The Political Slant - Page 3

Democrats Disingenuous Demeanor

As quoted recently, on or about October 26, 2020 by political journal  The Hill, by reporter Celine Castronuovo, Rep. Alexandria  Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) took to Twitter late Monday to call for the  expansion of the Supreme Court as Amy Coney Barrett was sworn in as a  justice, with the progressive first-term lawmaker arguing that  Republicans don’t believe Democrats “have the stones to play hardball  like they do.”

More of AOC from The Hill:  “Remember that Republicans have lost 6 of the last 7 popular votes, but have appointed 6 of the last 9 justices,” she wrote. “By expanding the court, we fix this broken system and have the court better represent the values of the American people.”

OK, Um, don’t we have the Electoral College so that populous, left-leaning states such as New York and California do not run roughshod over the more sparsely populated states? If you choose to do  away with the Electoral College, then, by all means be fair, and offer  the states such as Wyoming, Iowa, the Dakotas and the other  conservative states the option of seceding, since it seems that they  do not share the “values of the American people.”

While AOC may be the spokesperson for socialist-leaning “let’s take from the rich and then give all the money away” folks in her congressional district, I’m not convinced that she is a “spokesperson for the American people.”

Keep Reading

Voter Tendencies

One non-mention among us is why some whites voted and will continue to vote for Trump due to their concern of being replaced in authority and status by nonwhites, a fear Trump stoked then and now. The embedded level of the hierarchy is a part of our history. The US Calvary overran the American Indians, our constitutional founders dismissed women and blacks, our textbooks left out acts of heroism by minorities, and financial restrictions slowed nonwhite attainment of power positions to where we are now.    

President Lyndon B. Johnson

President Lyndon B. Johnson said, “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best-colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.” Several voters recognized their economic circumstances and foresaw their survival interests as maintaining their perceived level of social-financial status among nonwhites.

Fear of dominant decline among white men is what Trump manipulated to the forefront of insecurity symphonized by a political platform that minorities were taking jobs away from whites; immigrants were rapists and drug runners. The imminence of the replacement of whites by nonwhites stood as a social disadvantage of being left behind. The handwriting on the wall to substantiate their unwarranted fear and create weight on their minds was the government’s documentation of the growing demographic change.

Keep Reading

Racism, Riots, and Our Republic

The tragic death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, has set into motion a public outcry that will go down in American history. In Mr. Floyd’s case, the officer who was responsible for his safety will be held responsible for his demise. Anyone issued handcuffs should be aware of the fact that handcuffed suspects who are laid on their stomachs cannot breathe because the pressure on the diaphragm restricts their breathing. If the officer charged in the death claims he was never advised of the potential danger, then he should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, under the much-used police phrase: “ignorance of the law is no excuse.” 

The United States is a nation of laws, where those who enforce those laws are the police. Accused of being the hands of unfair laws and enforcers of discriminatory policies, there are now movements to defund and even disband police departments. There have been riots, burned buildings, and destroyed public monuments. There have also been dozens of murders of those of the same race as George Floyd, all presumed just as innocent (certainly the murdered children were innocent) as Mr. Floyd. How the murders of innocent citizens will motivate legislatures remains to be seen. Which moves us to legislation.

Image Credit: NY State Senate
Keep Reading

Whose Flag is It?

*

In a small New England town, one of the few places in America where young people are once again playing organized baseball on community fields, an old man; a veteran, proudly stares at the unfurled stars and stripes and with a tear in his eye sings our national anthem along with the recorded version being piped over the loud speaker.

In a parking lot within a bedroom community outlying Portland, Oregon a young woman sees a soldier walking to her car and alters her path to intersect with the soldier’s, extends her hand and offers her sincere thanks for the soldier’s service to our country.

In a fast food drive-through in Hamilton, Ohio a father of three notices that the car behind him contains four servicemen.  He preemptively pays for their meals and drives away before they are aware of his kindness and generosity.

These three proud Americans heroes have little in common except for their love of our country, our freedoms and our flag.

Keep Reading

Insider Trading for the Public Good

/

*Who would think that Members of Congress have one unique skill: picking great stocks?  According to an academic paper, “Abnormal Returns From the Common Stock Investments of Members of the U.S. House of Representatives” in the Business and Politics journal,  states: “We find strong evidence that Members of the House have some type of nonpublic information which they use for personal gain.”   Yes, Members of Congress do receive quite a lot of non-public information as a regular part of their job.  Trading on non-public information is a crime, but it is generally a difficult one to prove.

Keep Reading

China Goes Viral

/
China goes viral

*The global economy has suffered and enormous punch to the gut, and the economies of many nations are coughing and wheezing while dozens of their citizens perish. The culprit in this calamity is the Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. The origin of this pandemic (empowered by the global economy) has been traced to the city of Wuhan, in Hubei province, China, where it emerged in December of 2019.

Actually, according to Helen Davidson of “The Guardian,” COVID-19 was first detected on November 17 of 2019, and by March 13, 2020, had killed 4,702 people. The Chinese government only admitted that there was human-to-human contact on January 21 of 2020. Doctor Ai Fen of the Wuhan Central hospital lost four of her fellow doctors to the virus and is guilty of “criticizing hospital authorities for suppressing early warnings of the outbreak.” To further add to the global mayhem, Dr. Fen and whistleblower ophthalmologist Li Wenliang were risking their jobs as well as detention to reveal to the public about the conditions in Wuhan. The global economy advances (and kills) everyone equally, if not for the preparations by their nation. Keep Reading

Covid-19: The Chicken or the Egg

/

*What came first is debatable when asked about the chicken and the egg. However, when we ask what happened first, labor or corporations, the answer is labor.

The president has claimed, “I am facing the biggest decision of my life.” He is referring to getting people back to work as our economy has taken a big hit because of the pandemic. Many of us were not around during the Great Depression when people were out of work; there were food shortages, confusion, health risks, and more. None of us want to repeat that era. As Americans, we must support cautious and well thought out legislation on the mobilization of our economy.

Living in a Democracy claiming freedoms has been one of the many issues creating issues on our health care providers, enforcement, getting to solutions, and understanding the impact and meaning of a pandemic. Keep Reading

Trump Derangement Syndrome & COVID-19

Trump Derangement Syndrome is real

*As someone with a well known reputation as being an avid Trump supporter in my building, and in my neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, I have come under attack with some frequency from Trump haters, and the tone has been more civil than it might otherwise be, given my also known reputation to speak from the diaphragm with lots and lots of facts, and my absolute willingness to get mean if treated meanly.

Indeed, I am happy to reveal a razor sharp tongue to those who seek to shout me down with that nasty brand of viciousness so common among those suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), and I win every damn time.  I also was physically attacked by one man in the neighborhood, once, and he went from a hospital bed straight to a jail cell.  He now steers very clear of me here in the ‘hood.  Seriously, I am not to be touched, at all, ever.  There are some who know of this altercation, word spread a bit, and deference ensued among insiders.

As we face this COVID 19 infectious disease, however, the tone has changed for those who have chosen to attack more vehemently.  I have been lashed out at a handful of times.  Words like “this is going to do him in, mister, and only fools still support him” and “I hate this president, and any sane person would too” have been hurled in my direction, uttered very loudly. Keep Reading

COVID-19: The Clear and Present Threat to Military Families During This Crisis is Not the Virus

/

*Too many veterans and their families aren’t mentally, emotionally and spiritually prepared for the difficult days ahead. Since the spread of COVID-19, we’ve heard from hundreds of military families who are afraid – not of catching a virus – but of the long term damage this crisis will have on their lives.

They’re afraid they’ll turn to older ways of coping with their challenges as the stress of this crisis looms over them. Many nationwide closures have affected support groups such as alcoholics anonymous (AA), and other key outpatient services due to government action to limit large gatherings. People are overwhelmed with financial buckling, uncertainty, school cancellations affecting their children, and being closed off from normal routines. Keep Reading

President Trump: Excessive Examination and the Expected Exoneration

*On Tuesday, February 4, 2020 The Senate of the United States announced the acquittal of President Donald J. Trump.  Only the third president in history to be impeached, and just as the other two, (William Clinton and Andrew Johnson) he was not removed by the Senate. Richard Nixon would have been removed, but he resigned before that could have happened.

First, it was the Russian Investigation that was going to provide all of the charges to get Trump impeached. Instead, it simply drew attention to a Justice department that was taking the side of the Democrats, and F.B.I. managers who were willing to disregard the law in the interests of Democrats. The law was being ignored and testimony was doctored, with evidence (or lack of evidence) that was tilted towards a $24 million investigation that yielded very little. Keep Reading

On Not Taking the Bad With the Good

*Tom was an alcoholic and a smoker.  A master carpenter and sometimes-roofer, he was wiry and tough and a living old-school ad for both Budweiser and Marlboro.

From time to time, usually at the urging of his family, Tom would stop drinking for a while, or stop smoking for a while, or stop both, for a while.  At a point in his late 30s he decided and voiced that he’d rather live a short life with his beer & cigs than live a long life without them.  When he entered the hospital at age 43, his body riddled with cancer, he did not complain or blame or mourn.  He knew why he was there and he was at peace with it.

We all do this to a certain extent: put up with some bad if it is outweighed by some good.  Drinkers put up with hangovers because they enjoy the drunk more than they dislike the hangover.  Pot smokers live with coughing their lungs out when they invariably take too big a hit, but decide it is worth it for the buzz.  Obese people enjoy the third bowl of ice cream and bag of chips more than they dislike buying bigger clothes each year.

And so it goes.

We also do this when we vote.

Keep Reading

Dept. of Veterans Affairs Gets a Reality Check

*As lawmakers on Capitol Hill are taking part in the impeachment process, President Trump is quietly seeking to accomplish reforms at the Department of Veterans Affairs. But realizing this reform requires Assistant VA Secretary, Tamara Bonzanto, in leading accountability efforts.

Tamara Bonzanto
Assistant VA Secretary, Tamara Bonzanto

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the second largest federal agency, and is responsible for taking care of our Veterans. Just a few years ago, it was the most tarnished agency in the nation.

Keep Reading

Qassem Soleimani: Ravaging, Revolutionizing, and Retribution

killing of soleimani

*Richard M. Nixon’s book The Real War has a list of rules for the presidency. Rule number six is: “Never let your adversary underestimate what you would do in response to a challenge. Never tell him in advance what you would not do.”

Just so you understand, invading the embassy of a sovereign nation is the same as invading that nation. The embassy is the soil of that nation. Period. This is why citizens of a foreign nation can seek refuge in an embassy, because wherever that embassy is, whatever nation the embassy resides in, it cannot be violated by the hosting nation. Not that terrorists care anything about international law or have any respect for sovereign nations, mind you.

killing of Soleimani

Iran violated the aforementioned internationally recognized precept on November 4, 1979, lasting until January 20, 1981. Keep Reading

School Prayer – Be Careful What You Ask For

*Here we go again. Every time a member of the GOP starts lagging in the polls they bring up abortion and/or school prayer. Surefire issues that get the blood flowing and the jaws yapping. A way to distract and deflect and rouse the rabble.

That abortion has been and was ever and still is an issue discussed, debated and decided on by a bunch of old white guys that don’t even have a horse in the race, instead of women and their medical professionals, is ludicrous – just nuts!

As for school prayer, be careful what you start advocating for Mr. Trump – you just may get it.

Keep Reading

Iranian Aggression

*We are living in a strange day, age and era in American history, and presidential politics, and it isn’t pretty.  It is the Democratic Party of this modern age that has steadily been bringing us to an eerie, creepy time in our nation’s history, and all good Democrats among us need to revolt against their party leadership.  Also, all good Democrats within the power structure of their party need to start taking action against enemies within their party, and within our country.  What’s happened with Iran, it seems, can be a watershed moment for what the party will be moving forward.  They are at a crossroads, now, and their party’s survival is on the line.  As one of two parties of the two party system of the greatest country in human history, America, patriotic souls, and smarter thinking democrats, have a choice to make, right now.

Iranian Aggression - Tulsi Gabbard
Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)

Keep Reading

Amy Chua: Equality, Elitism, Ethics and the New American Elite

*In a June 13, 2019 article in the Financial Times (headquartered in London, England) journalist Edward Luce reported on Amy Chua’s “shrewd string-pulling” to get her daughter a position as a clerk for recently-appointed Supreme Court judge Brett Kavanaugh. To quote Mr. Luce: “This week Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, Ms. Chua’s daughter, was hired as a Supreme Court clerk by Brett Kavanaugh — the judge for whom her mother vouched during his stormy Senate hearings last autumn. Ms. Chua is a shrewd string-puller. A Supreme Court clerkship sets up a young lawyer for life. Whether she is enjoying the publicity is another matter. Overnight the Chuas have turned into emblems of what Americans distrust about their meritocracy.”Was what Ms. Chua did a “quid quo pro?” And if so, how many quid quo pros are out there? The reality is that many myths and legends exceed their grandiose depictions. Keep Reading

Choosing Sides

*Brit Hume, former Washington Bureau Chief for Fox News Network, once said that it’s no longer a simple matter of our country being divided, but it is now more that each side sees the other side as something that is evil, that must be stopped. If you were to repeat this assessment to a good handful of people you will find that most all of them will 100% agree with it. That is saying a whole lot.

It is of paramount importance, then, that we find determinants as to which side is, in fact, the evil side, which side has among them the malevolent and nefarious forces among all of us. To that end, we must expose some cold, hard, ugly truths. And let’s be clear, it’s not that all people on any side are of evil, very surely not, and so those who are not bad actors will feel angry that the sinister people within their ideological leanings are revealed.

Rather than feeling anger, though, it’s preferable that such real truths be understood for what they are, and to also understand that a visceral negative reaction to truth is unhealthy, and on the wrong side.

Truth is truth. Keep Reading

Androgyny’s Abrogation

/

*Here’s the call:

Dispatcher: 911 what is your emergency?

Caller: I think we have a heart attack victim.

Dispatcher: OK please tell me the age and sex of the victim.

Caller: I can’t.

Dispatcher: You can’t tell me the age and sex of the victim?

Caller: About 40 years old, I guess, but I don’t know the sex.

Dispatcher: You don’t know the sex?

Caller: They’re androgynous. Keep Reading

Bogus Blaming of Baby Boomers

/

*One Lyman Stone, in The Atlantic of June 24, 2019, blames the Baby Boomers for many of the problems in America, in an article titled “The Boomers Ruined Everything.” According to Stone, the younger Americans (Gen X, Millennials) are having a hard time, economically and otherwise, because of the acts and behavior of the Baby Boomers. The Baby Boomers ruined everything about America? Hardly. Stone’s universal generalization is the first key flaw in his argument. But let’s take a look.

To start off with, Stone begins with this gem: “The average U.S. state constitution is more than 100 years old. We are in the third-longest period without a constitutional amendment in American history: The longest such period ended in the Civil War.” What about our treasured Constitution needs to be changed? He offers no suggestions, so allow me to suggest one. Keep Reading

1 2 3 4 5 … 7