HOPEFULLY A NEW ERA .....

 

We live in a world today where power, strength and aggression are valued way more than mercy and compassion. Mr. Trump has confirmed that strength and fear can get things done, so it seems everything looks well with the world where the strongest would continue to rule and dominate the world. Many adhere to this formula, Zionist Israel has been applying it for long decades, so is Kim Jong-Un of Korea and many others, new wave fascist leaders. 

For the world and America, this year has arguably been one of the most bizarre and destructive of our collective lifetime, to say the least, coupled to a very strange and dangerous 4 years presidency, both crazy events are not completely settled yet, the Trump presidency will have ripples for sometimes as the Corona virus pandemic will take longer than anticipated to go away and a return to normalcy would occur. As we are in the midst of the holiday season marking the end of 2020, I'm sure holiday celebration and its accompanying gift giving is not at the top of everyone's list, nor a priority to many struggling families and individuals. 

One of the first things to look for as a result of the Trump administration acts would be to reexamine most if not all of Trump's appointees, not the official political ones like the cabinet members, but the appointed to the different agencies, like social security, the post office, health agencies and internet regulatory, plus immigration, cyber security and many others, whereby most Trump appointees are in these positions because of donations to the Trump election campaign, personal loyalties, friendships and business partnerships. But no consideration to their corrupt past history or their incompetence, these people shouldn't be allowed to stick after Trump leaves office. 

Extension of unemployment benefits, urgently needed PPE for hospitals and frontline health workers, and tougher anti virus measures, ought to be top priorities at this time and not disputing falsely fraudulent election results, dreaming of martial laws or preparing for his 2024 elections. 

I, like many Americans believe that now is the time for some major and radical change. Now is the time for Medicare for all and a universal healthcare covering all Americans. Now is the time to guarantee everyone in this country the right to a quality education without going into colossal debt. Now is the time to reform our broken criminal justice system and hold police accountability for unjustified violence and misconduct, especially toward minorities. Now is the time for leadership to answer to the will and needs of the majority of the people, and not only to billionaires and corporate powers who are systematically rigging and corrupting elections, representation and the rule of law. 

Of course we should all demand immediate better infrastructure, better minimum wages, less permanent war machine and armament spending, but more security for our seniors as well as a more equitable wealth distribution through a fairer tax system, and a responsible approach to climate change. 

But to achieve all these, Americans need to be together every step of the way, forgetting stupid rhetoric and propaganda slogans as in labeling all these modern times basic requirements as socialist, communist or Marxist, anti religious or anti personal freedom. I don't think most of Western and northern Europe, Japan and many others are all communist etc. etc.....  It's time Americans sober up and look at their problems collectively, soberly and objectively. 

 Now is the time to listen to the global movement for climate justice, and with the recent election of the Biden/Harris ticket, maybe, and only maybe, we and the entire world with us could suddenly depart from the 3000 years old habits and ways, wars and cruelty, superiority and aggression, maybe Mr. Biden sobering and mature age, is an enhancing force for Americans and Sapiens all over, to switch modes of behavior and thinking, and seriously go into an age that will insure continuity and prosperity to us all on this small planet of ours, and not just to the few.

                     My usual many thanks to all, stay safe.   

              

AN INSIGHTFUL VOICE .......

 

Finally an intelligent voice, in Saudi Arabia and the region, Prince Turki Al Faisal, who led Saudi intelligence for more than two decades, and served as ambassador to the United States and the United Kingdom, said lately; Any normalization deals needed to help the Palestinians obtain their own independent State. 

While attending the Manama (Bahrain) dialogue security conference, on Dec. 5th 2020, he said; Israel is a western colonizing power. Incarcerating Palestinians in concentration camps, for the flimsiest of security accusations, young and old, women and men, who are rotting there without recourse to justice. They are demolishing homes as they wish and they assassinate whomever they want. The Prince also criticized Israel's undeclared arsenal of nuclear weapons, estimated to be into several hundreds of nuclear warheads. 

It is considered the harshest criticism of Israel coming from a high ranking member of the Royal Saudi family, or of any normalizing relations countries with Israel, in the hope of countering their common rival Iran, and boosting foreign investments in their areas of the Persian Gulf. Few days later Morocco  followed suit, so as to gain in exchange American recognition of its dominance and sovereignty over the Western Sahara. Mr. Trump obliged with no hesitation, plus that he created another headache for president elect Biden. 

Prince Turki's comments come as neighboring UAE, and Bahrain recently moved to normalize relations and establish ties with Israel, a deal brokered by president Trump's son in law Jared Kushner and part of the Trump oligarchy in Washington and Jerusalem. 

While Saudi Arabia has maintained its position insisting that any normalization between the Kingdom and Israel can only happen along side a lasting peace deal involving a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The kingdom publicly continues to state its unwavering support for the Arab peace initiative, a 2002, Beirut conference that offers Israel full ties with all Arab states in return for Palestinian statehood on all territories captured by Israel during the 1967 war, and totally refused, snubbed  and shelved by Israel till today. 

Although the Prince does not hold any official position within the kingdom, his stance is seen as closely mirroring that of king Salman, contrarily to crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman. Israeli foreign minister, general Gabi Ashkenazi, who attended the conference virtually, spoke directly after prince Turki and said; I would like to express my regrets on the comments of the Saudi representative, I don't believe that they reflect the spirit and the changes taking place in the present Middle-East. 

Maybe and hopefully prince Turki's words and comments and his entire statement will put the entire normalization process into some more equitable and rational path, whereby the Palestinians will not be the only and major losers, but unfortunately, the latest Moroccan move leaves us clearly with only one conclusion, everyone has a price, including leaders, brokers and countries. 

                    As always, my profound and many thanks to all, stay safe.     

    

THE FOREVER WAR .....

 

Perpetual war, endless war, or a forever war, is a lasting state of war with no clear conditions that would lead to its conclusion. Few countries in the world made it their primarily target and main economical engine, and always a way out of trouble to its leaders. 

A week ago Israel resumed launching air raids against what it called a wide range of Syrian and Iranian targets in Syria, while hinting of a severe strike against Lebanon and Hezbollah, another Iranian offshoot. Meanwhile president Trump, who lost his election bid on Nov. 3, reportedly asked his White-House advisers few days ago for options to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, until he was persuaded against it for fear of a total war in his last month in office. Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal 2 years ago, and continued his warlike rhetoric and targeted assassinations of Iranian generals and hitting military targets, Israel is on the same path, assassinating Iranian scientists and researchers, risking a very dangerous and destructive war for America, Israel, the entire Middle-East and the world. 

As P. Giraldi observed; In truth, the United States has become Israel's bitch, and there is hardly a politician or journalist who has the courage to say so. Congress and the media have been so corrupted by money emanating from the Israeli lobby that they cannot do enough to satisfy America's rulers in Jerusalem. And for those who do not succumb to the money, there is always intimidation, career-ending, weaponized accusations of holocaust-denial and anti-Semitism. It is all designed to produce one result, whoever wins in American elections or control Congress or the White-House doesn't matter, as long as Israel gets what it wants, and it almost always gets what it wants and wishes. 

Both the U.S. and Israel are the absolute leaders of creating and funding conflicts and wars just to invigorate and revitalize their insatiable military-industries complexes and selling their arms to the world. I will quote C. Johnstone when she commented; The fact that war plutocrats are happy with either candidate tells you more about the reality of these presidential or prime-ministerial races. 

It is so unspeakably insane that people can become unimaginably wealthy by using campaign donations to help war mongering politicians rise to the top of the political system of the most bloodthirsty governments on earth, and then selling the weapons used in wars those same politicians start. What's uniquely evil is the murderous globe-spanning empire which dictates the fate of our species fueled by human blood, while posing as nice and peace loving guys.

Only depraved people are capable of serving such a deeply depraved machine. Trump, Netanyahu and even Biden are not unique in their depravity, they're not even original or remarkable, they are just the next in line to serve at the front desk of the smiley faced murder factory. We will always have them, we always had them. It's a completely comprehensive system governing both countries, and more leaders and countries are striving to follow suite, to follow our example and embrace the economical benefits of continual warring. It's becoming an accepted mentality and trend. 

                My many thanks to all, stay safe and well.              

SUGGESTIONS FOR OUR ELECTION PROCESS ....

 

With all the Trump accusations of fraud and incompetence and missing ballots, mostly to his disadvantage, plus his election campaign team and all his lawyers raising cases and distributing right and false threats and intimidating allegations, charging Republican and Democrat officials and election supervisors of misconduct, mishandling and rush conclusions. Firing practically anyone who might utter a word against the official White-House frame and policy. 

Even the Attorney General William Barr, is into these allusions, whereby the Trump machine and lawyers haven't provided a scrap of evidence to support their claim, yet Mr. Barr is using full force of the Justice department to investigate allegations of voter fraud and election officials manipulation to delegitimize the election results. 

One could come to the conclusion that Americans are not good nor competent nor trustworthy of running a fair election at practically any level. It sure looks like the last few presidential and Congress elections suffered all from the same ailments and mismanagement. Fraud, incompetence, untrustworthiness, even our electronic machines are a major source of doubt in their accuracy, simply put we honestly cannot sort ballots, read names correctly, or count envelops and ballots. Our officials have been accused of many dysfunctions, and our elections were recounted at all levels several times, usually ending in high courts. 

This year elections are headed to a dangerous stagnating constitutional situations, putting our entire democracy in jeopardy and doubt. I strongly urge the public, our media and legislators to seriously consider an amendment to the constitution, for hiring an independent foreign body of many sympathetic and caring countries and leaders to our cause, who can run our elections for us safely, efficiently in a trustworthy manner, so we can continue safely on our Democratic path. 

Now for this year, if we still have legitimate fears, doubts and reservations about the results, we could call for a new election, run and supervised by some of our closest and loved foreign leaders. Let's call on Israel for help, I'm sure Netanyahu will oblige, North Korea might be a good candidate, as we never heard of a problem with their elections, and their leader writes wonderful and loving letters to our president. Turkey is a sure trusted Nato member and Mr. Erdogan is surely experienced enough in election matters. Possibly Russia, whereby Mr. Putin could add some needed discipline to the process, Belarus by now with its president are surely very knowledgeable and experienced as well. Maybe we should call one Latin American country for balance, Venezuela comes to mind, if we could convince either side of joining in and supervising a fair election for our country. 

Finally I could add one more suggestion for the future, whereby we shouldn't make it a permanent system, as it is not very glorifying for our ego and high esteem, we'd have to ask both major parties as well as some independents to sit in with the foreign organizers, observing and learning their techniques, integrity and diligence. So as to form a unified body of election officials and supervisors, who could and will be trusted to produce unchallenged results within our set time frames, thus eliminating the very costly recounting of every county results. 

America deserves an election system, that eliminates doubts in every looser mind, plus the time lost blocking smoother transitions and atten-ding our real serious major problems. We are after all well into the 21st century, whereby we deserve to not relive medieval tactics and ancient electoral procedures. Let's join the world of modernity. Just because we're a nation that is a leading voice for social justice, economic inequality, environmental fairness, liberty and basic human rights does not mean we should give ourselves a pass to our election procedures and tactics.             He he he .........

                          My, as always, many thanks to all, stay safe and well.                       

IS AMERICA BECOMING A FAILED STATE ???

 

I'm reproducing an article that appeared lately in the NY Times by Paul Krugman, A Nobel laureate and professor, one of the most celebrated economists of our generation. It depicts accurately what might happen, or is happening actually in the U.S. at least for the next 2 years of the Biden presidency. 

As I write this, he says, it seems extremely likely that Joe Biden has won the presidency, and he clearly received millions more votes than his opponent. He can and should claim he has been given a strong mandate to govern the nation. But there are real questions about whether he will, in fact, be able to govern. At the moment it seems likely that the Senate --which is wildly unrepresentative of the American people-- will remain in the hands of an extremist party that will sabotage Biden in every way it can.

Before I get into the problems this confrontation is likely to cause, let's talk about just how unrepresentative the Senate is; Every state, of course, has 2 senators, which mean that Wyoming's 579.000 residents have as much weight as California's 39 millions. The over weighted states tend to be much less urbanized than the nations as a whole. And given the growing political divide between metropolitan and rural areas, this gives the Senate a strong right ward tilt. 

An analysis by the website Five Thirty Eight.com found that the Senate in effect represents an electorate almost 7 percentage points more Republican than the average voter. Cases like Susan Collins who held on in a Democratic state, are exceptions. The underlying right-wing skew of the Senate is the main reason the G.O.P. will probably retain control despite a substantial Democratic victory in the presidential popular vote. 

But, one might ask, why is divided control of government such a problem? After all, Republicans controlled one or both chambers of Congress for three-quarters of Barak Obama's presidency, and we survived, didn't we ?? Yes but. In fact G.O.P's obstruction did a lot of damage even during the Obama years. Republicans used hardball tactics, including threats to cause a default on the national debt, to force a premature withdrawal of fiscal support that slowed the pace of economic recovery. I've estimated that without this defacto sabotage, the unemployment rate in 2014 might have been about 2 percentage points lower than it actually was. And the need for more spending is even more acute now than it was in 2011, when Republicans took control of the House. 

Most immediately, the Corona virus is running wild, with new cases exceeding 100,000 a day and rising rapidly. This is going to hit the economy hard, even if states and local governments don't impose lockdowns. We desperately need a new round of federal spending on healthcare, aid to the unemployed and businesses and support for strapped states and local governments. Reasonable estimates suggest that we should spend $200 billions or more each month until a vaccine brings the pandemic to an end. I'd be chocked if a Senate still controlled by Mitch McConnell would agree to anything like this. 

Even after the pandemic is over, we're likely to face both persistent economic weaknesses and a desperate need for more public investment. But McConnell effectively blocked infrastructure spending, even with Donald Trump in the White-House. Why would he become more amenable with Biden in office ?? Now spending isn't the only form of policy. Normally there are many things a president can achieve for good (Obama) or evil (Trump), through executive action. 

In fact, during the summer a Democratic task force identified hundreds of things a president Biden could do without having to go through Congress But there's where I worry about the role of a heavy partisan Supreme Court, a court shaped by McConnell norm breaking behavior, including the rushed confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett just days before the election. 6 of 9 justices were chosen by a party that won the popular vote only once in the past 8 elections. And I think there's a substantial chance that this court may behave like the Supreme Court in the 1930, which kept blocking New-Deal programs until Roosevelt threatened to add seats to the court, some-thing Biden wouldn't be able to do with a Republican controlled Senate. 

So we are in big trouble, Trump's defeat would mean that we have, for the moment, avoided a plunge into authoritarianism-- and yes the stakes are that high, not just because of who Trump is, but also because the modern G.O.P. is so extremist and anti-democratic. But our skewed electoral system means that Trump's party is still in a position to hobble, perhaps cripple the next president's ability to deal with the huge epidemiological, economic and environmental problems we face. 

Put it this way; If we were looking at a foreign country with America's level of political dysfunction, we would probably consider it on the edge of becoming a failed state, that is a state whose government is no longer able to exert effective control, ( Lebanon comes to mind) Italics mine. Runoff elections in the State of Georgia, may yet give Democrats Senate control, barring that, Biden might be able to find a few reasonable Republicans willing to pull us back from that brink, but despite his apparent victory, the Republic remains in great danger. 

            My usual many thanks to all, stay safe and well.            

        

    

ELECTION DAY IS FINALLY HERE ......

 

Today is the final election day for the presidency of the United States, plus many other positions for Congress's Senate and house, and local State positions. Basically but not exclusively, it is a battle between the Republican party and the Democratic one. It is becoming rapidly more of a battle between liberalism and tight conservatism, between a form of progressive social governing and a total laissez-faire capitalism, backed by a failed laissez-faire leadership, between old classical religiousness and their institutions and a more modern look and understanding of the entire religious dogma and institute. Between fair taxation and more equal wealth distribution, rather than a 1 or 2 % concentration.

An acceptance and reliability on sciences for life threatening matters like climate change, pandemics, and the use of fossil fuels, clean waters, eliminating hunger all over, peace on earth etc.. etc... all against a bunch of refuseniks hiding behind empty slogans of freedom, way of life and sacred rights and total liberty. Plus many other issues, strictly benefitting the very few, while harming and diminishing more than 90% of the American middle classes and the poorer ones. 

One person, his family and his entire oligarchy, hold responsibility for most of these situations. Inciting, lying, accusing and playing the role of a savior deceiver while clowning around. Mr. Trump for his 4 years in office hasn't done a thing to lower drug prices or come up with a Medicare substitute as promised, he's been constantly raiding Medicare funds and treating Medicare as his personal piggy bank. Let's take a closer look at his record for the past few years, as he might be reelected or rejected today. 

Now did we all notice how Donald Trump makes sure to project his own legal and financial problems plus his unethical behavior onto his political opponents. He did incorrectly claim that Hilary Clinton's campaign colluded with Russia, when it was Trump's campaign that was caught speaking and whispering ideas to Russian assets, and his many direct aids coordinating with Russian officials before and during the 2016 elections and taking office

He's incorrectly accused the Biden family of unethical actions related to Ukraine, but it was Trump himself who was impeached for holding international aid to Ukraine hostage in exchange for personal unethical political demands. In another conspiracy theory, Trump claims incorrectly that the Biden family are criminals and they accepted money from China, when we discovered it's Trump who has a secret Chinese bank account, while he was paying less than 750 $ in taxes for many years, and no Federal taxes for 11 out 18 years, while still refusing till today to release his taxes for public scrutiny. 

Mr. Trump is at least one billion $ in debt, according to Forbs, whereby 450 millions we don't know to whom this debt is owed, the NY Times reports that more than 300 millions of it is coming due over the next few years. Several U.S. agencies and intelligence and security experts declared that this huge personal debt is a security nightmare, for him and the country, and it's still a total secret. "That has always been the suspicion about Trump, that the Russians were bankrolling him, if he were a normal employee, that would certainly be a counterintelligence vulnerability, it's frightening all around". Said James Clapper, former Director of intelligence. 

"A second term for president would result in increased vulnerability, and thus potential huge risk." Robert Cardillo, former deputy director of the defense intelligence agency. "For a person with access to top U.S. classified information and the nuclear buttons, to be in such massive financial debt is a sure counter intelligence risk, because the debt holders tend to have leverage over the person. And the leverage may be used  to encourage actions, such as disclosure of information or influencing policy, that compromise U.S. national security." Said David Kris, former head of the justice department's national security division.    

It is unbelievable how hard Trump  was and still is working to trick American voters, and hoodwink them about his failure to accomplish anything. There are two Republican parties fighting this election, Donald Trump is leading only one of them, and surely the U.S. will be a very different country under a Trump second term.      

      My as always many thanks to all my readers, for my American friends, please vote responsibly today while staying safe.     

RESURGING WARS AND ARMED CONFLICTS ......

 

As in the early 21st century we're noticing a remarkable increase in armed conflicts and open wars, using new and very advanced technologies and electronics and cyber warfare technics, making the killing and annihilation of huge numbers of civilians more doable, and the destruction of entire towns and cities even countries more accessible.

World beyond war, should become the new slogan and motto of our politicians and leaders across the civilized nations of earth. We need global networks of volunteers, activists and allied organizations strongly advocating for the abolition of the very core institutions of war. We need it here in the U.S. and in many parts of the world, more so in colonial type aggressor entities and arms industries dependent countries.

We all knew that the U.S. troops were supposed to leave Germany, Japan and Afghanistan, even Iraq and  Syria, but never have. The taxes in the U.S. and elsewhere including European countries, all call for more weaponry, especially nuclear, missiles and drones, they were supposed to ease or cease in many cases, but they never have. The state of milita-rization and government secrecy about the war-machine propaganda and doings were supposed to ease up, but the contrary took place, it is clearly developing into a permawar. The war industrial complexes are back to being the number-one in international sales, and many new countries like Israel and others are striving at this new and very lucrative commerce.

Propaganda dominated countries, that tried to glorify WW2, the Korean wars, the Viet-Nam and the Israeli 1967 wars, even our adventures in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and Yemen, were all turned into a firm conviction and belief in their goodness and nobility. We're still trying to justify new wars and aggressions and adventures, Israel constantly attacking its neighbors and its not too close ones, selling arms to inflame very dangerous conflicts in Azerbaijan and Armenia, Kashmir and South Sudan. 

Where we don't find an ideal adversary we go into a cold war or war on terror. Based on a firm belief that all old wars and conflicts were the good justified model, and the new ones are a natural extension of our goodness, high morality and our mission to liberate and democratize the world. 

LGBT people, pussy riots and the Alexei Navalny case, are all targets of high spying bodies that answer directly to Putin, using Israeli phone-hacking high tech in many thousands cases. so did India and the UAE, Bahrain and Saudi leadership. Drones are another aspect of this new warfare international commerce, raging in the world markets. 

Most, if not all of these wars and wild adventures, were not fought to rescue anyone from persecution, they were not necessary for defensive purposes, and surely most of them in the last century and our new one, could have been prevented, saving the huge damages and destruction, only if we chose not to elect selfish and crazy leaderships, backed by the war machine manipulators and their huge money power. 

The trial, imprisonment and continuous torture of Julian Assange, who disclosed atrocities committed by the U.S and other governments, only proves the double faced and corrupt systems and leaderships we have.  "Not everything that is faced can be changed" wrote the author James Baldwin, " But nothing can be changed until it is faced." 

          My many thanks to all, please be safe.                        

STUBBORN VIRUS AND OTHER KILLER AILMENTS ....

 

Covid19 failure of right wing populists like Mr. Trump, Netanyahu and others is hardly a coincidence or a bad luck affair. The world's worst-performing countries against the pandemic are all led by self-centered authoritarian leaders, who in the name of economy, ideology or self preservation are trying to play and maintain a game of non-productive half measures, resulting in the killing of huge unnecessary numbers of people and hurting many more just to save themselves and their political existence by pretending to save their economies. 

The country with the highest number of corona cases and deaths is the U.S. which is led by an authoritarian right wing nationalist and populist fascist, second place belongs to India, as well led by the authoritarian right-wing nationalist and populist Modi. Next in line comes Brazil led by another right-wing-nationalist and populist, Iran, Russia, Turkey and G.B. And the list goes on till we come to tiny Israel that is by proportion to its population beating the world with their numbers of positive cases and deaths. And guess who's ruling the country ??  While we keep criticizing China, Korea and even some European countries for managing not to kill their citizens, at least not intentionally and collectively. 

Amid the pandemic, and in the run-up to the presidential elections, much of the world is watching the United States with a mix of shock, chagrin and great bafflement, the same feelings and the same sarcastic smiles go regionally to other states like Israel, India and Brazil. 

Mr. Trump has refused to accept and act according to a primordial principle of democracy, dodging questions about his acceptance and commitment to a peaceful transition of power should he lose the Nov. elections. Putting America in a laughable position and shifting the U.S. politically from a first-world country to a third-world country, or even a failed banana republic, We will see which one we fit after the Nov. elections.  He's now dodging all inquiries about his virus infection and degree, I'm feeling fine is his best answer. 

 Many other fascist nationalist leaders across the world are acting and doing the same, there seems to be a unified syndicated group, all belonging and graduates of the same school. Are we deliberately turning the U.S. into a Belarus, an ottoman Turkey, a north Korea, or just satisfying ourselves with the Indian, Iranian, Israeli or Brazilian models ?? Maybe we could add the Saudi model for a bonus. 

Most of these countries had a pseudo half way democracy, they fought hard to attain it, and now thanks to their leaderships are losing it again, we in America had it from the right beginning in fair dozes and shapes, it was a solid democracy going on, are we with our leadership's reign and egoistic  manipulations trying to eliminate what we have and had for centuries ?? Just to emulate some stupid slogans and failed dreams and personal power grabbing and egoistical supremacy. 

The diminution of the U.S. global status and image began well before the pandemic, as the Trump administration snubbed international accords, and embraced a narrow America first policy, now its reputation and prestige seem to be in a free-fall, according to an article published lately in the N.Y Times, the U.S. is paying a high price for the president's attitude, tactics and mockery, plus a decease unchecked, mass protests over racial and social and wealth inequality, and war prospects, and a president who openly seems unwilling to accept election results... these are not signs of a first world  country, and definitely not good signs for anyone.         

           My usual many thanks to all my good readers and friends, stay safe.                 

WEIRD RE-ELECTION TACTICS .....

 

The entire country is still disappointed and in chock after watching the presidential debate couple nights ago, of course people defer in their criticism and accusations, but a general theme shared by most Americans is obvious. Republicans or Democrats, left or right, conservatives or liberals, religious or not, they all somehow condemn the president for losing it and making a mockery out of the institution. To address this issue, I decided to copy almost verbatim parts of an excellent report by the NY Times' D. Leonhardt . 

There is a theme that has run through president Trump's entire re-election campaign ; He is afraid that he cannot beat Joe Biden. It explains his extraordinary efforts last year to prevent Biden from becoming the nominee, and it explains his more recent efforts to discredit the elections. Rather than running against Biden, Trump now seems to be running against democracy itself. 

It's useful to think and analyse the 2020 Trump campaign in 3 distinct stages. The first was during the run up to the Democratic primaries, when Trump used the powers of the presidency to pressure at least one foreign country, Ukraine, to smear Biden, (An effort that led to impeachment) while Trump took no similar steps to damage Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, or Kamala Harris.

Why ?? Trump often acts on instincts, and he probably have done so in this case, he believes in polls, and polls consistently showed him fairing worse in a hypothetically match up against Biden than against any other Democrat. The second stage began after Biden clinched the nomination, Trump doubled down on efforts to damage him. He portrayed Biden as a corrupt old sleepy politician. not so different from Hillary Clinton, or any closet socialist. It hasn't worked, Biden's lead over Trump has remained stable. 

That has led to the third stage; Try to prevent a normal election, Trump with help from other leading Republicans, and his loyal oligarchy and family, has increased his efforts to make it difficult to vote. His campaign has filed lawsuits in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere to restrict voting by mail. (Mike Pence played a big role there). 

In recent weeks, Trump also began what seems like an obvious attempt at voter intimidation, encouraging his supporters to show up at polling places, purportedly to prevent voter fraud, which almost never occurs. Donald Trump junior has released a video calling for an "army for Trump's election security operation." 

At least for now, Trump refused to allow a normal debate, constantly interrupting Biden, and even refusing flatly during the debate to condemn white supremacy groups, like the proud boys, a violent far-right fascist group. Even major Republican Senators like Lindsey Graham or Mitch McConnell, came totally against him denouncing his refusal, and putting these groups on standby for further action. The whole episode proved to be a chaotic jumble and a laughable scene. But for Trump it was one more attempt to undermine the normal functions of Democracy. 

There is still roughly a month until election day, an eternity in politics, at this point the picture for the past couple years is remarkably consistent, Trump seems to believe he would lose a normal election to Biden, and most people close to him are blunt that the president knows he's losing and is scared and panicky about it. But in an abnormal election, with low turnout and protracted fights over ballot eligibility, who knows what could happen !!! 

And even if Trump does lose, he is surely laying the ground work to make the false claim that the election was rigged, and consequently cling to power. For him it's more than winning and glorifying his name, as some legal experts say ; No question about it , Trump and daughter Ivanka could face up to 5 years in jail time for tax fraud after leaving the White-House, the only thing saving them now is the Department of Justice's guide line that says "you cannot indict a sitting president." 

Finally, the funny side of this election or re-election is that all radical right-wing organisations and all Republican electoral machines in all States are strategising to win the election not by luring voters to their side or winning the undecided voters with their policies, but by suppressing their votes, and intimidating minority voters, and making it very difficult for the majority of Americans to cast their ballots. ONLY IN AMERICA ......  

                      As always my many thanks to all my readers, stay safe.                       

WE WOULD RATHER DESTROY OURSELVES THAN TAKE CARE OF OURSELVES.....

 

No matter the criteria, Donald Trump has proven himself unfit to be president, his four years of presidency tells it clearly, eliminating any doubt about whether or not he's up and fit for the job. America is a relatively young country and it still is among other things searching for its soul, searching to be compassionate and peaceful, searching to be a real world example, a role model, a leader. 

Any country trying sincerely to find itself, and heighten its goals in life cannot allow the type of cruelty targeting immigrants and refugees, it cannot ignore the injustices taking place every day on its streets and within its communities, it cannot turn a blind eye to the unacceptable wealth inequalities between its minority very rich and its majority middle and poorer classes, it cannot keep refusing social equitable programs under different excuses and empty forgotten slogans and sentiments. 

A country aspiring for world leadership cannot and should not tolerate the highest numbers of Covid19  cases and deaths in the globe. And keep lying about it to itself and the world. Any country looking honestly for its soul cannot try to escape and hide from applying some social justice toward its sick, toward its students, towards its senior citizens, toward its veterans, while ignoring its militarism and bullying, its wild adventures, its interference and exploiting in practically every country in every continent. 

Most Americans from all walks of life say all the time, this is not who we are, and probably it is so to a majority of Americans, but sadly enough no one in the world believe us any more, no one takes us seriously, we've totally stigmatized ourselves. The entire world think of us as totally double-faced and Hypocritical, selfish, brutal and greedy, careless. To my knowledge only Zionist Israel managed to beat us at the game, while we're both claiming to be still searching hard for our soul and compassionate goals.

As a matter of fact, both countries are facing the same type of leadership elections, while I'm only concerned  about us here, we have to seize the moment and choose new directions, we have to fight the dark visions governing our lives and future. And sincerely fight for our true character, that is if we really believe in our mission and the future of our country and the world. 

The country is being run exactly like a corporation, strictly to the benefit of its owners and share holders, America is at the mercy of the Trump business model, everything for him, his family and oligarchy, plus the few other businesses and banks around. The rest of the country doesn't really count, it just serves the small top wealthy elite, and every method and fascist nationalist tactic is legit to maintain power.

So if every citizen of this promising country don't give this election all they've got and their utmost seriousness, we all may wake up one day in early November wondering; how could we have left the fate of the country and the planet go down the drain, at the hands of haters, selfish deniers, liars, delayers and falsifier contortionists, we could truly lose our souls and start our new irreversible journey into darkness.       

The journalist A. Giridharadas says; The U.S. has become two countries, impermeable to each other, where each side thinks the other presents an existential threat to the idea of America, and where persuasion is all but impossible, it's a real cold civil war. 

              My gratitude to all my good readers, stay safe.  

      

        

FOR THE RECORD .....

 

With just under two months remaining until the U.S. elections, president Trump is desperate to show off his accomplishments in the area of foreign relations, that urgency translates to a strategy that can be boiled down to "Trump makes peace in the highest places" the goal is to broker as many international agreements as possible in order to portray the president as the ultimate deal maker.

But unfortunately, the challenges and inequities we are facing internally as a nation eclipses his ambitions and continue to be on full display. Rising Covid-19  cases and deaths, record unemployment numbers, more families defaulting on rent payment and finding themselves homeless overnight, more Americans grieving in the wake of violent police brutality, more divisions and chaos within the same cities and constituencies, more people than ever hitting the poverty lines while few billionaires doubled, tripled and quadrupled their fortunes since the pandemic started, we give them more tax-breaks, we further enrich pharma and the military, and we insist on calling Corona the Chinese virus because it sounds nice and deflect attention.

Mr. Trump's ugliness is what makes him what he is, the supremacist of all supremacists, he is not a conservative by any definition, he's not a Republican in any real sense, in no way a public servant, he's a president only of the disunited red states of America and their rednecks populations, he only addresses them because they blindly vote for him and definitely not because he admires them, or their ways or  their religious denominations. He loathes anyone poorer, weaker or less fortunate than himself, even our dead soldiers, they are all losers, suckers and stupid. 

In his final days, his desperate absurd continuous tweeting, attacking everyone and everything, camouflaging all his failed and aborted foreign adventures by pulling out few of our soldiers from couple theaters and attacking some of his own appointed generals and the war machine, inciting his voters to double vote, against the law of the land, glorifying fascism, brutality and racism, and totally sitting on the side, leaving the pandemic run its crazy wild course with no proper guidance whatsoever, Americans have certainly had their hands full and enough of his lies.  

Now to top it all and make things even more daunting, it happens to be a presidential election year, and that in America means that everything is politicized, everything meaningful is more or less put on hold, and only considered if beneficial or not to election or reelections purposes, both parties adhere to the game systematically every four years.

And that's not even the half of it, as we all know, the fact that our president is one of the most disliked public figures in all of American history, and a joke to the world, it only adds to the stress, pressure, excitement and sarcasm. I mean Mr. Trump has been officially impeached by the house, in fact if he's reelected, he will be the very first impeached president to ever be reinstated in office, I bet he even likes the idea. Talk about history in the making!!! 

But could it happen?? would the majority of Americans really vote him back?? or even some game of his to reinstate himself in office, many seem to doubt it, but you never know, I guess we'd all have to wait till early Nov. and see the game governing our lives and future unfold, the show is fully on and it must continue. And as Mr. Ian Bassin, a former White-House counsel explained ; "Mr. Trump is not trying to win re-election, he is trying to stay in power at any price, there is a huge difference between the two."

              My as always many thanks to all, be well and stay safe.         

         

 

OUR DARK & BLEAK ELECTIONS .......

 

It's high time for America and maybe the world population, to get serious about some essential changes in our lives. texts, laws even constitutions, cannot stay the same centuries after centuries, turning them into untouchable sacred words and policies, governing our lives exactly the same way it was 300 years ago, or 2000 or 3000 years ago. Not even religions and their sacred books are managing to keep literal and unchanged without new adaptations and new rereading and rephrasing of its texts to suit our modern times and tempo. 

It took humanity thousands of years to reach some forms of Democracy, and get rid in many places of authoritarianism and absolute monarchies. But most of us still refuse to use these privileges smartly and effectively, many insist on voting just to elect obvious dictators, greedy and selfish profiteers, adventurists who will stop at nothing to reach their goals. 

It is time to vote with open eyes to the future and not as always with nostalgic past times and memories of pseudo better days. It is time to vote climate, it is time to vote equitable equality and a reasonable wealth distribution, it is time to vote clean renewable energy, it is time to vote for common national social rights as in health, education, a descent roof on top of every American family, it is time to vote for rebuilding America's infrastructure, it's time to reconsider our tax shares and our benefits from it and maybe have a say in how it's being spent. 

It is time to vote for total care and some well being of our elderly and senior citizens, it is time to vote to diminish our armed forces, reduce excessive armaments, stop our adventures across the entire globe and our permanent endless wars against anyone and everyone. Trust me my friends, no one is contemplating or  looking to invade our country or enslave our people and change our lifestyle. It is time to vote civility, less superiority and racism, less hegemony, less brutality, less apartheid and surely less greed and selfishness. 

Americans have to start thinking and considering all of us, all our friends and allies, all of the Western world, the entire globe. We're turning into a small village after all. America and the world are paying a very heavy toll from fossil-fueled and nuclear disasters, from across borders pandemics, from stupid wars and adventures and sanctions in all their forms, from inadmissible disparities in national wealth distributions. 

Unfortunately it's not only America, many of the world countries live in similar conditions, live with tragedies and grievances, while they busy themselves stealing, delegitimizing, flattening out and nullifying elections, we cannot afford such infantile pastimes and games, nature and life are fed-up with our foolishness and carelessness, with our greed and brutality toward each other, and every other living species. Let's vote people who can provide creative, inclusive and collaborative leadership, people who can truly lead us into the future and not make us live and relive the past, or their own present at best. 

In fact, our entire planet's health is in grave danger and jeopardy, the election or reelection of reckless leaders, fascist nationalists, neocons, will surely result in irreversible changes to the well being of humanity, and to the climate that will affect and hurt every single person on earth.     

It's time, high time to take our elections more seriously and try to advance our and our children's and grandchildren's welfare and decent existence, a leader who will do anything to be elected or reelected shouldn't be in consideration. What the world and America need today is to avoid invoking its past glories and historical greatness, stop overstating our military prowess and geography and just embrace a fair dose of result-oriented realism.

       My usual many thanks to all, be well and stay safe.    

     

                 

IT IS WHAT IT IS .....

 

As Mr. Trump and his oligarchy and their GOP blind followers are working furiously 24/7 to sabotage every chance his Democratic opponent and every Democratic politician's chance they have at winning the November elections, they want to suppress votes, kill institutions like the post office, spread lies and fake news, to stop any Democratic advance, break their spirit and demoralize Democratic and independent voters totally. 

Joe Biden's message to the nation is: " We have too often allowed our differences to prevail among us, we have too often allowed ambitious men to play off those differences for political gain. We have often retreated behind our differences when no one really tried to lead us beyond them. But all our differences hardly measure up to the values we all hold in common ... I want to make the system work again, and I'm convinced that is what all Americans really want. 

Well, honestly Mr. Biden, I don't share your optimism and honest morality, and I frankly don't believe all Americans are so loving and caring for each other, and looking for the ideal system that will work for everyone on equal footing, an egalitarian socio-economical-humanitarian-moral system for all, not internally or internationally, we are witnessing a good third of the population following blindly and willingly, enthusiastically a fascistic, pro conspiracy fanatic, a wheeler dealer who is determined to wreck the country and its democracy, its institutions and people for his own personal benefit and electoral ambitions. Your kind words and intentions Mr. Biden do not come up nor stand to the situation we're facing. 

What is happening nowadays in America with its internal politics, foreign policies, elections, with its civility at all levels, its widening inequitable wealth distribution, its efforts to rebuild the country's infrastructure, its education at all levels, its health system and response to dangerous pandemics, on the brink of war in more than a place, it is all becoming a huge farce, a joke, a politicized tool, a personal glorifying game, these cases and many more similar ones, make it appear that the simpletons, the idiots, the fanatic zealots have obviously taken over the asylum, and only the rapid institution of some sane rules is going to bring back life and politics to a semblance of sanity, normalcy and progress. 

finally, and to sum it up, I have to say , that the great Democratic convention, was more of a nice Broadway joyous and merry show than a serious responsible political convention, especially considering the ill fated times America is going through, and the havoc the Trump legacy is leaving behind, it was more entertainment and less substance, more artistry and make-up and less sobriety, maybe it reflects the 21st century American mood and nonchalance toward our existential problems and politics in general, IT'S SHOW TIME AND THE SHOW MUST CONTINUE !!!

          As always, my many thanks to all, stay safe.                   

A LOOK AT THE NEW PRESIDENTIAL TICKET .....

 

Yesterday Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for the presidential election in early November named California Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate, making history by selecting the first woman of color, descending from Jamaican and Indian parents, to compete against Donald Trump and Mike Pence. Harris joins Biden at a critical moment of unprecedented national crisis. 

The country is living its worse pandemic in one hundred years that claimed over 200.000 lives and several millions of positive cases, business closures and disruptions resulting from the Covid virus, that left millions without jobs, over 10% unemployment rate, many risk evictions and becoming homeless, many struggle to feed their children and families, a further disparity in wealth, health, education between different levels of society, plus an ongoing civil unrest due to harsh racist practices and police brutality. 

Like many in America, and the world, Harris left some a bit disappointed or cold at best, her whole ideology wasn't progressive enough, we will examine these claims further down, I had and still have different serious reservations about her foreign policies and opinions, especially toward the Middle-East and its various conflicts, for instance, among the list of finalists who were under consideration by the Biden campaign for the VP role, Harris had the clearest record of support for Israel and its present leadership, and with Biden himself, an enthusiastic modern Zionist, all policies created by the ill previous administration, have no realistic chance of being restudied, revised or revoked. 

But if we look from a strictly American perspective, at the woman herself and the position, she's still a sure main street progressive, with possibilities of progressive initiatives, and neutral in her ideologies, which objectively might serve well the presidency, the country and its citizens, and as Mark shields said on NPR she has a million Dollar smile. And with a Trump, his family and oligarchy administration's failure after failure, endangering the unity and prosperity of the American majority, every honest citizen voter ought to think clearly, rationally and give this coming election some serious consideration.

Lately in America, the debate about candidates and in our case the second in command, was shaping around what can a presidential team do and what policies, ideas and progress can they advance, or just consider who can best beat Trump/Pence and win the election. While most people now accept that both factors are as important and determining factors, and not just one of them. 

In our times, here in America, many people are suffering and being subjected to great pain, whether they've lost their jobs, their businesses, their loved ones to the virus, or having to choose between keeping a roof over their heads, or paying for medical emergency, or feeding their families, not to talk about educating their kids, our actual president and his entire administration, don't want to be distracted by any of these, they're actually showing signs of getting bored from some aspects of these threatening problems.

 Mr. Trump managed even to totally politicize and using an institutions like the post offices as a hostage, employing more than half a million individuals and probably feeding 700.000 families across America, he is flatly refusing to help providing any funding to save it, he's even threatening to veto any funding, because he strongly believe that republicans will loose the elections if every American could vote, he said it clearly in an interview with Fox news. while their major priority is keeping Wall Street in good shape and the Nasdaq skyrocketing.

The Biden/Harris duo give some glimpse of hope to millions of Americans. While regaining the soul of the nation, they seem to understand that taking care of needy people, and all the people, isn't a distraction, it is the job. I only hope that this duo will change their words of leading the world into inspiring the world, it's a way of thinking.

Now it remains to be seen, if this duo, once elected to lead our country, will treat the rest of the world, be it in Latin America, the Middle-East and its conflicts, Israel and its brutal colonial supremacy, our endless adventures, wars and conflicts with so many, and lately, backed by an absurd jealousy, turning China into our newest perpetual enemy. While we keep falling into the hands of our corporate greedy masters, and their war machines, will the duo be able to reverse some or most of these policies that are becoming our life engine. 

          As always my thanks to all , be safe and well.                        

ANTIFA ......

Antifa, a political protest movement comprising of various autonomous groups opposing fascism and other forms of extreme right wing ideologies, including white supremacy and Nazi like tactics .
Mr. Trump and his AG Mr. Barr and some Republican legislators like Ted Cruz want to classify and designate officially Antifa as a terrorist organization, there's no proof at all of any Antifa member using violence or causing the death of anyone, unlike the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan which is not declared nor classified as a terrorist organization.

In the last century both Bolshevism and Fascism proved to be two false dawns, they didn't bring the morning of a new day to their nations nor to the world, but only some archaic times. Later in the century came the U.S. global role of supremacy and control of the world, it worked for few decades with some ups and downs, some balances and restrictions, but since then, the world in its entirety, even what we call and consider allies, got bored and tired of being ordered, bullied, threatened and commanded.

We couldn't and wouldn't stop our vulgar adventures all over, denying it was all for the sole advantage of a permanent war machine and its corporate profiteers behind it. We kept our games of camouflaging, ignoring every other rational warning. Our lies to the whole world managed to convince us, and only us, of a pseudo rectitude of behavior in our policies and acts.

Our model has failed, the world today is not interested in our military prowess and our war machine, it is rather looking at our public health, our education and research levels, our infrastructures, our social equity and equilibrium, social benefits and securities, and while the world is seeing mostly failures and mediocrities, a horribly ill wealth distribution and total unfair taxation, a very corrupt and partisan  political class leading to a total mismanagement of our capacities.

Historically, as Rome inherited the Greco-oriental culture, ruled the world and then lost it all, America is going through the same process, it inherited a medieval European religious and conservative, supremacist culture, an aggressive and brutal one, that exercised from its very first days death and annihilation against every and anyone who stood in its colonial and imperial way, be them native Americans, Hispanics, enslaved Africans, even French and British powers.

It went on for decades even centuries, culminating very lately in one man, one regime, a Mr. Trump, his oligarchy and family, who got exposed showing all of our weaknesses and long dating faults. But, is it not a universal way, look at Israel's Netanyahu, Turkey's Erdogan, Iran's mullahs, plus all other fools around the globe following our example and political guidance.

America is ceasing to rule, and no one sees who is going to take her place, and that is the simple truth. Not China or Europe or Russia, not Iran or Turkey, Israel or Saudi Arabia regionally will be capable of filling the gap. It sounds good and amusing to some for a while, even positive, but I'm more afraid of a chaotic outcome and a very dangerous one for that.

The entire world is learning nowadays what Talleyrand told Napoleon back then ; You can do almost  everything with bayonets, sire, except sit on them. We are all learning that to rule is not the gesture of snatching at power, nor to be brutal, vengeful, and fascistic, but the tranquil exercise of it. America is learning it the hard way, while the Middle-East is paying a very high price for not applying it.

Many countries around the world, including the U.S. , are facing periods of great difficulty in their internal lives, with strenuous problems of law, economics, equality of wealth and public order, states cannot keep crushing the independence of the individuals nor the groups, they will implode sooner or later. Increasing fascistic tactics and police numbers and armaments and brutality will lead inevitably to situations of great instability, and even civil unrest and wars, as we keep witnessing all through the Middle-East and other parts.

Most countries have passed through periods when someone who shouldn't rule has made the attempt to grab power, but a strong instinct and will forced them to rethink and crush those claims to usurp and hold power, some democratically some by force, many countries rejected these passing irregularities, and reconstituted their reason and morality as people. We cannot keep escaping from our real destiny, blinding ourselves to its evidence, we cannot keep playing deaf to our real problems and avoid facing up to what has to be .
                            As always , my many thanks to all for following, stay safe.             

THE D.C. STATEHOOD ISSUE .......

In response to my interest in the issue of Washington DC gaining statehood in the USA, I received a response from Congressman Gerald Connolly. Washington DC is technically a district, ruled by the Federal authorities, not a state, against the will of the majority of its citizens (as recognized on the DC cars license plates, clearly stated "Taxation without Representation"). This has been a long-standing issue in the US, and the last time the US Congress voted on this issue was roughly 30 years ago, in 1992. As I believe it describes the issue at hand rather well, I have decided to paste the letter in its entirety below for readers to enjoy and better understand; 

Dear Omar Dabbagh:

Thank you for contacting me about D.C. statehood. I appreciate your interest in this issue and your views are important to me.

I am a proud cosponsor of H.R. 51, the Washington D.C. Admission Act. A legislation, introduced by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, she introduced this bill and has fought tirelessly to fight for the rights of the District residents. This legislation would admit the Washington, Douglass Commonwealth as the 51st state in the nation, and provides its residents with representation in the United States Senate and House of Representatives. Under H.R. 51, two square miles that include the Capitol Building, White House, National Mall, principal federal monuments, and federal buildings adjacent to the National Mall would remain the District of Columbia. The other 66 square mile area currently in the District's boundary line would be admitted as the Union's 51st state.

Since its inception on the Mason-Dixon line, Washington, D.C. has lacked the authority to govern its own people and to deliberate and implement decisions on the behalf of its people. Upon enactment of this bill, present-day District executive, legislative, and judicial officials would be deemed officials of the state. The Mayor, members of the Council, and the Chair of the Council would be deemed the Governor, members of the Legislative Assembly, and Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, respectively.

In the past, Congress has considered three factors when determining admission to the United States:

• Do the residents have a commitment to self government?;
• Do the residents support statehood?; and
• Does the proposed state have sufficient resources and population to support itself and its share of the costs to be part of the federal government?

On October 28. 2016, the D.C. Council adopted a state constitution and boundaries. On November 8, 2016, D.C. residents approved an advisory referendum requesting that the Council petition Congress for statehood. Under the terms of the referendum, residents agreed to statehood, a constitution, boundaries, and a representative democracy.

The residents of the District demonstrated their support for statehood when they overwhelmingly approved the November 2016 referendum with more than 83 percent in favor.

The District currently has 702, 455 residents. Two states have smaller populations: Vermont (626,299) and Wyoming (577,737) and six states have populations below one million. The Internal Revenue Service collects more in gross revenue from the District than it collects from 22 states and more per capita from the District than any state. Additionally, the District has a higher per capita personal income and GDP than any state. The District's fiscal year 2020 budget in $15.5 billion. By comparison, 14 state budgets were smaller than $16 billion in fiscal year 2017. More than 99 percent of the funding source for the District's budget are the same as in state and local budgets. Less than one percent of the budget consists of congressional appropriations not available to other jurisdictions. If it were a state, the District could certainly support itself.

Nearly 200,000 District residents are dedicated civil servants working for the federal government, and nearly 10,000 residents serve in the military. They should have a say in federal elections and control over local decisions.

This is an issue of particular importance to me because I served as Chairman of the Board of Supervisors in Fairfax County, where I had the authority to make great positive change for more than 1.1 million residents by expanding affordable housing opportunities, promoting reusable energy, and making critical transportation improvements. The people of the District of Columbia deserve to have leaders who have the authority to make change that reflects their local priorities.

When our Founding Fathers adopted the Constitution in 1787, they knew that our nation needed a capital and envisioned a small administrative enclave. But they could not agree where to place it. In fact, it was at a famous dinner at Thomas Jefferson's home with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison at which the Founders hammered out a compromise: Hamilton got the new nation to pay lingering state debts and the national capital would be in the South - where Jefferson and Madison wanted it. The Founders never intended to deprive District residents of the right to vote.

Instead, the District of Columbia has been subjected to repeated attempts by the United States Congress to dictate how it spends its own money and to prevent it from implementing laws passed by the City Council, when it could not find a majority in Congress to override those laws. Under the Home Rule Act of 1973, Congress has to approve the District's budget and has a say over how it spends money it raises from local taxes. From 1999 to 2007, Congress blocked the District from using locally-raised tax dollars for needle exchange programs that have been proven to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS. This ban occurred at a time when HIV/AIDS exceeded epidemic proportions in the District. For ten years, from 1992 to 2002, Congress prevented the District from spending any funds to implement the Health Care Benefit Expansion Act, which allowed domestic partners greater rights. From 1988 until today, Congress has inserted riders in annual appropriations legislation to prevent the District from using its own money to cover abortion services through Medicaid.

After the D.C. Council passed a law requiring companies that make wet wipes sold in the District to prove that products labeled "flushable" won't damage the pipes or make it clear on the package that the wipes are not flushable, the nonwoven fabrics industry lobbied Congress to reverse the law. As a result, Congressman Andy Harris announced that would be reviewing the issue and consider ways to block the legislation.

Let's call this opposition what it is. You can be sure when they say their massive resistance is not about race and partisanship, that it is precisely about race and partisanship. And the results are tragic for the people of the District of Columbia and the nation. It's not about the Constitution. Clearly there are implied powers of the legislature. And one of them is to determine statehood. In 1862, the state of West Virginia was established from parts of Virginia. And it was done without a constitutional amendment.

Failure to grant the residents of this District the right to vote in federal elections would be a terrible blow to democracy. It has been 26 years since the House held a hearing to examine D.C. Statehood, and it is past time to act on this moral imperative.

Once again, thank you for expressing your concern on this very important issue. I enjoyed hearing from you. For official statements and more information on my views on other issues, please feel free to visit my website at http://connolly.house.gov and sign up for my email newsletters. You can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter for real-time updates on my work in Congress and the 11th District. If I may ever be of service, please do not hesitate to contact me.