Sunday, September 27, 2020
Thank you, Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig and Mike McIntire for your dedication to the truth. This is a brave thing. Very brave.
He has no respect for this country. He hates the USA. He begrudged the country it's rightful income in taxes.
$750 in one year. That is amazing. Most Americans pay that and more in mortgages or rent and he actually only paid that in taxes.
Donald J. Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes the year (click here) he won the presidency. In his first year in the White House, he paid another $750.
He had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years — largely because he reported losing much more money than he made.
As the president wages a re-election campaign that polls say he is in danger of losing, his finances are under stress, beset by losses and hundreds of millions of dollars in debt coming due that he has personally guaranteed. Also hanging over him is a decade-long audit battle with the Internal Revenue Service over the legitimacy of a $72.9 million tax refund that he claimed, and received, after declaring huge losses. An adverse ruling could cost him more than $100 million....
Why is $100 million such a tragedy for Trump? He claims he is a billionaire, paying $100 million in taxes sounds right. So, what is the issue? He can't afford to pay $100 million in taxes? Why?
How much of the 2017 tax cuts serve Trump's best interests over that of the country?
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), (click here) passed in December 2017, made several significant changes to the individual income tax. These changes include a nearly doubled standard deduction, new limitations on itemized deductions, reduced income tax rates, and reforms to several other provisions. In all, these changes simplify the individual income tax by eliminating the need for millions of households to itemize their deductions.
After December 31, 2025, most of the changes to the individual income tax code revert to pre-TCJA status. If Congress allows these changes to go into effect, most households would experience tax increases beginning in 2026. In the meantime, however, individual income taxes will be substantially lower for households across the income spectrum....
I worry about the country and the assault on it's treasury by Trump and the Republicans. Before the arrival of SARS-CoV-2 Trump was running very large deficits.
February 1, 2020
By Chuck Jones
The Congressional Budget Office, (click here) or CBO, published its latest “Budget and Economic Outlook” which covers 2020 to 2030 on Wednesday, January 29. The 88 page report projects the Federal government receipts and expenditures to calculate the yearly Federal deficits and total debt, and it forecasts various economic metrics such as the economies growth rate and employment numbers.
President Obama entered office in early 2009 in the teeth of the Great Recession. Not surprisingly, the deficit exploded from $459 billion in calendar 2008 to over $1.4 trillion in calendar 2009. As the economy recovered the deficits shrank to a low of $442 billion in 2015 and was $585 billion his last year in office.
President Trump on the other hand was handed an economy that was growing. In 2017, his first year in office the deficit grew to $666 billion, was $984 billion last year and is projected to be over $1 trillion in 2020 at $1.02 trillion. This would be a 74% increase in just four years and going forward the Federal deficit could escalate to $1.7 trillion in 2030....
How much did he benefit from his years in the White House? A booming economy as he states existed usually brings down the national deficit. I just don't trust him and this information about his taxes only cements that mistrust.
It is going to be difficult while he is in office to ask the IRS for audits that provide for the monies he owes the US Government. He needs to get used to the idea of writing a check to the USA treasury.
...Most of Mr. Trump’s core enterprises — from his constellation of golf courses to his conservative-magnet hotel in Washington — report losing millions, if not tens of millions, of dollars year after year.
His revenue from “The Apprentice” and from licensing deals is drying up, and several years ago he sold nearly all the stocks that now might have helped him plug holes in his struggling properties....
He bases his questionable investments in personal pleasure. Golf courses, hotels, and casinos are very risky businesses. They have high levels of maintenance in order to maintain their image to attract patrons. There is a high level of cash flow and that is a tempting place for corruption all by itself.
It is so laughable that he doesn't pay taxes. I guess this makes him a TAKER and not a MAKER, as the Republicans would say.
...The Times was also able to take the fullest measure to date of the president’s income from overseas, where he holds ultimate sway over American diplomacy. When he took office, Mr. Trump said he would pursue no new foreign deals as president. Even so, in his first two years in the White House, his revenue from abroad totaled $73 million. And while much of that money was from his golf properties in Scotland and Ireland, some came from licensing deals in countries with authoritarian-leaning leaders or thorny geopolitics — for example, $3 million from the Philippines, $2.3 million from India and $1 million from Turkey....
All of this is supposed be in a blind trust. What a mess. His family has been taking advantage of their influence with Trump as well.
In balance, business people that are honest and have good business practices pay taxes and a lot of them. They don't begrudge the government it's due. I know personally a very successful uncle, now passed away, that paid considerable taxes. He served in the armed forces. His millions were self-made in the transportation industry. He told a story about how his hand was shaking when signing a check for a million dollars to the USA for taxes on the monies he made that year. He never even tried to hide monies and always was honest about his income. He benefited very well from his income. He lived on a golf course and sent his twelve grandchildren to private religious schools. It is just a shame Trump is this kind of man. Other men and women in business will not appreciate the fact he went out of his way to make poor investments. They don't.
The Democrats had the plan for the minority communities before Trump mimicked it.
July 16, 2020
Senate Democrats (click here) say they want $350 billion for minority communities in the next stimulus bill to address needs ranging from child care to infrastructure, adding a new demand as lawmakers prepare to start crafting another massive virus relief package.
That would add to the $3.5 trillion plan recently passed by the Democrat-led House and endorsed by party lawmakers in both chambers. The Senate Democrats’ propose getting $200 billion of the amount by tapping unspent money from a fund set up in the massive stimulus measure approved in March that facilitates corporate lending by the Treasury Department....
Senate Democrats (click here) say they want $350 billion for minority communities in the next stimulus bill to address needs ranging from child care to infrastructure, adding a new demand as lawmakers prepare to start crafting another massive virus relief package.
That would add to the $3.5 trillion plan recently passed by the Democrat-led House and endorsed by party lawmakers in both chambers. The Senate Democrats’ propose getting $200 billion of the amount by tapping unspent money from a fund set up in the massive stimulus measure approved in March that facilitates corporate lending by the Treasury Department....
The African American community will never see a dime of the Trump "Platinum Plan." Why? Because he could have already issued at least $350 billion in aid to these communities that the Democrats proposed months ago. Trump never saw the importance of the second relief bill. The US Senate is now out on vacation without plans to return before the election.
So, if Trump was actually going to spend $500 billion to the minority communities it could have already begun and the Democrats would be delighted to increase the investment monies. If Trump wanted to spend $500 billion rather than $350 billion it would be done. Trump is never going to provide such a package to the minority communities. He lies and lying about promises of money is among his favorite lies.
September 26, 2020
President Donald Trump (click here) on Friday announced a new $500 billion plan promising "opportunity," "security," "prosperity," and "fairness" for black Americans if he is reelected in November.
The president's campaign is calling this the "Platinum Plan," Fox News reported. Trump's plan calls for $500 billion of capital investment into black communities, tax cuts and opportunity zones to support black-owned businesses, continued criminal justice reform, increased support for police, making lynching a federal hate crime, and the prosecution of the Ku Klux Klan and Antifa as terrorist organizations.
"For decades, Democrat politicians like Joe Biden have taken Black voters for granted. They made you big promises before every election — and then the moment they got to Washington, they abandoned you and sold you out," the president said in remarks obtained by Fox News. "The Democrats will always take Black voters for granted until large numbers of Black Americans vote Republican."...
No one can trust him. Look, he tried to stop USA funding to another country to protect their sovereignty. He doesn't care about people. He only cares about his own interests. People have to ask what danger now exists in their lives that should have been averted by sincere leadership with the country at heart.
The spread of SARS-CoV-2 could have absolutely been stopped and Trump's inability to protect the people is exposed by this virus. Why would anyone consider statements by Trump as true when all he has done is lie to the American people? Stop being the foolish people he is hoping for to stay in the White House. With Trump it won't get better from here, it will get worse. The peril of the country has increased year after year with him in the White House. Stop playing the fool.
The states with high rates of infection and sustained infection rates are all Red States. Are they just not that bright?
Latest Map and Case Count (click here)
With the exception of Puerto Rico, Minnesota, and Illinois, the Red States are exhibiting a real lack of plans to end the virus infection rate. This is astoundingly ridiculous. The Governors can't get it right? There aren't that many equations for success.
The death rates are increasing in states where the cases of the virus are not increasing. This very well may be the aftermath of the virus. These deaths occurring in states where the virus is mostly contained is most probably due to the long-lasting effects of the infection.
South Dakota has at least two large hot spots within their Native American Reservations. In particular, Pine Ridge (Lakota) and Sisseton Wahpeton (click here) tribes. They need help. There may be more problems in the Lower Brule (Lakota) as well. The rest of the increase in South Dakota appears to be in larger population areas. This is all about masks, social distancing, and hand hygiene. Close the bars and there will be an improvement.
There have to be non-profits working with areas of the country to supply food and medicine. They need to help the Native American tribes become a far more stable community in relation to the spread of the virus. They may need airlifts to bring seriously ill members of the tribe to hospitals with ventilators.
The Tribal Affairs Bureau (click here) is within HHS. It is important that the arm of HHS be in touch with all the tribal areas and have plans to assist. They need funding and they may not know there are monies, supplies, and help available.
Debate masks, social distancing and hand hygiene.
Joe Biden has been exceptional in his caution of SARS-CoV-2. He wears masks and obeys the six-foot rule. Goodwill needs to be set aside in recognition of the danger Americans face today.
Saturday, September 26, 2020
When someone like Coney-Barrett comes along the decisions, minority or majority, will reorder society.
Frozen Embryo Transfer (click here)
Patients interested in frozen embryo transfer will first undergo a fresh IVF cycle to create embryos. During this assisted reproductive procedure, Dr. Kalan or Winkler will harvest eggs through a natural or medication-assisted ovulation cycle and fertilize the eggs with the partner’s, or chosen donor’s, sperm. After about five days of growth in the laboratory, all viable embryos are frozen (cryopreserved).
When embryos become citizens what then is the future of frozen embryos? Currently, the donors of sperm and eggs, usually a couple, have ownership over them. But, when they are citizens who has the last word on ownership or citizenship? Will the government be able to come in and force the embryos to be carried to term? And if the couple is not willing to have all those children does the government have the OBLIGATION to see every "embryo citizen" has a chance at a full life? What will the financial status of the embryos be now that they are full citizens? Can they be taken as dependents? And if the answer is yes, do they have a dependency status the same as any other naturally born child, or will it be forever until they reach a full life capacity.
When a political party plays with these issues there are ever-increasing dangers in ways no one ever bargained for and will result in the compromise of our democracy. Such decisions create monsters and not resolutions to a society's problem. This is only one question that would result in the case the Supreme Court ends the idea of abortion and makes fertilized eggs into citizens.
Barrett is a political pick, not a qualified candidate. She is a crackpot. The USA is not the Vatican.
She is one of several women who moved into the federal judicial system by Trump for the purpose of political choice rather than experience and knowledge.
This is an extremely rare photo (click here) where she can be found outside a black robe. She is anti-everything, including democracy. There is absolutely no standing for her PLEDGE to be against stare decisis. There is no one who can change the words in the US Consitution no matter how hard they try. Stare Decisis is a fact, not an opinion. Barrett is a crackpot when she can't even fall into line with stare decisis.
Barrett's opining will frequently stand in opposition to the judicial wisdom of the great Supreme Court Ruth Badar Ginsburg compositions. Barrett's opining is very arbitrary political and not thoughtful.
When Is an Innovation in Order: Justice Bader Ruth Ginsburg and Stare Decisis
Predictably so, she is a favorite "Federalist Society" darling. (click here)
Her decisions will be to enslave women to their bodies and oppress their rights and choices in life. A fact of life is that a woman's capacity of reproduction and the degree she engages in pregnancy HAS TO BE LEFT TO THE WOMAN. There isn't anything else to say.
We have seen the tragedy of declaring a fertilized egg a person. There will be investigations into every miscarriage and women will find themselves living alone rather than with a man in or out of marriage. If Barrett has her way, married women will need permits to have intercourse with their husbands in order to become pregnant or she may even demand married people only engage in the assistance of a clinic to become pregnant insuring the child will not be a bastard child.
She has absolutely no experience to have her understand the place of the court in the lives of Americans. She is an originalist which means she sees only wealthy white men have control over the US Constitution. The TONE of this White House exudes only that priority in it's racist stances and promoting violence by White Supremacists.
White Supremacists is proof of this White House leanings into originalist goals.
My views are not alone and not new. She is a known commodity to be a crackpot. She is not qualified nor is her judicial proceedings to date helpful to the people of the USA. Who goes up against the Supreme Court's Chief Justice unless it is to force her nomination as a political favorite.
September 28, 2017By Laurie Goldstein
One of President Trump’s judicial nominees (click here) became something of a hero to religious conservatives after she was grilled at a Senate hearing this month over whether her Roman Catholic faith would influence her decisions on the bench.
The nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, a law professor up for an appeals court seat, had raised the issue herself in articles and speeches over the years. The Democratic senators on the Judiciary Committee zeroed in on her writings, and in the process prompted accusations that they were engaged in religious bigotry.
“The dogma lives loudly within you,” declared Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, in what has become an infamous phrase. Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, accused his colleagues of employing an unconstitutional “religious test” for office.
Ms. Barrett told the senators that she was a faithful Catholic, and that her religious beliefs would not affect her decisions as an appellate judge. But her membership in a small, tightly knit Christian group called People of Praise never came up at the hearing, and might have led to even more intense questioning....
The nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, a law professor up for an appeals court seat, had raised the issue herself in articles and speeches over the years. The Democratic senators on the Judiciary Committee zeroed in on her writings, and in the process prompted accusations that they were engaged in religious bigotry.
“The dogma lives loudly within you,” declared Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, in what has become an infamous phrase. Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, accused his colleagues of employing an unconstitutional “religious test” for office.
Ms. Barrett told the senators that she was a faithful Catholic, and that her religious beliefs would not affect her decisions as an appellate judge. But her membership in a small, tightly knit Christian group called People of Praise never came up at the hearing, and might have led to even more intense questioning....
Her devotion to religion over the US Constitution is exhibited over and over again. As a member of an elite group of Catholics at Notre Dame, she advised EXISTING AND SITTING JUDGES. An academic provided advice as if a peer. She was not a peer and under the First Amendment, religious freedom is absolute. Any judge can determine AS INDIVIDUALS in their ability to sit on a case that MIGHT lead to the death penalty. She lacks maturity within the practice of law and considers others beneath her intellect and incompetent to make their own decisions in regard to their religious affiliations in their ability to be judges.
...She later (click here) became of a law professor at the University of Notre Dame Law School, where she was a member of Faculty for Life, an anti-abortion group at the university. One of her mentors was law professor John Garvey, now president of the Catholic University of America.
Garvey collaborated with Barrett on a 1998 law review article that argued that Catholic judges may recuse themselves from death penalty cases because of the church’s opposition to the death penalty.
The law review article drew attention during Barrett’s 2017 hearing in which she was confirmed to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Chicago, according to Politico. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., mentioned the article when questioning Barrett about Roe v. Wade....
She is not a competent practitioner of the US Constitution.
Joe Biden actually has an economic plan. Trump doesn't have one. Period. He doesn't have a cohesive economic plan.
September 24, 2020
By Sylvan Lane
A victory for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, (click here) a Democratic takeover of the Senate and defense of the party's House majority in the November elections would be the best outcome for the U.S. economy, according to an analysis released Wednesday by Moody’s Analytics.
In an analysis of potential Election Day outcomes based on the economic proposals of President Trump and Biden, Moody’s found that a Democratic sweep would bring the quickest return to full employment, highest number of jobs added and best rebound in economic growth.
“The economic outlook is strongest under the scenario in which Biden and the Democrats sweep Congress and fully adopt their economic agenda,” wrote Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi, who provided economic analysis for the late Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) 2008 presidential campaign, and economist Bernard Yaros....
By Sylvan Lane
A victory for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, (click here) a Democratic takeover of the Senate and defense of the party's House majority in the November elections would be the best outcome for the U.S. economy, according to an analysis released Wednesday by Moody’s Analytics.
In an analysis of potential Election Day outcomes based on the economic proposals of President Trump and Biden, Moody’s found that a Democratic sweep would bring the quickest return to full employment, highest number of jobs added and best rebound in economic growth.
“The economic outlook is strongest under the scenario in which Biden and the Democrats sweep Congress and fully adopt their economic agenda,” wrote Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi, who provided economic analysis for the late Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) 2008 presidential campaign, and economist Bernard Yaros....
Americans are purchasing their economy through tax cuts. There is no plan. Trump dumps trillions of money into the economy in order for Wall Street to claim high numbers of trading. Trump focuses on the Wall Street trading numbers. That has nothing to do with the economy that provides jobs and income to the people. The evidence of that observation is the fact the unemployment numbers are very high with those people left out of the "purchase economy" of the USA, yet the financial markets (Wall Street) are doing exceptionally well. Many of the companies traded in the financial markets are not even paying a dime of taxes. None.
April 11, 2019
By Kathryn Kranhold
About twice as many of the largest U.S. companies (click here) reported they didn’t owe taxes in 2018 compared with previous years, a partial result of the 2017 Trump tax law, according to a report....
...At least 60 companies reported that their 2018 federal tax rates amounted to effectively zero, or even less than zero, on income earned on U.S. operations, according to an analysis released today by the Washington, D.C.-based think tank, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The number is more than twice as many as ITEP found roughly, per year, on average in an earlier, multi-year analysis before the new tax law went into effect.
Among them are household names like technology giant Amazon.com Inc. and entertainment streaming service Netflix Inc., in addition to global oil giant Chevron Corp., pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly & Co., and farming and commercial equipment manufacturer Deere & Co.
The identified companies were “able to zero out their federal income taxes on $79 billion in U.S. pretax income,” according to the ITEP report, which was released today. “Instead of paying $16.4 billion in taxes, as the new 21 percent corporate tax rate requires, these companies enjoyed a net corporate tax rebate of $4.3 billion, blowing a $20.7 billion hole in the federal budget last year.” To compile the list, ITEP analyzed the 2018 financial filings of the country’s largest 560 publicly-held companies....
The negative tax rate by these companies is real and not just a phrase that helpd justifies the zero tax rate. These companies with negative tax rates GET REBATES of taxes previous paid and/or yet to pay.
...The Moline, Illinois-based Deere, which was started in 1837 by blacksmith John Deere, who made farming plows, reported earning $2.15 billion in U.S. income before taxes. It owed no U.S. taxes in 2018 and reported that it was owed $268 million from the government, after taking into consideration various deductions and credits, according to its annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company reported global profits of $2.37 billion.
Asked about the rebate, Brian Moens, one longtime Deere employee, was contemplative. “Everyone should pay their fair share whether it is an individual or a corporation,” he said. “If just the small individuals are paying it without large corporations doing their part, I don’t see that being fair.”...
Donald John Trump has indulged corporations as a means of success of an economy that exists while he is in office. The reason is that it is easy to talk everyday about "Wall Street Numbers." Everyday there are channels of media that discuss trading resulting in higher profits to these companies.
The Republican Tax Plan voted in to law during the first year Trump was in office gave the Middle Class a break for the first year, but, this is the fourth years of that tax plan and there are increases in that income tax.
Pelosi, Oct. 5, press availability: The tax cuts in the bill — 80 percent of the tax cuts in the bill benefit the top 1 percent in our country. $2.6 trillion in tax cuts go to corporate America. Around $475 million — excuse me, $475 billion in tax increases go to Middle America. … So, again, it raises taxes on middle class, cuts the tax of the wealthiest, adds trillions to the deficit.
Those increases were actually 5 percent on households of $112,500 – $190,150. These people would never see increases in taxes for the Joe Biden tax plan. Increases in taxes begin with households earning at $400,000 or more.
The rest of the Trump economic plan also includes tariffs that are passed on to the American consumer. So the Chinese Shipping Magnate that benefits from Moscow Mitch's will pass his tariff fees to Americans and will maintain the wealth he has to pass on to Mitch. That means small money donors will have less money to donate to their favorite candidates while foreign dark money can continue unabated.
Tariffs are supposed to reduce the trade deficit. In other words, tariffs are incentives to other countries to increase American products to their shores. When a better trade balance is better, the tariffs are supposed to be reduced or ended in recognition of that accomplishment. That hasn't occurred under Trump.
The article below is from March of 2019 before the Global Pandemic that the USA is caught up in because of Trump's absence and failing policies. The trade deficit in 2018 increased by more than 10 percent,
March 7, 2019
By Robert E. Scott
The U.S. Census Bureau reported that the U.S. goods trade deficit reached a record of $891.3 billion in 2018, an increase of $83.8 billion (10.4 percent). The broader goods and services deficit reached $621.0 billion in 2018, an increase of $68.8 billion (12.5 percent). The rapid growth of U.S. trade deficits reflect the failure of Trump administration trade policies, as well as the negative impacts of tax cuts and spending increases, which have sharply increased the federal budget deficit, and tightening of U.S. monetary policy, resulting in upward pressure on interest rates and the real value of the dollar....
...Unless these trends are offset by a rapid decline in the value of the U.S. dollar, rapidly rising trade deficits could be devastating for U.S. manufacturing, likely giving rise to massive job loss on the scale experienced in the 2000–2007 period, when 3.5 million U.S. manufacturing jobs were lost....
July 23, 2020
By Kimberly Amadeo
...2017: By May, the euro (click here) had risen to $1.09. Investors left the dollar for the euro due to allegations of connections between President Trump's administration and Russia. By the end of the year, the euro had risen to $1.20.
2018: The euro continued its ascent. On February 15, it was $1.25. In April, the euro began weakening after President Trump initiated a trade war. The euro fell to $1.16 on June 28, a few days after the Federal Reserve raised the fed funds rate to 2%. A higher interest rate strengthens a currency because investors receive more return on their holdings. But the by end of the year, the euro was $1.15.
2019: The euro declined until September when it reached $1.10. It rose briefly in December to $1.11. The euro followed news about the ongoing trade war....
The Euro has fluctuating since the Global Pandemic. These observations of the US Dollar is before the spread of SARS-CoV-2. So, the economic trajectory of the Trump White House was causing losses in value of the US Dollar.
Trump's painful tariffs never accomplished a trade balance with China because China has lowered the value of their currency. Trump's tariffs are a joke.
...Although the United States has imposed tariffs of 10 to 25 percent on $250 billion in imports from China (about half of total U.S. imports from that country), China has played its ‘ace-in-the-hole’ by allowing it’s currency to fall by roughly 10 percent against the dollar. As a result, the U.S. trade deficit with China increased faster (11.6 percent) than the U.S. deficit with the world as a whole (10.4 percent)....
The table below is difficult to read (click here) It is the Federal Reserve of the "Price-adjusted Board Dollar Index- Monthly Index. Everything is artificial in Trump world. There is no real study of the USA economy and it's artificial nature to satisfy the president's politics.
Effective on February 4, 2019, (click here) the Federal Reserve Board staff will make major changes to the methodology used to construct the trade-weighted dollar indexes in the H.10, G.5, and G.5A releases. These changes will affect the calculation of index weights and country composition. The new dollar indexes will go back to (and be indexed to) January 2006. For more information, see "Revisions to the Federal Reserve Dollar Indexes" and "Technical Q&As".
Joe Biden and the Democrats' economic policies are based on traditional values of American health wellness and the confidence of the American worker to return to work.
Friday, September 25, 2020
On an incredibly historic day in the laying to rest Ruth Badar Ginsburg, it is appropriate to remember her nomination to the Supreme Court.
She was a woman of the people. She was regularly embraced by the people in her social engagements.
August 5, 1993 (click here) the current Democratic nomination for President of the United States of America, Joseph Biden from the Committee on the Judiciary, presented the Late Justice Ginsburg to the American people after thirteen years on the [DC Circuit] Court of Appeals. Thirteen years of federal experience in a high profile judicial position easily qualified the Late Justice Ginsburg for her most important role in the history of the USA Constitution.
It is important to remember on this date, September 25, 2020, Ruth Badar Ginsburg was extremely qualified for her Associate Justice status. She had already proven her intelligence and wisdom when she was nominated by William Jefferson Clinton to the Supreme Court. She was passed into that position with a vote of 96 "yea" votes (click here). There simply was no question to her nomination.
The family, their attorneys and their government representatives are standing there alone.
Our minority communities and their leaders are alone in carrying the voice of the people to justice. AG Cameron needs to bring Attorney Benjamin Crump into the office and provide him a quiet room to read the Grand Jury transcript regarding the death of Breonna Taylor. No matter how one approaches this woman's death it was a wrongful death. She was an innocent person cut down in her home.
September 24, 2020
By Christianna Silva
Kentucky State Representative Charles Booker (click here) says "justice failed us" when only one of the three officers who were involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville was charged.
The officers — Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove — entered the home that Taylor was sleeping in with a no-knock warrant. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced Wednesday that Hankison would be charged with wanton endangerment for firing his weapon into neighboring apartments. He did not charge any officers with Taylor's death.
Cameron also said he is going to create a task force that will review the process by which police officers get and execute search warrants.....
I don't know who is putting enormous pressure on people to stop their demands for justice, but, it needs to stop and the truth is heard.
September 24, 2020
By Janelle Griffith
Breonna Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, (click here) is "devastated" that a Kentucky grand jury brought no charges against police in Louisville, Kentucky, for her death, his attorney said. And Walker believes he is being wrongfully blamed for her killing.
Frederick Moore III, a lawyer representing Walker, said his client believes Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron blamed Walker for Taylor's murder at a news conference Wednesday following the announcement of the grand jury's decision.
"Yesterday was almost as tough as the day itself," Moore said, speaking on behalf of Walker.
Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was shot six times in the hallway of her apartment on March 13 by officers executing a search warrant in a narcotics investigation. Moore said Walker was never the target of a probe and has no criminal record....
Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove never protected her. I do not care if the drug dealer lived in that house while unwitting occupants carried on their lives, THE POLICE EXECUTING THE WARRANT NEVER PROTECTED THE INNOCENT.
There is no such thing as collateral damage in a home where no evidence existed to justify the violent death of Breonna Taylor.
Kenneth Walker never fired a single shot in her direction. He came to the living room to defend his household. All of a sudden he is a subject of a knockless search warrant that resulted in an invasion into that home of innocent people. They had absolutely no idea what was transpiring. That household was allowed to have guns to protect from home invasion.
Don't try to say there was no reason for the guns in the house either. Every law abiding person in the USA has the right to own, carry and use guns. How they use them has to be within the law and that law has become very loose in it's application.
Yes. (click here) Kentucky is a Castle Doctrine state and has a “stand your ground” law. A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat. He or she has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another. Force may also be used to prevent the commission of a felony involving the use of force. Any person who uses a gun in self-defense has immunity from criminal and civil law.
This looks like classical corruption no different than seen with Michael Brown. In the middle of a Ferguson street in broad daylight young Michael Brown was mercilessly gunned down when he was surrendering to the officer. Killed him and didn't care that he had a life that was promising.
Brioanna Taylor was living the dream. It was the dream promised her for being a responsible citizen. And she was gunned down within the sanctity of her own home in the presence of a man that loved her. There is absolutely no reason for this to happen to any of the African American communities.
There is a great evil at work and it is called racism. These are traumatized communities on many, many levels and the loss of some of their most promising people are being gunned down and put to death in the streets of their communities.
Michael Brown didn't own a gun. Trayvon Martin was a young man without the capacity of owning a gun. How long is this list? None of them owned or were using a gun, yet they are dead, some as young as a child. Is there any reason to expect any of the survivors of these communities to sit silently by and witness more and more of this blatant imposition of government authority?
Right now in the case of Breonna Taylor there needs to be a meeting between Attorney Benjamin Crump and the Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron. The attorney and the family have a RIGHT to find peace and look for justice in the death of Breonna. She was doing everything right. EVERYTHING. Someone decided they would look to her wrongfully in a investigation of a known drug dealer. This is some of the worst police investigation work ever to exist and the reason it was allowed to exist was because there was no respect for the African American community.
Breonna Taylor was not a human being to Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove. She was an object so the police officers could pin their badges on with pride for their own elevation in taking down a PRETEND drug network. There was no evidence leading to the home of Breoanna Taylor. There was hearsay. That isn't evidence, but, when a black woman is the object of the hearsay it is as good as law.
The Grand Jury findings is highly questionable and the parents of Breonna and those that love her have the right to know. THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW WHY AN INNOCENT BLACK WOMAN IS DEAD WHEN SHE WAS DOING EVERYTHING RIGHT!
Thursday, September 24, 2020
Sorry to interrupt such brotherly and sisterly love in the country...
... but, there are reports of two leaks in the International Space Station and one is effecting life support.
What spacecrafts are up there as escape vehicles?
What is going on with ISS? Funding cuts? Maybe channeled money to Space Force and possibly “The Wall?” WHAT IS GOING ON!
Ruling
There was already a Supreme Court ruling in July of this year regarding faithless delegates. The states cannot arbitrarily arrange for its party delegates for the electoral college. Come on people pull yourself together. Get out the vote.
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Trump is trying to raise hate in Michigan.
The Trump campaign has started to advertise for a repel of Governor Whitmer. The idea, of course, is to drive the right wing out in November if there is a referendum on the ballot.
What next?
Venezuela
Divided and in hell forever. Really? The USA? Where soldiers are losers and suckers. Seriously. I don’t think so.
We will have an orderly transition of government if the election results call for it. If the victor of the election is Joe Biden, the White House has to be fumigated first anyway because of the rampant spread of SARS-CoV-2 there.
Breonna Taylor
No one is charged with her death. The one officer is charged with reckless endangerment for shooting through Breonna’s apartment walls into the next apartment where no one was injured or killed.
This is a travesty. Police union and contracts. Corruption in the law enforcement arm of Louisville, Kentucky. Everything is being swept under the rug as a problem with the police structure and rules for raids.
This ain’t over. This is just beginning. Another Ferguson. People are not safe in their homes because the rules allow reckless home invasion by the POLICE.
Bill Barr will never raise a finger as Eric Holder did.
Lasting tributes to a great American and trailblazer.
September 19, 2020
The remaining eight Supreme Court justices, (click here) and two former colleagues, are speaking out about their colleague Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday at age 87.
Some, like Clarence Thomas, and Stephen Breyer, served with her for nearly all of her 27 years on the high court, and wrote emotional statements following news of her death. The justices all spoke of her undying devotion to the law and her grace as a colleague.
Excerpts from their statements, as released Saturday by the court:
Chief Justice John Roberts:
“Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature. We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her -- a tireless and resolute champion of justice.”...
The remaining eight Supreme Court justices, (click here) and two former colleagues, are speaking out about their colleague Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday at age 87.
Some, like Clarence Thomas, and Stephen Breyer, served with her for nearly all of her 27 years on the high court, and wrote emotional statements following news of her death. The justices all spoke of her undying devotion to the law and her grace as a colleague.
Excerpts from their statements, as released Saturday by the court:
Chief Justice John Roberts:
“Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature. We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her -- a tireless and resolute champion of justice.”...
...Retired Justice David Souter
Souter wrote that “Ruth Ginsburg was one of the members of the Court who achieved greatness before she became a great justice. I loved her to pieces.”...
McConnell is a two faced racist. Dark money, MItch? A organization partically owns the Supreme Court and achieved it through Dark Money.
Former Justice David Souter was a Republican judge chosen by the Late President George H. W. Bush. Justice Souter just turned 81. He decided to retire giving our first African American president his first decision in making Supreme Court appointments. Souter was a great judge as well as a great American. His decision to retire brought a minority woman justice to the Supreme Court. On May 26, 2009, his replacement was decided to be Sonia Sotomayor.
The Late John Paul Stevens retired after 34 years of service. He also was a registered Republican. He was replaced on May 10, 2010, by Elena Kagan. That would bring three women to the court.
The death of Judge Scalia came on February 13, 2016. The death occurred while McConnell was Majority Leader of the US Senate. March 6, 2019, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Merrick Garland was nominated by President Barak Obama to replace Judge Scalia.
There was absolutely no other person as qualified or non-partisan as Judge Garland. He should be sitting on the court today for the wisdom and insight he could have brought with him, but, McConnell decided to throw an ideological hissy fit and withheld any nomination hearings until Neil Gorsuch was nominated from the Federalist Society.
The Federalist Society, a private organization, has placed Robert, Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch on the Supreme Court under Republican presidents.
The Late John Paul Stevens retired after 34 years of service. He also was a registered Republican. He was replaced on May 10, 2010, by Elena Kagan. That would bring three women to the court.
The death of Judge Scalia came on February 13, 2016. The death occurred while McConnell was Majority Leader of the US Senate. March 6, 2019, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Merrick Garland was nominated by President Barak Obama to replace Judge Scalia.
There was absolutely no other person as qualified or non-partisan as Judge Garland. He should be sitting on the court today for the wisdom and insight he could have brought with him, but, McConnell decided to throw an ideological hissy fit and withheld any nomination hearings until Neil Gorsuch was nominated from the Federalist Society.
The Federalist Society, a private organization, has placed Robert, Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch on the Supreme Court under Republican presidents.
The Federalist Society receives 90% of its funding from individuals and foundations; the other 10% comes from corporations. It must be a real head trip to single-handedly place four, soon to be five Supreme Court justices with biased ideas of the world in the USA. Admittedly, quite an accomplishment.
Such an accomplishment is not beneficial to the USA in that those nominations come with expectations of an agenda by a private organization. No wonder private corporations rally round it.
May 21, 2019
By Robert O'Harrow Jr. and Shawn Boburg
Leonard Leo (click here) stepped onto the stage in a darkened Florida ballroom, looked out at a gathering of some of the nation's most powerful conservative activists and told them they were on the cusp of fulfilling a long-sought dream.
For two decades, Leo has been on a mission to turn back the clock to a time before the U.S. Supreme Court routinely expanded the government’s authority and endorsed new rights such as abortion and same-sex marriage. Now, as President Trump’s unofficial judicial adviser, he told the audience at the closed-door event in February that they had to mobilize in “very unprecedented ways” to help finish the job.
“We’re going to have to understand that judicial confirmations these days are more like political campaigns,” Leo told the members of the Council for National Policy, according to a recording of the speech obtained by The Washington Post. “We’re going to have to be smart as a movement.”...
Political campaigns. Really.
I digress. McConnell. When Merritt Garland was nominated Mitch McConnell could have easily been proud to confirm a highly qualified judge for the country's first Black American President. But, no, Mitch had to bow to those he felt would better be benefitted from the opening on the Supreme Court, the Federalist Society.
An entire year the US Supreme Court was absent a justice because the Majority Leader of the US Senate didn't feel like sitting a qualified justice, instead, he played politics with it. That is corruption at the highest levels of the US Senate.
TODAY, in ads and speeches the Supreme Court opening is being held up as a political and ideological victory. What gives McConnell the right to jeopardize decision making by the Supreme Court and stack the deck against those that solicit opinions.
Now, this is where it gets interesting. The Federalist Society received Dark Money to push Kavanaugh and Gorsuch through there nomination process. $22 million dollars BOUGHT AND PAID FOR KAVANAUGH and Gorsuch. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford didn't have a chance despite her forthright truth-telling.
May 17, 2020
By Anna Massoglia and Andrew Perez
The conservative “dark money” organization (click here) that spearheaded controversial Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s contentious confirmation received $22 million in anonymous donations in the year before the 2018 court fight, newly released tax records show.
The Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, pledged to spend as much as $10 million to ensure Kavanaugh’s confirmation — the same amount that it spent to help confirm Justice Neil Gorsuch in 2017. JCN has close ties to Trump’s judicial adviser Leonard Leo, a longtime executive at the Federalist Society, the influential conservative and libertarian lawyers network based in Washington, D.C.
More than three-quarters of the funds JCN raised between July 2017 and June 2018 came in the form of a $17 million contribution from a single anonymous donor, according to its latest tax return, which was obtained by MapLight and OpenSecrets. Former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement in June 2018, paving the way for Kavanaugh’s nomination.
JCN’s filing lists nine other anonymous contributions, none smaller than six figures....
But, where did the money go?
Chuck Grassley of Iowa - $1,356,543 donations from ideological groups. Which is more than 10 percent of his donations. That is corruption with a capital C because the only ideology any Senator is supposed to PLEDGE HER OR HIS LOYALTIES to is the United States of America's Constitution.
But as to McConnell.
McConnell could have placed the third Justice for a historic service of our first African American president, but, instead, he decided to play ideological poker. Mitch McConnell is among the first to condemn White Supremacists, but, the Federalist Society isn't known so much for a racist agenda so much as an oppressive religious agenda. It never ceases to amaze me the number of religious political groups with absolutely no relationship to any particular religion or religious leader. Where do they get the moral authority to upend the United States Supreme Court and buy out a Senate majority leader for the ideological voters they can deliver?
Now, McConnell is strutting like a peacock because his ideological dream is about to come true in sitting another ideologue on the Supreme Court. He is proud to say this is his third in three years. Indeed. But, if he was seeking claim to sitting three justices in his tenure, why wasn't it Merrick Garland as the first?
It is no secret that Judge Garland can run circles around Gorsuch and Kavanaugh. So there is McConnell's great accomplishment, selling out the best judge for the court and substituting Federal Society fair-haired boys. That is an accomplishment? I hope anyone reading this can see the hypocrisy and the lack of loyalty to the USA Constitution to have it's best warriors on the court.
And, by the way, I still can't see an accounting for the $22 million in a public venue to understand where all that money went. $22 million dollars. Most US House candidates and US Senators don't have that size campaign fund. As of 2019, McConnell's war chest was a little less than $13 million (click here).
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Benjamin Franklin on the last day...
...of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, when the constitution was adopted, stated to the American public, “What do we have a republic or a monarchy?” He then stated, “A republic, if you can keep it. OUR RESPONSIBILITY IS TO KEEP IT.”
Americans have forgotten their one vote is extremely powerful should they exercise it morally.
What terms do voters place on their vote? What level of moral character do voters look for in their candidates?
See, the high moral content of the USA is missing because voters have forgotten their power to bring about a good and decent government. They aren’t looking for good moral character which includes competency and qualifications. The American people have become reactionary rather than decided.
I don’t know if it is the social media sites influence or the deprivation of wealth or if it is the lack of commitment by the people to understand the depth of power they have in a vote, but, the past two decades seemed to have demoralized Americans in valuing integrity of government. I don’t mean the pomp and circumstance of government rituals, I mean real integrity that doesn’t disappoint Americans when they decide their vote and the votes are cast.
“Republicans Behaving Badly,” should be a real trigger to moving the vote away from those currently lying and changing their position in relation to a judicial nominee so close to an election.
It has been more than 4 months since the US Senate took up a meaningful COVID-19 Bill, but, it has been only days since a judicial nominee has been continuously talked about by Senate Republicans. The immorality in that dynamic is exactly the immorality Benjamin Franklin spoke of when the final US Constitution was drafted.
It is up to the American people to vote for good and moral government. The fact the Republican judicial nominees voted to the court has stemmed out of one powerful lobby, The Federalist Society, should have every American worried. That fact should have every American scared to the future of the country. Currently 5 Supreme Court judges have come out of one lobby. That is not good for the country. What does it say about diversity of thought necessary to uphold the US Constitution?
Disappointed is the word to use when bad behavior is allowed by candidates in voting them back into office. Doesn’t responsibility for the integrity of the US Constitution begin with those elected to office to protect it?
I believe the US Constitution is in peril and the electorate needs to reassess it’s responsibility to it before it is too late.
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