Category: Politics

everything to do with the execution of politics

Devolve Or Dissolve

The partisanship these days is worse as it ever was and getting worse as the years go by.

I have written to help and try to explain why this is happening…..https://lobotero.com/2018/05/11/tribes/

There is some great observations about American society…..

There is not “a single important cultural, religious, political, or social force that is pulling Americans together more than it is pushing us apart.” That was written before the Black Lives Matter protests and riots. It’s gotten worse since then. A lot worse.

There’s not much left of a common American culture. We watch different networks, read different websites, and have a different set of Facebook friends. Politics has come to shape our identities, for both left and right. Tell me who you vote for and I’ll tell you what sports you like, what music you listen to, what blogs you read, and even where you buy your groceries.

America’s Choice: Devolve or Dissolve?

But what do the American people think?

I wrote about a study back in 2012…..https://lobotero.com/2012/10/10/we-are-sick-of-the-partisanship/

https://lobotero.com/2010/11/19/do-americans-really-want-a-divided-government/

Another pressing question is…..should the US be broken into two?  (This article deserves to be read!)

Many in blue states have gone through a Kubler-Ross range of emotional reactions to the Trump/Republican administration. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. When you get to the acceptance part, a psychologist told me, “You need to figure out a plan of action that changes things in the real world. Acceptance is not the same as resignation. Being bummed out is not the end of the road but should be a beginning.” We are probably at that political point now. I know I am. 

After all we have been through, after the last four years of Trump’s antics, he still has the support of a little over 40 percent of the electorate. His base fervently foresees that life post-Trump will resemble a Stalinist gulag of socialist regulation, late-term baby killing, and political correctness equal to China’s cultural revolution. Right-wing media, in all its hydra-headed broadcast and internet forms, has provided this vision. As QAnon has shown, when it comes to irrationality, there are no limits. 

Should America Voluntarily Split In Two? Election Day May Force Us To Ask

With the vote just days away…maybe now would be a good time to decide what kind of country you want before you mark the ballot.

Once again I think about the cartoon that Ben Franklin came up with in the early days….

How Ben Franklin's Viral Political Cartoon United the 13 Colonies - HISTORY

Interesting thoughts and the Old Professor would like to have yours as well…..

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News From The Orange

Believe it or not….Donald the Orange has made some news again…..I know….go figure.

Trump made the accusation that Democrats are “anti-American” radicals…..

President Trump leaned into fear tactics Saturday as he accused the left of trying to “erase American history, purge American values and destroy the American way of life” in a late reelection pitch to voters in Michigan, the AP reports. “The Democrat party you once knew doesn’t exist,” Trump told voters in Muskegon, Michigan, ahead of a rally in Wisconsin—two states that were instrumental to his 2016 victory but may now be slipping from his grasp. As he tried to keep more voters from turning against him, Trump sought to paint Democrats as “anti-American radicals” on a “crusade against American history.” The pitch comes as Trump faces headwinds not only in national polling, which shows Joe Biden leading, but also in key battleground surveys.

And it comes after the campaign largely retreated from TV advertising in the Midwest, shifting much of its money to Sun Belt states such as Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, and Georgia, as well as Pennsylvania. Biden had no public events planned for Saturday, but in a memo to supporters, campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon issued her own warning: “The reality is that this race is far closer than some of the punditry we’re seeing on Twitter and on TV would suggest,” she wrote. “If we learned anything from 2016, it’s that we cannot underestimate Donald Trump or his ability to claw his way back into contention in the final days of a campaign, through whatever smears or underhanded tactics he has at his disposal.”

Seriously?  “Anti-American Radical”?  If you believe that then you are a bigger moron than I thought.

Then he, Trump, made the statement that if he losses in November he may have to leave the country.

President Trump doesn’t often acknowledge possible defeat in the upcoming election, but he pondered that possibility Friday night during a rally in Macon, Ga. USA Today reports that during the event at the Middle Georgia Regional Airport, Trump was poking fun at health protocols such as face masks and social distancing in place at Biden events, when he suddenly seemed to realize his words may come back to bite him. “I shouldn’t joke, because you know what? Running against [Biden] … puts pressure on me,” he said, calling the former VP “the worst candidate in the history of presidential politics.” He continued: “Could you imagine if I lose? My whole life, what am I going to do? … I’m not going to feel so good.”

He then added: “Maybe I’ll have to leave the country. I don’t know.” The Hill notes this isn’t the first time Trump has alluded to disappearing from the spotlight if he loses to an opponent. At a North Carolina rally last month, Trump told supporters that “if I lose to [Biden], I don’t know what I’m going to do,” per Business Insider. “I will never speak to you again. You’ll never see me again.” And in April 2016, at a Maryland rally, he considered what he’d do if he didn’t get the GOP presidential nomination. “I don’t think I’m going to lose, but if I do, I don’t think you’re ever going to see me again, folks,” he said. “I think I’ll go to Turnberry and play golf or something.”

I guess he thinks he will be held accountable and we know he runs away from that likelihood.

Finally some have realized the Trump only uses religion for votes nothing else…..now some so-called Christians are pulling their heads out of the sand and stepping forward.

A group of prominent Christians from both sides of the aisle, including a past faith adviser to former President Barack Obama, is forming a political action committee designed to chip away at Christian support for President Trump in the final weeks of the 2020 campaign, the AP reports. Dubbed Not Our Faith, the new super PAC plans to roll out six-figure TV and digital ads focused on Christian voters—particularly the evangelical and Catholic voters who helped power Trump to victory in 2016. Its first digital ad, set to run in Michigan and Pennsylvania, takes sharp aim at Trump’s claim to a foothold with Christians. The ad says Trump “has used Christianity for his own purposes,” invoking imagery of the president’s photo op outside a Washington church amid this summer’s racial justice demonstrations.

Urging Christians to break from Trump, the ad states that they “don’t need Trump to save them. The truth is that Trump needs Christians to save his flailing campaign.” That sharp critique of Trump’s standing with Christian voters comes as the president looks to evangelicals in particular to help him muscle to reelection over Democratic nominee Joe Biden. While Biden’s campaign is mounting a well-organized faith outreach effort, that work largely focuses on an affirmative case for the former vice president rather than the overtly anti-Trump case that the new PAC is making. Trump and his reelection campaign continue to lean heavily on pitches to Christian voters, with the president asserting the baseless claim that Biden and Democrats are hostile to religion.

But that is not all….Trump has finally made an appearance at some church and on a Sunday to boot……

  • With Trump seated in the front row at the nondenominational International Church of Las Vegas, the senior associate pastor, Denise Goulet, said God told her the president is the apple of his eye and would secure a second term. “At 4:30, the Lord said to me, ‘I am going to give your president a second win,'” she said, telling Trump, “you will be the president again.”
  • Trump offered brief remarks, saying “I love going to churches” and that it was “a great honor” to attend the service. He dropped a wad of $20 bills in the collection plate before leaving. Despite the pandemic, there were no efforts to social distance and few attendees wore masks.

We can only hope that God was pulling the pastor’s leg.

That final thought I keep trying to get to…..

“The Christmas season will be canceled” — Trump says Biden will cancel Christmas……yep and you thought that lie had gone away.

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Townhall Tango

Thursday night we had battling townhalls….Trump on NBC and Biden on ABC…..I gave an analysis on Friday’s post……https://lobotero.com/2020/10/16/those-battling-townhalls/

The whole evening was a study in chaos and conflict…..and I watched and read all the analyses and the noise surrounding the evening….

First let me say….Trump is the only person to lose a debate without having an opponent.

Thursday’s night presidential town halls were very different from each other, and a similar theme has emerged in the political post-mortems. What was originally supposed to be a face-to-face debate “morphed into a long-distance study in contrasts,” write Alexander Burns and Katie Glueck at the New York Times. Essentially, the events provided viewers with a choice: Which style of president do you want, combative or, well, dull?

  • The “dueling town halls were like a choose-your-own-ending book, letting us peer into the future and see what the two election outcomes would be like,” write Mike Allen and Margaret Talev at Axios.
  • “It came off less like a split screen than a breach in the political universe—Die Hard versus It’s a Wonderful Life,” per David Siders and Anita Kumar at Politico.
  • “On one channel, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. On the other, a rerun of Celebrity Deathmatch. Or, at least, that’s how it felt,” write Scott Bixby and Asawin Suebsaeng at the Daily Beast. That wasn’t the only comparison to Mister Rogers. Biden’s town hall “feels like I am watching an episode of Mister Rodgers [sic] Neighborhood,” tweeted Trump campaign adviser Mercedes Schlapp. USA Today notes that “Mr. Rogers” was soon trending.
  • The events “appeared to be broadcast from entirely different dimensions,” according to a story by Michael Scherer, Jenna Johnson, and Josh Dawsey in the Washington Post. “The soft-spoken Biden leaned back in a white chair, relaxed and conversational as he hit upon notes of optimism and uplift. Trump’s appearance was heated and at times abrasive, with the candidate leaning forward as he defended his record and challenged the motivations of moderator Savannah Guthrie.”
  • “In a nightmare alternate universe, Americans find hope by viewing films from a different dimension, where life unfolds as normal,” writes David Frum in the Atlantic. “That’s the plot of the Amazon science-fiction series The Man in the High Castle. It was also the experience many Americans had as they flipped back and forth between two town halls last night.”
  • “Unsurprisingly, Trump’s town hall was much more combative than Biden’s,” writes Kira Davis at RedState. “The Election Commission should have just gone ahead with an in-person debate, since Savannah Guthrie just ended up debating the president anyway. The ratings numbers will be interesting to see, but flipping back and forth between Trump and Biden, it was crystal clear that the more entertaining conversation was over at NBC.”
  • “As a journalist whose job involves trying to write articles people read, I was, frankly, sad to have been assigned to watch the Biden town hall, which was just not that interesting,” writes Matthew Yglesias at Vox. “But as a citizen, it was tremendously reassuring.”

All in all the evening was a waste of time……voters already know who they will vote for….all the evening was was either for entertainment…..or to induce the gag reflex.

But who won the numbers game?

Donald Trump often has been a TV ratings hit, but maybe not this time. Preliminary results from his nearly head-to-head matchup Thursday night with Joe Biden show the president bringing up the rear, Variety reports. Biden, whose 90-minute event was carried by ABC, is averaging 13.9 million total viewers in early returns. Trump’s hourlong appearance is coming in at 13.1 million combined on NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC. The difference was bigger when comparing the broadcast networks. MSNBC had about 1.7 million viewers and CNBC 700,000, which puts Biden ahead of Trump on the two major networks, 13.9 million to 10.7 million. The final numbers aren’t in yet. ABC’s livestream on YouTube also outdrew the Trump feed.

Before the town halls, both campaigns predicted a ratings triumph for Trump, per CNN; TV executives agreed. Jason Miller, a Trump campaign aide, had said, “We’re gonna have a much bigger audience than Joe.” But the former vice president has shown his ratings strength this campaign. The Democratic presidential nominee averaged 6.7 million viewers in a town hall shown last week on NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC, while Trump’s event last month on ABC drew 3.8 million. Biden also outdrew Trump in their national conventions this summer. Biden had 24.6 million viewers, while Trump drew 23.8 million to the Republican National Convention.

Will any of this equate to votes?

We have the 3rd and last debate in 5 days (that is if Trump does not find a way to weasel out of it)…..should prove to be as worthless as the past ones.

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A Look At That Great Economy

Trump keeps telling the people of the US that this economy is great and that we all will be on easy street soon enough……(well that part was me being sarcastic…..

I would like to know where it is so great.

Jobless rates are still not good……even the last numbers were not so great….

New unemployment data came out Thursday morning, and the numbers are not sitting well with Wall Street investors. The Labor Department says 898,000 people applied for jobless benefits last week, exceeding estimates by about 70,000, reports CNBC. The figure is up more than 50,000 from the previous week and is the highest since August. The stock market opened an hour after the report came out, with the Dow down about 300 points in the early going, or roughly 1%. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were down similar percentages.

“Given that we’re seven months into the pandemic now, these are still incredibly high numbers for initial claims,” AnnElizabeth Konkel of the job site Indeed tells the Wall Street Journal. Also contributing to the sour mood on Wall Street is the increase in COVID cases and continuing uncertainty about whether lawmakers in DC will be able to settle on a coronavirus relief package, per the Journal.

What part of unemployment is great for us mere mortals?

The threat of a massive new round of layoffs looms. Officials in Cook County, Illinois, which includes Chicago, announced a new operating budget this week that includes the elimination of 659 jobs, including 130 health workers in the midst of a pandemic. Rutgers University is planning additional layoffs after the 900 layoffs and 6,400 furloughs it has already implemented. The Tropicana casino and resort in Las Vegas announced 828 layoffs while Rochester, New York schools are cutting 200 non-teaching personnel.

The predictable result of this has been hardship and poverty for millions of unemployed or partially employed workers. Several new studies have shown a significant growth in poverty, particularly in the period after the expiration of the $600 weekly unemployment supplement at the end of July.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/10/16/jobs-o16.html

Then there are those markets…..the game that only the wealthy get to play…..seems they are in a bit of a funk as well….

After last week’s strong performance, the stock market now can’t find any forward momentum. On Thursday, the Dow fell 19 points to 28,494, the S&P fell 5 points to 3,483, and the Nasdaq fell 54 points to 11,713. Worse-than-expected unemployment data, rising pessimism about a coronavirus deal in DC, and a continued rise in cases in the US and around the world were blamed for the market malaise, report the Wall Street Journal and the AP.

“The stimulus talk continues to be a little negative, and the virus outbreak in Europe that’s going to probably cause more shutdowns in various cities and countries, that’s a little bit of a negative, too,” said Scott Wren of the Wells Fargo Investment Institute. The day started out even worse, with the Dow falling about 300 points, though the selloff eased considerably in afternoon trading.

What do you think 8 million people think of this “great economy”?

The world’s poor have been hit the hardest by the pandemic—and in the US, that group includes 6 million to 8 million more people than it did a few months ago, according to two studies released this week. Columbia University researchers found that the number of poor people in the US actually fell in the early months of the crisis, when the $2 trillion Cares Act provided $1,200 stimulus checks and an extra $600 a week in unemployment benefits, but the gains were reversed as aid dried up, causing 8 million people to fall into poverty since May, reports the New York Times. Researchers from Notre Dame and the University of Chicago, who measured income by year instead of by month, put the number at 6 million, including 2.5 million children.

“These numbers are very concerning,” University of Chicago economist Bruce D. Meyer tells the Times. “They tell us people are having a lot more trouble paying their bills, paying their rent, putting food on the table.” The studies found that Black and Latino Americans are around twice as likely to be in poverty as white Americans. Authors of both studies found that the Cares Act had been extremely successful in keeping people out of poverty and urged Congress to consider their research when crafting future stimulus programs, the Guardian reports. “The Cares Act was very successful,” says Columbia researcher Christopher Wimer. “But one of its shortcomings was its temporary nature.”

What part of this with less than 3 weeks until the election talks of a better day to come?

My question is do the voters truly give a shit about their fellow Americans?

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Is The Answer “Herd Immunity”?

There seems to be a new “cure” for the pandemic flying around social media and even the White House has picked up on this piece of manure.

This miracle cure is known as “herd immunity”…..

Before we go any further maybe a quick lesson into what is meant by the term…..The eight-paragraph declaration cites no scientific data and does not seriously attempt to argue its case. It is, rather, a series of assertions constructed retroactively from the demand by US big business to abandon public health measures to contain the pandemic: “Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities, such as sports, should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally, rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts, music, sport and other cultural activities should resume.”

Herd immunity, or community immunity, is when a large part of the population of an area is immune to a specific disease. If enough people are resistant to the cause of a disease, such as a virus or bacteria, it has nowhere to go.

While not every single individual may be immune, the group as a whole has protection. This is because there are fewer high-risk people overall. The infection rates drop, and the disease peters out.

Herd immunity protects at-risk populations. These include babies and those whose immune systems are weak and can’t get resistance on their own.

You can develop resistance naturally. When your body is exposed to a virus or bacteria, it makes antibodies to fight off the infection. When you recover, your body keeps these antibodies. Your body will defend against another infection. This is what stopped the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil. Two years after the outbreak began, 63% of the population had had exposure to the virus. Researchers think the community reached the right level for herd immunity.

(WebMD)

Like I stated…even the White House has jumped on this fringe belief…..

Newsweek reported that two Trump administration officials said the White House supports the Great Barrington Declaration, a statement advocating the mass infection of the population with COVID-19 through a policy of “herd immunity.”

The declaration comes out of a meeting organized by the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), a right-wing libertarian think tank centered in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It calls for governments to “build up immunity to the virus through natural infection,” discourages remote work, and promotes mass gatherings where the virus can spread. The implementation of this policy would mean death on a massive scale.

The “herd immunity” policy is condemned by all reputable health authorities, including the World Health Organization. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday called such a policy “unethical.” He added, “Herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus, not by exposing them to it. Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak, let alone a pandemic.”

But this is precisely the policy that has been implemented by the Trump administration and other governments throughout the world.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/10/14/pers-o14.html

Let me make it easier…..I will run the numbers for you…..the “cure” needs about 65% of the popular to be infected….that is about 200 million cases…..which will result in about 2 million more deaths…..

Now is that acceptable to you?

Apparently it is acceptable to about 20% of the population…..

One in five Americans think herd immunity is good government policy to address COVID-19. 

That’s according to a recent YouGov poll, which followed reports that Scott Atlas, a recently added member of the White House pandemic task force, had been advocating for the administration to embrace natural herd immunity as a public-health strategy. Atlas strongly denied these reports, and Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert said, “That’s not a fundamental strategy that we’re using.” 

That is scary that the idea of infecting 200 million people is acceptable.

Just goes to prove my point that social media can convince morons of anything.

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Those Battling Townhalls

Last night there was no presidential debate but rather the two candidates had townhalls at the same time….for those political junkies I will breakdown the night for you…..

I need to insert a disclaimer….I did not watch either townhall…..my info came from the internet…..I did watch about 10 minutes of each in re-run….my first impressions were …..silly sh*t….that serves NO purpose.

I shall begin with our president…….

It was a night of dueling town halls. Joe Biden appeared on ABC News, and you can read highlights here. This file has highlights from President Trump’s town hall on NBC News, via the AP, USA Today, Politico, and the Washington Post:

  • Trump said he has no more symptoms of COVID-19. “Nothing whatsoever.” He said he wasn’t sure whether he was tested on the day of his debate with Biden. “Probably,” he said.
  • Trump opted not to issue a blanket disavowal of QAnon. “I know nothing about QAnon,” he said. “I do know that they are very much against pedophilia. I agree with that.”
  • The president chafed at moderator Savannah Guthrie’s question on whether he denounced white supremacy. “You always do this,” Trump said. “I denounce white supremacy. What’s your next question?” He added that he’s “denounced white supremacy for years.”
  • Trump said he might owe more than $400 million related to his family business empire, as the New York Times has reported, but he said it wasn’t owed to Russia or “sinister people.” When asked if he owed to any foreign entities, he said, “Probably.” Trump also maintained that his debts were relatively small: “$400 million is a peanut.”
  • Trump opted not to weigh in on Roe v. Wade, saying he did not want his critics to suggest he was sending a signal to Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. “I don’t want to do anything to influence anything right now,” he said, adding that he did not ask Barrett about the case.
  • Trump said he would replace ObamaCare with a cheaper, more effective alternative, but he did not provide details when pressed.
  • He asserted that mail-in voting is plagued by widespread fraud, but when Guthrie said there is no evidence of that, he shot back, “How can you say that? You do read newspapers? You do watch the news?”
  • One questioner drew a smattering of applause when she complimented the president’s smile. “You’re so handsome when you smile.”
  • At the end, when asked to make a plea to undecided voters on why they should vote for him, Trump said he deserves it because he’s “done a great job” and “next year is going to be better than ever before.”

Next the townhall of Joe Biden…….

The dueling debates are over. President Trump appeared on NBC News, and you can read highlights here. This file has highlights from Joe Biden’s town hall on ABC News, via the AP, Politico, USA Today, and the Washington Post:

  • “He panicked,” Biden said of Trump’s coronavirus response. He added that Trump “missed enormous opportunities and kept saying things that weren’t true” on the virus.
  • Biden again said he is “not a fan” of packing the Supreme Court with more judges, but he didn’t rule out the idea. “It depends on how this turns out,” he said in reference to the Amy Coney Barrett nomination. “It depends on how much they rush this.” If she is confirmed before Election Day, as now seems likely, Biden said he is “open to considering what happens from that point on.” He said he would make his position clear before Nov. 3.
  • Biden suggested he would prefer to make a COVID vaccine mandatory. “It depends on the state of the nature of the vaccine, when it comes out and how it’s being distributed,” he said. “But I think we should think about making it mandatory.” However, when moderator George Stephanopoulos asked how he could enforce such a rule, Biden acknowledged he couldn’t. “That’s the problem.”
  • Biden said he does not want get rid of all of Trump’s tax cuts, only the ones for the nation’s wealthiest, the 1%. “That’s what I’m talking about eliminating, not all the tax cuts that are out there.”
  • The former VP said he stood by his statement from a quarter-century ago that “more cops mean less crime,” but he added a qualifier. “Yes, if in fact they’re involved in community policing not jump squads.” On police brutality, he said, “You can ban chokeholds but beyond that you need to teach people how to de-escalate circumstances.”
  • Biden said he regretted supporting the 1994 federal crime bill, which he was influential in getting passed. Was it a mistake? “Yes, it was,” he said. “But here’s where the mistake came. The mistake came in terms of what the states did locally.”
  • A loss to Trump could say, “I’m a lousy candidate, and I didn’t do a good job,” said Biden. “I hope that it doesn’t say that we are as racially, ethnically and religiously at odds with one another as it appears the president wants us to be.”

There you have both camps dueling on the same night…..the term “townhall” was wrong…..it was like the debates…candidates asked lameass questions and they avoid a direct answer.

This was a waste of time for most people know who they will vote for and this just ate up some quality airtime that Dancing With The Stars could have used.

Next report will be the third and last debate (if it is held) on 22 October……

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More Good News From Trump?

Yes I know I have been a critic of Trump since he took office….but I have also stated that I approve of his attempts to end our endless wars……and now he has made another statement that I can support….( I shall qualify that shortly)…..

He is attempting to bring home the troops from Afghanistan and Iraq….and moving some out of Germany…..

Pres. Trump wants to bring our troops home from Somalia…..Somalia?  Think Blackhawk Down…..

Bloomberg published a story on Wednesday that cited anonymous sources who said President Trump is looking to withdraw hundreds of US troops from Somalia, a war the administration has significantly escalated since 2017.

The sources said the Pentagon has begun drafting plans for the president, and discussions have involved Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley.

According to the Congressional Research Service, the US currently has 700 troops in Somalia. Mostly special forces who train Somalia’s army. Most of these troops were sent to the African country by President Trump, according to the Bloomberg story.

The US is engaged in Somalia as part of its war against the militant group al-Shabab. In 2017, President Trump loosened the rules of engagement for the drone war and his administration has dropped a record number of bombs on Somalia.

In 2019, the US conducted 63 airstrikes in Somalia, the most in a single year. The first seven months of 2020 saw more US airstrikes in Somalia than were conducted during both the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, combined.

The war in Somalia is extremely underreported, and it is tough to know how damaging it has been to the civilians on the ground. US Africa Command usually claims its airstrikes only kill militants and only occasionally have to admit to civilian deaths if there is enough outcry.

(antiwar.com)

Now is this just election posturing or is he serious?

He has made promises before an election that he has not carried forward once he was placed in the seat of power for the United States.

So I ask again….can we trust him to do what he says?

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The Clayton Anti-Trust Act 1914

Speaking of economic news……

Hold your breath it is time for the Old Professor’s history lesson…..first Mata Hari was executed in Paris on this date in 1917….and in 1966 the Black Panther Party is established……and in 1969 over 2 million people protested for the end of the Vietnam War…..

On this day. 15 October, in 1914 the US Congress passes the Clayton Anti-Trust Act…..

On this date, the 63rd Congress (1913-1915) passed the Clayton Antitrust Act (P.L. 63–212) in a bid to curb the power of trusts and monopolies and maintain market competition. By the turn of the 20th century, large corporations had cornered whole segments of America’s economy using predatory pricing, exclusive dealings, and anti-competitive mergers to drive local businesses to ruin. In Congress, Members decried the evils of monopolies, including Representative Robert Crosser of Ohio who warned that a “failure to check the growth of monopolies…will result in industrial slavery.” Representative Alben W. Barkley of Kentucky dubbed the trusts “offensive organizations.” Most agreed that government regulation of the trusts was too lenient and rallied around the Clayton Antitrust Bill when Representative Henry Clayton of Alabama introduced it in 1914. Representative John J. Casey of Pennsylvania remarked, “I realize and appreciate the importance of this bill, because I believe it is one of the most important that has or will come before this House for consideration.” The Act supplemented and strengthened the Sherman Act of 1890, an existing antitrust bill that had failed to effectively regulate the massive corporations. The newly created Federal Trade Commission enforced the Clayton Antitrust Act and prevented unfair methods of competition. Aside from banning the practices of price discrimination and anti-competitive mergers, the new law also declared strikes, boycotts, and labor unions legal under federal law. The bill passed the House with an overwhelming majority on June 5, 1914. President Woodrow Wilson signed it into law on October 15, 1914. 

This was suppose to cease the idea and exploitation of being a wage slave…….and how has that worked out?

This law has very little teeth anymore…..we have monopolies everywhere in our business societies….the US has a long history of trying to make the society more equitable……https://www.thoughtco.com/the-clayton-antitrust-act-4136271

How has all this legislation done at help this society become a more equitable society?

I do not see it….how about you?

(Watch this blog for more thoughts on monopolies….posts coming soon)

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2020 Presidential Debate #2

For those that are waiting on the edge of their chairs or those that have not heard the news yet…..THERE WILL BE NO SECOND DEBATE!

It seems that the bully of the airways are afraid to debate virtually.

First came the decision to make the second debate virtual between President Trump and former VP Joe Biden. Now, an update: There’s won’t be a debate at all. Per CNN, the Commission on Presidential Debates has nixed the debate scheduled for Oct. 15 after Trump said he wouldn’t do the virtual format, with some worried he may still be contagious with COVID-19. Now, all eyes are on the debate that had been scheduled after that at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., on Oct. 22. The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump’s campaign had called for moving the dates for both debates back a week, but Biden’s camp refused that option. “It is now apparent there will be no debate on October 15,” the commission said in a statement. “Both candidates have agreed to participate in the October 22 debate.” That debate will be moderated by NBC anchor Kristen Welker.

On Oct. 15, Biden will instead participate in a town hall hosted by ABC News, NPR reports. Trump is hoping to hold a rally or a town hall on NBC, though plans for neither have been finalized. There’d been a bit of hubbub involving C-SPAN’s Steve Scully, the moderator set for the second debate, after a now-deleted tweet apparently sent by Scully to former White House communications chief Anthony Scaramucci emerged, in which Scully asked: “Should I respond to Trump?” Trump accused Scully of being a “Never Trumper,” per Politico. Scully, for his part, alleges he didn’t write that tweet, Fox News reports. Meanwhile, in South Carolina, another canceled debate: one set for Friday between GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham and his rival, Democrat Jaime Harrison, after Harrison said he wouldn’t attend if Graham didn’t take a COVID-19 test; Graham refused, the Hill reports. Instead, the two were interviewed in separate 30-minute segments on a local station.

What A Titty Baby!

How can any American support this coward?  (That is rhetorical)

Instead of a debate the two candidates had battling townhalls…..not everyone is pleased at this turn….

NBC News’ decision to host President Trump’s town hall Thursday night—which will air on the network at the same time ABC News is airing Joe Biden’s competing event—is not going over well in some circles. The Los Angeles Times reports #BoycottNBC is trending on Twitter, and even former NBC star Katie Couric weighed in: “Having dueling town halls is bad for democracy—voters should be able to watch both and I don’t think many will. This will be good for Trump because people like to watch his unpredictability. This is a bad decision.” Fox News rounds up more criticism, with one political analyst calling NBC’s decision “indefensible.”

President Trump refused the virtual format that was offered for the debate originally scheduled for Thursday, so the whole thing was scrapped, and Biden decided to do his town hall instead. Trump’s decision came next, and Couric is not the only former NBC person accusing the network of capitulating to the POTUS. “I am dismayed—more like disgusted—by NBC’s decision to air Trump’s ‘I won’t play by the rules so let me make my own rules’ town hall opposite Biden’s,'” a former executive VP posted on Facebook; a former producer also said it’s a bad idea. And a reporter tweeted, “I’ve heard from over a dozen NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC sources (talent and staff) and the frustration with and anger toward their employer for scheduling a town hall against Biden is palpable.” The network has not weighed in on the criticism.

What a waste!

Debate #3 will be (as of this printing) on 22 October….and I will be watching….so you do not have to…..

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