Posted inCity Council Donald Trump

Salem City Council should do away with the Pledge of Allegiance

Every Salem City Council meeting begins with the Pledge of Allegiance. Whenever I'm at a council meeting, I'll stand for the pledge, but I don't say it or put my hand over my heart.  The whole idea of the Pledge of Allegiance just strikes me as decidedly creepy.  From what I can tell by some Googling, North Korea is one of the few other countries in the world that are so enamored of a pledge of allegiance.   Of course, in North Korea the pledge is to the Supreme Leader. Here, the first mention of allegiance is to the United States…
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Posted inDaniel Benjamin Donald Trump

Daniel Benjamin looks on as black guy gets threatened at Trump rally

If this is how ex-Salem city councilor Daniel Benjamin is working on rehabilitating his image after being unanimously censured by the Ciry Council for racial insensitivity on Facebook, he needs to rethink his approach.  Below is a video of a recent pro-Trump rally at the Capitol that drew counter-protesters to a Stand For Love rally. A Statesman Journal story, "Trump rally, protests turn violent at State Capitol," describes what's shown in the video: Cameron Whitten, a Portland activist, being threatened, cursed at, and generally treated nastily by the Trump supporters. Cameron Whitten, 25, live streamed the environment leading up to the…
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Posted inDonald Trump

On Trump’s first day as president, I predict his next four years

If the title of this blog post were longer, I'd add "...and I'm almost certainly wrong."  Nonetheless, my political-junkie side wants to make some predictions about Donald Trump's presidency. If nothing else, four years from now this post will be proof that the future always holds unpredictable surprises, and pundits who claim to be able to foretell political happenings are just talking crap. So... here's my particular brand of crap. (1) There's a good chance Trump won't be president for his full term. My wife is particularly confident about this, so if this prediction is wrong, I'll blame her. She…
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