Right Wing Extremism

Republican Attacks On FBI, IRS, Election Workers A Reckless And Dangerous Escalation!

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Republican Party leaders are escalating attacks on the FBI after the Department of Justice ordered intervention at Mar A Lago to retrieve national security documents illegally removed by Donald Trump when he left the White House.

Threats on the law enforcement agency and its agents make the Republican Party look like the party of lawlessness, chaos, and anarchy. This is all in the name of a former President who is promoting Fascist authoritarianism in his mission to regain power with the intention of destroying government institutions, with the help of the MAGA mob that can be seen as domestic terrorists, and Trump promoting their extremism.

But also, future potential House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is encouraging such action, with his promotion of conspiracy theories, along with a whole group of other reckless Republicans.

And Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who if reelected in November at age 89, would be President Pro Tempore if the Republicans become the majority in the US Senate, is asserting a preposterous claim. According to Grassley, the new Inflation Reduction Act of Joe Biden, which allows 87,000 new Internal Revenue Service employees, is going to lead to such new employees having the authority to use force, including assault rifles against small business owners and middle class tax payers to collect taxes!

This is pure insanity, and to think that the third and fourth ranking government officials that may arise after the midterm elections are attacking the federal government’s ability to do their jobs of public safety and tax collection, is an alarm bell for the future of extremism!

And also, election workers are being threatened all over the nation, as Republicans aim at insuring that their party will take control of election machinery and insure that only Republicans can win elections in the future!

The Republican Party has become a “clear and present danger” to American democracy and the rule of law, and has made the Midterm Elections of 2022 more urgent than any midterm elections in the past!

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

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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!

The Growing Battle Of Blue Vs Red States: Gavin Newsom Vs Ron DeSantis

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The battle between Democratic (Blue) states and Republican (Red) states is on, as we start to look to the upcoming Midterm 2022 Elections and the beginnings of the 2024 Presidential Election scene.

The odds are growing that, in the end, neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden will end up as the nominees of their parties.

So innumerable Democrats and Republicans are “testing the waters”, and the battle for the future of the nation, after the shocking right wing extremism of the Supreme Court in the term recently ended, has begun.

So we see California Governor Gavin Newsom taking on the fight against the right wing as exemplified by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Both could, in theory, be opposing each other two years from now, and Newsom is taking a very aggressive approach toward the disgraceful record of Ron DeSantis on so many issues!

The Donald Trump Nightmare Began Seven Years Ago Today!

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On June 16, 2015, two days after Donald Trump’s 69th Birthday, the New York Real Estate Mogul announced his candidacy for the Republican Presidential nomination for 2016.

The seven years since that day have been a literal nightmare, with Trump declaring war on all of his Republican primary opponents and promoting racism, nativism, misogyny, and supporting domestic terrorism in the pursuit of his goal of destroying American democracy and promoting authoritarian Fascism.

His four year term was easily the most corrupt and divisive Presidency in American history, and he was determined to force his will on the nation, as the first losing candidate to refuse to accept defeat, and encourage his supporters to attack the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

A cult has built up around Donald Trump which threatens stability and order, and Trump and his ilk remain dire threats to the future of American government and the world community at large, as he embraces authoritarian dictators and has undermined America’s allies around the world.

The future is tense and unpredictable, and the Republican Party has become a party of white supremacy, male dominance, and extremist right wing, working against the rights of racial and ethnic minorities, women, gays and lesbians, academic freedom in colleges and universities, and even public schools and libraries.

America is in the greatest crisis since the Civil War 160 years ago, and the future is not guaranteed to be one of democracy surviving.

The Supreme Court Has Lost All Dignity, Respect, And Legitimacy, And The John Roberts Led Court Will Face Historic Repudiation!

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The Supreme Court of the United States was created in 1789 to judge the constitutionality of all laws and actions, and promote the rule of law.

In recent decades, it has become a weapon of right wing extremism, and has lost all dignity, respect, and legitimacy, and is in the worst constitutional crisis in a century!

The conservative movement to promote an extremist Court will cause a repudiation in history, as they have done great damage in the past generation in such cases as Bush V Gore in 2000 (interfering in the Presidential Election of that year); Citizens United in 2011 (that allowed corporations to be considered people); Shelby County V. Holder in 2013 (gutting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965); and now are almost certain to do in the abortion case before the Court (Dobbs V Jackson Women’s Health Organization).

Never has the Supreme Court taken away a right once granted, as in the case of Roe V Wade, alloing abortions in the first two trimesters of a pregnancy, and including the factors of rape, incest, and the life of the mother.

It is unseemly, and reprehensible, that women are being informed that religious fanatics can interfere with their personal rights to control their own bodies, and it will lead to many self mutilations and suicides by women desperate to end an unwanted pregnancy, often brought about by violence perpetrated by men!

The Chief Justice, John Roberts, will see his reputation as the 17th person to hold that position, sullied and repudiated in history, if he cannot convince at least one other conservative Justice to join him and the three Democratic appointments to uphold Roe V Wade!

The move to add membership to the Court, and promote term limits in the future, will be encouraged to occur, as the Supreme Court has lost whatever halo it has had over the past generations!

Florida An Outlier, Likely To Continue To Defy Common Decency By Government Leaders

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This author and blogger lives in the “Sunshine” State, Florida, and has lived in South Florida since the summer of 1989.

Sadly, Florida has some of the most horrendous political leaders imaginable, with the state legislature heavily Republican, and promoting right wing extremism in every way they can.

The Governor, Ron DeSantis, has no concern about public health in the midst of the COVID 19 Pandemic.

The former Governor, now a US Senator, Rick Scott, has a record of Medicare fraud, but was allowed to run for public office after paying a fine, rather than serve time in prison, and he has a steel heart.

The other Senator, Marco Rubio, is a mediocre Senator and not very bright, although less harmful than DeSantis and Scott.

Only in South Florida do Democrats have much impact, other than in selected Congressional districts in the central part of the state.

And Florida is the home of the disgraced former President, Donald Trump, who continues to divide the nation, and perpetrate a big lie that he won the Presidential Election Of 2020, and he has blood on his hands by having incited the US Capitol Insurrection on January 6, 2021.

Florida desperately needs a renaissance in state government and in national representation, as it is an outlier defying common decency, and is likely to see all three statewide officials competing for President in 2024, unless Trump is somehow able to poison the nation again.

In any case, right now, all three Florida leaders are competing with many others for Trump’s endorsement and support, so common decency is not present in Florida Government in 2021.

The Death Of Truth: Facts Are Facts, Despite Right Wing Attacks

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America is in a sad time, when we have extremist Right Wing Talk Radio, Right Wing websites, and Fox News Channel creating fiction as truth.

If left up to them, we would have the death of truth, but facts are facts, despite the right wing constant barrage of propaganda, worthy of a dictatorship, not a democracy.

Errors are made by the major news media, but most of the time, what they report is factual and accurate.

When someone says do not trust the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, and CNN, along with lesser sources of mostly accurate news, the response must be to act vehemently in the face of those who wish to manipulate and lie and distort and divide America, and undermine its Constitution and Bill of Rights.

If not for the Washington Post and New York Times in particular, back in the era of Richard Nixon, Watergate would never have resulted in his resignation.

So hopefully, the readers of this blog are intelligent and educated enough to dismiss the right wing media, as pure propaganda and lies, and not to be trusted or believed.

The Aftermath Of The Midterm Elections: A Lot Of Positives, But Also Negatives

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Now that the Midterm Elections of 2018 are over, after having time to think about the events that transpired, several conclusions are clear.

There certainly were positives, but also negatives.

The big positives were that the House of Representatives once again fell into the hands of the Democrats, after eight years in the wilderness, and Nancy Pelosi, who was an excellent Speaker from 2007-2011, is likely to become Speaker again, although there is a movement among younger and new members to have someone else as their leader, to be decided in the coming weeks.

Another big positive is the gain of a substantial number of new Governorships, including in the all important Midwest, and having a majority of governorships insures a better future for the Democratic Party when the Census of 2020 occurs, and reapportionment of seats in state legislatures and in the House of Representatives occurs in 2021 and 2022.

A third big positive is that some of the most disgraceful and despicable Republicans lost, including Scott Walker, Kris Kobach, and David Brat.

However, some major negatives stand out, and the most significant is the loss of at least two Senate seats or more, although it is also clear that the Democrats have gained at least one Senate seat in Nevada, and may win in Arizona. However, they have lost North Dakota, Missouri, and Indiana, and likely, Florida,

Also, the most disappointing aspect of the election was in my state of Florida, where it looks like Governor Rick Scott is likely to defeat Senator Bill Nelson, and where right wing extremist Ron DeSantis has defeated Andrew Gillum, who would have been the first African American governor, and had developed quite a following.

Also, it seems as if Stacey Abrams, who would be the first African American female governor in American history, is likely losing the Georgia Governor race to Brian Kemp, another right wing extremist.

And Beto O’Rourke did well, but still lost to Ted Cruz in the Texas Senate race.

So it is a mixed bag in regards to the results of the midterm elections.

It Is Time For Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, And Red State Democrats To Put Nation Ahead Of Their Own Senate Seats

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It is perfectly understood that all people who work like to keep their jobs and earn their income.

But there is no member of the US Senate that is “desperate” and “needy” to keep their jobs.

What is needed now is, as John F. Kennedy wrote, “Profiles in Courage”.

Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, so called “moderate” Republicans, need to stand up and say, “NO WAY”, would they support Brett Kavanaugh to fill the available seat on the Supreme Court, since he clearly has a record of being anti abortion, and both women Senators claim they are pro choice, so they must refuse to support him.

It is clear that Brett Kavanaugh has committed perjury a number of times in earlier hearings before the Senate while under oath, and he should not be promoted to the Supreme Court, with his record of pursuing Bill Clinton with Ken Starr 20 years ago; his advocacy of torture in the Iraq War; his promotion of an anti gay marriage amendment under George W. Bush; and his unwillingness to say he would recuse himself from any case involving Trump and the scandals that have erupted in the past two years.

But even if Collins and Murkowksi were to back off on Kavanaugh, the requirement also is for Red State Democrats, who are running for reelection, to vote against Kavanaugh in unison, even if it leads to their defeat, which seems unlikely in the present political climate.

So that means West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp, Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly, Montana Senator Jon Tester, and Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill MUST save the nation from a Right Wing extremist Supreme Court, even if they lose their seats, putting the nation ahead of their own ambitions.

Proof Of How Far To The Right The Republican Party Has Gone: Rudy Giuliani And Mike Huckabee In 2008 And 2018

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When one looks back at the 2008 Presidential campaign, when Senator John McCain of Arizona was the Republican Presidential nominee against Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, one realizes just how far Right the Republican Party has become in just a decade.

At that time, this observer recalled thinking that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee were quite moderate as compared to most of the candidates competing with both of them for the Republican Presidential nomination.

Giuliani was ahead in polls for the nomination in 2007, and came across as quite liberal in many ways, and his Mayoralty record made him look impressive, particularly after September 11, occurring near the end of his last term.

Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses in 2008 and was third in total delegates behind McCain and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, and came across as quite rational and not as an extremist.

Today, ten years later, both of these men have seen their reputations end up in tatters, as they both are among the most despicable supporters of Donald Trump. Giuliani has clearly engaged in helping Trump in his corruption, and is an embarrassment to his own reputation.

Huckabee has become a right wing extremist evangelical pastor, and his daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, has done a horrific performance as the White House Press Secretary, actually worse than Sean Spicer, the previous Press Secretary in the first six months of the Trump Presidency.