Pearl Harbor

Trump Refusal To Accept Danger Of Russian Cyber Attack Alarming, As If FDR Did Not Accept Pearl Harbor!

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We have learned that Russia conducted a cyber attack, in many ways equivalent of Pearl Harbor, on many government agencies, and yet Donald Trump has refused to accept reality, and it adds to the long held idea that Trump is a Russian “traitor”, ready to sell America to the Russians, and undermining our defense.

If Franklin D. Roosevelt had acted casually after Pearl Harbor, it would have been, indeed, very suspicious.

The Russian connection to the Presidential Election of 2016 is clear to anyone who read the Mueller Report, and Trump has given away information to the Russians in the Oval Office in 2017, and accepts everything Vladimir Putin claims is truth, rather than his own military and intelligence agencies.

But now, outgoing Attorney General William Barr and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have made clear of the Russian involvement in the cyber attack, affecting our national security.

So once Donald Trump is out of office, a full investigation of his collaboration with Putin and Russia is required, and Trump needs to be held accountable for his clear cut treason!

78th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor, And Now Greatest Security Threat With Donald Trump In Office

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America faces its greatest national security threat since Pearl Harbor, as now we have a President who is a threat to all of us, something no one would have imagined of a sitting President after September 11.

Donald Trump is clearly being manipulated by Vladimir Putin, and is attempting to destroy our constitutional checks and balances and rule of law.

He has a willing accomplice in Rudy Giuliani, who should face arrest, conviction and incarceration, as well as so many people around Trump, including Attorney General William Barr, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.

And also, there is the willing Republican Party in Congress, which has no guts to oppose Trump’s outrageous behavior and actions.

So on this anniversary of Pearl Harbor, all Americans who are not compromised need to be active and engaged to prevent the destruction of the American Republic!

Imagine Donald Trump On Pearl Harbor Day; D-Day; Cuban Missile Crisis; September 11

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America has gone through many major crises in its history, and Presidential leadership was key to the reaction to those tragedies.

But just imagine if Donald Trump had been President when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Or imagine if Donald Trump had been President on D Day, June 6, 1944.

Or imagine if Donald Trump had been President in the 13 days of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962.

Or imagine if Donald Trump had been President on September 11, 2001.

It is inconceivable to imagine Donald Trump able to deal properly or legally in any of these moments of crisis.

That is why every day that Donald Trump is President, the nation and the world are endangered by a man who does not believe in the Constitution, does not believe in civil liberties or civil rights, does not believe in a stable international order, does not believe in retaining and strengthening our alliances with democratic nations, does not believe in science and protection of our environment, does not believe in common decency or compassion or empathy toward those less fortunate, does not believe in the concept of democracy!

Election Day 2018—Karma Is Due For Donald Trump, And The Future Of American Democracy Is At Stake!

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So now America has arrived at Election Day 2018, a time when Karma is due for Donald Trump, and the future of American democracy is at stake.

America has never been at a time of crisis as we are now, since the Great Depression and Pearl Harbor.

We have a mentally unhinged President, whose lackeys keep on serving him, and whose party has rejected their responsibility to keep the President in tow.

We have a group of Republican politicians who have besmirched the reputation and principles represented historically by Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and many past Republican Senators, Congressmen, and Governors, who promoted the end of slavery, the growth of corporate regulation and social justice, and acceptance of the best aspects of the New Deal and international alliances in the war against totalitarian government.

But now, the Republican Party represents the acceptance of totalitarianism, and rejection of international alliances against evil, and domestically of basic principles of social justice and common decency.

If the Democrats do not win control of at least the House of Representatives, and hopefully also the Senate, today, and if they do not take control of a majority of state governments, then the future is gloomy, and will be intolerable for millions of decent, hard working Americans, and particularly so for women, racial minorities, Jews, the disabled, and gays and lesbians.

The Constitution and Bill of Rights are endangered by a man who “loves” Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin and other dictators, and rejects the friendship and alliance of Justin Trudeau, Angela Merkel, Theresa May, Emmanuel Macron, and other leaders of democracies around the world.

Even if one is not traditionally “religious”, today is a time for prayer for the survival of the Republic we created nearly two and a half centuries ago, and now endangered by a mad man with no ethics, morals, or scruples!

The War Against Latino And Other Immigrants And Latino American Citizens Begins, Including Crisis With Mexico Over Proposed Wall

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The war against Latino immigrants and Latino American citizens has begun, less than one week after Donald Trump took the oath of office.

We will see victimization of people from not only Mexico, but also Central America, South America, Caribbean Islands, and also from the Philippines, Vietnam, Korea, India, Pakistan, China, Japan, and other Asian nations, as well as Muslim nations all over the world.

Racism and nativism is in full swing, and the lady on the Statue of Liberty near Ellis Island is weeping, as we have now seen the worst attack on immigration and minorities from Latin America, Asia and the Middle East that we have had in our lifetime, except for those who were alive and remember the terrible victimization of Japanese American citizens and Japanese immigrants 75 years ago after Pearl Harbor, with 120,000 interned in camps.

Not only will the government now seemingly deport more immigrants and break up more families, but one can be sure that there are plans to intern Muslim Americans when and if a few Muslim terrorists strike in America.

Civil liberties, Civil Rights, and liberty and justice are being ignored as the Trump Fascist era begins, and the question is how to bring it to an end as soon as possible, since the possibility of a dictatorship and martial law is not something we can be assured will not happen at this delicate time.

And expect a possible low level war situation at the 2,000 mile long Mexico-US border, with the plan moving ahead to build a wall, and make Mexico pay for it, which the President of Mexico declared would not occur, leading to the cancellation of a meeting at the White House. Tension will certainly rise, and we are in the worst relationship since the 1920s with our neighbor to the south.

We do not need a new foreign policy and national security headache, but Donald Trump is insuring it with his reckless and dangerous decisions.

Protectionism And Isolationism: Herbert Hoover And Donald Trump

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Eighty six years ago, President Herbert Hoover signed into law the most protectionist tariff law in American history, the Smoot Hawley Tariff of 1930, over the strong opposition of hundreds of economists who signed newspaper ads opposing the cutoff of foreign trade in the early months of the Great Depression.

These economists warned that creating tariff walls would backfire on the US economy, but Hoover did not listen, and he paid the price of a much worsening depression, leading to his defeat in 1932 for reelection by Franklin D. Roosevelt

Hoover also pursued a foreign policy of isolationism, refusing to participate in the League of Nations, and issuing the Stimson Doctrine in 1932, named after the Secretary of State, Henry Stimson. This document declared the US refusal to recognize the aggression by Japan against Manchuria, part of China in 1931, but making clear that no military or other action would be taken against foreign aggression anywhere in the world.

Hoover continued to be an isolationist after the Presidency, and opposed US entrance into World War II until after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941.

Now, Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump is taking similar stands on both protectionism and isolationism, a pivot from the modern tradition of the Republican Party, and considered by many to be a major mistake in both domestic and foreign policy.

74 Years Since Pearl Harbor And New Challenge To The Homeland!

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On this day in 1941, 74 years ago, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, sending America into World War II.

The number of veterans still alive today after 74 years is dwindling rapidly, just as we face, arguably, the greatest challenge to homeland security since then.

The question is, after the San Benardino Massacre of last week, caused by two Muslim terrorists living in California, what is the appropriate action to take, since the growing threat of Islamic terrorism has no real state boundaries, and there is no way to declare a world wide war against more than a billion Muslims, when the number of those supportive of or engaged in terrorism is miniscule, as compared to the number of Muslims in America and in the world at large.

One thing that cannot be allowed to occur is the mass of Muslims in America and overseas to be seen as the enemy, as that would lead to perpetual war and bloodshed without end, and to deny basic civil liberties to them!

Also, we cannot allow all Muslims and Arabs, and anyone who resembles them in appearance, to be singled out for violence, legal restrictions, and even internment in prison camps, as occurred to the Japanese American population in America from February 1942 to late 1945.

Fear and hysteria are being promoted by many Republicans, including many of their Presidential candidates, and that must be combated, as it is not a solution to victimize the vast numbers who have nothing to do with terrorism or violence!

Anti Immigrant Hysteria: 1840s-1850s; 1870s-1880s; 1920s-1940s And Now! Do We Ever Learn?

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Part of the ugly side of the history of America is its record of nativism and anti immigrant hysteria.

In the 1840s and 1850s, it was anti Catholic hysteria against the Irish and the German immigrants fleeing from poverty and political turmoil.  The “American” or Know Nothing Party was formed, had some members in Congress, and had former President Millard Fillmore (Whig) win the state of Maryland (heavily Catholic) in the Electoral College in the Presidential Election of 1856.

In the 1870s and 1880s, it was anti Asian hysteria, mostly Chinese at the time, and often led by Irish who had forgotten the prejudice and discrimination they had faced in an earlier generation,and it led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, courageously vetoed by President Chester Alan Arthur but passed over his veto by a two thirds majority in the House of Representatives and Senate.

In the 1920s through the Second World War in the 1940s, it was anti “new” immigration, to stop the massive wave of Catholics and Eastern European Jews from coming to America, as well as anti Japanese prejudice, replacing the Chinese who had already been banned from migration to America since 1882.

This led to the horrors of Italians, Jews, and other southern and eastern Europeans denied admission to America during the time of the rise and triumph of Fascism in Italy under Benito Mussolini and Nazism under Adolf Hitler in Germany.

The result was the Holocaust, which America could have worked against by admission of refugees, but just like now, it was Republicans, some Democrats, and conservatives who lobbied against children and women and old people being admitted, due to racism and nativism.

It also led to the forced movement of Japanese Americans into internment camps during the Second World War, as an hysterical reaction to Pearl Harbor being attacked by Japan.

In more recent decades, we have seen growing anti Hispanic and anti Latino discrimination, and now against Muslim and Arab refugees, as if we have learned nothing from our past.

America has been a beacon of hope in a difficult world, and we must not lose our image that the Statue of Liberty represents, so we must salute and applaud President Barack Obama for coming out forcefully against Republican Governors and members of Congress, who are demonstrating the ugliest side of the American experience once again!

In Crisis Moments, Should An American President Resign, As Reckless Republicans Are Suggesting? Of Course Not!

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Think of how many times a crisis has arisen in American history during an administration of innumerable Presidents!

Should James Madison have resigned as he fled the capital as the British invaded Washington, DC  in August 1814 during the War of 1812?

Should Abraham Lincoln have resigned when various times in the Civil War the Confederacy won major military battles from 1861-1863?

Should Franklin D. Roosevelt have resigned when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941?

Should John F. Kennedy have resigned when Russian missiles were discovered in Cuba in 1962?

Should Ronald Reagan have resigned after the loss of 252 Marines in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983, due to Islamic terrorism?

Should George W. Bush have resigned after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon by Al Qaeda?

In these and innumerable other situations, of course the answer is NO!

But now, suddenly, reckless Republicans want Barack Obama to resign due to the Paris terror attacks, which they blame Obama for, even though ISIL (ISIS) is the outgrowth of the disastrous and unnecessary Iraq War waged by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

This demand for resignation occurred after “Jihadi John”, who slaughtered foreign hostages by knife, including Americans; and a leading figure in ISIL (ISIS) in Libya, were killed by American air strikes, but before the tragic Paris terror attacks, as if the Republicans have s simple answer to the threat of Islamic terrorism!

So in a crisis moment, the nation should rally around the President, as is typical in most cases historically.  But even when not unifying around the President, no leader should bow to political attacks, and instead go to work and face the crises that arise, as so many Presidents have done throughout American history!

September 11: 14 Years And Counting!

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It is hard to believe, but it is now 14 years since September 11, a day which will live in the memories of every American old enough to remember.

September 11 transformed America permanently, and it has led to a constant war on terror and terrorists, which will go on endlessly, sad to say, as the terrorists are out there, and ready to take action at any time.

September 11 has made America a security conscious nation which has limited our freedoms, and made us a nation always on the edge.

It will be a part of our lives for eternity, as December 7, 1941 is for those still alive who remember the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

But September 11 was a time of death of civilians, not military personnel, and it was in New York City and Washington, DC on the mainland, not in Hawaii, three thousand miles away from the mainland of America.

Despite all of the divisiveness politically over the past 14 years, for a short time back then, there was unity, and we have been fortunate to avoid another September 11 attack, but must be constantly vigilant.

Today is a day to remember the sacrifices of the police and firefighters who gave their lives that September morning, and who remain in our hearts with a feeling of love and respect!