2021 will have to be an improvement, a big improvement.
We're going to lose Donald Trump as President and a killing, international pandemic, both.
Happy new year, indeed!!
May it be a happy, healthy, prosperous one for us all!!
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Thursday, December 31, 2020
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Senator Josh Hawley is Attacking Your Vote, Our Votes, Our Election and Democracy Today, Missouri, America
Yes, Missouri's own Senator Josh Hawley is doing just that. He's attacking your vote, our votes, our election, right down to our Democracy today, Missouri and America.
GOP senator to delay affirming Biden victory by forcing votes on Electoral College results
Yes, grandstanding demagogue Senator Josh Hawley is putting up a fight to help and go with this Republican Party President Trump and his sycophant, uninformed, misdirected and misinformed supporters that we shouldn't accept and recognize President-elect Biden's win in last month's election.
Isn't that wonderful?
Forget that over 50 courts have thrown out all the cases on this because there was and is patently zero evidence of vote fraud. This was from November 23, mind you.
Trump's election fight includes over 50 lawsuits
Most of them have been shot down or withdrawn, and no court has found even a single instance of fraud. Of at least 57 cases to have been filed, including some not directly involving Trump but which could nonetheless affect his standing, at least 50 have been denied, dismissed, settled or withdrawn.
Trump has aggressively ramped up his allegations of election fraud in the weeks since his projected loss, tweeting dozens of debunked theories. Despite the Electoral College vote this week certifying Biden's victory, Trump has still not conceded.
Meanwhile, since the end of November, even more cases have been thrown out, dismissed by judges and courts. This one happened December 14.
Wisconsin Supreme Court tosses Trump election lawsuit
Even Republicans have come out and said Trump and this vote fraud nonsense should go away.
It's not just his call for our election to be overturned, either. This is how this group of Republicans feel about this President of theirs.
Additionally, this was from November 21.
More examples--and from, again, Republicans.
Georgia GOP lieutenant governor says 'no credible examples' of voter fraud
Republicans rebuke Trump over claims of voter fraud
And sure, I get it. Senator Hawley wants to keep in good to great graces with Trump and maybe even more, his supporters, sure, so he can maybe run for the presidency in 2024. I get that. But attacking, again, our votes? Our election? Our Democracy?
Oh, hell, no. This cannot stand. Senator Josh "Mr. Sedition" Hawley can't get away with this.
The Washington Post said it so true and right.
Josh Hawley reminds us that the GOP is the sedition party
I can't recommend enough and ask that anyone and everyone who sees and reads this please phone or email---or both--Senator Hawley and tell him we don't appreciate him subverting our Democracy.
Hawley's office. You may well have to leave a message: (202) 224-6154Our Next National Hurdles Once Trump Is Gone
From The New Yorker yesterday.
Along with cleaning up so very many messes after this President and his presidency, we need to make sure that nothing, nothing even remotely close to Donald J Trump ever, ever happens again in America. And the way we do it is by, first, overturning Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court and then ending campaign contributions entirely in our nation. After that, also outlawing gerrymandering and voter ID laws that disenfranchise fellow American citizens from voting. Finally we need to bring back the Fairness Doctrine in our government and media.
I'm not hopeful. We could do it, we could it all but no, I'm not hopeful.
Links:
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Quote of the Day -- Presidential Pardons Edition
A federal judge in Iowa slammed President Trump’s recent pardons on Tuesday, saying,
“It’s not surprising that a criminal like Trump pardons other criminals.”
U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt made the statement during an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Pratt said,
“Apparently to get a pardon, one has to be either a Republican, a convicted child murderer or a turkey.”
Link:
More Presidential Last Days Insanity
It's difficult to even keep up with, let alone believe all the things this Republican Party President is saying and doing in these his last days in that office.
In odd video, Trump falsely suggests he received a Nobel prize
Added to that, check out just a bit of the article:
The fact that Donald Trump is still releasing campaign-style ads is itself bizarre. Election Day was eight weeks ago; the Republican incumbent lost badly; and if these commercials are intended to create a groundswell of support for the outgoing president, he's likely to be disappointed.But while the effort is odd, the details of the latest campaign-style ad are considerably more ridiculous. In the new, minute-long video that Trump posted online late yesterday, the first on-screen text reads, "Trump stands for America," which is a strange message for a president who's spent months attacking his own country's democracy. It's followed by, "Trump stands for American jobs," which is also weird given his poor record on job creation.
The video goes on from there, making other curious boasts. "Trump stands for American justice" is belied by his corrupt pardon abuses, while "Trump stands for military might" is an interesting choice given his recent veto of funding for his own country's military. It culminates in a five-word message: "Trump: He's what's for America," which is a rhetorical construction so clumsy, I wonder if the president's communications team was drunk when they wrote this.
Just loony. Fortunately, either his insanity or his stupidity, whichever it is that moment, helps his perceived enemies, hurts him and hurts what is supposed to be his own political party.
WSJ editorial board: Trump's push for $2,000 checks will hand Democrats the Senate
On the $2000 COVID assistance for Americans today, first this happened, no surprise.
McConnell blocks quick vote on $2,000 stimulus checks
The wonderful thing about the $2000 stimulus check in COVID assistance is that it's tearing down this President's own political party.
The two GOP Senators in the Georgia runoff, Perdue and Loeffler have had to come out for it, too.
The irony of this next issue and headline just stunned me.
Donald Trump. President Donald J Trump. Saying someone else doesn't lead. You can't get any more ironic, or hypocritical, than that.
Then, what he is doing is attacking members of his own political party, instead, God love him.
Honestly, this President and his unpredictability and lashing out is not just unprecedented but...what? Insane? Certainly unpredictable.
Speaking of no leadership...
“No, I haven’t,” Cooper told CNN when asked if he had heard from the president since the bombing.
Keeping in mind he could be leading us all through this worst, most deadly, killing international pandemic in the last more than 100 years.
Not done there...
But no.
Instead of leadership, this is where his attention has been and where his insanity hurts us, hurts the nation.
Trump's desire for 'wild' protest sparks fear among US officials
One observer noted that Trump will fail in Congress, but the greater danger "is on the streets, where pro-Trump forces are already threatening chaos."
More on the possibility of violence issue.
Fortunately, this went in our favor the last few days. Ultra-conservative, Right Wing, Republican Party supporting Rupert Miurdoch's own New York Post blasted this President Trump for denying our election with a big front page story.
Murdoch’s New York Post Blasts President’s Fraud Claims
We’re one week away from an enormously important moment for the next four years of our country.
Meanwhile, Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen came out with this.
President Donald Trump's former lawyer and self-described fixer, Michael Cohen, said the president's pardons and sentence commutations for close associates such as Michael Flynn and Roger Stone could be a big mistake. Cohen told MSNBC on Monday that by pardoning these allies, Trump could be unintentionally giving prosecutors the power to force these close associates to testify against him. Cohen suggested that the people Trump pardoned would no longer be able to invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and therefore must comply with investigations into Trump. Trump faces multiple lawsuits and criminal investigations when he leaves the White House.
It might well help to explain the pressure on Trump and his seeming unraveling.
And yes, this next article is the Washington Post and they are tough on this President but it shows he is getting lots and lots of really bad press.
Then there's this from Salon.
It's gotten so bad now, at the end of this presidential administration, it's even falling in on his Vice President Pence.
I can't imagine anyone other than Mike Pence has been more loyal to Republicans but they attack him for not supporting Trump in his fraudulent effort to overturn our votes and election. Incredible.
So far in this administration, I think Vice President Mike Pence did just what he wanted to do. That is, he laid low, quiet, rather out of sight and so, hopefully on his part, I believe, out of mind. No more. At the end and seemingly clear unraveling of this President and his administration, even he is finally getting some negative hits from all of this. It's no way a complete surprise bad as this administration is failing and flailing but it's certainly not the way he VP Pence, planned this, that's for sure.
So stay tuned, America, Americans. There's no telling where we're headed or what this President Trump will say or do, as we've seen. Hoping the worst isn't still ahead of us.
The good news? We're down to only 3 weeks left in this nightmare administration as of tomorrow.
Hallelujah.
Additional link:
Saturday, December 26, 2020
Our KC Star Finally Gets It on Race -- Will KCPT?
Yes, as I wrote earlier last week, I thought it pretty incredible and courageous and soul-searching for our Kansas City Star local newspaper to own up and 'fess up to their very racist, white supremacist past. Great for them, great for us. Progress. Surprising and again, incredible. Very encouraging and hopeful.
So now, a next step, it makes me wonder aloud here if our local PBS station will ever "get it" on race, too. If KCPT will ever be truly inclusive. I've written about it before.
They used to have 2 weekly news programs and now they're down to one. Both were heavily, heavily represented by---wait for it--white people. Only. Singularly. And the one now gone was also heavily full of Right Wing and/or conservative and/or out and out Republican Party guests and viewpoints. It was dispiriting to say the least.
And even now, still, to this day, their "Week in Review" program is heavily all white. Here's the latest example.
But to this day, as in this week's episode, there are 3 white people.
That's it.
Three men, one woman and one Black man, that's it.
Occasionally, occasionally they will include a Hispanic or Latinx member of the community but it is rare, at best. They apparently take money from and advertise the Dos Mundos newspaper but no steady representation of our Hispanic community. It's almost as though they don't live here. Or at least, it's as though KCPT either just doesn't or doesn't want to recognize them, Hispanics in the community.
In their defense, I know this isn't true. I know the station and the host, Nick Haines, want to be fair and representative of us all.
But it ain't happenin'.
It's 2020, very nearly 2021, of course, and still no representation, no reliable, steady, dependable representation of ALL in our community.
But hey, if you're white? Or more, if you're a white man? They got you covered. Great for you.
So come on, KCPT. Do it. Somehow, do it. Get it done. Commit to, somehow, having, say, one white maile, one white female, yes a Black person, male or female and the---wait for it---a Hispanic or Latinx person, again, male or female on your program, on this program, on "Week in REview", week after week after week. Reliably. You owe it to yourself. You owe it to good, fair representative media.
You owe it to all of us.
On This Day, December 26, 1972
Yes, on this day, December 26, 1972 we, Missouri and the nation, lost a great man.
Missouri state history---On this day, December 26, 1972, President Harry S Truman dies at age 88 in Independence,.
The 33rd president of the US dies of multiple-organ failure after several weeks in the hospital. His wife, Bess, will opt for a small private burial in their hometown of Independence, Missouri, instead of a state funeral in DC, thinking it a more fitting goodbye for the down-to-earth Truman.We miss you, sir. We've missed you since you passed. We miss your wisdom, your guidance and your efforts for the more common man and woman--working people of the nation.
Thank you for all you did for us.
Links:
Thursday, December 24, 2020
Entertainment Overnight -- Holiday Edition
Happy holidays everyone.
Merry Christmas if you celebrate it.
This Incredibly Bizarre Presidency Just Keeps Getting More So
I haven't been able to believe so much of what I've read and seen this past 4 years from this President, his presidency and administration. Now, today, there is this.
Pence Should Remove Trump From Office on Sunday
Here's the gist of what they're proposing.
"It may seem extremely unlikely that Mike Pence, who up to this point has been one of Trump’s most craven enablers, would even consider taking advantage of this constitutional power. But it’s always possible that, between now and January 20 when Trump’s term expires, the situation may become so extreme that he and eight other Cabinet members may find the modicum of personal courage and moral decency necessary to do the right thing.Trump would put up a fight, but it wouldn’t matter this late in his presidency. Once Pence has transmitted the letter to Congress that makes him acting president, Trump may contest the vice-president’s actions via a letter of his own. Section Four, however, would give Pence four days to respond to this letter. After Pence did so, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives could — by simple majority vote — decline to act on the substantive dispute for the remaining 21 days. (Meanwhile, Democrats could filibuster any action in the Senate.) Were it not the end of his term, Trump would return to office after 21 days if Congress failed to act.
This, in effect, means that Pence could become acting president on Sunday, December 27, and would remain in the position for the rest of the current administration’s term in office, as long as House Democrats acceded to the new status quo. For the good of the nation, he should do so this weekend."
So. Very. Bizarre.
So. Very. Bizarre.
Thanks, Republicans.
God help us.
Happy holidays.
Hopefully.
The Republican Party Insanity Today, Christmas Eve, on COVID Assistance
So here it is. Christmas Eve. Here we are. At long last. And now, this is where we all are with this Republican Party Congress, Republican Party President and the possibility of COVID assistance.
House Republicans To Block $2,000 Stimulus Checks On Christmas Eve
Except this is where we are now. On Christmas Eve. The Republicans in Congress are all going to collectively be Scrooges. They say they are voting it all down. It's their President but they want no part of it.
So what, pray tell, do these Republicans in Congress do now with their President? Go to the White House and implore him to see it, to see things their way? If that's even possible?
Merry Christmas indeed, America.
Happy holidays?
Happy new year?
More:
Update. Breaking in the last two hours:
It seems our own Missouri Senator Roy Blunt did the right thing and reached out to the President.
Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.) a member of the GOP leadership, warned Thursday that President Trump's demand for $2000 stimulus checks can't pass the Senate and urged him to sign a massive year-end agreement.
Some semblance of sanity seems to be coming about, anyway. It's nice that it's coming from our own Senator and state.
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
The Insane, Bizarre, Ugly and Now Dangerous World Into Which This President and HIs Political Party Have Brought Us
I can honestly still not believe the things this Republican Party President keeps saying and doing. Now we're here:
2020 is the deadliest year in US history, with deaths expected to top 3 million for the first time
What the sorry excuse for "leadership" from this Republican Party President Trump and his political party has gotten us all, gotten the nation. Is it any wonder we wanted to vote him out and so badly? Thanks, Republicans. Thanks so very much. This man Trump and all he has wrought this last 4 years is on you, all on you---forever. This last fact and statistic is the worst, of course, but it's followed by this beauty, too.
For the 40th consecutive week, Americans file more than a million claims for jobless benefits
Then this happened.
Trump Demands $2,000 Stimulus Checks, Imperiling Covid-19
Forget that these negotiations have been going on in Congress for months and that Americans are hurting. Millions of us are going hungry, millions more are already facing possible eviction from their homes and consequential homelessness. Oh, yeah, forget all that. Republicans and Democrats finally hammered out a deal to get assistance out to us all and this President, at the last minute, decides the checks--at $600 to us schmoes out here--aren't large enough and the threatens to veto the whole thing. Things you can be sure of just now because of this move by the Trumpster:
- Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are rightly overjoyed and loving this President's insanity
- Mitch McConnell and the Republicans are about to pull their hair out because of their own President's wildly contradicting excuse for "leadership" on COVID assistance issue and
- No one, no one still knows what goes on in Donald Trump's mind
Minutes ago, he, Trump, did this.
Forget that we voted. Forget that more than 50 different judges and their courts found zero proof of vote fraud. Forget that all those lawsuits by this President Trump and his attorneys were all thrown out. Forget all that. They want to overturn our vote, our votes, our election.
Naturally, it's Donald Trump so it gets worse.
Of course, they won't think of it as "dictatorship." They'll say they're just trying to reseat the current President because he won this election. Which of course he didn't.
At this stage, we are 27 days from Joe Biden's inauguration.
It can't happen soon enough.
I so hope this doesn't get crazier.
Or uglier.
Imagine for a Moment You're Donald Trump Just Now
- New York State is investigating your taxes in at least 2 different cases, for possible fraud
- Ireland is also investigating your for your taxes so that's international problems, too
- He likely, apparently owes, reportedly, nearly, if not actually 1 billion dollars to who knows who,and then finally,
- There's anything and everything he may be investigated for and possibly found guilty while he was President.
He's reportedly now turning on his Vice President and virtually, if not actually, everyone.
A bit from the article:
“President Trump, in his final days, is turning bitterly on virtually every person around him, griping about anyone who refuses to indulge conspiracy theories or hopeless bids to overturn the election,” Axios reports.
“Targets of his outrage include Vice President Pence, chief of staff Mark Meadows, White House counsel Pat Cipollone, Secretary of State Pompeo and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.”
“Trump thinks everyone around him is weak, stupid or disloyal — and increasingly seeks comfort only in people who egg him on to overturn the election results. We cannot stress enough how unnerved Trump officials are by the conversations unfolding inside the White House.”
There's a vaccine on the way and this Presidency and 2020 are both nearly over.
Tuesday, December 22, 2020
So Proud of Our Kansas City Star
Wow.
What can you say but "Wow"?
Our own local paper, the Kansas City Star stunned me and I feel, probably lots of us this week. Their report, their reporting, their confession was just that, stunning. You likely know of what I'm writing. It's this.
The truth in Black and white: An apology from The Kansas City Star
Today we are telling the story of a powerful local business that has done wrong.
I'll only post the beginning of the editorial.
Today we are telling the story of a powerful local business that has done wrong.
For 140 years, it has been one of the most influential forces in shaping Kansas City and the region. And yet for much of its early history — through sins of both commission and omission — it disenfranchised, ignored and scorned generations of Black Kansas Citians. It reinforced Jim Crow laws and redlining. Decade after early decade it robbed an entire community of opportunity, dignity, justice and recognition.
That business is The Kansas City Star.
To repeat, there's no word that describes this any better than stunning.
This took guts. This took courage. Just freaking wow.
They could have recognized their past faults internally and vowed to never repeat such things, sure. But this? Confessing to the supporting of Jim Crow laws and redlining and segregation and other obscenities, however legal?
Stunning. Nothing short of stunning.
It went national, too, it was that big a story. This was from the New York Times.
NBC News.
Daily Kos.
You get the idea. It was covered nationally from virtually every media outlet.
I think there are two huge things to take from this, too, besides the fact that, as I said above, they didn't have to do this cleansing so publicly like this.
The first is that this was an important move for them, the Star, the newspaper, to own up to but it's much more than that. We all need to own up to what and how we've gotten to where we are. We all, as a people and as a nation, need to know how we got here, where we are today. We need to know our nation's history, our full national history. We need to really know all the details about slavery and our Civil War, sure. But that's for starters.
We all need to also know about our Reconstruction and the failure of it, our failure and how that impacted African-Americans then.
We all need to know, really know about Jim Crow laws, what they were, what they did, the fact that they were legal and the deep, deep damage that they did to those same Americans, African-Americans. That's a great deal to know there alone.
Then there's the "redlining" the Star's story mentions and its corresponding segregation, legalized, thank you very much.
If, as a people, you are kept away, legally, from the best housing and jobs, good education and so, consequently and understandably, also kept away from better paying jobs and careers? Is it any wonder the wealth of Black Americans today is, still, to this moment, a fraction of white America?
And that's how we got now, here to where we are. It's why still, to this day, so many Black Americans do not and even, for a lot of them, cannot still live wherever they wish. It only makes sense. It's a natural outgrowth of all that then-legalized racism and hate and ugliness. It's why do many cities in the United States--including, of course, our own Kansas City on both sides of the state line--are still so very, very segregated even though that legal segregation was made illegal decades ago now.
So, again, wow. Kudos to the Star.
In their article, they made a great and important point of saying that their paper, over the years, highlighted white people's accomplishments but virtually never Black people's.
In the pages of The Star, when Black people were written about, they were cast primarily as the perpetrators or victims of crime, advancing a toxic narrative. Other violence, meantime, was tuned out. The Star and The Times wrote about military action in Europe but not about Black families whose homes were being bombed just down the street.
Even the Black cultural icons that Kansas City would one day claim with pride were largely overlooked. Native son Charlie “Bird” Parker didn’t get a significant headline in The Star until he died, and even then, his name was misspelled and his age was wrong.
It reminded me of a KCPT PBS broadcast on Kansas City's own Charlie "Bird" Parker. Lonnie McFadden made the very fair and important point that Winston Churchill, of all people, is on our Country Club Plaza.
But not Bird.
How else can we heal? How else can we repair centuries long wrongs and racism if we don't examine ourselves, see where we are, see what we did, see what those ramifications are and then apologize for them and look to rectify them? We must do this as a society. We're long, long overdue.
Anyone, any American who thinks we don't owe Black Americans reparations should, again, study our national history.
And read this article, too.
Look Who Said Trump Needs to Accept the Election Now!
Breaking today! This afternoon!
Even Right Wing wacko Pat Robertson says Trump is living in an "alternate reality" and should move on and accept our election and the results! Fantastic! We'll get there yet!
Happy holidays indeed, y'all! Enjoy! Have great---and safe--holidays!
Meanwhile, unfortunately, also this.
Not done there, here is this man Trump today both rather predictably and unfortunately.
Then finally today, there is this.
When have we ever, ever heard of this or anything like it being done by a sitting President?
Two Holiday Movie Classics: Rich v Poor, Republican v Democrat
Yes, there are two holiday movie classics, at least here in America, and not only do we love them, lots of us, but they also show the great struggle of rich vs poor. The first, Dickens' "A Christmas Carol.
And the other holiday movie classic? Why "It's a Wonderful Life", of course.
"Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you’re talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn’t think so. People were human beings to him, but to you, a warped, frustrated old man, they’re cattle.”
Oh, yeah. Both good to great movies in their own ways and both show current day situations of, again, rich v poor and very well.
Happy holidays, everyone. Stay safe out there.
I hope.
Friday, December 18, 2020
Quotes of the Day -- On Health Care
Universal health care is such a complex beast that only 32 of the world's 33 nations have been able to make it work.
--Duke @Maxonsdad
If you think Covid treatment should be free (of course it should), why do you think insulin shouldn’t be?
Or cancer treatment?
Or mental health?
Health care should not be run for profit. Period.
--Robert Reich @RBReich
Thursday, December 17, 2020
Thanks, Mr. President! Thanks, Republicans!
That's quite the leadership you got going there.
US hits grim new daily record with 3,656 coronavirus deaths
This broke yesterday on CNN: US hits record breaking number of COVID cases 11 days in a row.
Seems this administration is one of the reliable carriers, too.
Interior secretary tests positive for COVID-19 after two days of meetings with officials: report
Not done there, oh no.
Weekly jobless claims rise to 885,000
Note that this next summary is from the very conservative, very business-friendly Business Insider, too
Authoritarianism, Fascism, let's not split hairs.
But hey, at least the Dow and the markets are up, huh?
Stocks rise to record highs on talk of COVID relief deal
At least Mitch McConnell and then Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue down in Georgia are going to be doing okay on their stock portfolios, right??
And again, this President Trump. What a guy. Always there to do the right thing at the right time, eh?
Trump cuts $200M in health care funds to California over abortions
Y'all are terrific.
Really.
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