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Jack is a graduate of Rutgers University where he majored in history. His career in the life and health insurance industry involved medical risk selection and brokerage management. Retired in Florida for over two decades after many years in NJ and NY, he occasionally writes, paints, plays poker, participates in play readings and is catching up on Shakespeare, Melville and Joyce, etc.

Sunday, January 17, 2021

Danger from the Enemies of Democracy

Important Announcement:   There are some changes taking place in the way this blog operates.  I will continue to post new “editions” periodically (probably weekly) of which this is one, but as new items come up, rather than start a fresh posting every few days, I plan on adding them to the most recent posted version, showing the date the item was added.  They will appear at the bottom of that posting.  Scroll down right now to read the ones added to this particular posting.  (And see recent prior postings as well.)


Know The Enemies of Democracy!

Richardson
As some of you may know, I am a follower of Professor Heather Cox Richardson’s daily (it usually carries the date of the preceding day since it is written the night before it is sent out) “Letter from an American.”   Her posting dated January 16 explains the history of the extreme right movement in the United States.  To read it, which I ask you to doPLEASE CLICK HERE.  If that doesn't work, just paste this on your browser line:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/WhctKJWJLghxfNKVRpMSZvrqVMWVZbFTWgHNpcMwrFxSPppgvpRqxdFFjHcSLGTpwGxXvgL  

It’s free, although you can sign up for $5 a month to join in the healthy back and forth discussion between subscribers which follows the free “Letter from an American” each day.   As Thomas Jefferson may, or may not, have said or written, “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”  Clicking on “Letter from an American” helps you to at least keep your eyes open.  We are living in perilous times. 

And while on this subject, in an email to the local Democratic group in our community, its Chairman, Bruce Brodsky, compared the acts of the extreme right with the “Profiles in Courage” about which John Fitzgerald Kennedy wrote, and referred to their position as “Profiles in Cowardice.”

He wrote that …

 “they point fingers, blame others, promote dissent and have no interest in working for the common good.  They define what is good as what is good for themselves.  Times have changed and so has America.”  

 “They tell the lie, make it bigger by repeating it over and over again and while they are at it, they luxuriate in victimhood.  They scream that they are the victims, that their voices alone are being censored, that the liberal left, you know, all those Commie pinko liberal Hollywood types and Jews and blacks and all of the “others” are taking their country away from them, taking their religion away from them, taking their jobs away from them and the liberal media working with the radical left, continues to wrongfully accuse them of acts they are innocent of.   They relish the role of being the victim.  They thrive on being the victim.  They need to be the victim because if they are not victims and what they are saying or doing is not right, how could anyone disagree with them?  The only conceivable answer is victimhood.  They hold up the bible, they wave the flag, the bigger the better, they stand and sing the Star Spangled Banner showing the world that they are the only true Americans.  They love the country and if you don’t love it as much as they do, they are willing to show you their guns and threaten you by their presence.  Times have changed and so has America.”

These words ring with truth. While we earnestly hope that the forty-fifth president will soon be no more than a bitter memory, which is not a certainty, those that supported him, and whose votes he was able to steer to elect legislators favorable to his ideas, will still be around.   

We must monitor them very carefully in days and years to come.  Some are already angry at Trump for not having succeeded in changing America to the undemocratic, bigoted, dictatorship they so desire, a nation where the only things that are good are those which are good for those who share their agenda, an agenda which excluded many from life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  And many of them are willing to fight for that dark agenda.

And if you haven't yet read today's "Letter from an American," please  CLICK HERE.

JL

(Item added 1/18/2021)

Those of you who remember the first Trump impeachment hearings certainly recall the impressive testimony of National Security Council appointee, Fiona Hill, She was honest and pulled no punches, but of course swayed none of the Trumpublicans who voted against that impeachment in the House.  Last week, Ms. Hill explained the "coup" which Trump unsuccessfully attempted on January 6.  To read her Politico article, JUST CLICK HERE.  (I wonder if the eight Senators and 147 House Republicans who assisted in Trump's attempt, either knowingly or not, by voting not to accept the Electoral College results from one or more States will ever admit to their aiding and abetting it.)  

JL


(Item added 1/18/2021)

Today, we honor the late Dr. Martin Luther King.  Here is the text of his Washington, DC, 1963, "I have a dream" speech.

JUST CLICK HERE FOR ITS FULL TEXT


(Item added 1/19/2021)

Trump's Contamination of Law Enforcement


Remember back in 2017 when Donald Trump spoke before a group of police officers, all ranged behind him on the stage. (It was in Suffolk County, New York, I seem to recall.) He frequently spoke to such groups. They weren’t there to protect the President.  Really, they were his audience that day.  When they applauded, it established a link between them.  Could they not applaud?  After all, he’s the President and he had come to speak before them.  

And when Trump said, “please don’t be too nice. Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over? Like, don’t hit their head and they’ve just killed somebody — don’t hit their head, you can take the hand away, okay,” that sent a message to them … and to law enforcement all over the country. 

The way things work out, much of the work of local law enforcement in this country is in Black and Latino neighborhoods.   Often, people there need the police more than elsewhere to preserve law and order and to protect them.  Often, that’s where the “bad guys” are.  But make no mistake, many officers feel they are following the leadership of the President when they try to operate the way his words suggest they want him to, not being “too nice.”  And that means that many of those who live in such neighborhoods are potentially suspects to start with in the eyes of misguided local law enforcement.  And then bad things happen in places like Minneapolis by overly zealous, Trump-inspired law enforcement.

And this attitude goes for Border Patrol and Drug Enforcement people as well.  They know the President’s feeling toward those with whom they deal and act accordingly.  He’s their boss, ultimately, in their eyes. 

All these officers wear a badge on their chests, but they often, even if they are not Federal officers, wear an American Flag shoulder patch as well.  In the minds of some, this puts them on the same team as the President who was always surrounded by many American flags when he appeared in public.  He’s their commander in chief, just like in the armed forces. 

(And a question for another day is how much of this insurrectionism is present in those armed forces, who supposedly take orders from a commander-in-chief, who turns out to be sympathetic to domestic terrorists?  And this also can involve veterans who maintain this loyalty.)

Sometimes, this feeling extends into the politics of some law enforcement people. Some clearly were overly gentle, too polite, with the white domestic terrorists who invaded the Capitol during the Trump Insurrection on January 6.  Some might have even been part of it, and they should be severely punished.

How do we resolve this problem?  How do we de-politicize law enforcement?  As good citizens, they certainly should have the right to engage in political activities and to vote.  But that should in no way affect the way they do their jobs.

Never. Ever.  


(Items added 1/20/2021)

Take a breath!  By the time you are reading this, Donald Trump will no longer be our president. Our job now is to remove the stain, as Nancy Pelosi called it, that he left on the presidency. Halleluyah! 

                                            *   *   *

For years, Florida has been a place of refuge for law-breakers and those on the path to becoming law-breakers.  Miami and Miami Beach were often the destinations of those who felt safer in the sunny South, particularly those with Mafia or shady business connections.  Well, it's still going on, but those coming here these days are white supremacists who feel comforted by the presence of ex-president Trump here, and many others on the far right who enjoy lying to the many ignorant and gullible residents of Florida ... and the rest of the nation.  Read the article in today's Sun-Sentinel about one of these groups in West Palm Beach by CLICKING HERE.  


(Item added 1/21/2021)

Accountability

On the evening of the Trump-incited insurrection, January 6, and into the wee hours of the next morning, both the House and the Senate voted to certify the Electoral College results of the 2020 presidential election, despite the insurrection’s violent efforts, in which five people died, to stop those votes from taking place. 

Because they chose to believe the unsubstantiated lies circulated by the Trump administration, even in the shadow of the insurrection taking place in the Capitol, eight Senators and 147 House Representatives, all Republicans, voted not to certify the results from at least one State.  They did so to maintain the loyalty of their extremist base, some of whom supported domestic terrorism on that day in person or from afar.  Some legislators even had encouraged the insurrectionists.

Before the new administration can work to bring all Americans together, some sort of accountability for the actions of these Senators and Congresspersons must occur.  Their actions cannot be swept under a rug.  Only then can the nation, under the leadership of President Biden, move ahead. 

JL


(Items added 1/23/2021)

Covid19 Vaccinations

As I see it, although the supply of vaccines is growing, its  method of distribution to the public, right now basically those over age 65, is “all over the place.”  The vaccine supply is often in the wrong places (like hospitals whose staff and patients already have been vaccinated).  No program should require non-patients to visit hospitals for vaccinations.  I don’t think that’s a good idea.

The problem is that setting up appointments at the right places for those in line to be vaccinated is in the hands of various State and local government entities, or even hospitals or pharmacies, not prepared for the enormity of the task. Overwhelmed websites (or phone lines) are frequently changed from what they were “last week,” often crash, and people cannot get appointments to get vaccinated. But those skillful or patient enough to manage to negotiate this maze do get appointments.

Right now, those over 65 in Palm Beach County can try to get an appointment (even if it is in Broward County) by calling 866-201 6313.  The online websites apparently have been abandoned.

Obviously, while administering the vaccine through local government facilities and pharmacies is the way to go, the setting up of vaccination appointments should be a federally managed program, through websites or by telephone.  

The Federal government’s Medicare and Social Security websites have far greater capacity to do this than do pitiful local efforts.  It should be a program which recognizes and coordinates where the ever-changing inventory of vaccine is and where those seeking appointments are.  We have the technology to put man on the moon and travel in space.  Certainly we can do this as well.

JL

Free Speech for Insurrectionists?

Yesterday, Press Secretary Psaki mentioned 'respect for constitutionally protected free speech and political activities' in approaching the problem of domestic violent extremism. This has to be carefully balanced with how we deal with those who still advocate sedition and insurrection, including some in law enforcement, the military and those with background in those areas, not to mention the ex-president.

JL





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