South Dakota

“Red” Rural States To Suffer Most From Increases In Health Care Premiums!

Ronald 2 Comments

The Democratic Party in Congress has refused to sign off on the continuing resolution, leading to a federal government shutdown, due to the reality of the horrendous effect that the cutting of federal subsidies for the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and Medicaid will have on millions of Americans, mostly poor or lower middle class, and most heavily in rural states that are “Red” states.

The Southern States and rural Midwest and Western States, that are strongly Republican in voting patterns, will be harmed the most.

While racial minorities will be greatly affected, so will white rural Americans who voted for Donald Trump in 2024.

This includes states such as Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, and Wyoming.

The Republican Party, by its refusal to move to restore health care subsidies, is undermining its own electoral future!

Preposterous Idea: Nobel Peace Prize For Trump, Or Addition To Mount Rushmore!

Ronald 51 Comments

Donald Trump, and those who support him without any qualms, are promoting preposterous ideas, that indicate total delusion.

The idea of a Nobel Peace Prize for Trump is hilarious, as he has no credentials to win such an award, and it seems clear that the Nobel Committee will not consider giving an authoritarian who is Fascist and mentally deranged, such an award.

The fact that Trump is also a convicted felon, and was impeached twice, and has had multiple bankruptcies, and have lied so often that he has no idea of truth, only adds to the craziness of the concept of a Nobel Peace Prize.

Also, the idea of Trump being added to Mount Rushmore National Monument in South Dakota, is immediately a joke.

Of course, then South Dakota Governor, and current Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, was the loon who came up with that idea, which led to her gaining a position in the Trump Administration as close to the worst single appointment of a long list of many. Noem is a danger in her position, and an embarrassment to the idea of women in government!

For one thing, no one can be added to that monument, without creating damage to the tenuous condition of that site.

But also, if there were to be the equivalent of a second Mount Rushmore being created somewhere else on American soil, Trump would not be on the list to be considered.

Instead, the likelihood would be a combination of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman or Lyndon B. Johnson, Ronald Reagan, and Barack Obama!

Reagan would be the Republican to add, not Trump!

This is silly season, overall, with the craziness of the Nobel Peace Prize and Mount Rushmore being bandied about as proper awards for Trump, and it will never happen!

Abortion Crucial Issue In Determining Future Of American Politics

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Ever since Roe V Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in the Dobbs V Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in June 2022, it has become the crucial issue to millions of American women and the men who support their right to reproductive freedom.

So far, since then, seven states have protected Abortion Rights, including Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, Michigan, California and Vermont in 2022, and Ohio in 2023.

Ten states have abortion ballot measures that will be facing voters in November 2024–including Arizona, Maryland, Missouri, Montana (expansion beyond 2022 vote), Nebraska, Nevada, New York, and South Dakota, all of whom have a 50 percent threshold; and Colorado with a 55 percent threshold, and Florida with a 60 percent threshold.

The Florida ballot question will be the most difficult to accomplish, but both that state and Arizona, along with Maryland and Nevada, will be tied to Senate races that will be crucial for Democrats, who, hopefully, will keep control of the US Senate.

Eight To Eleven States To Vote On Abortion Rights In November Election

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Donald Trump has made the claim that abortion rights will not be a major issue in the Presidential Election of 2024.

The reality is otherwise, as already, since the Dobbs V. Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision of June 2022 reversed Roe V Wade, six states have insured abortion rights–California, Michigan, Ohio, Vermont, Kentucky, and Kansas.

And now, eight states will have the issue of abortion rights on the ballot in November, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, New York, and South Dakota.

Additionally three other states are in process of trying to put it on the ballot—Arkansas, Montana and Nebraska.

So it could be that 11 states will join the 6 earlier that have moved to allow abortion rights, negating the Dobbs decision.

The first 6 states were evenly divided politically, with California, Michigan, and Vermont being Democratic, and Ohio, Kentucky, and Kansas being Republican states.

The eight states that have definite votes in November are 5 Democratic leaning states—Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Nevada, and New York—and 3 leaning Republican—Florida, Missouri, and South Dakota.

And the other three states in process all tend to be Republican—Arkansas, Montana, and Nebraska.

So if one adds up these 17 states, there are 8 Democratic leaning states and 9 Republican leaning states.

This is all a very interesting situation in the battle for reproductive rights for women!

Donald Trump Bragging About Ending Abortion Rights Will Cause His And Republicans’ Downfall!

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Donald Trump undermined his own candidacy when he went on Fox News Channel at the same time that his rivals, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor and United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, were debating on CNN.

Trump bragged about ending Roe V Wade, abortion rights, which had existed for a half century, and that reality has already hurt Republicans in seven states—Ohio, California, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Vermont, and Kansas, with all but California and Vermont being Republican or contestable states in the Presidential Election of 2024.

The following states are having battles over putting abortion access on the ballot, with abortion rights advocates hoping they will have enough signatures to insure it is on the ballot with the Presidential and Congressional Elections coming up in November 2024.

Arizona
Colorado
Florida
Iowa
Maryland
Missouri
Nebraska
Nevada
New York
Pennsylvania
South Dakota
Washington

Some of the above states already still allow abortion access, but want to put it on the ballot to insure the future right.

The majority of women, racial minorities, educated people, and young voters will have success in restoring the rights of women over their own bodies, as there is no concern about the lives of prengant women who are endangered by their medical conditions while pregnant.

This is causing the deaths of women, and some surviving, but no longer able to have children due to dictatorial state governments interfering with the right to choose their reproductive lives!

America Is In A New “Gilded Age” Of Obscene Wealth And Monopoly Capitalism: Reform Is Essential!

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At the beginning of the 20th century, America escaped the Gilded Age period of obscene wealth and monopoly capitalism, under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Robert LaFollette Sr., George Norris, and others who promoted the Progressive Era.

The Progressive Era was far from perfect, but it gave hope of escaping the worst elements of the GIlded Age in the last third of the 19th century.

We have had ups and downs since the Progressive Era, the New Deal, the New Frontier, and Great Society, particularly with the triumph of conservatism under Ronald Reagan and the two Presidents Bush, and then made ever worse by Donald Trump.

But now, the news of billionaires having arrangements to keep their wealth from being taxed by overseas havens and even South Dakota allowing such reprehensible tactics is highly disturbing. This, along with the clear cut monopoly of Facebook promoting division, conflict, polarization, and affecting even young girls’ self image due to the toxic Instagram social media site, cries out for strong movement toward another “Progressive Era”.

The idea that concentration of wealth and power rivals and is clearly greater than the time of John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J P Morgan, and other monopolists of the late 19th and early 20th century is totally outrageous!

But is it possible in a nation with a 50-50 US Senate and a six vote margin in the House of Representatives to accomplish necessary reform?

This present, disturbing situation is a massive crisis of American democracy, with the threat of Donald Trump possibly regaining power, and destroying any possibility of reform!

The 2020 US Census Has Surprises, As Announced Today

Ronald 1 Comment

It is ironic that this author wrote about the 2020 Census yesterday, not aware that precise information would be given out today, Monday.

And there are a few surprises.

The total population of the US is over 331 million people, up from about 309 million in 2010.

Texas will gain only two seats, not three, and Florida will gain one seat, not two.

Colorado, North Carolina, Oregon and Montana will gain one seat each.

Arizona, thought to be likely to gain a seat, will not do so.

New York loses one seat, but only because of a shortage of population by the small total of 89 people!

Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, California, and West Virginia will lose one seat for each state, with California losing representation for the first time ever!

Minnesota and Rhode Island, expected to lose one seat each, avoided such a loss.

So now, with Montana gaining a seat, there will only be 6 states with one statewide House member—Alaska, Delaware, Vermont, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

This is the second slowest population growth in US history, after the 1930s.

And the trend of the South and West gaining at the expense of the Northeast and Midwest continues as it has for many decades.

When Census Figures Come Out Later This Year, It Will Affect Multiple States

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The 2020 Census figures will come out in a few months, and will affect multiple states in Congressional representation in 2022 and beyond, as well as the Electoral College.

A number of the larger populated states will continue to lose representation and electoral votes, as they have faced for several decades.

This includes New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan, but also California is likely to lose a Congressional seat and an electoral vote for the first time ever in America history. Also, West Virginia, Rhode Island and Minnesota are likely to lose a seat and an electoral vote.

The states which will gain include Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Montana, with Texas and Florida gaining the most.

Montana will move from one statewide House seat to two, while Rhode Island will move from two seats to one, so Rhode Island will join Vermont, Delaware, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming as the seven states that have only one House member for each state.

Eleven State Governors Ignoring Need For Shutdown To Combat CoronaVirus Pandemic!

Ronald 4 Comments

Eleven state governors, all Republicans, are ignoring the CoronaVirus Pandemic, and refusing to shutdown their states to combat the threat!

Alabama

Arkansas

Iowa

Missouri

Nebraska

North Dakota

Oklahoma

South Carolina

South Dakota

Utah

Wyoming

At the same time, other Republican states held off, delayed doing so, including

Georgia

Florida

Mississippi

Texas

The delay on the part of Georgia, Florida and Texas, all large populated states, is particularly reckless, but even smaller populated states, by not cooperating, insures a higher level of infection, and more deaths.

All of these governors have failed in their responsibility to protect their population, the most urgent job they have.

By all rights, all of these states’ governors should resign in shame, including the ones that delayed to just today!

One other point to make is that many of these states are mostly small in population, much more rural, and are concentrated in the South and Great Plains and Mountain West, all states known for being much more backward in their concern for their citizens!

2018–The Year Of The Women Taking Over American Government

Ronald 5 Comments

Hillary Clinton may have lost the Electoral College to Donald Trump on the way to a massive popular vote margin of 2.85 million popular votes in 2016.

Now, two years later, it is clear that women have reacted against Donald Trump, and the Republican Party faces doom unless they repudiate his misogyny rapidly.

The gender gap in voting between men and women is dramatic, has widened, and will affect society in the short run and the long run.

There will be more women in the 116th Congress, with at least 122 women, and about 80 percent of them being Democrats.

States that never had a woman Senator will have them, including Tennessee, Arizona, and Nevada.

There are going to be more women of color, including more African American women, Latino women, Asian American women, Native American women, Muslim women, Hindu women, as well as gay women and younger women in Congress.

There will be nine or ten women governors, up from six, including in Michigan, Kansas, South Dakota, and if a miracle occurs in Georgia, Stacey Abrams, a race not yet decided.

And we are about to see the likelihood of four women Senators announcing for President in the coming months on the Democratic side—Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.