National Debt

Dire Threat Of War With Iran, As Donald Trump Displays Again His Reckless Side!

Ronald 8 Comments

Donald Trump ran for the Presidency in 2016 as a critic of the Iraq War and Afghanistan War under George W. Bush, and dragging on beyond Bush’s time in office.

Trump was clearly sounding like an isolationist, but now he is displaying an imperialist, aggressive foreign policy, totally opposite of what he professed ten years ago.

Trump has enjoyed showing his ability to bomb countries; invade and overthrow the leader of Venezuela; and side with dictators around the world.

Now, he is flirting dangerously with inciting war with Iran, even though his own military leadership is reported to be highly doubtful that such a military invasion would work out any better than it was with Iraq and Afghanistan.

For a person who evaded the draft based on “Bone Spurs”, he is acting a lot like Vladimir Putin of Russia.

And there seems to be no desire to have Congress play a role in such a military adventure, and therefore, to ignore the War Powers Act of 1973, which admittedly, has not been able to control Presidents when they decide to intervene overseas.

It will be interesting to see what Donald Trump says, or does not say, about Iran tonight in the State of the Union Address.

However, it seems clear that America is about to embark on a very reckless mission, not realizing that the size of the area and population of Iran, four times larger than Iraq, is a danger zone, and could escalate into a massive Middle East War with Arab nations drawn into it, as well as Israel.

America could end up involved in a morass that will last years, and while Iran is a problem with the potential for nuclear military development, it is seen by many as a “fool’s errand” to engage in what could be a long, drawn out war, with heavy casualties and major effects on the national debt over many years.

Growing Dangers For Donald Trump After Nine Months In Office!

Ronald 46 Comments

President Donald Trump claims he has had major successes in his first nine months of his second term.

The truth belies that.

The last two months saw another trillion dollars added to the National Debt, to an all time high of $38 trillion, the fastest increase in history.

The attempts of Trump to gain backing of Vladimir Putin to end the war against Ukraine has failed, and another planned summit is now off.

The Israeli hostages were freed, but very little progress on the so called “20 point plan” has occurred, despite intervention of Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who are spending time in the Middle East.

The government shutdown, now in its 23rd day, second longest ever, is beginning to have a deleterious effect, as government workers are not being paid, and SNAP (Food Stamp) benefits are about to end for milions of needy Americans, and Trump is showing no signs of concern about the effect on the American people of his refusal to negotiate with the Democrats.

Speaker Mike Johnson is making a horrendous reputation for himself, refusing to swear in a newly elected Congresswoman, in order to hold off dealing with the revelation of the Epstein files.

The lunatic Tariff policies of Trump has totally alienated Canada, which now says the relationship of long standing has been irreparably harmed, and will never be the same.

These are just a few of the horrendous developments going on as Donald Trump destroys the White House, and demands $230 million from taxpayers as compensation for the prosections and convictions he faced for the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection, which sadly failed to prevent his coming back to the White House in the Presidential Election Of 2024.

Are There Enough GOP Votes To Kill “Big And Beautiful Bill” Attack On Medicaid?

Ronald 19 Comments

It is still possible that a few Republican Senators and or Republican House members could kill the “Big and Beautiful Bill” of Donald Trump, and in the process, save Medicaid!

ALready, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul have made it clear that they will not support the legislation, Tillis because of the Medicaid cuts that would affect so many North Carolinians, and Paul, because he does not want to add trillions to the National Debt, already 36 Trillion!

But what about Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and Maine Senator Susan Collins, who have both expressed dismay at the Medicaid cuts, that would hurt so many of their constituents?

And also, similar thoughts have been expressed by Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, and also, to some extent, Kansas Senator Jerry Moran.

In the House of Representatives, with Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon deciding not to run again for his Omaha seat, and already seen as the most moderate, centrist Republican who might refuse to support such legislation, since his seat was won by Joe Biden in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024, there could be another vote.

California Congressman David Valadao has also spoken out against Medicaid cuts, and is one of two Republican Congressmen to have voted to impeach Donald Trump in the second impeachment effort following the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection.

Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie and Ohio Congressman Warren Davidson haver voted against the House bill already, and New York Congressman Nick LaLota, Maryland Congressman Andy Harris, and Texas Congressman Chip Roy all have different reservations.

Also, the members of the Republican House Freedom Caucus are not guaranteed in any sense to support the complicated legislation.

This horror of a bill will do such heavy damage to the American people at large, while the corporations and Billionaires will gain major tax cuts that will add many trillions to the national debt.

It is a repudiation of much of the mid 20th century “Great Society” of President Lyndon B. Johnson, a totally horrendous attack on common decency and compassion for those among us less fortunate!

Musk, Ramaswamy Want To Destroy Federal Programs, Must Be Prevented

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The unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), formed by Donald Trump, and headed by billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy has no government authority, but is insanely proposing cutting the federal budget by up to $2 trillion, or one third of the total government spending, purely insane in nature!

Rather than raise taxes on billionaires and millionaires, including Musk and Ramaswamy, as well as other less wealthy, but prosperous Americans, so that they pay their “fair share”, Donald Trump wants another massive trillions of dollars tax cut for the elite wealthy, similar to his massive tax cuts in 2017, and earlier ones under George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.

About one fourth of all of the national debt of America occurred under Donald Trump in his first term, and he is ready to add trillions to the national debt while cutting important programs.

Among those being targeted are:

Veterans Health Care
Drug Development and Opioid Addiction Treatment
State Department Funding
Housing Assistance
Justice Department Funding
Education Spending
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Health Care (Affordable Care Act, also known as Obama Care)
Federal Student Loan Program
International Security Programs
Head Start Program

Additionally, the goal is to cut the federal work force, get rid of talented and competent and experienced public servants, and hire lackeys who would do Donald Trump’s bidding, and in the process, promoting total chaos and anarchy in the federal government.

Also, some Republican members of Congress would love to get rid of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, programs adopted under Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson, and constantly the subject of attacks by right wing forces!

Democrats, while not the majority, must do whatever they can to prevent such outrageous actions, finding those Republicans in both houses who have principles and ethics, too few, but they are there!

This is a true existential crisis of massive proportions, and every effort imaginable must be waged to prevent such a disastrous set of circumstances that would destroy the federal government!

Our government cannot go back to “states rights”, which supposedly was resolved by the Civil War!

The Gilded Age was the late 19th century, and we cannot go back 150 years under any circumstances!

Disastrous Republican Leadership: Donald Trump, Mike Johnson, Tommy Tuberville!

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The Republican Party has become engaged in disaster on all levels, including:

Donald Trump, facing 91 felonies over four trials, ranting and raving like a totally unhinged maniac, but still the clear frontrunner for the Republican Presidential nomination, and calling the January 6 domestic terrorists who have been convicted of crimes as being “hostages”!

Mike Johnson, clearly an extremist right wing Christian who has clearly shown his inability to cooperate with Senate Republicans or the White House, and is standing in the way of aid to Ukraine, and wishing to make tax collection by the Internal Revenue Service even more difficult, so creating greater national debt!

Tommy Tuberville, Republican Senator from Alabama, who has singlehandedly prevented promotions of hundreds of military personnel and leadership, over his opposition to the abortion policies of the Pentagon, despite the undermining of the military readiness and preparedness of America’s defense forces, at a time of great danger and threats with the wars going on in the Middle East and in Ukraine!

Hooray! :) Jimmy Carter Reaches The Age Of 99, A Record Never To Be Broken! :)

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This is a day to celebrate as the 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) has reached the magic age of 99 today, despite being in hospice and rejecting medical treatment.

His wife, Rosalynn, is 96 and in early stages of dementia, but their 77 year marriage endures.

No one who is President will ever reach this major achievement of Carter, and one can be certain that assessments of his Presidency, often quite critical, will become more reflective and positive in the future, as Carter actually had a number of policies that have endured.

These include the Camp David Accords (the Israeli-Egyptian Treaty); the Panama Canal treaties; the promotion of human rights around the world; major initiatives on the environment, making Carter the greatest one term President on that issue, and number 3 overall in the assessment of environmental historians, only trailing Theodore Roosevelt and Richard Nixon; and the creation of three cabinet agencies in Health and Human Services and Education (dividing the Health, Education, and Welfare Department created under President Dwight D. Eisenhower); and the Department of Energy, created in the midst of the Oil Crisis of the late 1970s. He also added less to the national debt than any modern President.

Joe Biden was the first US Senator to endorse Jimmy Carter in 1976, when many thought Biden was crazy to do so, as no one saw Carter as a likely nominee of his party or President of the United States. The two men share many common traits.

And Carter has said his favorite President is Harry Truman, who like Carter and Biden, has often been underrated and underestimated.

One could say the three men—Carter, Biden, and Truman—are in many ways, the most decent Presidents since World War II.

And one more point: These three men have never been cited as those who have cheated on their wives, and their marriages endured without scandal!

Jimmy Carter also has been the true example of a “good Christian”, as he has practiced the decency and compassion promoted by Jesus Christ.

Carter is a wonderful, compassionate, decent human being, and there are very few Presidents who fit that description!

So as a nation, let us celebrate this great man–Jimmy Carter–the total opposite of the most crooked and horrendous President of the United States in its history–Donald Trump–who still poses a threat to American democracy as we near the 250th anniversary of American Independence in 2026!

A Generation Since The Iraq War, Which Was Another “Big Lie”, As The Presidential Election Of 2020!

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The Iraq War, which led to the downfall and death of Saddam Hussein, and the rise of Iranian influence over Iraq, was another “Big Lie”, based on false intelligence, and causing the death of an estimated 270,000 Iraqi civilians, and 4,600 US military personnel.

Just as Iraq was a “Big Lie”, so is the continued contention that the Presidential Election of 2020 was “stolen” by Joe Biden, and denied to Donald Trump!

The cost in the national debt due to the Iraq War was at least $2 trillion, and no WMD’s (Weapons of Mass Destruction) were found.

It is a permanent stain on President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and all of the leading figures around the Bush Presidency, with the indication that there was no concerted plan for an extended civil war that dragged on for eight long years, and undermined US policy in the Middle East.

This author and blogger recalls participating in a symposium early in 2003, and believing that such an intervention was based on false pretenses and a mistake, so what followed is seen as a major human tragedy of massive proportions.

President Biden And The State Of The Union Address: A Grand Slam Homerun!

Ronald 2 Comments

President Joe Biden hit a grand slam homerun last night in a magnificent State of the Union Address before a joint session of Congress, lasting more than an hour, and touching on all issues that needed to be addressed.

And the MAGA Republicans hurt themselves by their horrendous behavior and lack of respect for the President, including heckling and jeering, something Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy tried to prevent ahead of the gathering, but failed in his mission to do so.

The scene of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and other extremists misbehaving in a way that was totally inappropriate in this venue will be used by Democrats in the upcoming Congressional and Presidential campaigns of 2024!

Biden confronted the Republicans on the debt ceiling issue; on the danger to Social Security and Medicare; on immigration; on the issue of gun regulations and police abuses; on climate change; and so many other issues.

The Republicans were on the defensive and denied reality that they had caused one fourth of the entire national debt under Donald Trump, and had raised the debt ceiling three times, but now are being resistant on doing so this time!

Anyone who had doubts about Joe Biden’s ability to deal with complex issues saw a President highly energetic, giving a fantastic speech that put the Republicans on the defensive.

Biden is ready to take the case of his reelection to the nation, and he will, clearly, give the opposition “hell”, as Harry Truman did in the Presidential campaign of 1948!

Republican Party Will Follow Liz Truss Lead, And Cause Economic Crisis!

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British Prime Minister Liz Truss will go down in history as the shortest lasting government in British history, 45 days, and now, there is talk of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was a true disaster, and too much like Donald Trump, might come back to office.

The Conservative Party of Great Britain is in free fall, but they do not have to call for a new election for two years, so difficult times are ahead, whether or not Johnson returns to power!

But yet, the Republican Party in American politics seems ready to go down as the British equivalent of an economic disaster, if they gain control of either or both houses of Congress in the Midterm Elections of 2022!

Liz Truss tried to follow the old “supply side Economics” of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, copied by former President Ronald Reagan. The goal was to lower taxes on the wealthy, and cut social spending, and it hit the middle and lower classes in both Great Britain and America hard in the 1980s.

The national debt tripled in America, and there was lots of corruption in the Reagan Administration, but it is glorified by conservatives, who also loved when George W. Bush and Donald Trump gave even more massive tax cuts to the wealthy.

So if Kevin McCarthy and his ilk gain control, they will promote more tax cuts to the wealthy, while setting out to destroy the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans’ benefits.

So while there are troubles with inflation, if the American people vote in a Republican Congress, they will discover the disaster that Great Britain is now experiencing!

White House Chief Of Staff Ron Klain Summarizes Joe Biden’s Record In Office After 19 Months!

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White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain has summarized Joe Biden’s record in office after 19 months.

After a period of struggle and disappointment, now Joe Biden’s record is quite amazing for a President in office just a bit more than a year and a half, a truly transformational President!

As Klain describes it in an interview with POLITICO, Joe Biden “has delivered the largest economic recovery plan since Roosevelt.”(Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal)

Biden has brought into law “the largest infrastructure plan since Eisenhower.” (Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Interstate Highway System)

Biden has accomplished “the most judges confirmed since Kennedy.” (John F. Kennedy)

Biden has accomplished “the second largest health care bill since Johnson.” (Lyndon B. Johnson and Medicare) and (after Barack Obama and the Affordable Care Act)

Biden has “the largest climate change bill in history.” (since Jimmy Carter promoted need for change)

Also, we have seen the first gun control bill since Bill Clinton’s time. (Brady Bill legislation)

And Biden has placed the first African American woman on the Supreme Court (Ketanji Brown Jackson) (After Lyndon B. Johnson placed the first African American man on the Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall)

Additionally, as many observers have noted, we have seen 9.5 million jobs created; accomplished the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years; forced the rich and corporations to pay their fair share of taxes; lowered drug prices and general health care costs, including insulin costs for Medicare recipients; lowered the national debt; confirmed the most diverse set of judges to the federal bench; accomplished the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the American Rescue Plan to combat the COVID 19 Pandemic; canceled some student loan debt; and passed the CHIPS and Science Act, and the PACT Act to help sick veterans from our wars.

In foreign policy, Biden ended America’s longest war (Afghanistan), which Donald Trump had arranged to end actually three months earlier than Biden; strengthened NATO by adding Finland and Sweden; took out Al Qaeda’s top leader; and come to the defense of Ukraine against the Russian invasion.