Tony Blinken (our new Secretary of State) and Sesame Street's Grover chat about refugees at U.N. General Assembly

 

This video linked below shows our new future Secretary of State Tony Blinken with Sesame Street's Grover talking about refugees.

Thank God we have a human being as Secretary of State whose step father was a survivor of the Holocaust reinforcing Tony Blinken's humanitarian politics. This is how a humane and capable person should be. Thank you, President-Elect Biden (the Good), for your wonderful cabinet. What a breath of fresh air as capable brilliant people take the important and vital cabinet positions. I feel like I can breathe again!! See link below.

Trump is already doing things to compromise President-elect Biden's transition.  Let hope he does not do anything catastrophic.  I won't rest truly easy until January 20 after this wonderful man, Biden, takes the oath. I hope for the Beast to ultimately land in jail or in the alternative let him be a refugee to one of the dictatorships he loves so much.  I do not care if he disappears from the face of this earth he tried so viciously to destroy.  He was and still is a cancer to the security and humanity of our nation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUp489XQT_0&fbclid=IwAR2AHkiKZEZm4AMO8KN7p_-ndpkGUGy6xC34mh5EXm5nusqhtvebDvUFblk

Electoral College Madness--Turning in their Graves

 

The insane system to elect a president created the current mess we are now in and is allowing the president to corruptly press, interview and cajole the electors he wants and not for whom the people voted.  The rightful victors are once again biting our fingernails and waiting while Trump is holding court for only Republican electors from particular states that matter to him attempting to fraudulently change by whim that state's electoral result from blue to red.  This is an outrageous attempt by Trump to steal an election.

The electoral college is an abomination and a democracy killer. It is anachronistic hearkening back to the birth of our nation nearly 250 years ago. "The Founding Fathers debated for months, with some arguing that Congress should pick the president and others insisting on a democratic popular vote. The compromise was the creation of an intermediary -- the electoral college. The Founders created it because they were afraid that a popular vote system would mean that candidates for the presidency would favor cities with the most population and ignore the rural vote. They did not feel the general populace would understand just who was vying for the presidency and so they thought the state legislators who choose electors which to them would be a better more well informed body to choose this important position. Further complicating the task was a deep-rooted distrust of executive power."  Ironically, this is exactly what Trump brought to our nation -- a chief executive who wants and attempts to have a kingly authoritarian power who is now corruptly trying to overrule the voice of the people, Biden having won the election not by a hair but by a mandate of both the electoral college and the popular vote.

The electoral college should be abolished post haste and make the popular vote a rational choice for determining the presidency. It would mean the candidates for the presidency would have to make a trip to all 50 states instead of not campaigning in states that have a decided red or blue hue. Why should Michigan, Ohio, Georgia, Wisconsin, Florida and the like, swing states, get all the attention for a presidential election while Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut have no campaigning value at all?

The electoral college now is simply not fair; it can install in office those who did not win the popular vote. The electoral system is a poor, anachronistic and an unjust system because it can elect second place candidates. It is outrageously unfair and it is time to change it.  The kingly Trump is now attempting an unconstitutional coup trying to persuade or even, perhaps, buy electors from swing states to by whimsy switch the presidential winner.  It is just what the Founders feared and has them, proverbially, turning in their graves.  Abolish the electoral college in order to form a more perfect union!

Stealing a Home Run

Just when one would think that this slug president could not do more evil to a heretofore democratic nation he says he loves, a surprise is in order that he surely can.  The lame duck can overturn an entire democratic system by convincing Republican electors from swing states awarded to Joe Biden to overrule the will of their state's people and vote against the free and fair election result.

It is without a doubt the most corrupt and brazen attempt to steal an election ever to have existed in American history. It is simply shocking not that the uber corrupt liar Trump would do such a thing, because he would steal his mother's eyeballs if that were an advantage to him, but what sparks more incredulity is that his myriad of Republican enablers would help him do it and acquiesce to it! I shake my head in disbelief that such an utterly corrupt act to subvert democracy and overturn this fair election that was the cleanest election in US history is attempted.

It is outrageous, of course, to say the least, that the liar Trump is actually in plain sight trying to make electors switch from legally promised electors for Democrats to Republican and inviting Republican electors to the White House to boot to convince them to do it. Will these Republican electors go along with this in plain sight unconstitutional attempt to overturn an election that was won by Joe Biden fair and square?

In what universe is this happening that a home run in the bottom of the ninth to win a World Series game is called back because the other team held persuasive sway over the umpires who handed the win not to the winner but to the loser?  Because there is no Commissioner of Baseball to set the record straight if this happens, which, I believe, it will not, the honest fans in the nation need to protest, in the strongest voice possible, by burning down the phone lines to Congress in opposition to it or, in the alternative, fill up the field with thousands of protesting fans in outrage to this flagrant corruption of the game. 

"GOP Leaders In 4 States Quash Dubious Trump Scheme On Electors"

 This report (linked below) is very satisfying. Take heart all the Biden supporters, including me, who are ravaged by fear that Trump will perfect some Trumpian dirty trick to, in fact, steal the election by turning Democratic electors Republican on December 14 when electors vote. 

This election has been proven to be one of the cleanest elections in US history and four Republican leaders in the four crucial electoral states of Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin will not send Republican electors instead of Democratic ones won by Biden overturning the will of their state's population. 

 Still my heart will not sit entirely calm until Jan. 20 when Biden takes the oath of office and I breathe a sigh of relief!

 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gop-leaders-in-4-states-quash-dubious-trump-scheme-on-electors_n_5fb043bec5b6c5f3d2f7ec15

 

 

The Eichmann Show -- The Face of Fascism

 

During the Covid-19  pandemic I have had the opportunity to binge watch Netflix.  I have watched or glanced at so many films I could​ ​probably not remember all of them.  A few of excellence, though, stick with me.  "The Eichmann Show," a docudrama portraying​ ​the 1960 trial of Adolph Eichmann, the generator of the Final Solution to the J​​ewish Question –​​ the murder of six million Jews​ in Europe​ from 1933-1945 is one such film. The trial took place in Jerusalem after Israeli Mossad agents captured him in Argentina. I strongly advocate its viewing.

Revisiting the Holocaust, the killing of six million Jews including 1.5 million children as well as millions of others remains for me the single most important historical event that solidified my left of center humanitarian political stand.  I deliberated many years ago the differences between the right and the left on the political spectrum before I arrived at my conclusion.  The presidency of Donald Trump with its avowed extremist nationalism and racism's white separatist allure ​brought to us by a charismatic, corrupt and fatally narcissistic conman ​serves to emphasize why the rejection of Donald Trump must be perfected.  Under Trump's generalized blanket of anti-immigrant spewings and its proclivity to let stand its supporters’ advocacy for violence it becomes crystal clear why we must reject it by all non-violent means necessary. Trump is the face of Fascism in our time and is no less frightening then it was during the ​beginning of the ​Nazi menace a generation or two ago. It is racist​,​ it is authoritarian in nature and antidemocratic in practice.

"The Eichmann Show" was riveting.  Whether one knows much about the Holocaust or whether one is being introduced to it by this film it is imperative to know how simple it is for a once rational nation state to drift into totalitarian Fascism and why we must pay any price to reject it.

The questions perpetrated by the Holocaust are eternal.  How can rational humankind produce such evil that takes the deaths of 50 million ​and a World War​before it is expunged?  The film was summed up in prophetic fashion by its maker in a way that can easily be applied to our Trumpian time:

For each of us who has ever felt that God created us better than any other human being has stood on the threshold where Eichmann onc​​e stood and each of us who has allowed the shape of another person's nose or the color of their skin or the manner in which they worship their God to poison our feelings toward them have known the loss of reason that led Eichmann to his madness.  For this was how it all began with those who did these things.

THE ATTEMPTED COUP

 

A Blogger wrote:  "There is an attempted Coup d’Etat happening right now in this Country. Our future as a Constitutional Republic is legitimately at stake, and whether we survive will be determined over the next two months. This needs to be first and foremost on everyone’s mind. For supporters of President Trump, to aid and abet what he is doing would be to give up America as a Constitutional Republic for eternity in order to hold power for four more years. While this might seem appetizing, understand that when it turns against you, you will no longer have the protection of the Constitution. This is how Countries end.

This is the point where the Roman Republic turns into the Roman Empire. Where the Shah is no more and the Ayatollah becomes the Supreme Leader, where the Weimar Republic turns into Nazi Germany, where Venezuela turns into Chavezuela. It will happen if people—all good people—don’t stand up against it. The Country your kids will inherit is at stake. Donald Trump lost the election fair and square. This is not actually in dispute. There was no systemic fraud and there were no irregularities. Nothing happened out of the ordinary. This was a landslide in terms of popular vote and states. This bears no resemblance to 2000 when the entire election came down to 600 votes in one state, and there were legitimate issues of voter intent. That was a dispute that needed to be resolved and was.

This is an attempted theft of an election. The Constitution, states’ laws, and precedent indicate that if there was indeed a legitimate dispute and a State couldn’t certify their election by December 14, State Legislatures could use that “uncertainty” to Select their own slate of electors. There are Republican State Legislatures in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona. Trump doesn’t need to win in Court. He simply needs to tie things up in enough of those states until December 14. That is why he is claiming fraud and irregularities with no evidence. He told us months ago that if he lost the election, he was going to do this. He is now doing it. It’s all about his own power, and he would sacrifice our Country for it.

Sure, if there were legitimate issues he has a right to have those determined. What he doesn’t have a right to do is use the Constitution to destroy the Constitution. That’s what he is doing. It’s worth noting that a purge of sorts has also started. He fired the defense secretary who refused to use the military against citizens. He’s threatening to fire the head of the FBI and the CIA. He has stopped the GSA from releasing transition funds to Biden’s team. Even if democracy wins, this puts the Country and its continuity in peril.

This is the time to fight like our future is at stake. It is. It’s incumbent on all people—including Trump supporters and elected Republicans to put the Country and the Constitution before his power. To not allow him to create a crisis in order to maintain power in the face of an electoral defeat. Or America is no more. That’s not hyperbole. The Founders would be horrified."

November 3, 2020 – Reflections on Tyranny--the Threat of the Trump Presidency

 While I thrill at the Democratic victory and savor the moment of the Biden/Harris win, the presidential election was close.  Why is this nation divided still split right down the middle as significantly as it was in 1860, the dawn of the Civil War.

Donald Trump did not get the majority of votes but he surely did get enough to leave some of us scratching our heads as to why.  Trump to me was the most corrupt, most mendacious, the most sadistic, the meanest, most self inflated narcissist to ever hold the nation's highest office -- the presidency.  What was Trump's appeal to so many -- mostly white men but not all -- in this our representative democracy?  

The half that supported him were satisfied with the obvious democratic carnage as he rode roughshod over our founders' greatest bestowal -- the balance of power.  He and his democracy destroying minions were satisfied with his rude insulting tweets, his labeling of the most respected news organizations as fake news crushing truth, his embrace of anyone or anything that supported him including the right wing hate extremist terrorist groups like the neo Nazis and others who raised their arms in a Nazi-like salute shouting "Hail Trump." He told us some of the marchers in Charlottesville shouting "Jews will not replace us" were "very fine people"  and that the Proud Boys, a right wing extremist terrorist group, should stand back and stand by ready to help him if he needed their help.  No, none of them were very fine people.  His supporters did not flinch an inch when he described the military dead as "losers and suckers" or that John McCain was not a hero because he was "captured."  Trump said "I like people who were not captured" -- this coming from the draft dodger Sergeant Bone Spurs Trump who got away with everything because no one held him to account for anything nefarious he did, even paying someone to take the college boards for him.  The rules simply did not apply.

His enablers, the entirety of the Republican Party feared him so much so even in the face of impeachable offenses such as the abuse of power, contempt of Congress, and subverting the rule of law they refused to find him guilty and remove him from office even though clear impeachable offenses were committed.  In the face of numerous corruptions, illegalities and unconstitutional actions, Trump got away seemingly with it all as America became weary of it all.  Why would one half of America choose to ignore 250 years of a democratic experiment, often the envy of the world, and support a leader who was a human wrecking ball to a democratic system with designs on power far greater than even two terms as president.  Why?  I can only guess.

I feared Trump because of the lessons other fascist states can teach.  Fascism can happen anywhere and nearly happened here. How many times have I asked myself how could a bastion of intellect and a nation of learning that was Germany raise its arms in the Nazi salute for a totalitarian demagogue and mass murderer that was Adolph Hitler. If it could happen there as I looked at Trump and thought it surely can happen here.

"You have a republic," said Ben Franklin, if you can keep it." Democracy stands by a fragile Constitutional thread. It can be lost more easily than it was created.  All it takes is the will to erase it and a leader that takes advantage of that will.

The two ingredients of Fascism that create the poison of its elixir are nationalism in extremis and hate.  Most all of us are nationalistic that is most of us love our country but most of us do not hate so much that we would use our love of country to promote and adhere to a doctrine of hatred and the personification of it through violence.  

Both Trump and the haters that supported him seem strong but they are not strong they are weak.  Hundreds of years from the first slave ship, through the viciousness of Jim Crow up until our present time the vestiges of that hate in our present era resided in the presidency of Donald Trump.  Trump gave one half of the nation the green light to hate -- to hate Black Lives Matter, to hate the black/brown immigrant and fear a loss of American whiteness, to hate the loss of the Civil War, to hate the advancement of black rights and to hate the other whatever or whomever the other may be. From the loss of the Civil War, to the growth of American foreign policy criticism which saw America as not as the exceptional nation it said it was, conservatives have devoted years assembling power to overrule liberal thought and changes no matter how just and fair those changes were.

In the end, this nation showed its exceptionalism because the greatest threat to its democracy,  a second election of Donald Trump, was thwarted.  This election shows that this nation is a democracy in the fabric and the sinews of its being but that we must be ever vigilant to keep it strong because tyranny can happen anywhere even here!

Flip the Senate and more

 

Flipping the Senate from red to blue is almost as important as Biden winning the presidency.  Biden, if he is elected, must have a Senate majority of Democrats to get anything of consequence done including Supreme Court and other court nominations if vacancies occur.  A contribution or several if you can afford it would be wonderful.   Simply go to the Democratic candidate's web page.  For example Google "Jon Ossoff for Senate" scroll until you see his campaign site.  Rinse and repeat if you can for any other and/or all Democratic candidates. 

The Democratic candidates listed below for Senate are in blue/bold and their Republican opponent's respective states are listed in parenthesis below. 

Dem MJ Hegar v. (John Cornyn R Texas)

Dem Amy McGrath v. (Moscow Mitch R Kentucky)

Dem Jon Ossoff v. (David Purdue R Georgia)

Dem Sara Gideon v. (Susan Collins R Maine)

Dem Jaime Harrison v. (Lindsey Graham R South Carolina)

Dem Cal Cunningham v. (Thom Tillis R. North Carolina)

Dem Mark Kelley v. (Martha McSally R. Arizona)

Moreover, if you have the time you can go to the web sites and volunteer to call registered Democrats from other states to ensure they get out early to cast a vote for Joe Biden/Kamala Harris, the Dems running for Senate and other down ballot Democrats. 

Vote blue now up and down the ticket if you have not already voted.  If you vote tomorrow, November 3, vote early at your assigned polling place or deposit your ballot as soon as possible in your assigned drop box.  I have never experienced a problem voting in Massachusetts.

Here are instructions:

" There are laws that prohibit the carrying of firearms in certain locations in Massachusetts, such as school zones, post offices and other federal buildings. Schools in particular are commonly used as polling locations on Election Day. If the law restricts the carrying of a firearm in or around the building where a polling place is located, then it is illegal to carry a firearm at that polling location."

If you feel intimidated by an observer or see behavior that concerns you at the polls talk to the warden. The warden is empowered to enforce all election laws and regulations. A police officer is located at each polling place to aid the warden in that duty.

Should there be an issue that cannot be resolved with the warden, you can also call your local election office and/or the Election Division of the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office. That toll-free number, 1-800-462-VOTE, is posted at every polling place, along with the “voter’s bill of rights.”

The Depths of Depravity - Ensure your vote counts--added and edited

 In Texas a Biden campaign bus was surrounded, harassed and attempted to be run off the 

road with an event cancelled; the Texas governor pulled drop off boxes and placed only one

 in a heavily minority and democratic area.

In North Carolina parents and children are pepper sprayed during a peaceful march.

In Pennsylvania Republicans are trying to suppress the minority vote and to the extent they cannot they are trying to get the votes tabulated as late as possible. The goal is to try to count the votes until later of Democrats who have voted in huge numbers so Republicans can delay the election and to throw out votes of probable Democrats any way Republicans can.  Indeed Republicans would like to keep Democrats from voting at all.

I am not doubting that Biden would win if (a big if) the votes are counted fairly and legally but because the liar-in-chief Trump does not care about that and only cares about his showing a win he will do anything ... anything ... including voter suppression, lying and cheating like dumping post office sorting machines by his Republican contributor lackey, DeJoy, appointed by Trump as so called "Postmaster General," to ensure a win by any surreptitious means necessary.

This is a man who paid someone to take his college boards because he knew he was not that bright! Trump is a mendacious, unethical and inhumane deplorable man.  He is killing hundreds by having maskless rallies and is responsible for hundreds of thousands of American COVID deaths by not taking the virus seriously.  He knew COVID was a huge viral threat deadlier than the flu as Bob Woodward in his book "Rage" caught him on tape saying so. Because he wanted his numbers to look good he did not care about the deaths and said to hell with the numbers. He wanted the numbers suppressed and to that end he would lie, do and say all that could to make him look good.  It was not the American public panicking that was his worry but rather it was Trump panicking so much so he would say anything, including lie, about it to show the numbers were low when they were high.  No testing for him as the tests would reveal the truth about the high numbers of Americans infected with the virus and still counting.  His actions surrounding COVID have been unconscionable because Trump has no conscience and to the extent he cares about anything he cares about only himself.

To show the depths of Trumpian depravity he -- if one can believe this -- said that the doctors treating patients for COVID profit from their deaths.  That should be deemed illegal but even he is Constitutionally covered by free speech even if it is mendacious speech.  One cannot yell fire in a crowded theater said Oliver Wendall Homes in the 1919 SCOTUS decision Schenck v. United States, as some speech cannot be free when it is a clear and present danger  endangering the lives of many. One wonders if a president lies about an uber contagious virus that kills should he not be held to account and punished for his lies?  The depths of the human depravity of Trump can not be underestimated. 

Vote blue in person November 3 arriving early where you vote or better still by depositing a ballot in a designated drop off box.  Do it NOW before November 3 and to ensure your vote counts.

Mind Numbing

 

Rachel Maddow's show yesterday was heart stopping. Three stories guaranteed to knock your socks off.

1. The first involved Russian hackers hacking into US hospitals in a ransomware attack. It's called tickbot (not sure of the bot name.)

shutting off computer systems of hospitals in various states to avoid any further destruction.

2. Russian hackers wanting to go after US elections gathering confidential information on voters to screw up the US

election as if we needed anymore doubt sown by Trump in the security of elections

3. Corruption times 10: Trump and his attorney general lackey Barr involving themselves to help a foreign power Turkey's Erdogan in a major attempt to kill an investigation of a Turkish bank (Halkbank) for financial crimes which investigation was run out of the Southern District of New York with US attorney Berman going after the Turkish bank. In summary from the Intelligencer: "In 2016, Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked then-Vice-President Joe Biden to lean on federal prosecutors who were investigating a Turkish bank for financial crimes and to hand over a dissident cleric living in the United States. The requests seemed to be on Biden’s mind when he publicly addressed reporters and piously explained that, in the United States, the justice system doesn’t work like that. “I suspect it’s hard for people to understand that as powerful as my country is, as powerful as Barack Obama is as president, he has no authority under our Constitution to extradite anyone,” Biden explained to reporters. “Only a federal court can do that. Nobody else can do that. If the president were to take this into his own hands, what would happen would be he would be impeached for violating the separation of powers."

If you remember US attorney Berman resigned. Erdogan wanted the investigation killed until Trump got angry at Erdogan for something else so Trump and Barr backed off. Still it was a hugely treasonous attempted breach of national security for a sitting president and his henchman Barr to attempt to kill a case investigated by a US attorney or any other attorney for that matter. US higher ups never get involved in cases brought by a US attorney or any in US courts. It's just not done except in banana republics.

From the Intelligencer article: "Trump’s own financial interest is a factor Biden did not imagine in 2016. When Trump was asked about Turkey in 2015, he conceded that he had a conflict of interest. “I have a little conflict of interest because I have a major, major building in Istanbul,” Trump told Breitbart. “It’s called Trump Towers — two towers, instead of one. … And I’ve gotten to know Turkey very well. They’re amazing people. They’re incredible people. They have a strong leader.”

"Yes, having a lucrative business deal in a foreign country, especially an oligarchy where leaders intermingle official favors with foreign policy, is a deep conflict of interest.  It is disqualifying, in fact.  "In a pre-Trump world, the Turkish bank scandal would destroy a normal presidency." Trump would have satisfied Erdogan' request if Trump had not gotten angry at Turkey like boys in a school yard fight.  "If Trump wins reelection, the House should launch impeachment hearings."

If you are wondering how so many could tie themselves to the most uber corrupt president in US history I am having that incredulity assault my senses too. It is, indeed, mind numbing.  The answer is I have zero idea how anyone of any ethical standards could support Trump. 

DROP YOUR BALLOT FOR BIDEN IN TIME AND MOST IMPORTANTLY DROP IT NOW IN PERSON IN A DROP BOX OR AT APPROPRIATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICES. IN THE ALTERNATIVE, VOTE IN PERSON EARLY IF POSSIBLE ON NOVEMBER 3RD AT YOUR POLLING FACILITY   DO NOT USE THE MAIL.  IT IS TOO LATE TO USE THE MAIL BECAUSE OF TRUMP AND REPUBLICANS’ VOTER SUPPRESSION TACTICS. VOTE BLUE UP AND DOWN THE TICKET AND SAVE OUR DEMOCRACY!

  https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/trump-turkey-bank-scandal-corruption-erdogan-halkbank-conflict-interest.html

Noam Chomsky: Trump Is the Worst Criminal in History

 

This is a YouTube link below to the David Parkman show who talks among other things about Noam Chomsky's view of Trump.  I believe too that Trump is the worst criminal in history because of many things about which Parkman speaks.  I urge you to listen as it is

a short rendition of why Chomsky thinks Trump is the Worst Criminal in History.  Of course skip the introductory ad!  The content is I think prescient and riveting.  VOTE BLUE UP AND DOWN THE TICKET AND SAVE THE LIVES OF OTHERS, YOUR FAMILY AND YOUR OWN.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AND DOWN THE TICKET AND SAVE LIVES OF OTHERS, YOUR FAMILY AND YOUR OWN.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlhZ9SL90X8&fbclid=IwAR1oORSAfeAa4Qa2BxiPSKP4LNrll6pijXvVyWnV8DwFQwDq754mqMg1R_g

Attachments area

Preview YouTube video Noam Chomsky: Trump Is the Worst Criminal in History

Subject: A rabbi's response to the President calling Jews "Lacking in Knowledge and disloyal".

Subject: A rabbi's response to the President calling Jews "Lacking in Knowledge and disloyal". 

[ARE YOU READING AND HEEDING, ES, RS & TC?]

Eloquently written by Rabbi Danny Maseng

 

Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats, saying "it shows 

either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty."

 

A rabbi's response to the President calling Jews "lacking knowledge and disloyal" if they vote Democratic:  Rabbi Danny Maseng writes: 

 

As a Jew

 Since you called me out as a Jew, Mr. President, since you thought to call me disloyal or lacking knowledge by not voting for you, I’d like to respond to you personally, even though I have no illusions you will read this.

 As a Jew, Mr. President, I am commanded to love the stranger who dwells among us no less than thirty-six times in the Bible you claim to treasure. I am commanded to have one law for the stranger and  the citizen. No exceptions.

 As a Jew, Mr. President, I am commanded to pay my employees on time, including undocumented workers at casinos, construction sites, or golf courses.

 As a Jew, I am commanded to repay bank loans and investors.

 As a Jew, I am commanded to never bear false witness.

 As a Jew, Mr. President, I am commanded to guard my tongue and speak no evil.

 As a Jew, Mr. President, I am commanded to never embarrass my fellow human being in public, lest I be accused of spilling their blood – including Ted Cruz or the late Senator and war hero, John McCain.

 As a Jew, Mr. President, I take great offence in my president attacking Denmark, the country that gallantly saved its Jews from the Nazis, while most of Europe fell asleep.

 As a Jew, Mr. President, I take umbrage in my Grandfather,  the sainted Dr. Rabbi Harry S. Davidowitz, who inhaled poison gas in the trenches of WWI as a US Army chaplain, being called disloyal because he voted Democrat.

 As a Jew, born and raised in Israel, I take offence at you calling me disloyal to America AND to Israel, because I oppose your  inept, ghoulish, uncouth, deceitful, inhumane farce of leadership. How many tours of duty have you performed for Israel during wartime? Or, for that sake, the USA?

 As a Jew, Mr. President, I reserve the right to oppose Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib (neither of whom called upon the help of a former KGB operative to help them in their election to office), while simultaneously condemning your divisive, racist rants and policies.

 As a Jew who has proud Republican family members who I love and cherish, I am ashamed of what you have done to the Republican party; to conservative ideals – even if I do not share all of those ideals.

 As a Jew whose Christian uncle fought heroically at the Battle of the Bulge for our country and for the salvation of Europe – I am ashamed by the mockery you visit upon his sacrifice.

 As the son of a Christian pilot, later converted to Judaism, who led American pilots to glorious victory over Nazi Germany, I am outraged by your embrace of neo-Nazi’s and racists in America (that same pilot, who became a squadron commander in the Israeli Air Force, and fought for Israel’s independence).

 As a Jew, I am disgraced by your fawning adoration of the worst dictators of our century – you violate Christian and Jewish values by doing so.

 As a Jew; as a well-informed Jew who loves and cares deeply for Israel and for America, I condemn you and call you out for the divisive fool, the ogre, the ghoul that you are.

AMEN

IF YOU AGREE WITH THE RABBI, PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY AS I HAVE PASSED THIS ON TO ES, RS AND TC - WHO DESPERATLY NEED TO READ IT AND HOPEFULLY, UNDERSTAND IT.

 

My Letter to Pope Francis

 the wonderful Pope Francis calls for civil unions for same-sex couples, in major departure from Vatican doctrine he said

“Homosexuals have a right to be part of the family,” the pontiff said in “Francesco,” a documentary about his life. I have always loved Pope Francis because I believe he is a kind, brave and courageous man.  This is huge! Wonder how it will affect Amy Barrett who is a staunch charismatic Catholic and does not I would venture to say believe in according certain groups equal civil rights.   

 

 

My Letter to the Pope:

Dear Your Holiness Pope Francis.  I thank you for your wonderful call for civil unions for same-sex couples in a major departure from Vatican doctrine.  This is worthy of significant congratulations for this shift in sentiment. I know you have taken a monumental burden off the shoulders of so many Catholic adherents to the faith and may I be so bold as to say you probably have saved lives.

I, a Jew, have always loved you, Pope Francis, because I believe you are a kind and humane man.  I especially appreciate that you have said “homosexuals have a right to be part of the family,” in “Francesco,” a documentary about your life. I will be sure to view it. 

I have also had an affection for what I believe is the essence of Christianity and what path Christ forged for man to follow.  I believe the path of Christ is imbued with kindness, humane thought and love. 

Whether other popes who succeed you call for the same right of civil union to be accorded to homosexuals or not you deserve congratulations for this brave and courageous act!

Sincerely,

 

 

 

 

Breaking News: The Trump administration quietly closed a vaccine safety office last year, hampering efforts to track the long-term safety of a coronavirus vaccine

 

My Comment:  

What the %*&^%?  Is this possible?  This beast does not give a damn who lives and who dies.  VILE, DISGUSTING.  He is a sickening

sociopath!!

In the following years, as emerging viruses caused outbreaks of Ebola, MERS and other diseases, experts called for more preparations for the next pandemic. In 2016, President Barack Obama set up a global health security office at the National Security Council. But in 2018, the Trump administration disbanded that office, saying it was streamlining bureaucratic bloat.

The next year, the National Vaccine Program Office met a similar fate. Alex M. Azar II, the secretary of health and human services, said in a letter to Senator Patty Murray, the ranking member of a health subcommittee, noting that the merger, as part of a broader department reorganization, would “increase operational efficiencies by eliminating program redundancies and decreasing program costs.”

The explosion of disinformation on social media will make clear communication vital. “I think that preparing for Russian disinformation campaigns should be part of preparing for the rollout of a Covid vaccine,” said Steven Wilson, a political scientist at Brandeis University.

Dr. Grace Lee, a professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine and a member of the C.D.C. committee, agreed that such preparations were urgent, but said they were beyond the committee’s scope: “A national communication strategy and plan is much needed.”

Yet another reason voting blue up and down the ticket is a must.  Truly our lives depend upon it!!

I post the NYT article in its entirety below.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/23/health/covid-vaccine-safety.html?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20201023&instance_id=0&nl=breaking-news&ref=headline&regi_id=75028030&segment_id=42105&user_id=85a8ac1c6f518c011d82f4864472cc9b&fbclid=IwAR1SKR3gO2iRyCkrF_vlYufe8mtchwUeksuFGSKfuSrGxhtlfDpv9xZ4MAA

New York Times Opinion: Biden Is Not Out of the Woods

 I urge you to read the NYT opinion link --  "Biden is not out of the woods" below my comment. 

Every day in every way this race has my emotional state on permanent seesaw. The bottom line is we CANNOT repeat the 2016 election. In spite of Trump's many frauds, illegalities, and unconstitutional actions most certainly because of his COVID-19 stupidity and anti-science views responsible for thousands of American deaths as well as his superspreader rallies which are fertile ground for more COVID-19 positives, Biden supporters should still not be complacent.

 

All of Trump's attempts to destroy democracy and his love for authoritarian leaders like Putin whose hack of the 2016 election is well known, Biden supporters should not rest easy. The Trump campaign is now attempting to sign up non educated white voters. There are more of them that his campaign is dedicated to lassoing as recent Trump campaign rallies show their numbers.

 

Republican attempts at cheating (often the only way they win) through voter suppression tactics specifically in battleground states and his full throttle attempt to overturn a Biden win through the Republican friendly Supreme Court are well known. As the great Yogi Berra said: It ain't over til it's over.

 

Biden, though I wish otherwise, is NOT a shoo in. Trump has been lucky all of his life. Though a failure at almost everything he attempts, his con man mouth can and has pulled him out of a watery ditch just when one would think he would drown. He doesn't. He gets rescued. BIDEN VOTERS DO NOT BE COMPLACENT! REGISTER TO VOTE AND THEN VOTE BLUE UP AND DOWN THE TICKET AND FEAR TRUMP'S HISTORICAL LUCK. DO NOT LET IT WORK FOR HIM THIS TIME!! Send this to anyone you choose.

 

 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/14/opinion/biden-trump-presidential-election.html

 

A Marine, a mom and running for the US Senate to unseat McConnell

I contributed to the EXCELLENT former Marine Amy McGrath and saw her on Larry O'Donnell last evening. They showed clips of the debate between Amy and McConnell. Amy was light years better than Mitch McConnell who has had 36 years in that office and could say nothing in response to her poignant opinions and accusations. If Kentucky misses this opportunity to get a WONDERFUL, senator to represent them who will be I hope Amy McGrath then it will be a shame of the highest proportion.

McConnell seems out of touch and smiled at inappropriate times when the subject matter was serious and not the least bit funny. It is clear he is bought by the corporate sludge that occupies most of the Republican Party in Washington and even in the states. I urge, if you can, to contribute to her campaign or one may cold call for it (call her campaign headquarters to find out how) and if you are or know a Kentuckian tell them to get out the vote for her. She will not disappoint.

 

Proud Boys? Extremely violent -- Tilling the soil

 

Huffington Post:  All the President's Men

  Mugshots of the 13 men belonging to paramilitary groups like Proud Boys who were arrested last week related to a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat   https://www.huffpost.com/.../maga-terror-trump-militias_n...

My Comment: What turns human beings into vicious violent gun loving white supremacist killers? What turns men (mostly) into those who do not have an empathetic or humane bone in their body and would kill other human beings solely based on the color of their skin or for other superficial and fatuous reasons? They are an enigma to me.

I believe that the human condition is helped by those who care for and about one another. I believe this nation is the powerhouse it is because of its diversity and not despite it. This nation draws talent from all around the world and whose collection plate is full of talented, contributing and productive persons linked by a common American culture they share, marked sometimes by a uniqueness of their own cultural origin.

I believe that empathy and compassion advance humanity not detract from it. What does constant conflict and civil war do to a culture? It destabilizes everything, destroys and kills so that nothing can advance beyond a heap of rubble. Simply look at nations that have been in constant conflict and civil war like Syria, Iraq and so many other nation states. They stagnate, create little and destroy much if not everything. People are paralyzed by civil war and live in a state of constant fear and rage for years if not generations.

I believe love trumps hate and compassion trumps cruelty. Let us use our human resources to make the nation better. Let us protect and advance our own condition collectively for the nation, for those about whom we care and for those whom we love. These groups of haters have been among us historically but Trump in our time has given them voice to advance solely his own purpose. These fascist like groups are dangerous, they are violent and they are threatening to democracy. They grow in a soil poisoned by hate. Let us till the soil with love and compassion to reap a bountiful harvest of plenty for us all.

‘We Need to Take Away Children,’ No Matter How Young, Justice Dept. Officials Said

The link ​below is ​despicable​!! ​ ​If you click on it you will see professional men sitting around a gleaming mahogany table in the seat of power, the White House, planning the fate (separation, sickness and even death) of countless numbers of human beings asking for asylum trying to escape murder in their own countries. They are asking for a whiff of humanitarian kindness in order to save their lives from certain death.

Trump's policy on thousands of immigrants and the picture of the men contemplating ​it ​is a reminder to me of the Nazi Wannsee Conference on the final solution to the ​so called "​Jewish question​"​ as Trump and his henchmen plan to separate children from their parents and condemn them to unspeakable suffering stockpiled in cages, filth and disease that continues to this day. How could Stephen Miller, Trump's advisor on policy and the grandson of Holocaust surviv​​ors, have advocated for this? In the end the buck stops at the top but the moral responsibility lies with all of us to vociferously condemn crimes against humanity when we see them.

Wikipedia states: "This is the banality of evil political theorist Hannah Arendt wrote of the war crimes star Adolph Eichmann in his 1963 trial in Jerusalem. Arendt, a Jew who fled Germany during Adolf Hitler's rise to power, reported on Adolf Eichmann's trial and introduced the phrase "the banality of evil." In part the phrase refers to Eichmann's deportment at the trial as the man displayed neither guilt for his actions nor hatred for those trying him, claiming he bore no responsibility because he was simply "doing his job" ("He did his ‘duty'...; he not only obeyed 'orders', he also obeyed the 'law'.")

Hanna Arendt wrote: The essence of totalitarian government, and perhaps the nature of every bureaucracy, is to make functionaries and mere cogs in the administrative machinery out of men, and thus to dehumanize them.

If our nation ever gets out of this Trump nightmare and swamp, the Beast and those in his administration that ordered this despicable crime and many more crimes caring nothing for even infants deserve prosecution for crimes against humanity! VOTE BLUE UP AND DOWN THE TICKET and end the Trumpian monstrosity of crime.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/us/politics/family-separation-border-immigration-jeff-sessions-rod-rosenstein.html?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20201006&instance_id=0&nl=breaking-news&ref=headline&regi_id=75028030&segment_id=40032&user_id=85a8ac1c6f518c011d82f4864472cc9b

Seth Myers -- A Closer Look -- BRILLIANT: "Trump Leaves Hospital, Says "Don't Be Afraid of COVID": A Closer Look"

 

Seth Myers -- A Closer Look -- BRILLIANT AND FUNNY IF IT WERE NOT SO SAD AND REFLECTIVE OF THE TRUTH OF THE LIAR-IN-CHIEF 10 YEAR OLD THAT WANTED TO GET OUT OF THE HOSPITAL BECAUSE HE WAS BORED. THE FUHRER PAID ONLY $750 IN TAXES FOR A ROOM AT WALTER REED THAT COST US, THE TAXPAYER, IN THE MULTI-MILLIONS! ANOTHER DAY AND ANOTHER DESPICABLE TRUMP RANT!  SETH MYERS SAYS IT ALL.

VOTE BLUE UP AND DOWN THE TICKET!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzSb0A9fl70&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1W7xzQEEytiEFf57b105CLV3p6PFg82NTepHBvd4QgEVOs-lwiIuCIc1U

Crimes against humanity -- Superspreader Trump

"The timeline Trump physician Sean Conley outlined offered the clearest evidence yet that Trump had, at the very least, serious reason to suspect he had COVID-19 yet continued behaving as if he did not."  Hicks, Wednesday, falls ill and Trump may have felt ill. Thursday morning Hope Hicks, Trump's trusted advisor, tested positive. Trump/Hicks spent time together hours earlier.  Despite that Trump went on to the New Jersey fundraiser in the afternoon.

The below links are yet other examples of this Beast's narcissistic behavior and are indicative of the fact that this Cretan cares NOTHING for anyone but himself!! He MUST be removed from office if COVID does not remove him from the planet. He spread the virus to countless others (perhaps including Chris Christie) of those who support him yet while he KNEW he had the virus but simply did not care to whom he spread it!!!  King Covid's CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY!

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-covid-superspreader_n_5f78aa3bc5b64cf6a2510c47

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/10/03/world/covid-trump?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20201003&instance_id=0&nl=breaking-news&ref=headline&regi_id=75028030&segment_id=39775&user_id=85a8ac1c6f518c011d82f4864472cc9b

 

An embarrassing and disgusting debacle but not surprising

I submit Donald Trump surprised no one during the first so called debate.  He is what he has always been from the moment he slithered down the escalator like a poisonous snake fixing his eyes to swallow the American system whole; a system created by the ingenious Founders that up until this present moment has stopped the usurpation of power by any one man or woman.   Because of Trump's always confrontational and ever so divisive tactics democracy, now, is hanging by a thread.  We who eschew authoritarianism and love democracy wonder if the weight bearing construct of our institutions of checks and balances can hold Trump's attempt to subvert it.  

What can one say about Trump's unacceptability and unfitness for the high office he holds that has not been said many times before?  He is crude, he is rude, he is nasty and insulting.  He is inhumane and cruel.  He cares for no one but himself.  Use any words in the English lexicon to describe a monstrosity that sits in and occupies a position of unbridled power he is unqualified to hold and those ugly words merely scratch the surface of this president's profane, odious, verbiage and conduct.  

The debate format itself was problematic. Trump never let Biden speak or proverbially get a word in edgewise. It was embarrassing for other nations to behold and Wallace, the moderator, could not contain him.  If there is to be another debate there must be a limit of time that each debater can speak and the ability for the mic to automatically cut the audio off if the rules are not obeyed.  There must be a structure and rules so that the boorish Trump cannot impede anyone from speaking. Trump was out of control!

Trump, the breaker of many laws, wants right wing extremists of hate to "stand back and stand by" to monitor the polling stations where honest persons cast their ballots.  Persons doing that, at least in Massachusetts, would be breaking the law.  I was once admonished not even to wear a shirt with my favorite candidate's logo while I walked into the polling area much less if an extremist in the voting area were poised for violence hiding a weapon they love to hold so much.

 

Donald Trump is about fear and he is about rage.  He prods his base to monitor polling stations to intimidate voters and do exactly what?  He rails against mail in ballots deemed over and over by experts to be safe and, indeed, are the same ballots he has cast himself.  Do not fall for his intimidating tactics, do not fall for his constant mendacity, do not fall for his psychological warfare because even through the lame duck session this is still a free nation.  The goal is to remain so long after the cancer of Trump's malignancy has passed. 

Again, I ask you to vote and vote blue up and down the ticket to send this albatross of ignorance, fraud, and lies back to the depths from which he came.  We are still a democracy up to and including January 20, 2021 and I hope long after that whether Joe Biden wins or not as a transition of power peacefully occurs.

Saving the Nation's Life

I have been historically preoccupied with the rise of the Third Reich madness and the ensuing Holocaust of the Jewish millions. My father and I had many conversations about it as I struggled to understand not only the historical reality that the killing of millions of Jews and so many millions of others happened but also why my father and mother, both Jews, did not fear for their lives even though all of my family had come to America long before WWII occurred. My father said he always knew that because he was in America that he would be safe and that American might would protect them. He always felt secure here. And so I studied the Holocaust with the calm that was reflective of living here protected by Lady Liberty's light and felt like many have felt before and after me that what happened in Germany of the 1930's in the most advanced of nations, could not happen here. I no longer feel that way. 

 

Trump has so eviscerated our nation, has so imperiled it, has pitted one group against the other dividing us threatening violence and has ruined the safety and security of all of us by dismembering those brilliant checks and balances -- legislative, executive and judicial -- constructed by our prescient Founders that stood as a check one against the other prohibiting overwhelming power from residing in one branch. Will the vestiges of what is left of our nation if the curse of Trump is defeated be enough to preserve it? The chapter has not been written on that yet. 

 

As the Jewish New Year approaches and we are, it is said, written into the book of life or we are not I hope and, yes, I pray every day that we and our nation will live. I pray most especially that justice will prevail so that on Yom Kippur when our survival, it is said within the Jewish days of awe, is sealed that the goodness of democracy will triumph and that the evil and immense corruption of Trump will not be our eternal fate.

 

I ask you, on November 3, to VOTE BLUE UP AND DOWN THE TICKET TO ENSURE THAT OUR REPUBLIC STANDS STRONG, AND THAT TRUMP AND HIS SOLELY SELF-INTERESTED CONGRESSIONAL ENABLERS ARE DEFEATED THEREBY SAVING THE LIFE OF THIS NATION! TO MY RELATIVES AND FRIENDS BOTH JEWISH AND NON JEWISH ALIKE WISHING YOU: SHANA TOVA (FOR A GOOD YEAR.)

The Story of Fascism in Europe

LISTEN AND LEARN. THE LINK BELOW IS CHILLING AS FASCIST MOVEMENTS SPRING UP TODAY IN EUROPE, THE US AND EVEN IN LATIN AMERICA!! FASCISM IS THE FACE OF TRUMP. IT IS MEAN, IT IS CRUEL AND ITS PROPAGANDA ARE THE BIG (AN SMALL) LIES. THE LIAR-IN-CHIEF TRUMP HAS MADE 20,000 OF THEM. IT CHILLS ME TO THE BONE. YES, IT CAN HAPPEN HERE AND IS RIGHT NOW WITH THE DEMOCRACY KILLER TRUMP AND HIS REPUBLICAN ENABLERS. VOTE BLUE IN 2020 AND SAVE OUR DEMOCRACY! https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show/fascism

Edward Snowden reacts to Russia meddling in U.S. elections--My Comment: Our Discontent

 Worthy comments of Snowden that require listening. It is sad Snowden created the pot in which now he and our nation are stewing. His words have merit though. In short, we are the only ones who can change the trajectory of this nation and we are the only ones who can fight Russian misinformation by creating and believing in rational truth. He says there will always be some nation that will want to insert itself in our affairs.  That cannot be stopped. I think that is true. Nations like Russia, he says, will always exist but the way to combat it is with sanity and truth. We are the creators of our own discontent!

https://www.msnbc.com/11th-hour/watch/edward-snowden-reacts-to-russia-meddling-in-u-s-elections-91579461517?fbclid=IwAR04IHjkddlKwcCg_hjoah7IJaKHp2_J2r_vFS_uiPkIMSqb4OoBwOZJp_A

Wisconsin court sets up possible delay in absentee ballot mailing + My Comment -- Window of Hope

 "The order injects confusion into voting in Wisconsin a week before a state's deadline for absentee ballots to be mailed to those with requests on file."   See link below.

My Comment: Every piece of news is depressing to those of us who advocate for fair, just elections and good government. How is this story of a colossally failed president possible? It is possible because our federal and state governments' hands are tied by corrupt leadership in the DOJ hierarchy including and most especially the courts packed with so-called "conservatives" who do not know what the true meaning of conservative is. It seems impossible for those of us who desperately want ethical and good government to be the face of America and for our nation to return to a sense of traditional normalcy and the example of democracy for millions it once was. Everywhere we turn Trump and his evil minions are there to subvert us and our once democratic nation our most brilliant Founders installed nearly 250 years ago.  They turn in their graves at this assault on and subversion of our nation's democratic  process for which they and others who followed gave their lives.

I have never in all my life been witness to such horrific times. Between climate change responsible for the massive destructive fires in California, Oregon, Washington state, and COVID-19's unnecessary slaughter of 190,000 Americans assisted by an unfit corrupt liar-in-chief occupying the oval office it is cultural mayhem. The staggering loss of this nation to the forces of subversion by enemies inside and outside the country will prevail unless honesty can be harnessed in some place where honest people live in this now sad and hopelessly divided country. 

November 3 brings us a window of hope but if hope dies and the elections are rigged by the evil Trump assisted by his Russian cohorts and his Republican election suppression enablers reinstalling him as president for four more torturous years of mendacious fraud then the window of hope closes for me.  I will still be looking for that oasis of calm to finally be at peace when and if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are elected.  Vote blue up and down the ticket to save all of our lives!

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/wisconsin-court-sets-possible-delay-absentee-ballot-mailing-n1239836

To Save Nations

 

Every time I see the crosses and some Stars of David on the Normandy beach site in France marking those utterly brave souls who gave their lives on Omaha, Utah and other beaches during WWII so that the world could be free of the Nazi menace I choke up with sadness and am in awe of those dedicated and ever-so-brave Americans with our allies who sacrificed their lives so the world could live free from the jackboot of tyranny. Trump besmirched and insulted every man and woman who has served selflessly in our military to defend all of us from the machinations of corrupt autocracies.

Imagine if Trump were president at that time -- a man who loves and sides with Putin and other autocrats, would have loved Nazi strength along with its no conscience attendant cruelty and would have bowed to Hitler whom I am sure he would have envied and, indeed, imitated. We would be seeing Nazi swastika flags in all of Europe and flying from sea to shining sea of our once great nation. We would have seen the world lay prostrate wrapped in an envelope of fascistic barbarity for which Trump would have sadistically and with zero conscience advocated. Herculean heights of death and destruction would have been the Trump legacy and he would have shown no mercy to opposition he would crush like an insect under his shoe if he could.

It is said at Trump's bedside lay a book of Hitler's speeches. I do not, admittedly, know how true that story is. It may not be true but because I cannot dismiss that story outright and know of the characterless, corrupt and fraudulent Trump just the fact that it could be true is enough to make me cringe at the thought of giving the most ignorant of all men a second term.

If, God willing, Biden wins, I urge you to get down on bended knee and thank fate or, if one prays, thank the God to whomever one prays that this nation will have escaped the most corrupt, inhumane, and psychopathologically sick beast to ever occupy the sacred office of the United States presidency.

Our nearly 250 year democracy hangs on a thread of human volition and can be snuffed out in a near instant when a cult of personality that is Trump prevails to trick a needy populous into believing a mountain of lies which serve as a footing to build his future familial empire. Trump's cult of personality and promises are based on empty promises and unconscionable mendacity. He does not care about you, he does not care about me and he does not care about preserving our democracy. He is ripping our nation's foundation up to preserve his own power as the only thing Trump cares about is himself. If elected again on November 3 our democratic experiment will be left to the dustbin of history taking its place aside many other failed states bathing in the ruins of once prospering nation states.

Make no mistake Trump is the real loser and sucker he thinks those in the military who died or were captured are. Every indictment he makes is an indictment against him. The insults he spews against others he perceives as enemies is in reality not a description of them but a description of him.

To save not just this nation but all nations who love breathing the air of freedom's democracy, on November 3 get out to vote and vote blue up and down the ticket. The lives you save will truly be your own!