Human Rights

God Bless Jimmy Carter, As He Reaches Age 100 On Tuesday!

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It is hard to believe, but former President Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States, reaches age 100 on Tuesday October 1.

There have been many occasions where Carter had health crises and also lost his wife Rosalynn, and one would think his life was nearing its end.

But here he is, still mentally alert, although physically unable to take care of himself, and reaching the centenarian accomplishment.

Carter has been much underrated for a long time, and his accomplishments have not been adequately acknowledged, and instead, his failures and shortcomings, particularly with the Iran Hostage Seizure, have caused the general public and many scholars to rate him only in the mid 20s at best in Presidential rankings.

His record and accomplishments are often overlooked or ignored, including:

The Egyptian Israeli Camp David Accords

the Panama Canal Treaty

best environmental record of any one term President

his promotion of human rights

his diplomatic recognition of mainland China

three Cabinet agencies (Education, Energy, Health and Human Services)

his ethical and moral standards, and lack of corruption

his tremendous intellect and high IQ

his common decency, empathy and compassion

his genuine religiosity, being a “true” Christian, not a phony

and his post Presidency activities through the Carter Center

and Habitat For Humanity activities, including personal building of housing for the poor

Nobel Peace Prize in 2002

All these are to be applauded, and one would wish for public recognition of his greatness on Tuesday, and beyond!

Project 2025: Attack On Women, Minorities, Gay And Transgender Rights

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Project 2025, created by the right wing think tank The Heritage Foundation, is a direct attack on the civil rights of vulnerable groups, including women, racial minorities, immigrants, and gay and transgender Americans, despite Donald Trump’s claim that he has no connection to this group or project, yet another lie added to the tens of thousands he has enunciated since 2015!

It would work to ban all abortions nationwide with no exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.

It would retract the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and other laws and rules that have promoted protection for racial minorities.

It would end birth right citizenship, and arrest and imprison millions of undocumented immigrants before deportation.

It would arrest and imprison all homeless people, and put a ban on Muslim immigrants.

It would repeal gay rights and gay marriage rights, and promote discrimination against transgender Americans.

This attack on vulnerable groups would set up a society in which white Christian supremacy and nationalism would reign.

It would destroy the concept of a multi racial, multi ethnic society where human rights and freedom would reign!

The Likelihood Of Further US Engagement In Overseas Conflicts

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This author and blogger has the sense of foreboding, that the United States will soon become more involved in overseas conflicts in a more direct manner.

The Russia-Ukraine War and the Israel-Gaza Conflict are escalating dangerously, and both represent major problems for American foreign policy.

Attempting to promote more military aid to Ukraine has been a struggle, and the sense is that Russia is emboldened by the inability of the US being able to promote more aid to Ukraine, ironically likely insuring a wider conflict.

Russia is likely to attempt to expand the war against former Soviet Union held areas before 1989—Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. This would bring the US and NATO into a wider conflict.

The Israel-Gaza conflict is likely to escalate with Iranian involvement, and will put America into the cross hairs of supporting a right wing Israeli government, which has shown no concern about human rights in its war on Hamas, sadly making the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to suffer massive loss of civilians.

All that these two conflicts are doing is complicating Joe Biden’s Presidential campaign.

One would expect that there could be wider war soon, against all desires, and if that happens, as sad as that is, it would help insure Joe Biden’s victory, despite vehement anger of many, as no President has ever lost an election for another term in a time of war!

Abortion Rights Key Issue Of Presidential And Congressional Elections Of 2024!

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The insane, lunatic action of the Arizona Supreme Court insures that abortion rights will be the key issue of the Presidential and Congressional Elections of 2024.

The Republican Party and Donald Trump, and the corrupt majority of the Supreme Court have made abortion the major issue of human rights, as more than half the population of the nation will not tolerate the loss of bodily control that every human being should have!

The insanity of an 1864 law in Arizona, when there were fewer than 10,000 people living in the territory that did not become a state until 1912, being utilized 160 years later, calls for a purge of the Arizona Supreme Court. They are, clearly, a bunch of corrupt, “bought” monsters, allowing religious extremists and right wing whackos that want to bring America back to the 19th century, to dictate the lives of American women!

Arizona joins Alabama and Florida in promoting extremism and authoritarianism, in line with the Fascism of Donald Trump and the horrendous Republican Party cult in Congress and the states!

Everyone with a brain and compassion needs to get out there and campaign for everyone they know to vote, and to make sure they meet their own citizen’s commitment to throw the “rascals” out, and insure that Donald Trump and his MAGA Republicans never egain get near political power!

Henry Kissinger, Most Controversial Diplomat Since World War II, Is Dead At 100!

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Henry Kissinger, the most controversial diplomat since World War II, is dead at age 100!

The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the end of the Vietnam War, he is seen by many as having been an international outlaw and criminal for his involvement in spreading the Vietnam War into Cambodia; his support and promotion of a right wing government in Chile, destroying that democracy for a generation; and his lack of concern about human rights and loss of freedom in so many places around the world besides Chile, including Argentina.

As National Security Adviser and then Secretary of State to President Richard Nixon, and later to President Gerald Ford, he engaged in many unethical, if not illegal, actions.

A believer in Realpolitik in international relations, he was seen as lacking ethics and morality to the extreme, and was noted for his egotism and lack of concern about his reputation.

He is noted for helping to open up relations with the People’s Republic of China, and his dealings with the Soviet Union, and the Middle East cauldron. He also is criticized for backing Pakistan in the Bangladesh-India War for Independence of what had been East Pakistan, undermining relations with the largest populated nation, India, beyond China, and also encouraging the corrupt Shah of Iran during the energy crisis!

Seen as a brilliant and yet to many an evil man, he clashed with many other diplomatic and political figures, and stood out as diametrically opposite to many, including President Jimmy Carter, who survived him and one hopes will reach age 100 in ten months!

Rosalynn And Jimmy Carter: Their Significance In American History Growing!

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With the passing of First Lady Rosalynn Carter, and the further weakening of former President Jimmy Carter in his 100th year, their significance in American History is growing.

Often overlooked and ignored, it is clear that Rosalynn Carter transformed the position of First Lady in ways not realized at the time, as she became a true partner of her husband, just about as much as Vice President Walter Mondale.

The Carter-Mondale relationship was transformative, as was the interaction of the First Lady with her husband in affecting American government policies.

And the longest post Presidency in American history also has had an effect on Jimmy Carter’s reputation!

And with Jimmy Carter in his twilight time, his impact is being assessed in a more positive way, including his environmental policies; his Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt; his negotiation of the Panama Canal treaty; his recognition of mainland China; and his promotion of human rights as a major instrument of American foreign policy, as among the attributes of his Presidency.

Hooray! :) Jimmy Carter Reaches The Age Of 99, A Record Never To Be Broken! :)

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This is a day to celebrate as the 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) has reached the magic age of 99 today, despite being in hospice and rejecting medical treatment.

His wife, Rosalynn, is 96 and in early stages of dementia, but their 77 year marriage endures.

No one who is President will ever reach this major achievement of Carter, and one can be certain that assessments of his Presidency, often quite critical, will become more reflective and positive in the future, as Carter actually had a number of policies that have endured.

These include the Camp David Accords (the Israeli-Egyptian Treaty); the Panama Canal treaties; the promotion of human rights around the world; major initiatives on the environment, making Carter the greatest one term President on that issue, and number 3 overall in the assessment of environmental historians, only trailing Theodore Roosevelt and Richard Nixon; and the creation of three cabinet agencies in Health and Human Services and Education (dividing the Health, Education, and Welfare Department created under President Dwight D. Eisenhower); and the Department of Energy, created in the midst of the Oil Crisis of the late 1970s. He also added less to the national debt than any modern President.

Joe Biden was the first US Senator to endorse Jimmy Carter in 1976, when many thought Biden was crazy to do so, as no one saw Carter as a likely nominee of his party or President of the United States. The two men share many common traits.

And Carter has said his favorite President is Harry Truman, who like Carter and Biden, has often been underrated and underestimated.

One could say the three men—Carter, Biden, and Truman—are in many ways, the most decent Presidents since World War II.

And one more point: These three men have never been cited as those who have cheated on their wives, and their marriages endured without scandal!

Jimmy Carter also has been the true example of a “good Christian”, as he has practiced the decency and compassion promoted by Jesus Christ.

Carter is a wonderful, compassionate, decent human being, and there are very few Presidents who fit that description!

So as a nation, let us celebrate this great man–Jimmy Carter–the total opposite of the most crooked and horrendous President of the United States in its history–Donald Trump–who still poses a threat to American democracy as we near the 250th anniversary of American Independence in 2026!

The South Of Slavery And Racial Segregation Now The South Of Denial Of Health Care And War On Women’s Rights!

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The American South, the area of slavery and racial segregation in its past, is once again demonstrating that it is the area of denial of civil and human rights.

In the past, it was the Democratic Party that worked to deny human rights and dignity.

Now it is the Republican Party, the party that had fought for civil and human rights in the mid 19th century.

A total switch which remains startling, but now the emphasis is on denying health care to millions of poor whites and minorities, and taking away the right of women to control their own bodies and reproductive life.

The Medicaid Program enacted into law by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966 now is being denied to help the health and safety of poor Americans, most particularly in Texas and Florida, but throughout the American South, as well as other Republican controlled states.

The section of the nation that demands that all fetuses be born, no matter what condition they are in, or how the woman became pregnant, is only too willing to deny health care, which undermines and shortens the lives of their less fortunate constituents.

This is so mind boggling, and it is as if the American South is still fighting the Civil War a century and a half later, continuing to be lacking in humanity and common decency.

60th Anniversary Of March On Washington: Need For Renewal Of That Effort!

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Today, 60 years after the famous March on Washington in 1963, and the legendary speech by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther, King Jr. calling for justice and basic civil rights for African Americans and other discriminated groups, we are having a commitment to restore the civil rights that are under attack in recent years by the US Supreme Court, the Republican Party, and extreme right wing forces.

It is expected that about 100,000 people will participate in today’s commemoration in Washington, DC, as compared to the 250,000 who did so on August 28, 1963.

The struggle against forces that have taken away the right to vote requires a new national commitment to restoring the weakened Voting Rights Act of 1965.

And the open racism and nativism and misogyny promoted by Donald Trump and his minions must be fought tooth and nail through lawsuits, marches, and demonstrations against state governments that are limiting basic human rights, with Florida, Texas, Tennessee, and Alabama in the leadership of setting American rights and freedoms in the wrong direction!

Majority Of Republican Loyalists Are A Cult, Out Of Touch With Reality!

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It is now clear that the majority of Republican Party loyalists are a cult, out of touch with reality!

They are willing, even at this point, to continue to support Donald Trump, despite two impeachments, two indictments, and more indictments and law suits to come!

They are willing to abandon traditional conservatism, and instead promote authoritarian Fascism.

Those among them who profess to be “religious” are willing to back a man who is totally against everything Jesus Christ preached!

They are willing to continue to back a person who promoted a violent Insurrection on the US Capitol!

They are willing to back a person who embraces Communist and Fascist Governments, and particularly Vladimir Putin and Russia, which used to be regarded as the “enemy” by Republicans of past times!

They are willing to undermine our national security, our intelligence agencies, and our law enforcement agencies which are designed to keep America safe!

They have no reverence for democracy or the rule of law, and have abandoned what the party was originally founded for, to oppose expansion of slavery and slavery itself, and promote human rights for all who lived in America!

Earlier generations with principled leaders, including Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush have now been pushed aside, for a corrupt, immoral man, who has no ethics or scruples!