Soviet Union

Republican Party Survival Only Possible Long Term With Those Who Reject The “Big Lie” Of Donald Trump!

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The Republican Party is at an historic crossroads.

If it continues to back the “Big Lie” of Donald Trump, that he won the Presidential Election of 2020, then it will be destroyed, and go into the dustbin of history, as no party can have its future based on a criminal President who was impeached twice, and lost the popular vote twice by massive margins, and only won the first time due to Russian collusion!

The January 6, 2021 Capitol Insurrection cannot be covered up, and dismissed, as it was an attack on American democracy at its core!

Anyone backing Donald Trump at this point is spoiled goods, and only is inciting division that endangers domestic tranquility, and is a direct threat for civil disorder.

Worship of a man is dangerous, and reminds us of Benito Mussolini and Fascist Italy; Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany; and Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union.

So the leadership of the future must be people such as Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and Lisa Murkowski, or else the need for a new conservative mainstream party is an urgency!

Foreign Policy Rears Its Ugly Head For Joe Biden

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Every President enters office wishing to deal with domestic policy and change.

But invariably, foreign policy rears its ugly head much too often!

Woodrow Wilson came to office in 1913, not expecting the First World War I to break out in 1914, and bring us into that war in 1917.

Franklin D. Roosevelt came to office in 1933, wishing to deal with the Great Depression, but also had to deal with the growing Fascist threat of Japan, Nazi Germany, and Fascist Italy, and eventually, entrance into World War II!

Harry Truman came to office in 1945 to end World War II, but had to deal with the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and send troops to Korea.

John F. Kennedy came to office in 1961, and had to deal with the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

Lyndon B. Johnson came to office in 1963, wanting to promote the Great Society, but also had to deal with the Vietnam War.

Every other President in modern times has had to face similar issues, and now, Joe Biden must deal with China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran as major headaches, as he tries to resolve the COVID 19 Pandemic Crisis!

Past Bipartisan Actions: Can This Happen Again As Joe Biden Hopes For, Or Is This A Mirage?

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In the past, despite political party conflict on beliefs and principles, we saw bipartisan actions and crossing party lines to accomplish major goals.

Here are four examples of such situations since World War II where a President of one party and a Congressional leader of the opposition party cooperated, and brought along other votes from their party to back the President of the opposition party.

When Democratic President Harry Truman was in office, and the Cold War with the Soviet Union was evolving, Truman was able to gain key Republican support from the Republican Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the 80th Congress, Senator Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan, for the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan in 1947-1948.

When Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower was in office, he was able to work cooperatively with the Democratic leaders of both houses of Congress from 1955-1961 on many matters. Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson, both from Texas, worked across the party lines in many situations, particularly on the first Civil Rights Acts (1957 and 1960) since Reconstruction after the Civil War.

When Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson was in office, he was able to gain support of Republican Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois on gaining necessary support on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Medicare passage in 1965.

When Republican President Ronald Reagan was in office, he was able to come to an agreement with Democratic Speaker of the House Thomas “Tip” O’Neill to protect Social Security long term by a bipartisan agreement in 1983.

Since the 1990s and the hardline partisanship of the Republican Party and then Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich in the Republican Revolution of 1994, we have seen unwillingness by that party to have any willingness to cross party lines, and his early efforts were also pursued by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell right up to the present!

So President Elect Joe Biden’s publicly expressed hopes for bipartisan actions in these disastrous times to be accomplished, is it a mirage? We shall find out soon!

75th Anniversary Of VE Day, And 136th Birthday Of President Harry Truman

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Seventy five years ago today, the nightmare of World War II in Europe came to an end with the surrender of Nazi Germany, although the war against Japan continued for four more months until VJ Day on September 2, 1945.

President Harry Truman was in office only 26 days, and VE Day happened to be his 61st Birthday, so today we celebrate a humble man, who met the challenge of ending the war against Japan, and coping with the Cold War threat of the Soviet Union.

The only President since 1900 not to have attended or graduated college, still Harry Truman was a learned man, as he was a reader and interested in gaining knowledge. Unlike Donald Trump, who hates to read and has displayed evidence that he has no knowledge to speak of on any topic imaginable, including as a few: History, Science, Medicine, Math, Spelling, Economics, Foreign Policy, The Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and common decency, empathy, compassion, and humanity!

Truman came in at a difficult time, with the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 12, 1945, and was a bit overwhelmed, but met the challenge, and demonstrated courage, guts, decisiveness, and principle.

One can be sure that if Harry Truman were alive, he would have choice curse words for the only other President who shares the first four letters of his last name.

Truman ranks as 5th or 6th in rankings of Presidents, while Trump is assured last place for the eternity, below James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson!

Donald Trump’s Insecurities And Ego Preventing Stable Leadership In Crisis Times!

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Donald Trump’s insecurities and ego are preventing him from acting and speaking in a stable manner, so is endangering the United States reaction to the CoronaVirus Pandemic sweeping the world, and having its most deleterious effect in America!

If President Abraham Lincoln, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, or President John F. Kennedy had conducted themselves in a similar manner in their moments of crisis, the US would have lost the Civil War to the Confederate States of America; the US would have been unable to prevent the rise of Fascism in the Great Depression and World War II; and the nation would have likely had a nuclear war with the Soviet Union in the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, slaughtering tens of millions of its citizens!

With 2,000 dead, doubling in two days, and having the most deaths of any nation, we are hampered by an inconsistent and dangerous President, who has no clue how to deal with this health crisis, the greatest since the Spanish Flu epidemic of a century ago!

One would have to believe that this sad demonstration of weak and unstable leadership will cause the defeat of Donald Trump in November. If somehow he wins, the nation would be in doom, as far as any progress toward reversing the tremendous damage done by this maniac, this disgrace of a human being, with no positive points to be made about his personality or policies!

Tonight’s South Carolina Democratic Presidential Debate A Turning Point

Ronald 26 Comments

It is clear that Tuesday night’s CBS South Carolina Democratic Presidential debate is a turning point, as Senator Bernie Sanders will have the tremendous advantage if he wins the South Carolina Primary this Saturday.

Sanders is self destructing, however, with his inability to stop praising Cuba under Fidel Castro, and the Chinese government of President Xi Jinping, ignoring their violations of human rights, while improving education and health care.

Sanders seems totally deaf to warnings that he must repudiate his past extreme leftist views on Nicaragua and the Soviet Union in the 1980s, as that is a guarantee to cause the loss of Florida at the least, and likely cause the industrial Midwest and the Southwest to run away from his candidacy, if he is the Democratic nominee for President.

How Sanders could win states that Hillary Clinton lost by small margins, such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, is impossible to conceive.

Also, any hope of winning Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina, and come within striking distance of Texas, would be totally gone with a Sanders Presidential candidacy.

And Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada could be in danger, as well as New Hampshire and Virginia, all won by Hillary Clinton in 2016.

And this is without addressing the “democratic Socialism” label that Sanders embraces, and his unwillingness to fully explain how all of his ambitious programs, which sound great on paper, could possibly be achieved through Congressional action.

The importance of the federal judiciary and the Supreme Court is at stake, and the nation cannot afford more right wing judges and Justices if Donald Trump is reelected.

Hopefully, we will see moderates unite around one candidate to oppose Sanders after Super Tuesday next week, with the best bet now seeming to be Pete Buttigieg, unless Joe Biden has a major rehabilitation by voters in South Carolina and the 14 states of Super Tuesday.

Thirty Years Since The Berlin Wall Fell, And The Mexico Border Wall Has Already Been Breached, And Represents Authoritarian Dictatorship Attempt Of Donald Trump

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On this day, November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall, built in 1961 by the Soviet Union as a sign of its total authoritarian control over East Germany and East Berlin, was breached, a great day for freedom and democracy.

Today, the Mexico Border Wall that Donald Trump claims is being built, has already been breached by drills that have put holes and openings in the wall in the small amount of newly constructed or reconstructed areas, done by drug gangs and hoodlums, who have demonstrated that no such wall project will succeed, and in fact, will never be completed.

The whole idea of a wall is an authoritarian dictatorship attempt by the most corrupt, and lawless President in American history, and it undermines the whole concept that America is a nation of all nations, welcoming to refugees who are escaping crime, persecution, bloodshed, and hatred, and see the image of the Statue of Liberty as what makes America unique and great.

It is immigrants, and not all of them legal when they came in, who have made America a great nation. If someone commits criminal acts, such person should be prosecuted, but denying admission to victims is unAmerican, and denies the story of American history.

So on this anniversary of the Berlin Wall falling, and also the third anniversary of the Donald Trump victory assisted by Russian collusion and corruption, America must resolve that the Mexico Border Wall will never be accomplished, and that freedom and democracy will triumph over this illegal, unconstitutional attempt to destroy the Constitution and the Bill of Rights!

Trump Aiding Russia And China In Suppression Of Ukraine And Hong Kong: A Complete Reversal Of Foreign Policy Of Cold War Years

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The nation is in the midst of a totally unbelievable situation, with President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Attorney General William Barr involved deeply in a conspiracy to collaborate with Russia and China, two nations that have been historically rivals in the years since World War II, with both being Communist nations.

Russia may be, technically, no longer Communist, but in actuality, Vladimir Putin was part of the old Soviet Union secret police before 1991, and China has been a Communist nation since 1949.

So now Trump and his cronies are trying to force Ukraine to help in collusion on trying to destroy former Vice President Joe Biden for the 2020 election, and basically, telling Ukraine’s leader that if he is to get military support against Russia, he must come up with “dirt” on Biden. The implication is that Ukraine is endangered, and that Russia, which took away part of that nation in 2014 will have a free hand if Ukraine does not come up with what Trump wants from them.

And now Trump has asked China to help do damage to Joe Biden, with the implication that the United States would stand by and allow China to suppress Hong Kong, and in the future, who can say that Taiwan would not also be threatened by China with no American response?

So in order to win the 2020 election, Trump wants collusion by Ukraine and China, similar to what he had with Russia in 2016, and he is not telling Russia not to collude again, and Putin is now joking about it openly!

And if Ukraine is seized by Russia, and if Hong Kong, and maybe in the future, Taiwan, are seized and end the concept of human rights, so be it in Donald Trump’s unstable brain, as he has abandoned all principle on the significance of basic human freedoms, and historic Republican opposition to Communism in the two biggest nations that have been seen as threats.

Here is a man who keeps on saying he has no intentions on leaving power at any point, so he represent a threat to basic human rights in America, let alone in Ukraine and Hong Kong and maybe Taiwan!

If that is not an impeachable act in itself, then what is impeachable?

The Insult Of Considering Inviting The Taliban Terrorists To Camp David Around The September 11 Commemoration Anniversary

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Just as the 18th anniversary of the September 11th attacks was about to be reached, Donald Trump decided he would invite the Taliban terrorist group which harbored Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda to peace negotiations at Camp David.

Camp David, where Dwight D. Eisenhower invited Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union.

Camp David, where Jimmy Carter invited Menachem Begin of Israel and Anwar Sadat of Egypt.

Inviting the Taliban, who have no intention of making peace, and only want to suppress women and deny music and other modern ideas of civilization, is an insult to all those who died on September 11.

Thankfully, after an American soldier was killed by the Taliban, Trump abruptly changed his plans, but it led to a breach with National Security Adviser John Bolton, leading to his either being fired or resigning.

No one is trying to defend Bolton, who is a serial hawk responsible to a great extent for the Iraq War, and wants to go to war with Iran and North Korea without any thought.

But on this issue of the Taliban, for once, John Bolton was correct, and what the President has done by even considering dealing with the Taliban, is an insult to the nearly 3,000 victims of September 11, and the 2,500 military who have died in Afghanistan since 2001, along with about 20,000 wounded!

The Death Of The 41st President, George H. W. Bush, At Age 94

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This blogger woke up this morning to the news that the 41st President of the United States, George H. W. Bush, had died last night (November 30) at age 94, and five and a half months.

He had the longest life span of any President, although former President Jimmy Carter will surpass him in age on March 22, 2019.

Bush was one of the most experienced Presidents, with a tremendous resume particularly on national security and foreign policy issues. This included being a Houston, Texas, Congressman; United Nations Ambassador; Republican National Committee Chairman; Second Chief of the Liaison Office to the People’s Republic of China; Central Intelligence Agency Director; Vice President of the United States for two terms under President Ronald Reagan; and President of the United States for one term from 1989-1993.

Bush was an honorable, decent man, who knew his own shortcomings and admitted to it, but although he was the first Vice President to succeed his President by election since Martin Van Buren in 1836 after Andrew Jackson, he was unable to win a second term, losing to future President Bill Clinton, in an election which included businessman Ross Perot, who managed as an independent candidate to win 19 percent of the vote. This led to Bush having the second worst defeat for a sitting President, with 37 percent, only ahead of President William Howard Taft in 1912, gaining only 23 percent of the vote in a three way race with Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt.

Bush will be best remembered for his leadership in the Persian Gulf War of 1991 against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein; his helping to end the Cold War with Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev and usher in the unification of Germany; the promotion of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada; the concept of a “Thousand Points of Light” to encourage local activism to solve problems; the signing into law of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 to provide equal opportunity for those Americans with disabilities; and the appointment of two Supreme Court Justices, David Souter and Clarence Thomas.

His decision to support tax increases caused a challenge by conservatives, led by Pat Buchanan, in the primaries of 1992, which he overcame, but that plus the recession America was suffering at the time of the election, along with the challenge of not just Bill Clinton, but Ross Perot, making the campaign a three way race, led to his defeat.

Bush lived to see his son George W. Bush become President, only the second such situation, after John Adams and John Quincy Adams, and he had nearly 26 years of retirement, and the longest Presidential marriage, until his beloved wife Barbara died in April, after 73 plus years of a devoted couple, who brought up five children.

Bush is ranked near the middle of all Presidents, generally between 17 and 20, depending on the poll of 44 Presidents, with his failure to win a second term a factor in why he has not risen higher.

His impact on America, however, has been massive, and it is likely his ranking among Presidents will rise in the coming years.