Posted inInternational issues National politics

Netanyahu lied shamelessly in his address to Congress today

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's hugely unpopular prime minister, is that country's Donald Trump in this regard: Netanyahu lies shamelessly, seeks to cling to power to avoid being held to account for crimes he's committed, and avoids taking responsibility for his failures. Today Netanyahu used an address to Congress, which was boycotted by a large proportion of Democrats in the House and Senate, to continue spreading falsehoods about how Israel has been conducting the war against Hamas under his failed leadership.  I watched most of the speech, then couldn't stand all the B.S. that was flowing freely from Netanyahu's mouth, and fast-forwarded…
1
Posted in2024 election Joe Biden Kamala Harris

I’m a happy Democrat again, thanks to Harris replacing Biden

What a difference a day makes when it comes to presidential politics. I woke up on Sunday, yesterday, feeling fine about my personal life and crappy about the prospect of Biden refusing to withdraw from the presidential contest, thereby likely guaranteeing a Trump victory this November. Then, later in the morning, I checked my phone and saw that Biden had withdrawn. At first I couldn't believe it. Maybe it was a sick joke? But a bit more scrolling on X revealed that yes, it was true. I raced to find my wife and tell her the good news. We both…
No Comments
Posted in2024 election Joe Biden National politics

BIden will destroy the Democratic Party if he doesn’t withdraw

Every day President Biden dithers around, now with Covid clouding his already-suspect thinking, trying to decide whether he should withdraw from the presidential race, he sets the stage for a catastrophic destruction of the Democratic Party if he fails to do the right thing and turn the nomination over to Kamala Harris. I say this as a (formerly) proud Democrat who always backed my party's candidate for president with enthusiasm. Now I rejoice in replying "stop" to every text message asking me to donate to Biden's campaign. I have no interest in helping his candidacy in any other way, either,…
No Comments
Posted in2024 election Joe Biden National politics

Why I’m a depressed Democrat (it’s all Biden’s fault)

What a difference a debate makes. Prior to June 27, 2024 I was an optimistic Democrat, looking forward to watching President Biden kick Trump's lying ass face-to-face.  After the debate, along with many millions of other members of my party, I was deeply disturbed by the inescapable reality that Biden not only didn't do any ass-kicking, he appeared befuddled during much of the debate and at times couldn't express a coherent thought.  Some three weeks later, my mood hasn't improved. If anything, I'm even more depressed now. Politically, not clinically, thankfully. (I've experienced actual depression; it's way beyond what I'm…
No Comments
Posted in2024 election Donald Trump National politics

It’s good Trump wasn’t killed. Now let’s defeat the S.O.B.

Let's not learn the wrong lesson from yesterday's attempt to assassinate Donald Trump. The biggest problem facing our country isn't toxic political discourse. It is Donald Trump. To believe otherwise is to deny some evident facts. That's why I disagree with the basic premise of Biden's speech to the nation today.  President Joe Biden used a rare Oval Office address on Sunday to condemn political violence and plead with Americans to turn down the temperature in the increasingly toxic political system after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. ...Speaking from the Resolute Desk, Biden decried that the political…
1
Posted in2024 election Donald Trump Joe Biden

With the presidential debate looming tomorrow, the race currently is a toss-up

Suddenly the 2024 presidential race is seeming real. Well, make that much more real, because I've been fretting about the race for a long time.  But tomorrow's debate between Biden and Trump marks the genuine kickoff of the campaign to lead our country. Until now, there just have been skirmishes between the major party candidates. The debate will be an all-out war.  Being a Democrat, I worry a lot.  Will Biden stumble and fall on his way to the podium? Will Biden make some faux pas that will lead undecided voters to decide that he's senile? Will Trump summon up…
2
Posted inNational politics

This was the strangest part of Supreme Court hearing on abortion drug

Sometimes I think I should have become a lawyer. Not all that often, thankfully, given that I have no regrets about the educational and career paths that I was led down. But I find legal arguments fascinating. Aside from scientific arguments, they're one of the best ways we humans have of getting closer to the truth. Not perfect, for sure. Just way better than arguing with each other in an unfettered fashion. Yesterday morning, I saw that the Washington Post app on my iPhone was featuring audio of the arguments being made before the Supreme Court about whether the abortion…
No Comments
Posted in2020 election Donald Trump National politics

Ronna McDaniel shows what’s wrong with the Republican Party

To clarify the title of this blog post, I want to be clear that currently there are lots of things wrong with the Republican Party. For example, the failure to acknowledge the reality that humans are causing global warming and we've got to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as rapidly as possible to prevent civilization as we know it from being tossed into the garbage can of history. But there's a common denominator in many, if not most, of the flaws afflicting today's GOP: Donald Trump. Trump, who sows discord and destruction with every step he takes, like a malevolent Johnny…
No Comments
Posted inInternational issues Joe Biden National politics

Israel is killing lots of innocent people in Gaza. Biden is letting this happen.

I'm fed up. I'm angry. I'm outraged. More than 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, when Hamas attacked Israel. The real number is almost certainly higher, since thousands are buried under rubble. Note that I said "people." That's who they are, people just like you and me. Yes, they're mostly Palestinians. Yes, many are Hamas fighters. But 70% of the dead people in Gaza are estimated to be women and children. How could this be? Because Israel has been bombing Gaza relentlessly with little concern for deaths of innocent people. It's Old Testament warfare. Hamas killed…
No Comments
Posted inNational politics Religiosity

Christian fundamentalism behind wacko Alabama court decision on IVF

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a popular way for women to have a child who have trouble conceiving in the usual fashion. A CNN story says that about 2% of births in this country are from IVF. It works this way: In vitro fertilization, or IVF, is when an egg is removed from a woman’s body and combined with sperm inside a laboratory before being implanted, said Dr. Eve Feinberg, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. To accomplish that, patients undergo eight to 10 days of fertility injections with hormones that help their…
No Comments
Posted in2024 election Donald Trump National politics

Trump owes $454 million in civil case penalty. Don’t vote for this fraudster.

Justice is finally catching up to Donald Trump. He's spent his whole adult life, and surely part of his childhood, feeling like he can get away with anything, thanks to the power of money he inherited from his father and subsequent business dealings that not only skirted the law, but sometimes broke the law. He's been found legally liable for defrauding people who signed up for Trump University. He's been found legally liable for defaming E. Jean Carroll, who he sexually assaulted and then lied about her making the story up. His list of other lawsuits and indictments goes on…
No Comments
Posted inDonald Trump Joe Biden National politics

Biden’s too old and forgetful to be president. So is Trump. We’re screwed.

It didn't take long for my reading of a story about the special counsel's report on Biden's retention of classified documents after he was no longer vice-president to turn from yay, good news to oh no, bad news. The good news was that Robert Hur, the special counsel who was a holdover Trump appointee, determined that Biden shouldn't be charged with a crime. That's a big contrast with Trump, who is facing "40 felony charges related to the documents case, including charges of obstruction of justice and violation of the Espionage Act for willfully retaining national defense information." But then…
No Comments
Posted inNational politics

Republican dysfunction on full display today in Congress

I'm so old, I remember when Republicans deserved their nickname as the Grand Old Party, GOP. They were known as solid citizens, skilled in business, dedicated to fighting communism, defenders of freedom, committed to our Constitution, competent leaders. Those days are gone, at least when it comes to Republicans in Congress. Now the GOP is best known for dysfunction, incompetence, unreliability, lack of a moral compass, fealty only to Donald Trump. Today was a clear example of this. It was a remarkable Tuesday for political junkies like me. Any doubt that the GOP is better termed the POP, Pathetic Old…
No Comments
Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Trump threatens border deal and Ukraine aid. He screws up everything.

I don't need more reasons to detest Donald Trump. He's given me plenty already during his disastrous appearances on the nation's political stage. But there's always a new disturbing Trump outrage that adds fuel to my Trump-hating fire. At the moment my gripe is with how Trump has inserted himself into negotiations in the Senate about a border deal that reportedly would give Republicans much of what they've been wanting. Stricter rules for individuals seeking asylum. Tightening security at the border. Not allowing whole groups of people, such as Afghans who helped us there, to be eligible to enter our…
No Comments
Posted in2024 election Donald Trump Joe Biden

After New Hampshire, it’s almost certainly Biden vs. Trump

Following tonight's vote in New Hampshire, it seems clear that Nikki Haley's odds of beating Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination are about as strong as me winning a billion dollars in a lottery. Same is true of Dean Phillips beating Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination, though his odds are even lower. Phillips is on track to get about 20% of the vote in New Hampshire, where Biden wasn't even on the ballot due to his commitment to have South Carolina be the first state to award Democratic delegates.  Losing so badly when votes for Biden had to…
No Comments
Posted in2024 election Donald Trump National politics

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…
No Comments
Posted inNational politics

GOP insanity: Nikki Haley doesn’t think slavery was the cause of the Civil War

At the risk of having my head explode, I've watched each of the debates between the non-Trump candidates for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Well, except for the last debate, which was on some network that I'd never heard of. Aside from Chris Christie, who I like when he bashes Trump, but not otherwise, the only other candidate who didn't totally disgust me is Nikki Haley. She actually made sense at times, particularly when she talked about foreign policy and the urgent need for the United States to keep supporting Ukraine. Haley is supposed to be the moderate alternative to…
No Comments
Posted inNational politics

On abortion and Ukraine, Republicans are dangerously crazy

If our major political parties were to undergo a psychiatric examination to determine whether Republicans or Democrats are acting most crazy, there's no doubt who would be committed to a mental hospital for some serious treatment. The Republican Party, of course. There's so many current examples of this -- including the perennial favorite, how the lying, incompetent, democracy-defying, obnoxious Donald Trump is the clear favorite to be the GOP presidential nominee in 2024 -- that I'm going to limit myself to two issues that are particularly dangerously crazy. Abortion and Ukraine. Look, I've got no problem with Republicans opposing abortion.…
No Comments
Posted inNational politics

Israel is squandering its moral authority with attack on refugee camp

Like most people, after Hamas terrorists brutally attacked Israeli civilians on October 7 my sympathies were almost totally with Israel. Sure, I was aware that Israel has treated Palestinians badly and has done little recently to move toward the two-state solution that is recognized by everybody except for far right Israelis as the best way to assure lasting peace between Israel and its neighbors. But I felt that Israel occupied the moral high ground after the Hamas attacks. Now, though, Israel is squandering that moral authority by the brutal way it is conducting war in Gaza, which is run by…
No Comments
Posted inNational politics

Choice of House Speaker shows how extreme Republicans have become

Here in Oregon, Republican politicians often try to look moderate because they're in a state that leans Democratic. But don't be fooled. These days, virtually every Republican office holder has to be a MAGA devotee of Donald Trump in order to be elected. So they buy into right-wing craziness, no matter how hard they may try to appear all centrist and reasonable. Case in point is the newly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson of Louisiana. If you've never heard of him, join the club. He isn't exactly a household name even in Washington D.C., much less…
1