USA Now Has MORE COVID-19 Coronavirus Cases Than China Ever Did

I can hear it now –– the chants of the Faux Noize talking head dingbats saying loudly in unison… “We’re number 1! We’re number 1!”

According to information as of 0600 CST DST Friday, 27 March 2020, provided through Johns Hopkins University Dashboard, the United States has 85,991 active and confirmed COVID-19 coronavirus cases, while China – which has 1 BILLION MORE PEOPLE, has NOT reported any additional, or new cases – experienced 81,894 such cases.

So, let’s put this in perspective, shall we?

The United States Census Bureau reports that American Population is estimated be very nearly 330,000,000 – 330 million.

Chinese Population is estimated to be 1,389,618,778 – that’s 1 BILLION, 389 million, 618 thousand, 778.

India’s Population is estimated to be 1,311,559,204.

The US Population is only 23.7475% that of China.

Or, expressed another way, China has 321.0965% MORE people than the United States.

So… WHY is it that the United States has 5.0028% MORE COVID-19 infection cases than China?

Seriously…

WHY!?!

WHAT has been done, or what has happend which has led us to this point?

Well… that’s an EXCELLENT question!

The POTUS – that’s Donald John Trump – has killed, slashed and burned, many biosecurity programs which would have helped protect American Public Health.

Here’s what Forensic News wrote:

“On his second full day in office President Trump instituted a federal hiring freeze that stayed in place for nearly 90 days. In the weeks after the freeze was lifted, nearly 700 positions sat vacant at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to researchers and officials interviewed in May 2017, the freeze affected “programs supporting local and state public health emergency readiness, infectious disease control, and chronic disease prevention.

“Many of the unfilled jobs are high-level positions, at least GS-12 and above… Several positions are in the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response, which regulates some of the world’s most dangerous bacteria and viruses and manages the nation’s stockpile of emergency medical countermeasures. Others include positions in the director’s office, infectious disease offices and the office for noncommunicable diseases, injury and environmental health.

”To make matters worse, the Trump administration took months to fill numerous senior positions that are critical to responding to an outbreak. A permanent Director of the CDC was not appointed until July 2017, six months after taking office, and the top position at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) remained empty for nearly eight months. Second-in-command positions also remained empty across health-related agencies: Within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), there was no Assistant Secretary for Health for over a year, no Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response for eight months, and no Director of the Office of Global Affairs for five months. USAID just received its first permanent deputy administrator last year, in 2019!

“In addition to the dissolution of global health security units, the NSC has experienced unprecedented turnover during Trump’s administration. There have been four National Security Advisors (in addition to two acting NSAs) in Trump’s three years in office. This is compared to Barack Obama’s three NSAs in eight years and two in George W. Bush’s eight years. Trump has had five Deputy National Security Advisors in 3 years, while Obama had four in eight years and W. Bush had three in eight years. Trump has had four Homeland Security Advisors (plus one acting HSA) in three years compared to two in Obama’s eight years and four in W. Bush’s eight years. “

But WAIT!
THAT’S NOT ALL!

Yeah… you guessed it.

It’s POS45’s fault.

The BUCK STOPS with him.

Or… does it?

“Yeah, no, I don’t take responsibility at all, because we were given a set of circumstances and we were given rules, regulations, and specifications from a different time. It wasn’t meant for this kind of an event with the kind of numbers that we’re talking about.”
–– POTUS Donald John Trump, Friday, 13 March 2020, White House Rose Garden news conference

POTUS Harry Truman succeeded to the Office of the President upon the death of POTUS Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who died in his FOURTH term in office.

“The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is

Reasons To Hate Republicans

Just in the case you’ve not figured it out by now, I loathe Republicans. They have – as history has demonstrated, time,  and time, again – led America down primrose paths of destruction, while benefiting their wealthy corporate donors and clientele.

I purposely do NOT use the word “constituent” in that sentence, precisely because when someone pays a person to do their bidding – it is a Master/Servant relationship, in which someone who is paid to render services, who otherwise would not – that’s what it is, a pay-for-play quid pro quo corruption of democratic representation.

And, to be absolutely certain, I am neither a sycophant for Democrats – and there are some corrupt ones, who would better be identified as “Republican Lite,” for they do not have The People’s best interests at heart, and like Republicans, do their Corporate Masters’ bidding.

The GOP is no longer “the party of Lincoln,” and hasn’t been for well over 100 years – probably more like 150. Republicans have been the source and cause of practically every scandal and corruption which has harmed the United States, and its people.

Republicans gave us The Great Depression.

Democrats saved not only the United States, but the world as well, from the ravages of the Great Depression.

And, ever since, Republicans have been trying to TEAR DOWN, and DESTROY every vestige of public policy, law, or governmental agency which benefits The People.

For example, again, hearkening back to

Republican Coronavirus Bullshittery Abounds

Lawmakers’ Stock Trades and Other Virus Outrages

Some lawmakers have a lot of explaining to do. Plus, punishing poor people and shaping up the cruise-ship industry.

By Joe Nocera 3/20/2020, 10:47:09 AM

Joe Nocera is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering business. He has written business columns for Esquire, GQ and the New York Times, and is the former editorial director of Fortune. His latest project is the Bloomberg-Wondery podcast “The Shrink Next Door.”

————
Of the many things taking place in Washington that make your blood boil, the — how should I put this? — timely stock trades by senators during the coronavirus outbreak has to go right to the top of the list. Two of them have tried to explain them away, but the details are just so… suspicious.

At least three Republicans and one Democrat 1 sold stock before the country got serious about Covid-19, but let’s focus on one: Kelly Loeffler.

A Republican from Georgia, Loeffler has been in the Senate for less than three months; she was appointed to fill the seat of Senator Johnny Isakson, who retired early for health reasons. She has a Wall Street background — she was in investor relations at the New York Stock Exchange, where she married the boss, Jeffrey Sprecher, the Chief Executive Cfficer of Intercontinental Exchange Inc., which owns NYSE

On Jan. 24, Loeffler attended a Senate briefing on the coronavirus, which she tweeted about. That same day, she and her husband began selling stock. By the time they were finished, they had dumped 27 companies, including Exxon Mobil and AutoZone, saving millions of dollars when the market later tanked. (Senate financial disclosure forms don’t give exact numbers.)

A month later, she sent out this tweet:

COVID-19 novel coronavirus

Humor is always good medicine.

And to be certain, this pandemic is certainly no laughing matter, per se.

But, humor has ALWAYS helped people through difficult and dark times, trials and tribulations.

And, we’ll get through this one, together – just as we always have.

So, in the process of washing your hands, maintaining social distancing, avoiding crowds, and working from home (if you’re able), enjoy a couple adult beverages… or some other item to relax.

Yes, some of us won’t make it through. That’s a given. But, hopefully, our government’s response (no thanks to the Current White House Occupant, who eliminated the White House) has been piecemeal, at best.

See:
Cuts To Biosecurity In Trump Budget Leaves ‘The American People Very Vulnerable,’ Experts Say
KHN Morning Briefing (Kaiser Health News)
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Tuesday, May 30 2017
https://khn.org/morning-breakout/cuts-to-biosecurity-in-trump-budget-leaves-the-american-people-very-vulnerable-experts-say/

See also:
Trump Calls For More Spending On Health Care So It’s ‘The Best Anywhere,’ But He Just Proposed Big Cuts
By Damian Paletta, Economic Policy Analysis, May 28, 2017 at 8:28 p.m. CDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/05/28/trumps-sunday-night-tweets-on-healthcare-and-taxes-contradict-what-the-white-house-said-just-last-week/

See also:
Trump Has Sabotaged America’s Coronavirus Response
As it improvises its way through a public health crisis, the United States has never been less prepared for a pandemic.
By Laurie Garrett, January 31, 2020, 11:07 AM
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/31/coronavirus-china-trump-united-states-public-health-emergency-response/

See also:

Democratic Debate 11 Goes Out With A Whimper

If, like me, you were hoping for more with the 11th Democratic debate which was to feature a 1 on 1 with Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, you were abysmally disappointed.

This Sunday’s 11th Democratic Candidate Debate featured only Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders in a 1 on 1, after every other candidate dropped out, and was nothing more than an opportunity for each candidate to rehash what they’d already said seemingly countless times earlier – on the stump, and on “debate” stages.

Previously scheduled to be held at Arizona Federal Theatre, 400 W Washington Street in Phoenix, AZ 85003, the debate was relocated and held at CNN’s Washington D.C. studios, before moderators only, with no live audience members, in order to limit possible exposure to COVID-19 coronavirus, which is now sweeping the country and world. Only 3 Moderators – Dana Bash, and Jake Tapper of CNN, and Ilia Calderon from Univision, who replaced Jorge Ramos, who had self-quarantined following possible COVID-19 exposure – were present.

The debate started out slowly, and even though there were only 2 candidates, the “rules” were just as before, that each candidate was allotted 90 seconds to respond to a question. I had hoped that there would be more interaction between the 2 candidates, and was only briefly satisfied with by their more free-wheeling interactions which Jake Tapper allowed, while

The BUCK STOPS here! But not for Trump (POS45) who REFUSES to accept responsibility for his actions.

POTUS “Give ’em HELL!” Harry Truman (1884-1972) succeeded to the Office of the President in 1945 upon the death of POTUS Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945), who died during his FOURTH term in office.

Speaking at the White House Rose Garden for over an an hour, Trump was also asked if he took responsibility for the lag in making tests available for the coronavirus COVID-19… despite the fact that he dismantled government-spending programs related to fighting the spread of global diseases.

Trump replied,

“I don’t take responsibility at all.”

Remember when there was accountability, responsibility, ethics, honesty, and even virtue in the White House?

Yeah.

It was a Democrat – Harry Truman – FDR’s VP, whose desk sign read,

“The BUCK STOPS here!”

According to research by Foreign Policy magazine, Trump’s budget cuts included:

• Cut $15 billion from the disease-fighting operating budgets of

Trump Budget Slashing Gutted Coronavirus Emergency Response

Trump’s hated of “everything Obama” has already harmed America.

Now, it’s harming Public Health.

That man is a genuine threat to the security of the United States. He simply has NO understanding of the complexity of the matters placed before him on the platter of the Presidency. He is utterly out of his league.

Consider this sampling of inane things he’s said about coronavirus (COVID-19):

First, it was, “We have it all under control.”

Followed closely by, “It’s very small problem in this country.”

And on its heels was, “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA.”

Which was later accompanied by, “We have it totally under control. It’s going to be fine.”

As things progressed, and it because clear that it was only a matter of time before Americans were affected, he said in Davos, Switzerland that, “We do have a plan, and we think it’s going to be handled very well.”

Now that the fecal matter has started to hit the fan, he decided to make a rare, live, emergency telecast to address the nation, and said that, “I have decided to take several strong but necessary actions to protect the health and well-being of all Americans.”

He also said in that emergency live telecast address to the nation that, “We declared a public health emergency and issued the highest level of travel warning.”

In the same breath, he said, “To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days.”

Just last year, he:
• Cut the budgets of the Centers for Disease Control, and other Public Health-related budgets,
• Firing the government’s entire pandemic response chain of command, including those of the
––National Security Agency,
––National Security Council,
––Health and Human Services,
––Department of Homeland Security,
• Gutting the entire management infrastructure of the White House, and
• Killing the Complex Crises Fund

…DESPITE all that budget bloodshed like Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, he had the unmitigated gall and audacity to say that, “We are at a critical time in the fight against the virus.”

And sadly, it’s highly doubtful that anyone truly believes him when he said, “I will always put the well-being of America first.”

It’s not as if anyone believes him now, anyway. Members of the Cabinet are in fear of him, that they’ll lose their jobs being fired by Tweet, so they simply turn into jelly, and keep their ideas to themselves… since he knows how to run everything, anyway. So what difference does it truly make?

The next thing is to GET HIM OUT OF OFFICE!

But, moreover, this article goes in-depth to show and explain the things he’s done which have had a horrific effect upon Public Health -and- National Security.

That is NOT how to “Make America Great Again.”

Come November, you know what to do.

VOTE HIM OUT!!!

Trump Has Sabotaged America’s Coronavirus Response

By Laurie Garrett
January 31, 2010
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/31/coronavirus-china-trump-united-states-public-health-emergency-response/

When Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), declared the Wuhan coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern on Thursday, he praised China for taking “unprecedented” steps to control the deadly virus. “I have never seen for myself this kind of mobilization,” he noted. “China is actually setting a new standard for outbreak response.”

The epidemic control efforts unfolding today in China—including placing some 100 million citizens on lockdown, shutting down a national holiday, building enormous quarantine hospitals in days’ time, and ramping up 24-hour manufacturing of medical equipment—are indeed gargantuan. It’s impossible to watch them without wondering, “What would we do? How would my government respond if this virus spread across my country?”

For the United States, the answers are especially worrying because the government has intentionally rendered itself incapable. In 2018, the Trump administration fired the government’s entire pandemic response chain of command, including the White House management infrastructure. In numerous phone calls and emails with key agencies across the U.S. government, the only consistent response I encountered was distressed confusion. If the United States still has a clear chain of command for pandemic response, the White House urgently needs to clarify what it is

If the United States still has a clear chain of command for pandemic response,
the White House urgently needs to clarify what it is – not just for the public but for the government itself,
which largely finds itself in the dark.

When Ebola broke out in West Africa in 2014, President Barack Obama recognized that responding to the outbreak overseas, while also protecting Americans at home, involved multiple U.S. government departments and agencies,

Remember When Hillary Said Russians Are Grooming Tulsi Gabbard As 3rd Party Spoiler?

Ed. note: This entry was written shortly after HRC made her remarks, found transcribed herein, but remained unpublished. As of publication today, Wednesday, 11 March 2020, Tulsi Gabbard remains a candidate to be the Democratic Party’s Presidential Nominee, though her viability as a candidate is practically non-existent, while Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are the two major candidates remaining in the race.

Tulsi Gabbard, Official Portrait

In the recent edition of the podcast “Campaign HQ with David Plouffe,” (Google podcast link) the former 2008 Obama campaign adviser interviewed Hillary Clinton on a wide range of topics, primarily about strategy and tactics that Trump and Republicans will most likely use in an attempt to defeat the 2020 Democratic party presidential nominee.

In the hour-long, often-rambling podcast, guest Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom was the 2016 Democratic nominee for POTUS, a former U.S. Secretary of State, and a former United States Senator from New York, obliquely and surreptitiously accused Tulsi Gabbard, a current Major in the Hawaii Army National Guard, current Hawaii U.S. Representative (D-CD2), and Iraq War Veteran, of being a “Russian asset.”

The shocking incredulity which Hillary accuses a fellow Democrat of being – an open traitor to our nation, not merely a “faithless” candidate – could possibly be taken seriously, if not at face value – but for at least two things:

Tulsi Gabbard, Promotion to Major

1.) Tulsi Gabbard is a Major in the Hawaii National Guard, and as such, has sworn an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same…”;

2.) Tulsi Gabbard is an Iraq War Veteran, and;

3.) Tulsi Gabbard is a current Representative for Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District, and in that capacity has similarly sworn an oath of fealty – fidelity to and support of the Constitution.

If what Hillary surreptitiously claimed, suggested, or intimated (she did not mention Rep. Gabbard by name) were true (which it is not), Tulsi would be an open traitor – and she is not.

The seriousness of such charges are not to be taken lightly, which is also why, in large part, that they’re incredulous. Hillary’s claims are not even specious, they are fully unjustified, and wholly unwarranted. And so, they should not, and cannot be taken seriously.

Most American journalistic and media outlets have hardly taken notice, save for a nominal categorical mention on Twitter, and a CBS Evening News report by Norah O’Donnell, and one, or two other stories, including Fox News Tucker Carlson’s brief interview with Tulsi Gabbard about the ordeal shortly after it came to light.

Even Chuck Todd, the marshmallow-soft replacement for the late, take-no-prisoners attorney/host Tim Russert on NBC’s once-revered Sunday newsmaker program Meet the Press, only had a passing interaction on the subject with South Bend, Indiana “Mayor Pete” Buttegieg, who is also a Navy Iraq War Veteran and Democratic candidate to be the party’s Presidential Nominee. Their brief exchange follows:

CHUCK TODD: Before I let you go, I was curious if you had any reaction to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton implying that Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard might be a Russian asset.

MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG: What I’ll say is, I’m not going to get into their dispute. What I will say is we know right now –

TODD: Is that appropriate?

BUTTIGIEG: Well, I suppose when you become a private citizen you can say whatever you want. But…

TODD: I understand that, but she’s a sitting member of Congress. She served.

BUTTIGIEG: Well, I certainly honor her service. As we saw in the debate, I also have strong disagreements with her on topics like Syria. But the bigger issue here is Russia is working to interfere with our elections right now. And we know a big part of how they’re going to do it is exploiting divisions among the American people, with their information operations. We’ve got to become a harder target and as president, I will make sure using all of our tools, diplomatic, economic, and security there is enough deterrence that Russia, or any country, would never again calculate that it is in their interest to mess with our democracy.

TODD: I just wonder if you are comfortable at all – I mean, throw a charge out there making her deny it. That’s a Trumpian move.

BUTTIGIEG: Well, we got to focus on the task at hand right now. And that includes making sure that this presidency comes to an end. That is my focus. That, and what happens after this presidency comes to an end.

TODD: So, you’re comfortable with Hillary Clinton’s critique of Tulsi Gabbard and how she went about it?

BUTTIGIEG: No, I’m not. I’m also not getting in the middle of it because we as a party and as a country have to focus on the future.

NBC’s Chuck Todd was asking “Mayor Pete” Buttegieg about the exchange with David Plouffe and Hillary Clinton in which she spoke about the possibility of another unexpected potential outcome like 2016 (in which the Vladimir Putin-run Russian government significantly meddled online using false narratives and “bots” to alter the outcome according to their wants, thereby getting Donald Trump elected), and the likelihood of Trump’s re-election in conjunction with the possible strategy and tactics they’ll use against the Democratic nomine.

The pertinent part comes about 35 minutes into the one-hour interview. After her controversial remarks, the podcast took a break. In context, and in pertinent part, she said the following:

Are you ready? FOUR MORE YEARS OF TRUMP

Official Portrait, President Donald Trump-R (b.1946)

Can you say…

“FOUR MORE YEARS”?

Increasingly, it looks like it’s gonna’ be yet ANOTHER Popular Vote win, and Electoral College loss for the Democrats in 2020.

And, as I have said, in a very perverse way, DT will have been VERY good for America, precisely because his abuses and corruption have pointed out every area of weakness in our laws pertaining to the Office of the President and of governmental operations, but because another recession is coming on, as Wall Street has warned, and is – once again – demonstrating that corruption by Wall $treet, the Banksters, and BIG INSURANCE still harms America.

And we have so MANY, MANY needs!

Reform of our voting systems, so that they can’t be hacked, manipulated, or gerrymandered.

So that life-saving, life-giving medications are readily and freely available to ALL The People.

So that people are AUTOMATICALLY Registered to Vote, and Vote by U.S. Postal Service mail is enabled in ALL 50 states.

So that once again, American Foreign Policy no longer unwantedly meddles in other nations’ internal affairs.

So that Healthcare is readily available to EVERYONE, not just those in cities or suburbs, and that Hospitals are OPENED and not closed.

So that The People can TRULY vote FOR their Presidential candidate of choice by ELIMINATING the Electoral College.

So that Schools and Education are not merely “adequately” funded, but have MORE than enough.

So that racist and discriminatory practices in voting registrations and purges are made ILLEGAL.

So that our Congress (House & Senate) is Term Limited to 20 years TOTAL service.

So that the security, safety, and

Hillary: A Woman Can’t Be Elected As POTUS

Fareed Zakaria, host of the CNN public affairs/news-talk show GPS, interviewed Hillary Clinton on an episode which aired Sunday, March 8, 2020 at 10:00 ET.

In that interview with Mr. Zakaria,

Hillary Clinton said that a woman couldn’t get elected as President of the United States.

Read the pertinent portion of the transcript below:

ZAKARIA: Do you think, given that we now have two – two men in the late 70s running for the Democratic Nomination, it’s essential that the Vice President be a woman that the Vice Presidential Candidate be a woman?

CLINTON: I’m going to

GOP Begins Biden Burning

Republicans Now Poised For Biden-Burisma Subpoena With Romney On Board

https://www.npr.org/2020/03/06/812918407/republicans-now-poised-for-biden-burisma-subpoena-with-romney-on-board

Good, bad, or indifferent, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

Like him, love him, or loathe him… this is the beginning of the end of Biden.

Republicans are preparing to burn their crosses in Biden’s political front yard in retribution for Trump’s impeachment.

It makes no difference if their investigation into Biden, Biden & Burisma is based upon illegitimate and disproven false claims, because they will pillory, draw, and quarter Joe Biden until the only thing remaining of him are his his bloody political entrails which will be strewn from coast-to-coast.

If Bernie is not the Democratic Party’s Presidential nominee, we WILL have

Dear Bernie, Pick Elizabeth Warren as your VP running mate NOW!

Bernie should announce that he’s choosing Warren for his VP running mate.

U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders (VT-I), and Elizabeth Warren (MA-D).

Ideologically, they’re 2 peas in a pod. Her supporters would (or, at least should) DEFINITELY support Bernie, even since she is no longer running, and would most assuredly pitch in if he named her as his VP choice.

However… the VP is a politically dead-end job, since in the history of our nation, aside from succession, ONLY 5 VPs have ever been elected in their own right.

Only 13 former Vice Presidents have ever been POTUS, who all arrived in office either through succession, or through election apart from succession.

Here’s the break-down:

• A total of 8 POTUSes have died in office – 4 from natural death, and 4 assassinations.

• The majority of VPs who ever became POTUS (8/13) were from a President’s death, so that leaves 5.

• A total of 5 POTUSes were former VPs – Adams, Jefferson, Van Buren, Nixon, and G.H.W. Bush.

It’s worth repeating:

Only 5
former Vice Presidents
were ever
elected
as
President.

That’s 5/45, or 11.1%.

However, the United States Senate website states this about Senators:

“To date,
16 Senators have also served as
President of the United States.
Three Senators,
Warren G. Harding, John F. Kennedy, and Barack Obama moved directly from the U.S. Senate
to the White House.”

That’s 16/45, or 35.5%, of all POTUSes who were ever a Senator.

And 3/16, or 18.75%, were elected as POTUS directly from the Senate.

Historically, and statistically, it doesn’t look good for Biden.

Liz could

Thanks To Hillary, Four More Years Of Trump

It could have been written by Bernie Sanders.

But it wasn’t.

Meet your Russian interference.

“Great! Thank you @HillaryClinton
You, the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long, have finally come out from behind the curtain.
From the day I announced my candidacy, there has been a …

… concerted campaign to destroy my reputation.
We wondered who was behind it and why.
Now we know — it was always you, through your proxies and …

… powerful allies in the corporate media and war machine, afraid of the threat I pose.

It’s now clear that this primary is between you and me. Don’t cowardly hide behind your proxies.
Join the race directly.”

– Tweet by Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-2) (who remains in the race) 1:20 PM, 18 October 2019, in response to Hillary’s accusation of her that “…they [Russians] got their eye on somebody who’s currently in the Democratic primary, and are grooming her to be the third party candidate. She’s a favorite of the Russians; they have a bunch of sites and bots, and other ways of supporting her so far, and… that’s assuming Jill Stein will give it up – which she might not, because she’s also a Russian asset. Yeah! She’s a Russian asset! I mean, totally! And so, they know they can’t win without without a third party candidate. And so, I don’t know who it’s gonna’ be, but I will guarantee they’ll be a vigorous third party challenge in the key states that most need it.”

The 2020 Democratic Field Narrows

Following the results of the South Carolina Primary, in a period slightly over 24 hours, no less than THREE Democratic contenders have quit the race.

In a seemingly slow burn of  announcements, California businessman Tom Steyer, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar made their announcements in that order, that they were “suspending” their campaigns to be the Democratic Party’s Presidential nominee.

There are now only three contestants remaining on that island: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden, and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. While Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard technically remains in the race, she has garnered very little popular vote support, and won no delegates.

Tom Steyer, who was unashamedly the solitary candidate of the entire lot of Democratic contenders to support reparations for Blacks, who as a group have categorically continued suffering the effects of racism long after the Civil War ended, was

Bernie Sanders Said…

On November 19, 2015, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders addressed a crowd at Georgetown University.

It was not a campaign rally.

In the conclusion of his speech, he said:

“So the next time you hear me attacked as a socialist, remember this:

“I don’t believe government should own the means of production, but I do believe that the middle class and the working families who produce the wealth of America deserve a fair deal.

“I believe in private companies that thrive and invest and grow in America instead of shipping jobs and profits overseas.

“I believe that most Americans can pay lower taxes – if hedge fund managers who make billions manipulating the marketplace finally pay the taxes they should.

“I don’t believe in special treatment for the top 1%, but I do believe in equal treatment for African-Americans who are right to proclaim the moral principle that Black Lives Matter.

“I despise appeals to nativism and prejudice, and I do believe in immigration reform that gives Hispanics and others a pathway to citizenship and a better life.

“I don’t believe in some foreign “ism”, but I believe deeply in American idealism.

“I’m not running for president because it’s my turn, but because it’s the turn of all of us to live in a nation of hope and opportunity not for some, not for the few, but for all.

“No one understood better than FDR the connection between American strength at home and our ability to defend America at home and across the world. That is why he proposed a second Bill of Rights in 1944, and said in that State of the Union:

““America’s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens. For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.”

“I’m not running to pursue reckless adventures abroad, but to rebuild America’s strength at home. I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will never send our sons and daughters to war under false pretense or pretenses or into dubious battles with no end in sight.”

– Vermont U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Georgetown University, November 19, 2015

The word ‘socialism’ has been used for many years as a fear tactic to persuade people to do, or not do, what the one who is using the word wants them to do, or not do. It’s been around at least as long as since 1931 – and likely, much longer. Perhaps 20 years, or more.

A cursory search of the Congressional Record (part 1 volume 45, p270) showed that in the 1910 Congress, in the Second Session, on December 20, Representative Frank Wheeler Mondell (1860-1939), a Republican, said in part the following:

“Advanced with the extraordinary argument that to take authority from the people locally and lodge it with a federal bureau is “saving” something for “all the people” and from the” interests,” and backed by the demand of a certain section of the press, inspired by socialistic government bureaus, the propaganda has much influence with some legislators.”

Demonizing “the press,” demonizing “socialistic government bureaus,” and claiming it’s all “propaganda.”

Wow.

That stuff reads like it was ripped from today’s headlines in 2020, over 110 years later.

Grand OLD Party, indeed.

Same… tired… old… rhetoric.

But, let’s continue searching in that year’s record.

Senator Porter McCumber (1858-1933), a Republican from Nebraska, addressed that body on February 4, 1910 and as found on page 1481, is recorded to have said in part,

Joe Biden said…

Hearing Joe Biden say,

“We now have amassed more popular vote
than
anyone running for the nomination,”

is like…

Bernie Sanders Addressed Georgetown University On Democratic Socialism

Try as they might, pundit and naysayers of most all stripe continue to castigate, demonize, and mischaracterize Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders as a “socialist” in the “classical” sense.

The “classical” sense, or definition of “socialism” is when a government controls the means -and- the method of production. Period. End of conversation.

In the United States, there has NEVER been, nor will there ever be, any “government factory.”

So, there’s that to consider.

But, think about the coins and currency (money) in your pocket.

You might have an argument for calling it “socialist,” because it’s
• made by the government,
• on government-owned machines,
• using government-owned paper, ink, and metals,
• by government employees, and is effectively
• owned by the government (on temporary “loan” to you, though it is in actuality, a promissory note, itself – but monetary theory is a topic for discussion another day).

BUT… the reason it’s NOT socialist is that EVERYTHING – the inks, the metals, the papers, the stamping and printing machines… EVERYTHING – was obtained by Publicly Bid Open Contracts FROM THE PRIVATE SECTOR.

Yeah.

So, there’s also that to consider.

And then, there’s our military… which issues official government-owned uniforms to government employees, who work using government-owned equipment, and their healthcare – which is given at NO COST TO THEM -and- TO THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS – using government-owned equipment, in government-owned healthcare facilities and hospitals, with government-owned-and-provided medicines.

And, in that scenario, the government employees control the means –and– the method of production, per se. It’s a “socialist” system if ever there was one!

But,, once again, ALL of those materials, and all the manpower to perform ALL those functions COMES FROM THE PRIVATE SECTOR via Publicly Bid Open Contracts.

Yeah.

So, there’s that to consider, as well.

Guess it must not be “socialism,” eh?

At least since 1931 (and likely at least 20 years or so earlier), the great “demon” of socialism has been a source of name-calling and fear-baiting in government.

The word “socialism” has been tossed around more than a Caesar’s Salad with oil and vinegar dressing. And, it’s only done for political hay-making purposes. In other words, it’s much like “The Boy Who Cried ‘WOLF!'”

Here are two examples from the Congressional Record of 1931:

Congressional Record–Senate, 28Feb1931, p6448

You see, in October 1917, something happened in Russia, and that country changed its name, which included the word “socialist” in it. Thereafter, it was easy to demonize the word, simply because of association with what happened in Russia.

The “something” that happened in Russia was the “October Revolution,” (i.e., the Russian Revolution) in which Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) and his merry band of men (mostly) known as the Bolsheviks, overthrew the Russian government, which at the time had been long ruled by Czars from the Romanov family, the royal family of Russia – which was a 300-year long imperial dynasty (the 2nd in Russian history), and one of ineptitude, nepotism, incompetence, excess, corruption, and hubris – which in all fairness, also included a few successes, but exceedingly few.

Congressional Record – House 2March31 p6850

It was actually the 2nd (or 3rd, depending upon what source you read) that year, with the first being in March (or February, again, depending upon what source you read). An earlier revolution in 1905 had also happened, and the situation and circumstances of the that revolution was culminated in the 1917 revolutions. Riots, work stoppages, strikes, food shortages, economic upheaval, lack of industrialization, were almost commonplace, and social upheaval was in the air, and in the hearts and minds of Russian civilians.

In the early 1900’s, Russia was one of the most impoverished nations in the world, and most European countries, and did much of the world, viewed Russia as being a backwards, and undeveloped nation, which was also plagued with high poverty, among other social ills. It was only a relatively few years earlier, in 1861, that serfdom had been made illegal in Russia, though it had been illegal in Europe for much longer.

“Serfdom” is a practice of the landed gentry (wealthy real estate/properly owners) in which indentured servitude of the lowest social class members, called “serfs,” occurred, though which the impoverished serfs were in some way indebted to the land owner, typically in exchange for the privilege of working a plot of land for their own purposes, which in more modern times in America is called share-cropping. After serfdom was outlawed, the former serfs had freedom to organize, and they did.

Industrialization, which occurred much later in Russia than in other nations, was the harbinger of significant social change. Between 1890 and 1910, the populations of the well-known cities St. Petersburg, and Moscow, doubled in size. Such overcrowding brought along other social ills such as destitute living conditions for industrial workers, and with it, disease.

Decisions to grow agricultural products in the harsh northern Russian climes were similarly fraught with difficulty, and production was stymied, which in turn brought about food shortages, and their accompanying ills. In conjunction with the Crimean War (1854-56) arising from Russian pressure on Turkey which directly threatened British commercial and strategic interests in the Middle East and India, combined with Russian involvement in other armed conflicts (notably with Japan), their economy was brought to a practical stand-still.

The “Bloody Sunday Massacre” of unarmed peaceful protestors by government troops in St. Petersburg on January 22, 1905, set the stage for even greater civil unrest shortly thereafter.

THE POINT BEING…

History is full of events of people revolting when food and housing – 2 of the 3 most fundamental human needs of food, clothing, and shelter – cannot be obtained.

The same thing happened in the United States, albeit with less violence, during the Great Depression.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, aka “FDR”, and his administration, sought to do everything humanly possible to PREVENT another occurrence of a “Great Depression” by correcting laws that led to the problem.

In the years since, Republicans (mostly), have done their damndest to tear down, and destroy everything FDR accomplished – including their wet-dream of privatizing Social Security – in order to hand it over to Wall Street speculators, who are salivating like hungry dogs to get their greedy hands on The People’s money.

As evidence of mostly Republican effort (though in all fairness, some Democrats have been involved, as well – aka “establishment Democrats,” or Wall Street Democrats In Name Only, or DINOs) to tear down the laws and rules protecting the people, look at the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act (repeal and replaced by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act – 145 pages, and signed into law by President CLINTON in 1999, the Glass-Steagall Act passed in 1933, signed by FDR, was 37 pages in length, and forbade the commingling of money from Insurance companies, Stock Brokerage houses, and Banks, i.e., each industry could not perform the roles which the others did), which led DIRECTLY to the “Great Recession” during the George W. Bush administration, in which numerous “too-big-to-fail” banks collapsed, insurance companies went under, people lost jobs, and automobile manufacturers requested a bail-out… while the people got no bail-out.

Following, are the transcribed remarks made by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders at Georgetown University November 19, 2015 about what he means when he mentions “democratic socialism.”

––––––––––––––••••––––––––––––––

––––––––––––––••••––––––––––––––

––––––––––––––••••––––––––––––––

In his inaugural remarks in January 1937, in the midst of the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt looked out at the nation and this is what he saw.

He saw tens of millions of its citizens denied the basic necessities of life.

He saw millions of families trying to live on incomes so meager that the pall of family disaster hung over them day by day.

He saw millions denied education, recreation, and the opportunity to better their lot and the lot of their children.

He saw millions lacking the means to buy the products they needed and by their poverty and lack of disposable income denying employment to many other millions.

He saw one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.

And he acted. Against the ferocious opposition of the ruling class of his day, people he called economic royalists, Roosevelt implemented a series of programs that put millions of people back to work, took them out of poverty and restored their faith in government. He redefined the relationship of the federal government to the people of our country. He combatted cynicism, fear and despair. He reinvigorated democracy. He transformed the country.

Bernie Sanders delivers his long-awaited speech on Democratic Socialism at Georgetown University. He also speaks about his vision for bringing American foreign policy into the 21st century.

And that is what we have to do today.

And, by the way, almost everything he proposed was called “socialist.” Social Security, which transformed life for the elderly in this country was “socialist.” The concept of the “minimum wage” was seen as a radical intrusion into the marketplace and was described as “socialist.” Unemployment insurance, abolishing child labor, the 40-hour work week, collective bargaining, strong banking regulations, deposit insurance, and job programs that put millions of people to work were all described, in one way or another, as “socialist.” Yet, these programs have become the fabric of our nation and the foundation of the middle class.

Thirty years later, in

How And Why Bernie Will Defeat Trump

Crooked Hillary…

Everyone who pays attention to the news – especially political news – has heard the phrase uttered by the Current White House Occupant, sometimes also known as POS45. There’s even a Wikipedia page of the nicknames he gives folks.

Que sera, sera… eh?

Nevertheless, recall the 2016 General Election?

Why, of course you do!

Who could forget it, right?

I mean, it was a choice between “the devil you know, and the devil you don’t know.” Either way, it was a devil. But at least with one, you could half-way predict what that devil might, could, or possibly would do.

Not so with the other devil.

Or, put another way, a known quantity versus an unknown quantity.

And, time has proven it to be the case.

But for all the investigations which have been launched against her, or about her, and her dealings, nothing has stuck. So maybe she’s the “Teflon Don,” rather than her husband “Blowjob Bill,” eh?

Remember Donna Bazile, the twice-former, interim Democratic National Committee Chair? Recall how she’d been discovered having sharing debate questions with Hillary after a WikiLeaks email dump, and during a second such revelation resigned in shame from her position at CNN as political commentator/pundit?

Yeah… THAT Donna Brazile.

And, perhaps you may recall how she later revealed in her book, an excerpt of which was made into a Politico article, what she’d found when she was briefly DNC chair, specifically, how a back-room deal was struck between Hillary and the DNC a year before the 2016 election campaign season began.

So, let’s recap.

Here’s two of the article’s first three paragraphs, which are excerpted from her book Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns that Put Donald Trump in the White House:

“I had promised Bernie when I took the helm of the Democratic National Committee after the convention that I would get to the bottom of whether Hillary Clinton’s team had rigged the nomination process, as a cache of emails stolen by Russian hackers and posted online had suggested. I’d had my suspicions from the moment I walked in the door of the DNC a month or so earlier, based on the leaked emails. But who knew if some of them might have been forged? I needed to have solid proof, and so did Bernie.

“So I followed the money. My predecessor, Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, had not been the most active chair in fundraising at a time when President Barack Obama’s neglect had left the party in significant debt. As Hillary’s campaign gained momentum, she resolved the party’s debt and put it on a starvation diet. It had become dependent on her campaign for survival, for which she expected to wield control of its operations.”

Focus upon that last sentence – “It had become dependent on her campaign for survival, for which she expected to wield control of its operations.”

“…for which she expected to wield control of its operations.”

That, my friends, is a classic example of a quid pro quo – giving one thing of value in exchange for another thing of value. Legally defined as a type of valid contract, the quid pro quo is not an illegal act in and of itself, per se, and must be considered within context to determine if it was an illegal act, or not.

There’s little-to-no question that it was unethical, at the very least, and certainly hasn’t reflected positively on the party, nor upon Hillary.

But how did it get to that point?

After the convention, Ms Brazile called Gary Gensler, Chief Financial Officer of Hillary’s campaign, who told her that the Democratic Party was broke and $2 million in debt.

Stewardship of the party’s finances was in shambles, to say the least, and it was due in significant part, or so she claims, from her predecessor Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, a Representative from Florida’s 20th Congressional District.

Ms. Wasserman-Schultz, as you may recall, also later resigned as DNC Chair after a tranche of WikiLeaks emails showed she had given significant help to Hillary during her Presidential campaign, rather than remain a supportive, yet independent observer. So perhaps it was for the best, anyway.

Not everyone in the party had been happy with her at the helm, either. Lis Smith, a longtime campaign operative, former Communications Director, and former Deputy Campaign Director for candidates like Martin O’Malley, Bill de Blasio, Claire McCaskill, and Barack Obama, said of Wasserman-Schultz’ resignation that, “Her resignation is good news for Democrats, and great news for anyone who believes the DNC needs wholesale reform. Hopefully we can all learn from her little experiment this past primary season and never repeat it as a party.”

Senator Sanders was more diplomatically circumspect in his remarks, saying that, “While she deserves thanks for her years of service, the party now needs new leadership that will open the doors of the party and welcome in working people and young people. The party leadership must also always remain impartial in the presidential nominating process, something which did not occur in the 2016 race.”

But, back to the story at hand.

Ms. Brazile wrote that while she was interim DNC Chair that, “I wanted to believe Hillary, who made campaign finance reform part of her platform, but I had made this pledge to Bernie and did not want to disappoint him.” But in her search for the “smoking gun,” after diligent efforts, speaking with numerous party lawyers and officials who feigned knowledge or responsibility, she continually came up empty-handed… until later. She wrote:

“When I got back from a vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, I at last found the document that described it all: the Joint Fund-Raising Agreement between the DNC, the Hillary Victory Fund, and Hillary for America.

“The agreement—signed by Amy Dacey, the former CEO of the DNC, and Robby Mook [Hillary’s Campaign Manager] with a copy to Marc Elias [General Counsel for Hillary’s campaign]—specified that in exchange for raising money and investing in the DNC, Hillary would control the party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised. Her campaign had the right of refusal of who would be the party communications director, and it would make final decisions on all the other staff. The DNC also was required to consult with the campaign about all other staffing, budgeting, data, analytics, and mailings.”

She wrote that while she was the interim DNC Chair, she experienced some unusual events, which at the time, seemed nothing more than purely odd, if not curious, but certainly not suspicious, nor even eyebrow-raising. One of those trifling matters was that, as chair of the party, she was hamstrung from doing anything the party chair would have normally done, such as write press releases, unless

Would You Visit A Cuban Beach?

Suppose that one day, you were on the beach in Varadero Beach, which is slightly EAST of Havana, Cuba, or in some other scenically tropical locale in that Caribbean island nation.

And on that day, suppose that it was a lovely sunny day, with pretty puffy white clouds floating around, the temperature was a balmy 82ºF, and a gentle breeze was blowing across the Gulf of Mexico onto the beach where you were located.

You’d probably say that it’d be an idyllic setting, for sure. Maybe even a picture perfect day on a lovely sandy-white beach!

Agree?

Now, suppose that you returned home and you said to your friends, “Wow! What a beautiful day it was on the beach in Cuba! It was a wonderfully lovely sunny day, clear skies, with a mild breeze, and 82ºF. It was absolutely PERFECT!”

And then… just as the words left your mouth, your friends started to call you a “communist sympathizer” simply because you told them how beautiful and perfect a day it was while you were on the beach in Cuba.

It’d be absurd, wouldn’t it?

And you’d think they were at least two bricks shy of a load – right?

In essence, that’s what some are doing to Bernie Sanders.

Simply because

Trump To Send Coronavirus Victims To Alabama

President Donald Trump has decided to move Coronavirus victims from the Diamond Princess cruise ship to the FEMA Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston.

Last Saturday, 22 February 2020, Elleen Kane, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, announced the plans to quarantine the evacuees which have been planned for transport this week.

Located on the site of the former Army training base Ft. McClellan, the CDP has a full training hospital on site which is

“The Noble Training Facility at the CDP is the only hospital facility in the United States dedicated solely to training hospital and healthcare professionals in disaster preparedness and response. The facility includes classrooms, exercise and simulation areas, an emergency operations center, emergency department, clinical ward, and an isolation ward for ‘patients’ with highly infectious diseases.”

The CDP is the nation’s only such training center, and has numerous trainings, for several classifications of personnel, including licensed Medical/Healthcare Professionals, system administrators, First Responders, Law Enforcement, Fire Fighters, and more.

Coronavirus is the novel type now being called Covid19, which is highly contagious, and airborne. The virus, which has caused tens of thousands of deaths worldwide, and continues to spread globally, is proving not only difficult to eradicate, but unpredictable, as well.

First thought to have emerged from the so-called “wet markets” in which live animals are slaughtered alongside prepared foods, in Wuhan, in Hubei Province, China, the virus is classified as a “zoonotic,” meaning it can spread from animals to humans.

Most images found in news stories show people wearing simple dust masks in the mistaken belief that the mask will help prevent them from inhaling the airborne pathogen. However, nothing could be further from the truth. The microscopic virion so small, it can easily pass through the pores of such masks. In fact, the N-95 respirator, which is used to prevent inhaling other airborne contagions like tuberculosis, is ineffective. That’s why its common to see folks in “space suits” treating patients.

At first blush, theories about the virus circulated on Social Media which blamed bats as the cause of the outbreak, and images and video of a woman eating “bat soup” (literally, eating a bat in a bowl of broth), were discovered to be a travelog writer and were not made in China. Then, based upon disinformation,

For The People -or- For The Billionaires?

Bernie Sanders is the man to beat. He is gathering a full head of steam, and when he selects Elizabeth Warren as his Vice Presidential running mate, together, they will be UNSTOPPABLE!

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders addresses an ecstatic crowd in El Paso, Texas following his Nevada Caucus win.

The irony of ironies, is that they more his opponents within and without the party castigate him, they make the case for him EVEN STRONGER!

After Sander’s Nevada Caucus win, Bloomberg’s campaign manager claimed that Sanders’ campaign “appeals to a small base,” however, as Senator Sanders – and others – have pointed out, he won the Nevada Caucuses precisely because of the diversity of people to which he appealed: Latino, African-American, White, Native American, Asian American, gay, straight, religious & non-religious, young, old, male, female, those with and without college education, single, married, working class, middle class, and more. And when he makes a good showing in South Carolina – where Joe Biden is the projected winner with a significant African-American population – Bernie could topple Biden, but even if he won 2nd place, it would reinforce his status as Democratic front-runner.

Edward-Isaac Dovere, writer for The Atlantic, authored a brief article titled “The Democratic Establishment Is Broken” which was published February 22, 2020. Its banner read “After the Nevada caucus, Democratic Party leaders have never looked more uncertain about their future.” In it, he makes the point that, like Sanders and others have been saying – including Warren, Buttigieg, and other former candidates – which is that Sanders’ grassroots supporters acknowledge that so-called establishment Democrats -and- Republicans bear significant responsibility for the corrupting influence of money in which American public policy and law have caused, and because in turn, party bosses and others perceive their BIG MONEY funding sources could be jeopardized, has caused consternation among them. Yet ironically, by their very remarks, those same party bosses are making the very case about which the grassroots supporters are complaining.

Multi-billionaire Mike Bloomberg, entrepreneur and former New York City Mayor who left the GOP in 2007, and won a 3rd term as an Independent candidate, is campaigning as a new-comer Democrat, insofar as he decided to cast his hat in the ring very late in the game, long, long after most candidates’ ground game had been in effect. In fact, he affiliated with the Democratic party only recently, in October 2018, and launched his candidacy November 24. Bloomberg, whose net worth is an estimated $62 BILLION, has self-funded his candidacy, and according to records from the Federal Election Commission, has spent well in excess of $350 million, and counting in advertisements. That accounts for 0.564516129032258% (about 1/2 of 1%) of his vast fortune. And then, there’s the costs of his campaign team members, most whom are reportedly paid very handsomely in comparison to standard accepted rates for such work – at least twice, or more – and given iPhones and iPads to keep for themselves after their work for him is done.

That, of course, is not begrudging well-paid people, nor his largess. But it does cast a somber and sobering pall over the very matter, of the system now in effect, when to numerous causal observers it appears, for all practical purposes, as if he’s attempting to buy the nomination. And it certainly raises questions about his motives, or of others who may have encouraged him. Altogether, “the optics” as some say, don’t look good.

And then, there’s the other matter in which party members are

Trump wants GA Rep. Doug Collins for DNI?

Representative Doug Collins (GA-9, R) of Gainesville, is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee.

Numerous reports have stated that POS45 is considering Georgia’s U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, a Republican of Gainesville to become the next Director of National Intelligence.

But Collins has publicly rejected that idea, and said to Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business Network on Friday, 21 February 2020 that, “this is not a job that interests me; at this time it’s not one that I would accept because

Who’s Zoomin’ Who? Corporate/BIG MONEY Democrats Try To Abort Bernie’s Campaign.

Tom Perez, Democratic Party Chairman

It has occurred to me that Democratic Party Chairman Tom Perez and other Corporate/BIG MONEY Democrats such as Hillary Clinton, et al, are most likely the ones behind the anti-Bernie movement within the party -AND- were most likely the ones who changed debate participation rules mid-stream to anoint multi-billionaire Bloomberg to counter Bernie+Liz… a process through which omitted Tom Steyer, also a billionaire – albeit one with a conscience.

James Carville (RIGHT) with Bill Clinton in 1999 at the White House.

They (the C/BM Dems, and their corporate media masters/handlers, including Pete Buttigieg and Bill Clinton strategist James Carville) attempt to portray themselves as “centrists” or “moderates” and Bernie as “radical,” or “communist” (like Bloomberg did), ostensibly to court voters, especially including (they claim) fence-sitting Republicans, and undecided Democrats. But it’s “an inconvenient truth” that the very words they use also happens to be the Republican party line and anti-Democrat talking point.

Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) at his “Conversation with Cory” campaign event at the Nevada Partners Event Center February 24, 2019 in North Las Vegas.

Julian Castro speaks to media members in Miami, FL, June 27, 2019.

Naturally, Julian Castro, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Andrew Yang, and others, have loudly and justifiably complained about Tom’s hypocritically unilateral decision to

Everything Old Is New Again

The Democratic Party’s Establishment cronies, whom are probably more accurately known as Corporate Democrats, or even as “Republicans Lite,” have had their knives out for Bernie Sanders for quite some time.

Not only have they no idea what they’re talking about when they go about Bernie bashing, and falsely claiming that the ideas he promotes are somehow “radical,” but they’re just plain old wrong. Of course, it would be very easy to imagine that anyone who opposes such ideals to benefit the people are in the pockets of their Big Money Corporate Donors, and doing the bidding of their Wall Street Corporate Money masters.

“We need to create a culture,
an entire culture,
which as Pope Francis has reminded us,
can not just be based on the worship of money.
We must not accept
a nation in which
billionaires compete as to the size of their super-yachts,
while
children in America go hungry
and
veterans sleep out on the streets.”

Neither is he a “socialist,” a brush and political nom de guerre which his opponents attempt to paint him with, and thereby demonize him. It would be more accurate to say he’s a social Democrat, insofar as his ideas and policies are designed to benefit the people – not mega-corporations, not billionaires.

President Harry Truman (D), seated LEFT

His opponents’ efforts to make political hay for themselves with the fact that he calls himself a “Democratic socialist” are purely self-seeking, self-serving efforts to ensure continued votes from their constituents… but most importantly, Big Money from Corporate Donors.

Bernie Sanders has NEVER participated in any anti-American activity or organization, and has NEVER promoted any such thing. And, in fact, like every Military Service Member, and countless others in Federal Service whether elected, or not, he has sworn an oath of allegiance to the Constitution, and to the United States.

The principles Bernie Sanders talks about are NOT “radical.”

In fact, the ideas like a:
1.) Right to education;
2.) Right to earn a decent wage;
3.) Right to a job;
4.) Right to housing;
5.) Right to medical care,
and more, are straight out of the FDR playbook from his SOTU January 11, 1944, when he said in part that “necessitous men are not free men.”¹

The Democratic Party has simply chosen to ignore those ideals – wrongfully so, in my estimation – and instead, has proceeded down the merry Republican path, oblivious to the damage and destruction that lies ahead.

Time, and time again, Senator Sanders has made it abundantly clear exactly and precisely what he means when he uses the term democratic socialism. The most detailed example of which was a speech he delivered at Georgetown University, Thursday, November 19, 2015.
(see: http://inthesetimes.com/article/18623/bernie_sanders_democratic_socialism_georgetown_speech

• https://www.c-span.org/video/?400961-1/senator-bernie-sanders-address-democratic-socialism

• https://youtu.be/p9OP0gfmPgA

• https://www.georgetown.edu/news/bernie-sanders-defines-democratic-socialism-in-georgetown-speech/)

“Real freedom must include economic security.
That was Roosevelt’s vision 70 years ago.
It is my vision today.
It is a vision that we have not yet achieved.
It is time that we did.”

Republicans have a long lineage of falsely claiming anything that benefits the people is somehow “socialist.” It could be thought of as their “birthright,” because Republican fear mongering using that term, and others, is nothing new. If they can convince you that someone, some idea, plan, or thing, is going to steal something from you, they’ve already won. That’s their strategy, plain and simple.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Medicare Bill at the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, with President Truman seated next to him. Twenty years earlier, President Truman proposed his idea for nationwide health care. Archive photo from the White House Press Office.

They did it in the three Republican administrations (1921-1933) – Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover – which in turn, gifted America, and the world, with the Great Depression.

They did it with Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy’s unfounded fear-mongering “Red Scare” tactics, who found a Communist behind every shrub, and on every street corner.

They did it to “Give ’em Hell Harry” Truman in 1945 a mere 7 months into his Presidency when he proposed mandatory “universal” health care, and later proposed expanding Social Security, a full-employment program, a permanent Fair Employment Practices Act, and public housing and slum clearance, which in his January 5, 1949 SOTU he called the “Fair Deal.”
• During a 1946 Senate hearing on the National Health Insurance Bill, Republican Senator Robert Taft shouted out: “I consider it socialism. It is to my mind the most socialistic measure this Congress has ever had before it,” then led his party members out of the room. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce accused Truman in 1947 of taking a “backroad to socialism” in the fast lane toward a “police state.”

They did it with LBJ’s Great Society programs.

Reagan did it long before becoming President with a 1961 recording “Reagan speaks out against socialized medicine,” and continued the same rhetoric after winning election in 1980, and re-election in 1984.

They did it to President Obama with the Affordable Care Act.
• Tea Party Caucus founder Michele Bachmann infamously called the ACA “the crown jewel of socialism,” and “socialized medicine.”

Trump, and others, are doing it to Bernie, and to AOC’s Green New Deal.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders – I , official portrait

For Republicans, the dread “socialism” is their great boogeyman – a nondescript, amorphous thing to fear, that’ll not only kill you, but will eat your babies first. It’s their ideological whipping boy. But like the boy who cried ‘WOLF!,’ the problem with their tired old argument, and oft-repeated claim, is that not only is it a disservice to the public, and an utter lie, but by so doing, they take the people for complete fools who they manipulate by using such terms.

They have NEVER defined the term “socialism,” because it is not in their interest to do so. In fact, no Republican, Corporate Democrat, Wall Street trader, billionaire, or any other person who has never had the people’s interest at heart has ever defined, nor attempted to define, “socialism.” NEVER.

Senator Sanders, on the other hand, has.

In his Thursday, November 19, 2015 Georgetown speech, he said in part that,

“So let me define for you,
simply and straightforwardly,
what democratic socialism means to me.
It builds on what Franklin Delano Roosevelt said
when he fought
for
guaranteed economic rights
for all
Americans.
And it builds on what Martin Luther King, Jr. said
in 1968 when he stated that;
“This country has socialism for the rich,
and rugged individualism for the poor.”
It builds on
the success
of
many other countries around the world
that have
done a far better job
than we have
in protecting
the needs of
their working families,
the elderly,
the children,
the sick
and
the poor.

“Democratic socialism means that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy.

“Democratic socialism means that we must reform a political system in America today which is not only grossly unfair but, in many respects, corrupt.”

He continued by saying, “It is a system, for example, which during the 1990s allowed Wall Street to spend $5 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions to get deregulated. Then, ten years later, after the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior of Wall Street led to their collapse, it is a system which provided trillions in government aid to bail them out. Wall Street used their wealth and power to get Congress to do their bidding for deregulation and then, when their greed caused their collapse, they used their wealth and power to get Congress to bail them out. Quite a system!

“And, then, to add insult to injury, we were told that not only were the banks too big to fail, the bankers were too big to jail. Kids who get caught possessing marijuana get police records. Wall Street CEOs who help destroy the economy get raises in their salaries. This is what Martin Luther King, Jr. meant by socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for everyone else.”

In short, just like the Scriptural passage in 2 Kings 2:13 describing the transition of one generation’s prophet to another
–
“He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan.”
–
Bernie Sanders has picked up FDR’s mantle.

 

•••
•••
•••

(¹ Vernon v. Bethell (1762). 2 Eden 110 alp. 113, 28 E.R. 838 (H.C.)), found in “Abusive or Unconscionable Clauses from a Common Law Perspective” (2010) p381, by Stephen Waddams, Universil.y Professor and holder of the Goodman/Schipper Chair, faculty of Law, University of Toronto, 49 Canadian Business Law Journal 378-399. The complete quotation in context is: “The court, as a court of conscience, is very jealous of persons taking securities for a loan, and converting such securities into purchases. And therefore I take it to be an established rule, that a mortgagee can never provide al the lime of making the loan for any event or condition on which the equity of redemption shall be discharged, and Lhe conveyance absolute. And there is great reason and justice in tills rule, for necessitous men are not, truly speaking, free men, but, to answer a present exigency, will submit to any terms that the crafty may impose upon lhem.”)

Overwhelming Voices: “Actions… require Mr. Barr to resign” As 1100 Former DOJ Employees Decry Corruption

Inept. Incompetent. Careless. Reckless. Unethical. Immoral. Contemptuous. Brazen. Illegal. Nefarious. Corrupted. Wicked. Criminal. Deceitful. Perfidious. Duplicitous. Recreant. Treacherous.

Those adjectives, and more, characterize not only the POTUS, but his entire administration.

“Political interference in the conduct of a criminal prosecution is
anathema to the Department’s core mission
and to its
sacred obligation
to
ensure
equal justice under the law.”

Recently, in contravention of ethical protocol, Attorney General William “Bill” Barr intervened following the Federal conviction of Roger Stone, a corrupt Republican political operative known for his “dirty tricks” – whom has a bizarre adoration of Richard Nixon to the extent he has a tattoo of Nixon’s face on his upper back – who was found guilty on all counts with which he was charged, which included:

1 count – Obstruction of an Official Proceeding;
5 counts – False statements, and;
1 count – Witness Tampering.

In an official memorandum written by the DOJ last week, Barr’s office wrote in part, that,

“The government respectfully submits that a sentence of incarceration far less than 87 to 108 months’ imprisonment would be reasonable under the circumstances.”

“While it remains the position of the United States that a sentence of incarceration is warranted here, the government respectfully submits that the range of 87 to 108 months presented as the applicable advisory Guidelines range would not be appropriate or serve the interests of justice in this case.”

United States Attorney General William “Bill” Barr

Following Barr’s interference, all FOUR career Federal Prosecutors in the Roger Stone case resigned following the Attorney General’s recommendation that the Prosecuting Attorneys recommendation of 7-9 years as Stone’s punishment be significantly reduced.

The four whom resigned are:
• Aaron S.J. Zelinsky, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (lead prosecutor), and U.S. Attorney in Maryland;
• Jonathan Kravis, Assistant U.S. Attorney, from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia (whom also resigned from the DOJ entirely);
• Adam C. Jed, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney;
• Michael J. Marando, Assistant U.S. Attorney, also Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

To say that there’s little confidence left in the Department of Justice (DOJ), would be a diplomatically generous characterization.

“Mr. Barr’s actions
in doing the President’s personal bidding
unfortunately
speak louder than his words.”

Most recently, in response to his meddling, over 1100 former DOJ employees have publicly called upon Barr to resign.

Writing in part, they identified that “The Justice Manual — the DOJ’s rulebook for its lawyers — states that “the rule of law depends on the evenhanded administration of justice”; that the Department’s legal decisions “must be impartial and insulated from political influence”; and that the Department’s prosecutorial powers, in particular, must be “exercised free from partisan consideration.””

They further stated wholehearted support for the four now-resigned prosecutors in the Stone case, by writing that,

What is Democratic Socialism?

Bernie Sanders has continually explained and made the case why he calls himself a democratic socialist, and corrects those who decry his self-described identity as a democratic socialist. Opponents from within, and without the party have viciously maligned him for that.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders – I , official portrait

In essence, it’s caring for your fellow citizen just like they’re your family. And that includes being humanitarian, and caring for others, treating them with the dignity, honor, and respect inherently and rightly due every human being.

Listening to him speak of the principles he addresses, for those with a Christian, or religious knowledge, or background, it reminds me of the principles mentioned following Judeo-Christian Scripture verses. Oh, for those who consider Jews as God’s special, or chosen people… Bernie is a Jew. Could his voice be that of a prophet, of one crying in the wilderness?

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”¹

“The laborer is worthy of their hire.”²

“Do not muzzle the ox that treads the grain.”³

“‘Administer true justice. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.'”⁴

“You must not oppress, or defraud your neighbor nor rob him. The wages due a hired hand must not remain with you until morning.”⁵

“Do not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.”⁶

“Now if your countryman becomes destitute and cannot support himself among you, then you are to help him as you would a foreigner or stranger, so that he can continue to live among you.”⁷

“You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt. You must not mistreat any widow or orphan.”⁸

“He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.”⁹

“But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice; only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols.”¹⁰

¹Proverbs 29:18
²1 Timothy 5:18
³Deuteronomy 25:4
⁴ Zechariah 7:9,10
⁵ Leviticus 19:3
⁶ Deuteronomy 24:14
⁷ Leviticus 25:35
⁸ Exodus 22:21,22
⁹ Deuteronomy 10:18
¹⁰Jeremiah 7:5

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Bernie Sanders fires back at Trump over socialism
CNN Sanders Town Hall
Feb 25, 2019
During a CNN town hall, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders explains the programs he’d like to implement if he were elected president, which have been criticized by President Trump as akin to socialism.
https://youtu.be/tJ9j_JT9Lhg

In response to a question asked by an audience member, Bernie Sanders said in part…

“We have political rights… freedom of religion – and all of that is enormously important. But you know what we don’t have? We don’t have guarantees regarding economic rights. And way back in 1944, and in a little-known, little-publicized State of The Union speech, Franklin Delano Roosevelt said something, and – I’m paraphrasing him – but he said, ‘you know, when we talk about human freedom, and rights, we’ve got to understand that everybody needs a decent-paying job, that people need healthcare, that people need education.’

How To Improve American Education

It will be interesting to see if Diane Ravitch picks up on this OpEd by David Brooks of the New York Times.

America’s educational model is lacking… and severely so.

Common Core is not the answer, nor is more testing.

And charter schools – private, often for-profit enterprises that siphon away tax dollars from public schools, funneling them to the charter schools’ owners and investors – are definitely out of the question.

Following WWII, the United States Army essentially rebuilt Japan and Germany, and gave to them most marvelous gifts, which were the essential building blocks for a new and transformed educational system, government, social reforms, and national economy.

It’s worth noting that, while “in Japan, the head of the occupation, General Douglas MacArthur, broke up the zaibatsu, the big conglomerates that were blamed for supporting the Japanese militarists, and introduced a range of reforms, from a new school curriculum to a democratic constitution, that were designed to turn Japan into a peaceable democratic nation,” America has fallen into the trap Dwight David Eisenhower warned about in his Farewell Address – building an economy based upon a “military industrial complex.”

It’s not as if there are no global models in other nations which have been successful, thereby forcing America to be stuck, constantly reinventing the wheel.

But America is the ONLY nation in the world which refuses to transfer to the metric system. Even the National Institute of Standards and Technologies has written that, “The United States is now the only industrialized country in the world that does not use the metric system as its predominant system of measurement.”

To be certain, global metrics such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which is administered to 15-year-olds every three years and “assesses the extent to which they have acquired the key knowledge and skills essential for full participation in society,” and focuses upon the core scholastic “subjects of reading, mathematics and science,” including a subject area which changes with every administration, such as “global competence,” which was included in the last survey, are important.

This critique should not be misinterpreted to demean taxpayer-funded public schools, but rather, be viewed as an internal objective criticism.

There’s little, if any, disagreement in principle that teachers should be left to teach, and to operate schools, instead of politicians – from whatever political party happens to be popular at the time. Furthermore, there’s just as little, or less, disagreement that teachers, who are our, or any society’s most influential members upon generations yet to come, should be paid significantly more than they already are. And the most disgraceful event of it all, is the macabre shadow of death which hangs over students’ and teachers’ heads, and burdens not their shoulders, but their minds and hearts, by not knowing, and wondering if at anytime they could be the next victims of a mass shooting.

What is particularly disconcerting to many observers from within, and without – regardless of their city, or state – is the abundant evidence of inequity in teaching support, which includes materials used to teach – such as textbooks, computers, and other necessary items – but also recognizes the often-horrific inequities naturally arising from those schools and districts which have more money, including physical plant conditions, even though they may be in relatively close proximity to each other.

In this era of tax-cutting, it’s difficult to imagine a school, or any government-funded endeavor to thrive with fewer resources, and reduced operational capabilities. And NO ONE wants to talk about increasing taxes, much less an even more efficient use of the existing resources which doesn’t involve fiscal reductions.

Education is forever. It is the only theft-proof thing known to humankind, and once you have it, you have it forever. Any advanced society should recognize and acknowledge that often-overlooked fact, and spare no expenses by investing not only in youth in K-12, but in technical and higher education, and continuing education for adults, as well. This speaks to the very heart of the matter of some political aspirants’ ideals for education. And, they are right.

Equally important, is a sense of public service, an inherent desire to “give back” to society of the talents, knowledge, skills and abilities one has. Of the untold numbers of people with whom I’ve ever mentioned this idea, no one, literally, no one, has ever derided it, nor said it was bad: Mandatory Public Service in much the same fashion as our Military Service Members.

Imagine the tremendous good it would do for our nation, and for the participants, if, following high school, they were to have 2, or 3 years of paid public service in some, or any capacity of their choosing, in and through which they would serve their local communities, state, or nation, and be compensated similarly as our Service Members, with wages/salary up to pay grade E-4, healthcare, housing & clothing allowances, 30 days paid vacation (leave) annually, educational benefits, and if that income was forever tax-free. Yes, FOREVER. A base income of $28,536 per annum is nothing to sneeze at, especially if all other expenses such as healthcare, housing, food, and clothing are paid for, and educational benefits are similarly guaranteed. The combined total compensation would average at least $50,000 to $60,000 annually, or even slightly more. And, it would ALL be tax-free, forever.

And to be certain, there’s always a cost – and it’s not always pecuniary. It’s up to us to decide if we are worth such an investment of time, resources, and money in ourselves. If we’re up for the challenge to better ourselves by the practice of such disciplines, but more importantly, our nation, by looking to the future of the generations yet to come.

The “finer points” of criticism of the state of public education in America could include a lack of mandatory foreign language learning, dearth of artistic/creative curricula such as visual arts, music, and dance/acting, and the money to fund it, but the intellectual and social growth which comes from the exposure to, and involvement in such programmes. (I simply couldn’t resist using the British spelling! ;-))

In short, like every coach of winning teams criticizes, encourages, and trains their athletes, so too should educators practice critique of their profession, and should be open to changes which benefit students, and educators alike – regardless from where they originate.

––//––

nytimes.com

Opinion – This Is How Scandinavia Got Great

By David Brooks

6-7 minutes

---

Opinion|This Is How Scandinavia Got Great

The power of educating the whole person.

• Feb. 13, 2020

People admiring the annual cherry tree blossoms in Stockholm.Credit…Jonathan Nackstrand/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Almost everybody admires the Nordic model. Countries like Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland have high economic productivity, high social equality, high social trust and high levels of personal happiness.

Progressives say it’s because they have generous welfare states. Some libertarians point out that these countries score high on nearly every measure of free market openness. Immigration restrictionists note that until recently they were ethnically homogeneous societies.

But Nordic nations were ethnically homogeneous in 1800, when they were dirt poor. Their economic growth took off just after 1870, way before their welfare states were established. What really launched the Nordic nations was generations of phenomenal educational policy.

The 19th-century Nordic elites did something we haven’t been able to do in this country recently. They realized that

Should Attorney General Bill Barr Resign?

I think there’s little question that this administration is very likely the MOST corrupt administration in the history of our nation. Not even the Nixon administration could hold a candle to it.

And, to be certain, corruption needn’t be blatant, nor does it require violation of law. There is such a thing as “legal corruption,” and this POTUS and his administration are living, breathing, examples of such legal corruption.

Roger Stone, center, pictured in 1985 with fellow Republican operatives Paul Manafort, left, and Lee Atwater. (Photo By Harry Naltchayan/The Washington Post).

So, exactly what IS corruption?

While words usage and meaning often changes over a period of time, one can discern what words meant by examining their origin and derivation, which is called “etymology.”

The etymology of the word “corrupt” shows that, as an adjective, it emerged in the early 14c., and meant “corrupted, debased in character,” and was derived from the Old French word “corropt,” meaning “unhealthy, corrupt; uncouth” (of language), and came directly from the Latin word “corruptus,” which is the past participle of “corrumpere” meaning “to destroy; spoil,” while figuratively it means to “corrupt, seduce, bribe.”

The Latin word itself was an from assimilated form of the Proto-Indo-European past participle stem of “rumpere” meaning “to break,” and a Sanskrit source states that a portion of the word from that language meant “to suffer from a stomach-ache.” It was also used a verb and meant to “deprave morally, pervert from good to bad.” Around that same time, it included, and incorporated a use and meaning to be “guilty of dishonesty involving bribery.”

There is a “longstanding difficulty about the term “corruption” and its use in social science and political advocacy.”

“Corruption” implies deviation from some ideal state, and so defining corruption usually involves an implicit or explicit selection of a baseline standard of “correct” behavior. The three most common possibilities – none entirely satisfactory – are:

1. Law (“corruption” entails violation of specific legal prohibitions on, say, bribery, nepotism, embezzlement, etc.)

2. Public opinion (“corruption” involves acts, or patterns of behavior, that would be viewed by most citizens as wrongful abuses of power, whether or not they are illegal)

3. Public interest (“corruption” involves acts, or patterns of behavior, that contravene the public interest—whether or not the actions in question are illegal and/or the subject of widespread disapproval).

The Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University writes that there are “…two specific forms of corruption across American states: illegal and legal.

We define illegal corruption as the private gains in the form of cash or gifts by a government official, in exchange for providing specific benefits to private individuals or groups.

“It is the form of corruption that attracts a great deal of public attention. A second form of corruption, however, is becoming more and more common in the U.S.: legal corruption.

We define legal corruption as the political gains in the form of campaign contributions or endorsements by a government official, in exchange for providing specific benefits to private individuals or groups, be it by explicit or implicit understanding.

“Such dealings are, in turn, one aspect of the broader issue of Institutional Corruption which,

Biden Campaign On Life Support

Poor Joe… Biden is hoping for strong Obama-coat-tail-winds, though he’s only getting a puff-and-pass.🤣

Former Vice President Joe Biden beat a hasty retreat from New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primaries yesterday before any preliminary results were announced and boarded a private jet bound for Charleston, South Carolina, where he’s hoping to reinvent, er… resuscitate his ailing campaign through support from the African-American and Hispanic community there.

He addressed his meager Granite State supporters from Charleston, and reminded them, and Palmetto State residents there assembled, several times that he was once VP to Obama, and that the two states which have held caucuses/primaries – Iowa and New Hampshire – are predominately White.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Iowa is 90.7% White, while New Hampshire is 93.2%. On the other hand, South Carolina has a 27.1% Black population, and is 5.8% Hispanic.

The next state to caucus, Nevada – which does so Saturday, February 22 – has

Biden Beats Hasty Retreat From New Hampshire To South Carolina, Yang Quits Race

Former Vice President Biden can be seen preparing to board a private jet to South Carolina where he hopes to rejuvenate his sagging Democratic nominee candidate campaign.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has landed in South Carolina in an effort to revitalize his rapidly-sagging campaign, after losing badly in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation Presidential Primary.

Businessman Andrew Yang announces cessation of his campaign during the New Hampshire Primaries.

Candidate Andrew Yang also announced his departure from the race.

Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard (CD2) has made no announcement about the status of her campaign.

While Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar will

Do You Want What Your Enemy Wants For You?

Should you want what your enemy wants for you?

That’s essentially the question that many should be asking themselves.

Our enemies, America’s enemies, the enemies of freedom, desire our destruction.

That’s a given.

Knowing that they desire to see America destroyed, they all have various tactics and strategies which they hope will accelerate, and prove successful in their effort to destroy America.

Should America do what our enemies want us to do?

Should America cower and coalesce to them?

Or, perhaps, should America stand firm in the beliefs and practices which made us strong?

The answer, I think, is obvious.

We should stand firm in the in the beliefs and practices which made us strong.

So, here’s a very real quandary.

It’s the first page in the report.

This is NOT a Republican “thing,” nor is it a Democratic “thing” – it’s an American thing.

Our nation’s Intelligence agencies have ALL unanimously concluded that

Biden whistles past Obama graveyard in New Hampshire Debate.

Yesterday evening’s Democratic Debate in New Hampshire, was the 8th of 12 in an ongoing series winnowing the party’s 2020 field of nominee candidates. The Friday night event which lasted from 8 – 11PM EST was held at St. Anselm College in Manchester, and was sponsored by ABC, WMUR, and Apple News.

Moderators George Stephanopoulos and David Muir of ABC, Linsey Davis, Adam Sexton, Monica Hernandez

Candidates former Vice President Joe Biden, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, billionaire businessman/entrepreneur Tom Steyer, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, and businessman Andrew Yang rounded out the field.

https://twitter.com/538PollBot/status/1225977849829580801
“58% of Americans are dissatisfied with the size and influence of corporations in 2020 while 41% are satisfied, according to Gallup polling.”

Of course, most people are whistling past their own graveyards, whatever they may be – particularly since most Americans are only one paycheck, one illness, one job loss away from utter devastation and homelessness.

Candidate Biden was consistent throughout the debate, and never ceased to mention that he was with the former POTUS Obama. Clearly, he’s riding Barack’s coattails. Or, at least he’s trying to.

But, let’s look to history to see if we can discern anything of bearing for today.

From an earlier entry titled

Will You Release Your Medical Records?

Just in the case you may not know it, there’s a law in our United States called HIPAA, which is the acronym for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Signed into law in 1996 by then-POTUS Bill Clinton, the long title is “An Act To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1996 to improve portability and continuity of health insurance coverage in the group and individual markets, to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in health insurance and health care delivery, to promote the use of medical savings accounts, to improve access to long-term care services and coverage, to simplify the administration of health insurance, and for other purposes.”

The biggest takeaway from the bill for most people is the privacy it mandates for patient’s medical records, care, and treatment. With fines/penalties for violation starting at $250,000 per violation, an entire industry has grown up around HIPAA.

The Department of Health and Human Services summarizes, in part, the law’s privacy provisions:

“The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) required the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop regulations protecting the privacy and security of certain health information.¹ To fulfill this requirement, HHS published what are commonly known as the HIPAA Privacy Rule and the HIPAA Security Rule. The Privacy Rule, or Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information, establishes national standards for the protection of certain health information. The Security Standards for the Protection of Electronic Protected Health Information (the Security Rule) establish a national set of security standards for protecting certain health information that is held or transferred in electronic form. The Security Rule operationalizes the protections contained in the Privacy Rule by addressing the technical and non-technical safeguards that organizations called “covered entities” must put in place to secure individuals’ “electronic protected health information” (e-PHI). Within HHS, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has responsibility for enforcing the Privacy and Security Rules with voluntary compliance activities and civil money penalties.”

POTUS Bill Clinton Signing HIPAA

Before the HIPAA existed, there were no security standards nor requirements to protect patients’ health information or patients privacy in the entire health care industry. In reality, physicians, or anyone with access to the record – including the janitor and housekeeping crew – could simply access and divulge a patient’s entire medical record to the press, or to anyone, without any legal recourse for the victim. Now, it’s a violation of the law to even discuss any Personal Health Information, or Personally Identifying Information about the patient outside of a clinical setting, and that includes on elevators in hospitals. The law is so strict, that anyone who is not involved in the patient’s care cannot access the patient’s record without violating the law.

There have been cases where renown individuals, or those with celebrity status, including politicians, have had their records accessed by those within the healthcare system in violation of the law, ostensibly to satisfy their 24karat curiosity, or for other nefarious purposes, such as to gossip about the patient, or to divulge the information they found to the press. Healthcare organizations, especially large ones, are particularly sensitive to such violations of the HIPAA, and many, if not most, have policy in place to censure, or most often, dismiss for cause (fire) any employee who examines a record of a patient whom they’re not treating, or caring for.

In short, the law safeguards and protects patients’ right to privacy of their healthcare information in ways the average patient cannot imagine, including transmission of such information electronically, such as via facsimile or Internet.

The law also provides authorization for a patient to request a healthcare organization voluntarily release select portions of, or their entire medical records, to individuals whom they specify, such as to attorneys who may be representing their interests in a matter of law, including to the patients themselves, personally.

What many may not know about the law, is that it was a bipartisan bill sponsored by

How Did The GOP Get To Be So White?

1872 Currier & Ives print, First Colored Senator & Representatives

Here is an 1872 Currier and Ives print depiction of the first African American GOP U.S. Senator and Representatives:

[LEFT to RIGHT] Sen. Hiram Revels (R-MS), Rep. Benjamin S. Turner (R-AL, 1), Robert DeLarge (R-SC, 2), Josiah Walls (R-FL, at large & 2), Jefferson Long (R-GA, 4), Joseph Rainey (R-SC, 1) and Robert B. Elliott (R-SC, 3).

Note that they’re ALL from the Deep South (MS, AL, FL, GA, SC).

Today, Blacks in the GOP are as scarce as hen’s teeth – particularly, and especially in the South.

It begs the question:

What happened politically since that time so that there were essentially NO Blacks after them in the U.S. House, or Senate (Congress), and today are especially absent from the GOP?

At the GOP’s 2000 Philadelphia convention, only 4.1% of the 2,066 delegates gathered in the City of Brotherly Love – 85 conventioneers – were African American.

And, according to a June 1 email from Telly Lovelace addressed to undisclosed recipients, the National Director for African American Initiatives and Urban Media for the Republican National Committee wrote that only 18 of the 2,472 delegates at the GOP’s 2016 Cleveland convention would be Black – 0.7281553398058253%.

Not even 1%.

And, in our nation’s 244-year history – since its 1776 founding to 2020 – there have ONLY been 10 African American Senators – 10.

Just ten.

The United States Senate website states this about African American Senators:
“To date, 10 African Americans have served in the United States Senate. In 1870 Hiram Revels of Mississippi became the first African American senator. Five years later, Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi took the oath of office. It would be nearly another century, 1967, before Edward Brooke of Massachusetts followed in their historic footsteps. Carol Moseley Braun broke new ground in 1993, becoming the first African American woman to serve as U.S. senator. In 2005 Barack Obama of Illinois became the fifth African American to serve and third to be popularly elected. Upon Obama’s resignation to become the nation’s first African American president, Roland Burris was appointed to fill the vacancy, becoming the sixth African American senator and the third to occupy the same Illinois Senate seat. Tim Scott of South Carolina was appointed to fill a vacancy in 2013, becoming the first African American since Reconstruction to represent a southern state in the Senate. He won a special election in 2014 to complete the term and was elected to a full term in 2016. The appointment of Massachusetts senator William “Mo” Cowan on February 1, 2013, marked the first time that two African Americans have served simultaneously in the United States Senate. Cory Booker of New Jersey became the ninth African American senator when he won a special election to replace Senator Frank Lautenberg on October 31, 2013. Booker won election to a full term in 2014. Kamala Harris became California’s first African American senator on January 3, 2017, bringing the number of African Americans serving simultaneously to three and the total number of African American senators to 10.”

Hiram Revels was a Republican.

Mr. Blanche K. Bruce was a Republican.

Edward Brooke was a Republican.

Carol Moseley Braun is a Democrat.

Brack Obama is a Democrat.

Roland Burris is a Democrat.

Tim Scott is a Republican.

William “Mo” Cowan is a Democrat.

Cory Booker is a Democrat.

Kamala Harris is a Democrat.

What has happened to cause the GOP to become the party of xenophobia, racists, and bigots?

It didn’t help things that the now-infamous Three-Fifths Compromise in the 1787 Constitutional Convention – Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 – ensconced into law that all non-White people were legally sub-human.

“Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.”

Of course, Section 2 of the 14th Amendment (ratified in 1868) explicitly repealed Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3, and states that

Rand Paul Reads Disallowed Impeachment Question On Senate Floor

Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul today read his disallowed question from the Senate Impeachment Trial of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States.

His pertinent comments while on the Senate floor are excerpted, in part, below.

The essence of what he is saying, is alleging by questioning (asserting, would be more like it), is that, there was an impeachment conspiracy being cooked up by governmental officials against the President, long before the President’s now-infamous July 25th phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

He points to several faults with the FISA Court system, and what was very likely FBI abuse of that court system to “spy,” as he puts it, upon American citizens, and extrapolates from there.

To further bolster his case, Senator Paul points to open testimony given to the Senate by then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on March 12, 2013 in response to a question by Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat.

Senator Wyden asked, “Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?”

Mr. Clapper replied, “No sir … not wittingly.”

We knew that Mr. Clapper lied because he later obliquely stated that he did in an interview with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell who asked him why he answered the way he did.

Clapper answered saying, “I thought, though in retrospect, I was asked ‘when are you going to … stop beating your wife’ kind of question, which is … not answerable necessarily by a simple yes or no. So I responded in what I thought was the most truthful, or least untruthful, manner by saying, ‘No.’”

Senator Wyden had also earlier given Mr. Clapper advance notice that he would ask that question, so in a sense, he was “putting him in a box,” and expecting him to either deny it, or admit it in his testimony. Senator Wyden is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, so he was regularly briefed on Top Secret programs, and knew the answer would be ‘YES’ before he asked it. He was simply giving Director Clapper an opportunity to be forthright about the matter. Director Clapper could have answered more circumspectly, or even use more finesse in his response, though he did neither.

But more to the point, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul does raise some interesting questions, although, on the whole, it certainly seems as if he’s

Rush Limbaugh Announces He’ll Die Soon

Rush Limbaugh wears bilateral (both sides) cochlear implants to hear. His deafness resulted from his long-term abuse of OxyContin and other prescription narcotics, which is a well-known and highly-documented result of their abuse. In October 2003, he opened up about his years-long deliberate abuse of opioid pain relief medications which dated back to the mid-’90s, around the same time he discovered cigars.

In 2006, following an extensive 3-year investigation, he was arrested by Palm Beach Law Enforcement Officers and charged with a single count of prescription fraud for “doctor shopping” to obtain thousands of opiate analgesics (pain relievers).
 
Earlier, on October 5, 1995 on his short-lived teevee show, Limbaugh said that, “Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. … And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up.”

 After his arrest, he then went to rehab for about a month, and was given a sweetheart deal by prosecutors – an expunged record – if he stayed clean.

Limbaugh has a long history of venomous vitriol and drug abuse, and became infamous for his mocking derision of women as “feminazis.” He had twice checked into drug rehab programs in the last 6 years, which he sarcastically described as “a wonderful process … as important as the first grade and maybe the second grade.” He added that, “I’m not a role model. What I did, I did knowingly. What I did, I did because I wanted to do it, but I knew it was wrong the whole time.”

 The irony of his hypocrisy hasn’t gone unnoticed. When Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia died, Limbaugh openly mocked tributes to the renown musician, saying, “Jerry Garcia destroyed his life on drugs. And yet he’s being honored, like some godlike figure.” And in 1995, around the time he started abusing OxyContin, Limbaugh said, “Too many whites are getting away with drug use. The answer is to find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river.”

UPDATE Wednesday, 05 February 2020:
In the State Of The Union Address last night, the President stated in part that Limbaugh “…just received a Stage 4 advanced cancer diagnosis. This is not good news…” He is correct. Limbaugh has a literal death sentence on his head… or, more accurately, in his chest/abdominal cavity, and elsewhere. Stage 4 cancer means that it has metastasized (spread to other body parts/organs/systems). Lung Cancers are divided into 2 types – Non Small Cell (NSCLC), and Small Cell (SCLC). NSCLC is the most common, is diagnosed in stages I-IV, and accounts for approximately 84% of all lung cancers, while SCLC is staged as limited, or distant, and is most strongly associated with smoking. Stage 4 lung cancer survival rates are in the single-digit range, less than 5%. The average age at diagnosis is 70, and the 5-year relative survival rate for NSCLC is 24%, while SCLC is 6%. The American Cancer Society states this about NSCLC treatment options: “Stage IV NSCLC is widespread when it is diagnosed. Because these cancers have spread to distant sites, they are very hard to cure. Treatment options depend on where the cancer has spread, the number of tumors, and your overall health.” They state this about treatment options for SCLC: “If cancer growth in the lungs is causing symptoms such as shortness of breath or bleeding, radiation therapy or other types of treatment, such as laser surgery, can sometimes be helpful. Radiation therapy can also be used to relieve symptoms if the cancer has spread to the bones, brain, or spinal cord. If you are in otherwise good health, treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy (chemo), targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and radiation therapy may help you live longer and make you feel better by relieving symptoms, even though they aren’t likely to cure you.”
––//––

Today, Rush Limbaugh, a controversial political talk radio show host well known as a “conservative political shock jock” and lighting rod for criticism, announced that he has “advanced lung cancer.”

“Advanced” means it is probably late stage 3 or more likely, stage 4, which is metastatic, meaning that it has spread to other organs and body systems.

Limbaugh, known for his 31-year history of caustic commentary, radical right-wing views, and vitriolic remarks which alienated numerous sponsors, cost him millions, and widespread loss of respect, wrote in part that,

“I have been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, diagnosis confirmed by two medical institutions back on January 20th. I first realized something was wrong on my birthday weekend, January 12th. What led to shortness of breath that I thought might have been asthma or — you know, I’m 69 — it could have been my heart. My heart’s in great shape, ticking away fine, squeezing and pumping great. It was not that. It was a pulmonary problem involving malignancy. So I’m gonna be gone the next couple days as we figure out the treatment course of action and have further testing done. But, as I said, I’m gonna be here as often as I can.”

Some credit Limbaugh’s

Lamar Alexander And Lisa Murkowksi Vote To Acquit Charles Manson

United States Senator from Tennessee, Lamar Alexander

Tennessee’s United States Senator, Lamar Alexander (b.1940), a 3-term Republican who is retiring this year, recently said of his decision to vote to acquit the President in the Impeachment Trial of Donald J. Trump, that, “I’m going to vote to acquit. I’m very concerned about any action that we could take that would establish a perpetual impeachment in the House of Representatives whenever the House was a different party than the president. That would immobilize the Senate.”

Alexander’s remarks were made in an interview on the NBC News program “Meet the Press” which aired Sunday, 02 February 2020.

He had previously issued a press release 30 January 2020, which stated in part that,

“It was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation. When elected officials inappropriately interfere with such investigations, it undermines the principle of equal justice under the law. But

Woman Is STILL The Nigger Of The World: Violence Against Women, A Global Problem

What do Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Angela Merkel of Germany, Brigitte Macron of France, Aung San Suu Kyi of Indonesia, and Sonia Gandi of India have in common?

If you guessed that they are subjects of Italian artist Alexsandro Palombo, then you’d be correct.

In the images, all the women all have black eyes, numerous additional wounds to their face, cuts and bruises to their neck and upper torso, including fresh blood… it is explicitly clear that they all have suffered at the hands of an abuser.

Fortunately, the pictures are pure fiction.

In each of the images of the women, the artist digitally altered photographs of them to make it appear as if they all have been victims of savage assault.

The artist Alexsandro Palombo‘s work is on display in Milan, Italy, and his FaceBook site is linked to his name.

Using a computer software to alter the images, the

Did Trump ever express concern for Ukraine corruption BEFORE Joe Biden started campaigning?

While the news reporting outlets (aka “media”) do their best to report on the goings-on of the Senate Trial of the Impeachment of Donald John Trump, President of the United States, they are hampered significantly because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has disallowed electronic devices in the chambers – even for Senators – and the press is squirreled away in a little cubby corner of the viewing gallery on the 2nd floor.

The only cameras are 2 television cameras owned/operated by the Senate. Even C-SPAN (the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network) must carry the Senate’s broadcast version of the public proceedings.

Majority Leader McConnell did that specifically to limit exposure of the event to the press, which in turn reports to the public. He claimed that it would prevent “grandstanding” and “preening” by the Senators to the press, some of whom have a well-known-and-deserved reputation for being attention hogs.

West Virginia Senator Robert C. Byrd’s body lies in repose in the United States Senate Chamber. Pool photograph by Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

As an aside, the Senate is, as groups go, a very stodgy group of curmudgeonly old White men (primarily). Unlike the more vigorous (some say rancorous) House of Representatives, they are very “straight-laced,” and sticklers for the rules – which Majority Leader McConnell enforces with an iron fist. Aside from the C-SPAN cameras during Senate proceedings, they do not allow (and have not allowed) photography. During the funeral for Senator Robert C. Bryd (D-WV), the longest-serving Senator, a rarity of a still camera was allowed to make a few limited photographs of the event.
Read the related story here: https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/behind-46/

“The very Senate that has defied still photographers and an independent television camera asked both Sotomayor and Kagan in their confirmation hearings if they would support camera coverage of Supreme Court proceedings,” Mr. Crowley said.

As it is now, he said, “every image you see out of the House and Senate, except the State of the Union, is controlled by the government.”

“They would say, ‘Senator Byrd doesn’t want any technology in there.’ They used him as an excuse.”

“With respect to Senator Byrd,” Mr. Crowley said, “I hope the leadership of both chambers will revisit the issue.”

Often, try as they might, the media doesn’t get it 100% error-free, though to their credit, they often acknowledge that their transcriptions are rushed, and for that reason, may contain errors. Thus, the only spot-on word-for-word transcript of the days proceedings are to be found in the Congressional Record of the Senate, which is published daily.

The following is excerpted from the CRS. The “S663” refers to the page number in the journal from which it is taken, and refers specifically to the Senate’s proceedings. The “116” in the url refers to the 116th Congress, while “CREC” in the url refers to “Congressional RECord.”

Congressional Record – Senate S663 January 29, 2020

https://www.congress.gov/116/crec/2020/01/29/CREC-2020-01-29-pt1-PgS645-2.pdf

–––––

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. Chief Justice.

The CHIEF JUSTICE. Senator.

Ms. COLLINS. I send a question to the desk on behalf of myself and Senator MURKOWSKI.

The CHIEF JUSTICE. Thank you. The question is to counsel for the President: Witnesses testified before the House that President Trump consistently expressed the view that Ukraine was a corrupt country. Before Vice President Biden formally entered the 2020 presidential race in April 2019, did President Trump ever mention Joe or Hunter Biden in connection with corruption in Ukraine to former Ukrainian President Poroshenko or other Ukrainian officials, President Trump’s cabinet members or top aides, or others? If so, what did the President say to whom and when?

Mr. Counsel PHILBIN. Mr. Chief Justice, Senators, thank you for that question. Of course, I think it is important at the outset to frame the answer by bearing in mind I am limited to what is in the record, and

Dershowitz: Trump’s violation of law doesn’t apply because he is trying to get re-elected.

Alan Dershowitz Argues Presidential Quid Pro Quos Aimed At Reelection Are Not Impeachable

When I read the headline, I LITERALLY laughed out loud.

Yet, it would sad, if it weren’t so funny.

Alan Dershowitz, a once-respected attorney, retired Harvard Law School professor, and member of Trump’s legal team in his Senate trial for Impeachment, has recently argued that Trump did not violate law when he withheld Ukraine money, and asked Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky saying “I would like you to do us a favor, though” in the now-infamous July 25th phone call, because… he is trying to get re-elected.

That, of course, comes after the General Accountability Office wrote in their report that, “we conclude that OMB violated the ICA.”

The preposterous absurdity of that argument is blatantly evident. In other words, the POTUS can do anything illegal to get re-elected.

New York Magazine published a story with exactly such a headline:
Dershowitz: President Can Abuse Power If It Helps Get Them Reelected

Using that argument, one could claim that

Smaller Government

Smaller government, anyone?

In 1910, the United States Census reported the population was 92,228,496.

Over 110 years later…

In 2020, the United States Census Bureau estimates that

GAO: Trump Violated Law

Ukraine, schmookraine.

Who gives a rats rip what Trump did, eh?

Seriously.

And yet, that is precisely the attitude that some have about the matter in which the President has found himself placed, which has also led to his impeachment.

Some say, “Ukraine got their money. What’s the big deal?”

Yet others say, it’s all water under the bridge, or worse.

So, let’s examine the matter more fully in order to understand exactly what’s going on, and what’s at stake.

And, for the most part, we’re going to ignore many remarks the Democrats have been making. Well, at least much of them. We’re concerned with the basis for the claim. As it turns out, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is also concerned with that matter – that matter being the question, “Did the President of the United States violate any law in the Ukraine affair?”

But before we proceed further, let’s first answer a couple of important questions about the Government Accountability Office:

What is the GAO, what do they do, and what authority do they have?

The GAO states this about their agency:

“The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for

CNN Called Out For Discrimination & Unethical Journalistic Practices

Abby Phillip, CNN

To anyone watching, it was as plain as the nose on your face.

I’m neither a CNN fan, nor a CNN hater.

But this is blatant, and inexcusable.

It demonstrates an utter lack, and wholesale abandonment of professional journalistic integrity.

It wasn’t merely the Democrats or Progressives who noticed, either.

In fact, voices from the Conservative Right Wing were the loudest to decry the moderator Abby Phillip’s action.

I mean to refer to the 7th Democratic Debate held at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa this past Tuesday evening, 14 January 2020.

For some, it was analogously like the 7th Level of Hell in Dante’s Inferno, which was also full of violence toward individuals, and the Earth.

Though there were no fisticuffs, no bomb threats, no armed shooters, and no physical violence of any kind, there was another killing – two, in fact.

One, was CNN, which along with Moderator Abby Phillip, burned her journalism career, and the last shred of respectability or integrity CNN had remaining.

The other was Bernie Sanders.

It was obvious from the get-go.

Corporate interests in America do NOT want to see him win the Democratic Nomination for President.

It’s.

Just.

That.

Simple.

The Federalist, one such website, Tweeted this about Abby Philip’s demonstration of lack of character, and her ethically unacceptable behavior:

Brianne Pfannenstiel, Chief Politics Reporter, The Des Moines Register, Iowa

“During the seventh round of Democrat debates Tuesday, CNN moderator Abby Phillip asked a shameful question that accused Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., of saying a woman could not win the 2020 election.”

They neither wasted any time writing about the unprofessional attack and exchange.

The Chicago Tribune’s John Kass, another conservative columnist, also laid into CNN and Abby Phillip over her unethical journalistic behavior.

His remarks from his column, in part, are found below.

Even Rolling Stone magazine’s Matt Taibbi found Abby Phillip’s disrespectful treatment of Bernie Sanders to be not merely a cheap shot, but a calculated and active interference to sway viewers’ opinion.

CNN’s Debate Performance Was Villainous and Shameful

The 24-hour network combines a naked political hit with a cynical ploy for ratings.

“This time, the whole network tossed the mud. Over a 24-hour period before, during, and after the debate, CNN bid farewell to what remained of its reputation as a nonpolitical actor via a remarkable stretch of factually dubious reporting, bent commentary, and heavy-handed messaging.

“The cycle began with a “bombshell” exposé by CNN reporter MJ Lee. Released on the eve of the debate, Lee reported Warren’s claim that Sanders told her a woman couldn’t win in a December 2018 meeting.

[These banal meanderings] “continued during the debate, with the chryon featuring questions like, “How will [Sanders] avoid bankrupting the country?” Or: “Does Sanders owe voters an explanation of how much his health plan will cost them and the country?””

CNN’s Chief Political Correspondent, Dana Bash, carried the ball over the line for the anti-Bernie Corporate Democrats – who were all assembled at CNN, including former DNC chair and commentator Terry McAuliffe, Clinton communications person Jess McIntosh, and former senior adviser to Barack Obama David Axelrod – and immediately after the debate concluded she said, “Do [voters] want a Bernie Sanders anti-interventionist, or do they want somebody who has experience and who has — as I’m sure you will hear behind us — voted for things like the Iraq war and maybe has made other decisions that he doesn’t regret and has been a leader on national security, but also has some that he does?”

Then McIntosh said this: “I think what Bernie forgot was that this isn’t a he said/she said story. This is a reported-out story that CNN was part of breaking. So, to have him just flat-out say no, I think wasn’t — wasn’t nearly enough to address that for the women watching.”

The Washington Examiner, another Right-leaning publication, also chimed in later that evening with a story headlined, “CNN debate moderator assumes Bernie Sanders is lying about women.”

In her story for the Examiner, Breaking News Reporter Madison Dibble wrote in part that, “A moderator from the CNN/Des Moines Register debate sided with Elizabeth Warren in the he-said-she-said dispute over whether Bernie Sanders said a woman couldn’t be president.

“Abby Phillip, a CNN reporter, phrased her questions in defense of Warren, who claimed that Sanders told her he didn’t think a woman could be president during a meeting in 2018. The Vermont senator has denied that he ever said such a thing, but Phillip worded the questions as though there were evidence backing up Warren’s claim.”

Even POTUS Trump sees it.

They are rigging the election again against Bernie Sanders, just like last time, only even more obviously. They are bringing him out of so important Iowa in order that, as a Senator, he sit through the Impeachment Hoax Trial. Crazy Nancy thereby gives the strong edge to Sleepy…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 17, 2020

POS45’s follow-up Tweet read, “….Joe Biden, and Bernie is shut out again. Very unfair, but that’s the way the Democrats play the game. Anyway, it’s a lot of fun to watch!”

Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile, who helped Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, was later discovered to have been pilfering debate questions ahead of time, and sharing them with Hillary, with the intent to defeat Bernie. Like Roger Stone, she remains unrepentant for her misdeeds. CNN also fired her for that activity. But CNN wasn’t the only one.

Fox News also showed Brazile the door with the left foot of fellowship.

Vice-President of Fox Ethics, Satya Martin, described Brazile’s firing:

“Donna Brazile is the worst reporter or commentator or whatever she is that I’ve ever known.
Her only goal, it seems, is to be contrary.
She literally claims opposite supposed ‘facts’ to everything that we report in the news. And her opinions are over the top in their opposition.
She’s like a child who just screams in tantrums against us for attention.

“She was fired from CNN for fabricating stories so she was already known as a purveyor of fake news.
The brass had their reasons for taking a chance on her.
I’m sure they wanted to attract a liberal audience just to show that we mean it when we say we’re fair and balanced.
But there’s fair and balanced and then there’s off her rocker crazy train journalism.
That’s Brazile.
Nuts.”

Donna Brazile is totally not sorry for leaking CNN debate questions to Hillary Clinton

It wasn’t long after she was fired by CNN that Donna Brazile quickly wrote a tell-all which fingered Hillary as the brainchild behind an unethically-appearing fundraising bargain with the Democratic National Committee, in which the DNC was rigged in Clinton’s favor because her campaign was largely financing the party early on in the presidential election. And Donna Brazile, who knew about it from the get-go said the agreement “was not illegal, but it sure looked unethical.”

Of course,
as Bernie has long said,
it’s all about the Benjamins,
and a
Corporate System
legally rigged
AGAINST
the
Average American.

Even John Kass sees it.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/john-kass/ct-bernie-sanders-cnn-kass-20200116-avuaiaxbfvdkbb2w6y4yoiafuq-story.html

“What CNN did to Bernie Sanders in the Iowa Democratic presidential debate — stabbing him with the gender card on behalf of a weakened Elizabeth Warren — was cheap and unfair.

“And it was shameful.

“I’m probably the last guy to defend Sanders. He is a man of the far left and I most certainly am not.

“But even a conservative like me can see that Sanders was cheated out of the Democratic presidential nomination the last time, with the Democratic National Committee rigging the whole thing for Hillary Clinton. And now it’s happening again.

“No wonder the Sanders supporters are angry.

“What happened on CNN in Iowa was bad for journalism. But it sure was good for Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden.

“Sanders, the authentic candidate on the left in this cycle, as he was in the last, was surging in the Iowa polls. Warren, also on the left, was fading, desperate and in full panic. She began waving her gender card on that dangerous Intersectionality Highway where Democrats, addicted to identity politics, often crack up.

…

“And Joe? With Bernie on Trump jury duty in Washington, Biden is left to wander around Iowa with (former) Mayor Pete — who also was not challenged by CNN — and that radical billionaire environmentalist who made his gold in fossil fuels.

“No wonder Sanders’ supporters are upset. They’ve seen this before. They watched the same game play out three years ago, when the Democratic nomination was almost his, and establishment media handmaidens of the Democratic National Committee protected Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump.

“A Sanders vs. Trump campaign in 2016 would have been a clash of populist titans. Sanders could have won. We might see this matchup in 2020. Establishment Democrats are panicked, and conventional wisdom suggests Trump would smash him, but I’m not so sure.

“The electorate has been primed by relentless media attacks on Trump, who attacks them back. Americans are unsettled and worried about their future in a world undergoing economic upheaval. Bernie could win.

“The Democratic base is energized for 2020. Sanders, who suffered a heart attack weeks ago, looks positively vital when compared to Biden. Conventional wisdom also once said Republican Jeb Bush couldn’t be beat. How did that turn out?

“Joe is the new Jeb.

“I suppose it would be much easier to focus instead on Trump impeachment theater in Washington. But the script has been written, the Senate won’t convict Trump. It’s all posture and gesture and fundraising.

“I disagree with Sanders’ policies, but at least he’s honest about what he wants to do. Establishment Democrats see Sanders’ base as full of energy and know they must stop him in Iowa and New Hampshire.

“They feed Warren so Sanders doesn’t defeat Biden. And they’ll use friendly media to shape a stiletto and slip it between Bernie’s ribs.

“Sanders’ voters have seen this one before.”

And that is precisely what Bernie has been saying all along.

 

Politics, Religion, And Sex

https://www.statesman.com/news/20200109/court-rejects-appeal-arguing-that-latex-clad-dancers-are-nude-under-texas-law

PPL can be so stupid.

I think we’re living in an extraordinarily stupid era.

Sure, there are ~some~ smart folks, and some genuinely genius things have been, and are being done. But, on the whole, this age is small-minded, and inordinately consumed with a desire to make, by force of law, others behave according to the privately-held sacrosanct tenets of select individuals or groups who are, in effect, writing private law, instead of public law.

Most such individuals and groups are ultra right-wing religious radicals, zealots of the First Order, who, legally mandate others to behave according to their private principles. The ostensible effect is impressing casual observers that the adherent/practitioner believes, because their behavior demonstrates adherence and obedience to those rules and regulations. It also thereby gives automatic imprimatur to them. In such tenets, they see themselves as performing the will of their god/ess, and by extension, being pleasing to the same. It is a form of wholesale cultural appropriation and subjugation.

It is, in effect, a hypocrisy, a type of lip service which has been ridiculed and mocked via memes such as “Jesus is coming. Quick! Look busy!,” and others similarly.

In essence, in its simplest, purest form, it boils down to one group of people wanting to control another group of people, and to force them into submitting to their privately held beliefs, most of which are religiously motivated, and often predicated upon a “thou shalt not” type law.

However, the highest, if not entire, notion of religion is not only freedom, but of self-improvement and self-regulation. Religion ostensibly seeks the betterment of the individual, and by natural extension, the whole, the collective, the corporate, the community.

By working on an

Reading Democratic Tea Leaves, v.4.0

Of the Democrats, who do you think stands the BEST chance of getting elected?

There are now 4 top-polling candidates:
1.) Joe Biden, former Vice President to Barack Obama
2.) Bernie Sanders, current Senator from Vermont
3.) Elizabeth Warren, current Senator from Massachusetts
4.) Pete Buttigieg, former Mayor of South Bend, IN

No, I do NOT mean a “play it safe,” middle of the road” candidate like the Democrats chose in 2016.

And no, I do ~not~ mean ‘who do you think or hope will get elected,’ but rather instead mean to ask, ‘who do you think has the statistically best chance of being elected?’

Let’s look to history to help us answer that question.

In our nation’s 243-year history, there have been 57 Presidential Elections, 45 POTUSes, 9 of whom ran for second terms and lost, and only 3 since WWII – Ford, Carter, and Bush I.

The most recent one, George H.W. Bush, was Vice President during Reagan’s two terms, and lost to Bill Clinton in 1992.

Historically, since our nation’s founding, 7 of 9 one-term POTUSes who lost re-election have been Republican. The Federalist Party was a forerunner of the modern Republican party, as was the Democrat-Republican and National Republican.

In reverse chronological order, term in office, and party during office, they are:

1.) George H.W. Bush – 1989-93 – R
2.) Jimmy Carter – 1977-81 – D
3.) Gerald R. Ford – 1974-77 – R
4.) Herbert Hoover – 1929-33 – R
5.) William Howard Taft – 1909-13 – R
6.) Benjamin Harrison – 1889-93 – R
7.) Martin Van Buren – 1837-41 – D
8.) John Quincy Adams – 1825-29 – Democratic-Republican/National Republican
9.) John Adams – 1797-1801 – Federalist

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren – D

Historically as well, Vice Presidents do not get elected as President in their own right.

That means, apart from succession, when VPs have campaigned for the Office of the President, they have not won.

Only 13 former Vice Presidents have ever been POTUS, and arrived in office either through

Trump Kills Soleimani -and- Muqtada al-Sadr is Correct

Maclean’s, a Canadian current affairs/news magazine since 1905, published an article headlined “The U.S. was justified in killing Soleimani—but is it ready for what comes next?“

First, let it be known that I am exceedingly glad that Soleimani is dead.
-and-
The Twidiot in Chief  is 100% correct when when he tweeted (in part) that “He should have been taken out many years ago!”

Qasem Soleimani, late commander of the terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force

Qasem Soleimani, late commander of the terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force

Even a broken clock is correct twice a day, right?

Look, Soleimani was a terrorist – plain and simple.

Following Soleimani’s death, the United States Department of Defense issued a Press Release on January 2, 2020, which stated in part that,

“Qasem Soleimani [was] the
head of the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force,
a
U.S.-designated
Foreign Terrorist Organization.”

“General Soleimani and his Quds Force
were responsible for the
deaths of hundreds of American and
coalition service members and the
wounding of thousands more.”

The United States was not the only nation which considered Soleimani a terrorist. The Counter Extremism Project writes this of Soleimani:

“The U.S. government, the United Nations, and the European Union have all sanction-designated Soleimani for involvement in either Iran’s nuclear program or the Syrian civil war in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.¹ Furthermore, U.S. Central Command documents declassified in 2015 reveal that Iraqi Shiite militants under Soleimani’s command killed more than 500 U.S. service members in Iraq between 2005 and 2011.² U.S. intelligence has also linked Soleimani to a 2011 assassination attempt of Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States in Washington, D.C.³

“Soleimani was banned from international travel because of his 2007 U.N. designation for his role in Iran’s nuclear program.⁴ Nonetheless, he reportedly flew to Moscow at least three times—in July 2015, April 2016, and February 2017—for meetings with Russian officials.⁵ After Soleimani reportedly traveled to Russia for military discussions in April 2016, the U.S. State Department confirmed that U.N. travel sanctions on Soleimani remained in effect despite the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1.⁵

“Soleimani’s influence extended to Syria as well. According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Soleimani oversaw Iran’s military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.⁶ One Free Syrian Army commander told the Wall Street Journal in 2013 that Soleimani was “running Syria. [President] Bashar [al-Assad] is just his mayor.”⁷ During the October 2016 funeral of IRGC Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani, Soleimani justified Iran’s role in Syria as repayment for Syria’s support during the Iran-Iraq War. He further argued that it was in Iran’s interests to intervene on Assad’s behalf.”⁸

¹ “Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 611/2011 of 23 June 2011 Implementing Regulations (EU) No 442/2011 Concerning Restrictive Measures in View of the Situation in Syria,” Official Journal of the European Union, June 24, 2011, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:164:0001:0003:EN:PDF;
“Treasury Targets Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, October 11, 2011, http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg1320.aspx;
“Designation of Five Individuals Pursuant to Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001, “Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Persons Who Commit, Threaten To Commit, or Support Terrorism,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, October 17, 2011, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-10-17/html/2011-26775.htm;
“Security Council Toughens Sanctions Against Iran, Adds Arms Embargo, With Unanimous Adoption of Resolution 1747 (2007), United Nations, March 24, 2007, http://www.un.org/press/en/2007/sc8980.doc.htm;
Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, “General Qasem Soleimani: Iran’s Rising Star,” BBC News, March 6, 2015, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27883162.

² Rowan Scarborough, “Iran responsible for deaths of 500 American service members in Iraq,” Washington Times, September 13, 2015, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/13/iran-responsible-for-deaths-of-500-us-service-memb/.

³ “Treasury Targets Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, October 11, 2011, http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg1320.aspx.

⁴ “Security Council Toughens Sanctions Against Iran, Adds Arms Embargo, With Unanimous Adoption of Resolution 1747 (2007), United Nations, March 24, 2007, http://www.un.org/press/en/2007/sc8980.doc.htm.

⁵ Lucas Tomlinson, “EXCLUSIVE: Shadowy Iranian general visits Moscow, violating sanctions,” Fox News, February 15, 2017, http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/02/15/exclusive-shadowy-iranian-general-visits-moscow-violating-sanctions.html;Jennifer Griffin and Lucas Tomlinson, “Exclusive: Quds Force commander Soleimani visited Moscow, met Russian leaders in defiance of sanctions,” Fox News, August 6, 2015, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/08/06/exclusive-quds-force-commander-soleimani-visited-moscow-met-russian-leaders-in.html.

⁶ Lidia Kelly and Parisa Hafezi, “Iran’s Soleimani in Russia for talks on Syria, missiles: sources,” Reuters, April 15, 2016, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-iran-soleimani-idUSKCN0XC0TR.

⁷ Farnaz Fassihi, Jay Solomon, and Sam Dagher, “Iranians Dial Up Presence in Syria,” Wall Street Journal, September 16, 2013, http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323864604579067382861808984.

⁸ “Iran’s Soleimani Says Syria War Plays to Iran National Interests,” Asharq Al-Awsat, October 7, 2016, http://english.aawsat.com/2016/10/article55359787/irans-soleimani-says-syria-war-plays-iran-national-interests.

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In September 2013, Dexter Filkins wrote a feature article about Soleimani for The New Yorker which was entitled

“The Shadow Commander – Qassem Suleimani is the Iranian operative who has been reshaping the Middle East. Now he’s directing Assad’s war in Syria.”

Donald Trump, United States President, official portrait

Donald Trump, United States President, official portrait

The article stated in part that, “Suleimani took command of the Quds Force fifteen years ago, and in that time he has

Dear Democrats…

Y’know what the Democrats need to do?

I mean to refer to Bernie and Liz.

STOP DISSING Donald Trump!!!

Seriously.

Folks who are gonna’ vote for him are gonna’ vote for him.

What Democrats need is VISION –– CLEAR 2020 VISION, and beyond for America!

Allentown, PA – and manufacturing… is not coming back.

Detroit, MI – and automobile manufacturing… is not coming back.

Pittsburgh, PA – and steel… is not coming back.

Rochester, NY – and Kodak… is not coming back.

Flint, MI – with General Motors, and Ford… is not coming back.

The Rustbelt’s “Big Eight” cities:
Akron, Canton, Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo, and Youngstown – which ALL owe their existence – except Columbus, the capital city – to manufacturing’s phenomenal rise in the 19th and early 20th century… are not coming back.

In short, America’s factories aren’t coming back.

And coal?

Coal – along with its toxic ash sludge’s inability to be safely or permanently stored anywhere – is DOA.

We all know it.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robots are taking our jobs – even in medicine – telehealth, robotic surgery… it’s ALL OVER!

What Bernie and Liz need to do is

GOP: Laws Do Not Apply To POTUS Trump

Where in America can you, I, or anyone, go to be immune from the law?

It’s a “trick question,” or… is it?

And yes, it’s a VERY serious question; in fact, it is an argument of which – believe it, or not – Federal Appeals Court Judges are considering the merits.

POTUS John Adams (1735-1826) c.1800-1815, painting by Gilbert Stuart (175-1828)

One simply can’t imagine the notion – that in our nation, a nation of laws, and not of men, that anyone could be above the law – and yet… here we are.

In February 1775, John Adams published a collection of essays entitled “Novanglus” – popularly known as the Novanglus Essays – where the idea that foundling nation which became “The United States of America” was a nation of laws, and not of men – was first known to be expressed.

James Harrington, oil on canvas, feigned oval, circa 1635, on display at Gawthorpe Hall, Burnley

Historians argue that the idea, or thought, was almost certainly derived from James Harrington (1611-1677), an English political philosopher, whose most renown work, “The Commonwealth of Oceana” (1656) was owned by Adams (3rd edition-1747), contains his signature on the title page, and is found in The John Adams Library of Boston Public Library, and may found online here:
https://archive.org/details/oceanaotherworks00harr/page/n5

On page 38 of the work, in the essay entitled “Oceana,” Harrington wrote in part that,

“Government, according to the Ancients, and their learned Disciple Machiavelli, the only Politician of later Ages is of three kinds: The Government of One Man, or of the Better Sort, or of the Whole People: which by their more learned names are called Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Democracy. These they hold, though their proponents to degenerate, to be all evil. For whereas they that govern, should govern according to Reason, if they govern according to Passion, they do that which they should not do. Wherefore as Reason and Passion are two things, so Government by Reason is one thing, and the corruption of Government by Passion is another thing, but not always another Government: as a Body that is alive is one thing, and a Body that is dead is another thing, but not always another Creature, though the corruption of one comes at length to be the Generation of another. The Corruption then of Monarchy is called Tyranny; that of Aristocracy, Oligarchy; and that of Democracy, Anarchy. But Legislators having found these three Governments at the best to be naught, have invented another consisting of a mixture of them all, which only is good. This is the Doctrine of the Ancients.”

So it seems almost certain that Adams derived that idea from James Harrington, but it was Adams’s use of the phrase which popularized it. Of note, Adams also wrote the clause “government of laws, and not of men” in the Declaration of Rights drafted for the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780.

Continuing…

In pertinent part, Adams wrote in Novanglus Essay No. VII, that,

“If Aristotle, Livy, and Harrington knew what a republic was,
the British constitution is much more like a republic than an empire.
They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men. [emphasis added]
If this definition be just,
the British constitution is nothing more nor less than a republic,
in which the king is first magistrate.
This office being hereditary,
and being possessed of such ample and splendid prerogatives,
is no objection to the government’s being a republic,
as long as it is bound by fixed laws,
which the people have a voice in making,
and a right to defend.
An empire is a despotism,
and an emperor a despot,
bound by no law or limitation but his own will;
it is a stretch of tyranny beyond absolute monarchy.
For,
although the will of an absolute monarch is law,
yet his edicts must be registered by parliaments.
Even this formality is not necessary in an empire.
There the maxim is quod principi placuit legis habet rigorem,
even without having that will and pleasure recorded.
There are but three empires now in Europe,
the German or Holy Roman,
the Russian,
and the Ottoman.”

George Santayana

The aphorism written in 1905 by philosopher/author George Santayana in The Life of Reason, vol. 1: Reason in Common Sense, seems apropos here:

“Those who cannot remember the past
are condemned to repeat it.”

And so, that begs the question…

How could we have possibly gotten to this so very corrupted point?

Samuel Johnson

Again, let the words of the wise guide us, because when ideas or thoughts are repeated, it re-emphasizes their importance.

Renown lexicographer Samuel Johnson (1709–84) expressed that idea as much in Rambler No. 2 (24 March 1750) when he wrote in part that,

“Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.”

It is of unimaginable necessity that it is incumbent upon us to recollect this saying made by a GOP Presidential nominee candidate upon the campaign trail heading toward the Republican national convention:

“I could
stand in the middle of 5th Avenue
and shoot somebody,
and wouldn’t lose any voters…
okay?
It’s, like, incredible.”

POS45

–– Donald J. Trump, then-candidate for the Republican nomination as President, at a campaign rally 23 January 2016 at Dordt College, in Sioux Center, Iowa

On October 23, 2019, William S. Consovoy, an attorney defending Trump against a suit filed by the House of Representatives seeking his tax returns, told the three-judge panel (en banc) of the Second United States Circuit Court of Appeals that Trump was LITERALLY immune from ANY type of prosecution.

Judge Denny Chin asked Mr. Consovoy, “What’s your view on the Fifth Avenue example? Local authorities couldn’t investigate, they couldn’t do anything about it?”

Mr. Consovoy replied, “I think once the president is

Enjoying Your Trump Tax Cut? You’re Paying The Trump Tax.

In September of this year alone, Americans paid a record $7.1 billion in Trump Taxes.

That’s tariffs, for those who don’t understand.

And, just to be certain… tariffs are taxes (duties) one nation places upon certain imported goods from another nation(s) which are NOT paid by the nation from where the goods originate (exporting nation), but are paid by the ultimate consumer of the importing nation.

Trump’s little “trade wars” with China, Mexico, Canada, and goodness knows who else, have now been proven to have harmed the American Economy, and the American Employee.

Yes, it’s official – the Federal Reserve published findings of their research “Disentangling the Effects of the 2018-2019 Tariffs on a Globally Connected U.S. Manufacturing Sector” and concluded in part that:

“We find that the 2018 tariffs are associated with

Federal Reserve Study: Trump Tariffs Hurt Economy & Employees

It’s official!

In their research work “Disentangling the Effects of the 2018-2019 Tariffs on a Globally Connected U.S. Manufacturing Sector,” Aaron Flaaen, a Senior Economist, and Justin Pierce, a Principal Economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, make their findings that Trump’s Tax Increase – aka “tariffs” – have actually harmed the Economy, and Employment.

“Since the beginning of 2018,
the United States has undertaken unprecedented tariff increases,
with one goal of these actions being
to boost the manufacturing sector.
In this paper, we estimate the effect of the tariffs
—including retaliatory tariffs by U.S.trading partners—
on manufacturing employment, output, and producer prices.”

“Higher tariffs are also associated with relative increases in producer prices via rising input costs.”
– Abstract; p.1

“We find that tariff increases enacted in 2018 are associated with relative reductions in manufacturing employment and relative increases in producer prices.”
– Section 1; p.3

“Since the end of 2018, however, manufacturing output has declined noticeably and manufacturing employment growth has stalled.”
– Section 2.1; p.5