A Bipartisan Movement Across America

Here, in no particular order, are just some of the people of both parties who are standing up for actual fact-based truth and supporting Kamala Harris and Tim Walz:

Cassidy Hutchinson, Republican former White House special assistant to Trump and star witness before the January 6 Select Committee that investigated the attack on the Capitol.

Sara Matthews, Republican former Trump WH deputy press secretary.

Alyssa Farah Griffin, Republican former personal assistant to the president in the Trump WH, now co-host of The View TV Show and a vocal Trump critic.

Adam Kinzinger, Republican former U.S. representative, veteran Air Force pilot with service in Iraq and Afghanistan, and member of the January 6 Select Committee, also a vocal Trump critic.

Dick Cheney, staunch Republican and former vice president.

Liz Cheney, attorney, Republican former U.S. representative, former chair of the House Republican Conference, and vice chair of the January 6 Select Committee, currently a professor at the University of Virginia.

Michael Cohen, Republican former personal attorney for Trump and heavily involved in that administration, convicted of fraud in violation of campaign finance laws and other crimes at Trump's direction, served time, now a vocal Trump critic.

Charlie Sykes, for 23 years a dedicated Republican radio talk show host, now a Never-Trumper supporting Harris/Walz.

Mary Trump, Donald's niece, clinical psychologist and best-selling author, with her own YouTube show dedicated to exposing her uncle and critiquing the MAGA movement.

Fox host Geraldo Rivera breaking rank to denounce Trump and support Harris/Walz.

General Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump.

Two-term Democrat President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle.

Democrat President Bill Clinton.

Democrat President Jimmy Carter.

Democrat President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill.

Taylor Swift, billionaire entertainer with a vast following.

Bruce Springsteen, also with a vast following.

Willie Nelson, ditto.

Mick Jagger, ditto.

Oprah Winfrey, ditto.

Best-selling Author Stephen King, ditto. 

Whoopi Goldberg, ditto.

Robert De Nero, prolific actor.

Julia Roberts, prolific actress.

Mark Cuban, wealthy businessman and a star of the TV show Shark Tank.

TV personalities Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, George Conway, Seth Myers, Nicolle Wallace, Ari Melber, Adam Mockler, Jesse Dollamore, Chris Hayes, Bill Maher, Rachael Maddow, Jen Psaki, David Pakman, Keith Edwards, Robert Reich, Lawrence O'Donnell, Tennessee Brando, Ben Meiselas with Attorney Michael Popock and the other Meidas Touch hosts, Joe Scarborough and crew of Morning Joe, Jim Miller and crew at The Bulwark. (I'm sure I left some out.)

Some 40 unions with their many combined millions of members, including: United Auto Workers, AFL-CIO, United Steel Workers, American Postal Workers, Amalgamated Transit Union, International Longshore and Warehouse Union, American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, Actors' Equity Association, American Federation of Government Employees, and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.

If you care about truth backed up by actual verifiable facts, about integrity and basic morality and honor in our leadership, about traditional American values, about the future of our democracy, about our constitution, you're welcome to join all of us and vote for Harris and Walz.

Phil

Please pass this message on. 

 

WHY did he do it?

    Bob Woodward, legendary investigative journalist who helped expose the Nixon Watergate scandal, recently revealed that during the raging Covid pandemic, while thousands of Americans were dying every day, then-President Trump secretly sent Covid test kits to Vladimir Putin before they were readily available to our own people. Woodward also documented several discreet personal phone conversations over time between the two men.Trump himself has bragged about his friendly contacts with Putin. 

    Hold that thought for a minute.

    Anybody who's been paying attention to verifiable facts knows of Trump's extensive efforts to overturn the 2020 election results: His refusal of a peaceful transfer of power--the first in our history--and his persistent claim that he actually won. His calls to Republican state officials to "find" him votes or to just declare their state's results invalid. The failed fake electors scheme. The 60 Republican lawsuits alleging election fraud committed by Democrats, all thrown out of courts across the country for lack of evidence. (See at least the last Jan 6 Select Committee Report on YouTube including sworn testimony from numerous Republican witnesses.) His dictate to Pence to derail the ceremonial process of counting the electoral votes in congress, which Pence rightly refused to do. As a last resort, him whipping up a mob of his supporters to assault the Capitol and ". . . fight like hell." (While watching the riot unfold for three hours on TV, refusing to call off the violence that severely injured 140 Capitol Police and ransacked the seat of our democracy, he was told that his rampaging Minions were shouting "HANG MIKE PENCE." His response was, "So what?") So we know beyond any doubt just how far Trump will go to achieve or retain power. 

    But that's only one of Trump's criminal liabilities (for which he has been duly indicted by Special Council Jack Smith).

    Let's consider another of his legal liabilities. He took dozens of file boxes filled with hundreds of Secret and Top Secret documents from the White House, which legally belonged in the secure National Archives, to his Mar-a-Lago residence/members' resort and had them stored unsecured in a toilet and elsewhere. When the FBI demanded them back he refused, so they finally had to go in and seize them. When pressed by reporters, Trump claimed he could declassify documents " . . . just by thinking about it."

    My question is WHY did he take those secret documents? Merely as souvenirs? Or could he have wanted them as strong bargaining chips to curry personal power or favor? We know that at one point he did call Volodymyr Zelensky asking him to dig up any dirt he could on Biden, implying the withholding of aid otherwise. So we do know Trump is not above manipulative maneuvering to bolster his power.

    We now know Trump shared Covid test kits with Putin, even before his own citizens had them.

    What else might he have shared? Possibly a few documents? And if so, in return for what?

Phil

If you agree with these posts, please pass them on. There are fence-sitting people out there who are perhaps tiring of MAGA lies and can maybe be persuaded to stand up and vote for the truth.     

   

    

    

    

    

Violence in Our Politics

   In October, 2022, Naomi and I visited Charlottesville, Virginia, to tour Jefferson’s Monticello and see Madison’s estate. Local election campaigning was underway. There were political signs along the scenic rural hill roads. Many Democrat candidate signs had bullet holes. I was recently reminded of that because along a rural road near where we live in New Bern, North Carolina, pro-Democrat campaign signs have been stolen or run over or defaced.

   During a February, 2016, primary rally in Las Vegas, Trump pointed at a protester who was being escorted out of the area and said, “The guards are being very gentle with him. I’d like to punch him in the face. You know what they used to do to a guy like that in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher.” The crowd cheered.

   After Trump had verbally attacked and defamed Nancy Pelosi repeatedly, far-right conspiracy theorist David DePape broke into the Pelosi home and attacked Nancy’s husband, Paul, with a hammer, leaving him permanently impaired. During a September California rally this year, Trump said he would “stand up to crazy Nancy Pelosi” if reelected president, asking his supporters, “How’s her husband doing by the way?” Prompting laughter from the crowd.

   With the impending certification of the Biden victory, and after several attempts to reverse the results that included: 60-plus fraud right-wing lawsuits across the country (all dismissed for lack of proof), claims that Dominion voting machines had been tampered with to favor Biden, repeatedly backed up by Fox News (claims that were later debunked and resulted in a three-quarter-billion-dollar defamation judgement against Fox), a recorded phone plea by Trump to Georgia Attorney General Brad Raffensperger asking him to “find” enough votes to reverse the outcome in Trump’s favor, a similar failed call to Republican Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, and a failed fake elector scheme, Trump still refused a peaceful transfer of power and insisted the election had been stolen. He summoned thousands of supporters to Washington, telling them, “Be there. It will be wild.” He harangued them at length, telling them they’d better “. . . fight like hell or you’re not gonna have a country left.” Knowing they were armed, he sent them against the Capitol under their Trump banners, and fight they did, beating and severely injuring Capitol Police, battering their way inside, and ransacking the seat of our nation’s democracy. For three hours Trump watched the riot unfold on TV in the White House, refusing even pleas from his own family to call it off until law enforcement was gaining control anyway. He called the rioters (hundreds of them since legally convicted and serving time) “patriots” and “hostages” and has vowed to pardon them if elected.

   The bipartisan January 6 Select Committee hearings exposed the sordid attack details, and almost all the many witnesses were Republicans. (If you doubt the findings, watch at least the last hearing.) People who stood up for the truth, like Republican committee vice-chair Liz Cheney, Republican committee member, congressman, and veteran Air Force pilot Adam Kinzinger, and volunteer election worker Ruby Freeman received death threats.

   Trump has said in recorded quotations, “If I don’t get elected it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country,” and that cracking down on immigrants “. . . will be a bloody story.”

   The recent Trump and Vance claims that Haitian immigrants (in this country legally under asylum law) in Springfield, Ohio, were eating their neighbors’ pets have been debunked. The Haitians have, in fact, been a welcome addition to that community, hard-working and respected. Yet anonymous bomb threats have besieged Springfield, disrupting lives, stressing law enforcement, and frightening children in school lock downs.

   Are you noticing a thread here? MAGA leaders and their Minions obviously inspire, embrace, and promote violence. And all too often carry it out. Parallels to the early rise of Nazi Germany, which was founded on lies and political violence, are hard to ignore.

   Is this the America you want?

Phil

If you agree with these posts, please pass them on.

Please consider donating to one of the agencies bringing relief to all the people who have lost everything to Helene—loved ones, homes, businesses, jobs, treasured possessions. In researching for my novels, set largely in the rugged and beautiful Great Smokies, I’ve come to know many of the fine souls who live and work there. Naomi and I grieve for them during this devastating crisis.

MAGA?

Make America Great Again?

   Let’s think about that much-shouted slogan, using hard facts that anybody can easily verify.

   The stock market is at an all-time high. That would not be so if investors were horrified at the current state of economic affairs, as the Right would have us believe. Wall Street realizes the economy is healthy and strong. In fact, under the Biden/Harris administration, the economy grew a robust 3% between April and June of 2024 alone and remains prosperous.

   America leads the world in oil and natural gas production, an industry that supports more than ten million jobs.

   Between January 2021 and June 2024, 13.4 million jobs were added to our economy, 7.9 million of those to U.S.-born workers. (From the Bureau of Labor Statistics.) More Americans are working than ever before, and jobless claims are at an historic low. The Biden/Harris administration has saved factories along with their local economies.

   Semiconductors power the modern world. They’re essential in cellphones, new cars, and medical tech, for just a few examples. Thanks to the Biden/Harris Investing in America Agenda and the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, semiconductor manufacturing has come back to America, along with $30 billion in new private investments and still more thousands of well-paying jobs. (From the Commerce Department.)

   Inflation has been a global problem for some time, yet the Biden/Harris administration has brought it down to under 3% for us. We’ve all seen gas prices falling recently.

   Despite what the Right is Trumpeting, violent crime is at a 50-year low across our nation.

   This is only a partial list of Biden/Harris accomplishments. The point is, to any real patriots, to any real believers in the promise of our American democracy, to anybody working hard to realize their own version of the Dream, to anybody paying attention to the facts, America is Already Great.

   Meanwhile, Donald Trump, a convicted felon who owes more than half a billion dollars in tax-evasion penalties and jury-trial defamation settlements, is spending much of his campaign time on grifting, touting everything from $60 Bibles (“The Bible is my favorite book,” he said. “I have many.”), to a Bitcoin scheme, to golden sneakers, to $99 digital trading cards featuring himself in various glamorized poses, to golden $100,000 wristwatches. (Only $500 for an economy silver version for the masses.) Is the MAGA leader trying to Make Trump Rich Again? At his followers’ expense? Are you joining the MTRA movement?

   Yes, we obviously need to curb gun violence. The Biden/Harris administration wants to ban assault rifles, which have no legitimate use in self-defense (a shotgun is a much better weapon for that) or game hunting. But the Right refuses, and their hand-picked wing of the Supreme Court legitimizing the bump stock, which turns an AR-15 into a supremely lethal machine gun, is certainly not helping.

   Yes, our border policies obviously need attention. That’s why the Biden/Harris administration put together a bipartisan border reform and strengthening act that would have given the Right most of what they said they wanted. And what happened? Trump urged his congressional cronies to reject it and they dutifully did. Why? Simply so Trump could use the issue as a cudgel against the Left in his campaign.

   Those Haitian Immigrants, by the way, are in Ohio and elsewhere legally under the TPS (Temporary Protected Status) program, which allows sanctuary for people fleeing dire circumstances from severely degraded or lethal regimes like Haiti, which has been devastated by catastrophic weather. The people of Springfield have embraced them as decent, hard-working people who have benefited their community. Claims from Trump and Vance of them eating pets and otherwise destroying Springfield life have been thoroughly debunked, yet Trumpers have terrorized the community with bomb threats that have disrupted Springfield life, locked down schools, and overloaded law enforcement.

   As I’ve said, the only people who had original claim to the entire Western Hemisphere were Mayans, Aztecs, or other native tribes. Every single other person in the whole Western Hemisphere is either an immigrant or descended from immigrants. Ironically, the wives of both Trump and Vance are from recent immigrant families.

   Einstein was an immigrant, as have been thousands upon thousands of famous, productive, contributing, valued members of our nation. That’s what the Statue of Liberty is all about. Look up the inscription on it. Should we tear down that statue? (Immigrants should, of course be vetted before the granting of citizenship.)

   In fact, you might say immigrants were the first to begin making America the greatest nation on the planet.

Phil

 Not a poet, but had to try:

“The Kamala Walz”

There isn’t much time

To Walz up to the line

To get off the dime

And make everything fine

We can vote to live free

Or vote Trump’s GOP

We can swallow the lies

Or we can open our eyes

We can live with the hate

And let MAGA dictate

Or chose honest debate

It isn’t too late.

If we stand up and fight

’Neath Liberty’s light

Kamala and Tim

Will score a big win

For our fifty bright stars

And for all souls therein

For ALL souls therein

Copyright 2024 Phil Bowie

 

Dumb as a Rock?

Donald Trump, in one of his recent X posts, called Kamala Harris “. . . dumb as a rock.”

Well, let’s think about that. She was at least smart enough to graduate from Howard University and the University of California Hastings College of Law. Smart enough to get elected and serve admirably as District Attorney of San Francisco, going after fraudsters and sexual abusers and other criminals [coincidentally not unlike Mr. T himself ] Smart enough to get elected and serve as Attorney General of California where she oversaw the largest state justice department in the nation and racked up an impressive list of prosecutorial successes. Smart enough to become a respected U.S. Senator. Smart enough to serve with distinction as Vice President of our United States. Some might say her record over the years is rock solid.

Donald, on the other hand, in videotaped speeches and documented social media posts, which are available online for all to ponder, has said, for just a few examples:

“The F-35 fighter is stealthy. That means you can’t see it. You can’t see it. Even if the enemy is right next to it, they literally can’t see it.” [The F-35 is virtually impossible to see on radar. It’s easily visible otherwise.]

[At first reading from a teleprompter for a Fourth of July speech:] “In June of 1775 the Continental Congress created a unified army . . .” [Then deviating from the teleprompter:] “Our army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts it took over the airports . . . ” [Wilbur and Orville, of course, did not brave the first powered flight until 1903, which was more than a century and a quarter later. The first primitive airports appeared later still.]

“I got it. Why don’t we nuke ’em? [Talking seriously about bombing hurricanes as they move across the Atlantic, which would pose some rather troubling issues, like destroying a high number of sea creatures, lethally poisoning our seafood, and distributing radioactive fallout across vast areas.]

“Puerto Rico is surrounded by water. Big water. Ocean water.” [?]

“They’re gonna take out coal and wash it so it’s clean coal.” [?]

“If you have a windmill anywhere near your home, congratulations; your house just went down seventy-five percent in value, and they say the noise, swish, swish [said with gestures], causes cancer.” [Noise causes cancer?]

“A disinfectant knocks it (Covid) out in a minute. One minute. Maybe we could use that as an injection.” [?]

“I have a mask. Right here.” [While standing in a group of people as the pandemic raged, reaching into his jacket pocket and showing a mask to a reporter, then putting it back into his pocket.]

“A President can declassify documents just by thinking about it.” [?]

Considering all this, let’s come up with a different phrase for a certain person’s level of intelligence.

How about “Dumb as a stump.” [It even rhymes.]

Phil  

Facts You Might Not Know About Biden    

     Joe Biden earned a bachelor’s degree from Delaware U. and a law degree from Syracuse U. He married Neilia Hunter and they had three children, but Neilia and their infant daughter were killed in a tragic car wreck, which also injured their two sons. Joe recovered from that devastating grief to enter politics and the people of Delaware elected him to the U.S. Senate in 1972, a job he then held for 36 years before becoming the 47th U.S. Vice President for eight years. In addition to his role as a U.S. Senator, he was also an adjunct professor (1991–2008) at the Wilmington, Delaware, branch of the Widener University School of Law. He and Jill Jacobs, who holds a doctorate degree in education and is a bestselling author, married in 1977 and had a daughter. In 2015, the Biden family suffered another tragedy when Joe’s eldest son, Beau, died of brain cancer.

     During his decades in Washington Joe gained a wealth of experience and was respected by members of both parties as an outspoken and effective legislator, a unifier, and a strong-willed advocate on many fronts, chief among these being foreign affairs and the battle against illegal drugs.

     When Biden won the 2020 election, he inherited a White House riven by chaos, a raging pandemic, and economic and climate crises. Yet, despite a steady stream of false defamatory statements from Donald Trump and his far-right followers, and their extensive illegal efforts to overturn the election, including attacking the Capitol—the heart of our democracy—the Biden administration has worked quietly on behalf of all Americans.

     Accomplishments so far include:

• Fully vaccinating 79% of Americans against Covid (anyone who wisely wanted it free for themselves and their families).
• Restored threatened species protections, which were dropped by Trump to favor big business.
• Rejoined the Paris Agreement to fight climate change, which was also dropped by Trump, again to favor big business. Adopted the most aggressive climate change/environmental justice agenda in U.S. history, while adding many new jobs in those areas. Pledged to cut harmful emissions in half by 2030 and to net zero by 2050.
• Phenomenal job growth, with 11 million jobs created including 750,000 new manufacturing jobs making things in America rather than importing them from overseas. More people are working now than at any time in our history.
• An unemployment record of 3.5%, the lowest in 50 years.
• A $15/hour minimum wage for federal workers.
• A 15% minimum tax on billion-dollar corporations, with NO tax increases for families making under $400,000/year. (Trump gave a big tax break to the wealthy, including himself.)
• Legislation to rebuild our infrastructure—deteriorating bridges, buildings, and roads—in all 50 states, territories, and tribal lands.
• Despite worldwide inflation that is beyond our government’s ability to control, the Biden Administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act to slow inflation in America, and lowered gas prices with the release of strategic reserves.
• Rallied allies to help Ukraine fight off Russian aggression, eroding Putin’s dictatorial powers and military capability, which is in America’s best interests.
• More Americans now have health care than ever before. Capping insulin price at $35 per month. Capping seniors’ drug costs at $2,000/year. An $800 health insurance savings for 13 million Americans.
•  Historic student debt relief so they can get to work in successful contributing careers (and pay their taxes).
• Clamping down on “junk fees” such as those routinely tacked on by car dealerships after a deal has been agreed on, which can increase the final price by many hundreds of dollars.
• Record-breaking Wall Street performance that is boosting the investments of all Americans.
• Proposed the most comprehensive immigration reform legislation in decades, granting much of what the Republicans said they wanted, only to have Trump shoot it down (with his far-right legislative followers bowing to his wishes) because Trump wanted immigration as a platform to attack Biden.

     The Biden administration has been and still is working for all Americans.

     Joe Biden is a good guy.

     Donald Trump is obviously not. (See the last blog post for hard facts to back up that claim.)

Phil