COLIN POWELL: What Kind of President Would He Have Made?

 

Abundantly better than the former White house maniac who belittled Colin Powell as the rest of the country praised the former general and diplomat...

Trump criticized Powell's record on the Iraq War and derided the news media for treating the former secretary of state "so beautifully" after his death.

Then T-rump went on to say,  "Hope that happens to me someday." Now, I won't come right out and say it but the innuendo is there. However, this post is about Colin Powell and what kind of President he would have made. The former Secretary of State could have been the first black president, but if I recall correctly, his wife was not really encouraging her husband to run, perhaps even the opposite. Thinking she just didn't want Powell to indulge in today's politics?

Watch Rachel Maddow's accolades for Colin Powell...

The Secretary was first approached by William J. Bennett, former Sec. of Education in 1994 for the 1996 election. Considering the Democrat who ran, and won in a landslide, Bill Clinton, it was probably a good decision by Powell. It was Clinton's time and he made the most of his eight years. He was running against Bob Dole and Jack Kemp, but, notably, Ross Perot, running on the Reform Party ticket,

garnered 8.4% of the ticket.

But it was the General's attention to detail that he had used for years in the army and the diplomatic corps that told him that it wasn't his time for the White House. This is how Powell saw it at the time...

If there was a clear major foreign policy question or domestic crisis that he thought he had a solution for, Powell told one friend, he would feel an obligation to run. Those Republicans and others who urged him to run argued that he would be a healer for the nation. But he was not able to define fully what needed healing, and felt he was miles away from having a clear remedy, particularly to the narrow legislative questions of the day.

Powell felt the Republicans were desperate and wanted his popularity to dig them out of a hole. He was right and the hole just got deeper with Clinton's sizable win. In a recent telephone conversation with Bob Woodward, he told him, “I’ve got multiple myeloma cancer, and I’ve got Parkinson’s disease. But otherwise I’m fine,” he said in a July interview. He added...

“Don’t feel sorry for me, for God’s sakes! I’m [84] years old,” said Powell, who died Monday. “I haven’t lost a day of life fighting these two diseases. I’m in good shape.”

Of course he wasn't fine and he wasn't in good shape but this just shows the fighter this great man was. Didn't answer the headline question specifically but believe most true Americans have their own answer.

RIP Colin Powell...

JOE BIDEN: A government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth

 

Borrowing from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, the headline should be an awakener for this country that has repercussions for all political beliefs. The primary take-away is that in Lincoln's statement, there is an emphasis on the "people" and their place in the running of the government. What Honest Abe didn't speculate on are the kind of people today on the fringes, attempting to destroy the democracy our 16th President fought so hard to preserve.

It is the founder of the "big lie" who is the abhorrent challenger to Lincoln's words, Donald Trump, 45th in a line of leaders of the United States, who turned out to be anything but a leader, but I have never been able to bring myself to call him...that. Trump's authoritarian reign is over but the singular oligarch continues to rule with thousands of mentally depraved followers. Here is an example of a couple who should know better from election law guru Richard L. Hasen...

two supposedly “responsible” Republicans, Sens. Lindsey O. Graham of South Carolina and Mike Lee of Utah, had reviewed the disgraced former president’s fraud claims in January and confirmed they were total bunk. Despite this, the senators have refused to separate their party from the instigator of the Jan. 6 insurrection and voted against a bipartisan commission to review the violent day.

Pres. elect Joe Biden's "Soul of the Nation" address from Gettysburg...

  It's the election, stupid, and the year 2020 will be forever remembered as the one where American began to take its plunge from democracy. In a Washingon Post opinion coumn, Eugene Robinson said...

T.S. Eliot wrote that the world ends "not with a bang but a whimper,” but I fear our great nation is careening toward a third manner of demise: descent into lip-blubbering, self-destructive idiocy.

Robinson goes on to chide a pathetic gang of blockheads mimicking politicians that fashion themselves  “the world’s greatest deliberative body,” which is, in effect, the world's greatest collection of, yes, idiots. Take Moscow Mitch McConnell,known to all as the drim reaper since he is against all...democracy. We needn't go any further to identify a source of the root source in this country's problems but there is

also now the lunatic group of Republicans...

Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, WI Sen. Ron Johnson, TX Gov. Greg Abbott, Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis, S.D. Gov. Kristi Noem...and the list goes on.

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post labeled this group the "evil lunacy" conjecturing its home is the GOP and not a good place to be. Chas. M. Blow in the New York Times gives America one last chance to save democracy. Preserve the basic right that has made this nation great, the right to vote. Pass the Freedom to Vote Act...

The bill would set national standards for early voting, expand voting by mail, allow the use of more forms of voter identification, make Election Day a federal holiday and institute measures to counter voter suppression tactics. It would also automate voter registration, force states to give voters the option to register on Election Day and offer safeguards against voter purges. Finally, it would overhaul portions of the campaign finance system, prohibit partisan gerrymandering and prevent the politicized removal of election officials, among other changes.

There's more on Joe Biden's fight to defend our democracy in a later blog.

READ MORE:  What if Things Are About to Get Better?

                          David Shor Is Telling Democrats What They Don’t Want to Hear

UPDATE: JOE MANCHIN: How bad is coal for the environment?

 

UPDATE: 

"Manchin accepted over $400,000 from energy companies and GOP donors in the third quarter"

Joe Manchin, the Senator from West Virginia, and the minion to fossil fuel king, Chas. Koch, has decided, or, better yet, been instructed to block Pres. Biden's Clean Energy Performance Program. The gist of the program is designed to...

"reward utilities that increase their clean energy supply by 4 percent each year, while penalizing those that don’t. Lawmakers have included the initiative as part of a multitrillion-dollar tax-and-spending package that aims to advance Biden’s broader economic vision."

But Manchin's state depends heavily on coal, which means he places politics before the health of Americans. Here's what Alecia M. Spooner says, a teacher of Earth and Environmental Sciences...

"Burning coal emits large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Coal is composed almost entirely of carbon, so burning coal unleashes large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. These emissions have been shown to increase the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere and lead to global warming."

Watch coverage of Joe Manchin destroying Pres. Biden's climate plan...

 It also releases toxins and just the mining of coal is dangerous. The Washington Post comments...

"The standoff has jeopardized Biden’s pledge to halve emissions by 2030, inspiring a new flurry of last-minute policy proposals just two weeks before the president and other world leaders are set to convene the most important global climate talks in a quarter century."

So, it is safe to say that, not only has Joe Manchin jeopardized the environmental issues in the United States, he also threatens the position of the U.S. as a leader in championing the climate change issue around the world.   

 

UPDATE...Is it Unamerican to be Conservative?

 

UPDATE: 

In the dead of night the, Texas House approves GOP's gerrymandered map

This is a question that must be asked since it appears to be the goal of Republicans to thwart anything that comes from the Democratic Party, with no consideration as to how that will affect the good of the country. They appear to be anti-anythng good for the United States. Back in May, Senate Minority Leader Moscow Mitch McConnell said that he is...

"100 percent" focused "on stopping" President Joe Biden's administration.

Since Joe Biden is President of the U.S., this statement would indicate to most that Moscow Mitch is more interested in destroying Joe Biden and his administration than he is in helping this country solve its problems. This attitude by the former Senate head compares with another Democratic decree, namely former President Barack Obama, when McConnell said his number one priority was preventing Obama from getting a second term. He didn't, and miserably. Fully unamerican.

And then there is, of course, the administration of Donald Trump, a four-year term

that has no equal in U.S. history when it comes to the near-destruction of the American democracy. The then White House maniac did everything in his power to bring down all the good this country has built and stands for today in favor of an authoritarian state. He almost succeeded but fed up U.S. citizens in 2020 voted to block his evil plans.

But on the absurd side, there are a number of Republican wingnuts out there like Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, to name only a few. Their radical-plus- ignorant views illustrate the low mentality that conservatives have lowered themselves to in order to make their points. Points which go nowhere but are a constant barrier in bringing this country back to normal. A major example is the Covid-19 pandemic. The three above are firmly unamerican.

Republicans, led by T-rump's initial assessment of the coronavirus as a "hoax" has matured over the past four-plus years into a major blockade by the right. It is safe to say that anti-vxxers/maskers have been responsible for extending the spread of the virius in America, responsible for a great number of the 739,000 deaths from the disease. And the misinformation specialists, found primarily on social media, can take credit for this contravening movement.

Two of the major proponents against masking and vaccinations are Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. They are the killing machines of the U.S. having combined been responsible for a mjority of 126,000 Covid-19 deaths. This is unconscionable but finally teachers in Florida are rebelling by walking out and Texas businesses like Southwest and American Airlines are ignoring laws against vaccine mandates. Abbott/DeSantis solidly unamerican. 

Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, published the 2018 book "How Democracies Die." According to Salon, it is a warning, "of the dangerous signs they saw in Donald Trump's presidency that followed the authoritarian playbook." Here's an update from one of the authors, Levitsky...

"Five years ago I would have laughed you out of the room if you suggested our democracy could die." But today, he added, we see the Republican Party apparently focused on breaking our democracy. In a nutshell, Levitsky believes the threat to our democracy is more acute today than when Trump was in the White House, since the GOP is desperate to retain its fading power in the face of hostile demographic change.

Watch Rachel Maddow: Republicans Are Running Against Democracy Not Democrats...

 CNN's Anderson Cooper calls the state of our losing our democracy, "terrifying." This reaction came, "Tuesday after two Harvard scholars explained how the Republican Party has radicalized itself against democracy." Again, political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt...

"It is pretty dark," said Levitsky. "When we wrote How Democracies Die four years ago, we were worried about the Republican Party because they allowed Donald Trump to be elected. They sort of dropped the ball and failed to protect our democracy from an authoritarian demagogue. But we did not expect that the entire Republican Party would evolve into an anti-democratic force, and that's where they are today."

Now, here is a new question: Are Republicans collectivively committing an act of treason?  But that's another story.

Anti-Vaxxers a Steel-Trap of Misinformation

 

In an earlier post, I mused over a friend who was in contact with an ardent anti-vaxxer/masker person who had recently caught a mild case of coronavirus. This person was implying that their position of having refused the vaccine earlier, subsequently getting the virus, now put them in the position of having the kind of antibodies that would keep them safe from any repeat of the Covid-19. My friend did her best to lay out some scientific facts the denier would have none of.

Like, recent studies suggesting a mild case of coronavirus produced antibodies that lasted for only around three months. The reply was, your science is corrupted and experts like Dr. Fauci are afraid to tell us the truth. You cannot, or, at least, it is useless, to argue with the acuteness this kind of person protects their beliefs. When they search deep down inside, however, they must know they are wrong. If not, you have to question the level of their mentality when the facts are

staring them in the face.

Apparently this group of way-out-withholders skipped the discipline of science in the first 12 grades where factual data proved a point and was generally accepted. A both commonplace and specific questioning of science today comes at a time when the need to respect credible research and development has become imminent due to the fact that over 700,000 Americans have so far died from Covid-19. This need to believe transcends the petty convictions held by these anti-science groupies.

Watch...Having Covid-19 v. getting vaccine

Well, all you rabid deniers, your justifications for delaying, denying, denying, whatever you want to call it could kill you...and other innocent family, friends or just someone you come in contact with. A Yale Univ./Univ. No. Carolina says...

“Reinfection can reasonably happen in three months or less,” explains lead study author Jeffrey Townsend, the Elihu Professor of Biostatistics at the Yale School of Public Health, in a university release. “Therefore, those who have been naturally infected should get vaccinated. Previous infection alone can offer very little long-term protection against subsequent infections.”

The key here is "long-term," a period not yet specifically determined by the scientific community, but known to be significantly better than the 3 months offered by a mild infection of coronavirus. Added to this are the unknowns centered around the fact that the Delta has not yet been fully vetted so it is impossible to predict where this virus will go. And, of course, there is always the possibility of a new mutation sneaking up from somewhere.

It isn't that Americans should live in constant fear of being infected; Dr. Fauci nor the CDC want that, nor is it recommended. But, in this time of crisis there are simple precautions known to prevent the spread of Covid-19: vaccinate; wear a mask; honor reasonable distancing; and stay away from misinformation. Re. the latter, in a recent The Guardian headline...

"Anti-vaccine chiropractors capitalizing on Covid and sowing misinformation"

That's like having a whole faction of the medical community propagating falsities

that could kill their patients and innocent outsiders. And here's an example of the political right that, God knows, those pathetic followers of the Republican Party will believe right to the death. Former rabid congressman, Allen West, unvaccinated and in the hospital with coronavirus related pneumonia and low oxygen, still rants on his Twitter account debasing the vaccine.  

So, does blogging like this do any good? Probably not for the die-hards. But there might be some of the on-the-fence Anti-All gang who take these facts and decide to get vaccinated, wear a mask, and observe the protocols from the CDC. If not, well, it's your life to kill.

Read more...

Fox News...Just How Fake is Fox Fake News?

 

The half I refer to, of course, is the word "News," with most of the legitimate broadcasting community calling it the "no news network." Their motto used to be "Fair and Balanced," now changed to, "Most Watched, Most Trusted," again, half right. They do have a large audience, which is accounted for by the fact this country suddenly has a large population of idiots. That's what it takes to watch a moron like Tucker Carlson who admitted on the air that he lies.

‘I really try not to..." [to lie] was his comment and my gut tells me that attracted even more of the double-digits that watch him. I worked in television in the early days of the

1950s, produced several news shows, and two of the goals most sought after were accuracy and integrity. Fox has neither. Here's more...

Carlson defended a teenage gunman involved in a shooting during a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin and defending white nationalists involved in the storming of the Capitol building.

There are other news blunderers at Fox but no one else has the bold audacity and arrogance to go on the air, day after day, and make a complete fool of himself like Carlson does. Kinda indicates something loose somewhere. Here's a headline from Variety that sums it all up...

"It’s Time for Fox News to Stop Using the Misnomer ‘News’ in Its Channel Name"

I hear Rupert Murdoch is scared of Tucker Carlson? 

The agony of stupidity...Anti-vaxxer on Hollywood Blvd

 

I lived in Hollywood for a while several years ago and spent many hours on Hollywood Blvd. in restaurants and bars. It was much cleaner then and fewer homeless, although there were several would-be actors that would accost you displaying their talents hoping you might be a producer or director. I wasn't, but they didn't know that so the street-play went on as if I was. My favorite eatery was Musso & Frank Grill where they seemed to congregate in front.

Those were fun days for me but this post is about today, and it is a completely different Hollywood Blvd. Musso & Frank is still there but homeless people have now replaced the would-be actors. Added too are the anti-vaxxing idiots who display their stupid philosophy as if it was an ongoing TV series of morons. It was just this week that one of those deniers of science observed one of these displaced

folk and screamed...

“Do you see all of these homeless people around. Are they dead in the street from Covid? Hell no. Why?”

And here was this retort from the homeless person in question...

A man pushing a trolley walked by and quipped: “Because I’m vaccinated you dumb f***.”

As usual, the anti-vaxxer ignored the reply as the man proceeded down the street. Even on the boulevard of the stars, the bumbling deniers of science are ridiculed.