Voting Rights

Donald Trump’s Attack On Mail Ballots A Major Crisis!

Ronald 6 Comments

President Donald Trump clearly is an authoritarian whose aim is to destroy American democracy, with his latest ploy being to attack mail ballots in his push to prevent any possibility of the opposition Democrats gaining control of the House of Representatives and US Senate in the Midterm Elections of 2026 two months from now.

When one examines the states and the use of mail ballots, it is noticeable that the majority of states with high percentage of citizens voting by mail are “Blue” States, although not only such states.

Statistics show that the top ten states include primarily “Blue” states, including Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Colorado, Utah, California, Arizona, Vermont, District of Columbia, Nevada, and Michigan.

Only Utah is a reliably “Red” state, with Arizona, Nevada, and Michigan being “Battleground” states.

Notice also that most of the top ten states in mail voting are “Western” states.

The first five states have between 90 and 100 percent mail voting, with California and Arizona in the 80s; Vermont and DC in the 60s; with Nevada at 54 percent and Michigan at 37 percent. Florida and Nebraska follow at 35 percent, both “Red” states.

At the same time, Donald Trump and his family that votes in Florida always vote by mail ballot, so clearly, total hypocrisy.

The fact that the majority of the Supreme Court has been assisting Trump in his ploy to interfere with the elections is outrageous.

Also, the made up argument that massive numbers of noncitizens are voting has been shown to be totally without reality.

Donald Trump’s Interference With Elections A Major Crisis!

Ronald 25 Comments

President Donald Trump has promoted interference with elections, creating a major crisis for American democracy.

If this interference is not stopped, the nation is moving toward autocracy and dictatorship.

Already, Trump provoked the US Capitol Insurrection on January 6, 2021, trying to prevent the House and Senate from confirming Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the Presidential Election Of 2020.

This has led to many Republicans refusing to accept that Biden legitimately won the Presidency, and “Election Deniers” abound in Congress and in state elections ever since, undermining the concept of peaceful transfer of government.

Therefore, Trump has promoted gerrymandering of Congressional seats in an attempt to keep the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, and has claimed massive voter fraud. He has also attempted, so far unsuccessfully, to promote legislation that would prevent many eligible voters from their right to vote in elections.

The NY Times has published 12 factors that are alarm bells, including:

Manipulating the Law to Stay in Power
Stifling Speech and Dissent
Persecuting Political Opponents
Bypassing the Legislature
Using the Military At Home
Defying the Courts
Declaring False Emergencies
Vilifying Marginalized Groups
Controlling Information
Trying to Take Over Universities
Creating a Cult Of Personality
Using Power For Personal Profit

On a scale of 1-10, the most advanced threats are:

Using Power For Personal Profit
Vilifying Marginalized Groups
Creating A Cult of Personality
Persecuting Political Opponents
Bypassing the Legislature
Declaring False Emergencies
Stifling Speech And Dissent

These seven categories are 5-7 on the scale of 10.

The other five categories range from 2-4 on the scale of 10, and are rapidly being escalated.

It is urgent and essential that all actions be pursued to stop the threat to American Democracy that is rapidly escalating.

Donald Trump Threats Against Free And Fair Elections Must Be Vigorously Resisted!

Ronald 69 Comments

Donald Trump gave a speech from the Oval Office on Thursday evening, full of delusion and lies, regarding his false claims about the Presidential Election of 2020, which he lost massively to Joe Biden.

But he set the stage for the Department of Homeland Security, under MarkWayne Mullin, to threaten interference in the promotion of free and fair elections in November, 2026, as he well knows that his Republican Party is is dire straits in public opinion polls, and in fund raising in many Congressional races, particularly for the US Senate.

Trump also threatened to take away the licenses of ABC and NBC for refusing to cover live the propaganda speech he was engaging in, an attack on the news media.

Trump’s henchmen, including Mullin; Brendan Carr of the Federal Communications Commission; Russell Vought of the Office of Management and Budget; Kevin Roberts, the head of the Heritage Foundation and author of “Project 2025”; and Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff For Policy and Homeland Security Adviser—are determined to undermine American democracy and free elections, and the battle against these authoritarian forces must be waged!

Scott Pelley Of “Sixty Minutes” Issues Warning On Authoritarianism!

Ronald 10 Comments

Journalist Scott Pelley of CBS’s “Sixty Minutes”, has many years of reputable work at that news source. He gave a scathing commencement speech at Wake Forest University in North Carolina a week ago, against the authoritarian ideology of Donald Trump, which has provoked wild, vehement accusations from Fox News Channel and its disgraceful talk show hosts.

Pelley, rightfully, warned of the threat to freedom of speech and press represented by the Trump Administration’s attack on journalism, higher education, and law firms.

He also condemned the arrest of foreign students on visas for their use of their right of freedom of speech to criticize the Israel-Gaza War, as well as the attacks on voting rights being perpetrated by the federal government under Donald Trump.

Pelley condemned the fear being promoted by Trump loyalists who are working to undermine the Bill of Rights, and his rhetoric was uncompromising, setting an example for Americans who are terrified at the authoritarian bent of Trump and his supporters.

Pelley has been attacked as being “unhinged”, another of a multitude of examples of “projection”, accusing critics of Trump of what Trump and his supporters do regularly, speak and act in an “unhinged” manner.

Pelley is doing a great service in using his reputation to promote opposition to the dangerous trend that is running amuck around Trump, the movement toward authoritarian Fascism.

If Americans lose the First Amendment, then democracy and the rule of law is lost long term.

Martin Luther King Jr Anniversary Of Assassination, And Race Relations In America

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It has been 56 years since the assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr in Memphis, Tennessee.

The nation has observed his January birthday as a national holiday since 1986, but sadly, racism, and white supremacy have not declined.

In fact, due to Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican followers, the Republican Party exudes racism, as well as nativism, misgoyny, and many strains of antisemitism.

The struggle of Republicans against DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) has harmed the nation, and the Supreme Court backtracking since 2013 on voting rights protection, presents a major challenge for the short and long term future of the struggle against the advancements of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and beyond.

The Democratic Party, as imperfect as it is, is still the best hope for the future in that regard.

Right Wing Supreme Court A Threat To All Federal Regulations, Attempt To Repeal All Reforms Since Theodore Roosevelt Onward!

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The Right Wing Supreme Court can be seen as a threat to all federal regulations, as the Federalist Society and other right wing extremist groups are clearly attempting to wipe out all federal regulations that have occurred in the past century since the Progressive Era, through the New Deal and Great Society, and expanded further by Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s time in the Presidency.

If left to their whims and desires, the Supreme Court would wipe out the regulatory roles of many federal agencies that have evolved from Theodore Roosevelt onward.

These include;

The Food and Drug Administration

The Environmental Protection Agency

The Consumer Product Safety Commission

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Department of Health and Human Services

Department Of Labor

Department of Education

and many federal laws promoting regulations of banks and corporations in the public interest, voting rights, working against discrimination towards women and various racial and ethnic minorities, and so much more!

Ten Months Before Election Day, Joe Biden Makes Case For Democracy, And Repudiation Of Donald Trump!

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In his opening salvo of the Presidential Election campaign of 2024, President Joe Biden yesterday, precisely ten months before Election Day, delivered a stirring speech on the campaign to protect American democracy, which includes a massive defeat of Donald Trump, who is promoting the destruction of the Constitution and rule of law!

In his 30 minute speech at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Biden spoke with real passion and commitment, and reminded us how George Washington turned down the possibility of becoming a monarch after the American Revolution, and accepted the idea of serving as President, and then leaving office.

Biden and his supporters must make the case every day until Election Day, and besides discussing the threat to democracy, he and they must also talk about abortion, the economy, immigration reform, environmental advancements, voting rights, civil rights, and support of Ukraine in its war with Russia, and promoting a changed policy regarding Israel and Gaza to limit the loss of life!

The Republican Party And Race, Repudiation Of Founding Of The Party 170 Years Ago!

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With the new year 2024 coming tomorrow, it will mark 170 years since the Founding of the Republican Party in 1854, dedicated to opposition to the expansion of slavery, and including abolitionists in its midst, who committed themselves to the total end of slavery.

For many decades after the end of slavery, Southern Democrats promoted discrimination against African Americans, including lynchings, Jim Crow segregation, and denial of voting rights, and also a nativist attitude toward Catholic and Jewish immigration.

Sixty years ago, the Democratic Party under Lyndon B. Johnson finally liberated the party from this racism and nativism, only to have these Southern Democrats rush en masse to the Republican Party.

There was still a great deal of resistance by many Republicans, until the rise of Donald Trump, but now, the Republican Party has become an openly racist and nativist party without shame, and has also worked against women’s rights and voting rights.

The Republicans of the founding era would be shocked at how the Republican Party has repudiated its basic principles.

The Presidential and Congressional Elections of 2024 give decent Americans the opportunity to repudiate the disgraceful Republican Party, which puts Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and decent Congressional Republicans who contributed to American history on a totally different level than the modern disaster the party has become!

Difficult, Challenging Year Ahead In 2024!

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America is facing the likelihood that 2024 will be the most tumultuous year imaginable, as the nation faces the following:

A Presidential Election in November where the likelihood is that we will have the first time since 1888 (Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison), that a former President (Donald Trump) is challenging the sitting President (Joe Biden).

A Supreme Court that seems hellbent on moving further to the Far Right on many constitutional matters, despite its tremendously low public opinion rating, making it the most right wing in a century.

A likelihood of new climate crises continuing, and unlikely that much will be done to deal with it, as many people around the nation and the world become victims.

A growing crisis on issues that divide the nation, including voting rights, abortion rights, gay and transgender rights, gun control, antisemitism, civil rights and ethnic and racial minorities, immigration reform, political chaos in Congress, and growing religious extremism, among others.

A world crisis of war in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, with the potential for greater US involvement, and the constantly growing threat of China, North Korea, Iran, and other autocracies, along with the Russian threat to the stability of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, with the continuing war in Ukraine.

Kamala Harris At 59, And Her Future Role In American Government!

Ronald 2 Comments

Vice President Kamala Harris celebrated her 59th birthday yesterday, and she is seen as a strong partner of President Joe Biden.

Constantly under attack by conservatives and Republicans, she has played the proper role of remaining in the background, not trying to take attention away from the President, which is the proper role for a Vice President.

But she has become more visible on the issues of abortion rights, civil rights, voting rights, gun safety reform, and the promotion of truth in education, including denouncing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis promoting a distorted view of African American history and slavery, and also, his attack on the field of psychology and the teaching of gender and sexuality.

Harris speaks for those who are being attacked and abused, as the Supreme Court moves the nation backward on issues that were thought to be settled decades ago, but clearly are not resolved.

Harris is a very intelligent woman, with a career of being a prosecutor in San Francisco; Attorney General of California; and four years as a United States Senator!

She is superbly qualified to be President, if tragically, in the next five years, she was called upon to take the Presidential oath.

Hopefully, President Biden will win reelection and served capably, as he has so far, but the nation can be comfortable with the possibility of a succession, knowing this is a woman of compassion, decency, empathy, and sincerity.

Republican Presidential contender Nikki Haley has disgraced herself since she had courage as South Carolina Governor in 2015 to take down the Confederate flag after nine black churchgoers were slaughtered. She has lost all credibility, when she suggests that Joe Biden will die and Kamala Harris will be President in the next term, as if that would be the most horrendous thing possible, and it disqualifies Haley’s own Presidential ambitions.

One woman of Asian Indian ancestry feels a need to attack a woman of similar Asian Indian and Jamaican ancestry as unqualified, when clearly, Harris has far better credentials than Nikki Haley has ever demonstrated, particularly Haley’s bending to Donald Trump, and agreeing that if he is the nominee of the Republican Party in 2024, that she would support him!