Mitch McConnell

Senator Josh Hawley A Threat To American Democracy And Civil Order, And Must Be Repudiated!

Ronald 4 Comments

The New Year of 2021 is upon us, and now we face a dire threat from a young US Senator, Josh Hawley of Missouri, at present the youngest Senator at age 41, who defeated Democrat Claire McCaskill in 2018.

Hawley has made a major blunder in joining the Trumpite extremists, mostly Southerners, in the House of Representatives, who are plotting to undermine the normally placid counting of the Electoral College votes in a joint session of Congress on January 6.

Vice President Mike Pence is responsible for operating a peaceful, ceremonial and routine counting of the electoral vote, as has been done constantly by the sitting Vice President at the end of every Presidential term.

Hawley is a highly ambitious young man, who is plotting a Presidential run in 2024, but he is ready and willing to be a threat to American democracy and civil order, by challenging the obvious victory of Joe Biden for the Presidency.

He is joining the true whackos who are a disgrace to the Republican Party, out to promote an outgoing President who is authoritarian oriented, and has no concern for the American people, only about aggrandizement of his own power.

Hawley is destroying his future, and is proving how reckless he is, despite criticism from fellow Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Mitt Romney of Utah, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania!

Hawley should be repudiated by all who believe in the Constitution and rule of law, and should be drummed out of the Senate for his abuse of power, as one can sense, in a fashion, he is a new Joseph McCarthy in relation to running rampant on an autocratic bent for his own advancement!

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

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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!

Past Bipartisan Actions: Can This Happen Again As Joe Biden Hopes For, Or Is This A Mirage?

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In the past, despite political party conflict on beliefs and principles, we saw bipartisan actions and crossing party lines to accomplish major goals.

Here are four examples of such situations since World War II where a President of one party and a Congressional leader of the opposition party cooperated, and brought along other votes from their party to back the President of the opposition party.

When Democratic President Harry Truman was in office, and the Cold War with the Soviet Union was evolving, Truman was able to gain key Republican support from the Republican Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the 80th Congress, Senator Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan, for the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan in 1947-1948.

When Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower was in office, he was able to work cooperatively with the Democratic leaders of both houses of Congress from 1955-1961 on many matters. Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson, both from Texas, worked across the party lines in many situations, particularly on the first Civil Rights Acts (1957 and 1960) since Reconstruction after the Civil War.

When Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson was in office, he was able to gain support of Republican Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois on gaining necessary support on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Medicare passage in 1965.

When Republican President Ronald Reagan was in office, he was able to come to an agreement with Democratic Speaker of the House Thomas “Tip” O’Neill to protect Social Security long term by a bipartisan agreement in 1983.

Since the 1990s and the hardline partisanship of the Republican Party and then Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich in the Republican Revolution of 1994, we have seen unwillingness by that party to have any willingness to cross party lines, and his early efforts were also pursued by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell right up to the present!

So President Elect Joe Biden’s publicly expressed hopes for bipartisan actions in these disastrous times to be accomplished, is it a mirage? We shall find out soon!

Trump Condemns Republican Senate Leadership and Own Cabinet Officers On His Way To Oblivion!

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Donald Trump, down to less than a month to oblivion, as a defeated President, the first in nearly 30 years, is condemning Republican leadership in the Senate, presenting them with the issue of how to respond to his attacks.

He has attacked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Majority Whip John Thune, both of whom have accepted that Joe Biden is the President Elect,and is demonstrating that he is totally unstable as he storms around the Oval Office, bringing pressure on Vice President Mike Pence to prevent the accurate Electoral College vote in a joint session of Congress on January 6.

He has been critical of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and outgoing Attorney General William Barr for their recognition that Russia was involved in a cyber attack on American government institutions.

He seems ready to burn down everything and everyone around him, and is already involved in a disgraceful number of pardons to criminals who should be facing prosecution and incarceration for their crimes.

And now, at the eleventh hour, Trump is calling on Congress to modify the COVID 19 Relief Bill, raising the amount sent to American taxpayers from $600 to $2000 per individual, after spending months ignoring the matter completely, focusing only on the issue of his claim that he should win the election of 2020!

Trump Moves Toward Insanity In Last Month, And Has Supporters Ready To Destroy The Transition

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Donald Trump is moving toward insanity as the days tick down until he leave office on January 20, 2021.

He is lashing out at everyone imaginable in stormy, screaming matches in the Oval Office, including against White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Attorney General William Barr, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, White House Counsel Patrick Cipollone, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and even Vice President Mike Pence.

Those encouraging his insane, reckless behavior include a rag tag group of characters, including newly elected to the House of Representatives QAnon conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene, and wacko Congressmen, including Louie Gohmert of Texas, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Mo Brooks of Alabama, along with Senator Elect Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, and Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

The plan is to create a crisis on January 6, when Vice President Pence must have a joint session of Congress to open up 51 envelopes, and finish the process of the formal election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as President and Vice President, two weeks before the inauguration.

Ordinarily, it is a simple ceremony, but those listed above plan to challenge the final results, and a lot of attention and pressure is being brought against Pence in his last official, constitutional duty to do the electoral vote ceremony in a dignified manner.

It is not as if Vice Presidents have had to announce the defeat either of their own candidacy for President (Richard Nixon in 1961, Hubert Humphrey in 1969, Al Gore in 2001) or the defeat of their ticket for reelection (Walter Mondale in 1981, Dan Quayle in 1993), or the defeat of their party ticket not including them (Nelson Rockefeller in 1977, Dick Cheney in 2009, Joe Biden in 2017).

Extreme Threat Growing To Biden And Harris And Civil Order From Right Wing Trumpists Who Deny Election Results!

Ronald 4 Comments

With the Electoral College having met in the 50 states and Washington DC on Monday, the victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is done, but even though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and some other Republicans on Capitol Hill are coming around to acceptance that Joe Biden will be taking the oath of office on January 20, 2021, there is growing concern of an extreme threat to both Biden and Harris and to maintaining of civil order.

Right wing Trumpists present a growing threat to the nation, as there are those who have threatened to call for a coup, a declaration of martial law, suspension of the Constitution, and denial of the Bill of Rights as part of a plan to keep Donald Trump in office indefinitely as a tinhorn dictator, similar to Juan Peron of Argentina or Benito Mussolini of Fascist Italy.

The “Proud Boys” are a terrorist group supportive of and endorsed by Trump, and white supremacists, as those at Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, are a serious threat in Washington DC now, and on Inauguration Day and after!

If Donald Trump continues to deny reality and incites rebellion, he needs to be arrested and charged immediately upon leaving office, and tough measures against “secessionists” and “traitors” and “seditionists” need to be implemented!

We are not going to allow lawlessness and violence to be perpetrated by Donald Trump or any of his minions, who have no respect for the rule of law and the Constitution and Bill of Rights!

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

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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!

Two Georgia Senate Seats Crucial For Joe Biden Presidency

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The future of the Joe Biden Presidency will hang in the balance, based on the runoff races for the two Georgia Senate seats, to be held on Tuesday, January 5.

Both Republican incumbents, one elected (David Perdue), and one appointed (Kelly Loeffler) have ethics violations in their stock dealings in the early days of the COVID 19 Pandemic, and both are miserable wretches, corrupt to the core, and they do not truly represent the interests of Georgia!

Instead, we have the Reverend Raphael Warnock, the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta since 2005, the former home of Martin Luther King, Jr, running against Loeffler, and having been first in the November elections, but not having a majority of all votes in that election.

And we have Jon Ossoff, who would be the youngest Senator at 33 if he were to win the seat of David Perdue, who displayed antisemitic attitudes toward Ossoff, who is Jewish, and who also made fun of Kamala Harris’s first name, seen as a racist act.

If both seats are won by the Democratic candidates, the Senate will be 50-50 and Kamala Harris would organize the Senate, and make Chuck Schumer the Senate Majority Leader, instead of the despicable Mitch McConnell.

This will be very important for the Biden Presidency and its agenda, so lots of effort and funding is going into this massive commitment to try and win both seats!

Happy Birthday, President Elect Biden! A True Hero Of Courage, Principle, Decency, Sincerity As You Face The Greatest Crisis Since Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Today is the 78th Birthday of President Elect Joe Biden, a true hero of courage, principle, decency and sincerity.

Joe Biden needs all of our prayers as he faces the most difficult transition and multiple crises since Franklin D. Roosevelt 88 years ago.

With President Donald Trump refusing to concede and promote the transition, the nation is in a crisis far worse than after FDR defeated Herbert Hoover in 1932.

Those two Presidents did not get along, but even Hoover conceded while being bitter over his defeat. But Trump is preventing the General Services Administration head Emily Murphy from authorizing the release of funds and access to secret intelligence information that the President Elect needs to move forward as the inauguration takes place exactly two months from today, 61 days of stress and tension that should not be occurring.

Joe Biden is handling this mess very well, and is to be commended, and he is proving every day how stable he is mentally despite all of the critics who claim he shows signs of dementia, pure propaganda!

What is true is that the nastiness of Republicans of the same age bracket demonstrates how they, not Joe Biden, have signs of dementia, and this author and blogger is referring to Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Newt Gingrich, and Mitch McConnell in the forefront!

Their hatred and bigotry shows through, while Democrats who are in the same age bracket show total signs of capacity and decency just as much as Joe Biden, and this author and blogger is referring to such people as Nancy Pelosi, James Clyburn, Steny Hoyer, Bernie Sanders, and John Kerry!

“Socialism” And “Defund The Police” Killed Democratic House Numbers, Endangering Majority In 2022

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The Democratic Party needs to realize that if it goes too far to the Left, it will doom President Joe Biden’s efforts for success!

Unfortunately, the Congressional Elections of 2020 demonstrated that the nation is still very split on what is desirable to accomplish, as the Republican opposition and Donald Trump utilized fear of the word “Socialism”, as if Joe Biden and the Democrats are equivalent of Communist leaders in Cuba, China, the Russian Federation, and other left wing regimes, such as Venezuela and Nicaragua!

This shows total ignorance of the term “Socialism”, and the reality that America is a mixed Capitalist-Socialist nation, with the Socialist party of Eugene Debs and Norman Thomas in the first half of the 20th century contributing many ideas, which over time, were part of the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson, and many other progressive reform since then.

But it is clear that had Bernie Sanders somehow been the Democratic nominee for President, he would NOT have been able to win, as only a moderate centrist with a tip to the Left, as Joe Biden has been his whole life, could possibly have won back the Midwest states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, along with the Sun Belt states of Georgia and Arizona, and not lose any of the 20 states that Hillary Clinton won in 2016.

Also, while there have been too many outrageous examples of police abuse and brutality, and particularly against African American males and Latino males, and really even females, the answer is police reform and accountability, not “Defund the Police”, as they are still essential.

Sadly, the Senate only saw two Democrats elected (Mark Kelly, John Hickenlooper), while one (Doug Jones) was defeated, gaining only one seat, to 48, although Georgia creates an opportunity in its runoff election for the chance to have a 50-50 Senate, that Vice President Kamala Harris could organize as a Democratic Senate, with Chuck Schumer as Senate Majority Leader, instead of the horrible Mitch McConnell.

But there is danger of the House of Representatives, in a midterm election, going back to the Republicans, since they have gained at least 5-7 seats in the 117th Congress, and with the reality, that the party in the White House usually loses seats in the following midterm election.

The Senate will have, again, twice as many Republican seats up for election in 2022, but this scenario did not work out in 2020, so no assurance there either of retaining or gaining a Democratic Senate majority, which is so urgent to make Joe Biden a successful President!