1-31-2022 - A Poll and a Column, DeJoy and the Filibuster ... and the Quiz

A Frightening Poll and a Frightening Column 

A recent poll shows that 57% of Republicans say they will not vote for any candidate who admits Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election. If we define being a Republican as being one of the 74 million who voted for the defeated former president in 2020, that amounts to about 42 million voters, or approximately 27% of the total of 155 million who voted in 2020. That’s still a big number of believers in the “Big Lie.” 

The poll to which I refer was conducted by UMass Amherst and its associate director, political science Professor Raymond La Raja, commented that “regardless of the truth of the situation, public officials need to shore up faith in how we vote,” citing the results as ”extremely worrisome perceptions, and improved faith in the electoral process won’t happen until Republicans stop saying the election was stolen.” Good luck, Professor! 

And if Republicans don’t stop saying that, I ask, what will happen?  Check out a January 30 column from the Philadelphia Inquirer by CLICKING HERE.  or just visiting https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/donald-trump-rally-conroe-texas-pardons-20220130.html.  

There you will see that even worse than the “Big Lie” are the latest words of the defeated former president in Conroe, Texas, where he implied that re-electing him in 2024 might result in the pardoning of the convicted January 6 attackers on the Capitol.  He also did a lot of ‘dog whistling’ about the racist nature of investigations into him in New York, Georgia and of course, by the House Select Committee, amounting to obstruction of justice.

Here's the last paragraph of that column by Will Bunch, but please read it in its entirety.  CLICK HERE.

"Trump’s chief weapons are fear and intimidation. To save American democracy, the people tasked with getting to the bottom of a former president’s high crimes and misdemeanors — on Capitol Hill and in those key courthouses — must be ready for the violence that Trump is inciting, and must summon the courage to finish their job. My fear is that Trump’s speech in Conroe will live in infamy — but the only reason it happened at all is because we have not held Trump to account for attempting to wreck American democracy on Jan. 6 ... not yet. Now, Trump has told us in no uncertain terms how he plans to break the nation this time. We can act forcefully to stop his new insurrection and punish his past crimes — or we can sit back and let the comet of autocracy strike."

I don’t know how Americans can be optimistic when so many of them remain ignorant and gullible.  Democrats must recognize this, and quickly, very quickly.

  JL

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DeJoy and the Filibuster 

Postmaster General DeJoy still on the job?  Failure of the President and the Democratic Congressional majorities to take the steps needed to fire him will cost them votes in November.  It is clear he was part of the defeated former president's plan to sabotage voting by mail!  Wake up! It's only a bit more than nine months till Election Day!   To accomplish this, legislation must be introduced in Congress to modify the 1970 Act which created the Postal Service’s Board of Governors, making their removal possible “only for cause,” and requiring four governors from each party plus one “non-partisan” governor.  They appoint the Postmaster General.  Otherwise, the defeated former president’s appointees will continue to dominate the Board until at least the end of 2022, which would not be in time for the November elections.  But would a Senate filibuster stop DeJoy's firing from happening?

Could it be that failure to act to fire DeJoy will be just another result of the Senate filibuster not only protecting the views of a minority but obstructing the intent of a majority.  

But I wonder if, in the event of a future Republican majority in the Senate dominated by the defeated former president’s supporters, the filibuster might be an important tool for minority Democrats to use to save democracy in our country. A perplexing thought.  But still, there ought to be a way of getting rid of DeJoy before November, 2022.

  JL

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Quiz Time 

Answers to Quiz #1:  Here are the eight States beginning with the letter “M” and their capital cities.  How many were you able to guess? 

Maine-Augusta                                             Massachusetts-Boston

Maryland-Annapolis                                    Mississippi-Jackson

Missouri-Independence                              Michigan-Lansing

Minnesota-Saint Paul                                  Montana-Helena 

 

Quiz #2:  Let’s try again, only this time with the letter “N.”  There are also eight States starting with that letter.  Name them and their capitals if you can without cheating.  Answers on the next posting in a few days.

 JL

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Reminders:  

1. Get vaccinated against Covid-19 ... and if you already are, get a booster shot.  

2. Test yourself with readily available 'antigen' home tests to see if you might be infected and capable of spreading the virus.  

3. If you experience symptoms, or test positive on a home 'antigen' test, go for more sophisticated, and more accurate, PCR testing. 

4. Failure to vaccinate or test, even if such inaction is encouraged by Floriduh's governor, guarantees the continued spread and mutation of Covid-19, so please, vaccinate and test!  Ignore the Governor!  For suspicious political reasons, he has allied himself with the virus.  (If the coronavirus were a 'registered voter,' there is no doubt that it would be a Republican.)

 JL

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