Gun Rights

Doug Mastriano, Pennsylvania Republican Gubernatorial Nominee, Clear And Present Danger!

Ronald 1 Comment

Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for Governor of Pennsylvania, is seen as a clear and present danger, were he to be elected.

He is an extreme far right winger, promoting Christian nationalism, the idea that there is no separation of church and state, and he has embraced Q-Anon conspiracy theories.

Additionally, he was involved in the US Capitol Insurrection on January 6, 2021, and breached US Capitol police barriers, although claiming not being involved in assault and destruction.

He is Isamophobic, antisemitic, and homophobic, and has promoted September 11 conspiracy theories in the past.

Mastriano comes across as unhinged, and nine Pennsylvania Republicans have repudiated him as too extremist for them to support him, after he won the gubernatorial nomination with only 40 percent of the vote against multiple candidates more moderate than he is in his views.

He has only been a Pennsylvania State Senator since mid 2019, having spent his career in the military, reaching the level of Colonel in the US Army.

He opposed removal of Confederate monuments, and has been a bitter critic of COVID 19 Policies, including opposing masking, and promoting drug treatments that are shown to be sham.

Mastriano has made clear that if elected, he would appoint a Secretary of State who would only accept that the Republican Presidential nominee in 2024 won the state’s electoral votes, no matter what the popular vote demonstrates.

He is against any exceptions for abortion, including rape, incest, and life of the mother; and supports gun rights without restrictions; and is a major critic of the Environmental Protection Agency regulations.

Also, Mastriano has said his governorship, if elected, would be much more right wing conservative than Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, calling him an “amateur”!

Democratic nominee, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro leads in polls, but every effort to prevent this right wing extremist from being elected must be mounted, as Mastriano’s election would be disastrous for Pennsylvania and American politics!

Joe Biden Must NOT Appoint Mitch McConnell Lackey To Federal District Court Lifetime Appointment!

Ronald Leave a comment

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is the single most significant figure to have brought about the horrendous extreme right wing Supreme Court, which has reversed abortion rights, extended gun rights, and undermined the Environmental Protection Agency in recent Court decisions.

Now, there is evidence that President Biden was ready to appoint a Mitch McConnell lackey, Chad Meredith, to a Federal District Court Judgeship for the Eastern District of Kentucky, but the Court’s decision in Dobbs V. Jackson Women’s Health Organization caused a delay in that announced appointment.

The Democratic Governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear, has publicly complained at the idea of picking Chad Meredith, who is described as a version of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on the abortion issue and so many others, and many other Democrats are protesting the idea of his appointment, supposedly to insure that McConnell does not block other Biden nominations in the last two years of his term in office.

Biden should rescind any such deal, as Mitch McConnell is unreliable, manipulative, deceitful, and making any so called deal with him is like dealing with the devil!

If Biden allows this nomination, he will lose the support of many Democrats and undermine his own Presidency, and this author and blogger will be furious with him, and wonder if it is time to move on and look elsewhere for the Democratic Presidential nomination contest in 2024!

The “Pro Life” Court Votes To Promote More Gun Deaths!

Ronald 6 Comments

The Supreme Court of 2022 is the most extreme right wing Court since the 1920s!

It has “good Christians” who wish to protect every fetus from conception to birth, while not caring how mothers, who often are victims of rape or incest, or in danger of losing their lives by carrying to term, cope with the attitude that it is not the job of government to protect and provide for the lives of children once they are born!

But, at the same time, these “good Christians” are endorsing by their decision on gun rights yesterday, to prevent protection of the American people in public places from unstable people who now will have the right to have their guns displayed and carried in all kinds of situations.

These include subways, churches, supermarkets, schools, parks and every other potential situation, insuring the already horrendous mass murders that are occurring regularly all over the nation, will now be multiplying by order of the Supreme Court!

This insane Court ruling not only threatens the ordinary citizen, but also law enforcement personnel, and insures that those who are racists, nativists, homophobes and anti semites now have open license to kill with impunity!

To use the idea of rural America as being the same as urban and suburban America demonstrates that the Court majority have not spent much time in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and other major urban and suburban areas.

It mwans that all of us in public places now are at an increased danger of being victims of gun crimes, far surpassing what happened in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas!

The blood and lives of future victims of gun violence will be on the conscience of the six right wing Justices who live in an alternate reality, and shows the need for Court reform, including adding Justices to the Supreme Court to bring it back to sanity!

Crucial Supreme Court Cases To Be Decided In Next Ten Days

Ronald 1 Comment

One of the most crucial week to ten days in Supreme Court history is between today, June 20 and the end of the month.

The issue of Abortion Rights is the central focus, with the hint that the Supreme Court is ready to outlaw Roe V Wade.

Also, a very significant Gun Rights case, in the aftermath of the Ulvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York Massacres will be decided.

Also, Immigration Policy regarding the southern border with Mexico is a very controversial case to be determined.

Additionally, an Environmental Protection Agency ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions will be facing judgment of the Supreme Court.

The Nation In Crisis Over Mass Gun Murders

Ronald 1 Comment

This author and blogger was on vacation in DC to see his older son, but the news cycles did not give him or anyone a break!

The shocking mass murder of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas by an 18 year old disturbed young man who purchased two AR-15 style rifles, is incomprehensible to fathom!

It has happened too often before, and yet the nation is paralyzed and unable to react, due to the evil power of the gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, and almost all Republicans in Congress and in state legislatures!

Ironically, the party that is “pro life” to the point of wanting to prevent any and all abortions, is unwilling to do anything to protect children in schools, as well as adults in all kinds of situations, including theaters, shopping malls, supermarkets, nightclubs, churches, synagogues, mosques, outdoor concerts, and every other imaginable location!

America is killing its children, while demanding every fetus must be born, an absolute insanity, and no compassion is witnessed in Texas about the horrendous disaster, and the unwillingness of law enforcement to go in and attempt to save the children and teachers!

Texas has become the model of the absolute worst in America in so many ways, with Florida a close second, and this indicates the disastrous future of the nation if gun rights win out over human rights to live!

Three Republican Freshmen In Congress Who Should Be Expelled As Threats To Civil Order

Ronald Leave a comment

The kooks have come out in the Republican Party, and there are at least three freshmen who should be expelled as threats to civil order and common decency.

These three members of the House have displayed that they are dangerous, extreme in their craziness, and unwilling to obey Congressional rules.

The first is Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who is a full blown QAnon supporter, and plans to promote an impeachment resolution against the newly inaugurated President Joe Biden on his first full day as President on January 21, 2021.

A second is Lauren Boebert of Colorado, also a QAnon supporter, who carries firearms on her person against safety rules, and created a scene when asked to go through metal detectors as a result of the January 6, 2021 Capitol Hill Insurrection. She is a gun rights advocate who has also resisted cooperation in dealing with the COVID 19 Pandemic.

And the third is the youngest member of the House in many years, 25 year old Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, who also packs weapons and resists metal detectors, using the excuse that he is in a wheel chair, and is not accountable to be searched as a result.

All three opposed the Electoral College ceremony for Joe Biden, and all three promote defiance and lack of cooperation, and come across as overly confrontational.

The Republican Party has become, more than ever, a party of dangerous and defiant membership, and all three show signs to any intelligent person as being mentally unstable and believers in conspiracy theories.

All three are under investigation for their possible involvement in the Insurrection, including possibly encouraging the events of that horrible day!

The Corruption Of The Supreme Court, With Five Appointees By Presidents Who Lost The Popular Vote!

Ronald 1 Comment

With the likelihood that Amy Coney Barrett will be successfully confirmed to be the replacement of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg on the Supreme Court, we are about to have a Court with five appointees by Presidents who lost the national popular vote, but still won the Electoral College.

George W. Bush lost the national popular vote to Vice President Al Gore in 2000 by a 540,000 margin, but was able to select Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito in 2005 and 2006.

And now Donald Trump, who lost the national popular vote to Hillary Clinton in 2016, by a 2.85 million margin, has been able to select Associate Justices Neil Gorsuch in 2017, Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, and now Amy Comey Barrett in 2020.

And even more infuriating is that three of these five appointees helped the George W. Bush campaign in the Bush V Gore Supreme Court case, assisting him winning the case in a majority Republican selected Court in December 2000–specifically, John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Comey Barrett!

And the right wing Federalist Society, which has been on a 40 year campaign to make the federal court system move to the extreme right on such issues as health care, abortion, gay marriage, gun rights, so called freedom of religion, deregulation of the economy and the environment, suppression of voting rights and labor rights, has fully succeeded in its campaign to undermine American democracy and a sense of humanity!

So when one complains from the right side of the political spectrum at the “horror” of Democrats “packing the Court” if they were to add seats to the Supreme Court, one has to say the level of hypocrisy is enormous, when that has been the commitment for four decades of the Right in American politics.

And who can say that if the Republicans were to win control of both houses of Congress and the Presidency, that they would not be willing to promote “packing of the Court’, so that they could add two to four more seats to the Supreme Court, and make the Court not just the 6-3 margin it will now be, but possibly 8-3 or 10-3, if two to four seats were to be added!

And one more point: Two of the six member Republican majority have had sexual misconduct hanging over their heads, although it has not affected their tenure on the Court, speaking specifically of Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh. So the ethical and moral standing of the Court has been damaged irrevocably!

But do the conservatives and the Federalist Society care about this? Not one iota!

The Right Wing Supreme Court Seems Ready To Declare War On Abortion, Gay Rights, Gun Rights, Immigration, Separation Of Church And State, And Presidential Power

Ronald 1 Comment

The new session of the Supreme Court has begun, and the full effect of Donald Trump appointees Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh will now, likely, be felt.

While it is true that Gorsuch and Kavanaugh are not “twins”, to expect any major surprises in constitutional law in this 2019-2020 term are highly unlikely, as right wing law looks in the ascendancy.

What the Court decides ends up as the law of the land, and for progressives, it does not bode well on the issues of abortion, gay rights, gun rights, immigration, separation of church and state, and the growth of Presidential power.

The fulcrum of the Court, Anthony Kennedy, is now retired for a year, and the only hope to avoid extreme right wing judgments is if Chief Justice John Roberts, who has been a surprise a few times in his views on the Court in recent years, becomes the new “swing” vote on the Court this term.

Roberts might also preside over an impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, who he, clearly, has been critical of in a number of ways, and the Court could limit Trump’s Abuse of Power, beyond Roberts presiding over an impeachment prosecution.

Since Roberts is worried about the image of “his” Court, some surprises may be in the offing, and of course, progressives will be watching the health and stability of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, now 86, having survived a third and fourth cancer, and wondering if she will be able to continue on the Court into the next Presidential term in 2021.

Crucial Gubernatorial Races That Could Affect The Future In Reapportionment Of Seats In Congress And State Legislatures After 2020 Census

Ronald 2 Comments

There are a number of crucial gubernatorial races coming up in November, which could dramatically change the future of American politics, and change the reapportionment of seats that comes about after the Census of 2020.

In Florida, Gwen Graham, the daughter of well respected former Governor and Senator Bob Graham, is now leading the Democratic primary in the polls, and she could affect the beginning of the return of Democrats to influence in the state legislature and in Congress, and is far preferable to Congressman Ron DeSantis, the favored Republican candidate backed by Donald Trump.

In Georgia, the Democrats have nominated Stacey Abrams, who has been the minority leader in the state House of Representatives, and is African American, against Trump endorsed Brian Kemp, the Georgia Secretary of State, who is extreme on gun rights.

In Ohio, Richard Cordray, the former head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and past Attorney General and State Treasurer, is the Democratic nominee for Governor, and is challenged by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, former US Senator, Lieutenant Governor, and Congressman.

In Illinois, the Democratic nominee for Governor is J B Pritzker, a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, competing against incumbent Republican Governor Bruce Rauner, also a venture capitalist and entrepreneur, who has had a contentious relationship with the Democratic controlled state legislature.

In California, Gavin Newsom, the Lieutenant Governor, is the Democratic nominee for Governor, running against Republican John Cox, a businessman, attorney and political activist backed by Donald Trump.

In Pennsylvania, sitting Democratic Governor Tom Wolf is heavily favored to win reelection, over Republican nominee and state representative Scott Wagner.

In Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott is challenged by former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez, with Abbott strongly favored to be reelected, but thought that she would be a strong challenge to Abbott.

These seven large states in population could see six out of seven victories for the Democrats, all but Texas, in all likelihood.

With Democrats having only 16 state Governors, but 36 gubernatorial elections coming up, the odds of a majority or more of state governors being Democrats in 2019 is considered a likelihood, and would allow the Democrats to have a great influence on reapportionment and gerrymandering in the next decade.

Most Significant Issue Of Entire Campaign: The Supreme Court Future And A Democratic Majority US Senate!

Ronald Leave a comment

No more important issue is on the plate for this election year than the Supreme Court future, tied into a Democratic Majority US Senate!

The Republicans have made it clear that if Hillary Clinton wins the Presidency, but the Republicans retain the control of the Senate, that NO Supreme Court nominee will be confirmed, and in fact, not even considered in hearings.

This is totally unacceptable, and cannot be allowed to occur for the next four years, as effectively, that is destroying the whole purpose of the separation of powers and constitutional government!

The Supreme Court has been Republican majority since 1972, and finally, the tipping point to a Democratic and more progressive/liberal Court is in the offing.

Such issues as the following could end up before the Court in the next four years:

Abortion
Affirmative Action
Campaign Finance
Class Action Suits
Climate Change
Contraception
Gun Rights
Immigration Reform
LGBTQ Rights
ObamaCare
Redistricting
Unions
Voter ID Laws
Voting Rights