Robert Pogson

Terrorist: “a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.”

For years now, the Republican Party, the Government of the People party, has declined to rely on the people to choose a government:

• They’ve gerrymandered to the extreme congressional districts to prevent election of members of the Democratic Party
• They’ve passed laws and rules to prevent minorities from voting including providing tiny numbers of polling places and causing huge lines to vote even in the midst of an epidemic
• They’ve chosen a demagogue as leader and replaced a serious platform with his whims which change daily
• They’ve supported violence against immigrants and refugees to prevent increase of minority populations
• They’ve refused to do their constitutional duty to advise and consent on the nomination of judges by a Democratic president
• They’ve advised armed militias to attack or threaten with violence politicians and leaders of opposing parties
• They’ve repeated outrageous lies endlessly to brainwash the public
• They’ve abused the courts with frivolous lawsuits to delay the processes of government
• They’ve threatened with physical violence anyone who speaks against the GOP or its leader

Not accepting the results of the latest election is only the latest in a long string of outrages committed by the party. Even after a failed attempted coup representatives publicly state the Democrats have not won the presidency. Trump gave a rousing speech to his fighters on their way to kill or capture the vice president and anyone else who stood in their way.

Biden should instruct his DOJ to declare the GOP a terrorist organization and start “taking names and kicking ass”. It’s the right thing to do. If not now, we may be seeing the repetition of

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Niemoller

It’s not enough just to speak out about the GOP. It’s time to take action.

OK, stock markets are full of optimistic folk spending money where they think it will make money for them. I get that. It’s a “leading indicator” of how the economy and various businesses might do in the future.

However, we are in a situation where the US stock markets are expressing extreme greed by investors while USA is

• in the midst of a pandemic and not doing well,
• in the midst of political upheaval with ~33% of the population seeking violent overthrow of government, and
• the National Guard is being mobilized to squelch an uncivil war.

I just don’t get it. How can anyone be optimistic in this situation? I saw bad things coming years ago and got out of US stock markets. I did well as a result. It seems to me US GDP will be sluggish for at least a year, maybe two and many small businesses are ruined, homelessness and hunger stalk the land, the national debt is exploding and USA still has no national health insurance. USA has regressed to a 1960s kind of economy before everything happened to modernization: women at work, automobiles being cranked out at home, clerical work was in great demand, etc. Now the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting desperate. I can see crime spiking. I can see political instability for decades to come. If millions are this angry over Trump losing an election, how angry are they going to be when Biden undoes 99% of Trump’s “accomplishments” and Trump et al rot in prison? What are GOP members of government going to do for two years after they voted to suspend the constitution and elect the loser of an election? How is the DOJ going to dispense justice in crimes in which the DOJ was complicit and 33% of jurors think criminals are unfairly treated? Whence cometh this optimism in the markets?

It seems to me this is a bubble soon to burst. The Ds and Rs are never going to agree on how to fix anything. They can’t even agree on how to get rid of Trump, let alone Trumpism. I’m glad I live in Canada where we have problems but we can fix them. Not so in USA.

“In the U.S. Senate race in Texas, incumbent Republican John Cornyn leads Democrat M.J. Hegar among likely voters, 49 – 43 percent. Seven percent are undecided. On September 24th, Cornyn had 50 percent support and Hegar had 42 percent, also with 7 percent undecided. ”

See Pennsylvania (PA) Poll – October 21, 2020 – Texas In Play: Biden And Trump | Quinnipiac University ConnecticutIt’s not certain but there is some movement at the “top” and “bottom” of the ticket in Texas and both Biden and Hegar could win. That would pretty well seal Trump’s fate and offer Biden good support from Congress.

What a different world we will live in if Biden comes to power with a Democratic Senate and House. Pray that good intentions become good deeds and that as much as possible of Trump’s damage can be undone without destroying USA altogether. We live in dangerous times. What will Trump do as a lame duck? Play golf? Declare war on someone? Roil the markets? Go after his enemies? All of the above?

See Lindsay Graham Getting a Hug at Amy Coney Barrett’s Hearing Just Put Democrats Over the EdgeSome of the leading Democrats are getting very long in the tooth. While they are well connected and great at fund-raising, they are growing out of touch with USAian society and the younger members of the party. After they win this election, they should step aside. This includes Biden who is older than I am. The time to be a mature wise leader is in the 50s, not the 80s.

In particular, Biden is all about a public/private partnership for universal health insurance. That’s nuts. Allowing insurance companies to shift the high-risk people to the government is nuts. Insurance is about sharing risk, not packaging it. The problem with USAian health insurance is its complexity. Adding another layer to that is a bad idea. Go directly to single-payer universal coverage. It’s efficient. States can administer it. The feds don’t have to foot the whole bill, it can be a cost-sharing thing. It will give healthcare providers a simpler way of earning revenue. It will give sick people assured healthcare. The time when you are least able to pay for healthcare or fill out voluminous forms is when you are sick. Do the right thing.

Also, Biden is walking on eggshells about the environment. He has the right idea but he needs bold measures instead of telling labour unions what they want to hear about fossil fuels etc. He should be all-in on The Green New Deal. He should appoint AOC as czarina in charge of getting universal healthcare and The Green New Deal on track. Both of these span departments so an overseer enthusiastic about the programmes is needed, not Biden/Harris. AOC does not need to be in a full time position. She can still function in the House as a representative. If Biden insists on conservative approaches he should ask AOC to announce consultations with experts and the public to devise a made-in-USA approach that works. Give AOC 90 days to make a plan and the legislative branch 180 days to make it into law. It will take Biden that long to untangle the messes Trump has created anyway. He has fires to put out while AOC and other young energetic Democrats can light new fires under the bureaucracy to move USA into the 21st century.

Biden should be putting his DOJ into attack-mode against Trump and Trumpism. There are crimes aplenty there. A special prosecutor is in order along with all kinds of search warrants and cooperation from State, Justice and IRS. SEC should be looking at insider trading. Justice should be looking at obstruction, criminal negligence causing death, crimes against humanity and emoluments. Likely Trump will go into hiding in Russia or Saudi Arabia so lots of international investigations should proceed. Then, Biden should put State and Defence into attack-mode on Russia. Essentially, Russia has committed undeclared war on USA for years with no response whatsoever. Biden should seek a declaration of war from Congress. He should seize all russian ships and planes outside of Russia beyond a certain date, create configurations to drive Russia out of Ukraine and Syria and set Assad, Putin, North Korea and China straight. Trade deals, global treaties and defensive alignments all have to be put right. That would likely take all of Biden’s energy for a year or two at which time he could resign knowing he’s fixed things. Harris can steer the ship Biden will have put on course.

Another thing Biden has to fix is bringing SCOTUS into line with USAian society. It is crazy to believe that folks who drafted the USAian constitution who were all right with slavery and women not being empowered are somehow infallible and their words must be interpreted as written and as meant. Surely those writers did not envision angry young men armed with AR-15s storming the MI legislature to intimidate legislators and shooting thousands of civilians annually forever when they wrote the second amendment. SCOTUS has to be revamped and the constitution with it. Biden should ask the “conservative” skunks on SCOTUS to resign and if not push for impeachment. If that doesn’t work, he should add four or five liberal justices. He should confer with SCOTUS and ask them which remedy they prefer…

I expect the Government of Pigs party to go into a long decline after 2020 so the Democrats have an opportunity to achieve many things which have only been aspirations until Trump wrecked things.

In the war in Viet Nam, some jaded commentators proclaimed, “Kill ’em all. Let God sort them out!”. It’s a commentary on how ugly war can be. The news that Trump is infected with COVID-19 has similar connotations.“The Twenty-fifth Amendment (Amendment XXV) to the United States Constitution deals with issues related to presidential succession and disability.”

25th Amendment On the one hand, civilized humans don’t wish a deadly virus on anyone, but, on the other, it is sweet irony that the guy who eschewed masks, wished the epidemic would “go away, like a miracle”, and called it a hoax, should succumb. However this goes, Trump will proclaim himself an innocent victim, “the Ds did it”, or that he is the president who survived COVID-19. Before the election we should know the truth and it will set us free. If Trump does become very ill, will Pence have the courage to invoke Article 25? How would Pence v Biden go?

Having watched the debate last night, I’m left with some impressions. Biden v Trump was sane v insane, calm v angry, sensible v crazed, focused v scatter-brained, good v evil, etc. I have to wonder what drug Trump was under. Wikipedia: “The symptoms of amphetamine psychosis include auditory and visual hallucinations, grandiosity, delusions of persecution, and delusions of reference concurrent with both clear consciousness and prominent extreme agitation.”

People who watched that “debate” will no doubt run screaming to the exits of Trumpism. Expect fear on a widespread scale about what this monster will do in his “lame duck” period.

King Canute was reported to have commanded the sea to fall back and it did not. Trump is an imitation of Canute, commanding democracy to fall back so he can be king Trump. It isn’t going to happen and I think the House, Senate and White House will all fall to the Democrats this time. Every sane USAian has seen the king has no clothes.