first eight as Minority Leader, and the last six as Majority Leader.

Starting off in the Senate as a pragmatist and comparative moderate, he has become a Far Right leader, undermining President Barack Obama at every imaginable turn, including denying him the Supreme Court appointment of Merrick Garland in 2016, on no legal or constitutional grounds.

He led the fight to undermine campaign finance reform, and his wife, Elaine Chao, has been involved in a conflict of interest in being Secretary of Transportation under President Donald Trump, linking McConnell to Trump’s policies and approach to power, with only an occasional effort to separate himself from Trump.

McConnell worked to undermine health care reform and banking reform under President Obama, and his goal, which failed, was to make Obama a one term President. McConnell has a tone of scandal and corruption constantly surrounding him, and has become very wealthy while in office through his connections with powerful financial interests.

Obstruction and constant use of the filibuster, as well as willingness to shut the government down numerous times and promote the US defaulting on its debt has been utilized regularly, creating a total confrontational attitude.

His major goal has been to fill the federal court system with extremist right wing conservatives, many who do not have adequate qualifications to have lifetime positions, and setting up future constitutional crises in the coming decades. He also has refused to promote election security for the upcoming Presidential election of 2020.

McConnell is an evil force, a nasty, hard line ideologue, and now faces a real challenge from the Democratic Senate nominee, as he has an extremely low public opinion rating in his home state of Kentucky. Amy McGrath has had a career as a Marine Fighter Pilot, and polls indicate a very close race, so let us hope McConnell is retired.

At the least, it seems likely if McConnell is reelected to a seventh term, that he might end up as Minority Leader, as expectations presently indicate the likelihood of a Democratic Senate after six years of Republican control.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Cancer Crisis Raises Alarm For Supreme Court Future

Ronald Leave a comment

Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been on the Court for 27 years, and is a true icon with millions of fans and supporters of her brilliant liberal perspective on legal matters.

But now, at age 87, she has suffered again a bout with cancer, having survived colon cancer in 1999, pancreatic cancer in 2009, lung cancer in 2018, and pancreatic cancer again in 2019. Now, she is diagnosed with liver cancer, so this is her fifth bout with cancer.

Ginsburg has proved to be a tough lady, doing great sessions with exercise over the past generation, and recovering from conditions most would not have survived.

She is still able to do her job, and is determined to remain, but now, there is fear she might not be able to continue, and could, god forbid, die in office or be forced to resign this fall, giving Donald Trump another appointment to the Court, which would shift it to the far right, a true disaster.

Since Barack Obama was not allowed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Republican Party to replace Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016, because it was an election year, by all rights, Trump should not be able to replace Ginsburg. Any appointment should be delayed to 2021. as it was delayed until 2017, when Neil Gorsuch took the Scalia seat, rather than Merrick Garland, the Barack Obama appointee to replace Scalia in 2016.

We must all pray that Ginsburg will, once again, fight and overcome this challenge, and remain on the Court until at least January 4, when the new Congress, hopefully with a Democratic Senate, begins, and the upcoming inauguration, hopefully, of Joe Biden to the Presidency, would occur on January 20, 2021.

Then, we will know that Ginsburg’s Court seat is safely in the hands of a liberal Justice, preserving the legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg!

An Inspiring Victory For Gay And Transgender Employment Rights, As John Roberts And Neil Gorsuch Come Through!

Ronald 2 Comments

In a year which has been so depressing in so many ways, a great and inspiring event occurred today, when the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to protect gay and transgender employment rights.

Chief Justice John Roberts (appointed by George W. Bush in 2005) and Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch (appointed by Donald Trump in 2017) voted with the four Democratic appointed Justices to bring about this victory.

A major rebuttal was issued to the decision by two of the three other Justices, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh, appointed by George W. Bush and Donald Trump, respectively.

The decision shows once again how unpredictable judges and Justices can be, as to have the two Justices appointed by both Bush and Trump split on this case.

This decision is a repudiation of the anti gay stand of Donald Trump, and one wonders whether other decisions in the next two weeks will also go against Trump.

Thank goodness that, while the Supreme Court is at times disappointing in its decisions, it also can be very surprising and advanced.

A lot of it has to do with Roberts, who clearly wants to have “his” Court have a good reputation in history, and has been helpful on some cases, including upholding the Affordable Care Act in 2013, and he likely will continue to uphold that law soon, in another challenge.

And the idea that Neil Gorsuch, who gained the position that Barack Obama appointed Merrick Garland to, and was not even given the chance for a hearing and a vote on the appointment, was also in the majority on this case, is a welcome sign of a pyrrhic victory for Donald Trump, in getting Gorsuch on the Court!