US Senate

Clarence Thomas, Harlan Crowe, And Leonard Leo: Massive Ethics Scandal!

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Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas has become the most controversial member of the Supreme Court since Associate Justice Abe Fortas resigned from the Court in 1969, due to an ethics scandal, which by comparison to Thomas, was quite minor.

Thomas and his wife, Ginni Thomas, have been taking favors, gifts, and lots of money from billionaires Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo, the latter the head of the right wing Federalist Society, which has been dedicated, and quite successfully, to turn the US Federal Judicial system to the extreme Right.

Thomas has been controversial since he was confirmed in 1991, after charges of sexual harassment by Anita Hill, caused the closest vote of the 20th century in the US Senate.

The Court under Chief Justice John Roberts has been besmirched not only by Thomas, but by controversies surrounding the appointments of all three Trump appointees, and the two Bush appointees of Thomas and Samuel Alito.

Faith and trust in the fairness and balance of the Court has declined rapidly, but there is little that can be done to force Thomas to resign, as that would have the effect of changing the strong right wing extremism of the present Court with a Joe Biden replacement.

The rule of law and faith in the Constitution is under attack, and restored confidence in the Court is not likely anytime soon.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s Tenure In Danger!

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Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy is in great danger of losing his Speakership, and so far, the 118th Congress, with a small Republican edge in the House of Representatives, and a 51-49 Democratic Senate control, has accomplished almost nothing!

If McCarthy angers just one member of his caucus, a vote could come up to remove him from the Speakership, and if just five members of his caucus joined with the Democrats, he will be gone as the leader of his party!

The upcoming debt ceiling impasse will be a major test of whether McCarthy can survive the two year term of the 118th Congress!

The lunatic “Freedom Caucus”, with at least 46 sitting members, sadly, is controlling much of the Republican agenda in the House of Representatives!

This includes Matt Gaetz of Florida, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, and Lauren Boebert of Colorado, as the most controversial of a group in which all the members are extremists!

Mitch McConnell Successor As Senate Minority Leader: Battle Of The “Three Johns”!

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As Kentucky Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican Minority Leader, returns next week after an extended period of absence due to a concussion and rib fracture after a fall, there is speculation that he might retire from the Senate in the short term.

So the battle for who would replace him has begun, with the “three Johns” competing for leadership of the Republican Party in the Senate moving forward.

These “three Johns” are

John Thune of South Dakota
John Barrasso of Wyoming
John Cornyn of Texas

John Thune has been in the Senate since 2005 and is 62, and is Republican Whip, second ranking position.

John Barrasso has been in the Senate since 2007 and is 71, and is Republican Conference Chairman, third ranking position.

John Cornyn has been in the Senate since 2002 and is also 71, and served in the past as Republican Whip.

If one went by population, which is not a factor, Texas and Cornyn would win with 30.3 million population, as South Dakota and Wyoming are among the five smallest states in population, with South Dakota 5th smallest with 900,000 population, and Wyoming the smallest of all states with 580,000 population.

An educated guess on the part of this blogger is that John Thune may have the upper hand, and the issue of age is not to be ignored, as he is a decade younger than the other two “Johns”, and is more “photogenic” and “charismatic” than they are.

Thune next faces voters in 2028; Cornyn in 2026; and Barrasso in 2024, so longevity is added to age as a factor.

But one never knows what will happen, and when it would happen, so we shall see!

Time For Senator Dianne Feinstein To Retire Now!

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California Senator Dianne Feinstein has been a long serving, productive member in the upper chamber since 1992, but at age 89 and in failing mental and physical health, it is time for her to resign from the Senate in dignity!

She is no longer able to carry the weight load that a Senator, particularly from the most populous state in America, needs to bear!

She is unable to meet her responsibilities, including her support of judicial appointments of Joe Biden, since all activity must be done in person, and she is fast declining in her cognitive abilities, and has suffered from shingles now for two months with no clear end in sight!

Everyone in public life needs to know when it is time to leave public service, and it is time for Feinstein to take that step!

Donald Trump Raves About Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un, And Republicans Stay Silent!

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Former President Donald Trump is demonstrating yet again how dangerous and crazy he is, and yet the Republican Party acts prostrate toward him!

Trump went on Fox News Channel and was interviewed by Tucker Carlson, who we know has said he hates him, but still has him on his show, as the goal is, ever after, to make money for Carlson and Fox News Channel by allowing Trump to spew forth his authoritarian impulses!

Trump praised Communist dictators Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation, Xi Jinping of China, and Kim Jong Un of North Korea, lavishing them with glowing statements about how smart they are, and how brilliant they are, despite their well known record of human rights violations against their own populations, and threats to their neighbors.

And although one might say Putin is NOT a Communist, since the Russian Federation supposedly replaced the Soviet Union in December 1991, reality is that Putin WAS a Communist functionary in the Soviet KGB in the 1980s.

Imagine this, Communism was the enemy to decades of Republicans from the time of the Russian Revolution to the downfall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

It made the careers of innumerable Republicans, including the infamous Senator Joseph McCarthy, President Richard Nixon, and a massive number of others.

But along comes Trump, glorifying and praising these dangerous and unstable authoritarians, who could also be termed “Fascists” in their tactics, such as past horrors as Adolf Hitler of Germany, Benito Mussolini of Italy, Juan Peron of Argentina, and Francisco Franco of Spain in the 20th century.

The differences between “old line” Communists and modern Fascists are miniscule, and to have an American President praise such tyrants, and his party stays silent, is truly proof that the Republican Party and Fox News Channel are a danger to American freedom, security, and democracy!

How is it that Republicans have completely changed their perception of foreign enemies, and are engaged in similar tactics to undermine the civil rights and civil liberties of millions of Americans, who do not fit the image of white supremacy Christianity?

What has happened that the party of Lincoln, TR, Ike, and Reagan has reached this point?

“No Labels” Independent Group A Disaster In The Making!

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The “No Labels” Independent group is an organization forming to provide a potential third party choice for the Presidency in 2024, due to many in the group and nationally having strong feelings that the nation deserves a choice beyond Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

This group, which has both Democrats and Republicans who are flirting with the effort, include many who most Americans have no awareness of, but also some major names:

Joe Lieberman, former Democratic and Independent Senator from Connecticut
Joe Manchin, Democratic Senator from West Virginia
Pat McCrory, former Republican Governor of North Carolina
Larry Hogan, former Republican Governor of Maryland

In a theoretical scenario, this group thinks the potential of the following Electoral College result is possible:

Republican states Texas (40), Nebraska (5), and Florida (30)–75
Democratic states Virginia (13), Illinois (19), Washington (12)–44
“Swing” states Arizona (11), Michigan (15), Pennsylvania (19)–45

A total of 164 electoral votes, denying either the Republican or Democratic candidate enough electoral votes to win the Presidency!

and 37 percent of the popular vote, causing the House of Representatives, one vote per state, to choose the Presidential winner, and with 26 states at the moment having a Republican majority in the House delegation!

The theory is that six out of ten moderate-independent voters are open to supporting a third party ticket at this point!

But the likelihood is such an effort would lead to Donald Trump winning over Joe Biden, a horrendous development!

This would be extremely destructive, and there is no possible way for an independent candidate to win the Presidency, as the closest we have ever reached that was Theodore Roosevelt, Progressive (Bull Moose) candidacy in 1912, winning six states, 27.5 percent of the popular vote, and six states with a total of 88 electoral votes.

But TR’s candidacy helped Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win, over Republican incumbent William Howard Taft!

Republican Party Committing Suicide, Except For Asa Hutchinson And Chris Christie!

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It is beyond all sanity that just about ALL Republican Party leaders and office holders are rushing to the defense of Donald Trump, and interfering with a local New York investigation into his financial wrongdoings!

Only at this point do we see former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, who has just announced his Presidential candidacy, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who is expected to announce his Presidential candidacy soon, willing to back away from Trump, and indicate they would not support the idea of his becoming President again via the Presidential Election of 2024!

To see former Vice President Mike Pence condemn the indictment by the Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg is shocking, as well as the outrageous statements of Senator Lindsey Graham, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, and a multitude of others, who clearly think the rule of law does not apply to a former President who abused the Constitution and undermined civil order in the nation!

Donald Trump First Indicted President, And More Is To Come!

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Former President Donald Trump has been indicted in the “Stormy Daniels” case in New York City.

He is the first President to face indictment, and there will be more indictments, including likely in Georgia over interference with the vote count in the Presidential Election of 2020; in the case of the government documents at his home in Mar A Lago in Florida; and the US Capitol Insurrection of January 6, 2021.

Trump was twice impeached, and had a bipartisan vote in the US Senate on that, the first time that has ever occurred.

Trump can still be prevented from running for the Presidency, if only the 14th Amendment, Section 3, is invoked, as it was for Confederate traitors in the Reconstruction Era!

It is time for Republicans to save whatever limited dignity they have, and stop backing this criminal former President!

Sadly, it is now clear that the Republicans are willing to go down with Trump!

Ron DeSantis Changes His View On The Russian Federation For Political Survival!

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It is interesting that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has suddenly changed his view on the Russian Federation, now calling Vladimir Putin a “war criminal”, and backing away from saying the Russia-Ukraine War is simply “a territorial dispute”.

This was clearly done due to the strong opposition expressed by many Republicans, particularly in the US Senate, but it is clear DeSantis is just trying to improve his political position, and cannot be trusted on what he says.

DeSantis is very much an egotist, who thinks he is best qualified, due to his promotion of taking away the rights of gays, lesbians, and transgenders; women; racial minorities; teachers; librarians; medical doctors; and even elected prosecutors!

His is an ugly candidacy, and lately, he has lost support in public opinion polls.

America can do better than Ron DeSantis in the White House!

Ron DeSantis Comes Out As Neville Chamberlain, Divides Republicans On Foreign Policy Toward Vladimir Putin

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who clearly will be announcing for President in the near future, has come out clearly against aid to Ukraine, seeing the Russia-Ukraine War as not an issue of national security for the United States.

In that regard, he is acting like Donald Trump!

In so doing, DeSantis and Trump are coming out as Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister who made a deal with Adolf Hitler to give up half of Czechoslovakia in 1938 (the Munich Conference), thinking it would satisfy Hitler’s territorial demands, which was instead appeasement of a dictator.

The issue of Ukraine has divided the Republican members of the US Senate, including:

Mitch McConnell of Kentucky
Mitt Romney of Utah
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
John Cornyn of Texas
John Thune of South Dakota
Marco Rubio of Florida
Mike Rounds of South Dakota
Kevin Cramer of North Dakota
Roger Wicker of Mississippi
John Kennedy of Louisiana

And there are others in the Senate who have not spoken publicly who would take the same stand, being critical of both DeSantis and Trump on Ukraine.

There are also a few House Republicans, the so called “moderates”, who would join the Senate Republicans who are in opposition.

So a major battle for the soul of the party is in process!