Republicans, January 6 criminals are prisoners, not hostages

It's a good thing that I don't have a blood pressure problem. If I did, I'd ask my doctor to increase my medication until the 2024 election is over in November, because the lies being spread by Donald Trump and his Republican sycophants are making me furious -- and it's just January 7. Which is one day after the three-year anniversary of the despicable insurrection, or riot if you prefer that word, at our nation's capitol in 2021.  Immediately after January 6 of that year most Republicans acknowledged that this violent attempt to prevent the certification of Joe Biden as…

Should Trump be banned from the Oregon ballot? I say, no.

Yesterday Colorado banned Trump from that state's primary ballot. The Colorado Supreme Court issued the decision, which almost certainly now will be appealed to the United States Supreme Court. A divided Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday declared former President Donald Trump ineligible for the White House under the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause and removed him from the state’s presidential primary ballot, setting up a likely showdown in the nation’s highest court to decide whether the front-runner for the GOP nomination can remain in the race. The decision from a court whose justices were all appointed by Democratic governors marks the…

I’m freaking out about Biden’s weakness against Trump

With a year to go until the 2024 presidential election, is it too soon for Democrats to freak out about the horrific New York Times/Siena College poll released yesterday? President Biden is trailing Donald J. Trump in five of the six most important battleground states one year before the 2024 election, suffering from enormous doubts about his age and deep dissatisfaction over his handling of the economy and a host of other issues, new polls by The New York Times and Siena College have found. The results show Mr. Biden losing to Mr. Trump, his likeliest Republican rival, by margins…

Salem payroll tax like blood in water to conservative sharks

As a progressive who was happy when liberals wrested control of the Salem City Council from conservatives in 2017, now I'm worried that the payroll tax debacle could be a harbinger of a right-wing renaissance in local politics. What's disturbing is that this is a self-inflicted wound by five of the six progressive members of the City Council who provided the votes to pass a new payroll tax on everyone who works in Salem on a narrow 5-4 vote. Now that wound is like blood in the water to energized conservative "sharks." (The five were Mayor Chris Hoy and councilors…

I love the idea of a Whitmer-Warnock Dem presidential ticket

Few Americans are excited about a repeat of Joe Biden versus Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. I'm sure not.  Sure, as a Democrat I hugely prefer Biden over Trump. I think Biden has done a very good job as president, better than expected, absolutely. But Biden doesn't excite me. He doesn't even enthuse me. His appeal for me and many others is more that he's a competent decent person who isn't Trump. That worked to elect Biden in 2020. I'm deeply worried that the same game plan won't work in 2024. And the stakes are too high to…