Month: November 2021

Roe v Wade Under Attack On Supreme Court With Case Heard On Wednesday

Nearly half a century has passed since the Supreme Court decision in Roe v Wade on January 22, 1973.

Women have had the right to determine their own future, and yet, now, the majority of the Supreme Court are Republican and conservative appointments, and could end abortion rights completely in at least 12 states.

This would include making women criminals if they had an illegal abortion, or had even a miscarriage, and would not allow even for rape or incest or life of the mother.

The thought that this could happen in the 21st century in a nation supposedly advanced like the United States’ reputation is shocking and rprehensible, and will harm poor and minority women the most, as wealthy white women will always be able to fly out of states that ban abortion and accomplish their goals of ending unwanted pregnancies safely!

The concern over the unborn fetus ends when a child is born, as the same Republican and conservative forces have no concern about the life of poor women and their newborn babies!

There is hope that possibly one or more of the six Republican justices–Chief Justice John Roberts, likely, and Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was backed by Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine for the Court membership, when he said he believed Roe V Wade was settled law–will save basic abortion rights, but the future is uncertain!

Also, Amy Coney Barrett, new to the Court, could surprise, but seen as highly unlikely!

Neil Gorsuch seems unlikely, also, to leave Roe V Wade alone, and as far as Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, both clearly are a “lost cause”, sadly!

Kevin McCarthy Caught In A Bind Between “Crazies” And “Normal” Members Of Republican Caucus

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has put himself into an impossible situation, as he works to become the Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2023, IF the Republicans win control of the 118th Congress!

He is caught in a bind between the “Crazies” in the House Republican Caucus, including Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar, Madison Cawthorn, Louie Gohmert, Matt Gaetz, Mo Brooks, Andy Biggs, and others; and the more rational, mainline conservatives, who are unnamed, but unhappy with Kevin McCarthy refusing to hold the “crazies” accountable for their utterances and actions!

For the Republican leader to refuse to condemn Paul Gosar for his anime video attacking Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Joe Biden; or the horrific and hateful statements of Greene, Boebert, Cawthorn and others, is a likely death knell to McCarthy’s opportunity to be Speaker!

McCarthy clearly has no ethics, morals, or scruples, as he continues to kowtow to Donald Trump, and participates in the “Big Lie” being continued a year after the Presidential Election of 2020, that Trump won the Presidency over Joe Biden!

But there are indications already that McCarthy is not Trump’s favorite, because initially, after the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection, he was critical of Donald Trump, bedore he went to Mar a Lago and switched his views on that event which he had lived through!

Fareed Zakaria CNN Special From May 2021 Updated: “A Radical Rebellion: The Transformation Of The GOP”

The Welfare State–Secularism—changing racial situation.

Fareed Zakaria on a CNN Special today, updated from May 2021, entitled “A Radical Rebellion: The Transformation of the GOP”, presented an analysis of the disaster that the Republican Party has become:

in an era of conservatism attacking the concept of the Franklin D. Roosevelt New Deal and the Lyndon B. Johnson Great Society;

allowing Right Wing evangelical Christianity and theocracy to take over the party in the name of God;

and working against the reality that the white majority face a future in America of minority racial groups together being a majority of the population in about 2040-2045.

He covers from the John Birch Society in the 1950s;
to William F. Buckley, Jr and the National Review;
to Barry Goldwater and the conservative takeover in 1964, leading to massive victory of Lyndon B. Johnson and the Great Society;
to Richard Nixon and the “Southern Strategy”in 1968;
to Jerry Falwell and the “Christian Coalition” and the “Moral Majority” in the late 1970s and early 1980s;
to Ronald Reagan and the “Reagan Coalition” in the 1980s;
to Pat Buchanan’s challenge of George H W Bush in 1992;
to Newt Gingrich and the “Republican Revolution” of 1994 and after;
to the promotion of right wing propaganda and lies by Fox News Channel starting in 1996;
to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in the 2000s;
to the Tea Party Movement rise under Barack Obama’s Presidency;
to the rise of Donald Trump in 2015-2016;
to the “Big Lie” about the Presidential Election of 2020;
to the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection;
to the present extremism in the Congressional and State Republican parties in 2021;
to the constant threat to women’s rights, including abortion;
to the right wing rejection of Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, Bob Dole, John McCain, and Mitt Romney as not conservative enough;
and the growing racism, nativism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, misogyny, and homophobia that have become alarming realities for the future of American politics!

Republican Criticism About Biden, Harris, Pelosi Is So Petty And Infantile!

The Republican Party and its right wing organs–Fox News Channel, OANN (One America News Network), and Newsmax TV–along with radio and print sites–are going full scale into petty, infantile attacks on the top three people in the American government—President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

For a party that worships obscene wealth, and worships a former President who has no ethical or moral values, witness:

Criticism of Joe Biden spending Thanksgiving in Nantucket at the home of a wealthy supporter.

Criticism of Kamala Harris for purchase of a $375 Cooking Pot on her recent diplomatic trip to Paris.

Criticism of Nancy Pelosi for the false rumor that she is purchasing a $25 million mansion on Jupiter Island, Florida.

It is perfectly fine for Republicans to associate with the wealthy, purchase properties, have vacations at resort locations, and buy whatever pleases them on a trip, but god forbid that the Democratic leaders of the national government have the same rights!

When one compares Joe Biden to Donald Trump; Kamala Harris to Mike Pence; and Kevin McCarthy or Paul Ryan or John Boehner to Nancy Pelosi, one realizes that Republican propaganda is pure stupidity, to be dismissed as ridiculous!

Republicans these days are more petty and infantile than ever, and they do not deserve any control of the national government, and all decent people must work very hard in the next year to insure the Democrats keep control of the future of America!

New Crisis Faces Joe Biden: COVID 19 Omicron Variant!

The nation is weary after nearly two years of the COVID 19 Pandemic, but now a new COVID 19 Variant named Omicron lurks on the horizon, a new crisis for Joe Biden.

With so much resistance from anti Vaccinators and anti Face Maskers, this new variant represents a potential massive threat to the American economy and public health!

The Omicron Variant is being watched closely, but already, the World Health Organization has expressed its alarm and concern, and the US is limiting travel from eight countries—South Africa and other African nations surrounding or near that nation.

The stock market and oil prices have already plunged in response, so it will have a likely effect of cutting travel among Americans who only wish to go back to “normal”. But now, there has to be caution yet again, as 800,000 Americans have died in this COVID 19 Pandemic, nearly two years old!

Republican Party Is Selling Its Reputation To Donald Trump, Who Is Hellbent On Destroying The Party!

The Republican Party is in the process of destroying its legacy, and selling its reputation to Donald Trump, who is hellbent on destroying the party in his quest for absolute power, and destruction of American democracy!

Whether one agrees or not with the conservative philosophy of the Republican Party throughout its history, the party has added to the constant debate over the nature of government.

The Republican Party had its great leaders with courage and convictions, from the time of the party being founded as a reform party in the 1850s, through its various highs and lows over the past 167 years from 1854 onward.

Its low points included 1912, when William Howard Taft won only two states, 23 percent of the vote, and 8 electoral votes; to 1964, when Barry Goldwater won less than 40 percent of the vote, and only 6 states; to the shock of a reckless businessman, Donald Trump, who was able to hijack the party and its principles in 2016, and now has set out to destroy the party and the nation by refusing to concede defeat in the Presidential Election of 2020, and is a dire threat for the future!

Where are the “Profiles in Courage” that put the welfare of the nation over their own ambitions, and are willing to stand up to Trump Fascism, and its promotion of white supremacy and domestic terrorism, as demonstrated in the January 6, 2021 Insurrection on the US Capitol!

Only a small group is putting the nation and American democracy ahead of their own naked ambitions!

So on this Thanksgiving Day, we have to be thankful that Joe Biden is President, and do everything to insure that the Democratic Party overcomes history, and keeps control, and gains seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in 2022!

Effect Of John F. Kennedy Assassination Still Reverberates On America 58 Years Later!

This author and blogger was a sophomore in 1963, when John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963.

It was the most stunning event of my life until the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The Kennedy assassination transformed American politics dramatically, both in good ways and bad ways.

It brought about the possibility of the greatest period of reform since Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, with Lyndon B. Johnson and the Great Society.

But it also brought on a devastating long term war in Vietnam, and the beginning of disillusionment with government at all levels.

Had Robert F. Kennedy survived and won the Presidential Election of 1968, instead of being assassinated after winning the California primary in June 1968, the potential for more great reform and change, and to avoid the Presidency of Richard Nixon, would have existed.

WIth RFK’s death, after the earlier tragedy of JFK, America was put into a permanent decline in hope and optimism for the next forty years, as even the election of Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Bill Clinton in 1992 did not revive the hopes of the Kennedy legacy.

Instead, we had Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush cause great regression in so many ways, as Richard Nixon had done earlier.

Barack Obama was a bright light, but faced great opposition, and the horrors of Donald Trump as his succession!

Joe Biden, who has a bust of RFK behind him on the left in all photos when he is sitting at his desk, is trying to revive the Kennedy legacy of hope and promise, and has made a good start.

But it is clear the two Kennedy assassinations in the early and late 1960s have left a permanent scar on the nation!

Fox News Contributors Stephen Hayes And Jonah Goldberg Resign Over Tucker Carlson January 6 Series!

Two lesding conservatives, who have been Fox News contributors for years, have resigned over the Tucker Carlson January 6 series on January 6, 2021.

Stephen Hayes and Jonah Goldberg have demonstrated principle and common decency, and they are to be commended.

They and other conservatives NOT allied with Fox News Channel, now a long list, have condemned Carlson for lies, deceit, manipulation of truth, and the promotion of domestic terrorism and white supremacy.

Fox News Channel is promoting pure racist, extreme Fascist like propaganda, and has demonstrated no concern about the promotion of violence and bloodshed that took place on January 6.

Presidential Losers Who Ran Again, And Donald Trump!

It has been reported that a former Trump advisor is planning to convince Donald Trump NOT to run again in 2024.

According to the report, this person has, or will tell Trump, that he would not wish to be a two time loser for the Presidency, amidst the belief that Trump’s ego could not handle that idea.

Former two time Democratic Presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson (1952, 1956) is mentioned as the example of the most recent two time nominee who lost twice for the White House.

One would think that this advisor would have more knowledge than just mentioning Stevenson, as five other Presidential candidates lost either twice or three times.

These include Republican Thomas E. Dewey (1944, 1948); Democrat William Jennings Bryan (1896, 1900, 1908); and Whig Henry Clay (1824, 1832, 1844), along with Democrat Martin Van Buren (elected in 1836 but losing in 1840, and 1848 (Free Soil Party), and Federalist Charles C. Pinckney (1804, 1808).

All six of these two or three time losers had real credentials and validity, unlike Donald Trump, who will go down as the worst or near worst President in American history!

But also, Andrew Jackson lost the Presidency in 1824, but won in 1828 and 1832, and William Henry Harrison lost in 1836 but won in 1840.

Also, there is the example of Richard Nixon, who lost in 1960, but came back successfully in 1968 and 1972.

And finally, there is Grover Cleveland, elected in 1884, but losing reelection in the Electoral College in 1888, and yet coming back to a second nonconsecutive term in the White House in 1892!

Birthday Of Joe Biden And Robert F. Kennedy November 20, And The Issue Of Age!

Yesterday, November 20, was the 79th Birthday of President Joe Biden, our oldest President in office.

It was also the birthday of Robert F. Kennedy, who Biden perceives as a hero, with Biden having a bust of RFK always in every photo on his left side when Biden is at his desk in the Oval Office.

Biden is working so hard to accomplish the greatest social change legislation in the past 55 years since Lyndon B. Johnson accomplished the massive reforms of the Great Society in the mid 1960s, something RFK wished to build on if he had lived and become President in the Presidential Election of 1968.

The issue of age constantly is brought up as Joe Biden will be 82 years old weeks after the Presidential Election of 2024.

Biden certainly has aged since he was Vice President under Barack Obama, but he is still capable and alert, although his annual physical shows his gait has slowed a bit.

But when one compares Biden to Donald Trump or Ronald Reagan at the end of their terms, and even Trump now a year later, Biden is far more mentally capable than either of them.

And the idea that Donald Trump at age 78 and a half at the time of inauguration three years hence would magically be much more mentally and physically capable than Joe Biden, when already it is clear that Trump is a danger with his reckless rhetoric, and promotion of hate, sedition and treason, makes one have to wonder about the mental stability of Donald Trump followers, who see him as a God like figure!

Joe Biden might decide one term is enough, considering his age, and that would be perfectly understandable, as only one third of our Presidents have served two terms.

Joe Biden is a transformative figure in the Presidency, who is having an historical impact, and this is just his first year in office!

A new generation can follow him and continue the good works, and common decency, that would make Robert F. Kennedy proud, if he was alive, on his 96th birthday!