Environmental Crisis

Global Warming/Climate Change Ignored By Republican Party And Donald Trump!

A series of recent events, most notably Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, but also many other warnings of the escalating Global Warming/Climate Change crisis, is making the environment a growing political controversy!

The Republican Party en masse has long ignored the issue, favoring the oil and gas industries, and working against any efforts to combat the problem.

Donald Trump ridicules the concept of Global Warming/Climate Change, and if he is elected, the nation will be in ever greater crisis.

But even Republican members of Congress, and Republican governors, most notably Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, have chosen to ignore the problem, and in Florida, DeSantis has followed former Governor and now Senator Rick Scott, in removing any mention or actions in state law to deal with Global Warming/Climate Change.

A long term disaster seems certain, and clearly there is no concern about the effect it will have against poor people, who always end up affected more by actions taken to benefit the powerful and wealthy corporate interests.

Joe Biden Becomes Third President (After Ulysses S. Grant And Lyndon B. Johnson) To Emphasize Racial Equity In First Months Of His Presidency

President Joe Biden has made racial equity a landmark moment of his Presidency from the beginning, and already is perceived as being the third President to make civil rights a major goal immediately upon taking the oath.

The first President to do this was Ulysses S. Grant in 1869, promoting the concept of the 15th Amendment, granting the right to vote to African American men, and being added to the Constitution in 1870.

Also, Grant promoted better treatment of Native Americans in his Inaugural week, and is seen as the most tolerant and open minded on that issue of any President in the post Civil War years.

The second President to make civil rights a key issue immediately was Lyndon B. Johnson upon becoming President after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963. Johnson made the push for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which had been floundering in Congress after it was introduced by Kennedy in the summer of 1963. And Johnson went on to promote also the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as the 15th Amendment had been denied for many decades in the Southern states, as Jim Crow segregation reigned.

And now, Joe Biden is pushing and promoting action, as a result of the well known discrimination in criminal justice; and in dealing with the endemic poverty in minority communities; the lack of adequate health care including in the COVID 19 Pandemic; problems of education and work opportunities and housing that persist; the need to clean the environment where often there is massive pollution in areas ignored before now; and also the difficulties faced by women, transgender citizens, the gay community, and the disabled. The purpose is to get rid of systemic discrimination against all the above groups.

One can hope that major progress on these areas of policy can be accomplished!

Massive Number Of Problems In 2020 America

America in the middle of 2020 faces a massive number of problems, all at once.

We have the COVID-19 Virus, which has killed 130,000 Americans and which is being made worse by resistance of many to obey the rules on masks, social distancing, and avoiding crowds. The fact that Donald Trump refuses to set an example is making the situation far worse! This is the worst health crisis in a century!

We have the economic depression, the worst since the 1930s, and millions of people face hunger and homelessness, and it is already showing up with an increased crime rate in poor neighborhoods.

We have a major crisis in mental health, which is a time bomb that can undermine the nation’s future.

We have an environmental crisis, which endangers the nation and is being made worse by the Trump Administration policy on environmental issues.

We have a conflict on race and civil rights, far worse because we also have a President who reminds us of George Wallace in the 1960s, but the difference was that Wallace, while campaigning for President, had no chance to win, only cause turmoil but not make policy.

We also have a divided Congress, which historically has meant little ability to resolve or deal at all with major issues.

We have a court system rapidly becoming more right wing in a nation that is moving to the left, as the country moves to the inevitable majority being racial minorities in a generation from now.

When Joe Biden, God willing, becomes President, he will face more issues and controversies, all at once, than any President in the lifetime of anyone now living!