Monthly Archives: March 2020

national news

Trump’s ignorance puts Americans in jeopardy

Donald Trump has emerged as a threat not only to our national security but now to the health and well being of rank-and-file Americans.

Consider what he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity, as reported by Yahoo! News:

“A lot of people will have this and it’s very mild. They’ll get better very rapidly. They don’t even see a doctor, they don’t even call a doctor. You never hear about those people,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “So you can’t put them down in the category of the overall population in terms of this corona flu and or virus. So you just can’t do that. So, if you know, we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work. Some of them go to work, but they get better.”

A word to the wise and the unsuspecting: Do not go to work if you have the coronavirus!

What troubles many of us is that a lot of Americans who continue to hang onto the Medical Expert in Chief’s words will take him seriously when he blathers such nonsense.

Thus, in my view, the president of the United States — the fellow who swore on a Bible to protect us — instead is putting many of us in danger of getting potentially deathly ill.

Why and how? I can’t explain the why. The how is simple: Donald Trump is an ignorant buffoon who says whatever he thinks will benefit him politically.

national news

Why should we care what AOC thinks about … anything right now?

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made an appearance last night on late night TV and was asked by her host what she’ll do if Bernie Sanders is not the Democratic Party nominee for president of the United States.

I keep circling back to this question: Why does — or should — anyone care what a freshman member of Congress thinks about the status of the primary race for the most powerful and exalted public office in the United States?

AOC wants Sanders to be the next president. Fine. That’s her call.

However, I continue to be amazed beyond all reason as to why she keeps getting the attention she garners.

AOC needs to earn her spurs. She needs to enact some meaningful legislation. She needs to develop a record of accomplishment.

I wish her well. I think she’s got a bright future in politics.

She’s just too damn green to be taken seriously … at this moment!

national news

Matt Gaetz: newest GOP supreme goofball

Take a look at this idiotic image.

The fool behind that gas mask is Florida GOP U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, who reported for work on Capitol Hill this week sporting the mask. He was making some sort of ridiculous statement about the coronavirus crisis that is beginning to cause some signs of panic around the country.

Instead of being a sober, serious and studied lawmaker, Gaetz — who is known for his histrionic and occasionally hysterical defense of Donald Trump — chose to make a spectacle of himself.

By donning this mask and making a complete a** of himself in public, he has demeaned the actual illness that Americans are enduring and has mocked the deaths of the dozen or so Americans who have succumbed to this illness.

Rep. Gaetz should be ashamed of himself.

Sadly, though, he won’t.

medical news, science news

Shut up, Mr. POTUS, on the subject of ‘coronavirus’

Donald John Trump is putting millions of Americans — the folks he took an oath to protect — in dire jeopardy if they listen to his idiotic rants about his “hunch” and the coronavirus.

Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity last night that those who might have the coronavirus could just get “well” even if they go to work while infected with the highly contagious — and potentially fatal — disease.

What is this guy trying to do?

Then he disputed the World Health Organization’s view about the mortality rate among those who come down with the virus. WHO doctors suggest the rate is about 3.4 percent. Trump says it is his “hunch” that the death rate is less than that figure. His hunch? What the hell is that all about?

U.S. public health officials do not have enough testing kits to find the virus among the population. At least we have an admission of that shortfall from Vice President Pence, who went to Washington state today to assess the situation at the epicenter of the outbreak in the United States.

As for the president, he needs to stop tweeting his idiocy. He needs also to leave the topic of the coronavirus exclusively up to the health experts who are working to stem the growing concern.

Donald Trump doesn’t know a damn thing about this virus. He needs to shut his trap and let the experts do the talking.

national news

Political diversity is far from dead

The next Democratic Party presidential nominee is going to be an old white man. One of the two remaining major candidates is 77 years of age; the other one is 78.

The gigantic 2020 Democratic primary field started out as the most diverse in history: five women; three African Americans (one of whom is a woman); an Asian-American businessman; a gay man; a Hindu woman.

We’re now left with the two old white guys: former Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

I am all in for Biden. Never mind that … for now.

What’s left now is for one of these fellows to fight it out with each other and the winner to determine with whom he wants to run for the White House.

So much of the chatter has centered on the rivals who’ve dropped out. I want to expand the field of candidates for vice president way beyond building a “team of rivals.”

This much is as clear as anything one can imagine about the 2020 presidential campaign: The Democratic Party ticket is going to include either a woman, a woman or man of color, or possibly a woman of color.

So let’s quell the talk about the “death of diversity,” shall we?

As for the huge pool of potential running mates either for Biden or Sanders, one of these men can look far and wide well beyond the individuals whom they have defeated. Every state in the Union is full of competent, racially diverse individuals — including many women — involved at all levels of government.

I also agree that the once-huge Democratic field is full of competence, charisma and character. So, whomever emerges from the fight that’s about to commence from this day forward until the presidential nomination convention will have a rich field from which he can find a suitable running mate.

However, you can take this straight to the bank: The next Democratic VP nominee will not be an old white guy.

national news

Here come the third-party Bernie rumors

Oh, brother.

If Bernie Sanders is adamant in his desire to ensure that Donald John Trump gets shown the door out of the White House after the upcoming presidential election then he’d better scotch reports about a possible third-party election bid in the event he loses the Democratic Party nomination to Joe Biden.

I’m hearing that kinda chatter out there.

The Michigan primary is coming up next Tuesday. Some analysts say it’s do or die for Sen. Sanders in Michigan. If he loses there, he’s done. Toast. A goner. Then what?

The notion being batted around is that he would launch a third-party/independent bid to defeat Trump.

Hmm. I think of, oh, Ralph Nader spoiling it for Al Gore in 2000, siphoning off enough votes to hand Texas Gov. George W. Bush enough votes to squeak his way into the White House. Without Nader on the ballot in Florida, Gore wins the state’s electoral votes and takes the oath of office — with no recount and no Supreme Court decision to settle the matter!

My advice to Bernie is simple: If you’re a man of your word, then you won’t even think about what is being bandied about. Furthermore, Sen. Sanders needs to ensure that the Democratic Party nominee, which would be Joseph R. Biden Jr., would have his unqualified support and that he will campaign vigorously to defeat the current president of the United States.

Are we clear?

national news

Get ready, Mr. VPOTUS, for the fight of your life

I hope, Joe Biden, you don’t mind a bit of unsolicited advice from someone out here in the heart of Trump Country.

Look, I’m all in on your presidential candidacy. I’ve said so on this blog, Mr. Vice President. Readers of High Plains Blogger know my bias and they either accept/endorse it or they reject/condemn it.

Now that I’ve got that out of the way, I want to express a deep concern I have for you as you enter what’s essentially a two-man race with Bernie Sanders. I hear you’re going to debate Sen. Sanders soon in advance of another round of primary states.

Therein lies the crux of my concern.

If I were you, Mr. VP, I would hire a debate coach … pronto. You see, I am concerned that you might get too worked up as Bernie lobs grenades at you. I mean, you know already what he’s going to say about you and to you while you’re standing next to each other. Let me refresh you on that:

He’ll accuse you of being in the pocket of zillionaires; he’ll criticize your vote in support of the Iraq War resolution; he’ll say you’ve argued on the Senate floor to cut Social Security and Medicare; he will say you’re the tool of the “Democratic establishment”; for all I know, he might even ask you if you’ve “stopped beating your wife.”

Get ready for that line of attack, Mr. Vice President. You need to be prepared for it. You need a storehouse of zingers. Do you remember the classic “You’re no Jack Kennedy” line that Lloyd Bentsen tossed at Dan Quayle in 1988? I know, it didn’t win the election for the Democrats that year, but Sen. Bentsen was ready to deliver it.

And for criminy sakes, Mr. VP, don’t get so worked up in your responses that you say something silly, or regrettable or … well, stupid!

Political contests usually aren’t won by debating points, but history tells us they can be lost by mistakes and gaffes.

I’m in your corner, Mr. Vice President. If you see this note, take careful heed. If someone on your staff sees, I hope they take it in the spirit I offer this advice.

I am just one American who wants Donald John Trump tossed out of office. I believe you’re the last candidate standing who can make my wish come true.

Don’t mess it up.

national news

Schumer needs to settle down

“I want to tell you Gorsuch. I want to tell Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”

So said U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer. He was directing his remarks to Supreme Court justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

They were taking part in a Supreme Court hearing on a controversial abortion case out of Louisiana. Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, of course, are two justices nominated by Donald John Trump and approved after bruising confirmation battles in the Senate; Schumer opposed them both.

Sen. Schumer is wrong to threaten these justices. Chief Justice John Roberts took the unusual approach in rebuking the Senate leader, calling the threats leveled by Schumer “inappropriate” and “dangerous.” Yes. They are.

Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh aren’t my favorite members of the nation’s highest court. I want them to rule the right way on this case and I want them to preserve a woman’s right to control her own body. However, Sen. Schumer has stepped way over the line that separates the legislative and judicial branches of government.

Schumer needs to pipe down and let these justices do their job without that kind of intimidation.

national news

GOP dredges up Biden probe yet again

OK, so this is how it goes.

Joe Biden resurrects his flagging presidential campaign with a stunning Super Tuesday ballot performance and — bingo, just like that! — congressional Republicans decide it’s time to bring back a probe into the Democratic candidate’s son’s business dealings in Ukraine.

It doesn’t matter to Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson that prosecutors in Ukraine say there’s nothing wrong, that Joe Biden broke no laws, or that other political observers dismiss the investigation as a fishing expedition. Nope. Johnson’s going after the former vice president.

Sen. Johnson alleges that Biden committed a conflict of interest act by interfering on Hunter Biden’s behalf while he was vice president of the United States. Says who? Sen. Johnson, that’s who!

Johnson thinks he can summon enough votes to subpoena Hunter Biden to testify about his Burisma work and whether Dad played any role in his work for the company.

Johnson says his seeking a probe into Biden has nothing to do with the former VP’s surge and his return to frontrunner status in the Democratic presidential primary. Sure thing, senator … whatever you say.

Some of us out here think differently. This probe, as they say, just doesn’t pass the smell test.

national news

Big money supporting Biden? Not in this household!

The more I hear Bernie Sanders suggest that Joe Biden has become the candidate of big money, well-heeled special interests, the privileged few who run everything in America, the more offense I am taking.

I want to lecture Sen. Sanders about something. It’s the truth and I won’t back away from it.

I am not wealthy. I don’t get involved in establishment political activity. I watch the news constantly. I study the issues. I try to understand them.

I am drawn to former Vice President Biden not because he represents big money. I am drawn to him because I believe in his message and the promise he presents to return some decency, dignity and decorum to the office of the presidency.

Furthermore, I also suspect I am not alone in that view, given the surge that the former vice president saw on Super Tuesday. Evan Smith, editor in chief and founder of the Texas Tribune, noted during the election coverage Tuesday night that “same-day voters” had broken significantly for Joe Biden, wiping out pro-Sanders advantages run up by the votes cast by those who voted early.

Many thousands of Texans, along with those in other Super Tuesday states, were moved by the stunning victory Biden scored in South Carolina. I had been leaning toward Biden already, so my vote Tuesday wasn’t spurred by some last-minute conversion from one candidate to another.

I mention this only because Sen. Sanders is drawing what I believe is an inappropriate picture of the kind of support that is lining up behind Joe Biden. The so-called big money had written off Biden after his dismal election performance in New Hampshire.

Then suddenly, he awoke from the near (political) dead. Rank-and-file voters administered the smelling salts and he roared back on his own.

None of this will matter to Sanders. He wants to be nominated for president. Sanders will say what he believes he needs to say to revive the “revolution” he purports to lead. That’s his right.

I just happen to believe he is manufacturing a conspiracy where none exists. It offends me.