Neigihborhood Buzz - The Blog
Editor - Jerry Meyer
Click on the link above for information about the Villages Democrats
including the times and places of club meetings
as well as meetings of interest of affiliated clubs and groups
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We’ve seen this before !
Huey Long, a
Louisiana Governor and later a U.S. Senator, was a populist hero and corrupt
demagogue. He espoused social reform and
justice while getting his way by using graft and corruption.
The state’s
black community did not benefit from his reputation as a reformer. He gave speeches warning of “Negro
domination,” and expanded segregation from trains to buses.
A favorite
tactic with opponents, was to claim they were of black descent.
In the late
40s and early 50s Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin spent almost five years
trying to expose communists and other left leaning “Loyalty Risks to a public
fearful of communist subversion.
McCarthy’s
accusations that the government was packed with traitors and spies became so
intimidating few people dared to challenge him. Newsman
Edward R. Murrow finally had enough and called him out, but it was not until
McCarthy attacked the Army that he was censured by the Senate. By that time many lives had been ruined
by his accusations.
Ironically
McCarthy’s attorney through his machinations was Roy Cohn, who later was a
personal attorney to Donald Trump.
Trump is now
fending off charges of racism after attacking four freshmen Congresswomen. The
four, all women of color, are outspoken critics of the President.
As his
style, Trump went on the attack, accusing the women of spewing vile, hateful
and disgusting remarks, adding that if they were not happy here they could
leave. He apparently did not know or did not care that three were born in the
U.S. and the other is a naturalized citizen.
Initially
this seemed to be an attempt to distract attention from the chaos on the
border. A visit by Vice President Pence
only verified that migrants were packed into holding areas, without access to
showers. There are also allegations of
lack of food and hygiene items, as well as the ongoing concerns about
separation of families.
However as
Trump continued his attack on the four women, brushing aside charges of racism,
stories about conditions on the border worked their way back into the news cycle.
It is now
apparent Trump and the party leadership intend to stay with the attack on the
Congresswomen and bear down on the accusation they are socialists. “Socialism” is the term to which the Republicans
are hitching their star for the 2020 elections.
Trump’s
racist tendencies have been on display for years, including taking out
newspaper ads seeking extreme punishment for the Central Park Five. The five young black men were later found to
have no connection to raping a woman in New York’s Central Park, but it came
only after years in prison.
More
recently Trump hung on as a “birther,”
refusing to accept that President Obama was born in the U.S.
There is no
doubt that what the President said was racist. The Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission, in its’ rules protecting individuals from employment
discrimination, says a phrase such as “go back where you came from,” is
potentially illegal.
Legal or
illegal, this incident is unlikely to change the minds of Trump sycophants.
I would like
to see Trump impeached, but there aren’t the votes in the Senate to make that
happen. So I am going along with
columnist Tom Friedman who says Democrats should go about the business of
picking a candidate who can beat Trump in the election and vote him out.
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On July 12th the House passed HR 2500, the FY 2020 NDAA on a strictly partisan basis with NO Republicans voting to support our military and their families, nor for surviving spouses and children of military members and retirees who passed because of illness or injuries associated with their military service, all of which were provided for the Bill.
In remarks on the floor during the debate on the Bill, House Armed Services Committee Chair Adam Smith quoted Ranking Member Mac Thornberry from last year’s deliberations:
“Look, on the defense bill, you can always have a bunch of excuses for why you don’t support it. But, at the end of the day, if you don’t support it, you are not supporting funding our military and you are not supporting giving our troops what they need.”
Similarly, Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, an Annapolis Grad, a veteran of combat service in the Navy and member of the House Armed Services Committee quoted the late Senator John McCain on the same subject:
“How do we explain to Americans who are risking their lives for us that we could not summon the courage to take some hard votes?
How do we explain that we could not come together and work together when it mattered most?
The fundamental purpose of this legislation, which has united Members from both sides of the aisle, is to provide our Armed Forces what they need to do the jobs we ask of them.”
The key provisions in the Bill which will take care the military community include:
- The largest pay raise for our troops in 10 years
- The repeal of what has been called the Widows Tax
- A tenant’s bill of rights to protect military families and the housing that we have heard so many complaints about
- Paid family and medical leave for all Federal employees, including all DOD employees.
Yet, despite the appeal from the floor to stay true to the 58-year history of bipartisan support for the annual National Defense Authorization Acts, not one Republican voted for it. One of the most egregious aspects of this vote is that 135 Republicans who were co-sponsors of a stand-alone Bill to repeal the Widows Tax (introduced by their colleague, Republican Congressman Wilson of SC), blindly followed their leadership in voting against the NDAA.
This is not just a disappointment; it is an OUTRAGE !
One can only hope that there will be more collegiality when the House and Senate Conference Committee meets to reconcile the differences in the provisions of their respective bills and after it is returned to each house for a re-vote to go on to the President for signature.
You’ll read and hear many accusations about who is at fault and what was so unacceptable in the Bill depending on which news source you rely on.
The bold truth can be found in the dialogue from the floor debate regarding passage of HR 2500
in the Congressional Record of the proceedings from July 12th :
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