Terrorism

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!

Foreign Policy Rears Its Ugly Head After Four Months Of The Joe Biden Presidency

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Four months into the Joe Biden Presidency, foreign policy is rearing its ugly head in so many ways.

We have China claiming exclusive rights to much of the South China Sea, and creating naval issues with the United States and other nations that have territories in the Pacific.

We have Russia under Vladimir Putin being belligerent in so many ways, including claiming sole rights to much of the Arctic as climate change leads to melting of much of the ice in that region, opening up new potential for commerce and naval expansion, and being challenged by the US and other nations.

We have North Korea still engaged in nuclear testing and remaining a threat to South Korea and other Asian neighbors.

We have Iran remaining a threat in the Middle East, and the issue of trying to stop Iranian nuclear development.

We have the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which led to an 11 day war, and growing antisemitism around the world, and domestically in America.

We have the growing threat of authoritarianism spreading around the world in so many nations and regions.

We have the continuing global threat of climate change, and also of terrorism.

While the challenges are massive, Joe Biden came into the White House with the most foreign policy expertise since George H. W. Bush and Richard Nixon, so the nation is in good hands for these foreign policy challenges!

A Very Emotional Time With Many Thoughts Which Will Require Time To Process

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The last 48 hours have been the most emotional roller coaster imaginable!

It began with great excitement as Georgia saw the victory of both Democratic Senate candidates, the Reverent Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff, marking the first African American Senator from a Deep South state since Reconstruction, and the first Jewish Senator in the history of the state.

It also meant that the Democrats would control the US Senate under new Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and that Joe Biden would be able to have more success with a Congress controlled by his party, even if paper thin control.

But then, we had the first attack on the US Capitol Building, the home of Congress, since the British attacked on August 24, 1814 during the War of 1812, and done by a right wing Fascist terrorist, insurrectionist group of Donald Trump supporters, and egged on by Trump himself, as well as his son, Donald Trump, Jr. and Rudy Giuliani, former NYC Mayor. These three men are guilty of treason and sedition and need to be held accountable!

The Capitol was defiled, and our national security was in danger, and it caused America to be ridiculed in the eyes of the world, which have seen America as the image of democracy being threatened by an egomaniac who wanted absolute power!

So even though at this writing, there are only 13 days to the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the push is on to impeach and remove the President, a second attempt, or to invoke the 25th Amendment, with great pressure being brought on Vice President Mike Pence by Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to prod the Trump Cabinet to join him in taking the Presidency away from Trump, and giving the authority for the remaining days of this term to Mike Pence.

There will be much need to process these events, as the nation and its future remain at risk, as this author and blogger publishes this entry!

Donald Trump Obsesses On An Election He Lost, And Endangers America On COVID 19 And National Security

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Donald Trump is wasting his last two plus months in office obsessing on an election he lost, undermining faith in American democracy at a time of America being endangered by the COVID 19 Pandemic, which he refuses to relate to, or care about the massive loss of life, now 250,000 men, women, and children after only 8 months.

Trump is also a danger to national security, with his reckless plan to attack Iran, and withdraw troops precipitously from Iraq and Afghanistan, undermining the fight against terrorism worldwide, and angering even many Republicans.

It has made this transition the most dangerous and tense since 1932-1933 (Franklin D. Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover), and 1860-1861 (Abraham Lincoln and James Buchanan).

Joe Biden faces a series of crises even greater than Barack Obama faced after his election in 2008.

Donald Trump Is A Traitor To America, And Promoting Terrorism By White Nationalists And White Supremacists!

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It is not a pleasure for this blogger and author to write that President Donald Trump is a traitor to America, having worked with the Russians in 2016 to defeat Hillary Clinton, as made clear in the Mueller Report in 2019, and the Republican controlled Senate Intelligence Committee Report a month ago! So he is as much of a traitor, if not more, than Benedict Arnold during the American Revolution, and some are already calling him “Benedict Donald”!

But also, Donald Trump is a terrorist, inciting and promoting attacks by white nationalists and white supremacists, with such despicable followers of those philosophies murdering people in Kenosha, Wisconsin and Portland, Oregon just in the past few days, and Trump today defending the young man who came across state lines, driven by his mother, and killing two and wounding one in Kenosha!

Trump is attempting to promote a racial war, and caravans of white power people, young toughs who see Trump as their leader, have been looking for trouble and violence, ironically, recently, in mostly white cities (Portland, Seattle, Kenosha) where most demonstrators for Black Lives Matter are WHITES, with some now becoming victims!

Meanwhile, Democratic nominee Joe Biden is promoting reconciliation, and blaming Trump rightfully for claiming that only he, Trump, can overcome so called racial violence and crime, when it has been incited by his supporters going after those who protest police brutality, with most victims being whites!

Black Lives Matter protesters do not bring firearms to their demonstrations, only white supremacists and white vigilantes, encouraged by Trump.

Crime in America had reached a 50 year low before Trump took office, and much of that crime that has occurred now is due to these right wing hatemongers, as well as the human suffering going on in the midst of the Second Great Depression and CoronaVirus Pandemic, along with the growing level of police misconduct against African Americans.

It is amazing that the young man who murdered in Kenosha was not stopped by police for having a firearm being wielded by him, and try to imagine an African American man in the same circumstance!

Trump is sowing chaos in order to try to gain white suburbia and women by fear, but it will not succeed. He even tried to defend today the young man who killed two in Kenosha!

The time of George Wallace in 1968 is back, but it seems clear that Joe Biden will overcome the hate and the chaos, and is still far ahead in public opinion polls, even after the Republican National Convention.

Donald Trump will have to be held to account once he leaves office, as he is the most lawbreaking President in American history by far, much more than Richard Nixon, who looks by comparison to be a “choir boy”!

Donald Trump’s Government Shutdown Creating Psychological Torture On Millions Of Americans, And Endangering Public Health And National Security: A Criminal Act Which Should Lead To Immediate Removal From Office

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Donald Trump’s Government Shutdown. now in its 34th day, is creating psychological torture on millions of Americans, and endangering public health and national security.

It is a criminal act, unsurpassed by any President in American history, a grab for absolute power by a tyrant who wishes to destroy our Constitution and system of checks and balances.

It should lead to immediate removal from office, not even wait until an impeachment trial, as it is endangering

a great economic depression;

a danger of nuclear war;

a public health and safety crisis regarding our food and drug supply;

the likelihood of a massive terrorist incident as horrible as September 11;

the danger of a disaster in air traffic;

the eviction from homes and apartments of millions of Americans, making them homeless; causing massive hunger and starvation;

the undermining of the health of the elderly, the disabled, the poor, and those with serious diseases;

the worsening of morale of such crucial government agencies as the Secret Service, Immigration and Custom Enforcement, Transportation Security Administration, the Coast Guard, and innumerable other agencies;

the likelihood that many dedicated federal government agencies will see many of their work force permanently leave government service, creating a massive shortage of qualified people to take care of government services for 325 million Americans;

and causing America to become the laughing stock of the world, as the nation goes from one crisis to another every day, and every area of government policy getting worse by the days and weeks and months.

We have had two years now of crisis and anarchy, and it is just fortunate that there has been no major foreign policy crisis, but one can sense it is coming, and we have an incompetent, demented, unstable, ill tempered collaborator with the major enemy of the United States, Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation, who wishes our nation ill!

The Temper Tantrum Of Donald Trump Must Face Democratic Discipline As A Lesson Of What Is Coming

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The shutdown of the US government over the Christmas holidays is truly “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”.

Donald Trump is showing just how much of a toddler’s behavior we have to deal with in the Oval Office, and he must face Democratic Party discipline and taught a lesson of what is coming.

Trump will not get his way, will not be allowed to waste taxpayer money in such a reckless way, when a proposed Mexico Wall will have no effect on national security, as there are other ways to protect the border in a more technological manner than a wall which cannot be accomplished in many areas of the 2,000 mile boundary between the US and Mexico.

Trump’s portrayal of the danger of terrorism at the border is preposterous on its face, and instead, he should be changing his plan to leave Syria and now Afghanistan abruptly, when the true terrorist threat of ISIS and the Taliban is being encouraged by Trump’s decision to take rash action on withdrawal of troops.

Leaving both Syria and Afghanistan is a dangerous move that not only affects US national security, and encourages a future Al Qaeda type attack on the American homeland, but also on Americans and other friendly nation nationals in the Middle East over the long haul, as just occurred with two young women slaughtered in Morocco in a brutal ISIS manner.

Withdrawal also encourages Russia, Iran, Turkey, and Syria’s mass murder dictator, and endangers Israel, as it allows expansion of Iranian influence. One can be critical of Israel’s government and its policies, but still be concerned at any threat to its security and survival.

Also, leaving Syria put the courageous Kurdish minority which has fought bravely alongside the US and other allied nations in the cross hairs of the Turkish government, which plans a blood bath to slaughter them, and prevent their establishment of their own nationhood, and this should not be allowed to happen.

If Trump is permitted to win this battle, then constitutional democracy in America and worldwide is threatened.

And Democrats and loyal Americans must make Trump’s Presidency a nightmare, which forces him to resign from office, or convince sensible Republicans that he must be told his time is up, a la what happened with Richard Nixon in 1974 at the end of the Watergate Scandal.

Trump must be taught his limits or the nation is endangered long term.

One Hundred Years Since End Of The First World War: Nothing Learned From Sacrifices Of That War, And Danger Of Another World War

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It has been precisely one hundred years, a full century, since the “Great War”, the First World War, ended on November 11, 1918. About 18 million military and civilians died in that war, as well as about 125,000 Americans, the second highest loss of life in America after the Civil War, and until the Second World War surpassed it, at least doubling the American loss of life in the First World War.

What Woodrow Wilson called “the war to end all wars” did anything but that, leading within a generation to the Second World War, followed by many other regional wars, and the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union from 1945-1991.

Now we have the age of world wide terrorism, and growing danger of another world war, and Donald Trump is in the midst of creating the conditions that would lead to this third World War.

America and the world have not learned from the sacrifices a century ago, as politics, religion, and egotism continue to cause conflict, and we are now moving closer to authoritarianism in the world than we have seen since the end of the Cold War a quarter century ago.

And Trump has disgraced the commemoration in France this weekend by failing to travel to a cemetery that contains many Americans and others who sacrificed for our nation a century ago.

And his promotion of extreme nationalism over patriotism has been rebuked appropriately by French President Emmanuel Macron.

This is a President who has not yet gone to a combat zone, as every other President has done, and is working to privatize the Department of Veterans Affairs, which would be a true disaster, and hopefully will be stopped by the 116th Congress, with a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives.

The Midterm Elections Of 2018 Come Down To A Referendum On Donald Trump

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It is now certain that the Midterm Elections of 2018 are a referendum on Donald Trump, in a way unseen since at least when Richard Nixon went out and campaigned in the midterm 1970 elections.

Donald Trump is becoming more unstable and reckless by the day, and by his nonstop campaigning in states with Democrats in the Senate, but support for Donald Trump in 2016, the results will be seen as either a repudiation or an endorsement of the President.

Trump is behaving in a more erratic manner than ever before, including talk about ending birthright citizenship by executive order, even though even conservatives make it clear that cannot be accomplished other than by a constitutional amendment.

Trump is also claiming he is sending thousands of soldiers to the Mexico border, more than we have seen since Woodrow Wilson was President a century ago, during the Mexican Revolution, although it seems the Pentagon has no such plans actually to do so.

Trump is making Central American refugees, mostly women and children, seem like a terrorist, drug dealing, criminal mob, and now has even stated that if any refugees show any sign of throwing rocks at soldiers, then he will order the troops to use firearms against these people.

This would remind us of what happened at Kent State University in 1970, when National Guardsmen opened up fire with live ammunition against a demonstration of students against the invasion of Cambodia, and killed four and wounded nine.

Trump is lying to scare voters, instill fear, and make people hate migrants (poor women and their children) who are simply escaping bloodshed, violence, and gangs trying to recruit their children in nations that have fallen into disarray by American policy over the last few decades.

If this awful scenario were ever to occur, it would be grounds for nationwide marches and demonstrations, as to shoot and kill unarmed people who just have rocks, would be a war crime.

This is yet another reason why it is urgent that Donald Trump be repudiated next Tuesday, and that the Republicans be defeated nationwide, as otherwise, the horrors of a declaration of martial law, and the establishment of a Fascist dictatorship will be on us, and our democracy will be destroyed.

Future generations will look at such an event as the most horrific possible moment in US history, and it is possible to imagine a civil war breaking out, which our rivals in the world would love to see happen, as it would destroy the world leadership of the United States in a way that would not be retrievable for decades.

Donald Trump And Hurricanes: Hurricane Maria In Puerto Rico, And Hurricane Florence Now Menacing The Carolinas And Virginia

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Donald Trump has presided over the worst hurricane disaster in American history, with Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, leading to 3,000 deaths, the same as the attack on Al Qaeda on September 11, 2001.

He has the gall and the lack of empathy to claim a “great success”, and it is clear Trump is totally delusional, and criminal in his lack of taking responsibility for the disaster that could have been handled better by the Federal Emergency Management Agency,

And now, just in advance of hurricane season, and the menacing Hurricane Florence about to assault North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, in what some think could be the worst hurricane in memory, it has been revealed that $10 million has been transferred to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to arrange for more detentions of immigrants than already has occurred, marking the greatest such detention facilities since the Japanese Americans in World War II.

It is a criminal act to promote continued and expanded detention, and it is also criminal to take funds out of FEMA as we face another hurricane disaster season.

There has to be, eventually, full accountability for these crimes for top officials in the Trump Administration, and if the nation cannot protect its own citizens from harm from natural disasters, then how can they protect us from harm from a foreign foe, from terrorism?

That is the number one question to ask of the Trump Administration, which is proving to be more incompetent on hurricanes than even George W. Bush on Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana in 2005.