It’s Those Individual Rights

This is a debate in this country even from the very beginning and the silliness rages to this day.

These days the individual rights thing centers around the pandemic and the use of masks and even the vaccinations.

Let’s us take a look at what “individual rights” is all about….

Rights are essential for a society to function properly. They are normally set by laws and enforced by the government. There are many different rights and democracy is the political system that protects basic these rights the most. When basic individual rights, such as the right to vote, to work, to live and to have a family among other fundamental rights, are prohibited or limited by a government the country might not be living under democratic principles.

Imagine a world where you could not own property or even a weapon to protect yourself and your family. You couldn’t vote for the candidate of your choice in elections, couldn’t speak freely without being arrested, and couldn’t practice the religion you wanted. Imagine you could have your house searched by law enforcement at any time without a search warrant or be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment for committing a crime.

In such a world, you would have no individual rights. The United States was established based on democratic principles, and individual rights coincide with democracy. Democracy can be defined as everyone in society having formal equality of rights and privileges. The founding fathers put these ideals of democracy in the Constitution in the 1700s, and they continue to exist to this day.

Your individual rights guarantee individuals rights to certain freedoms without interference from the government or other individuals. These rights are derived from the Bill of Rights in our United States Constitution. The Bill of Rights consists of the first ten amendments of the Constitution. Within the first ten amendments, your individual rights are specified. They apply to everyone within United States borders.

Now the question is…..do individual rights trump (no pun intended) the public good?

These days your individual rights is not a given….only when it conforms to the present day paradigm.

The GOP embraces the thought of individual rights like the decision to NOT wear a mask….and yet the same people do not support a woman’s right to her body…so apparently those individual rights are only supported when it complies with the orthodoxy of the party…..has NOTHING to do with rights and everything to do with party philosophy.

Depends on who you talk with ….the definition changes with point of view.

For me either you support individual rights on all topics or you do not…..there is NO grey area.

Any thoughts?

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Treatise On Voting

One of the big stories for 2021 is that of voting and the attempts to suppress the turn-out.

Our president has signed into place an Executive Order on voting rights……a quick look at the EO…..

Direct federal agencies to expand access to voter registration and election information. The executive order will direct the head of each federal agency to submit to the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy a strategic plan outlining ways their agency can promote voter registration and participation within 200 days. These strategic plans could include actions such as:

• Leveraging agencies’ existing websites and social media to provide information about how to register to vote
• Distributing voter registration and vote-by-mail ballot applications in the course of regular services
• Considering whether any identity documents issued by the agency can be issued in a form that satisfies state voter identification laws

A good start but so much more is needed….and soon.

The dialog about voting I have heard a couple of statements that I do not agree with at all…..

“God given right” and “Voting is a sacred power”…..

There is  nothing god given about voting it is a right within a social contract……a contract that people sign onto as a member of a society and in turn are guaranteed certain rights….voting being one of them…..

All that said I am recalling some the Emma Goldman once said….”If voting changed anything it would be made illegal”.

After watching our Congress and political circus for all my years I feel she hit the nail on the head.

A little background….I have not voted for a winner since 1976 and Jimmy Carter….since that election I have voted for third parties…..in 2020 I supported candidate Tulsi Gabbard…..and in the election I wrote in my name for I had more principles than the offered candidates.

Enough about me…..

On to the institution we call “voting”……

Voting is a method for a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, in order to make a collective decision or express an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holders of high office by voting. Residents of a place represented by an elected official are called “constituents”, and those constituents who cast a ballot for their chosen candidate are called “voters”. There are different systems for collecting votes, but while many of the systems used in decision-making can also be used as electoral systems, any which cater for proportional representation can only be used in elections. (wikipedia)

Probably I need to say at this point that I think that all Americans need to have a voice in the government…..a voice that carries some weight….as it is now that is not the case.they get their information on candidates from the news and today from social media….however these sources are nothing short of political spin….very little accuracy just slogans and jingoism.

Here is another’s s thought on voting…..

I listened to a Freakonomics podcast today called “We the Sheeple”. I like to think they stay fairly unbiased, which is why I like their podcasts so much.

In the podcast, Steve Levitt was quoted as saying that he identifies someone as smart if they don’t vote (in Presidential elections). In other words, he finds people who vote with the intention of getting someone into office to be ignorant.

I’ve always been taught (or I socially absorbed) that you can’t complain about policy if you didn’t vote. People complain about low voter turnout, but hearing this idea made me wonder why the voting rate is even at ~50%.

Levitt asks, if we all know voting is useless, then why do we vote at all?

“I think the reason most people vote, and the reason I occasionally vote is that it’s fun. It’s fun to vote, it’s expressive, and it’s a way to say the kind of person you are, and it’s a way to be able to say when something goes wrong when the opponent wins, “well I voted against that fool.” Or when something goes right when you voted for a guy to tell your grandchildren, “well I voted for that president.” So there’s nothing wrong with voting. [But] I think you can tell whether someone’s smart of not smart by their reasons for voting.”

Some people would argue that the popular vote gives us a national awareness of how we feel about the President, but isn’t that what polling is for?

Is Levitt right? Are voters stupid? Does not voting obligate us to shut up and stay out of the discussion?

I say this because corporate America owns most of the outlets and these sources will “report” on the campaigns and candidates in the fashion that influences the voter to their way of thinking.

The voter has no actual voice beyond the precincts where they go to vote……petitions are as worthless as the paper it takes to put them together…..mail/email is met with generic ‘thank you’ replies…..townhalls would be a good place but unfortunately these are stacked with supporters and answer are generic and told to the voter only what they want to hear.

So can a voter make an informed choice for their vote?

In my opinion they do not.

For one reason the information the voter gets is skewed and second the voter seldom looks beyond the person they worship.

This makes the vote a worthless endeavor.

Why?

Look at the national Congress or the state legislature……nothing about the bills passed are the ‘will of the people’….all the vote accomplishes is to legitimize the rule of the elites….all this exercise accomplish is to give the illusion that the voter is in control….but actions in the after election days illustrates that they are in control not the voter.

Voting does not determine policies whether state or federal….all it determines is which wealthy elite will rule.

For instance…the recent political battle over the American Rescue Plan to battle the Covid-19 virus….75% of the American people liked the plan and yet not a single Republican voted for its passage in Congress.

Are you sure the elected people are working for the people’s best interests?

Voting has become nothing more than a way to legitimize those in power.

If it were truly a representative action then there would be a solid recall process instead we get lame soft soap BS.

Americans have a choice….either vote or not….if they do vote their single vote means nothing…..

Voting is widely thought to be one of the most important things a person can do. But the reasons people give for why they vote (and why everyone else should too) are flawed, unconvincing, and sometimes even dangerous. The case for voting relies on factual errors, misunderstandings about the duties of citizenship, and overinflated perceptions of self-worth. There are some good reasons for some people to vote some of the time. But there are a lot more bad reasons to vote, and the bad ones are more popular.

Your Vote Doesn’t Count

Americans need to move past the single issue vote…..until they become more informed this country will continue to slide into a political abyss that it may not extricate itself from any time soon.

I do not refuse to vote….the last time I voted for a winner was 1976 with Carter……I vote my principles and right now there is NOTHING offered that would embrace my principles.

The myth of voting has become nothing more than jingoism….nothing changes and the country remains stuck in a manure pile.

I leave you with a few quotes on voting….

“In this country people don’t vote for, they vote against.”
― Will Rogers

“Politics: the art of using euphemisms, lies, emotionalism and fear-mongering to dupe average people into accepting–or even demanding–their own enslavement.”
― Larken Rose

“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’”
― Isaac Asimov

“The fact that so many successful politicians are such shameless liars is not only a reflection on them, it is also a reflection on us. When the people want the impossible, only liars can satisfy.”
― Thomas Sowell

“Representative government is artifice, a political myth, designed to conceal from the masses the dominance of a self-selected, self-perpetuating, and self-serving traditional ruling class.”
― Giuseppe Prezzolini

Again I do not refuse to vote…..I do refuse to vote for the candidates that do not hold with my principles…I do refuse to ply party politics which I feel is destroying this country from within.

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Armed Camps

These days with all the ease to obtain guns even assault weapons the US is becoming an armed camp….it is becoming ‘us against them’ once again.

While the debate over gun rights rages….the population is quietly arming themselves…..not sure why other than some delusional bullsh*t.

For years now the militias like the Oath Keepers and so many more have been gaining members and arming themselves for the coming fight with the government.

If you are not sure just what these militia groups want or stand for then maybe this will help a bit….https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_militia_movement

I remember back in the 60s when the Black Panthers were photographic with guns the press and country lost their minds.

There was a concern that there would soon be a ‘race war’ in the US and of course the whites started arming themselves in case there needed to be a response to the coming race war….a war that NEVER materialized…it was all hype fed by the media and the NRA…..it help sell a bunch of guns.

And now whenever there is some sort of domestic chaos…..whether warranted or not……the sell of guns goes sky high because of some unfounded fear….helped by the media and politicians with their hands in the pockets of the NRA and the gun industry.

These militias formed as a block for any attempt of a ‘takeover’ of the government from ‘them’……that depends on the minority that is in disfavor with the idiots.

These overweight in-bred morons are filmed constantly with the body armor and the AR-15s (a substitute for their penis) attempting to intimidate people in doing what they desire….

These groups became more and more visible with the rise of those pee brains in the Tea Party.

That explains one armed camp.

On the other side of this issue is the NFAC……a coalition of black/brown militia group…..

I have introduced the readers of In Saner Thought to the NFAC in more detail…….https://lobotero.com/2020/11/03/nfac/

These people joined up with the ever rising tide of excessive deadly force being used against black and brown Americans this group has stepped in as some sort of equalizer….

That is the second armed camp….

This camp will possibly grow bigger and bigger because of the interests that blacks are showing and the interest in owning guns….like their white counter parts…..

Black people are buying guns at a high record rate, partially due to fear and anxiety, according to The Guardian.

Black people owning guns have gone up 58.2 percent, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) — and gun groups like the “Not F**king Around Coalition (NFAC)” consist of armed social justice advocates who demand justice for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, visibly strapped with handguns. 

The Guardian also noted that gun-ownership amongst Black people spiked both when President Trump lost his reelection campaign and when Ahmaud Arbery, a Black jogger who died after he was inspecting an empty house, was gunned down.

https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/diversity-inclusion/546454-gun-ownership-among-black-americans-is-soaring

A third and little known group is that of the SRA……a group founded to be a counter to the power and influence of the NRA……I have introduced my readers of IST to this group as well……https://lobotero.com/2020/05/10/who-will-confront-the-protesters/ …..they are not as visible as the first two…..but that could change at anytime.

I have expressed my concern about the runaway guns in this country…..and now we are dividing ourselves even further into armed camps.

Let us not forget the non-joiners or the ‘independent’ gun owners…..most are reasonable and would like to see changes in the gun availability and most have not chosen sides in this divide…..but that could change any day.

After the breach of 06 January Americans are realizing that these are dangerous times…..and sadly there is no end in sight.

Dark days are a head of us.

Can we survive as a nation?

It is true that Americans are resilient…..but can we stop this spiral?

Thoughts?

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“lego ergo scribo”

Get Those “Domestic Terrorists”

After the events that unfolded on 06 January…there has been a new focus on “domestic terrorists”….those home-grown terrorists that are doing damage to this republic.

I gave my readers a little background on my primary blog, In Saner Thought…….https://lobotero.com/2019/08/15/call-it-domestic-terrorism/

After the insurrection the Congress has acted with the introduction of H. R. 350……Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2021…..

Sponsor:	Rep. Schneider, Bradley Scott [D-IL-10] (Introduced 01/19/2021)
Committees:	House – Judiciary; Homeland Security; Armed Services
Latest Action:	House – 01/19/2021 Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Homeland Security, and Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Interesting, yes?

If interested in what this bill has contained within it…..

Click to access BILLS-116s894is.pdf

But where was this concern say 2010?

Looks like it is only a problem when their lives are threatened.

But I guess that as they say “better late than never”.

Does anyone here remember COINTELPRO?

No?

Then learn something…..COINTELPRO, in full Counterintelligence Program, counterintelligence program conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1956 to 1971 to discredit and neutralize organizations considered subversive to U.S. political stability. It was covert and often used extralegal means to criminalize various forms of political struggle and derail several social movements, such as those for civil rights and Puerto Rican independence.

In their scope and tactics, these FBI operations occasionally went much further than the original anti-Communist COINTELPRO effort. They involved at least twenty documented burglaries of the offices of the SCLC, an organization headed by martin luther king jr. Hoover detested King, whom he called “one of the most reprehensible … individuals on the American scene today,” and urged his agents to use “imaginative and aggressive tactics” against King and the SCLC. To this end, agents bugged King’s hotel rooms; tape-recorded his infidelities; and mailed a recording, along with a note urging King to commit suicide, to the civil rights leader’s wife. The COINTELPRO operation against the radical Black Panther party, which Hoover considered a black nationalist hate group, tried to pit the party’s leaders against each other while also fomenting violence between the Panthers and an urban gang. In at least one instance, FBI activities did lead to violence. In 1969, an FBI informant’s tip culminated in a police raid that killed Illinois Panther chairman Fred Hampton and others; more than a decade later, the federal government agreed to pay restitution to the victims’ survivors, and a federal judge sanctioned the bureau for covering up the facts in the case.

Now you know let’s move on…..

The more I read about this new bill the more I think it is just another COINTELPRO program…..a secret police if you will……

This attempt could be a very slippery slope….and we have had enough of this…..

This is how it begins.

We are moving fast down that slippery slope to an authoritarian society in which the only opinions, ideas and speech expressed are the ones permitted by the government and its corporate cohorts.

In the wake of the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol, “domestic terrorism” has become the new poster child for expanding the government’s powers at the expense of civil liberties.

Of course, “domestic terrorist” is just the latest bull’s eye phrase, to be used interchangeably with “anti-government,” “extremist” and “terrorist,” to describe anyone who might fall somewhere on a very broad spectrum of viewpoints that could be considered “dangerous.”

Watch and see: we are all about to become enemies of the state.

The Government’s War on Domestic Terrorism Is a Trap

I also think we have resources in place all ready a new “sweeping” bill is not needed….and I am not alone…..a coalition of 151 organizations agree and have made their thoughts known….

On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (The Leadership Conference), a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 220 national organizations to promote and protect civil and human rights in the United States, and the undersigned 151 organizations, we write to express our deep concern regarding proposed expansion of terrorism-related legal authority. We must meet the challenge of addressing white nationalist and far-right militia violence without causing further harm to communities already disproportionately impacted by the criminal-legal system. The Justice Department (DOJ), including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has over 50 terrorism-related statutes it can use to investigate and prosecute criminal conduct, including white supremacist violence, as well as dozens of other federal statutes relating to hate crimes, organized crime, and violent crimes. The failure to confront and hold accountable white nationalist violence is not a question of not having appropriate tools to employ, but a failure to use those on hand. To date, DOJ has simply decided as a matter of policy and practice not to prioritize white nationalist crimes.   Congress should use its oversight and appropriations authorities to ensure that law enforcement appropriately focuses investigative and prosecutorial resources on white nationalist crimes.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/01/25/coalition-urges-congress-not-expand-domestic-terrorism-charges

Again I feel this “Act” is a bad idea and I can see abuses in the near future.

I feel this is an overreaction from their lives being threatened….and not some grand policy for the rest of the country to help it remain a viable entity.

Any thoughts?

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Court Packing

Now that Biden has been elected the yells about so-called “court packing” will commence….that is as soon as his cabinet nominees are in place.

Court Packing is what the GOP is calling the idea of expansion of SCOTUS…..

Court packing means adding judges to a court, and in this case, adding justices to the Supreme Court. The Constitution does not specify how many justices must sit on the bench, so Congress can change the number from the current nine simply by passing a law. If the president signs it, they would then have another seat to fill.

The number of justices has occasionally changed at different points in history. The court started off with six, George Washington–nominated judges, a number that shifted with the political tide for the next eight decades. As the Washington Post reports, “In the Civil War era, the court expanded and shrank like an accordion,” with Republicans under Lincoln adding a seat in 1863, then constricting the bench to seven people to keep Andrew Jackson from adding to it. We’ve had nine justices since 1869, when Congress gave President Ulysses S. Grant two vacancies to fill. But in 1937, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt unsuccessfully attempted to expand the bench to seat up to 15 people, proposing that one new justice be added for each existing member over 70 who refused to step down.

The first question that pops to mind is….is it constitutional?

My views on the constitutionality of court packing have evolved. I used to believe that it was clearly constitutional under the Constitution’s original meaning, even though it was a pernicious practice that should strongly be resisted. But I have changed my mind. I now believe that it is unclear whether court packing is constitutional under the original meaning. Although my argument does not have a clear conclusion, the possibility that court packing might be unconstitutional is significant because virtually everyone else seems to think it is constitutional.

The Constitution gives Congress the power to increase the number of Supreme Court justices, and it does not appear to restrict the reasons why Congress may increase that number. Thus, Congress may increase the number of Supreme Court justices, even if its purpose is to change how the Supreme Court resolves cases.

Is Court Packing Constitutional?

Now that is subject has been looked at….is court packing not what the GOP is doing by selecting only conservative judges?

Are they rushing to confirm a Trump Justice simply for the legal advantage of tipping the court in favor of an (increasingly hardline) conservative agenda? Yes. Are they proposing we play with the numbers on the bench in order to achieve their goal? No, not right now; right now, they are explicitly seeking a nine-Justice court, with an eye toward securing a favorable ruling in the case of a contested election. So, not court packing, but not exactly the objectivity and fairness one hopes for in a democracy.

We now have a new president and VP….what do they think of this issue?

Democratic nominee Joe Biden said last year that he thinks court packing is “political football” and “a bad idea,” one that would “come back to bite us.” In the wake of Ginsburg’s death, however, he has increasingly avoided specifics on the subject, saying at the presidential debate in late September, “Whatever the position I take on that, that will become the issue.” Last week, he told reporters that the public “will know my opinion on court-packing when the election is over,” and separately refused to elaborate, declining “to play his game,” referring to Trump.

Kamala Harris, by contrast, has addressed court-packing directly. In March 2019, Senators Harris, Warren, and Kirsten Gillibrand told Politico that court-packing was one possible check on McConnell’s efforts to push the judiciary to the right. “We are on the verge of a crisis of confidence in the Supreme Court,” Harris said. “We have to take this challenge head on, and everything is on the table to do that.”

At the vice-presidential debate, Harris didn’t give a clear answer on court-packing at all. “The American people deserve to make the decision about who will be the next president of the United States, and then that person can select who will serve for a lifetime on the highest court of our land,” she responded to Pence’s question on the topic. She then shifted the conversation to Trump’s many judicial selections, saying: “Do you know that of the 50 people who President Trump nominated to the courts for lifetime appointments, not one is Black? This is what they’ve been doing. You want to talk about packing the courts, let’s have that discussion.”

Both are Centrists cowards and will not commit to anything progressive….

I am for expansion to 13 justices…..retirement after 70…..and a term of 12 years leadership to be by seniority…..of course since I am an opinionated SOB I have lots to say about SCOTUS…..https://lobotero.com/2020/09/25/i-have-lots-to-say-about-scotus/

To Make SCOTUS Better?

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The Social Security Lie

The idea of a national retirement plan is a sound idea but over the decades it has been bastardize to it resembles nothing of the original intent.

Social Security is the term used for the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program in the United States, run by the Social Security Administration (SSA), which is a federal agency. While best known for retirement benefits, it also provides survivor benefits and disability income. It is independent of a lump-sum pension.

Social Security is an insurance program. Workers pay into the program, typically through payroll withholding where they work. They can earn up to four credits each year.

For 2020, every time someone earns $1,410, he or she receives one credit until hitting $5,640, or four credits.2 That money goes into two Social Security trust funds—the OASI Trust Fund for retirees and the DI Trust Fund for disability beneficiaries—where it is used to pay benefits to people currently eligible for them. The money that is not spent remains in the trust funds.

A Board of Trustees oversees the financial operation of the two Social Security trust funds. Four of the six members are the secretaries of the departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services, and the Commissioner of Social Security, while the remaining two members are public representatives appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

There you now know what it is and how it works….and you did not need to waste your time on Google.

Sadly there are all sorts of trouble and problems with the program….problems created by politicians trying desperately to kill the program.

The “three-legged stool”: That phrase may not be familiar to everyone, but most people who work in public policy or private-sector insurance have heard it used to describe the U.S. retirement system. It suggests that our system for retirement security was designed to stand on three “legs”: Social Security, employer pensions, and individual savings.

Subliminally, the image evokes efficiency. A stool is a chair for people and a table for small things, but at a much smaller size and with 25 percent fewer legs.

The “stool” idea is pernicious for at least three reasons:

https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/theres-a-3-pronged-lie-that-un/

Time for the next president to sure up this program that more Americans depend on for their retirement from the workforce.  As it is today they will most likely die before they can enjoy that much coveted retirement.

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Our Debt Economy

This nation has worked with a huge debt for decades…..debt being we spend more than we take in….and that is the result of those massive tax breaks and cuts that only assist the wealthy…..

And soon, probably after the next election, the GOP will return to the same lame bullshit about the debt and will demand tax cuts to get it more in line with their philosophies…..while their man in the White House is pissing money away it is some how not that important…..just wait.

This country runs on a debt economy…..

All the economic forces of the state—of both governments and central banks—must be mobilised to ensure its continued accumulation of wealth through the provision of endless supplies of money to boost share prices and other financial assets.

This was set out most clearly in a note issued earlier this month by JPMorgan Chase, reported by Bloomberg. The note said that extremely loose monetary policy—the maintenance of ultra-low interest rates and massive purchases of debt by central banks—would have to be continued for a long time.

“More debt, more liquidity, more asset reflation” was the bank’s conclusion. According to one of its leading strategists, Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, there will be a $16 trillion increase in debt this year, taking the total amount of private and government debt in the global financial system to $200 trillion by the end of the year.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/07/14/debt-j14.html

A bit more information on a debt economy…looking from the UK…..

There is no limit to the quantity of money that can be created by a central bank such as the Bank of England. It was different in the days of the gold standard, when central banks were restrained by a promise to redeem their money for gold on demand. But countries moved away from this system in the early part of the 20th century, and central banks nowadays can issue as much money as they like.

This observation is the root of modern monetary theory (MMT), which has attracted new attention during the pandemic, as governments around the world increase spending and public debts become all the more burdensome.

MMT proponents argue that governments can spend as necessary on all desirable causes – reducing unemployment, green energy, better healthcare and education – without worrying about paying for it with higher taxes or increased borrowing. Instead, they can pay using new money from their central bank. The only limit, according to this view, is if inflation starts to rise, in which case the solution is to increase taxes

https://theconversation.com/modern-monetary-theory-the-rise-of-economists-who-say-huge-government-debt-is-not-a-problem-141495

The National Debt is only a problem when a Dem is in the White House and they can be blamed for all the GOP overspending.

There is a solution!

Stop worthless tax cuts and force those making billions into paying their share of the taxes……tax cutting has accomplished NOTHING for this country…..just keeps the wealthy in cigars and yachts.

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“lego ergo scribo”

Is An Autocracy Coming?

We have been watching all sorts of stuff transpiring around our famed American society…..protests and the reaction of the president.

Some are calling it an burgeoning autocracy…..but really?

What is an autocracy.

Simply……government in which one person has absolute power; dictatorship; despotism

Now that you have the definition let’s go deeper into the events of the past couple of months…..

This is not only one of the worst times for American democracy, it is one of the most dangerous times.

The creeping – and creepy – autocracy that is the hallmark of President Donald Trump and his inept, ineffective administration of court loyalists has slithered further into upending America’s freedoms with the dispatch of federal officials onto the streets of Portland, Oregon., despite the repeated objections of federal, state and local leaders.

The purpose: to police and detain protesters who have staged daily demonstrations since the May 25 cop killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in favor of the Black Lives Matter movement to secure more racially just law enforcement.

This is the tactic of police states, a red line in any true democracy that should not be crossed. Every day something new, unexpected and usually distasteful from the White House. Every day something worse than the previous one.

Rising Autocracy

These things seem to have the backing of wealthy elites….for there has been very little opposition to Trump’s decisions to send in paramilitary (Gestapo) police……

The main target of Trump’s authoritarian efforts is the working class. The Trump administration’s actions take place as the ruling class anticipates an enormous growth of social conflict and resistance.

After handing trillions of dollars to themselves, the corporations and banks are enforcing a homicidal back-to-work campaign that has already produced an explosion of coronavirus cases and deaths. Foreclosures are about to begin again after a temporary moratorium, and the federal unemployment subsidy of $600 a week is scheduled to expire at the end of this week.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/07/22/pers-j22.html

I am sorry to those Trump supporters that cannot see the danger their “buddy” is doing to the American society….but this is FASCISM plain and simple.

“Make no mistake: Trump’s federal troops will not be a constructive force in Chicago,” she added. “As our colleagues have seen in Portland, Trump’s secret forces will terrorize communities and create chaos. This is not law and order. This is an assault on the people of this country, and the specific protections of protest and press in the First Amendment.”

After video footage and reporting from Portland started emerging last week of unidentified federal law enforcement driving around in unmarked vehicles and grabbing people off the streets, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) announced he would introduce an amendment to military spending legislation to block the Trump administration from sending agents to other cities.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/20/fascism-coming-city-near-you-trump-pledges-deploy-secret-police-units-major-us

And now I await those people who will find exception to this…..but think about it….if say Obama had done any of this the toads that pretend to care about the Constitution would be screaming so loud they would rupture a blood vessel.

And I wait…….

While I wait something to think about…..DHS…..Dept. of Homeland Security……the perfect weapon for authoritarian rule……

In the wake of 9/11, the Bush administration made a series of blunders that have created havoc in U.S. governance. The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was the worst of these decisions, but not far behind was the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The DHS has turned out to be the perfect authoritarian tool in the hands of a corrupt administration, and there is ample evidence of the department’s role in degrading public life in America in the past several weeks. The department has become Trump’s tool for targeting “anti-fascists,” the label that he has broadly applied to all protestors.

The DHS is a bureaucratic monstrosity that includes the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE), and various unrelated departments. It has over 240,000 employees, a $50 billion budget, and a reputation for excessive waste and ineffectiveness. It is the third largest government agency, and its 60,000 law enforcement officers represent half of all federal law enforcement agents in the government. DHS has too many subdivisions, operates in too many disparate fields, and lacks proper congressional oversight. The creation of DHS meant that immigration enforcement and border protection were moved from the Departments of Treasury and Justice, respectively, and were then treated as national security issues. Under Trump, demonstrators, dissidents, and protestors have become national security issues.

The Department of Homeland Security: the Ideal Authoritarian Tool

Think about that when you enjoy your corn flakes….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

American Mind–Civics Class–Part One

In these trying times I thought that a good hard look at what can be termed as the American Mind or the American Identity or the American Experience……..you choose what you think this series is about.

This series originally posted in Real Clear Public Affairs…..a good chance to renew the Civics lessons for most people especially now with an important election looming.

The 1776 Series is a collection of original essays that explain the foundational themes of the American experience. Commissioned from distinguished historians and scholars, these essays contribute to the broader goal of the American Civics project: providing an education in the principles and practices that every patriotic citizen should know.

We start with the Constitution of the United States of America….”How Democratic Is The Constitution?

It’s hard not to notice that in the United States, political arguments frequently turn on questions that, in other democracies, nobody talks about. What are the powers of the legislature? What may the executive do? What can the states do without begging permission from the national government? Why can’t an idea popular with the public become a law?

For these and other questions, the answer will always involve the American Constitution, a document more than two centuries old that has been amended (not counting the Bill of Rights) only 17 times. In the wake of the 2016 election—in which, not for the first time, a candidate who lost the popular election entered the White House anyway—talk about the Constitution’s “defects” has become more insistent. Why can’t America be more like other countries? Do you worry about fracking? Boris Johnson was worried, so he banned it, because he is the Prime Minister of Great Britain and his party controls the House of Commons. He can do pretty much whatever he wants when he has a sufficient majority.

https://www.realclearpublicaffairs.com/articles/2020/02/14/why_is_the_constitution_not_democratic_484132.html Some say the Constitution is an economic document more than anything……https://www.fte.org/teachers/teacher-resources/lesson-plans/efiahlessons/constitution-econ-doc/

In fact, the inquiry which follows is based upon the political science of James Madison, the father of the Constitution and later President of the Union he had done so much to create. This political science runs through all of his really serious writings and is formulated in its most precise fashion in The Federalist as follows: “The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties in the first object of government. From the protection of different and unequal faculties of acquiring property, the possession of different degrees and kinds of property immediately results; and from the influence of these on the sentiments and views of the respective proprietors, ensues a division of society into different interests and parties… The most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society. Those who are creditors, and those who are debtors, fall under a like discrimination, A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a mercantile interest, a moneyed interest, with many lesser interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations and divide them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and views. The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation, and involves the spirit and party of faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of the government.”

https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/an-economic-interpretation-of-the-constitution-of-the-united-states/ Any thoughts or comments? Learn Stuff! I Read, I Write, You Know “lego ergo scribo”

Why Killer Cops Go Free

We have had a couple of decades of killer cops as newsworthy reports….and under normal circumstances with all the evidence out there and yet murderers still walk and retain their position…..why is that?

Counter Punch has an excellent piece trying to answer that question……

I watched Senator Tim Scott’s pitiful presentation of the Republican’s predictably weak answer to the murders of black men and women by the police. Can you imagine hanging out with Trump, McConnell, and Lindsay Graham? How Scott has to swallow his pride as they say dumb ignorant racist things? Senator Scott, like the television black pundits and guests, are seen as compatible with the interests of the networks’ advertisers. Like them, Scott is being promoted as a star. Many of the on-air black commentators are Baldwin clones, like Elvis imitators, who are attempting to appeal to the conscience of white Americans. They try to out eloquence each other instead of presenting facts. They lack Baldwin’s theatrical flair and depth. They are hemmed in by their networks’ salesmen. Whenever I become frustrated with the lack of a variety of black opinions in the media, I vent to my friend, the journalistic workhorse Richard Prince. He cited Don Lemon’s show as a sign of progress.

On June 10, 2020, Lemon said that if he said what he really wanted to say on CNN he couldn’t pay his mortgage. Don Lemon does the best he can, but most of those who referee and comment on race are white moderators and their guests, who anchor shows that take up hours of the day, which is why the truth can never be told on a media that lacks diversity.Even those who remain are in danger of being bought out or fired. If they speak up they’re in danger of receiving the Roland Martin treatment. The CEOs at CNN and Comcast, Jeff Zucker, and MSNBC’s Brian L. Roberts’ are responsible for the muting of Don Lemon and others. Zucker didn’t renew the contract of a pundit. Why? Because he talked about white supremacy too much. Both Zucker, Roberts, and their salesmen count on white supremacist cash to buy their advertisers’ products. Joy Reid has defied the requirement that the network tokens don’t come on too strong. Is that why they haven’t given her the show that was moderated by Chris Matthews? Ari Melber loves black people and loves rap. Why doesn’t he demand that she have that hour? Both CNN and MSNBC crowd their weekends with black, brown and yellow commentators, the journalistic equivalent of being placed at the back of the bus.

Why Killer Cops Go Free

For every cop that has to pay for his actions there are at least 50 that walk away Scott free.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”