The Era of rivalry, Biden vs. Trump and their respective parties

While House Republicans are concerned about a successful military operation a year and a half ago that ended America's longest war with only thirteen casualties, matters are getting quite serious in the Middle East.

ABC reports "Israel launched its biggest airstrikes on Lebanon in 17 years early Friday, after dozens of rockets struck the north of the country during the Jewish Passover holiday and sent tensions in the region spiraling.

"The exchanges, which also come during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and in the run-up to the Christian holy day of Easter, represent the most serious escalation between Israel and Lebanon since a 34-day war in 2006.

"No group claimed responsibility for the attacks from Lebanon, although Israel pinned the blame on Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls the blockaded Gaza Strip (?). Israel said it had also hit 10 targets across Gaza on Friday.

"Israeli officials also said they would not allow Hamas to operate from Lebanon, adding it would hold Lebanon responsible for any “hostile fire” from its territory."

Emphasis is mine, and for good reason.

Almost as an afterthought, ABC also reported, "Israel also said it was investigating whether Iran-linked Hezbollah was involved in the missile strikes on northern Israel."

Hamas is rabble, an unorganized force with little or no leadership while being confined to Gaza.

Iran-backed Hezbollah is another matter. A war between Israel and Hezbollah would be extremely dangerous and could easily spill over into other parts of the Middle East.

There is a sworn commitment that obligates the U.S. to protect Israel.

And Republicans want to talk about a successful military operation that ended nineteen months ago.

 

Just how dumb are Republicans?

They just made martyrs of two black male lawmakers in Tennessee.


Tennessee House expels 2 Democrats over gun control protest

 

Our President's powerful economy continues to expand despite the Fed and pessimistic experts.

And Republicans who desperately want the economy to fail and slip into a recession so more Republicans will be elected.

But the American economy marches on despite all the naysayers.

ABC reports, "America’s employers added a solid 236,000 jobs in March, suggesting that the economy remains on solid footing despite the nine interest rate hikes the Federal Reserve has imposed over the past year in its drive to tame inflation.

"The unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, just above the 53-year low of 3.4% set in January.

"At the same time, some of the details of Friday's report from the Labor Department raised the possibility that inflationary pressures might be easing and that the Fed might soon decide to pause its rate hikes.

“Today’s report is a Goldilocks report,’’ said Daniel Zhao, lead economist at Glassdoor. “It’s hard to find a way it could have been better. We do see that the job market is cooling, but it’s still resilient.’’

 

Now Republicans in Alabama and a Republican Senator from that state want to weaken the U.S. military's comment structure.

CNN reports, "The Defense Department is urgently working with lawmakers in hopes of resolving a hold on critical military nominations, including for some of the most senior ranking officers, as concerns inside the Pentagon grow about the potential impact on national security, defense officials told CNN.

"Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville has single-handedly blocked the nominations to protest new Pentagon policies ensuring service members have access to reproductive health care following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade last year. Tuberville first threatened to put a hold on DOD nominees in December, and followed through in March.

"Tuberville’s objection has thrown a wrench in what is usually a routine Senate maneuver in which hundreds of military nominations are confirmed all at once under a process known as unanimous consent. If Tuberville continues to hold out, the Senate would have to vote on hundreds of Pentagon nominations one at a time — a process that could take a year to get through.

"Among the more than 180 nominations pending right now are some of the military’s most critical positions, including the commanders of 7th Fleet, in the Indo-Pacific, and 5th Fleet, which is part of Naval Forces Central Command. It also includes the military representative to NATO, at a critical time with the war in Ukraine."

Vladimir Putin launched his war of aggression against Ukraine in February of last year. Today the war drags on with enormous casualties on both sides.

The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday [4/21/2020] reaffirmed its support for the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election with the goal of putting Donald Trump in the Oval Office. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/...rms-russia-aimed-to-help-trump-in-2016-198171

Putin is overjoyed with the Republican Party and its many fans.

The forum's Republicans lack the courage to respond to this report.

 

The Republican Party with the help of conservative judges selected by Republicans is moving rapidly to an autocratic government.

As an example, it wants to control the health of all pregnant women in the country.

A federal judge in Texas on Friday removed the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, but delayed the ruling taking effect for a week, giving the Biden administration time to appeal. CNBC

How can one single American, judge or not, have that kind of power? Does he?

Decades of experience among thousands of women have confirmed that the drug regimen is the safest option for many patients compared with surgical abortion or childbirth.

 

CNN reports, "At least four people were killed and nine others were taken to the hospital after a gunman armed with an AR-15 opened fire at Old National Bank in Louisville, Kentucky, Monday morning.

"Police have identified the gunman as Connor Sturgeon, 23, who was an employee at the bank. Sturgeon was notified that he was going to be fired, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation, and wrote a note that indicated that he was going to shoot at the bank. He was killed by police shortly after opening fire."

There have been 146 mass shootings nationwide this year, surpassing the 130 shootings by this point in 2022.

This madness has to cease but the NRA-sponsored Republican Party will not permit gun control legislation to be approved.

 

One thing about Trump, he is persistent.

CNN reports, "Former President Donald Trump has appealed a judge’s order that Mike Pence must testify to a federal grand jury investigating the aftermath of the 2020 election, according to a person familiar with the case, but is unlikely to stop his former vice president from speaking to the panel.

"Trump has already lost several attempts in court to block other top officials from his administration from testifying, and the courts have resoundingly sided with grand jury pursuits for decades, making any attempt to claim executive privilege around his conversations with Pence a long shot.

"Over the past year, the grand jury in Washington has secured testimony from Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Patrick Philbin and Pence advisers Marc Short and Greg Jacob, following court decisions that Trump couldn’t stop them from answering. In recent days, a lower-court judge also ordered that several of Trump’s aides including then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows must testify despite Trump’s attempts to assert privilege, and those former officials have either appeared again for testimony or are lined up to speak to the grand jury in the coming days.

"The decisions have set up a quick resolution for Pence’s unprecedented testimony about the president he served alongside."

 

The Republican Party is making huge mistakes that are guaranteed to cost them several vitally important elections, including the big one in 2024, several big ones, in fact.

Mistake number one, their party's leader and leading candidate for the 2024 Presidential election, Donald Trump.

Trump has been indicted in New York for various crimes. He faces far more serious indictments such as inciting insurrection as President on Jan. 6, 2021, obstruction as it relates to the theft of hundreds of pages of classified documents, and interfering in a state's election (Georgia.

A Republican President (Trump) chose three conservative judges on the Supreme Court for the expressed purpose of nullifying Roe vs. Wade. To the delight of Republicans everywhere, the Supreme Court did exactly that, creating chaos throughout the country. All of sudden, due to the expressed purpose of the Republican Party, thousands of American women are not getting the care they need, and hundreds of confusing state laws are in place.

A Texas federal judge appointed by a Republican (Trump again) ruled Friday evening to suspend the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, virtually banning the sale of abortion pills across the country. For now, the impact on hundreds of thousands of patients who use the medication both for abortions and treating miscarriages is on hold. The drug was approved twenty years ago after four years of intense research conducted by scientists and doctors. In the opinion of the Republican judge, the drug was not safe.

If FDA-approved drugs are at the mercy of every federal judge in the country, the result would be mega-chaos. It is what the Republican Party wants.

Just how dumb are Republicans?

They just made martyrs of two black male lawmakers in Tennessee. That was on Friday.

Today, one of them, Justin Jones, was reinstated by Nashville's Metro Council. The reinstatement of the other, Justin Pearson, is soon to follow. In the end, all the Republicans did was embarrass themselves -- mightily. They are being laughed at ... by Republicans.

Sometimes, it just takes one dumb Republican.

Republicans in Alabama and a Republican Senator from that state want to weaken the U.S. military's comment structure.
Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville has single-handedly blocked the nominations to protest new Pentagon policies ensuring service members have access to reproductive health care following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Since the Republicans are committing mass political suicide, the Democrats do not have much to worry bout in 2024, or 2026, or 2028 or ... well, you get the point.

There are serious doubts the forum's Republicans will have anything to say. How do you defend stupidity?

 

A critical analysis of how Republicans are making complete fools of themselves, and the forum's Republicans say nothing.

That says a lot about their party.

 

Everyone has it wrong. The O.K. Corral is in Kentucky.

Kentucky allows any person 21 years or older who is legally able to purchase a firearm to carry it concealed in public, without a permit or background check. In 2020, Kentucky had the 13th-highest gun death rate in the country and supplied crime guns to other states at the eighth-highest rate. Kentucky has long allowed adults to carry guns openly.

 

For over a quarter of a century, I was a Republican. Trump changed all that, which is part of my point. I have no idea what the Republican Party is doing. It seems that everything they do runs counter to the majority of Americans, and a party does not win elections that way.

When it comes to fateful decisions like nullifying Roe vs. Wade, permissive gun laws and opposition to gun control measures, the banning of an FDA-approved abortion pill, making martyrs of two black male lawmakers in Tennessee, blocking our military's command structure, and so on, Republican leaders say little or nothing.

To make matters worse, grassroots Republicans say nothing about what their party is doing. Perhaps this is why. President Trump famously declared during his 2016 campaign that he loved the “poorly educated” because voters with lower levels of schooling delivered an overwhelming share of votes to him.

It is almost as if the Republican Party has become a clandestine operation. Do Republicans think they don't have to answer to anyone? Seems so.

More than likely they will not respond to this post.

At least now the reader knows why I am no longer a Republican. I detest losers.

 

There is something seriously wrong with the Republican Party's leadership. Be careful what you wish for.

Stephen Collinson writes, "Yet another mass shooting and a new blow to nationwide abortion rights left Republicans facing pointed questions on two of the most emotive issues dominating American politics.

"But the GOP had almost nothing to say, reflecting the way that it is locked into positions that animate its most fervent grassroots voters but risk alienating it from much of the public.

"A controversial ruling from a conservative judge in Texas that could halt the use of a popular abortion drug nationwide, and another shooting spree – this time in Kentucky – sparked outrage among Democrats and calls for strengthening gun safety measures and protecting abortion rights.

"Most Republicans stayed silent on the two issues on which they have achieved their political and policy goals but that are threatening the party’s long-term viability."

"President Trump famously declared during his 2016 campaign that he loved the “poorly educated” because voters with lower levels of schooling delivered an overwhelming share of votes to him. Four years later, political pros say most of those folks remain enchanted by the president, but it’s anyone’s guess whether they turn out to vote in the same numbers and whether they will remain attached to the Republican Party after Mr. Trump leaves the presidential stage," the conservative Washington Times.

Collinson continued, "Over the last few decades, Republicans have expertly used gun rights and a push to overturn a constitutional right to end a pregnancy to energize their most loyal voters. And on each issue, in a purely political sense, it’s hard to argue that they have not racked up considerable wins.

"Despite a murderous run of massacres in schools, nightclubs, places of worship and, on Monday, in a bank, the party has effectively closed down all significant attempts in Congress to make it harder to buy weapons – including the assault-style rifles used in recent shootings. There are more guns than ever in the US. Republicans around the country are leading efforts to slash firearms regulation and broaden citizens’ capacity to carry guns."

These people chose our government in 2016. Sanity still has not returned. Never again.

 

Taiwan has nothing to fear from communist China.

ABC reports, "Recent Chinese air and sea drills simulating an encirclement of Taiwan were intended as a “serious warning” to pro-independence politicians on the self-governing island and their foreign supporters, China said Wednesday, as signs emerged that Beijing will take further action.

"The three days of large-scale air and sea exercises named Joint Sword that ended Monday were a response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California last week during a transit visit to the U.S. China had warned of serious consequences if that meeting went ahead.

"Although China said the exercises are over, it has kept up military pressure against Taiwan in the past few days and signaled it will do more."

More what? More self-righteous bluster, more exercises, more simulations all adding up to nothing.

The Chinese leaders are businessmen these days, and China has the second largest economy in the world, which is largely based on trade with the U.S. and the West. A war with Taiwan which would soon involve the U.S. and its Southeast Asian allies along with Australia would be disastrous for China. In addition, Taiwan has a formidable military, and taking it would be no small matter.

China's fruitless military exercises have been going on since 1949. She didn't attack then. With a lot more to lose now economically, she won't attack now. For fear of angering the Western economic powerhouses, China will not even help her ally, Russia, by supplying her with lethal weapons.

The show will continue, but that is all it is ... show.

 

The Republican governor is covering his butt. What he is asking of the strongly held Republican legislature will not happen and he knows it.

CNN reports, "Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee on Tuesday urged the state’s legislature to pass additional gun control measures, an especially charged subject in a state that recently suffered a school shooting and the acrimonious expulsion of two Black Democratic lawmakers who called for greater firearm restrictions.

“I’m asking the General Assembly to bring forward an order of protection law. A new strong order of protection law will provide the broader population cover, safety, from those who are a danger to themselves or the population,” Lee said at a news conference, adding that he would like legislators to pass the legislation within the current legislative session, which ends in a few weeks.

"The governor said specifics for the order of protection plan had yet to be determined but encouraged lawmakers from both parties to work together on the matter.

"It is unclear if the Tennessee House and Senate, which are both GOP-led by a wide margin, will bring up the matter. CNN has reached out to the state’s Senate majority leader and House speaker for comment."

It is easy for Lee to say this. He is not responsible. The Republican legislature is, and it is not going to happen.

Tennessee Republicans will say little or nothing about all this. They have embarrassed themselves enough for now as they are swearing in the black Democrats they booted out last week.

 

Raising the corporate tax, eliminating the tax loopholes for the rich, ending corporate welfare, things like this.

You're engaging in a pseudo debate trick where you trivialize an argument.

For example, creating a program, designing it, determining the objectives, assigning a team to draft the idea on paper, coming up with all the
details and strategies to implement and accomplish an objective, which will have a budget, you just call it 'throwing money at something' painting a picture that someone is on a balcony pouring buckets of newly printed dollars into the vacuum of space.

Sorry, that's being disingenuous.

I mean, what you are saying is that no one should ever do anything. Well, the only logic that leads is just to tell everyone to resign, and go home.

What's the point of having a legislature?

Yes, I understand congress is, and has, created bloated budgets, and there is a lot of wasteful spending, you we all have a duty to not blindly accept programs tha cost money, taxpayer money, it's a good thing to be critical of wasteful spending, but, at the same time, we shouldn't go the opposite extreme and maintain a cynical viewpoint, either.

There is a happy sweet spot, where sensibility lies.

Just sayin'

 

Apparently, you posted this on the wrong thread. I don;t know how a person can make that mistake.

 

This is nothing short of amazing -- unbelievable.

NBC reports, "Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was arrested by federal authorities on Thursday in connection with their investigation into classified documents that were leaked on the internet.

"Today, the Justice Department arrested Jack Douglas Teixeira in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information. Teixeira is an employee of the United States Air Force National Guard," Garland said.

"The suspect’s identity was first reported Thursday by The New York Times, which said he was the leader of a small online gaming group where the documents were first leaked.

"The Washington Post previously reported about the gaming group, and only identified its leader as "OG." The main source of the story was a minor who was granted anonymity and was a member of this group on the platform Discord."

Apparently, Teixeira is "OG."

One would hate to be one of the officers in charge of this fun-loving, immature, foolish young airman. This guy should not have been within a hundred miles of sensitive, classified material.

 

It never ends with the criminally indicted Trump. How did this man become our President?

CNN reports. "Donald Trump appeared for a deposition Thursday as part of a high-stakes civil case brought by New York state against the former president, some of his children and his sprawling business empire.

"The former president answered numerous questions in the deposition with the New York attorney general’s office, a source familiar with the matter said, sitting for nearly seven hours plus breaks.

"The lawsuit, brought last September by New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, alleges that Trump, his children Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump, and the Trump Organization were involved in an expansive scheme lasting over a decade by providing false financial statements to lenders and others that the former president used to enrich himself.

"The suit is seeking $250 million and bans on the Trumps’ ability to operate a business in the state. The case is set for trial in October."

Maybe Trump will be finished with this trial just in time to be tried for inciting an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, or tried for stealing hundreds of pages of classified documents, or tried in Georgia for interfering in their 2020 Presidential election. First, he has to be tried for paying off a porn star.

"President Trump famously declared during his 2016 campaign that he loved the “poorly educated” because voters with lower levels of schooling delivered an overwhelming share of votes to him," the conservative Washington Times.

In the meantime, he is the darling of farmers and rural shopkeepers who seem unable to respond to most reports concerning such issues.

 

After the Republican-chosen conservative judges on the Supreme Court nullified a fundamental right of Americans -- the right of a pregnant woman to make decisions related to her health -- other Republican-chosen conservative judges and Republican state legislatures are imposing their religious beliefs on others.

In many Republican-run states, pregnant women are not allowed to make critical health decisions. Based on their religious views concerning pregnancies, Republicans have decided the state will make those decisions, not the woman and her doctor.

What fundamental right will be next for Republicans? FDA-approved medication?

Republican-chosen conservative judges have already started Now these judges can void decisions previously made by scientists and doctors after years of research, again based solely on their religious beliefs, not science. As a consequence, a person might be jailed for ordering FDA-approved medicine.

CNBC reports, "The appeals court late Wednesday blocked U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s order that suspended the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone.

"But the court temporarily rolled back major changes the FDA has implemented over the years to make mifepristone easier to use and obtain. The order bars mail delivery of the abortion pill. Patients will now have to obtain the prescription drug from a doctor and will have to undergo several examinations in person while they are taking the medication.

"The court changed the time frame when mifepristone can be administered to up to 49 days into the pregnancy, down from the previous 70 days.

"The Biden administration will ask the Supreme Court to intervene in the legal fight around the FDA's abortion pill mifepristone, after a federal appeals court imposed restrictions on its use.

"In a statement Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department “strongly disagrees” with the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision. He added that the administration will “be seeking emergency relief from the Supreme Court to defend the FDA’s scientific judgment and protect Americans’ access to safe and effective reproductive care.”

This isn't just about safe abortions. If Republican-chosen conservative judges can overrule years of scientific research because of their religious beliefs, our country is in serious trouble.

As Republicans have already found out the hard way -- election loses -- the majority of Americans feel that way.

This point will be supported by the forum's Republicans who dare not touch the issues in this report.

 

I was replying to Kazenatsu's statement:

But where is this money going to come from?

Which was made in this thread

 

As expected, no response from Republicans. They are incapable of defending their party or discussing what their party is doing.

"President Trump famously declared during his 2016 campaign that he loved the “poorly educated” because voters with lower levels of schooling delivered an overwhelming share of votes to him," the conservative Washington Times.

 

According to ABC News, "So far in 2023, 12,017 people have died from gun violence in the U.S, as of April 14, according to the Gun Violence Archive – which is an average of roughly 115 deaths each day.

The NRA-sponsored Republican Party refuses to consider gun reform legislation, including an assault rifle ban. AR-15 is an assault rifle.

The Times reports, "The current and potential 2024 presidential candidates are expected to show support for gun owners’ rights — a core issue for the party’s base, but one that can be a tougher sell in a general election.

"On Friday, some of the most talked about current and potential Republican presidential candidates will address the N.R.A.’s convention in Indianapolis, even as Nashville and Louisville are still mourning the latest massacres in the nation’s gun violence epidemic.

"The pattern — a devastating mass shooting, followed by Republican displays of fealty to a group that rejects even many modest efforts to curb gun violence — underscores a central and deepening tension between Republicans and Democrats.

"Expected speakers on Friday, according to the N.R.A.’s lobbying arm, include former President Donald J. Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, Governors Chris Sununu of New Hampshire and Kristi Noem of South Dakota, former Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas and Nikki Haley."

 

CNN reports. "Wearing a t-shirt, athletic shorts, dark socks, and boots, a 21-year-old airman named Jack Teixeira in the Massachusetts Air National Guard, a cyber transport systems specialist, surrendered to a heavily armed FBI SWAT team outside his mother’s home on Thursday.

Teixeira was apparently showing off to his teenage gaming buddies online.

He was given a top-secret clearance at age 19.

The military needs to take a real serious look at how it handles sensitive classified material. This kid did a lot of damage to our nation's security and the security of other nations, one being Ukraine, a nation fighting for its survival against the Russian military.

Teixeira thought it was fun.

 

First, a Trump appointed conservative judge in Texas tried to ban the effective FDA-approved abortion bill nationwide. After four years of intensive scientific research, the pill has been in use for 20 years with fewer fatalities than penicillin and Viagra.

Next, an appeals court nixed the Trump judge and ruled that the pill should have limited availability. The pill is a part of the most commonly used method for ending pregnancies in the United States. The appeals court consists of Republican chosen conservative judges.

Next, "Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. issued an order on Friday temporarily ensuring that a common abortion pill would remain widely available while the Supreme Court considered whether to grant the Biden administration’s emergency request to preserve the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug," the Times.

The Times continued, "The order was meant to maintain the status quo while the justices studied the briefs and lower court rulings. Justice Alito set a brisk schedule for the court’s consideration of the case. His order, an administrative stay, instructed the groups challenging the F.D.A.’s approval of the abortion drug, mifepristone, to file their brief by Tuesday at noon."

Republican appointed judges want to make the FDA moot. If the Republicans are successful with this, every FDA-approved drug will be at the mercy of every conservative judge in the country. Who then will research, test, and make available badly needed medication for Americans? Will Americans die because of the religious views of the Religious Right, an integral part of the Republican Party?

Who created this chaos? Who made this all possible for Republicans?

The chaos began when Republican appointed Supreme Court justices nullified Roe vs. Wade, which turned abortion-related issues over to the states and 870 federal judges.

As one might expect, Republicans created enormous chaos, and now that will spill over to the FDA and its authority and responsibilities.

The forum's Republicans will avoid this report. They never talk about what their party is doing. Is that due to inexperience? Lack of awareness? Reality aversion? We don't know because of their inability to communicate matters related to their party.

 

"Porn star and director Stormy Daniels met Donald Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in July 2006, and the two allegedly began an affair.
He was married to Melania Trump at the time, who had just given birth to their son Barron. Just weeks before the 2016 presidential election, Trump's longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen paid $130,000 so Daniels would keep silent about the alleged affair, which Trump has denied. In January 2018, news of the hush money broke, and Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was thrust into the national spotlight." Business Insider.

Republican Jim Jordan, as well as other House Republicans, are making complete fools of themselves because a Manhattan grand jury indicted Donald Trump based on the evidence provided. So, Jordan and other Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee are going after the D.A., completely ignoring what Trump did, allegedly paying off a porn star with campaign funds days before the 2016 Presidential election.

The Post reports, "House Republicans and a parade of Republican-picked witnesses assailed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as being soft on violent crime at a hearing here Monday designed to undercut the prosecutor in pressing charges against former president Donald Trump related to hush money payments to an adult-film actress.

"House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a staunch Trump ally, opened the four-hour hearing with a broadside against Bragg, claiming he is more interested in pursuing a “radical political agenda” than upholding the law.
“He’s taken his soft-on-crime approach to the real criminals,” Jordan said, previewing a line of attack that Republicans on the panel would recite repeatedly. One of them called on Bragg to resign and argued he should be disbarred.

"The hearing has been branded a political stunt at odds with reality. Bragg has described New York as “the safest big city in America” — and one that on a per capita basis compares favorably with the largest city in Jordan’s district."