Maine Writer

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My blogs are dedicated to the issues I care about. Thank you to all who take the time to read something I've written.

Monday, March 18, 2024

A jury of his peers supported Donald Trump criminal indictments

Echo opinion letter published in the East Aurora Advertiser in New York

Donald Trump is the first former president in US history to face criminal charges, and with his third presidential bid under way for 2024, the stakes are high for both him and the country.

Dear Editor, Two separate groups of everyday Americans, fulfilling their civic duty by serving on a grand jury, have now issued two separate indictments of Donald Trump for his efforts to overturn the will of voters, even after he knew he’d lost the 2020, election. 

These are the most serious indictments thus far because they deal with a conspiracy to overturn the foundation of our democracy: the vote of the American people.

There can be no more serious crime than a conspiracy to overturn the foundation of our democracy itself. It’s shameful how many MAGA Trumpzi Republicans are now rushing to defend Trump, instead of standing up for our democracy and our freedom to vote. Many of them are trying to rewrite history, so it’s important to understand what Trump is accused of and why it matters.

According to both indictments, Trump deliberately lied about voter fraud and pressured local officials, like the Georgia secretary of state, to illegally overturn election results and manufacture fake slates of electors. ❗When Vice President Mike Pence refused to toss out the legitimate results and count fake electoral votes, Trump incited an attack on our Capitol in a last ditch attempt to stop the certification of the election and cling to power.

These are serious charges. Our elected leaders of all parties must allow the trial to unfold without political interference and let a jury of everyday Americans do their job. No one is above the law, and Trump should be treated like everyone else and held accountable for his crimes against our country.

From Danielle Hajdufi in East Aurora, New York

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Sunday, March 17, 2024

Republicans clearly showing symptoms of short term political memory loss

Echo essay published in Intelligencer by Ed Kilgor in New York Magazine:

So, what was the worst year of your life? The GOP’s claim that we were better off in 2020, is just plainly weird❗ 
The answer will obviously vary, but it’s a good bet the year 2020, will rank pretty high in any list of wretched years. 

After all, it’s when COVID-19 arrived❗The pandemic eventually took over a million lives just in America. Our economy collapsed. Schools and businesses closed, unemployment sky-rocketed, most people were isolated and terrified. As scientists struggled to figure out how the virus spread, how to keep from contracting it, and how to treat it, most Americans were hoarding hand sanitizer, paper towels, and toilet paper; avoiding door knobs, hand rails, and other shared surfaces; and obsessively cleaning their groceries and their mail.

It was indeed a time most of us would prefer to forget. And it seems the Republican Party is counting on that.

As Noah Berlatsky of Public Notice points out, Republicans are now regularly trotting out Ronald Reagan’s famous 1980, debate question, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?,” as though it’s a slam-dunk winner for them:  “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” Rep. Elise Stefanik asked during a news conference last week. She answered her own question by saying “the answer is a resounding no.” Lara Trump, the new co-chair of the Republican National Committee, said virtually the same thing to Sean Hannity on Tuesday. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott echoed that sentiment on Fox News as well, saying, “We have to go back to that future, 2017-2020. We want those four years one more time.”

Seriously? All of the Trump years❓😓
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Senator Katie Britt’s melodramatic State of the Union response was a scene stealer from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s SOTU stunts and fellow Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville’s usual numbskull act. But that would only allow Britt to steal a worst actor Oscar if there was won. Britt’s performance came off so much like a skit on Saturday Night Live, it was spoofed by the show in it’s opening with actress Scarlett Johansson playing Britt.

Despite the many problems with her weird, mendacious response to the State of the Union Address, Republican senator Katie Britt was smart enough not to claim 2020, as the joyous climax of four great years. Instead she asked viewers if they were “better off than they were three years ago,” dating back to Joe Biden’s first address to Congress in 2021. 

Ah, but that comparison, while it lends itself to the negative case against Biden, does not make the comparative case for Donald Trump’s alleged superiority. So throwing caution to the wind, Republicans will grit their teeth and ask persuadable voters to misremember 2020, as a monument to American greatness that we have sadly lost.

Now, it’s true that everything bad about 2020, was not attributable to Trump, and that voters may not necessarily put responsibility on him for the failure to manage a pandemic that baffled us all (though his tardiness in taking it seriously definitely cost lives and should never be forgotten). But nor is Biden responsible for all the ills of the world right now (including some maladies left to him by the Trump administration, like economic volatility and supply-chain problems). Rightly or wrongly, presidents are held responsible for nearly everything that happens on their watch; that’s the big downside to the job of being “leader of the free world,” with all its cool perks like Air Force One and Camp David. 

If Republicans are going to attack Biden over discontents ranging from gasoline prices to the horrors of war in Ukraine and Gaza, they’ll have to accept that the final year of that magical Trump presidency was quite the bummer. As a matter of fact, 2017, through 2019, weren’t exactly a golden era of good government, but for most Americans conditions of life were better than they became four years ago.

The GOP really needs to rethink its talking points. It takes a special kind of amnesia or insensitivity to look back at 2020 with great fondness. For most of us, the answer to the question “Are you better off than you were four years ago” is “Hell yes.”

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Saturday, March 16, 2024

Republicans sold their political souls to Donald Trump who is the evil cult leader

Echo opinion to the Editor of the The New York Times:  
Re “Trump Came for Their Party but Took Over Their Souls,” by David Brooks (column, Feb. 9):
Yes, I am still here, the moderate conservative who pundits have declared has vanished from the Republican Party. I can’t be the only one.

My soul is intact. I have not sold my soul to the evil Donald Trump. 

In fac, I am pro-choice, pro-gun control, pro-aid to Ukraine, pro-private sector.

I wait patiently for the happy day when the pendulum swings, the political fashion shifts as fashion always does, and we redesign the G.O.P. in the old mold. I already have the slogan: Make Republicans Great Again (MRGA). The acronym will fit on a (not red) visor.

I will be sure to place a large order so there will be plenty to pass out. The demand will be strong.  (Where are Grand Old Party Republicans ) 
From Margaret McGirr,  Greenwich, Connecticut.

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Texas Governor Abbott will not promote policies to help children

Echo opinion letter published in the Houston Chronicle:
Governor Abbott of Texas is a political hypocrite.  
He claims to be a practicing Roman Catholic but is ignorant about the teachings of Jesus.  
In a move that underscores misplaced priorities, Gov. (Greg) Abbott of Texas once again demonstrated a concerning inconsistency in his approach to governance. 

Recently, Abbott rejected federal aid grants aimed at supporting the education and welfare of Texas children, all while doubling down on restrictive abortion policies. This decision reflects a troubling pattern of neglecting the needs of vulnerable Texans while prioritizing divisive political agendas.

At a time when many families are grappling with economic hardship exacerbated by low wages, such callous disregard for the wellbeing of children is unconscionable. Seems like he only wants to protect the unborn, but once they are here, he wants nothing to do with them!

Abbott is more invested in advancing the ideological agenda of West Texas billionaires than in serving the best interests of the people he was elected to represent. Abbott and state lawmakers must reassess their priorities and refocus their efforts on addressing the real challenges facing Texas families. Stop wasting time and resources on divisive and harmful policies. Prioritize investments in education, health care and social services that will uplift communities and create a brighter future for all Texans. Anything less is a disservice to the people of Texas and a betrayal of the principles of good governance.
Texas Governor Abbott is among the hypocritical Republicans that want to eliminate a woman's right to choose reproductive health care but refuses to support pro-child policies. Abbott and his Republican extremist colleagues are using Texas tax money to fight immigration but refuse to support education or womens access to reproductive health care.

From P. J. Bailey, Missouri City in Texas

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Friday, March 15, 2024

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is sucking up to Donald Trump regardless of how Texans suffer

Echo Texas opinion published in the Houston Chronicle:
Regarding "Biden and Trump in Texas play political games over border security, immigration," (March 1): Thanks to Chris Tomlinson for telling it like it is regarding (Tx. Gov. Greg) Abbott’s border obsession. It looks like any Republican leader who needs a little momentum can come grandstand at the Texas border. 
Abbott continues to play to his extreme audience even while he knows that only congressional action can make real change at our borders. He’s happy following the playbook of the Washington Republicans who cry for strong immigration policies only to reject them in favor of continuing a spectacle when they’re offered them. He’s wasting time and money.
Abbott’s obsession with the border and school vouchers are costing Texas taxpayers a fortune. He called four special legislative sessions to ram through school vouchers, which are essentially tax-funded religious education. He was defeated, swore vengeance on Republicans who supported their communities’ public schools, and left our public schools underfunded when we had surplus money.

Texas’ public institutions continue to crumble while our state leaders pursue the extreme positions of donors with deep pockets. It’s past time to start giving them the boot, beginning with those legislators and Supreme Court justices up for election who always favor very narrow religious views or the size of special interest donors’ pockets. Register, get informed and vote to keep our civic institutions strong for our communities.


From Peggy Sweeney, in Houston Texas

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Thursday, March 14, 2024

Congressman Jamie Raskin rightly calls the GOP a "cult"

Published in The Hill: Congressman Jamie Raskin: The GOP is reduced to a ‘cult of authoritarian personality’: Echo report by Tara Suter.

Congressman from Maryland Jamie Raskin has been part of the Democrat judiciary team in the Trump impeachment inquiry and the impeachment itself.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said Wednesday the GOP is being “reduced to a cult of authoritarian personality” after former President Trump nearly swept the Super Tuesday Republican primary states. (Shame on the Republicans for intransient views in support of a criminal who is indicted for sexual assault against E. Jean Carroll and facing 91 indictments in three states and the District of Columbia, who is charged with misappropriation of money received from donors, to divert to payments made to a porn star Stormy Daniels, to cover up that he paid to have sex with her.)

“[I]t is disgraceful that a great political party, much less Abraham Lincoln’s party, a party of liberty and union, should be reduced to a cult of authoritarian personality in league with autocrats and kleptocrats and dictators all over the world,” Raskin said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”

Raskin’s comments came as Trump’s last GOP primary rival, Nikki Haley, dropped out of the race Wednesday. However, she didn’t endorse Trump and said he’d have to earn the backing of her supporters.

“I applaud Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, The Lincoln Project, all of the Republicans who are standing up for the Constitution, but what we’ve seen in this election, and we’ll have to follow what happens with Nikki Haley, is the Republicans break, but they can’t bend,” Raskin continued.

“In other words, there’s no ability to accommodate other views because everybody has to follow Donald Trump, like he is a self proclaimed a monarch.”

Haley, Trump’s former United Nations ambassador, stepped up her attacks on Trump as the campaign wore on, and he often viciously attacked her with nicknames like “birdbrain.” Trump also at one point said donors to Haley were barred from his MAGA movement.

At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away,” Haley said Wednesday in remarks from Charleston, S.C. “And our conservative cause badly needs more people. This is now his time for choosing.”
January 6, wall like insects or alien monsters, climbing insurrectionist terrorists invading the U.S. Capitol.

Raskin was a leading figure in Trump’s second impeachment for his role in the January 6 Capitol attack, and served on the House January 6 committee alongside Kinzinger and Cheney. 

Now, Raskin is the ranking member of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, making him a chief defender of President Biden amid GOP probes into Hunter Biden’s business dealings.

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Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Marjorie Taylor Greene is a slut. Full Stop. She is an amoral lunatic.

Echo opinion letter published in the Berkshire Eagle, in Pittsfield Massachusetts
Marjorie Taylor Greene obviously wants to be the executioner "host with the most" sedition baiting montras! 

Marjorie Taylor Greene cannot find a T-Shirt big enough to write the names of all the victims of gun violence.

(Maine Writer- Besides wanting to dress up like a MAGA Diva Barbie Doll for President Joe Biden's State of the Union speech, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene probably wore her "statement T-Shirt" over night couture so she could easily change into her street walker's fashion.)

To the editor: I found it demeaningly typical of our political divisiveness during the State of the Union address on Thursday night that Marjorie Taylor Greene was wearing a T-shirt that said, “Say her name Laken Riley.”

I agree that we should remember all of those whose lives have been cut short by violence. We should be yelling from the rooftops daily about the violence occurring in our country.

My question is: Where is Greene’s T-shirt that lists the names of the nearly 150 killed and more than 250 wounded in the 16 school shootings that have already taken place in 2024? 

(Writing this deadly blog statistic is making me physically sick❗😓)

The fact is she could not find a T-shirt big enough to list all the names of those who are, with names now etched in granite, silently screaming for us to do more than “pray for them” and their grieving loved ones.

The hypocrisy of our elected officials who use the issues facing our country to their political advantage, but cannot, or rather will not, sit down together and collaborate to address the issues of our country. It is not as advantageous to solve problems as it is to use selected soundbites to continue to stir their bases so they may remain in power. Votes carry more weight than oaths of office, more weight than the Constitution and more weight than a political party.

If, as someone said when the president visited the border, he has “Laken Riley’s blood is on his hands,” then every one of those members of Congress who refuse to vote for legislation that could help reduce the violence within our country has blood dripping off of theirs.  From: Craig Clemow, Williamstown

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Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Republicans are ignorant to the sacrifices made by Ukraine to protect world security

 If Republicans won’t stand up to Putin, he won’t stand down in his threats to American interests, Echo opinion published by the Boston Globe editorial board.

Helping Ukraine fight off Russia is not an act of charity. It is a vital investment in world security.
A man laid flowers to pay tribute to Alexei Navalny, Russia's most well-known opposition politician, who unexpectedly died on Feb. 16 in a penal colony. Alexnder Zemlianichenko/ AP

As Russia poses the gravest national and international security threat in nearly a generation, Republicans in Congress are proving to be, at best, feckless foes to Vladimir Putin’s efforts to undermine democracy and stability at home and abroad. At worst, GOP lawmakers are playing right into his hands.

This is no time for partisan gamesmanship to take precedence over protecting Americans and our allies from the multifaceted national security threat Russia poses. But that is exactly what Republican lawmakers seem to be doing. It’s a dereliction of their duties, not to mention the values many of them claim to stand for, and they need to reverse course now.


First and foremost, they must immediately pass a funding measure to provide aid to Ukraine to help the emerging democracy fend off Russia’s brutal power grab of a war, restore its most basic government operations, and prevent a Russian victory that could embolden Putin to attack more countries and US allies. 

But lawmakers also need to be just as vigilant to protect Americans from the threat Russia poses to our elections and our safety.

Whether it’s due to the resistance by Republicans to approve any measure that has Biden’s support, or due to former president Donald Trump’s opposition to funding Ukraine aid, it’s no excuse. 


Ukraine is now contending with actual life-or-death consequences resulting from ammunition shortages. Yet the GOP doesn’t seem to be budging.
After meeting with a bipartisan group of congressional leaders at the White House Tuesday, Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer of New York underscored the urgent need to pass Ukraine aid — much of which actually stays in the US economy, since it is spent on American-made weapons.

But moments later, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana failed to even mention Ukraine.

“We must take care of America’s needs first,” he told reporters outside the White House. Beyond that, “when you talk about American’s needs, you have to talk about our open border.”


Of course, it was Johnson who demanded that any Ukraine aid package be tied to border security. A bipartisan group of lawmakers crafted such a compromise bill that would have bolstered border protection funding and provided Ukraine aid, among other things. But then, in an act only Putin could love, Johnson not only rejected the bipartisan measure but also rebuffed efforts to pass a stand-alone Ukraine funding bill.

Helping Ukraine fight off Russia is not an act of charity. It is a vital investment in world security. Failing to help Ukraine now only raises the risk of America getting dragged into far more expensive and dangerous conflicts later, if a triumphant Putin moves on to US allies like Poland or the Baltic states.

Putting America’s needs first requires that we not only stand up for our allies but also protect Americans from ongoing Russian threats to Americans’ safety and US elections — and stop acting as witting or unwitting accomplices in Russian efforts to destabilize US politics.

Those perils are only growing. In the past few weeks, the Justice Department indicted a former informant for providing the FBI false information about bribes being paid to Biden and his son Hunter — information that served as the basis of a sprawling investigation of the Bidens by House Republicans. That informant, Alexander Smirnov, stands accused of “actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials in November.” That, in case you missed it, is textbook Russian interference.


But lawmakers should have seen this coming:  In 2020, 51 former intelligence officials wrote an open letter warning that the source of such claims had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” Rather than investigating the misinformation source, GOP lawmakers used the phony evidence to launch an impeachment probe.

Russian intelligence has targeted Democrats and Democratic-leaning groups too, as various congressional investigations have shown, in attempts to inflame divisions. It’s incumbent on cooler heads in both parties to not fall for foreign efforts to exploit and deepen American political polarization.

Domestic politics also appear to have been at play earlier this month when Republican Congressman Mike Turner of Ohio, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, made cryptic suggestions that the White House should declassify information about a “serious national-security threat.” Republicans tried to use that warning as proof Biden was asleep at the wheel. But days later, it was reported that Turner’s announcement actually imperiled ongoing secret White House efforts to fend off a Russian test of a nuclear-capable weapon that could target US satellite systems in space.

The death in a Russian prison of dissident Alexei Navalny — of “sudden death syndrome,” a common ailment among Putin’s political opponents — is proof of just how empowered Putin feels right now. Republicans must stand up to him rather than implicitly doing his bidding. That is an American need that calls for urgent attention.

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