A Report Card for the Democrats 2020-2022

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The Democrats had two years of unobstructed power in Washington.  They controlled the presidency and both houses of congress.  They have no excuses for not at least attempting to deal with these issues.  If we got progress on some of these, that would have been impressive.  But not trying is beyond frustrating.

Before you criticise me about what is involved to do many of the following (e.g. more than mere legislation in many cases), why not just assume that I already know what is involved and actually dont care all that much.  Yes, some of these are constitutional amendments, etc.  As I say, I dont care.  I have waited (we have waited ...) long enough.

1. Reform the federal and supreme courts.  The supreme court is clearly controlled by partisan hacks and some of the federal appeals judiciary as well.  As with item 11 below, incompetents or traitors or partisan hacks need to be removed.  Term limits would make sense.

2. End the electoral college. Al Gore and Hillary Clinton won their respective elections by any reasonable, modern standard.  Same thing for the House of Representatives and the Senate.  No longer is the domination of the majority of Americans by a minority in rural states acceptable.

3. Investigate and indict Republicans for their crimes.  Enforce the 14th amendment.

4. Put Trump in jail for trying to overthrow the US Government and for stealing classified documents.

5. Tax the rich and repeal the Republican tax giveaway.

6. See to it that we have a uniform voting code and end voter suppression.

7. End Citizens United and reduce the impact of big money on our elections.

8. Support abortion rights with federal legislation.

9. Support Ukraine against the Russians.

10. Support the creation of renewable energy.

11. Remove the other Trump and Republican swine from the mechanisms of government where they have been placed to destroy our republic.  People like DeJoy of the USPS.

12. Articulate a vision for addressing crime, addressing institutional racism at local police departments and addressing the homeless problem.

Of all of these, the Biden administration and the Democrats have failed except possibly for item #9 which they have done in a half hearted manner and item 10 which is somewhat addressed by the inflation reduction act.

The Democrats seem to think that by spending two years passing an infrastructure bill that they deserve to be reelected.  But why should we elect these people if all they do is fail the American people?

Policy Change for Comments on Global Wahrman

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For someone to comment on Global Wahrman they must have a Google account.  I tried allowing open comments but got too much spam and too many trolls.  There are a lot of sick people out there.

 

As America Declines into Self-Parody (10/26/2022)

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As the American Empire or Republic or Whatever-It-Is continues to self-destruct before entering its full-fascist period, we are required to watch one ridiculous self own after another.  Its sad to see a formerly great nation, perhaps, or at least one with some self-respect collapse into farce but here we are. Please forgive this brief narration as frankly I find the whole situation tiresome and there are others out there perfectly capable of writing about the situation, and a few of them do.  I write this post more as a form of diary.  These are the events that pollute my life and humiliate my country before the world.  

 

First, at a time when the Supreme Court is making itself illegitimate, we have our old buddy Clarence Thomas give Sen Lindsey Graham a pass.  Lindsey doesnt have to face a grand jury to testify and no doubt perjure himself because Clarence gives him a pass until after the midterms, at least.  This is the same Clarence Thomas who should recuse himself from anything related to the attempts to overthrow the US Government, an activity that his wife is well known to have participated in.  Now tell me the Supreme Court has any legitimacy, I dare you.  Their illegitimacy is so flagrant as to be insulting.

 

This on top of the Trump loose-Cannon and her "special master" makes the whole justice system seem a joke.  [As some wit put it, if you want to use the term "special master" it should be at a BDSM party.]  If you want us, or some of us, to respect the judiciary and its decisions then you have to do something to mitigate the damage that Cannon and Thomas and Alito and Gorsuch and Barret and Kavanaugh do in plain sight.  Tell us your plan.  Oh, you dont have one.  I see, thats clear. 

 

As we blunder into the midterms where is the DOJ in the effort to make the midterms a legitimate exercise in democracy, the free exercise of the franchise?  Nowhere to be found.  Vigilantes in Arizona and Republicans in state after state are working to restrict the vote and intimidate voters.  Many of those to-be-elected are so insane as to believe that their leader, the traitor who stole classified documents and got caught at it, was elected in 2020.  Guess what, he wasnt.  

 

Where are we in getting rid of the Electoral College, that fatal compromise from 250 years ago?  Our leaders are nowhere to be found. Nowhere.  Nothing.  Here we have an unstable situation where a minority can seize the presidency against the will of the people again, and force someone, maybe even Trump, on a defeated former Democracy, if that is what we were, and there is no serious effort to fix it.

 

And while the DOJ fiddles, they manage to arrest some Chinese spies, which is nice, I guess, but how about putting Trump and his minions in jail.  Nope, nothing.  

 

Totally impotent.  A complete failure.

 

This country is pathetic.

 

[And so, Boingo, if this is what you call hate speech and therefore censor me because I express my opinion, then so be it.  I dont think it is hate speech.  I think it is the honest expression of an informed citizen about the most important events in my lifetime, the collapse of the American Republic.  Golly, I guess you dont approve. ]

The State of the Midterms and War

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All sorts of things are going on and most of you who read my blog know this as well as I do.  You dont need me to tell you this stuff, and I am really averse to repeating myself which I tend to do.  But its also the case that most of us forget what happened when so there is some utility in writing some of these things down.  So a few notes for the future about the state of politics and about war.

The 2022 midterms are weeks away and you can read many analysis and predictions.  The Senate is up for grabs and could go either way.  The Republicans are expected to win the House of Representatives but it could be by a very small margin.  But whoever wins, everyone will be looking closely to see how the Supreme Court decision on Roe v Wade affected things, if at all. Will people vote who might not have voted before?   Furthermore, the pollsters have covered their ass by pointing out that they have consistently underestimated the right wing Republican vote and they have every reason to think that is the case this time.

This disturbs and disappoints me a lot.  The stakes of the midterms are very high.  If the Republicans win then all progress of legislation must stop and they will make life hell for America.  At this point, there can be no lukewarm feelings about politics in this country.  Whatever the long term prognosis for the Republican party, and for the conservative forces in this country, as they are currently represented they seem to want to destroy the country.  I know I can never forgive them.

And then of course the Supreme Court is about to let loose.  Anyone who thinks this court has any legitimacy and is not completely partisan and reactionary will find out shortly how deluded their beliefs are.

 

We have Trump, the theft of classified material, and slave judges and special masters.  Its alternately horrifying and disgusting.  Do we have a functional legal system left?  Prove it.

We have war in Europe.  We have Russia threatening to use nukes if they dont get to do whatever they want.  We have war crimes to make the SS proud.  We have the vindication of initiative and morale and precision weapons.  We have anonymous destruction of energy infrastructure to punish those who would not obey Putin. We have drones galore.  Oh brave new world to have such munitions in it.

RAND Alumni Event and Dr. Donald B Rice

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The RAND Alumni event had only a few people I knew present, but I was happy to see and be able to talk to those who were there.  Among them was Michael O'Brien, Cara McCormick and Herb Shukiar.  But most of all, I was amazed to run into Dr. Rice who was president of RAND when I was there.  I thanked him for hiring me back in those days when I was a college drop out.

 

 

Dr. Donald B Rice