Lynn Squance

Nov 132020
 

This has been a busy week for me what with a bit of medical mayhem (nothing serious), correcting the grammar, spelling and presentation of a midterm exam for a friend, finishing up my Indigenous studies course through the U of Alberta (online) with about 90%, getting the post about Remembrance Day/Veterans’ Day out and of course following some of the snivelling of the Republicans and der Führer of the 5th Reich.  Talk about unadulterated bull shit!  I thought that we all need a little lighter fare at this time.

If anybody ever needed proof that the Trump elevator was not capable of going to the top, Eric Trump provided it in abundance!  This from The Hill — ABC News reported last week that the hotline, which also directed callers to a voicemail box, was flooded with messages mocking the campaign in the wake of President-elect Joe Biden winning the race for the White House.

The president’s son, Eric Trump, last week claimed that the Democratic National Committee was “spamming our voter fraud hotline,” although he did not provide evidence for the allegation.

Eric Trump @EricTrump
 
And again from the lighter side, NYDailyNews.com — The late John McCain may have gotten the last world in his rivalry with President Trump — and it was delivered by the war hero’s daughter Meghan McCain.
 
That comment parodies remarks made by Trump mocking the former Arizona senator for being a prisoner of war in Vietnam. …
 
“I like people that weren’t captured,” Trump said in 2015, claiming his fellow Republican statesman, who died in 2018, wasn’t respectful toward Trump supporters. …
 
Trump also called the Navy veteran a “loser” because he lost to Barack Obama in the 2008 election.
 
Image
I wonder if Trump sees himself in McCain as he lost the whole country to Joe Biden?  Karma can be such a bitch!
 

YouTube — Seth Myers with a Closer Look

Just in case you have not figured out yet, I enjoy listening to Seth Myers.  I hope you enjoy him too!

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Lest We Forget 2020

 Posted by at 3:06 pm  Politics
Nov 112020
 

My grandfather was in the Royal Canadian Army during WWI while he was in his mid to late twenties.  Because of a medical condition, he was not sent overseas but he never-the-less served in Canada in a support role.  For years, I had his old army sleeping bag across the end of my bed and cherished it.  Near the end of WWII, my father lied about his age just a little and joined the Royal Canadian Navy serving as a radioman aboard the Prince Robert.  The Prince Robert, according to my father, went in and out of Tokyo harbour and others picking up Allied POWs and probably laying mines, although he wasn’t as clear about that.  His sister, my favourite auntie, joined the Women’s RCN Service aka WRCNS OR WRENS, as an occupational therapist.  My stepfather enlisted in the Royal Canadian Army and became a paratrooper dropping into Belgium, Holland and northern France during the liberation.  Like so many, none of my relatives talked much about their wartime experiences.  There was no glory!  There was duty! When I enquired during high school about joining the military, I was told at the time that I could not because I was a woman.  But one thing I could do was to show up at the Cenotaph and give thanks for the dedication of those who served and those who died during the First and Second World Wars and the Korean Conflict.  For me, it was a very personal journey, a sacred journey, because I reasoned, even as a young teen, that someone else had fought or died rather than a member of my family.  For their sacrifice, I owed them a debt of gratitude.  You can see some of my previous Remembrance Day posts at https://www.7thstep.org/blog/2017/11/11/in-remembrance-in-flanders-fields/ and https://www.7thstep.org/blog/2012/11/11/lest-we-forget/ with additional pictures.

Because of COVID-19, 2020 is very different but but no less poignant.  As noted by the Vancouver Sun,

Many city officials, as well as B.C.’s premier, asked folks to stay home given the severity of COVID-19 situation in B.C., especially in the Fraser and Coastal health regions.

I should also note that front-line workers, doctors, nurses and other medical staff were remembered as well for their service to the community during 2020’s war, the Coronavirus pandemic.  This also involved Canadian Armed Forces medical personnel playing a big role in Québec and Ontario in nursing homes.

Well, I did just that, and as usual, tears flowed down my cheeks.  Here is a video of Vancouver’s Remembrance Service.

“We remember, and we are free. Simple words, heavy with significance because on this day we remember those who served and those who gave their lives,”

There are many iconic photographs from wars passed. 

“Wait for me, Daddy!”

WWII Canadian Troops marching down 8th Ave in New Westminster, BC in preparation for deployment to Europe in 1940 and little Warren “Whitey” Bernard breaking free of his mother’s hand to go to his father.

WWI Canadian troops in a bombed out German trench at Vimy Ridge 1917.

WWI Canadian troops returning from a nasty but successful (as if war is truly successful) campaign at Vimy Ridge in 1917.

And who can forget the poem “In Flanders Fields” written by Lt Colonel Dr John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below. 

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields. 

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

– John McCrae

But McCrae’s experiences at Ypres had altered him irreparably. John F. Prescott, the author of his 1985 biography, wrote: “He was never again the optimistic man with the infectious smile. His friends spoke of his change in temperament in subdued voices, feeling, as one said, that an icon had been broken.” His inseparable companions were his horse, Bonfire, who had accompanied him to the front, and his dog, Bonneau, an adopted war orphan.

On January 24, 1918, McCrae received word that he had been appointed consulting physician to the British armies in France—the first Canadian to achieve that rank. But by then his health was failing. He had suffered from asthma most of his life, but the condition had been exacerbated by the poison gas used by the Germans at Ypres. That night, he took to his bed with a headache and the next day diagnosed himself with pneumonia. He was transferred to a military hospital at Wimereux, just up the coast from Boulogne, France.

At 1:30 a.m. on January 28, McCrae died of double pneumonia and meningitis. The following day he was buried with full military honours in the Wimereux cemetery. Bonfire led the parade decked in white ribbon, with McCrae’s riding boots reversed in the stirrups. A hundred nursing sisters in cap and veil stood in line at the cemetery. One later wrote, “To the funeral all came as we did because we loved him so.”

Bonfire, McCrae’s horse who lead the funeral procession.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AND SACRIFICE!

LEST WE FORGET!!!

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Oct 232020
 

TomCat is busy with personal business today and tomorrow so I thought I would, in his absence, bring you the final presidential debate of 2020 and some commentary.

I must have been demented at the time, but I managed to sit through the 90 plus minutes of the second (some say the third, but the originally scheduled second debate was cancelled because of Trump’s dance with COVID-19) presidential debate.  If you have not already seen it, here it is in its entirety.

I have to admit that for the first 30 minutes or so, either the mute button worked wonders or Trump restrained himself.  I think it was the former.  Trump has no understanding of restraining himself.  After that point, the gloves came off, albeit he was not the raving lunatic pugilist that I saw in the first debate.  NBC’s Kristen Welker did a great job moderating but I think at times it was a challenge.

Following is a fact check of the debate by Canadian journalist Daniel Dale who now works for CNN.  I just had to get that “Canadian plug” in!  As Dale said, from a fact checker’s point of view there was a lot more fact checking required than in the first debate, and mostly of Trump but Biden did make some errors. 

From DC Report.org

Basically, what we got in a calmer debate was a collision of visions. Trump sees a business-dominant America, even in a pandemic, with fewer federal programs and individual responsibility to take care of oneself—except for areas where he has an interest like abortion. Biden embraces bigger government services, healthcare, environment and caring for the vulnerable. …

Trump likely did not persuade new voters. Biden may have done so, but certainly did not lose any.

The hard part was sitting still while they went at it, trying to remember that Hunter Biden isn’t running against Xi Jinping for U.S. president. At some points, you wondered whether they could agree on what color the stage was.

The “funniest” line came from Trump and it just shows how addled he is: from TPM (read the whole article if you can)

“I take full responsibility,” Trump said, before quickly adding: “It’s not my fault it came here. It’s China’s fault.”

An inukshuk   (what some refer to as a pile of rocks) has more brains than Trump!  An inukshuk has great meaning and use.  Trump does not!

Personally, I think Biden was stronger, but then he did not have as much to prove as did Trump.  As I said in Squatch’s Open Thread 09 October 2020:

The late John Turner, the 17th Prime Minister of Canada and a Liberal, who died two weeks ago at age 91 said “Democracy does not happen by accident.  Become involved!  Get out there!  Give something back!”  That is the only way Trump and Republicans will be defeated.  

Vote like your life depends on it, because it does!

 

My final words,

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!!

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Oct 152020
 

Oh my!  Twice within one week!  I had a favourite meal — turkey and the trimmings! Canadian Thanksgiving is now a memory.  Normally I and a number of others would get together for our Thanksgiving feast of turkey, ham, veggies and salads.  Of course there would also have been the obligatory pumpkin pie.  But alas, COVID-19 put that off until next year at the earliest.  Instead, I ordered a turkey dinner with all the trimmings from my favourite restaurant and ate at home.  It was sooooooooooooooo good!  I also treated my 3 fur babes to fresh roasted chicken which they scarfed up like Hoover uprights!  While we were scarfing, the news did not stop.  I am taking a course in Indigenous Studies from the University of Alberta online and I am also taking a course on racism based on Ibram Xendi’s book “How to be an Anti Racist” through my church.  It has been a busy week of studying and will continue to be until mid November.

CNN “The unmasking is a massive — it’s a massive thing,” Trump said shortly after the release of the names. “It’s — I just got a list. It’s — who can believe a thing like this? And I watched Biden yesterday on ‘Good Morning America’ being interviewed by one of your colleagues, George Stephanopoulos, and he said he knew nothing about anything. He has no idea. He knows nothing about anything.”  …

So important to Trump was this unmasking news that Attorney General William Barr tasked John Bash, the US Attorney in San Antonio, in late May with conducting an investigation into whether the unmasking was politically motivated.

That investigation has ended, according to The Washington Post. And it has ended without any charges being brought against Biden or any other Obama administration official. Or even any public report of its findings.  …

There’s a pattern here, of course. From his initial insistence that 3 to 5 million people voted illegally in the 2016 election (for which he has provided zero evidence) right through these unmasking claims, Trump has desperately seized onto anything and everything that would suggest that not only did the so-called “deep state” work to keep him from winning but it has also done everything it can to hamstring his presidency. …

Remember how Trump repeatedly raised questions about whether Russia sought to interfere in the 2016 election to help him and hurt Hillary Clinton? Well, the intelligence community, special counsel Robert Mueller and the US Senate Intelligence Committee all said that that’s exactly what happened.

Or how Trump said that the entire Russia investigation was politically motivated by people out to get him? It wasn’t.

Or how Trump said that President Barack Obama and Biden had “spied” on his presidential campaign? Also, debunked.

Or how the DNC email server was somehow in the possession of the Ukrainians? It isn’t.

Or how Google and social media sites are biased against conservatives? Not quite.

The more recent events have led Trump to be extremely unhappy with AG Barr because he did not do Trump’s bidding to Trump’s satisfaction.  In a comment within the past few days, Trump was asked if Barr would be his AG pick for a second term should he win.  Trump would only say he was not happy.  With Trump it is one thing after another, one scandal after another, conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory after another.  Trump is a walking case of paranoid delusions and a national security risk.

Canadian PressShe’s accurately predicted the Brexit vote, the 2016 American presidential outcome, and last year’s federal election in Canada. 

Now, a Canadian-made artificial intelligence system called Polly is forecasting next month’s U.S. presidential election, using public social-media data and algorithms. 

Polly is profiled in the new documentary “Margin of Error,” which premieres Saturday on Ontario’s publicly funded network TVO, and across Canada on tvo.org and the station’s YouTube channel.  …

The predictions currently update daily and have a high margin of error that will become smaller closer to the Nov. 3 election, but as of Wednesday afternoon, she had Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden with 346 Electoral College votes vs. U.S. President Donald Trump at 192.

Polly also had Biden with 55 per cent of the popular vote vs. Trump at 45 per cent.

“But of course the huge caveat in that, particularly in the U.S., is issues of voter turnout, vote suppression, early voting and discounted ballots,” …

Definitely check out the interactive map at https://advancedsymbolics.com/us-election/.  I don’t know about you, but I like Joe Biden’s numbers there.  Of course there are many factors involved, but if previous uses are any indication, Polly may have star status . . . assuming nobody screws with the algorithms, this just may a new and reliable tool.  The article has more detail so I encourage you to read it.

AlterNet — President Donald Trump urged California Republicans to defy a state order to remove fake “official” ballot drop boxes after numerous top officials called them “illegal.”  

State Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Secretary of State Alex Padilla on Monday issued an order to the California GOP and three county chapters requiring the removal of unofficial ballot drop boxes erected in front of locations like gyms, gun stores and churches that were falsely marked “official.”

Trump, however, urged the party to fight the order in court.

“You mean only Democrats are allowed to do this? But haven’t the Dems been doing this for years?” the president tweeted, drawing a dubious comparison between the boxes and the legal “ballot harvesting” efforts by Democrats that have drawn his ire. “See you in court. Fight hard Republicans!” …

“Screw you!” Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said in response to Newsom’s tweet, according to Politico. “You created the law, we’re going to ballot harvest.”  …

The offices of the attorney general and secretary of state said in a cease-and-desist order to the GOP that the law required “persons to whom a voter entrusts their ballot to return to county election officials provide their name, signature and relationship to the voter.”

Becerra and Padilla also argued during a Monday conference call that the boxes were “illegal,” because they were designed to trick voters by claiming to be “official.” The boxes lack the security requirements mandated for official collection boxes installed by election officials, they added.

Just like a Republican to twist and obfuscate well intentioned laws.  I have not read the actual California law, but as Bill Maher says, “I just know it’s true.”  Trump has encouraged North Carolinian Republicans to vote twice, once by mail and once in person.  I hear the same has been conveyed to Trump supporters in Florida.  Now over and above all the other Trump bullshit, he is encouraging voters and the Republican party to break the law .  End the madness and DUMP TRUMP and as many Republicans as possible.

The Atlantic — The most important ballot question in 2020 is not Joe Biden versus Donald Trump, or Democrat versus Republican. The most important question is: Will Trump get away with his corruption—will his crooked and authoritarian tactics succeed?

If the answer is yes, be ready for more. Much more.

Americans have lavished enormous powers on the presidency. They have also sought to bind those powers by law. Yet the Founders of the republic understood that law alone could never eliminate the risks inherent in the power of the presidency. They worried ceaselessly about the prospect of a truly bad man in the office—a Caesar or a Cromwell, as Alexander Hamilton fretted in “Federalist No. 21.” They built restraints: a complicated system for choosing the president, a Congress to constrain him, impeachment to remove him. Their solutions worked for two and a half centuries. In our time, the system failed.

Through the Trump years, institutions have failed again and again to check corruption, abuse of power, and even pro-Trump violence.

As Trump took office, I published a cover story in this magazine, arguing that his presidency could put the United States on the road to autocracy. “By all early indications,” I wrote, “the Trump presidency will corrode public integrity and the rule of law—and also do untold damage to American global leadership, the Western alliance, and democratic norms around the world. The damage has already begun, and it will not be soon or easily undone. Yet exactly how much damage is allowed to be done is an open question.”

We can now measure the damage done. As we near the 2020 vote, the Trump administration is attempting to cripple the Postal Service to alter the election’s outcome. The president has successfully refused to comply with subpoenas from congressional committees chaired by members of the opposing party. He has ignored ethics guidelines, junked rules on security clearances, and shut down two counterintelligence investigations of his Russian business links, one by the FBI, the other by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. He has assigned prison police and park police to new missions as street enforcers, bypassing the National Guard and the FBI. As in 2016, he is once again welcoming Russian help for his election campaign—only this time, he controls the agencies that are refusing to answer the questions of Congress and the American people.

Those who would minimize the threat that Trump poses take solace in his personal weaknesses: his laziness, his ignorance of the mechanics of government. But the president is not acting alone. The Republican politicians who normally might have been expected to restrain Trump are instead enabling and empowering him.  …

…Trump has normalized the minority rule. … 

Republicans in the Trump years have gotten used to competing under rules biased in their favor. They have come to fear that unless the rules favor them, they will lose. And so they have learned to think of biased rules as necessary, proper, and just—and to view any effort to correct those rules as a direct attack on their survival.  …

To understand how the U.S. system failed in Trump’s first term—and how it could fail further across another four years—let’s look closer at some of Trump’s abuses and the direction they could trend in a second term.  …

Inciting Political Violence

Trump has used violence as a political resource since he first declared his candidacy, in the summer of 2015. But as his reelection prospects have dimmed in 2020, political violence has become central to Trump’s message. He wants more of it. After video circulated that appeared to show Kyle Rittenhouse shooting and killing two people and wounding a third in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on August 25, Trump liked a tweet declaring that “Kyle Rittenhouse is a good example of why I decided to vote for Trump.” “The more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the very clear choice on who’s best on public safety and law and order,” Trump’s adviser Kellyanne Conway said on Fox & Friends on August 27. Two nights later, a 600-vehicle caravan of Trump supporters headed into downtown Portland, Oregon, firing paintball guns and pepper spray, driving toward a confrontation during which one of them was shot dead.  …

Trump’s appeal is founded on a racial consciousness and a racial resentment that have stimulated white racist terrorism in the United States and the world, from the New Zealand mosque slaughter (whose perpetrator invoked Trump) to the Pittsburgh synagogue murders to mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Gilroy, California. In recent weeks, political violence has caused those deaths in Kenosha and Portland. A second Trump term will only incite more such horror.  …

Trump uses power to enrich himself and weaken any institution of law or ethics that gets in the way of his self-enrichment. He holds power by inflaming resentments and hatreds. A second term will mean more stealing, more institution-wrecking, more incitement of bigotry.  …

Voters in 2020 will go to the polls in the midst of a terrible economic recession, with millions out of work because of Trump’s mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic. But the country is facing a democratic recession too, a from-the-top squeeze on the freedom of ordinary people to influence their government. Will the president follow laws or ignore them? Will public money be used for public purposes—or be redirected to profit Trump and his cronies? Will elections be run fairly—or be manipulated by the president’s party to prevent opposing votes from being cast and counted? Will majority rule remain the American way? Or will minority rule become not a freak event but an enduring habit? These questions are on the ballot as Americans go into the voting booth.

Although the article is long, to me it is “a call to arms” to VOTE and to vote wisely taking into account Trump’s and Republican corruption.  Author David Frum, usually considered right of centre, also covers Trump’s Abuse of the Pardon Power, his Abuse of Government Resources for Personal Gain, and Directing Public Funds to Himself and His Companies.  Americans cannot afford to let this mad man take the country hostage for another four years!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!!

 

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Oct 092020
 

It has been quite awhile since I did an Open Thread but there is just so much going on that I could not keep quiet.  I am not American and I get frustrated with all the BS I see coming out of the White House and Senate.  I certainly can appreciate that Americans will be a hundred times more frustrated than me.  The late John Turner, the 17th Prime Minister of Canada and a Liberal, who died two weeks ago at age 91 said “Democracy does not happen by accident.  Become involved!  Get out there!  Give something back!”  That is the only way Trump and Republicans will be defeated.  

Vote like your life depends on it, because it does!

 

Cartoon 

From Common Dreams

Just send my royalties to the Biden Harris Campaign!!!  I am ready for my closeup now, Mr DeMille!

The Guardian — Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that relatives of fallen soldiers could have given him coronavirus after they visited the White House ,..

In a phone interview with the Fox Business TV channel on Thursday morning, Trump complained about coming into close contact with the veterans’ families in a gathering one day after an event at the White House where Trump nominated a new supreme court judge. Many senior figures in attendance later tested positive for Covid-19.

Of the Gold Star families event at the White House on Sunday 27 September, Trump told Fox he “went through, like 35 people” whose family members had died, “and everyone had a different story”, adding: “I can’t back up and say: ‘Give me room. I want room. Give me 12 feet. Stay 12 feet away when you talk,’” he said. 

Of course it was the Gold Star families that gave Trump the corona virus.  Give me a break!  After the better part of a year downplaying the virus and not wearing a mask, even at packed rallies, the idiot Trump (I know, that is an insult to real idiots) has the temerity to try to blame Gold Star families who likely had to be tested before entering the WH.  The super spreader event the day before to introduce Judge Amy Coney Barrett as his SCOTUS nominee to replace the deceased Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, after which multiple people have since tested positive, were not at the reception for the Gold Star families.  This is classic Trump modus operandi, blame someone else and do not accept responsibility for anything!  There is additional information at Slate about the two events.  I wonder why the Gold Star families were not wearing masks and if any of them have developed COVID-19.

CNN — President Donald Trump has been celebrating the dose of experimental monoclonal antibodies he was given last Friday, saying he thinks it helped him vanquish his coronavirus infection in record time.

“It was incredible the impact it had,” he said in a video he tweeted Thursday.

What he didn’t say is that the treatment was developed using technology his administration has worked for four years to ban.

It has to do with abortion politics, and the science of using human tissue to test and to make medicines. Regeneron’s therapy indirectly relied on tissue taken from an abortion.

Trump’s base, of course, is strongly against abortion rights and his administration acted quickly to reverse many Obama era policies — including policies that moved forward scientific research involving human fetal tissue. …

People against abortion rights oppose both uses, as does the Trump administration. The US Department of Health and Human Services has stopped the National Institutes of Health from obtaining any more fetal tissue for research and has set up a board that has virtually stopped it from funding any academic groups that use it.

How do you spell HYPOCRISY?  T-R-U-M-P and R-E-P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N-S!  The only good Republican is an unemployed Republican!!!

Common Dreams — Law enforcement officials announced Thursday they had charged 13 suspects with conspiracy to commit kidnapping and terrorism crimes, after an investigation revealed the right-wing plotters had planned to overthrow the state government of Michigan and take Gov. Gretchen Whitmer hostage. 

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Thursday afternoon that while six men—all of whom were arrested by agents on Wednesday night—were being charged in federal court related to the kidnapping plot, another seven men, all linked to a group called Wolverine Watchmen and allegedly planning an attack on the Michigan State Capitol, are being charged in state court.

According to an affidavit filed as part of a federal criminal complaint on Thursday, hours after FBI agents raided one of the suspects’ homes in Hartland Township, Michigan, the men began plotting a coup earlier this year and had been making preparations for a violent takeover since the summer.  …

“This is a pattern: Trump paints a target. An attack or plot follows,” tweeted Washington Post national security correspondent Greg Miller—one of several observers who connected the president’s rhetoric to the violent plot.  [emphasis added]

Do you remember this picture?  Right-wing protestors tried to storm the Michigan Capitol in April 2020 with the intent to gain access to the Assembly floor after Trump tweeted “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” ON 17/04/2020.  They were confined to the rotunda but that was not the end of the story.

As we see today, the FBI have made arrests — 6 who face federal charges and 7 who face state charges.  This is not a spur of the moment action, but an organised action, well planned and about to be unleashed by these domestic terrorists.  In some ways, there is little difference between the actions of Sarah Palin when Gabby Giffords and 17 others were shot or killed by Jared Loughner in Tucson, Arizona in 2011.  Palin put a bullseye on Gifford and Loughner reacted.  This time it was Trump who put a bullseye on Gov Gretchen Witmer and stoked the flames with his rhetoric.  Words have power!  Is this what “the American experiment” now means?  Trump golfs while the nation burns because of his demagoguery, stupidity, narcissism and lust for power!

As  follow-up to these arrests and Witmer’s comments about Trump’s rhetoric (CNN), the “Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller lambasted the governor, who had tied Trump’s rhetoric to the plot in earlier televised remarks,”   Later, in an interview with CNN, Witmer said:

“”I think that tells you everything that’s at stake in this election,” she said. “It tells you everything you need to know about the character of the two people on this ballot that we have to choose from in a few weeks.”” [emphasis added]

For his part, Trump responded with a series of tweets:

“Governor Whitmer of Michigan has done a terrible job. She locked down her state for everyone, except her husband’s boating activities,” he wrote, urging her in another tweet to “open up your state, open up your schools, and open up your churches!”

Nancy Pelosi. as noted in The Guardian, is setting up a commission in Congress to determine whether Trump can be removed from office under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.  While the House can do this, it would be up to the Vice President and members of the cabinet to carry it out.  That will never happen.  Pence has his nose so far up Trump’s ass, I am surprised he can even breathe.

Good luck America!  You’re going to need it until the Squatter in the White House is gone!!!

 

 

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!!

 

 

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Sep 292020
 

On 22 October 2019, TomCat wrote an article entitled “Who Won the Election . . . Eh?” about the results of the 19 October 2019 Canadian federal election.  It must have been a slow news day!  In the article, he claimed:

“Fortunately, we have an expert here at the site to flesh out my report.  For starters, I’d like our resident Sasquatch to explain the ‘Speech from the Throne’ to us.”

Well I am not an expert, but I am a proud Canuck (Canadian) who has studied Canadian history as well as American history.  So, I am going to give you a bit of a Canadian history and civics lesson, heavy on the civics.

The first settlements in what is now Canada were Viking settlements in Newfoundland and Labrador (Newfoundland is the island, affectionately called The Rock by locals, and Labrador is on the mainland but they together make up the 10th Canadian province) as well as in the Canadian Arctic around 1,000 CE, so settlement predates Columbus by almost 500 years.  These Vikings first expanded to Iceland then Greenland and their expansion into Canada was the culmination of their westward journey for land and riches.  The first name for what is now part of Canada was Vinland (pronounced Winland).  Evidence of these settlements has been found at L’Anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland.

Canada’s First English Settlement, Cupers Cove, now Cupids, Nfld was established by John Guy in 1610 under a royal charter from James I. It was England’s first attempt at organised colonization in Canada and the second plantation in North America. Jamestown, Virginia was the first in 1607.

Jacques Cartier was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he called “The Country of Canadas “, after the Iroquois names for the two big settlements he saw at Stadacona (Quebec City) and at Hochelaga (Montréal).

With two countries, England and France, fighting the 7 Years War in Europe, it was only logical that they brought the war to the New World where they both had interests.  The British under General James Wolfe soundly beat General Louis-Joseph Montcalm, Marquis de Montcalm of France and so, Canada became English territory.

It is interesting to note that Canada and the United States are both children of the same European country, England.  But as siblings, we were quite different and remain so today. The Americans of the Thirteen Colonies chose to revolt against the British proclaiming no taxation without representation and subsequently defeated the British in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) with the assistance of France.  As we know, the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 signalling the independence from Britain.  The English colonies in Canada never went to war against Britain in order to win their independence.  Canada petitioned Britain for independence in 1867 which was granted.  On 01 July 1867, under the British North America Act, Canada became the Dominion of Canada.  At this point, Canada still relied on the English Constitution (Magna Carta) but slowly we wrote our own Constitution. Interestingly, it was the father of our current Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau, who repatriated the constitution in 1982 when he was Prime Minister.  In my opinion, the true characters of our two countries are shown in how we chose to cut our mother’s apron strings.

Canada

 

United States

Queen Elizabeth II

Head of State

President

Governor General – Vice Regal (the Queen’s representative in Canada)

Executive

 

Bicameral – based on Westminster Parliamentary System of Britain; elected House of Commons 338 total seats; appointed Senate 105 seats

Legislature

Bicameral – elected House of Representatives 435 seats; elected Senate 100 seats

Liberal (centre left) Conservative (right) New Democratic Party (left – social democrat) Green Party; Bloc Québécois (Québec only)

Political Parties

Democratic Party (centre left & progressive) Republican Party (conservative, alt right) With other parties from time to time such as the Libertarians and the Green

Supreme Court of Canada

Judicial

SCOTUS

From this, you might wonder where the Canadian Prime Minister is situated.  The PM is the head of one of the political parties in the legislative body or House of Commons. The term Prime Minister means the first or prime minister to the Crown.  After the 2015 election, the Liberal party had a majority with 184 seats but today is a minority having fallen short of the 170 seats needed for a majority.  The Liberals still had more seats than any other party with 157 seats, so they negotiated with the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to support a Liberal government.  As such, the Liberal party formed a minority government.  No other party would align itself with the Conservative party to throw the win to them, although there was speculation at the time.  There are 338 seats in the Canadian parliament.  Justin Trudeau became the leader of the Liberal party in 2013 and has been the Prime Minister since 2015.  To be PM, Trudeau also must be a seated Member of Parliament and was elected in the Papineau riding in greater Montréal.  The PM must represent his riding but also must represent all the people of Canada. To my American friends, do you think Trump could have done this?  In my opinion, Trudeau does better than Trump by far and he does more than Trump even including Trump’s golf time!  Also note that the Prime Minister is directly elected by some of the people (his constituency) and those in the Liberal Party who voted to make him leader of the party.

Electoral districts or ridings in Canada are established by Elections Canada, a non-partisan agency.  Unlike in the US where electoral districts are established by the individual states and therefore controlled by the political party in power at the time the boundaries are established, political parties in Canada are not involved at all.  Canada does not have the gerrymandering issues very evident in the US.

Prorogation is the action of discontinuing a session of a parliament or other legislative assembly without dissolving it.  When an election writ is dropped, Parliament is dissolved.  We also have recesses for Christmas or annual vacations.  Prorogation is not unlike a recess in the US.

From Huffington Post 

“And on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he asked Gov. Gen. Julie Payette to prorogue Parliament until Sept. 23, when a throne speech will be delivered and, in short order, a confidence vote will be held. 

Prorogation is a tricky subject in Canadian politics. It’s been called a natural part of the political process, while also criticized in recent years as something mobilized by PMs to get out of tough situations.  …

A parliamentary “reset” — and the new throne speech that comes with it — could also spell danger for the Trudeau government, as a vote of no-confidence on the plan could trigger an election.  …

Trudeau said that since the December throne speech that outlined his government’s agenda obviously made no mention of COVID-19 crisis that would disrupt the world months later, a new plan for a “stronger, more resilient Canada″ was in order.”

In this case, the WE Charity scandal which involved the Finance Minister and relatives of the PM, in addition to the changing financial position of the country and the COVID-19 pandemic are the prime reasons for the prorogation.  Any investigations into WE were halted, and the Finance Minister stepped down.  It is interesting to note that in 2015, PM Trudeau spoke of Stephen Harper’s prorogation of Parliament in 2007, 2008 and 2010 and said the Liberals would never do that.  Short memories! In 2008, the prorogation of Parliament was strictly a political move by Harper (Conservative) to out-maneuver the opposition and should not have happened.

The Prime Minister asked the Governor General to prorogue Parliament on 18/08/2020 until 23/09/2020 when Parliament would resume with a Speech from the Throne.  The Speech from the Throne, a very formal affair conducted alternately in French and English in the Senate Chamber, is used to open the first sitting of Parliament after an election or to restart a sitting after prorogation.  The Speech is always read by the Governor General but is prepared by the Prime Minister and his office.  You might remember from the news that HRM Queen Elizabeth II prorogued the British Parliament on 28/08/2019 at the request of PM Boris Johnson. Effective from 10/09/2019  until the State Opening of Parliament on 14/10/2019, the prorogation was cut short because of political opposition.  As I recall, Johnson wanted prorogation in regards to limiting debate over the issue of leaving the European Union.

Gov. Gen. Julie Payette, middle, stands with Chief of Defence Staff Jonathan Vance, left to right, Prime...
From left to right, Chief of Defence Staff Jonathan Vance, PM Justin Trudeau, Governor
General Julie Payette, Senator Marc Gold and RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki in the
Senate Chamber prior to the reading of the Speech from the Throne.

Speech from the Throne — The Speech from the Throne, whether it follows an election or prorogation, is a statement of the government’s priorities, essentially a roadmap of what the government hopes to accomplish during this session of Parliament.  After the October 2019 election, the PM was faced with bringing a plan together which a majority of Members of Parliament (MPs) would support.  Talk about “Let’s Make a Deal”!  Trudeau was able to negotiate with the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to support that plan.  Had he not been successful obtaining support, Andrew Scheer, leader of the Conservative Party at the time, would have been asked by the Governor General to form the government.  The Conservatives had fewer seats than the Liberals so they would have to have received the support of the NDP and the Bloc Québécois, neither of which would even think of that.  Had neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives been able to form a government, the only alternative is a new election.

Rather than going through the 2019 Speech from the Throne, which is obsolete now except as history, I’ll show the highlights of the 2020 Speech from the Throne that came out on 23/09/2020. It is interesting to note that Jagmeet Singh, leader of the NDP, was able to get some changes to the roadmap in exchange for NDP support.  Had Trudeau not been successful in gaining NDP support, Trudeau would have presented the Liberal plan and it would be voted upon.  If the vote failed, which it almost certainly would have, that would be a vote of non confidence.  The government would fall and Canada would be having a federal election.  We are not having an election.

As a small dig to my American friends, election campaigns in Canada must be, according to the Elections Act, a minimum of 36 days and a maximum of 50 days.  It sure beats the American system of 2 years, or in the case of presidential elections with Trump, 4 years of campaigning.  There is little chance of getting bored with election talk.

Another difference between Canada and the US is the amount that political parties can spend. The amount that a political party and its candidates can spend is limited by a formula of approximately one dollar for every eligible voter in Canada.  If an election were to be called now, it is estimated that each party could spend approximately $25 million.  I am not saying this is a small amount, but when compared to US election spending, it is a pittance.

Yet another difference, Canada can dispose of its government with a non confidence vote.  Of course, that means an election, but it would also be a way to dump Trump, all other factors being met.  It beats 4 years of buyers’ remorse!

In these COVID times, if you see Parliament in session you will notice that everyone is sporting masks which does not seem to happen in the US Congress to the same degree.  Social distancing is maintained as much as possible as well.

Highlights of the Speech from the Throne 23 September 2020

     1.  PROTECTING CANADIANS FROM COVID-19

Vaccine efforts; PPE production.

     2. HELPING CANADIANS THROUGH THE PANDEMIC

Creating jobs; Financial supports (CERB – Canada Emergency Relief Benefit) and Employment Insurance benefits;

From Huffington Post:

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh had been calling on the government to extend the CERB until the benefit could be replaced by something paying the same level of support. CERB has paid $2,000 for a four-week period, up to 28 weeks, to eligible Canadians.”

Women in the economy;

From Huffington Post:

The government is promising an action plan for women in the economy, led by a task force of diverse experts, to ensure the pandemic’s legacy is not “one of rolling back the clock on women’s participation in the workforce.”

Supporting business; From Huffington Post: The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy 

Fiscal sustainability.

    3.   BUILDING BACK BETTER — A RESILIENCY AGENDA FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS

Addressing gaps in our social systems; a stronger workforce; Taking action on extreme risks from climate change.

   4.   THE CANADA WE’RE FIGHTING FOR

Reconciliation with Indigenous communities; Addressing systemic racism; Protecting two official languages; A welcoming Canada (Immigration); Canada in the world.

I cannot go into the detail required on each category in the Speech here, however I have included an English version pdf below put out by the government.

The Speech from the Throne  pdf

 

Image result for beaver images

I know that Nameless likes our national anthem so I have included it here for him.  We only sing the first verse and chorus but there are 3 more verses.  Enjoy Nameless!

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.

[Chorus]
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada!
Where pines and maples grow,
Great prairies spread, and lordly
 rivers flow.
How dear to us thy broad domain,
From east to western sea.
The land of hope for all who toil,
The true north strong and free!

[Chorus]

O Canada!
Beneath our shining skies,
May stalwart sons, and gentle maidens rise.
To keep thee steadfast through the years,
From east to western sea,
Our own beloved native land,
Our true north strong and free!

[Chorus]

Ruler Supreme!
Who hearest humble prayer,
Hold thy dominion in thy loving care.
Help us to find, Oh God, in thee,
A lasting rich reward.
As waiting for the better day,
We ever stand on guard!

[Chorus]

 

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Sep 232020
 

When I looked at the Trump Virus map in Open Thread – 9/22/2020 (image below — although the title says Aug 22, 2020 the data is to Sept 22, 2020), a thought struck me — do you know what it is like to live next door to a country which professes such high regard for human life but does the opposite almost always? Do you know what it is like to live next door to a country whose so called leader belittles the leaders of other nations and many of his own people? Do you know what it is like to live next door to a country whose leader is a prolific liar and extremely corrupt?

US Cases: 7,047,643
US Deaths: 204,577
Plus thousands of Trump’s* GOP plague murders Republicans are hiding from us

Abortion and Healthcare — in 1973 Roe v Wade legalised abortion nationwide but now is at risk of being overturned by a very conservative SCOTUS at the petitioning of conservative and religious petitioners. This is an apple that evangelicals and fundamentalists have been wanting to pick for years. 

You are not my moral compass.

Women do not make the decision to abort a foetus lightly and there are many reasons why she might make that decision. A baby in my family was born a number of years ago with no eyes, a double cleft palate, no ears and deaf, brain damaged — perfect from the shoulders down but the baby’s head was completely messed up. The original prognosis was that the baby would die within days. Had the mother known this in time, she would have had an abortion and I would have supported that decision.

In the US, such a child once born, has little support and likely limited healthcare options. For other children needing support to thrive, SNAP is being significantly cut back and possibly in danger of being cut all together. This lack of nutritious food will affect the physical and mental growth and health of children.

Healthcare has always been a problem in the US but with Trump, affordable care will be gone because of his spite for Obama and his policies.  Trump has said so many times that his “bigger and better” healthcare plan is coming. After almost 4 years, nothing is in sight! Tens of millions of Americans will be without any healthcare. Of course, Republicans are not assessing any healthcare plans for those not covered by workplace plans because they are enthralled by large insurance corporations (think political contributions) and do their bidding. With the pandemic, many Americans have lost their jobs and with it their healthcare.

Education — With the Trump administration, a balanced public education system is almost gone.  Betsy DeVos is seeing to that and Trump is not far behind with his new flag hugging “indoctrination” thoughts. I saw a reference to the education of children by Mao Zedong where the children were forced into indoctrination classes as is still done some 43 years after his death.  In Nazi Germany in the early 20th century, there were the Hitler Youth, indoctrinated in Nazi ideology.

“The members of the Hitler Youth were viewed as ensuring the future of Nazi Germany and were indoctrinated in Nazi ideology, including racism.[14]” [Wikipedia]

I wonder if Trump would force children to wear red/white/blue neckerchiefs as Mao forced Chinese children to wear red neckerchiefs and the Hitler Youth had their red neckerchiefs with their emblem?  With Republicans continuing in power, I can see the literacy rate dropping while problem solving skills and critical thinking being discouraged.  Must not have people, other than the rich and white, capable of intelligent thought because they just might help American society. I think of a Canadian bumper sticker from several years ago that said “The government does not like competition!” Trump and Republicans cannot fight themselves out of a wet paper bag fairly or even at all unless they cheat. Only the rich will be able to get a decent education.

Death Penalty — How is the death penalty consistent with a pro-life stance? I won’t go into this other than to say that the death penalty is not pro-life.

Pandemic — The actions, or should I say the inactions, of Trump and Republicans on the COVID-19 pandemic with its more than 200,000 deaths is despicable.  Bill Gates opined recently that repatriating Americans who were overseas at the beginning of the pandemic without adequate (read that as NO) precautions in place, likely exacerbated the spread of the virus, and he is correct. I know that Trump likes to blame China for all the problems, but what did HE do once he knew about it. NOTHING!!! Thanks to author/journalist Bob Woodward, we have Trump on tape in his own words saying that he wanted to play down the severity of the virus, and he still is doing that verbally, but also demonstrating his disregard by holding large rallies with no social distancing and no masks. He said he did not want to panic people. Bullshit!!! More likely, he did not know what to do and thought he would look weak if he asked for the input of infectious disease experts. Trump has directly caused the deaths of over 200,000 people and rising.  As to overall healthcare, Trump is arguing in the Supreme Court to overturn the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) even in the midst of a pandemic which would leave tens of millions of people without healthcare and no replacement plan in place which is, I believe, his plan from the start.

Racism and Bigotry — Racism has been a problem, a BIG problem, in the US since before the country was established and it has continued unabated.  Thank heavens for Rosa Parks, Elijah Cummings, Martin Luther King Jr, John Lewis and the many others who fought and continue to fight racism and demand equal rights for ALL people.  No matter the colour of skin, the religion, the ethnicity, sexual orientation, or language spoken, ALL Americans are equal. This was clearly set out in the Declaration of Independence.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” [Wikipedia]

And yes, the racism is systemic whether people want to acknowledge that or not. Part of that fight resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  Unfortunately, some of that has been undone by SCOTUS decisions for petitions from woefully misguided persons, dare I say racist persons.  Of course today, the chief cheerleader is the Squatter in the WH, the unpatriotic flag hugger who thinks there were “very fine people” on both sides in Charlottesville a few years ago.  Bullshit!!!

With the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on 18/09/2020, Trump, aka the Squatter in the WH, and Senate Republicans are pushing for a fast confirmation of a replacement justice who will be undoubtedly very conservative. When it comes to Trump, forget about justice being blind! Republicans were willing to leave Antonin Scalia’s position vacant for 10 months because it occurred in an election year and they felt the new president should make the nomination. RBG passed away 6-7 weeks before the election but Republicans have changed their minds. Why? They are afraid that Trump may be defeated (please let it be so!) and they would not be able to continue to stack the court with conservatives or get satisfactory decisions for those who support them. As I said, forget about justice being blind! Add to this that COVID-19 has added a dimension to voting that has not existed previously — extensive mail-in voting — which Trump, without evidence, as declared fraught with fraud. With a larger conservative contingent at SCOTUS, Trump feels his chances of re-election, even if the decision goes to the court, are all but assured. Trump, impatient toddler that he is, also wants to know who the winner is on the night of 03/11/2020, election night, but all mail-in ballots may not have been counted. This shows that Trump is again, or should I say still, downplaying the virus. He should pay as much attention to Russian interference in the election. This of course has nothing to do with what the people want or need. Let’s not forget that Trump was the loser of the popular vote in 2016 by 2.9 million votes. The US has had minority governance for almost 4 years with a narcissistic sociopath at the helm and it shows. You wonder why other countries laugh at the US and pity it!

Military — Let’s not forget the recent debacle of Trump as Commander-in-Chief of the military calling soldiers who were killed in action or captured “suckers” and “losers”. Is that how a leader supports the troops? Or Trump’s treatment of Gold Star family of Khizr Muazzam Khan and Ghazala Khan, the Pakistani American parents of Army Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in 2004 during the Iraq War. Commander-in-Bone Spurs knows nothing of patriotism! It is all a flag hugging show. We know that but he thinks people don’t care. He went after Senator John McCain this way and today, John’s wife, Cindy McCain, came out in support of Joe Biden.

Religion — Two things I want to mention here. First, no authentic Christian would clear a path through peaceful protesters using violence so he could have a photo op holding a Bible upside down. No authentic Christian would treat migrants the way Trump has, separating families, creating utter chaos at the southern border. Secondly, no authentic Christian would label all Muslims as terrorists and ban them from entering the country. There are more domestic terrorists in the US than Muslim terrorists. Besides, the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees the freedom of religion which also means freedom from religion, something many on the right seem to forget. It seems to me that that part of the amendment is interpreted by evangelicals and fundamentalists as the freedom of religion as long as it is their brand of Christianity. “One nation under God” and “In God We Trust” — give me a break! God is not a cudgel.

Treaties — Below is a list of United Nations treaties which the US has not ratified or not signed as noted in WikipediaI have highlighted some which, on the surface, directly impact people including US citizens.  There could be a number of reasons for not signing or ratifying them but to me, this is an indication of the priorities of the US government.

1981 – Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981, not ratified
1989 – Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, not signed
1989 – Convention on the Rights of the Child, signed but not ratified
1989 – Basel Convention, signed but not ratified
1990 – United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, not signed
1991 – United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, not signed
1992 – Convention on Biological Diversity, signed but not ratified
1994 – Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel, signed but not ratified
1996 – Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, signed but not ratified
1997 – Kyoto Protocol, signed with no intention to ratify
1997 – Ottawa Treaty (Mine Ban Treaty), unsigned
1998 – Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, unsigned [2]
1999 – Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, not signed
1999 – Criminal Law Convention on Corruption, signed but not ratified
1999 – Civil Law Convention on Corruption, not signed
2002 – Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, not signed
2006 – International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, not signed
2007 – Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, signed but not ratified
2008 – Convention on Cluster Munitions, not signed
2011 – Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, signed but not ratified
2013 – Arms Trade Treaty, signed but not ratified
2016 – Trans-Pacific Partnership, signed but not ratified
2017 – Paris Agreement, signed but not ratified [and in 2017 ceased participating]

I might sound anti American and in some ways I might be.  I know I am preaching to the choir here at Politics Plus. I also know that my ire is directed at Trump, Republicans and a minority of the American people.  The vast majority are good people who need to find their voice.  I also know that my country, Canada, is not without its own faults.  No country is in that position.  However, when wherever you turn the US is being held up as the “greatest nation on earth”, a beacon in the darkness, it is time the US government acted like it.  When wherever you turn Trump is being touted as the leader of the free world, I say bullshit!  That is a particular bug-bear of mine. First he has to be a leader, an enabler of sound policies that serve ALL Americans, and he has to be sane.  In my opinion, he is neither of these. Trump is a scared little boy who pouts and stamps his feet if he does not get his way. He is a demagogue and a fascist who, if not checked, will destroy the country completely. Recovery from Trump will not be easy and it won’t be quick. It will take the American people uniting to go forward.

OK, I am stepping down off my soapbox!  Thanks for letting me rant.

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Aug 152020
 

The creed of the US Postal Service: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

Trump has, as usual, politicised the USPS in a brazen attempt to suppress the vote. He, in my opinion, needs to read the US Constitution, particularly Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 known as the Postal Clause. As noted in Wikipedia,

“These attempts at limiting the content of the mail were upheld by the Supreme Court, but in the 20th century, the Court took a more assertive approach in striking down postal laws which limited free expression, particularly as it related to political materials.[7][8] The First Amendment thus provided a check on the Postal Power.” (my emphasis added)

Are not voting ballots a form of free speech where the voter can express their desire for representation? So how is it that Trump and his sycophant Postmaster DeJoy feel they can tinker with the USPS?

This from Raw Story:

“Maddow reported how NBC Montana reporter Maritsa Georgiou had doggedly reported on the removal of postal boxes in Missoula, where she is based. Missoula has been a long-time Democratic Party stronghold.

Montana has a competitive U.S. Senate election in 2020, with Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock challenging first-term Republican Sen. Steve Daines.

As Georgiou chased the story, she learned there were also plans to remove boxes in the battleground of Billings. And more planned for the blue town of Bozeman. And other towns.”

Please note that most if not all the post boxes being taken away are in high Democratic areas. Jon Tester is doing some push back as are two Republicans (Daines and Gianforte — will wonders never cease!). But this whole process is scheduled to happen in every state so PUSH BACK is absolutely needed across the country.

Here is Rachel Maddow’s take. Unfortunately, I could not embed the video but it is worth viewing.

https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/embedded-video/mmvo90107461739

Of course, we all know what Trump is doing with the USPS — voter suppression! When you consider current polls (yes I know that the only poll that counts is the one on 03 November 2020) are not being kind to the incompetent, narcissistic, stable genius squatting in the WH (nor the enabling Republicans) and one knows he seeks power and wealth, it is extremely easy to understand what he is doing. For me, it is as plain as the nose on my face and my nose is not subtle!

In an interview with Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business, Trump said (AlterNet)

“They need that money in order to have the Post Office work, so it can take all of these millions of ballots,” he told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo on Thursday. “If they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting. Because they’re not equipped.”

I think Trump is taking a page, or maybe many chapters, out of Putin’s guide to authoritarian power.

VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO

FROM DOG CATCHER TO PRESIDENT!!!

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