Climate Change

The War On Learning Truth And Reality In Schools And Libraries: The Dangerous Censorship Movement!

American public education and public libraries are facing a massive crisis of extremist right wing ideology promoting censorship, preventing truth and reality of history, science, and free thought to flourish.

The attack is on against teaching the truth of racism against African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and the widespread antisemitism against Jews over the history of America.

White Supremacists want to wipe clean the truth about slavery and racial segregation, mass extermination of native peoples, and even the facts and reality of the Nazi Holocaust in World War II.

They express concern for the feelings and insecurities of white children that they believe will have guilt over the historical past, when that is preposterous!

What all children should have is an awakening of their minds to the horrors of the past so as to be able to deal with them in a far better manner in the future, but covering up for past wrongs is never the answer, as ignorance is NOT bliss!

The same applies to sexuality, the thought that somehow children cannot handle the recognition of sexual expression, not only heterosexual, but also gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals, as expressed in literature. This censorship on such matters only endangers children who will be treated as if their inner feelings have no significance, and sadly, will lead to more suicides and mental illness!

And allowing religion to replace science, and to repudiate science, as so many antivaxxers promote, is dangerous in the struggle against the COVID 19 Pandemic, as well as undermining the fight against global warming and climate change!

Nine Months Of President Joe Biden: Realism Sets In With Major Challenges Domestic And Foreign

Today marks nine months of the Joe Biden Presidency.

This is a crucial time for Biden and the nation, as his public opinion ratings have declined, due to the constant controversy over the COVID 19 Pandemic mandates on masks and vaccinations, bitterly opposed by the right wing channels, including Fox News Channel, One America News Network (OANN), and Newsmax TV, as well as the vast number of Republican governors and members of Congress.

But also, the economic outlook is uncertain, as inflation rages, and many people are staying out of the work force, as we are seeing a massive change in the outlook of Americans toward the kind of work they have done, and wish to do in the future.

The constant debate over the social infrastructure bill is also a burden for Biden, as Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema and a few House Democrats are forcing a major cut in the proposed spending from $3.5 trillion to about half that amount, causing a scale back in the proposed legislation on education, health care, and most particularly on climate change actions.

Foreign policy also presents major challenges in many areas, and is always unpredictable, but the growing threat of China, international terrorism and natural disasters omnipresent, Russia, North Korea, and many other issues are always on the front burner in the White House!

At this point, an objective observer would likely give Biden a B Minus, but with hope that it may rise to B Plus or A Minus grade by the end of the year, but sadly, if the major goals are not accomplished, and if voting rights legislation and criminal justice reform are not attainable, it could go down to the C range in judgment by experts and general public opinion!

The Time For Major Social Change Is Here!

Here we are in September 2021, and it is time for major social change, what the Democrats and Joe Biden are trying to bring about as Congress returns from its summer break!

We need to provide Medicare expansion, including for eyes, teeth, and hearing.

We need to provide Medicare coverage at age 60.

We need to provide decent child care and elder care, so that many people, particularly women, can go back to work in an economy where most families need two incomes, although many poor only have one income, and are faced with the need to take care of their children or elderly relatives.

We need to provide early educational intervention before kindergarten, as a way to advance literacy and the love of learning at the age when most children are open to all kinds of knowledge.

We need to provide two years of college free tuition so that all those leaving high school have an opportunity to explore their futures, both in opening up their eyes to truth and facts, but also to career training that can improve their lives over the long haul.

We need to promote that young men do not ignore college and education, at a time when 60 percent of college students are females, leaving males behind.

We need to promote protection of the environment, and the advancement of actions to cope with climate change.

We need to promote raising the poor to a future of hope and change.

There is no excuse to avoid the responsibility of improving the lives of all Americans, and making clear that those who are more fortunate have a responsibility to pay their fair share of taxes, and this includes corporations, as well as wealthy people who invest, not only those who work!

A Crucial Month For Joe Biden And America!

The month of September is an extremely crucial month for the Joe Biden Presidency.

The issue of expansion of the national debt ceiling is essential.

So is how to bring about the two Infrastructure bills the administration has been promoting, one bipartisan and one by “reconciliation”.

Also, the need to deal with voting rights legislation; abortion rights guarantees to continue; the climate change crisis; the COVID-19 pandemic that continues to spread; and working to reform the Supreme Court and the filibuster.

Realistically, not all of these can be resolved that quickly, but progress is essential, as accomplishing change will not be easier in an election year, with the midterm elections of 2022!

The Republican Party Has Become A Full Blown Fascist Party, Warring On Women, Minorities, Immigrants, Labor, The Environment, And More!

Sad to say, but it is now clear that the Republican Party in Congress and in many states has become a full blown Fascist Party, warring on women, minorities, immigrants, labor, the environment, and all decent, humane tendencies. They appeal to mob rule and violence!

Of course, there are exceptions, so those Republicans could best be defined as RINOs (Republicans In Name Only), the name given to them by the Fascist oriented Republican office holders.

The Republican Party broadly has refused to recognize and respect women’s rights, which includes the right to control their own bodies and reproduction choices. They claim they are Pro Life when they are unconcerned about the quality of life of anyone other than the elite wealthy upper class! And once a fetus is born, these Fascist Republicans have no concern about their quality of life, including their health care, education, and housing!

The Republicans appeal to struggling whites by promoting the Christian religion, when they totally distort the whole meaning of the teachings of Jesus!

They appeal to the racist beliefs of whites who want to blame African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and also Jewish Americans for the lack of progress of so many. Particularly, rural whites are manipulated by Republicans so they can keep their power by gerrymandering and distorting the Electoral College, even when they cannot win national popular elections!

The idea that America is an immigrant nation has been destroyed by Republicans who are too willing to blame new immigrant groups, as earlier groups were blamed for the shortcomings in society. These were caused by greedy capitalists and corrupt politicians, who want power, and will do anything venal to gain it and keep it, while ignoring the many issues of degradation and struggle for survival and advancement in American society.

And in the name of greedy American capitalism, Republicans refuse to deal with climate change and global warming, and have no concern about the effect on the environment, as along as they can enrich themselves, and ignore the future, and reject science and facts!

So many of the Republican officeholders are wretched excuses for human beings, and have not a bit of empathy, compassion, decency, or humanity, and promote hate, division, and hide the crimes that have occurred under Donald Trump, and on January 6, 2021!

They will do anything to cover their sins and crimes, and they must be defeated in 2022 and 2024 to preserve the American republic and the concept of democracy, not only for Americans, but as a model for the world in the future!

The Public Utterances Of Larry Elder, Potential California Governor, After Recall Election On September 14!

Larry Elder, the right wing talk show host, and an African American, seems likely to be the major threat to the tenure of California Governor Gavin Newsom in the upcoming Gubernatorial Recall election on Tuesday, September 14.

What is his record of beliefs and statements?

He is an ardent supporter of Donald Trump, regularly praising him on Twitter.

Elder has argued Trump is not responsible for the January 6, 2021 Insurrection.

In a 2000 book, he called for:

abolishing the Internal Revenue Service
creating a national sales tax
reduce government by 80 percent
end welfare and entitlements
abolish the minimum wage
eliminate corporate taxes

Also, he has condemned Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty”; thinks the ideal minimum wage is ZERO; has condemned labor unions, and said many teachers are incompetent and should be fired; and prefers charter and private schools to public schools.

Elder also is anti abortion; anti gay; thinks California is “soft on crime”; and is a denier of climate change and the dangers of second hand tobacco smoking.

He is also against mandates on COVID 19 and masks; and sees no problem with mass rallies held by Donald Trump. Additionally, he has made highly controversial remarks on women, very misogynistic in nature.

So Elder would be a nightmare for California, and could gain the power to select the replacement for Dianne Feinstein, who might leave soon due to dementia, and that would change the political balance in the US Senate!

The Republican Party Base Is Anti Immigrant, But They Are Also Anti Science And Anti Historical Fact!

The Republican Party base is anti immigrant (nativist), and has prevented immigration reform, despite the efforts over the years of Republicans, such as John McCain and George W. Bush to deal with the issue, alongside Democrats, including Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and a multitude of others.

It is also anti Science, allowing right wing evangelical Christians to utilize mind control, and to attack evolution a century after the Scopes Trial, and to be anti vaccine and anti mask advocates, and also anti climate change, along with attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci.

And the Republican Party base is also anti history, wanting to promote a “white” history, without discussion of the horrendous treatment and abuse of African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic-Latino Americans, and Asian Americans over the long run of American history.

The situation for teachers of the Social Sciences and American history, and also of American literature teachers who assign fiction that depicts and informs us of horrible mistreatment and racial language, is in crisis, as many teachers will lose their positions as state governments in many of the states dictate how their curriculums are to be controlled and presented.

Lawsuits are beginning by teachers’ unions and other groups to stop censorship of the truth, but the Republican Party base promoting “Know Nothingism” on immigration, science and history are an attack on academic freedom that must be fought through all legal means!

A Victory For The Environment: Biden Suspends Drilling Leases In Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Oil and Gas Drilling in one of the largest tracts of undeveloped wilderness in the United States, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, has been suspended by President Joe Biden, a major victory for environmentalists and conservationists.

The nation is so fortunate to have a President who values nature and the environment, and cares about wildlife and climate change.

This is a complete reversal of the devastating environmental polices of Donald Trump, and the nation is blessed by having been able to reverse so much of the damage perpetrated by the worst environmental President in American history, much worse than Ronald Reagan, who was also horrible on the topic, but not to the extreme extent of the 45th President!

Kevin McCarthy, The Republican Party, Marjorie Taylor Greene, And Antisemitism

Kevin McCarthy has a problem on his hands, and chose to ignore it until finally forced to speak up and condemn Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia for comparing a mask mandate in the House of Representatives to the Holocaust that killed six million Jews.

Greene is an antisemite, who crazily came up with the concept of Jewish space lasers as the cause for wildfires in California and other Western states, rather than the reality of Climate Change.

The Republican Party is unwilling to promote the expulsion of Greene, who already has been forced off all committees in the House of Representatives, and now has time to cause more trouble, and yet have no impact on House committees or actions.

The woman is mentally ill, and needs to be committed to a mental institution as a danger to society!

The Republican Party is appealing to the worst elements in America, and the thought that the party could be the majority after the 2022 midterm elections is terrifying!

Kevin McCarthy wants so much to be Speaker of the House, that he will tolerate any whackos in the Republican Conference.

And now another whacko, Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, has declared she wants to run for Speaker against McCarthy in 2022!

Foreign Policy Rears Its Ugly Head After Four Months Of The Joe Biden Presidency

Four months into the Joe Biden Presidency, foreign policy is rearing its ugly head in so many ways.

We have China claiming exclusive rights to much of the South China Sea, and creating naval issues with the United States and other nations that have territories in the Pacific.

We have Russia under Vladimir Putin being belligerent in so many ways, including claiming sole rights to much of the Arctic as climate change leads to melting of much of the ice in that region, opening up new potential for commerce and naval expansion, and being challenged by the US and other nations.

We have North Korea still engaged in nuclear testing and remaining a threat to South Korea and other Asian neighbors.

We have Iran remaining a threat in the Middle East, and the issue of trying to stop Iranian nuclear development.

We have the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which led to an 11 day war, and growing antisemitism around the world, and domestically in America.

We have the growing threat of authoritarianism spreading around the world in so many nations and regions.

We have the continuing global threat of climate change, and also of terrorism.

While the challenges are massive, Joe Biden came into the White House with the most foreign policy expertise since George H. W. Bush and Richard Nixon, so the nation is in good hands for these foreign policy challenges!