Month: July 2017

Three Profiles In Courage: John McCain Of Arizona, Lisa Murkowski Of Alaska, Susan Collins Of Maine

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It is appropriate to salute three Republican Senators who stopped the destruction of ObamaCare, due to their feeling that despite the shortcomings of the program, that to just repeal it and leave millions of Americans with no health coverage was intolerable.

Senator John McCain of Arizona, a true independent and maverick, has often exasperated many political observers, and this blogger was upset earlier last week when McCain voted to promote votes on various alternatives, including repeal without replacement, but then voted to kill the idea once there was the opportunity to do so.

We now learn that former Vice President Joe Biden, a good friend, and former Senator Joe Lieberman, the Vice Presidential running mate of Al Gore in 2000, contacted McCain and convinced him that this was the right thing to do.

This kind of bipartisanship is precisely what is needed, and is missing from today’s political scence.

The courage of the two women Senators, who could not have alone stopped the Republican plan to destroy ObamaCare, must also be acknowledged, and sadly, some misogyny was utilized against them by the right wing, but Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska showed how principled and decent they were, and deserve great credit.

Both Collins and Murkowksi are tough, and they are not intimidated, with Collins having always been independent oriented, and Murkowski losing the party primary in 2010, running as a write in Independent candidate, and winning over her Republican and Democratic opponents, and then winning in 2016.

The outrage that the Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke, at Donald Trump’s orders, threatened Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, the other Alaska Senator, with cuts in funding for Alaska in the Department budget did not intimidate Murkowski, as she postponed committee hearings and votes in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which she heads. She knows how to play Hardball, and Trump has met his match in her, as well as Collins.

Disappointing, however, was the third woman Senator thought united with them, Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, but caving in to pressure from Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, quite shocking since West Virginia has more people on Medicaid and in poverty than almost all states in America.

Six Months Of No Major Crisis For Trump Presidency, But “Good Luck” Is Assuredly Coming To An End Soon!

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Donald Trump has finished six months in office, and he has been extremely lucky, as there has been no major crisis that has arisen in domestic or foreign affairs, with only his own promotion of chaos and incompetence causing him problems, along with the inept Republican Party, which has the majority in Congress, and has failed to accomplish anything of significance.

But ever since 2011, the Republican House and since 2015 the Republican Senate, has proved they cannot govern, and it is quite certain that the American people will vote them out of the majority in 2018, at least in the House, with the Senate very unlikely to switch due to only 8 Republican seats up to 25 for the Democrats.

Trump has proved he cannot even work with the party that he is supposed to represent. He is now in the process of totally alienating the Republican Establishment due to his actions, statements, and outrageous behavior on a daily basis.

The “good luck” that Trump has had in regards to no major crisis is assuredly coming to an end soon, as many challenges lie ahead, with North Korea’s nuclear threat growing exponentially, and Trump having said North Korea would not develop as a threat to America, but now they are, as their missile testing indicates a nuclear weapon on top of a missile could lead to a nuclear attack on Alaska, Hawaii, the whole Pacific Coast, and conceivably as far east as Chicago. And as they continue their testing unabated, the whole Atlantic Coast, including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and all the way down to Georgia could come under attack.

The problem is that Trump has no experience, no substance, no knowledge, no skills to deal with such an overwhelming crisis, which could be worse by far than September 11.

It could be the ultimate disaster in American history if the wrong policy is followed, or the wrong development occurs.

We have to pray that the military men around Trump—Secretary of Defense James Mattis, newly appointed Chief of Staff John Kelly, and National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster—can pool their great military experience and careers and convince Trump of the right path to follow to avoid an ultimate disaster.

If everything goes wrong, Donald Trump could preside over the mass loss of life and destruction unmatched in American history, and possibly worse than the loss of life in The Civil War, World War I, and World War II combined, and this is not just about America, but the loss of life in the Korean Peninsula, including American military personnel, and also Japan, which suffered from the only nuclear disaster in wartime in world history, and most certainly, is terrified at another such event occurring 72 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki!

To Donald Trump, Loyalty Is A One Way Street, Only To Him, But Not To Others!

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To Donald Trump, loyalty is a one way street, only to him, but not to others.

Trump has spent his whole life exploiting others for his own benefit, so it is not surprising that he has now dumped Sean Spicer and Reince Priebus, and that he is humiliating Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who seems unlikely to survive for long.

Trump expects total loyalty, and those who work for him, due to their own ambitions, refuse to repudiate him, even when dismissed, but one wonders if some day they will tell the truth about their monstrous boss, who uses everyone until their value is degraded, and then has no issue as to how they feel or react to their dismissal.

Trump has no willingness ever to care about others, all part of his narcissism, egotism, and delusional personality.

The best thing that could happen, but apparently will not, is that his aides and cabinet should unite together and convince Vice President Mike Pence that Trump is incompetent, dangerous, mentally unstable, and needs to be removed from office under the 25th Amendment Section 4.

The time of a major crisis is near with North Korea, and apparently, they will soon be capable of striking the continental United States in another year with a nuclear weapon.

Can we afford a man of such utter incompetence, lack of experience, and poor judgment as Donald Trump to deal with what could be the biggest crisis since September 11?

The Attack On Transgenders In The Military A Major Step Backward On Human Rights, And Must Be Resisted In Any Way Possible!

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The decision of Donald Trump to declare that transgender individuals are not to be allowed to serve in the military is a major step backwards on human rights.

Transgender men and women have served in the military heroically in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they serve in the military in Israel, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and other advanced democracies with no troubles or complications.

This is simply an appeal to the bigoted Religious Right of Franklin Graham, Pat Robertson, and other preachers who claim wrongly to speak for Jesus Christ, who would reject their prejudice and hypocrisy.

It is also an attempt to take attention off the failed Health Care attempts to destroy ObamaCare, and also to take people’s minds off the investigation of the Russian collusion of the Trump campaign and Presidency.

It undermines the great progress made on gay rights and gay marriage, and now, the Attorney General Jeff Sessions is arguing that gays and lesbians and transgenders should not be considered as covered under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a total outrage!

Leave it to the right wing whackos, and we might see a future situation where women’s rights to an abortion, and even interracial marriages, might be reversed by a right wing Supreme Court majority.

It is good to see that the military is not, at least at this point, obeying a tweet of our unstable President, and hopefully, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff will fight against it, and convince Trump that this will undermine military discipline and morale, and endanger the declared Transgenders already out in the military.

One can sadly expect more prejudice and discrimination against transgenders now in society, and some will die as a result.

Ironically, this bigoted, ignorant, and prejudiced statement by Trump occurred on the 69th anniversary of Harry Truman integrating the military in 1948, and one can be certain that if Truman were alive, he would have appropriate salty language visited upon Trump, and would probably wish to give Trump a swift kick in his rear end and in his private area as well, something million of Americans would cheer!

Donald Trump Totally Delusional, Comparing Himself To Lincoln, And Suggesting Mount Rushmore For Himself!

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Donald Trump is totally delusional, and he is becoming more embarrassing by the day.

He is telling us now that he is more “Presidential” than any President except the “great” Abraham Lincoln, who would not give him the time of day if he were to have met him, as he would see that Trump is simply an egotist, a narcissist, a braggart, a bully, a BS artist, a misogynist, a racist, a xenophobe, a nativist, a liar, a homophobe, an Islamophobe, an obnoxious personality, and innumerable other adjectives, all which would cause Lincoln to reject him, as he was a man of character.

Trump has no historical knowledge, so he thinks he has accomplished more in six months than anyone ever has, when he has accomplished less than any President ever in American history!

He seems not to know about Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, or Lyndon B. Johnson and the Great Society, or Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom, or others who had a dramatic and positive effect on the nation and very rapidly.

And Trump imagines himself, as he said in a speech two days ago, that he might be a future candidate for Mount Rushmore, because he is on the level of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt in his own delusional mind!

One can imagine the rolling eyes and shaking heads of these Presidents in the afterlife as they look at Donald Trump, and the total embarrassment he is to the institution of the American Presidency!

17 Republican States, All South, Great Plains, And Mountain West, Live In Alternative Universe As Rabid Trump Supporters

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After six months in office, Donald Trump’s public opinion ratings languish at 36 percent in many polls, and no higher than 40 percent in any of the reputable polls.

But in a Gallup poll, we discover that there are three tiers of states–17 states who love Trump and give him a rating of 50 or higher; 16 states where his rating is 40-50 percent; and 17 states where his rating is below 40 percent, and as low as 26 percent.

The 17 states that love Trump are in the South, Great Plains, and Mountain West, states that together have very few electoral votes–with West Virginia the highest support with 60 percent, followed by North Dakota with 59 percent and South Dakota with 57 percent, and then Montana and Wyoming with 56 percent and Alabama with 55 percent. All of the Great Plains states are part of the group, and the poorer Southern states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, South Carolina, besides Alabama, and the Appalachian states of Kentucky and West Virginia, in addition to the four smaller populated Mountain States (Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah), and Alaska. All 17 were Republican states in 2016.

The 16 states that give Trump between 40-50 percent include Maine and New Hampshire in New England; North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Texas, and Mississippi in the South, with only Mississippi being a very poor state economically; Pennsylvania, and the Midwestern states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri; and Arizona and Nevada in the West.

And then,the 17 states that totally reject Trump include the New England area minus Maine and New Hampshire; the entire Northeast down through Virginia, except Pennsylvania; Illinois and Minnesota in the Midwest; Colorado and New Mexico in the Mountain West; and the Pacific Coast states of California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii. Vermont with 26, Massachusetts with 29, Maryland and California with 30, and New York with 31 give the lowest support to Trump.

So overall, the map of support is similar as it was in the Presidential Election of 2016, and the key area of contention remains the Midwest and Pennsylvania, and Florida, which elected Trump; and they will determine whether the Democratic nominee for President in 2020 can win the White House.

Donald Trump: Sadistic Toward His Staff And Cabinet, Action Needs To Be Taken By Vice President Mike Pence And Cabinet Members

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Donald Trump is a sadist, clear and simple, getting a kick out of obliterating his “enemies”. such as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but also loving to mistreat, bully, and humiliate his staff and Cabinet members, either by contradicting them, or openly ridiculing and “hanging them in the wind” in public.

Such a President should be told where to go by his staff, with all resigning, provoking a crisis, which could bring about the Vice President, Mike Pence, utilizing the 25th Amendment, Section 4, allowing a majority of the Cabinet to join the Vice President in asserting that the President is mentally deranged, and that Pence must take over as Acting President under the circumstances, as Trump is a threat to national security and internal order.

One does not have to like his Cabinet members, to deplore Trump’s attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and his teasing of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price about being fired if the healthcare bill fails of passage, and the clear pressure being brought against Chief Of Staff Reince Priebus.

Also, there are indications that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is considering leaving by the end of the year, and he and National Security Adviser H R McMaster have been constantly contradicted by Trump on policy.

Trump loves to torment people, as he is a mentally unstable person, who is a danger to cause a war or declare martial law, and it is time for Congress and the Cabinet to speak up and challenge Trump’s authoritarian tendencies before the situation becomes more dangerous.

The nation must come ahead of personal ambition or party loyalty, and only the Cabinet and the Republican majority Congress can do that, outside of the Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the news media, which are doing an excellent job of exposing scandal and wrongs in the Trump Administration.

Six Months In, And Talk Of Pardons? Donald Trump Out Of Control, And A Danger To Constitutional Government!

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What is going on is unprecedented, Donald Trump and his staff discussing pardons, after just six months in office!

If there is nothing to hide, no wrong doing, why even discuss what makes it seems that Trump is guilty?

Why block an investigation if one knows he has done nothing that would require the thought of a pardon?

And why the arrogance that a President can pardon himself, when Richard Nixon thought of the idea in 1974, but decided it would make clear of his guilt, and he cared about his name in history?

It is clear that we are in a constitutional crisis far greater than even Richard Nixon forced upon us in 1973-1974.

We have an arrogant man who thinks he is like a King or an Emperor, and he needs to be told that the investigation by Robert Mueller will go forth, and that he had better not dare to have him fired, as that would be an admission of guilt.

At that point, the people around Trump need to resign, and Mike Pence needs to use the 25th Amendment Section 4, and become, at the least, Acting President, as the President will then face the Congress, even under the Republican Party, with the need to move forward on impeachment.

During that crisis period, Trump would be capable of irrational actions, including using nuclear weapons on North Korea, and contemplating martial law and suspension of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.

Many would say this is hysteria, but it really is not so, and Mike Pence and the Republicans must put the nation above the President, and do what is right!

Republican Governors John Kasich, Brian Sandoval And Numerous Republican Senators Buck The Party Line On Medicaid, And Trump, Pence, And Republican Leadership Threaten Them!

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Republican Party leadership, and President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are using heavy handed tactics to try to force recalcitrant Republicans in the US Senate to vote for a bill that undermines Medicaid dramatically, and ends ObamaCare, even without a replacement.

Up to 33 million people are being told that there is no concern as to what this would do to the health care system, not only to patients, but to hospitals and health professionals affected by these draconian cuts.

This is unconscionable, and will cause the Republicans to suffer at the polls in the midterm Congressional elections in 2018.

But Republican Governors John Kasich of Ohio and Brian Sandoval of Nevada are resisting this, as are Senators such as Rob Portman of Ohio, Dean Heller of Nevada, Susan Collins of Maine, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska; Jeff Flake of Arizona and others.

Already, Trump is trying to encourage opponents in primaries against Senators Heller and Flake, the most endangered Republicans in Senate races in 2018.

Trump and Pence playing hardball will end up backfiring on the administration, as there is no morality or ethics in anyone backing the end of ObamaCare and gutting of Medicaid, and Americans are rising up in large number in opposition to this disgraceful action promoted by Trump, Pence, as well as Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and others who have no concern for the lives and health of millions of Americans!

Six Months Of Donald Trump: Neil Gorsuch, And Nothing Else Of Substance Other Than Executive Orders That Repeal Much Of 20th Century

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It has been six months since Donald Trump took the oath of office, and what does he have to show for it?

Well, there is Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, approved by smallest margin since Clarence Thomas in 1991, and with changed rules, with the filibuster no longer applicable. Gorsuch would never have been approved if the filibuster still existed for Supreme Court nominees.

Other than that, nothing of substance, with the exception of a host of executive orders designed to destroy the Obama legacy and cut regulations dramatically in all areas of government, having a devastating effect on the progress made under Republican and Democratic Presidents going back to Theodore Roosevelt at the turn of the 20th century.

But no legislation has been passed, NONE!

Trump has been much better at dividing the nation, keeping his public opinion ratings under 40 percent, an all time low in the 70 plus years of Presidential ratings.

The promises have not been kept, as with the Mexico Wall, ending ObamaCare, Tax Reform, and Infrastructure Investment.

Trump has undermined environmental protections,

stripped labor protections,

made for high levels of stress for multiple millions on health care,

promoted high levels of corruption openly,

lied five times a day,

created a commission to investigate voter fraud that does not exist,

undermined respect for the law and the intelligence agencies and freedom of the press,

made wild and unsubstantiated accusations against Barack Obama,

created tension with our NATO allies,

been limited in his Muslim ban by the courts although winning a partial victory temporarily,

been far too friendly with Russia and Vladimir Putin,

failed to fill thousands of essential positions in the federal government and caused many bureaucrats to resign,

supported authoritarian dictatorships in many nations openly,

undermined our energy future by falsely claiming that coal has a long term future,

and promoted wealthy special interests on Wall Street despite his claims the would “clean the Swamp”.

His cabinet and other appointments are the absolute worst, most atrocious of any President, and the mean spirited, nasty nature of Trump and his cohorts has caused a loss of faith in the American future.

And all this and more, without, so far, any major international crisis, but with it lurking on the horizon, and the thought of how Trump will handle it when the crisis arises, is literally horrifying, and sure to cause loss of American lives!