Theodore Roosevelt

The Secret Service Reputation Lies In Tatters With Revelation Of Deleted January 6 Evidence!

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The Secret Service, founded in 1865, to track counterfeit money, became the security agency for the President of the United States in 1902, upon the assassination of President William McKinley on September 14, 1901.

It gained a reputation as an excellent agency with the highest standards, protecting every President since Theodore Roosevelt, as well the Vice Presidents, their families, and other top government officials over the years.

They were thought of as reliable, professional, and incorruptible, but in recent years, we have learned about their shortcomings and foibles.

Now, the agency’s reputation lies in tatters, with the revelation of deleted January 6, 2021 evidence at the time of the US Capitol Insurrection.

There is clearly a coverup of the interaction of the Secret Service in the protection of the Vice President, Mike Pence, on that fateful day, when he faced great danger from the mob incited by President Donald Trump.

It is clear that the agency was politicized with so called Trump “loyalists” willing to serve the evil intentions of Donald Trump.

So there is an investigation occurring, which will lead to prosecutions of agents who have not done their jobs in a proper fashion, and reform of the agency is urgent for public confidence to be restored!

Interesting Survey Of People Honored By US Monuments, From The Washington Post

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The Washington Post has published an interesting survey of people honored by US Monuments, and there are many surprises in the survey.

Eleven Presidents are in the top 50 figures represented in memorials, with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln being the top two of the fifty listed.

Also listed at number 9 is John F. Kennedy; number 10 is Thomas Jefferson; and number 11 is Ulysses S. Grant.

Andrew Jackson is number 15, a three way tie with Theodore Roosevelt and William McKinley.

Dwight D. Eisenhower and Franklin D. Roosevelt tie at 32nd.

Finally, James A. Garfield is in a four way tie at number 47 with three non Presidents.

Interestingly, NOT on the list are such Presidents as Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, or Ronald Reagan.

Some religious figures, native Americans, and African Americans (Martin Luther King (4th), Harriet Tubman (24th), Frederick Douglass (29th)) are also represented, as are a number of individuals who are not at all related to American history, including Christopher Columbus, most notably in third place with 149!

Confederate leaders are also represented, including Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and Stonewall Jackson.

Other well known Americans include the following: Benjamin Franklin at number 8; Alexander Hamilton tied with two others at number 26; and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall in a six way tie at number 41.

Earth Day Celebrated For 53rd Year Since Inception In 1970 By Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson

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Today is the 53rd Earth Day, first occurring in 1970 when Democratic Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin promoted the first national celebration of the significance of the environment.

President Richard Nixon, however, joined in promoting the concept, and signed into law the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency the same year.

And Nixon stands out as regarded as the second greatest environmental President after Theodore Roosevelt.

He encouraged and signed into law numerous pieces of legislation, primarily promoted by Democrats, but as a Republican President, despite his many shortcomings, Nixon advocated the importance of the environment.

And ironically, Nixon died on the 25th Earth Day on April 22, 1994!

The Nightmare Battle For The Republican Presidential Nomination In 2024

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What a nightmare the Republican Party faces in 2024, as trying to find a nominee who is decent, competent, and NOT tied to the disaster of Donald Trump is a long haul!

We begin with Donald Trump himself, who is rapidly losing support, but still has clout in the party, even though he is actually a cancer destroying the image and reputation of the party of Lincoln, TR,Ike, Reagan and George H. W. Bush!

Then we have former Vice President Mike Pence, whose only good deed was counting the Electoral College vote on January 6, 2021 properly and correctly, but there is no way imaginable that he could win the Republican Presidential nomination, and his religiosity is a real turn off to moderate voters.

Then there is a slimmed down former Secretary of State and Central Intelligence Agency Head Mike Pompeo, but his admiration of Vladimir Putin insures he is not going anywhere!

Then we have former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who once had stature and respect, but has lost all of that reputation being so much a lackey to Donald Trump, and at the same time, changing her mind regularly on the former President

Then, we have Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, all of whom are competing with each other to be further Right Wing than the others, including warring on truth, history, racial justice, women’s rights, and gay rights, as well as attacking the concept of masks and vaccinations during the COVID 19 Pandemic.

Florida is unique in that it has three Republicans all ambitious enough to think they should be President, including DeSantis, but also Senators Rick Scott (involved in Medicare Fraud), and Marco Rubio, who was a major critic of Donald Trump in the 2016 Republican competition for the Presidency, but has, like most Republican officeholders caved in and given up all principles in bowing to Trump throughout his Presidency, and refusing to strongly condemn the January 6, 2021 Insurrection!

The Senate is full of Presidential wannabes, besides Scott and Rubio, including Insurrectionist promoter Josh Hawley of Missouri, who put up his fist in support on January 6; Tom Cotton of Arkansas; Rand Paul of Kentucky; Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee; Ted Cruz of Texas; Lindsey Graham of South Carolina; and Tim Scott of South Carolina.

One can add to that list Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

There are also clear anti Trump Republicans, including Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger; Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney; Maryland Governor Larry Hogan; Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse; and Utah Senator Mitt Romney.

The Historic Nature Of March 4 In Presidential History

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March 4 is an historic date in Presidential history, as it was the Inauguration Day for every President through the first Inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933.

It also was the beginning of the government under the Constitution in 1789, as Congress met for the first time.

The inauguration date was changed late in 1933 by the 20th Amendment, and January 20 became the new Inauguration Day, starting in 1937.

Every Inauguration Day was the day for every President except George Washington at the first inauguration, which was delayed to April 30, 1789 by Washington’s delay in arriving to New York; and also the succession to the Presidency of John Tyler in 1841, Millard Fillmore in 1850, Andrew Johnson in 1865, Chester Alan Arthur in 1881, Theodore Roosevelt first term in 1901, and Calvin Coolidge first term in 1923.

The most historic March 4 inaugurations are considered to be Thomas Jefferson in 1801, Andrew Jackson in 1829, Abraham Lincoln both in 1861 and 1865, Woodrow Wilson in 1913, and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, and Lincoln’s Second Inauguration and FDR’s First Inauguration are considered to have been the times of the two greatest Inaugural Addresses!

Republicans Divided Over January 6 Insurrection Defense By Republican National Committee!

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It is interesting how Republicans are splitting around the January 6 Insurrection defense (legitimate political discourse) of the Republican National Committee!

Mitch McConnell being critical, along with Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, Larry Hogan, and others on one side are challenged by Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and a multitude of others on the crazy side!

Whether one agrees with the former group on every issue, they are the only hope for the Republican Party to survive, and the lifeline is getting weaker!

There must be a serious uprising against Donald Trump soon, or else there IS no future for the party of Lincoln, TR, Ike, and Reagan!

The best bet is that the “dark side” will win out, and a new “Conservative” Party will have to form as an alternative to the Democratic Party in the future!

The Republican Party Has Gone Bonkers, And Conservatives Need To Leave And Form New Party!

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The Republican Party and its long history is ending, effectively, with the crazy decision of the Republican National Committee to censure Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming, and Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois!

And the party apparatus has declared that the January 6, 2021 Insurrection was “legitimate political discourse”, an absolutely lunatic statement that is having all past Republicans shamed, and many principled moderates and conservatives in the party today stunned beyond belief!

The party can be considered to have committed suicide, and all decent people in and out of government, need to make clear that they are abandoning the party, as many already have, and start a new conservative party, based on principles, not lawlessness, bloodshed, and violence!

Can any sane person imagine any of the great Senators, Congressmen, Governors, and those connected to past Republican Presidents and nominees who would not be appalled by the total recklessness and conceding to a tin horn lunatic named Donald Trump that has now occurred?

What would Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush say?

What about all of the other luminaries of the Republican Party past and present?

How can such Republicans today as Lisa Murkowski, Ben Sasse, Mitt Romney, and others NOT quit the party and denounce what they have declared about the January 6 Insurrection, and the mistreatment of Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger?

One Term Presidencies That Mattered: Jimmy Carter, George HW Bush!

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President Joe Biden stated at his end of first year press conference yesterday, that he planned to run for a second term in 2024, and that Kamala Harris would again be his running mate.

That is to be expected at this time, but by early 2023, Biden will need to make a final decision on running, so as to open the race to alternative choices if he announces he will retire.

The concept that a President must seek reelection was not the case with three Presidents, who decided not to run–James K. Polk in 1848, James Buchanan in 1860, and Rutherford Hayes in 1880. But Polk, despite not running for another term, is considered to have accomplished his goals, and as it turns out, his health was not good, and he died 105 days after leaving office in 1849.

Buchanan and Hayes are not considered to have had successful terms, and they may have sensed that they could not win reelection.

Other one term Presidents, such as Benjamin Harrison and Herbert Hoover, had horrible depressions to deal with, helping to cause their defeats in 1892 and 1932, and William Howard Taft had a split in his party with former President Theodore Roosevelt, which doomed his campaign for reelection in 1912.

Gerald Ford was a special situation, having not been elected, succeeding Richard Nixon, and having a bad economy, which doomed his desire for election to a full term in 1976, although he is considered in a kind manner at this point, having worked to unite America after the Watergate Scandal and resignation of Nixon.

But the two most recent Presidents defeated for reelection, before Donald Trump, had real accomplishments in office, although they were unable to win a second term, Jimmy Carter in 1980, and George H. W. Bush in 1992.

Clearly, all Presidents since Rutherford Hayes in 1880, who have survived a term, have attempted to be reelected, but since Biden will be 82 years old weeks after the Presidential Election of 2024, he might decide not to run, or his health might be such that he is told he should not run.

First Year In Oval Office Under Most Presidencies Problematical, And Joe Biden Better Than Many!

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One could argue that Joe Biden has accomplished a great deal in the first year, while often having disappointments and shortcomings.

Two major pieces of legislation were accomplished (The American Rescue Plan, and the Physical Infrastructure legislation), and the only reason why the Build Back Better bill and voting rights have failed to be accomplished is the opposition of two Democrats–Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema–and the reality of an equally divided Senate for only the third time in American history!

While inflation has become a major problem, the stock market dramatically rose, more jobs were created in the first year of a Presidency than any other administration, and the unemployment rate has dropped to a very low rate.

There are still the issues of the COVID 19 Pandemic, and the disaster of Afghanistan withdrawal, but the first issue was unpredictable as the worst health crisis in a century, and the second would have been the same result had Donald Trump stayed on as President, since he had made a deal with the Taliban without Afghanistan government involvement, to leave in May 2021, NOT as occurred in August 2021!

So some disappointing developments in the first year of a Presidency are not unique to the 46th President!

When one looks back at other Presidencies, it is actually quite common that the first year of a Presidency is a learning curve, and does not reflect on whether such Presidents will be, in the long run, successful, and also have the possibility of successful reelection.

The following Presidents had very successful first years—Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, George H. W. Bush!

Three Presidents had what could be described as mixed records in the first year in office–Dwight D. Eisenhower, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

The following Presidencies in the 20th and 21st century were far from successes in their first year:

Harry Truman 1945
John F. Kennedy 1961
Richard Nixon 1969
Gerald Ford 1974-1975
Jimmy Carter 1977
Ronald Reagan 1981
Bill Clinton 1993
Donald Trump 2017

Among these eight Presidents, four—Truman, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton–won reelection.

So it is not time to say that Joe Biden will fail to succeed, as he already has in many respects, and it is not time to say he cannot win reelection fo a second term!

Jimmy Carter Closing In On 15,000 Days In Retirement From Presidency On Valentine’s Day!

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Former President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) keeps adding to his record as the longest lived American President, being now 97 years, 3 months, and 17 days, at this writing!

His wife, Rosalynn Carter, is 94, and 5 months, as this writing, and the couple are married more than 75 years!

On January 20, Carter will have been out of the Presidency for 41 years, nearly ten years more than Herbert Hoover!

And hard to believe, Carter will be closing in on 15,000 days in retirement from the Presidency on Valentine’s Day, February 14!

Carter is amazing, and the longer he lives, the more his stature rises, as he is certainly considered the greatest retired President, in the sense of his contributions to American society and the world community, through his commitments to the Carter Center in Atlanta.

Carter is such a good, decent human being, and he will always stand out for his major accomplishments, including the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt; the Panama Canal Treaty; diplomatic relations with China; the promotion of human rights in foreign policy; his presiding over three Cabinet agencies being created (Education, Health and Human Services, Energy); his promotion of diversity in his appointments to all kinds of posts; and his exceptional environmental record, the greatest of any one term President, and considered the third best by Environmental historians, after Theodore Roosevelt and Richard Nixon!