Blind Political Party Loyalty

Americans are notorious for voting the political party nominees for every same party nominee on their ballots. They are called the down ballot candidates. Most people simply believe that whoever their party has selected is the best person for the job.

The political party message is Don’t think just mark your ballot as we have instructed.

In other words, if you are voting for Donald Trump the right thing to do is vote for every Republican candidate – senators – congress representatives – governors – etc. even if they are not qualified for the job.

The consequence happened in Los Angeles and it is about to happen again.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva, a Democrat, was the party’s choice over incumbent Jim McDonnell, a Republican. The public elected Villanueva because he has a Hispanic name and he was a Democrat even though he had a checkered past. Shortly after entering the office he reinstated a deputy who had been fired by his predecessor for violating department policies regarding domestic violence and lying. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will consider a motion Tuesday seeking options for removing Villanueva, who in recent weeks has faced growing calls to step down because of what many describe as his resistance to oversight and transparency.

Jackie Lacey has served as the District Attorney of Los Angeles County since December 3, 2012. She is the first woman, and first African-American to serve in that position since it was created in 1850. She is a Democrat. Now another Democrat, George Gascón is challenging her the in the County district attorney race. He has obtained endorsements of the mayor and many council members as well as the Los Angeles Times all because of his claims of being more concerned about the welfare of those charged with a crime. The race is seen as a referendum on what 21st century criminal justice should look like, one that’s been exacerbated after a summer that saw large-scale opposition to the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the shooting of Jacob Blake. Lacey has been faulted by activists for her perceived hesitance to charge police in controversial killings, but Gascón has faced questions about his own record of not filing such charges during his eight years in San Francisco.

After you have read this you are most likely to ignore my plea to think about your choices.

Second Debate Not a Game Changer

To many of the commentator’s surprise Donald Trump behaved like a mensch. That made the debate rather boring.

Trump needed to impress viewers that he has done an excellent job in his first four years and deserves another term. He did not make the case.

The two issues that are front and center for most Americans are COVID-19 and health care.

1) Trump repeated what he has said at his rallies that the disease would go away and added that we will have a vaccine by the end of the year (scientists in the know say a vaccine won’t be available until late in 2021 at the earliest).

2) Trump has a health plan that is far better than Obamacare (that plan has been promised ever since Trump was inaugurated in January 20, 2017).

Joe Biden has not made an overwhelming case for his election. Donald Trump has not delivered protection against the virus nor presented a new health plan.

This election is not a choice. It is a referendum on Donald Trump. Trump knows that fact.

Red states are likely to remain red and blue states remain blue. If Trump can win all the states he won in 2016 he will be in office for another term. However, if polls are to be believed Trump will not be inaugurated on January 20, 2020 for second term. Just remember that almost all the polls predicted Hillary Clinton would win four years ago.

Donald Trump’s War on Barack Obama

President Donald Trump’s war on every successful action of former President Barack Obama continues to this day. It appears to me that Trump is bitter that a Black man was so successful and is still admired by millions of Americans.

It all started before Trump decided to run for president. In 2011 Trump joined the groups of people who questioned Barack Obama’s place of birth. It was called birtherism.

Trump began pushing the issue in television interviews as he was considering whether to run for president in 2012.

“I have some real doubts,” Trump told the “Today” show. He claimed to have sent his own investigators to Hawaii, where Obama was born. “I have people that actually have been studying it and they cannot believe what they’re finding.”

Trump raised another falsehood in an interview with “Good Morning America,” suggesting Obama was trying to conceal his religion by withholding his birth certificate. “Maybe it says he’s a Muslim,” he said. Obama is Christian.

His latest is the claim that Osama bin Laden wasn’t killed and is still alive, and that the man killed in the Obama-directed raid lead by Seal Team 6 was actually a body double.

The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was Trump’s first target. He has claimed the law is too expensive and denies everyone the right to choose their own plan. Trump is correct in saying that some plans are not included but that is because the coverage is very inadequate.

The Iran Nuclear deal in which Iran agreed a long-term deal on its nuclear programme with a group of world powers known as the P5+1 – the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany. It came after years of tension over Iran’s alleged efforts to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran insisted that its nuclear programme was entirely peaceful, but the international community did not believe that.

However, in May 2018, US President Donald Trump abandoned the landmark deal and in November that year, he reinstated sanctions targeting both Iran and states that trade with it. He claimed it was the worst agreement ever made by the United States.

The Paris Climate Accord Agreement was a commitment that was made by the Obama administration: a pledge to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions 26 to 28 percent by 2025. On June 1, 2017 Trump announced the United States’ withdrawal from the agreement.

Trump has directed the Labor Department to reverse Obama-era rules imposing restrictions on major banks and investment advisers, and the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has also rolled back multiple regulations aimed at fostering worker protections. These include the delay of a rule requiring employers report worker injury and illness records electronically so they can be posted online, and the cancellation of a directive allowing a union official to accompany an OSHA inspector as an employee representative into a non-union shop.

DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) was an Obama effort to protect children brought to the United States illegally but have grown up believing they are Americans. When congress refused to resolve the issue Obama issued an executive order to stop deportation of those people. As recently as June of this year his administration said will again try to end legal protections for young migrants at risk of deportation a day after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his first attempt.

At the September 29 presidential debate Trump once again accused the Obama administration of spying on his campaign — a claim that Trump has made on numerous occasions and which remains false.

So let’s be clear. Donald Trump cannot stand for the idea of someone else can be more successful than him.

Trump, allies openly call for violence

This is a summary of a column by Jamelle Bouie in the New York Times in late September 2020 posted in The Week magazine. While Michael Caputo has brain and neck cancer his warnings should be taken seriously. Bouie’s conclusion are frightening and are similar to those written by Thomas Friedman in the NYT.

Max Metcalf (right) and Justin, who wouldn’t give his last name due to safety and employment concerns, say they are at a rally in Missoula, Mont., to protect protesters from violent agitators.
Nick Mott/Montana Public Radio

If President Trump loses the election it will be because it was “stolen,” and his supporters should respond to the “coup” with violence. This, said Jamelle Bouie, is what Trump’s most ardent supporters and the president himself are saying as polls show him trailing Democrat Joe Biden. This week, Michael Caputo, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human services, claimed that Biden and the Democrats will try to seize power through election fraud.

“When Donald Trump refuses to stand down at the inauguration,” Caputo warned on a video posted on Facebook, “the shooting will begin.” He recommended buying-ammunition now “because it’s going to be hard.to get.” Trump confidant and convicted felon Roger Stone is urging the-president to declare martial law and seize ballots, while Trump himself recently said “the only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged.” He said that if there is insurrection by his opponents after the election, he’ll “put it down.” Trump has made it very clear he knows he may lose, so he is openly campaigning “to hold on to power by any means necessary.” If you think this is all ranting and raving,” you haven’t been paying attention the last four years.

Jamelle Bouie
The New York Times

Under the influence of Medication or Losing His Mind

Biden says cancel next debate if Trump remains sick with COVID-19. Trump is likely to say you need a president who is brave. Biden isn’t brave enough for the presidency and he is too frail.

My theory is if Trump continues to have the virus and cannot campaign, remaining debates are canceled and if the polls continue to indicate he is likely to lose on November 3 he will use the virus for his path to resign the presidency.

Mere moments after the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that the next face-off between Donald Trump and Joe Biden would be held virtually rather than in person, the president on Thursday rejected the plan and called it a “waste” of his time.

“I’m not gonna do a virtual debate,” Trump said during a phone-in appearance on Fox Business. “No, I’m not going to waste my time on a virtual debate. That’s not what debating is all about. You sit behind a computer and do a debate, it’s ridiculous.”

He went on to complain that the whole concept of a virtual debate was inherently unfair to him, “They cut you off whenever they want,” he claimed. Moreover, the moderator, Steve Scully of C-SPAN, was a “never Trumper.” Trump also accused the Commission, without evidence, of “trying to protect Biden.”

Trump’s interview with FBN’s Maria Bartiromo was alarming. The lines you need to see are below in bold. No wonder House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing a new bill to determine whether Trump is capable of serving as President.

1. “I beat him easily in the first debate, according to the polls that I’ve seen, but I beat him easily in the — I felt I beat him easily. I think he felt it too.”
Every reputable post-debate poll showed that viewers believed former Vice President Joe Biden won the first presidential debate. And away we go!

2. “No, I’m not going to waste my time on a virtual debate. That’s not what debating is all about. You sit behind a computer and do a debate. It’s ridiculous. And then they cut you off whenever they want.”
“Debate” is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a regulated discussion of a proposition between two matched sides.”

3. “And they tried to protect Biden. Everybody is. “
Trump believes every agency involved in the debate is opposed to him.

4. “(Biden) was raising his — his very thin hand and he was fracking. And now all of a sudden he’s not fracking.”
What? Was Biden drilling for oil? This line is a complete non-sequiter.

5. “They’re lying to everybody. They’re lying about so many different things.”
Donald Trump once said four false things. In one sentence.

6. “Yes, well, first of all, I think I’m better. I — when — when — to a point where I — I’d love to do a rally tonight. I wanted to do one last night.”
It may be worthwhile to note here that Donald Trump is not, in fact, a medical doctor.

7. “You know, no matter how good the security, you’re not going to protect yourselves from this thing with just your standard anything unless you just literally don’t come out.”
This is patently false. Doctors and infectious disease experts — not to mention scads of data — have made clear that wearing a mask, social distancing and avoiding large crowds all can greatly reduce the spread of Covid-19. That Trump often didn’t take any of those precautions likely played a significant role in him getting the virus.

8. “No, I don’t think I’m contagious, but we still have to wait — I don’t think I’m contagious at all.”
… said someone who is not a doctor.

9. “You catch this thing. It’s, you know, it’s — it’s particles of dust. It’s tiny stuff.”
The scientist has spoken.

10. “And, remember this, when you catch it, you get better. And then you’re immune, you know? I — as soon as everything goes away for me, you’re immune.”
Well, 211,000 Americans who caught Covid-19 didn’t get better. They died from it. As to whether Trump, or anyone else who has had Covid-19, is immune from getting it again, the science is still very unclear.

11. “I’m back because I’m a perfect physical specimen and I’m extremely young. And so I’m lucky in that way.”
Oh, you are not really 74 years old and obese.

12. “Perhaps a couple of pounds we could lose here and there, but, you know, because a lot of people in that category.”
According to his 2020 physical, Trump has a Body Mass Index of 30.5, which puts him in the “obese” category.

13. “Now, what happens is you get better. That’s what happens, you get better.”
Again, 211,000 Americans did not get better.

14. “I think I would have done it fine without drugs. It — you know, you don’t really need drugs.”
Not. A. Doctor. (Also: This sends a very dangerous message to Trump backers who may get Covid-19 and insist, like the President, that they don’t need drugs to treat it.)

15. “I’m — I’m glad because I’m the leader. And I can’t be like Biden where I hang out in a basement every day. Sure, he — if I wanted to hang out in a basement, I wouldn’t catch it, but I meet a lot of people and I have to.”

16. “Sometimes I’d be with — in groups of — for instance Gold Star families. I met with Gold Star families. I didn’t want to cancel that. But they all came in and they all talked about their son and daughter and father.”
In which the President of the United States suggests, with zero proof, that he contracted the coronavirus by meeting with Gold Star families.

17. “They want to hug me and they want to kiss me. And they do. And frankly, I’m not telling them to back up. I’m not doing it. But I did say it’s like — it’s obviously dangerous. It’s a dangerous thing I guess if you go by the Covid thing.”

“The Covid thing?”

18. “I figured that you probably — that probably at some point I’d catch it and I’ll get better. That’s what happened. I’ve caught it. I could’ve been out of the hospital in one day.”
Actual doctors decided to keep Trump in the hospital for four days.

19. “Look, I sit next to Joe and I looked at Joe. Joe’s not lasting two months as president, OK, that’s my opinion. He’s not going to be lasting two months.”
Then there was the argument the Biden couldn’t put two sentences together.

20. “And, you know, to be honest, Bill Barr’s going to go down either as the greatest attorney general in the history of the country or he’s going to go down as a very sad — sad situation. I mean, I’ll be honest with you, he’s got all the information he needs.”
Just the President running a pressure campaign against his own attorney general. This is fine!

Melt Down

The coronavirus is now pulsing through the capital: Three Senate Republicans — MIKE LEE of Utah, RON JOHNSON of Wisconsin and THOM TILLIS of North Carolina — all have tested positive. This reduces Senate Majority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL’S majority to 50-47 for the time being. This situation will impact upcoming interviews of Amy Coney Barrett nominated for the Supreme Court. The Dems have one more arrow to shoot at this nomination. Can approval of her be stopped? Doubtful unless the virus brings the senate to a standstill.

Donald Trump’s words and behavior are impossible to understand. Some have suggested that the meds he received at Walter Reed Hospital may have effected his judgement.

First he arrives back at the White House from Walter Reed Hospital and he tears of his mask. Oh, wait a minute. I don’t like how that video came out, we have to do a re-do of my arrival.

Today Trump is reported to have said, “I Got the Coronavirus to Prove I Could Beat It Because That’s What Leaders Do!” Really? After all the effort you made to keep ill people away from you, you suddenly decided to get the infection. Is anyone going to believe this claim?

President Donald Trump has ordered his negotiators to halt talks over a new stimulus package, after the two sides have struggled for months to reach a deal, a stunning move that puts an end to last-ditch efforts for a major economic relief package as millions are reeling from the coronavirus crisis.

“I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business,” Trump wrote in a series of tweets Tuesday afternoon.

This would be a give away to Democrats who will say Trump doesn’t care about you.

Instructions to sycophant Mike Pence is no plexiglass shield at tomorrow’s debate. We need to show strength.

I cannot offer any reasonable explanation for Trump’s behavior. If this mad man is re-elected I fear what the next four years will do to this country.

We Don’t Want to Tell the Truth

Does this make any sense?

The security of the United States is at risk.

President Donald Trump’s physician, Navy Cmdr Dr. Sean Conley, held a second medical briefing that again raised more questions than answers about the President’s condition.

Conley failed to answer basic questions about the President’s condition and admitted that he had omitted those alarming drops in the President’s oxygen levels during a news conference Saturday because he wanted to “reflect the upbeat attitude” that the team and the President had about his condition and didn’t want “to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction.”

Conley acknowledged that his evasive answers “came off that we were trying to hide something” but said that “wasn’t necessarily true,” adding that the President is “doing really well” and is responding to treatment.

In other words the president’s condition could be impacted by giving the press information about his health.

Here are some facts itemized in the Los Angeles Times about how long it can take for COVID-19 symptoms to worsen among patients who develop severe illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

After onset of illness or symptoms, the median time it can take to start feeling shortness of breath is five to eight days.
After onset of illness or symptoms, the median time it can take to start to experience acute respiratory distress syndrome is eight to 12 days.
After onset of illness or symptoms, the median time it can take to be admitted to the intensive care unit is 10 to 12 days.

“Clinicians should be aware of the potential for some patients to rapidly deteriorate one week after illness onset,” the CDC said on its website.

Among patients who do become hospitalized, about 26% to 32% have been admitted to the intensive care unit, according to the CDC.

Among those who entered the intensive care unit, the mortality rate among those patients ranged from 39% to 72%.

The median length of hospitalization among those who survived was 10 to 13 days.

Donald Trump’s philosophy of showing strength denies both people in government and the public the truth. He is not the first president to keep secrets about his health.

When is it Time to Secede from the Union?

If I was alone in these thoughts you could ignore this post. But I’m not!

Look at how everything has changed. President Obama in his 2004 Democratic Party convention speech said “…there is not a liberal America and a conservative America — there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America — there’s the United States of America.”

Obama’s speech was meant to unify this nation. Today we have a president who is doing his very best to tear us apart. He is doing a darn good job.

In an article on September 18, 2020 in the Chicago Tribune, columnist Steve Chapman wrote “After Trump’s 2016 victory, a poll found that 1 in 3 Californians supported what is known as “Calexit.” As if to encourage the idea the Golden State is alien territory, Trump has attacked it at every opportunity. He conducts himself as though he were the president only of the red states.”

In his new book, “Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America’s Imperfect Union,” leftist journalist Richard Kreitner expresses doubt that the country can hold together, or should. As he notes, English colonists came here to separate themselves from their rulers. Our revolution amounted to the colonies’ secession from the British Empire.

You don’t have to be a leftist to demand the rights for all citizens and insistence that the law applies equally to everyone.

In my previous posting, September 26, 2020, I suggested that there is a possibility that the SCOTUS could declare Donald Trump the winner of the November 3 election, no matter what the election results are, and could permit him to run for third term as president. We are about to have three justices on the court who were appointed by Trump make decisions about his re-election. Clearly they are beholden to him for obtaining a seat on the court. Are they likely to rule against him?

If Chapman is correct that California is alien territory in Trump’s eyes, why would this state remain in the union?

Google “if trump wins should the west coast secede” and you will find at least five web sites, excluding the Chicago Tribune, that are discussing the issue.

The nymag.com Intelligencer says “Divided We Stand. The Country is Hopelessly Split. So why make it official and breakup?” In part it says “In California, officials who regularly boast of overseeing the world’s fifth-largest economy have begun to talk of advancing their own foreign policy.”

In a Medium.com article are these thoughts
Consider this scenario, that could play out in the not too distant future:
1. Trump orders opening of the whole nation (incorrectly and overly early).
2. The Western Pact states say, “Thanks, but no thanks,” and stay closed.
3. Trump is angry, and drops all government funding to these states (he clearly believes he has all authority anyways).
4. These states assert their authority, and instead of bowing to his power move, they block all transport of food out of these states to the rest of the nation.

The economy of California is the largest in the United States, boasting a $3.2 trillion gross state product as of 2019. If California were a sovereign nation, it would rank as the world’s fifth largest economy, ahead of India and behind Germany. California is the nation’s leading technology state in addition is the primary source for fruits and vegetables for the nation. Add Oregon and Washington and the number is staggeringly large.

Other nations have split apart or left a union without a war. Some countries have decided not to split apart based on election results.

Quebec almost split from Canada and Scotland almost split from the UK. There was never talk of war.

Czechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe that existed from October 1918 until its split into Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.

Following a UK-wide referendum in June 2016, in which 52% voted in favour of leaving the EU and 48% voted to remain a member, the UK Government, which was then led by Theresa May formally notified the EU of the country’s intention to withdraw on 29 March 2017, beginning the Brexit process.

On September 24, 2020 the New York Times “President Trump argued this week that the death toll from the coronavirus was actually not so bad. All you had to do was not count states that voted for Democrats.”

“If you take the blue states out,” Trump said, “we’re at a level that I don’t think anybody in the world would be at. We’re really at a very low level.”

“The statement was as jarring as it was revealing, indicative of a leader who has long seemed to view himself more as the president of Red America rather than the United States of America.”

What more do you need to know that Trump really wants to be rid of the Blue States. So maybe we should make him happy. Perhaps we will all be happier.

A Peaceful Transition of Power if Joe Biden Wins

A message to Mission Control from Apollo 13 were these famous words “Houston, we’ve had a problem.”

President Trump refused to promise Thursday that he’ll accept the results of November’s election despite bipartisan outrage over his declining a day earlier to commit to a peaceful transition of power if Joe Biden wins.

Congressional leaders from both parties, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), swiftly pushed back Thursday after President Trump declined to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the Nov. 3 presidential election.

Gerald Ford was defeated by Jimmy Carter and was denied a second term.

Jimmy Carter was defeated by Ronald Reagan Clinton and was denied a second term.

George H. W. Bush was defeated by Bill Clinton and was denied a second term.

In all of those instances there was a peaceful transition of power.

No one questioned the legitimacy of the election process.

Donald Trump has half joked, half spoke seriously and said he would like to serve two or three more terms in office. The constitution’s twentieth amendment clearly states “The terms of the President and the Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January.”

The twenty second amendment says “The No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of President more than once.”

Today this craft called the United States has a problem. Since Donald Trump thinks he can ignore the constitution we really do have a problem. What will happen if Trump refuses to relinquish his position to Joe Biden? Apparently there is no precise steps that would be taken by the government.

Category: Government

Second Debate Not a Game Changer

Trump, allies openly call for violence

When is it Time to Secede from the Union?

A Peaceful Transition of Power if Joe Biden Wins

Apollo 13 safely returned to earth. Can the United States safely land? We are all praying.