We live in historic times. Each day's events, as they unfold, all become part of history. Events taking place as you read this may or may not be immediately memorable, but they will become part of history. Time will determine their significance. They even may resolve, or add to, some of the questions raised in the second and the sixth items on this blog posting, some of which were prepared before today. JL
* * * *
A Warning of Danger from 73 Years Ago |
| Seeger |
Well, the Weavers, Peter, Paul & Mary, and the many voices who sang it, and of course Pete Seeger who wrote it, aren’t around any longer but the danger the song warned us of is still around, bigger and ‘worser’ than ever. Take a trip back to 1949 and listen to Pete Seeger warn us by CLICKING HERE or by visiting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO39e5Uznu4
The song offers justice and freedom as their
message, both of which are under attack today in the United States by what is
still labeled as the Republican Party but undeniably has evolved into the party
of white supremacy, religious nationalism, anti-semitism, hatred of immigrants,
denial of election results, book banning, sexism in all of its manifestations,
and a brand of capitalism which takes precedence over the final remedy the song
offered, ‘love between all of my brothers and sisters all over this land.’
Heed that warning, brothers, sisters, and
others! Now, go back and listen to Peter,
Paul and Mary passing on that same warning by CLICKING HERE or otherwise visiting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nugn-5j_BIM
By now, I’d bet that old tune is rolling around in your
head … so now it’s your turn to sing it, or at least pass this warning on to
others!
‘If I had a hammer, I’d hammer in the
morning ….
JL
* * * *
To How Many People Have You Forwarded
This Blog Posting?
* * * *
Delays are on the Side of the Liars
By getting away with having the judge look at the Department of Justice's suggested redactions of sensitive information in the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search warrant, and his deciding to what extent to allow them in the unprecedented release of that document, the defeated former president chewed up almost 10% of the remaining time between now and the approaching mid-term elections, reducing the opportunities available to those opposed to his lies to counteract them with factual truths which might enhance their chances of victories in those elections, less than eleven weeks away.
I assume he has many more similar delaying
tactics in his back pocket, enough to last until at least November 2024 and probably
for the rest of his life.
JL
* * * *
To How Many People Have You Forwarded
This Blog Posting?
* * * *
How to Vote More than Once on Election Day
I was talking to a gentleman the other day
about the upcoming election on November 8 and explaining to him how he might
vote more than once and do it without committing voter fraud. Initially, that shocked him, but It is really
very simple.
You can double, triple, or quadruple, (etc.) your
voting power by talking to, and convincing those who might not even bother to
vote, or who have no idea of what the issues are, to register and vote the way you
are voting. All it takes are a few
telephone calls or words spoken over a cup of coffee or a beer. That’s the way plain, ordinary, people get to
have more than one vote. Election day is
less than three months away.
JL
* * * *
To How Many People Have You Forwarded
This Blog Posting?
* * * *
Voting Suggestions Section
As we get closer to Election Day, I will not
hesitate to let you all know how I am voting.
Repeatedly.
My advice is avoid voting for Republicans at any level whatsoever on the
ballot, even a likable and competent Republican for your town or village
council, or school board. To get on the
ballot, he or she will have paid their dues to the Party and that is enough
reason for you to vote against her or him.
If they were any good, they would run as an independent, denouncing what
their party now stands for. True
Republicans are ashamed of what has happened to their party in selling out to extremists
and fascists for their votes, but they seem to be sitting on the sidelines,
watching it happen and, except for martyrs like Liz Chaney, keeping their
mouths shut, fearing ostracism in their local communities.
Locally, I will be working hard to see that Val Demings replaces Marco Rubio in the Senate, that Charlie Crist replaces Ron DeSantis as governor and that Democratic representation in Florida’s legislature is increased, despite gerrymandering and voter suppression.
Getting more specific, when it comes down to it, any candidate who supports banning a woman’s right to control medical aspects of her reproductive system, who supports banning books in libraries and schools, who supports banning discussion of the parts of American history that disturb them, and who even support the banning of passing out of water to those waiting in a line to vote in the hot Florida sun, is sending a message. That message is that ‘if you cherish freedom, don’t vote for me! I will do my best to take it away from you!’ And that is my take on the Governorship race. DeSantis does enough each day, by merely getting up in the morning and by being himself, to justify his defeat!
As for the Senate race, that gets trickier. I am more than a little bit puzzled with the way Val Demings is
campaigning to defeat Marco Rubio. She
is wasting valuable time in her TV commercials on peripheral issues such as
Rubio’s poor attendance record in the Senate, suggesting that someone who
doesn’t come to work should be fired as well as making the point that
‘defunding the police’ is a ‘crazy’ idea.
These are NOT the kind of issues which will defeat Marco! She is getting some very bad advice by
stressing issues which will not seriously wound her opponent! If she loses, this will be the reason.
Rubio’s failure to support women’s rights by not speaking out against the
Supreme Court’s repeal of Roe vs. Wade, his failure to support legislation
protecting voters’ rights, so important to persons of color, his continued
support of the defeated former president’s lies, his opposition to gun control
legislation in a State where the Pulse and the Parkland mass shootings took
place, and his opposition to climate control measures, as the sea encroaches on
low-lying parts of Florida, are all horrid examples of his positions and
precisely why he should be defeated.
But these issues are precisely where
Val Demings is not going with her
campaign. She seems to act as if
speaking out vociferously on them will lose her independent votes. Wrong, Val! Not doing so will lose you Democratic votes along with those of Republicans who are appalled
by what their party has become. Those
telling you how to beat your Republican opponent are the same dumb people who
have led the Democrats to repeated defeats in Florida.
Don’t listen to them. Listen to the
people! Read what they want! Campaign for those things! Keep agreeing with Charlie who understands! Coordinate your campaign with his! That will bring them out on Election Day or by early
voting or mail-in ballots, not the flat messages you are presently sending out
on TV. You still have plenty of time
to do that.
JL
* * * *
To How Many People Have You Forwarded
This Blog Posting?
* * * *
The Latino Vote in Florida
 |
| Rubio |
It is paradoxical why so many who
have fled despotism in Latin America and settled in Florida and who will
be voting for Marco Rubio’s re-election on November 8, fail to recognize the
United States version of that same disease from which they fled, right here in
Florida. It’s more than Marco merely being
their ‘paisano’ that gets them to vote for him.
In communicating with these
voters, Rubio and the rest of the Republican team of liars have continually equated
the Democratic Party with the communism from which many have fled, particularly
from Cuba and Venezuela. That’s because
Democrats honestly try to do what is best for all of the people, a claim that
communism and other totalitarian regimes usually falsely and dishonestly announce
as their aim. These voters can’t seem to
be able to tell the difference.
The truth is that the Republican
Party that Marco Rubio faithfully serves is striving to install here the kind of autocracy from which
these voters fled! They should be the
first to recognize that when they hear Rubio or Ron DeSantis speak, but they
do not. That is the paradox.
The only way to bring them to
their senses is with a massive turnout of voters for Val Demings and Charlie
Crist on November 8, especially persons of color whose rights Rubio ignores and
women, who should be insulted by his support of the repeal of Roe vs. Wade. Maybe then, when they see how democracy works
in the United States, they will begin to understand that living here is
different from living in Cuba, Venezuela, or similar countries where despots rarely play by the rules. In the United States, we do, attempting to behave according to the rule of law, as Democrats do and Republicans once did.
JL
* *
* *
To How Many People Have You Forwarded
This Blog Posting?
* * * *
Whatever Putin Had on the 45th President, He Still Has It!
I expressed some
of the following thoughts in the ‘comments’ section of Prof. Heather Cox
Richardson’s daily newsletter, ‘Letters from an American,’ the other day. Let me share them with you.
“Although former Attorney General Barr succeeded in
watering down the facts which the Muelller Report contained, lessening its
impact, many observers concluded that the Russians, specifically Vladimir
Putin, had something on the defeated former president, and that influenced his
sometimes inexplicable behavior as president. I believe that the DOJ knows more
about this than they are talking about and that such opportunities for exerting
leverage on him continue even now. That might be the reason for their resorting
to legal action to retrieve the classified documents the defeated former
president took illegally and had in his possession. If it can be determined
that information from them has already been digitalized or communicated to
those who should not have it, existing laws must be fully and immediately
enforced. If not, what are laws for?”
Some of you may recall from the many books and articles relating to the defeated former president written by those who worked with him, that his behavior at each morning’s White House intelligence briefings was unusual in that he often was bored with the details of the items under discussion and their complexity. He preferred and did receive, simplified, often one-page, brief summaries and graphic illustrations that he was better able to understand.
This raises the
question of why he insisted on illegally retaining as his personal possessions at
Mar-a-Lago, the kind of detailed, mostly classified, documents that he never bothered to read when he was in the White House, and in fact mostly ignored at the time. Of what use
might they be to him in retirement? This is a frightening
thought.
JL
* * * *
To How Many People Have You Forwarded
This Blog Posting?
* * * *
Here's a text of
a letter from me that was published in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on
August 23. Those who follow this
blog may recall my detailed description of how the Republicans committed voter
fraud when they stole a seat in the state Senate in 2020 with an independent ghost
candidate who had the same last name as the Democratic incumbent and diverted
enough votes to give the seat to a Republican.
Here is my letter:
“That some
released felons, the nature of whose crimes excluded them from ever getting their
voting rights back, managed to illegally vote is no excuse for Republican
politicizing of courtroom procedures. If Governor DeSantis wants to fight
election fraud in that manner, let him show up at proceedings to cheer for the
defendants in a courtroom where they will face justice for illegal activities
that enabled Republicans to steal the seat in the state's 37th
Senatorial district in 2020, a much more heinous crime”.
JL
* * * *
To How Many People Have You Forwarded
This Blog Posting?
* *
* *
|
|
|||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In a letter published recently in the South
Florida Sun-Sentinel, a writer complained that two years after cataract
surgery, on experiencing eye symptoms, he had to wait seven weeks for an
appointment with an ophthalmologist.
Within the past few weeks, a neighbor of mine, dissatisfied
with the care his urologist was providing, and having his sleep interrupted to
relieve himself about ten times during the night, every night, was unable to
get an appointment with another urologist. ‘Take him or leave him. He’s your urologist,’ in effect he was told.
My neighbor gets his health care through a Medicare
Advantage plans, provided through Medicare Part C. I suspect the fellow who wrote the letter I
refer to also had such a plan.
Otherwise, the ophthalmologist who performed his eye surgery would have
routinely scheduled periodic checkups and should have been glad to see him,
certainly without a seven week wait. This is what happens, a loss of control
over one’s own health care, when a choice is made to sign onto a Part C Medicare
Advantage Plan, be it an HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) or a PPO
(Preferred Provider Organization). You
get what you pay for.
This may be why just 42% of seniors on Medicare
choose to enroll in a Part C Medicare Advantage Plan (according to the Kaiser
Family Foundation), a percentage which seems to be increasing, primarily
because they cost less than sticking with traditional Medicare.
The remaining 58% who stick with only Parts A
and B do so because they probably can afford to (1) either pay out of pocket
for what those plans don’t cover entirely, (2) purchase expensive private
Medicare Supplement insurance to fill those gaps and buy their own prescription
plan (Part D), something usually included in most Medicare Advantage plans, or
(3) be willing to be sued by hospitals or doctors for the unpaid difference,
ruining their credit rating in the process.
But in exchange, avoiding Medicare Advantage Plans can make it easier for seniors to get appointments with any doctor they choose, or be admitted to almost any
hospital, just so long as they accept
Medicare payments. Their medical care options are not limited by what
the ‘plan’ allows in terms of doctors and hospitals. Admittedly, PPOs are not so limiting as are HMOs,
but they cost more, and are a less frequent Part C choice than an HMO. Price is often a major consideration for
those choosing a Medicare Advantage plan.
 |
| Namath Pitching Part C Plans |
As I said in a recent posting on this blog, I doubt if the entertainment and sports celebrities (Joe Namath, Jimmy Walker and William Shatner for example) who shill for Medicare Advantage plans in misleading ‘red, white, and blue’ television commercials have chosen to enroll in those Part C plans. Think long and hard before you do.
JL
* * * *
To How Many People Have You Forwarded
This Blog Posting?
* * * *
|
|
|||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
America Afloat
(A poem that is always worth repeating in these blog postings.
To
learn more, visit this blog’s posting of July 30, 2022.) JL
America
Afloat
Jack
Lippman
The
greatness of America
Is
that it does survive
Attacks
upon democracy
Whose
flame it keeps alive.
The
laws that blossom from the words
The
Founding Fathers wrote
Still
serve us well today to keep
America
afloat.
This
doesn’t happen by itself,
We
cannot wish it true,
The
bottom line, my friends, is that
It
all depends on you.
JL
* *
* *
To How Many People
Have You Forwarded This Blog Posting?
That’s Not Enough!
No comments:
Post a Comment