Good-bye America!

 WILL THERE BE A MID-TERM ELECTION?

Some are worried that Trump may try to cancel or prevent the 2026 mid-terms. There are actually two scenarios that are worse.

(1) Largely unreported in the media, Republican operatives have been quietly working to politicize vote counting by changing the rules for election workers in BLUE states to favor only Republican loyalists and banning independent monitoring of polls and vote counting.

(2) Using the legal shenanigans after the 2020 election as a model, Trump may be planning a legal fight to delay the results of the 2026 election beyond January 20, when the curren House of Representatives’ terms end, as well as one-third of the Senate. This would leave the United States without a valid Congress, freeing Trump to simply dismiss the Supreme Court and declare himself the sole governing body, i.e. king. With special, “Civil Unrest” National Guard units activated in every state to put down any protests, and with all ranking generals replaced with Trump loyalists, who will stop him?

Here’s the scary part: all those measures are ALREADY IN PLACE.

Good-by, America. It’s been nice knowing you!

It Can Happen Here

 Donald Trump in the last two weeks has done four things of note:

1. Repeatedly called his political opponents “vermin,” a term he’s never used before.

2. Accused immigrants of “poisoning the blood” of “real Americans.”

3. Promised to hunt down those he deems illegal and establish “deportation camps” for them.

4. Promised that on Day One of his next administration he would declare a national emergency and invoke the Insurrection Act to give him extra-Constitutional powers.

--Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini habitually referred to their opponents as “vermin.”

--In Mein Kampf, Hitler accused the Jews of “poisoning the blood” of Aryan Germans.

--Hitler established his first concentration camps (later death camps) as “deportation camps.”

--Hitler was duly appointed Chancellor of Germany, then invoked emergency powers to take over as dictator, ending German democracy.

Trump’s actions and statements of the last two weeks have been specifically modelled on Hitler’s strategy and tactics, even to using the same terminology. It’s hard to believe this is accidental, in view of Trump’s admitted admiration for Hitler.

Meaningful Sanctions Against Russia

The current crop of supposedly “strong” sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine are a joke, amounting to little more than light wrist-slaps. They have no immediate consequences, and only mildly restrictive future consequences. Here are ten proposals for immediately meaningful sanctions.

In the US:

1. Freeze all Russian state assets in the US and its territories.

2. Freeze all Russian business assets and ban all business transactions with Russian businesses by US nationals or companies.

3. Freeze all assets of all Russian nationals who are not legal, US residents and expel them from the United States.

4. Ban all Russian ships and aircraft from all US ports and airports. Seize any non-complying ships and aircraft. (It will be very hard for them to leave, as they cannot buy fuel in the US per #2 above.)

5. Ban all Russian nationals from entering the United States.

6. Withdraw all US diplomats from Russia. Expel all Russian diplomats and staff except for one Russian ambassador. He can cook for himself. Confine him to the Russian Embassy, with no more than three military guards and no other staff.

In the UN:

7. Enforce the UN Charter provisions regarding what happens when a country ceases to exist. The USSR ceased to exist in 1991. Russia must apply for UN membership, just as all the other states in the former USSR had to do.

8. Declare the former Soviet Union’s Security Council seat void, since the country no longer exists. Russia can no longer be considered a Security Council member, and has no veto nor vote in the Security Council. Since Russia would no longer be a member of the UN, their UN delegation would be expelled from the US, and no new, Russian delegation would be permitted to enter the US to present credentials, unless invited to do so by the Security Council, which the US would veto.

9. Declare UN military sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, as was done when North Korea invaded South Korea and started the Korean War.

10. Propose the UN recognize Chechnya as an independent country. Authorize UN member nations to provide economic and military assistance to Chechnya and Georgia.

COLLATERAL DAMAGE:

1. Russia will probably respond with similar sanctions against US government, business, and personal assets and personnel. Warn all US citizens to avoid travel to Russia and its client states. Warn all US and allied shippers, airlines, and other companies that the US will not protect their interests in Russia. US tourists and missionaries should be discouraged from visiting Russia for their own safety.

2. Other countries may seek to profit by acting as brokers for Russia. The US should consider similar sanctions against countries violating US/Russia sanctions. Foreign individuals violating such sanctions should be expelled from the US, regardless of their nationality. US nationals violating these sanctions should face lengthy federal prison terms.

3. US or UN-chartered aid shipments to Chechnya will probably be stopped by Russian military. They would have to transit Georgia. The Georgian government might grant permission if UN countries sent military aid to kick the Russian military out of the parts of Georgia that they currently occupy. Such aid might be staged in Turkey, especially if NATO were to approve Turkish membership (despite Turkey’s abysmal human rights record). This would doubtless infuriate Russia.

4. It may be noted that these sanctions are “warlike”. But they stop short of actual invasion, unlike Russia’s treatment of Ukraine. They are strong sanctions, but not quite acts of war. They give the message that Putin’s actual war of conquest against an independent nation will not be tolerated by the rest of the world.

In a democracy, Congressmen and women are supposed to be public servants, drawn from the body politic, not career politicians. That's why the Representatives have to stand for re-election every two years. The Founders figured that was about how long they could serve without getting corrupted-- and they were RIGHT. Senators, who have to be at least 35 years old, they presumed would be wiser and better able to resist temptation, so they gave them a term of six years. That may have been too long, judging from the results. Example: Orin Hatch ran originally on a platform of TERM LIMITS! His campaign slogan for his first campaign was, "24 years is long enough". That's how long his opponent had served. I think he was sincere. Hatch retired as one of the longest-serving Senators in history. Power corrupts.

Without incumbency, wouldn't our government be unstable? It's SUPPOSED to be. It is supposed to be able to quickly adapt to the changing needs of the people. Can't do that with career politicians in charge. We weren't supposed to have political parties, either...

I like the way incumbency is handled in Chile: Their president can serve two terms, like ours, but in Chile, the two terms cannot be consecutive. I'd go for a similar rule for ALL elected Federal offices. Send No One Back!

Just a thought: If Trump had known he could not run again in 2020, would he have pressured Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden?  Two whole Impeachment circuses could have been avoided. Without incumbency, there would have been no Gulf War, no Watergate, no Kennedy assassination. Truman would never have been president. Hiroshima would not have happened. Russia might never have even heard of the atomic bomb. The Cold War might have been avoided. Lincoln would not have been assassinated, Reconstruction would not have happened, maybe even Sherman's march through the South, leaving a swath of death and destruction, might have been avoided. These are all terrible things that did happen, BECAUSE AN INCUMBENT PRESIDENT WAS RE-ELECTED. Read history. 

The best part is, such a change does not require term limits, a Constitutional amendment, or even the agreement of a single politician--just determination from the voters. We, the People, can effect this change ourselves! And it's simple and easy: just don't vote for any incumbents. That's all. SEND NO ONE BACK! 

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Liberal Magazine Calls Out the CDC Over School Mask Mandate Study

The Atlantic, known as a liberal-leaning journal, has published a piece titled, “The CDC’s Flawed Case for Wearing Masks in School.” For details I found extremely interesting, see: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/12/mask-guidelines-cdc-walensky/621035/.

Briefly, the article states that the CDC’s case is based on an extremely flawed research study that CDC says demonstrates a more than triple risk of Covid outbreaks at schools without mask mandates in Arizona, compared to schools there with mask mandates in place. While other, similar studies from around the world do show some such correllation, the increased risks in the other studies are in the 21% to 35% range, not 350% as in the Arizona study. There seem to be MANY major flaws in the study’s methodology, it has not been peer reviewed, and it’s an extreme outlier. Many of the study’s target schools were not actually open during the testing period, for example, and several are not even actual schools, but simply academic programs listed by the Arizona Department of Education.  Both the CDC and the study authors refused to provide any of their actual data for the Atlantic’s experts to check. 

To be perfectly clear, there is ample evidence that masks, especially surgical masks, can help prevent the spread of disease. That’s why surgeons wear them. But the lack of rigor, transparency, and common sense render this study completely useless as a basis for national policy-making. It does, however, align closely with the Biden administration’s previously announced policies. It seems that Biden, like Trump, is not averse to using junk science to support his agendas. Both administrations have greatly undermined public confidence in the supposedly non-political CDC, and in medical science as well.

The "War" on Abortion

In a recent New York Times editorial about the status of abortion titled, “We’re Edging Closer to Civil War.” opinion writer Charles M. Blow admits, after more than 500 words of ranting about the evils of slavery, “The civil war I see is not the kind that would leave hundreds of thousands of young men dead in combat. That is not to say that we aren’t seeing spates of violence but rather that this new war will be fought in courts, statehouses and ballot boxes, rather than in the fields.”

Mr. Blow has excellent credentials as a writer, commentator, and graphic artist, but I have been unable to discover where he obtained his expertise in warfare. He doesn’t seem to have served in the military, or to have studied military history. It shows. It shows especially when he compares disputes settled “in courts, statehouses and ballot boxes” to war. Anyone who has ever been in a war knows that in war, disputes are settled with bullets, not ballots. By force of violence, not by force of law.

Comparing legal maneuvering in courts and legislatures to the most deadly and violent war in the entire history of the United States is simply obscene. More American soldiers died in the Civil War than in both world wars together. More American non-combatants died in the Civil War than in all other US wars in history, combined. How many of the legislators, lawyers, or their clients in Mr. Blow’s “abortion civil war” have been killed, disabled, or maimed for life in the conflict? How many cities have been destroyed? It’s a dispute, but it’s not a war.

Charles M. Blow is well-known as a writer, especially about LGBTQ+ politics. As an experienced political commentator, he may have great expertise about politics. I wouldn’t know; I’m not a politician. Being an openly avowed bisexual, Mr. Blow obviously knows lots more about LGBTQ+ issues than I do. But I am a combat veteran. In equating courtroom drama to the Civil War, Mr. Blow insults everyone who has ever worn a uniform. In publishing his nonsense, the New York Times is giving us all, what I cannot resist calling, “a real Blow job.” 

How to Be a LOSER in Twelve Steps

 1. Lose the 2020 presidential election by a margin you called “a landslide” when that same margin was in your favor in 2016.

2. Sue to overturn the election results in sixty court cases. Lose fifty-nine of them by failing to provide any evidence in your favor. Win one on a technicality, still with no evidence.

3. Claim you won the election anyway, due to “massive voter fraud” for which no one can find any evidence, despite multiple recounts and investigations by your own supporters.

4. Pressure state officials, governors, and legislators to overturn the election results in their states, although there is no legal way for them to do that. Threaten their lives, positions, and families.

5. Claim that voting machines, the US Postal Service, and a dead, foreign dictator conspired to interfere with the election, based on no evidence whatsoever.

6. Send slates of unelected “electors” to enter the Electoral College by force and cast illegal votes for you. When police repulse them, claim the Electoral College is partisan.

7. Appeal the election results to the Supreme Court, twice. Lose both appeals, even though six of the nine Justices are of your party, and three are your own appointees.

8. When challenged on national tv to order your paramilitary followers to “stand down,” tell them instead to “stand by,” a military term meaning, “remain ready for action”. Urge them to come to Washington on January 6, 2021 to stop Congress from certifying the election.

9. Accuse the winner of stealing the election. Accuse your own Vice President of treason and call for his lynching when he refuses to throw out legitimate Electoral College votes. Claim it was his refusal, not your attempted coup, that caused the January 6 Capitol riot, which you did nothing to stop for six hours.

10. When a fourth recount, funded by your party and unabashedly partisan, officially reports that you lost the election in Maricopa County, Arizona, and that there was no fraud, swear the report actually said the opposite. Accuse every news media on earth of misreporting the results.

11: Cost your party their Senate majority by boycotting two special elections. Threaten to boycott the next two general elections unless your party supports all your lies, claims, and accusations.

12: Drive away your most powerful supporters in your own administration, the House and Senate, the US Supreme Court, the military, and the governors and legislatures of all fifty states, for being “inadequately supportive” of your outrageous, autocratic tactics. Because. You’re. A. LOSER!