Month: March 2018

Fifty Years Ago Today, Lyndon Johnson Announced He Would Retire; Right Timing Now For Donald Trump To Do The Same!

Fifty years ago today, President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had been elected in 1964 by the largest popular vote margin ever in American history to the present moment, announced his decision to bow out of the 1968 Presidential race, and retire, effective at the end of his term on January 20, 1969.

Johnson recognized that he had divided America, and had lost his credibility, and he did the right thing when he announced his decision.

Johnson had done a lot of good, as his Great Society brought the greatest domestic reforms since Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, three decades earlier.

Now, five decades since 1968, we have a President who is destroying all of the good works of both LBJ and FDR, as well as Barack Obama, and he is the most crooked, corrupt President in American history, far more than Richard Nixon, who also did a lot of good in the Presidency.

It is, therefore, proper timing for Donald Trump to show the courage and sense of reality of LBJ, and he SHOULD announce today, which this author realizes will not happen today, but hopefully soon, that he is resigning from the Presidency, as Richard Nixon did, not wait another ten months as LBJ did.

Trump has lost all credibility, and is a plague on the nation, endangering our domestic tranquility and national security, and MUST go, NOW!

A Potential Way For Democrats To Win White Working Class Vote Of Midwest And Pennsylvania In 2020: A Ticket Of Joe Biden And Sherrod Brown!

Face the facts: The 2020 Presidential race has begun, as several politicians in both parties, and even Donald Trump, have started to appear in Iowa and or New Hampshire, the first caucus and first primary state respectively.

There is a myriad of potential candidates for the Democrats, but the thought comes to mind that the Democrats cannot afford to sacrifice the white working class of the Midwest and Pennsylvania, which were lost by Hillary Clinton by small margins in 2016.

And when one thinks about the wide variety of nominees, the thought that comes to mind, at least to this observer, is that a ticket that could win the vote that gave Donald Trump the victory in the Electoral College in 2016, is:

FORMER VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN OF DELAWARE
SENATOR SHERROD BROWN OF OHIO

Biden and Brown, the KILLER BEES, were both under consideration in 2016, but Biden did not run due to the death of his son Beau Biden, and Brown was on a short list for Hillary Clinton, but Tim Kaine was selected instead.

Both Biden and Brown have made their careers to a great extent on the backing and support of the white working class, from which both came, and which both understand, and it is part of their “blood”, so to speak.

Brown must win his Senate seat in Ohio this November, but is favored, and has expressed interest before in higher office, and he has served two terms in the Senate, and 14 years before that in the House of Representatives, and also served as Ohio Secretary of State for eight years before coming to Congress. He also served in the Ohio legislature for eight years before that. So he has vast experience, being in elected office 42 of the past 44 years, since 1975

And of course, Joe Biden sought the Presidency in 1988 and 2008, and is superbly qualified for the White House with 36 years in the Senate and eight as the most active and involved Vice President in history, shared with Walter Mondale under President Jimmy Carter, having served a total of 44 years from 1973 to 2017.

When have we had two people on a national ticket, each with 44 years in office by 2020? NEVER, and both are solid progressives who care about the American people!

Both Brown and Biden are aggressive campaigners, and great orators, and would know how to take the fight to Donald Trump, Mike Pence, or any other Republican nominee for President.

Ohio is the crucial state in so many elections, and Brown could bring the whole Midwest and Pennsylvania to the Democrats, and Biden knows how to appeal to the struggling white working class.

Of course, many will say Joe Biden will be too old at age 78, and that Sherrod Brown at age 68 makes for an old ticket, and that no women or minorities or younger nominees would have the opportunity to be the nominees in a nation that is leaning toward a more diverse future. But Joe Biden’s wife, Jill Biden, a community college professor, and Brown’s wife, Connie Schultz, a well respected journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2005, would also add to the campaign as future First Lady and Second Lady of the land. Schultz has focused on the underdog and underprivileged in her journalism career, and is now Professor of Journalism at Kent State University, after years of being a journalist at the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper.

The first goal is to WIN the White House, and it is hard to argue against the idea that a Biden-Brown ticket could bring success.

The Plot To Privatize The Department Of Veterans Affairs, And The Firing Of Secretary David Shulkin, Just A Beginning To Privatize Much Of Federal Government

It is clear that Donald Trump, and his right wing friends, billionaires Charles and David Koch, and other right wing extremists, are out to destroy the Federal government involvement in just about every government agency other than the original cabinet agencies created in 1789–State, Treasury, (War)Defense, and Justice.

So the firing of Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin is clearly a move to make Veterans Affairs privatized, which is a horrible idea, as taking care of our veterans should not be based on the profit motive. There is also a plan to privatize Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Education, the Post Office, and other government agencies.

Those who care about a responsive national government being protected must understand that “war” has been declared by the extremists on the right, who do not give a damn about the lives of 325 million Americans, only downgrading federal government as it has operated since the beginning of the 20th century and President Theodore Roosevelt.

Regulation and intervention has advanced America, but the big corporations and the elite wealthy want to reverse, and destroy, all progress for average Americans to make our nation more humane and responsive.

This is the time for liberals, progressives, and Democrats to work to deny the success of this plot, so every caring American must work to get rid of the Republican majority in Congress, so that the fight against the evil of the Trump Presidency can move forward.

Trump Only Supported On Present Prosperous Economy In CNN Poll, Nothing Else!

Donald Trump supporters will rave about the fact that the latest CNN poll shows the President’s support has risen to 42 percent.

Of course, it is still the lowest for any President in modern times, but his supporters seem to think that 54 percent against him is no big deal, because they have no understanding of math and statistics!

But the only reason Trump has risen to 42 percent is that the economy, at present, is doing well, thanks to the great economic recovery under Barack Obama, but of course, no credit is given to Obama, because he is the “black man”, who Trump is determined to do everything to destroy his legacy, and lying about Obama is a norm in the Trump White House! So on the economy, his rating is 48 percent, the only area in which he is in the positive category.

On the issue of protective tariffs, Trump only gains 38 percent; on foreign policy 39 percent; on gun policy 36 percent; and only 21 percent believe Trump regarding Stormy Daniels and other women, while 33 percent think Trump Cabinet choices are doing a good job, and not out to benefit themselves.

So public opinion continues to look down on Trump, as the Stormy Daniels and Robert Mueller threats against his Presidency continue to grow and fester!

Stormy Daniels Scandal Not Going Away, And Neither Is Robert Mueller: Dual Threats To Trump Presidency

The Stormy Daniels Scandal is not going away, and it is causing Donald Trump to avoid commenting on Twitter or in public utterances, very unlike the behavior of the 45th President.

And Trump is having great trouble finding good attorneys to supplement his defense against the upcoming interview with Robert Mueller, which assuredly will not save him, his family, and his administration from a massive series of indictments and convictions, including the removal of the President sooner rather than later.

Trump is doomed, and he knows it, and his administration will go down, ultimately, as the most corrupt administration in all of American history, worse than Richard Nixon, Warren G. Harding, and Ulysses S. Grant, with the latter two not personally involved, as Nixon was, so Nixon and Trump will be in exclusive company with each other.

But Nixon will, by comparison, look like a choir boy in the extent and seriousness of scandals.

Trump will be seen as a traitor; as a person who obstructed justice; as a President who broke the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution; as a Chief Executive abusing power; as someone who openly colluded with Russia in fixing the Presidential Election of 2016; as a leader involved in illegal financial activities that could land him in prison in New York, outside of the Presidency itself, and also put his family members in prison as well.

Donald Trump will rue the day that he decided to seek the White House!

Marist Public Opinion Poll: 83 Percent Democrats, 76 Percent Independent, 57 Percent Republican–Let Mueller Investigation Move Forward

At a dangerous moment in the probe of Donald Trump by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, as Trump unravels more than ever before, and has fired so many people on his staff, greater than any President after one year in office, a Marist poll demonstrates that the American people want the Mueller investigation to move forward to completion.

It is now ten months since Mueller was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to investigate the firing of FBI Head James Comey, and it is clear that evidence has been gathered leading to convictions and indictments already, that show widespread corruption in the Trump Presidency.

Republicans in Congress have been unwilling to pass legislation to insure that the investigation will move forward, believing Donald Trump will not fire Mueller, but the feeling is that any day, that could happen.

Based on the Marist Poll–83 percent Democrats, 76 percent Independent, 57 percent Republican–it seems as if there would be a storm fire if Trump went ahead and fired Mueller, similar to what happened when Richard Nixon fired Archibald Cox in 1973. One would think there would be a movement, even by many Republicans, towards impeachment.

The problem is that even impeachment support by Republicans would take time, and an unhinged Donald Trump, with a crazy National Security Adviser, John Bolton, advocating “regime change” on North Korea and Iran, could take us into one or two massive wars that could cause tremendous loss of life, and possible nuclear war. Also, the “tariff wars” Trump is promoting could cause a world wide Great Depression or Great Recession at the least.

So public opinion is on the side of backing Mueller over Trump, but no matter how one looks at it, America and the world at large is in the midst of a constitutional crisis, which seems much more severe than Richard Nixon and Watergate 45 years ago!

The War Cabinet Emerges: Larry Kudlow, Mike Pompeo, And John Bolton: Great Depression And Aggressive War Against North Korea And Iran On The Horizon!

Donald Trump has now forced out Gary Cohn, Rex Tillerson, and H. R. Mc Master, and replaced them with Larry Kudlow, Mike Pompeo, and John Bolton, and this turnover after only 14 months in the White House is a danger sign of trouble ahead.

Trump’s “Tariff Wars”, discouraged by Cohn, now will move forward, and Tillerson and Mc Master, both strong in their criticism of Trump oriented foreign policy of “America First”, upending traditional foreign policy for 70 years, now will move into a phase of aggressiveness in foreign policy that is likely to lead to warfare.

One can now expect that we might end up in a Great Depression, or at least a Great Recession, as we are going down the road of protectionism, which was pursued by Benjamin Harrison in 1890 with the McKinley Tariff, which led to the Panic of 1893; and also pursued by Herbert Hoover in 1930 with the Smoot Hawley Tariff, which made the already begun Great Depression much more deeper.

And we can expect that with Mike Pompeo and particularly, John Bolton, two hawks in foreign policy, the first being a Tea Party activist elected to the House of Representatives, and the second, unable to be confirmed by a Republican Senate to be United Nations Ambassador, and only there for less than a year as a recess appointment under George W. Bush, and very much advocating “regime change” regarding North Korea and Iran, we can expect two wars before the year 2018 is over.

Trump may be thinking that getting engaged in two wars will cause “patriots” to rally around the flag, and help the Republicans to retain their control of both houses of Congress, and one must recall that in Presidential years, anytime there there has been a war, the President running for reelection has always won.

So Trump might be planning to use war as a way to a second term in office, which history must make every sane person be alarmed over such prospect!

The National Young People’s March On Washington For Gun Reform: An Inspiration To All Decent People, And A Warning To Those In Power!

Today, we are witnessing a massive March on Washington, “A March For Our Lives”, estimated at 500,000 people, and in 800 locations around America, and even in other nations, by young people and their supporters, demanding gun reform after the tragic Parkland Massacre in south Florida, which led to the deaths of 14 students and three teachers by a mentally ill young man who had assault weapons designed for war as he conducted his massacre in just six minutes.

Over 187,000 students have been in the line of fire from school shootings since the Columbine, Colorado Massacre in April 1999. And an estimated 33,000 victims of gun deaths anywhere in America occur every year.

We have seen great courage and conviction by the young survivors of this massacre, and it gives hope and confidence in the future of America, that we are witnessing the commitment of young people both at that high school and all around America to bringing about essential change. And their parents and families and many others are joining them in this struggle against inertia.

We are shocked at the lack of action by Congress and President Trump, and we have a future generation of leaders being created by the refusal of our government to overcome the power and money of the National Rifle Association and other powerful interest groups that control our government, and ignore the needs and desires of the American people.

The goal has to be to kick out of office as many of the “traitors” to the American people who do not give a whit about what happens to young Americans in their schools and to all Americans in other public places.

A political revolution against the cancer now existing in our government is a revolution that will triumph, as many of the older generation of politicians, in office only for their own personal ends, shall be repudiated in midterm and later elections by massive participation by the future generation reaching 18 in 2018 or soon after.

Trump’s “Congratulations” To Putin A Danger Sign To National Security Long Term, And Demonstrates How Unhinged And Dangerous He Is!

Donald Trump was told by his National Security Adviser, H. R. Mc Master, and his Chief of Staff, John Kelly, NOT to ‘congratulate” Vladimir Putin for his phony election victory in Russia.

He ignored both of them, a clear danger to national security of the nation, and now Mc Master is out, and crazy lunatic war hawk, John Bolton, who still believes the Iraq War was justified; who was unable to become UN Ambassador under President George W. Bush, and was only a recess appointment for less than a year; and who has advocated openly on Fox News Channel the idea of “regime change” in both Iran and North Korea, has replaced him.

This is an alarming development, and it is believed Kelly is on his way out, and might not be replaced as Donald Trump may believe he does not need a Chief of Staff, that he can handle everything on his own, with the help of Bolton, who will have greater access as National Security Adviser daily than anyone else.

It is now clear that Donald Trump is more unhinged and dangerous than we ever imagined, and if the military leaders John Kelly, and maybe even Secretary of Defense James Mattis leave, there will be no control on Donald Trump’s military actions.

So war may be in the offing soon!

Trump’s Tariff Wars Will Destroy Agriculture, Dramatically Raise Company Expenses And Prices, Cause Massive Consumer Price Inflation, And Rising Unemployment

Donald Trump has announced a “Tariff War” against China, as the primary target, but also against most of our trade partners.

In so doing, he is guaranteeing a disastrous economy down the road.

In 1930, Herbert Hoover went along with the Smoot Hawley Tariff, and it helped make the Great Depression, which has begun months earlier, become an ever greater calamity.

But Donald Trump knows nothing about Herbert Hoover, and nothing about the effect of “tariff wars”.

So expect economic calamity, including American agriculture unable to sell their products overseas, causing a massive farm depression.

And expect that businesses will be harmed, and will start to raise prices, and those will be passed on to the consumers, all of us.

We will be paying a lot more for food, clothing, technology, and industrial goods of all kinds.

Also, many businesses, if they lose revenue, will lay off tens of thousands of workers, causing a massive rise in the unemployment rate.

And just today, the stock market reacted by losing nearly three percent, and dropping 724 points, and this will not be a one day phenomenon.

Donald Trump is destroying the revived and prosperous American economy accomplished by Barack Obama in his eight years in office.

It is almost as if he is purposely doing everything he can to wipe out the memory of our first African American President.

We have a very sick, demented President, and the nation is suffering, and will suffer ever more until he forced out of the Presidency, and it cannot come fast enough!