If you think this doesn't describe you as someone who plans on voting for Donald Trump November 3rd, think again. By voting for him, you are overtly condoning every single one of the items I have listed above. Think about it before you cast that ballot.
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I swore to myself I would not watch or listen to ANY news this week of the shit show that is the Republikan(t) convention to nominate Donald J. Trump as their candidate, the most corrupt and incompetent President in our nation’s history. But a couple of items of note have arisen which prompted me to pen this brief post regarding what we are witnessing after nearly four years of his administration. My original post on March 23rd was just after the country shut down as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak and was critical of Trump’s failure to respond to the pandemic in January and the economic bail out that MOSCOW Mitch and his Republikan(t) cronies handed to corporate America. I was also critical of Mike (I’M A LITTLE DENSE) Pence’s failure to be honest with the American people and the failure of a coherent national policy to deal with the needs of states in desperate need of testing and tracing, PPE, ventilators and other necessary supplies. Well guess what America-here we are nearly SIX MONTHS later and nothing has changed!!!
Here’s where we stand in late August. Over 180,000 Americans DEAD. USA leading the world in nearly every conceivable negative category relative to our handling the pandemic, deaths, number of cases, insufficient and inefficient testing and tracing protocols, etc., etc. By urging businesses and schools to reopen prematurely in order to prop up his failing poll numbers and having numerous Republikan(t) governors follow his lead Trump has insured that the virus is once again raging out of control around the country, especially in those Republikan(t) states. Yet we have seen speaker after speaker at the RNC completely disregard the pandemic, acting out Trump’s alternate reality that it is “behind us” or “in the rearview mirror”; it isn’t and the continuing failure of the Trump administration in dealing with it has resulted in countless unnecessary deaths. Predictably, last night, Pence stands up in front of the American people and promises a vaccine just in time for the election. Most scientists don’t believe that is likely, and even if it is already one third of Americans, I’m guessing mostly Trumpers, have already indicated they would NOT get vaccinated anyway. The CDC, which has now become a political tool of Donald Trump, is now telling people that have been exposed to a Covid-19 carrier that the need not get tested, which is in direct contrast to all known procedures with regard to limiting its spread. We have completely unqualified buffoons like Peter Navarro and Larry Kudlow giving us medical advise. We have right wing news organizations like FAUX NEWS and One America Nonsense Network spreading lies, misinformation and conspiracy theories to at least one third of Americans who believe their every ridiculous lie as the gospel truth. We have an administration that has traded our environmental future to the highest bidder, selling off huge tracks of land previously set aside for their natural beauty to the highest oil & gas bidder. We have complete disregard of climate change and its consequences, instead a focus on coal, the absolute reason we are in the climatic disaster we see unfolding before our very eyes. The fact that literally millions of individuals who suffer from respiratory ailments resulting from the carbon dioxide contaminants from fossil fuel power plants will get sick and die is of no concern to the Republikan(t)s. Those votes in West Virginia gotta be brought home!!! Today we get to listen to MOSCOW Mitch McConnell, who is doing his part to uphold the despicable policies of his party. He sent the Senate home despite the fact that millions of Americans were left hanging out to dry by the failure of the Senate to pass any additional Covid-19 relief legislation. Instead of negotiating the $ amount of the unemployment payment to those desperately in need of assistance, he’s more concerned about making sure that his corporate benefactors are protected from potential litigation resulting from the pandemic. He and Mnuchin doled out literally BILLIONS to their corporate campaign contributors while small businesses across the country in desperate need of the funds were left to go under, which thousands did. They claimed that $600.00/wk was TOO much to pay those who were thrown out of work by the pandemic while most of these same politicians like McConnell are millionaires. When Trump became President, it was like someone turned on the green light for greed and graft at every level of our government. The record speaks for itself of those who have participated in the plunder of America. For example, we have a Postmaster General, a totally incompetent wealthy campaign contributor to the RNC appointed by Trump for the express purpose of dismantling the United States Postal Service-in the middle of a raging pandemic and prior to the upcoming November election who was openly hostile during Congressional hearings to the politicians whose constituency he works for (theoretically!). We have the most corrupt and incompetent “CABINET OF CLOWNS” ever assembled, from “CRUELLA” DeVos to Wilbur “THE BOSS” Ross. Or “POMPOUS” Mike Pompeo. The list is endless. We have McConnell and the Republikan(t)s working desperately to overturn the remains of Obamacare and thereby denying critical insurance coverage to those who need it at a time when it’s most needed. But hey, America, Wall Street is doing great!!! All those shares that corporate Amerika gets to buy back with their bail out money are sure helping turn around the economy for everyday Americans!!! The Republikan(t) party doesn’t give a DAMN about Middle America, the poor or people of color. Their only interests lie in enriching themselves, forcing their ideological positions on everything from gun control to abortion down our collective throats and in their own political self perpetuation. This is absolutely true from Trump right on down the line. The performances of the politicians and supporters of this party of billionaires, bigots and buffoons has been just what I expected-a complete charade designed to hoodwink Americans into believing all is well except for those Democratic cities where chaos reigns and is being inspired by Joe Biden and the far left of the Democratic party and oh, BTW suburban housewives, armed gangs of demonstrators, probably MS-13 are on their way if you elect him. They fail to mention this has ALL happened on Trump’s watch, that he himself is responsible for the unbelievable dumpster fire we have raging as a result of his policies and rhetoric. The 17 year old disciple who opened fire on demonstrators in Kenosha, Wisconsin is a perfect example of the type of civil discourse and violence he has unleashed. The election can’t come soon enough. Donald Trump can’t be gone soon enough. Mike Pence can’t be gone soon enough. And MOSCOW Mitch McConnell can’t be gone soon enough. Enough said!!! For those who thought we had already seen rock bottom as far as the Trump administration is concerned and the lengths to which this totally corrupt and incompetent charlatan will go to secure his own reelection, I point to the testimony yesterday of Louis Dejoy, the recently appointed Postmaster General. He was testifying in front of the House regarding the policies he is pursuing in essentially dismantling the United States Postal Service on the eve of the November election in the midst of a pandemic. His testimony and responses to the questions poised to him by House members revealed a man who is completely unqualified for the job, a man completely unaware of the very basic operation of his very own agency and a man woefully unprepared and belligerent to the Representatives who were questioning him. In other words, he is the perfect Trump appointee-an unqualified campaign donor with questionable ethical baggage who will do his bidding without question, lie for him in front of Congress and do everything in his power to steal another election for his boss. Here is how NPR reported the testimony yesterday.
It was his second visit to Capitol Hill amid growing concerns that operational changes under his tenure, from cutbacks to overtime, to the removal of hundreds of mail sorting machines across the country, are causing troubling delays nationwide and could endanger the delivery of mail-in ballots this fall. DeJoy told members of the House Oversight Committee that he was not responsible for those changes, which have now been paused until after the election. · Other conflicts centered around accusations from Democrats that DeJoy, who is an ally of President Trump and was a major Republican donor, is trying to influence the 2020 election. President Trump has repeatedly disparaged the use of mail-in voting. On Twitter today, he again made the untrue claim it leads to fraud and would set the table for — quote — "a big mess." This followed a weekend tweet seeming to discourage people from voting by mail by claiming, again with no evidence, that in-person ballot drop boxes are not — quote — "COVID-sanitized." While DeJoy said today these comments were not helpful, he was steadfast in denying any accusation of political intent, and framed the changes to the Postal Service as cost-cutting measures. Like so many other of Donald Trump’s gambits, here again we have him hiding his intentions to undermine the election in plain sight and doing it through a stooge who he appointed for the express purpose of supporting that narrative. He realizes as the latest poll numbers indicate that he will likely lose in a landslide come November 3rd to Joe Biden, and is doing everything he possibly can to change that outcome, just like he did in 2016 by enlisting the help of the Russians. DeJoy himself is a far cry from the Postmaster General William Brimley portrayed in a Seinfeld episode years back, one who was very dedicated to his job and the men and women of the Postal Service. He is a joke. And a bad one at that. Of course the other Trump stooges and enablers in the Senate, under the direction of MOSCOW Mitch McConnell will not pass the House bill and even if they do Trump will veto it. The important takeaway from all of this in reality is that this overt attempt to influence the outcome of the election by Trump and his allies has been brought to the light of day and there are numerous alternatives to mail in voting being developed as a means of combating this blatant attempt to sabotage the election. I myself just completed the paperwork necessary to cast my ballot in Kentucky via e mail and I urge all of my fellow citizens to start now to plan ahead to vote early by other means if possible. The very outcome of the most important election of our lifetime might well depend on it!!! Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright; The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light, And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout; But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty DeJoy has struck out. Now we can add the infamous name of Steve “LOOSE CANNON” Bannon to the multitude of those close advisors to the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump who have been convicted or indicted of criminal offenses for their roles in helping to collude with the Russians to essentially steal the 2016 election away from Hillary Clinton, who actually won the popular vote by some three million votes. Bannon is the latest dirt bag charged in a corruption scheme with several others that enabled them to pilfer millions from a foundation established to help fund Trump’s absurd border wall. Here is the list in case you have missed any of the last three years because you were asleep in a cave, here is the list: Michael Flynn-Trump’s national Security Advisor who committed perjury and is currently awaiting sentencing. Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison in 2019 for a slew of charges from Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference, including tax and bank fraud, and conspiracy against the United States. Rick Gates, a Trump campaign deputy, was sentenced to 45 days in jail on a plea bargain for charges of conspiracy against the U.S. and making false statements; Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security advisor, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, though his case is currently in limbo as the Department of Justice is attempting to withdraw his charge; George Papadopoulos, Trump’s former foreign policy advisor, was sentenced to 14 days in prison with a year of supervised release, for lying to FBI agents about his contacts with Russian intermediaries during the 2016 campaign. Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, was sent to prison in 2018 for tax evasion, fraud and lying to Congress about his dealings with Russia on behalf of the president, and has pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations for making hush money payments to women to keep quiet allegations Trump engaged in extramarital affairs. Trump recently commuted the prison sentence of longtime advisor Roger Stone, who was also convicted on seven charges, including lying to Congress and witness tampering, as part of Mueller’s investigation. Steve Bannon’s indictment, which claims that he, along with three others, defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors to the “We Build the Wall” fundraising scheme for personal profit, makes him the third and final campaign manager involved in Trump’s 2016 election to have faced criminal charges. “Donald Trump has run the most corrupt administration in American history,” Biden’s Deputy Campaign Manager Kate Bedingfield said on Thursday after Bannon’s indictment. “Is it really any surprise that yet another one of the grifters he surrounded himself with and placed in the highest levels of government was indicted?” In addition, the recently released Senate Intelligence Committee report on the Russian interference in the 2016 election noted that criminal referrals should be made against both Donald Trump, Jr. and Jared Kushner for their roles in meeting with Russian agents at Trump Tower and then lying to investigators about it. Speaking of the Senate report, it seems absolutely incredible to me that despite the 1000 plus pages of information which squarely point to collusion by Trump’s campaign as well as Trump himself committing perjury in his written response to Robert Mueller during his investigation the same body absolutely exonerated Trump of any and all charges of wrongdoing during the rigged impeachment trial that MOSCOW Mitch McConnell orchestrated in “lock step with the White House”. They have known for years about the incredible corruption, obstruction and collusion that Trump and his henchmen have committed in pursuit of the ultimate power trip and political expediency. These Republikan(t)’s are as guilty as Trump himself in aiding and abetting in these shady activities or turning their backs on them. After listening to Joe Biden’s acceptance speech last night, I think the comparisons between the choices we face in November are very obvious. On one hand we have a totally corrupt and incompetent reality show host who has botched every single thing he has undertaken since becoming President, be it negotiations with N Korea or handling the pandemic. On the other hand we have a man who has devoted over fifty years of career to public service and has a wealth of experience in dealing with critical matters like the economy or foreign policy. A man who has suffered personal tragedies nobody should have to endure as opposed to a man whose father handed him a silver spoon that he promptly lost. A man with genuine empathy and concern for the plight of Middle America versus a man whose only concern is increasing the value of his brand and the portfolios of himself and his billionaire buddies. A man with a plan in dealing with the pandemic against a man who told us it would magically disappear while 170,000 Americans were dying as a result of his incompetence and indifference. A man whose racist words and actions have torn this country asunder and precipitated demonstrations for racial justice, including violence on a scale we haven’t seen since 1968 in this country as opposed to a man in Joe Biden endorsed by over 70% of African American voters over Donald Trump. We have a man who chooses an extraordinary and experienced woman of color as his running mate as opposed to Trump’s stooge and sidekick Mike “I’M A LITTLE DENSE” Pence who has proven to be little more than his faithful lap dog and has botched the handling of the pandemic as badly as his boss. These are just a few of the stark differences voters will face when they vote in November. These are the choices that will affect our nation and our standing in the world community for years if not decades to come. Trump has BFF’s like Vladimir Putin who poison and kill their political rivals or feed them to wild dogs like Kim Jung Un. Joe Biden envisions a United States that returns to its position as the leader of the free world, the shining beacon of democracy. Donald Trump offers walls to keep people out and surrounds himself with individuals who have no reservations about stealing the hard earned $’s of his loyal but naïve supporters who sent Steve Bannon money to build it. In the meanwhile, he’s hanging out on the 100 ft yacht of a fugitive Chinese billionaire having the time of his life and spreading further lies and misinformation on the airways. And Roger Stone got a pardon from our Attorney General, William (DIS) Barr, who is himself, just as corrupt as any of the other Trump associates who have been named in this piece. And the beat goes on…. NEITHER RAIN, NOR SLEET NOR SNOW CAN STOP THE UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE…BUT TRUMP CAN!!!8/15/2020 In his latest misguided attempt to stave off what is beginning to look like a Democratic landslide of epic proportions come November, including retaking the White House AND flipping the Senate, both Trump and his Republikan(t) allies are now desperately attempting to undermine the November elections any way they can-by restricting voter registration, redistricting and now even by attempting to defund and undermine the United States Postal Service, right in the middle of a pandemic where literally millions of Americans are dependent on this agency for delivery of medicine, food and a variety of other essentials necessary to survive. It is one of the most insidious and dangerous attempts yet by Trump to undermine the very foundations of our government and our democracy. Let’s start with his appointment of Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General. Aside from the fact that like most every other Trump appointee he brings serious corruption baggage to the job with him (“Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s investments in USPS competitors were already deeply problematic. But his purchase of Amazon stock options after his appointment is inexcusable. The OIGUSPS must investigate this corruption,” Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted yesterday. This comes after a group of Democrats penned a letter to Inspector General Whitcomb demanding that the mailing agency’s operational changes be investigated, asking for details on the reforms that the new postmaster general DeJoy has implemented, and how they’ve affected the service. Warren’s tweet included a link to a CNN article, referencing the fact that DeJoy still has at least $30 million in holdings in his former company XPO Logistics, a United States Postal Service contractor. According to CNN, DeJoy also purchased stock options giving him the right to buy new shares of Amazon in June, after becoming postmaster general. DeJoy’s holdings create major conflicts of interest. Under federal law, it’s illegal for federal government employees or their spouses to have financial interest in companies that intersect with their official duties. After the Postal Service’s board of governors, appointed by the President (repeat-appointed by Trump), named Louis DeJoy as the new postmaster general in May, DeJoy began heading up the organization in June. DeJoy was formerly a top Republican Party fundraiser. He has ZERO qualifications for the position to which he was appointed, precisely what Trump was looking for-another loyalist with deep pockets to serve his illicit purposes with absolutely no idea what he is doing. In the short time since he assumed the role of postmaster, DeJoy has turned the USPS upside down. In the name of saving the USPS, DeJoy announced initiatives that would save the USPS money after it lost $2.2 billion during its second quarter this year. From the beginning, DeJoy chose to consolidate power within the organization and restructure the USPS, removing or reassigning 23 agency leaders, including displacing two executives who oversaw day-to-day operations. DeJoy has also eliminated overtime for hundreds of thousands of employees. On top of this, he mandated that mail is kept until the next day if distribution centers are running behind, and in a memo to employees wrote, “if we cannot deliver all the mail due to call offs or shortage of people and you have no other help, the mail will not go out.” Postal workers now say that the mail is piling up in their offices and reports across the country show that mail is completely backed up. DeJoy, however, persists that he’s doing what’s best for the organization in the long-run. “By running our operations on time and on schedule, and by not incurring unnecessary overtime or other costs, we will enhance our ability to be sustainable and to be able to continue to provide high-quality, affordable service,” DeJoy said. Inexplicably, mail sorting machines have also been removed from many facilities around the country — the very machines that would help sort mail-in ballots for the 2020 election. Despite DeJoy’s claims that he’s here to help, there are obvious concerns over the new reality at the USPS. Mark Dimondstein, who worked as a clerk at a post office in Greensboro, North Carolina for 33 years and is now president of the American Postal Workers Union, is especially worried. “These are changes aimed at changing the entire culture of USPS,” Dimondstein said. “The culture I grew up with, and of generations before me, is that you never leave mail behind. You serve the customer, you get mail to the customer. Prompt, reliable, and efficient.” (From Yahoo News). Those who know Donald Trump will tell you that more often than not he will tell the truth in plain sight interwoven with over twenty thousand lies. He has openly committed to defunding the USPS if the Democrats don’t give him what he wants in the stalled negotiations over the additional measures to stimulate the economy as a result of the pandemic. He has appointed a stooge for the defined purpose of running the Postal Service into the ground as a precursor to the November election in order to derail mail in ballots which many states are offering in lieu of in person voting because of Covid-19. He has proclaimed for months that the absentee ballot or mail in ballot system is wrought with fraud though there is absolutely no evidence this is true. He and his own family voted via mail in ballot in Florida. Once more we are witness to the ultimate hypocrisy when it comes to Donald Trump-don’t do as I do do as I say!!! All of this so he can win reelection, a prospect which grows more remote by the day. Many states like my own in Kentucky are already developing plans that will insure the availability and timeliness of mail in ballots well ahead of the November 3rd election date-some of them will begin the process in a matter of weeks. I voted by mail in ballot in our recent primary election, and it was a fairly seamless and secure process. I intend to vote the same way in the November election, like a record number of voters in the Commonwealth did in the primary. Look, let’s be honest. The Post office has been the butt of jokes for as long as I can remember, for everything from on time mail delivery to price hikes to the infamous Son of Sam who was described as having gone “postal” in his murderous rampage in NYC. The competition now with UPS, FED EX, Amazon and others is intense indeed, especially during these difficult times. But it is a monumental mistake to allow Trump to dismantle the organization like he has so many other government agencies during his failed administration. We need a strong and efficient USPS now more than ever and what we are getting from our President is the complete opposite, just like his handling of the entire pandemic-weak and ineffective leadership or none at all. Trump and his Republikan(t) stooges must be stopped at all costs-do NOT allow them to destabilize and render ineffectual the one method we have to send them packing-our right to vote. Right now they are doing all they can to deny us that right in order to maintain their grip on the levers of government which they are using to destroy our democracy.
The Attorney Generals of New York and of Washington D.C. have both filed civil lawsuits against a number of top National Rifle Association executives for their corruption in spending literally millions of dollars of NRA funds on incredibly lavish lifestyles, including travel, personal compensation, gifts for vendors and sponsors alike and golden parachutes for themselves. Their flamboyant and controversial Executive V.P. and the face and voice of the NRA for decades, Wayne LaPierre tops the list of those charged in the lawsuits. The New York Attorney General alleges a pattern of corruption and financial wrongdoing that goes back years and involved a number of both NRA executives as well as board members. The suit seeks the complete dismantling of the entire organization. “The AG has the receipts”—from the 107-foot yachts to the complimentary safaris to the private charters to the gazillion-dollar wardrobe.” (from “The Daily Beast). I have been a vociferous opponent of the NRA and those gutless cowards in Congress who have for years blocked any meaningful attempts at reforming our incredibly lax gun laws, which allow, for example, any citizen who hasn’t committed a felony to own a military assault weapon, capable of killing and maiming dozens in short order, as we have witnessed time and again. Mitch McConnell tops the list, and the millions upon millions of $’s in campaign contributions showered upon him and his allies in both the House and the Senate amounted to over $30,000,000 in the last election in 2016. As a result of the delay in passing ANY reforms, hundreds of American citizens have lost their lives to gun violence, and thousands of others have been wounded or maimed. Every single time a mass shooting takes place we hear the same tired platitudes from these same politicians while they continue to take the NRA blood money. For this reason I have been a constant critic of this organization, NOT the membership. I myself do not own a firearm of any kind. I have only shot a loaded weapon once or twice in my life. I do however, have a number of relatives and friends who own firearms and use them to hunt or shoot for a hobby or sport. Many of these individuals as well as millions of responsible gun owning Americans are dues paying members of the NRA. To these folks I bear no ill will, although not many of them would agree with my recommendation to help alleviate the crisis we see in our country today with gun violence-the cessation of all sales of military style assault weapons and ammunition for same as well as a moratorium on handgun sales. It is the number of handguns in circulation that has a direct bearing on the number of deaths and shootings we see daily across America. In many areas it’s easier to get a pistol than it is to buy some weed. For those NRA members who have heard the rumors regarding the financial misconduct over the past several years their worst fears have been realized. The man responsible for perpetuating the NRA brand has been stealing their money and spending it lavishly on himself and his lifestyle and personal friends and family members. While he ran around spouting off about Second Amendment rights after each and every mass shooting he was in reality lining his own pockets with the memberships hard earned dollars to enrich himself and travel in luxury to places like the Bahamas. What a complete hypocrite he is, as well as all those primarily Republikan(T) politicians who have taken his dirty money. Now that the actual malfeasance of LaPierre and his cronies is being laid bare for all to see and I just wonder what all these politicians will have to say about it? Of course the NRA has counter sued and claimed the lawsuits are politically motivated in an election year. Of course the Attorney General of New York denied any such allegations and pointed to the actions of Wayne LaPierre and others as the real story, not the politics of an election year. If guilty as alleged, there will in all probability be criminal charges brought to bear (of course Trump would pardon LaPierre or any other executive of the NRA in any such event just to score the political points with his so called base). Fortunately, Donald Trump will be long gone before any of this gets settled, and we can only hope the voters will also remove all of the cowardly and unscrupulous politicians who have accepted the NRA blood money for years to perpetuate themselves in office. GOOD RIDDANCE!!! In his latest attempt to undermine the validity of the upcoming November election, Donald Trump has been railing against the mail in ballot system as fraught with corruption, rife with fraud. His Republikan(t) sycophants in Congress, governor’s mansions and statehouses across the Red nation are trying their best to either gerrymander districts to their advantage or passing laws which restrict access to the ballot box, particularly for minorities. Realizing that in a straight up vote Trump and many of these stooges will be summarily run out of office he and his allies are doing everything they possibly can to insure that any election results are called into question and thereby the validity of the process and election itself. Here’s an example of the absurd logic that Trump puts forth. He says that the State of Florida his adopted home, under former Governor Rick Scott and current derelict in chief Ron Desantis has worked very hard to insure that the mail in ballot process is safe and secure. Trump and others in his circle voted by absentee ballot themselves in Florida. With the vast number of seniors who reside in the Sunshine State, the absentee ballot is and has been for years the very backbone of the Republikan(t) electoral strategy in local, state and national elections here. Oh, BTW, Florida is a state that Trump absolutely MUST win in November to have any shot at being reelected. This is why he flip flops on the issue of voter fraud because he thinks it works to his benefit. On the other hand, where it doesn’t, he attacks and undermines Nevada’s mail in ballot process as “wrought with fraud”. Why? First of all, it is a State with a Democratic Governor. A blue state. So what does he do? (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign and the national Republican Party have sued Nevada to block a new law that will send a mail-in ballot to every registered voter ahead of November’s election. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, claims the Democratic-sponsored legislation will result in “inevitable” voter fraud. Trump, a Republican, faces Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in the Nov. 3 contest. Nevada is among eight states that plan to mail every voter a ballot. Election officials in most states have encouraged at-home voting as the highly contagious nature of the novel coronavirus has made voting in person a concern. In an interview on Fox News on Wednesday, Trump sought to draw a distinction between the security measures involved in absentee voting versus mail-in voting, though election experts have said there is essentially no distinction. The incredible transparency of Trump’s stilted logic is typical of what has become of the once proud GOP, the party he literally hijacked four years ago and has done all but kill since. The party of Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation proclamation has become the party of elitists, self perpetuating old white men who believe that their power is an entitlement, like the derogatory name they have given to safety net programs like Medicare and Social Security that I myself and millions of others worked our entire life to earn. They have become the party of exclusion and racism. They have become the party associated with an immigration policy that separates women and their children and locks them inside cages. They have become the party of Corporate Amerika, ALWAYS willing to rollback a few regulations in the environmental or financial sector in exchange for the campaign contributions which help fuel their self perpetuation. They have stacked the courts at virtually every level with right leaning judges who will help to insure their grip on power by making rulings that favor them and their special interest groups on issues like gun regulation and women’s rights. They are led by politicians who have long since overstayed their useful time in Washington-individuals like MOSCOW Mitch McConnell, Kevin (JOE) McCarthy, Lindsey Graham CRACKER and Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan. Trump’s CABINET OF CLOWNS is chock full of these typically wealthy, incompetent and corrupt Republikan sycophants, from Betsy CRUELLA DeVos to Steve THE MUNCHKIN Mnuchin to Wilbur THE BOSS Ross to Elaine Chao, the Transportation Secretary who did nothing while Boeing launched a new aircraft that they knew was a ticking time bomb and ended up killing over FIVE HUNDRED innocent men, women and children. BTW, she's also married to Mitch McConnell!!! And that’s just the tip of the iceberg if you consider the corrupt and incompetent buffoons like Scott I DIDN’T DO IT! Pruitt or Ryan Zinke who have long since departed or been fired. I personally submitted a mail in ballot in the recent Kentucky primary election. You had to apply on line for a ballot to be sent to you based upon your voter registration on file. Not registered? You don’t get to vote. Then the ballot is mailed to you to complete, and must be signed in two different places. These signatures are then matched against the information on record, the ballot is authenticated and then counted once received. There is virtually no way for the “inevitable voter fraud” Trump keeps talking about to enter into the equation. Are there glitches to the system like post marks and expediency yet to be resolved? Of course. The onset of the pandemic made it mandatory to allow mail in ballots and the same will be true come November. States were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of absentee ballots and will hopefully be better prepared to deal with it this time around. The images of the poor residents of Wisconsin whose Republikan(t) legislators and Supreme Court mandated that they vote in person while standing in the freezing cold and wet weather and exposing themselves to Covid-19 in the process of trying to cast their ballot, the most sacred of ALL democratic responsibilities is something no American voter wants to see repeated. It is said Trump hates to lose. His philosophy is simple now- Can’t beat ‘em…CHEAT ‘EM!!! This is what we have to be vigilant about moving forward to that first Tuesday in November (earlier if you do a mail in ballot!!!). This incompetent and dangerous POTUS MUST be voted out one way or another, and I’m confident he will be. Do your part to insure he loses. BIG!!! 157,000 dead Americans and counting, lately by 1000 additional deaths per day or more, especially in those Red states where the sycophant governors decided to follow Trump’s disastrous advise to reopen their states prematurely, like FL, GA, TX and AZ. And our President says that “it is what it is” and that the pandemic is “under control”. He urges parents to send their children back to school with absolutely no plan for safely doing so. He undermines his doctors and scientists on a daily basis. His messaging on the very fundamental measures required to contain the spread of coronavirus, wearing a facial mask, social distancing and hand washing gets more confusing by the day. He champions drugs that don’t work and retweets witch doctors recommendations on cures. But let’s step back a bit and examine just exactly how this man brought us to our current state, the country with the highest rates of infection and deaths per capita of any nation in the world.
It all started back in January, if we are giving him the benefit of the doubt that he didn’t know about this Chinese outbreak prior to that, which is actually unclear. Reports indicate his own intelligence agencies had begun tipping him that something was amiss back in December when the outbreak started in Wuhan, China. He confidently stated it was one person from China. Then it was no more than fifteen Chinese who had entered prior to his travel ban, which was instituted far too late and was not broad enough in scope to include Europe, where the largest percentage of infections entered the United States from via NYC. He refused to implement a travel ban based upon the financial advice of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and against the recommendations of his doctors and scientists. Then he told the world the virus would magically disappear come spring time when the weather warmed up. In the meanwhile, through the months of January and February and into March, Trump did absolutely NOTHING to bolster our defenses against the pandemic, failing to utilize the powers at his disposal to order the mass production of test kits, PPE, ventilators and other urgently required supplies, choosing to leave it up to individual states like New York to fend for themselves while bodies were being stored in refrigerated trucks because the morgues were full. Subsequently, he has done little if anything differently. He refused to put on a mask. He held open air political rallies which turned into Covid-19 super spreader events that ended up killing his own supporters like Charles Cain. He paraded himself in front of the TV cameras everyday to rail about how unjust the media was or to attack his political opponents instead of allowing his doctors and scientists, Fauci and Birks to give the American people facts instead of such nonsensical advise as to inject disinfectants into the body or put U.V. lights inside people as he insanely said during one such debacle. Even now he continues to attack these same individuals for delivering honest assessments of where this dreadful disease stands today in our country, which is wildly out of control. His interview with Axios last week was so unbelievable you have to watch it for yourself to get a true sense of how delusional and unhinged this man has become. And he has surrounded himself with a bunch of gutless sycophants who are afraid to broach any subject which might upset him or send him into another temper tantrum on Twitter. Of course, his one and only path to reelection was the economy, which he has taken credit for since being inaugurated which is also another patent lie. And the necessity to shut everything down in America from bars and restaurants to sporting events and put thirty million Americans out of work and subsequently demolish the GDP has essentially laid that argument to rest. And then he realized that urging states and governors to open up their economies before his own CDC guidelines were met in terms of slowing the pandemic was his only possible path forward he recklessly did so and we are now seeing the results in these tremendous spikes in cases in those states in particular. So now instead of being judged, whether correctly or not, on the strength of the economy he is being judged based on the abysmal job he has done in handling the biggest crisis of his term. Only THIRTY per cent of Americans trust what he says about the pandemic, and rightfully so. Aside from the numerous lies and amounts of misinformation he and his stooges like Kay(LIE) McENEMY have spewed forth regarding the virus and his handling of it, this man has lied over 20,000 times since taking the oath of office on everything from the size of the crowd to his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Assuming things continue as they have over the past few weeks, where large numbers of Americans have chosen their own selfish and ignorant pursuits over the safety and well being of their friends, family and neighbors by participating in large public gatherings with no mask, no social distancing and seemingly no concerns about dying or killing their fellow citizens, we will have seen 200,000 or more Americans die from Covid-19 by election day. Most of these deaths were not necessary had we only had a leader who more was concerned about the health and welfare of his constituents than his own reelection campaign or check book. Hopefully a vaccine will be available sometime shortly after that, but in the meanwhile America…..wait for it…..”It is what it is”. When all is said and done, Covid-19 will also have claimed Donald Trump’s political career as one of its victims. Unfortunately, we have paid far too high of a price for his gross incompetence and indifference. History will record that his lack of effective leadership (or ANY leadership!) was a huge contributing factor to the toll the pandemic extracted from our nation. It will NOT be kind. Nor should it be. |
About Mike ColeBorn in Hamilton, OH but a proud Kentuckian since age two. One brother and three sisters. Suburban, Catholic middle-class upbringing. Attended Jefferson Community College and Pasadena Community College. Proud father of four and grandfather to seven, and most of all, a concerned American citizen! Are you??? Categories |