2020 SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
This last year has been a constant wake up call.
In one way or another, we have all been touched by the possible messages of our own creation. Occurrences, in some cases, that we have no control over.
TIMES ARE CHANGING, OUR ROLE IN THE WORLD, OUR SOCIETY, OUR EDUCATION, AND THE ROLE OF OUR GOVERNMENT ARE ALL IN A TIME OF FLUX. THIS SITE DEPICTS MY THOUGHTS ON THESE CIRCUMSTANCES. AS A PEOPLE WE SHOULD PASS ON THE POSITIVE INTO THE FUTURE. https://www.facebook.com/MyownLogic/?view_public_for=103742681448908
Well, finally it might just happen. Congress is on the verge of passing a Covid-19 relief bill. The bill has passed the house in a bi-partisan agreement consisting of some 6,000 pages in the amount in excess of $800B. Not quite what could have been agreed on some six months ago if it were not for the attempts to get rid of President Trump. House hammer-head Pelosi pulled off her best get rid of Trump move since the 2016 election. As she publically admitted, the timing of getting a bill passed was contingent upon the results of the 2020 presidential election. Her reasoning was calculated and cold-blooded, as she put hundreds of thousands of our citizens into a financial bind. As many watched their life's work, their savings, businesses evaporate as the governments prevented them from conducting their lives.
She (Pelosi), put team politics above the needs of our people, ahead of our national interests. So what do our people get in terms of economic aid? We get an aid bill some 2 Trillion $$'s less than what was offered to her six months prior to the election. Not much help for the failing businesses, the jobs that will never return. Come to think of it 80 billion dollars of the 800 in the new bill comes from the 150 Billion that Pelosi would not release from the last aid package. In the old style of math that would make this new package only 650B. The good news, for the career politicians beneath her gavel, is that they get a forty thousand dollar annual raise in their pay. The real capper to this travesty is a 6,000 page bill that sneaks in billions in PORK. Tell me how much the kinder gentler Donkey clan cares about our people. Pick up the scraps people.
Lord I pray that you would grant our people the gift of discernment and that you would expose those who unfairly weight the scales of truth. I pray that you would expose those who hold positions in governance who do not have our country’s best interests at heart. I pray that you put in place leaders that will serve your purpose rather than their own. I pray that you put in place leaders that will heal the anger and the hatred that has taken hold in our nation.
Most of all Lord I ask that your will be done.
PRAY…
It’s a strange point in time, in which God-believing people
are falling on their knees in prayer. Hoping
that He will answer their pleading and deliver our country into the hands of
whomever. We may even prostrate
ourselves earnestly for a specific outcome.
God being God should know what is best for us, so why do we think we
know what He should make happen. I listened
to a minister say that God wants to make Trump our President for a second term…
but there was a caveat… Trump would need to be accepted by the believers.
In our nation, society is splintered into so many different
groups, it would be difficult for there to be any consensus of opinion or of
desire. There is one thing certain God
knows what’s good for us even if we don’t.
We the people are being guided by what we think, what we are
as a society as a nation is equally formed in the image of those thoughts. Most of us are sincere in our beliefs but that
is a pretty insecure way to operate when the information fed into those belief
structures is fraudulent or just plain wrong.
I have been praying, asking God to protect our country and to
help our current President. I am sure
that there is someone else out there with a different view of what that would
entail. So, I think that a different
prayer might be in order.
Lord I pray that you would grant our people the gift of
discernment and that you would expose those who unfairly weight the scales of
truth. I pray that you would expose
those who hold positions in governance who do not have our country’s best interests
at heart. I pray that you put in place
leaders that will serve your purpose rather than their own. I pray that you put in place leaders that
will heal the anger and the hatred that has taken hold in our nation.
Most of all Lord I ask that your will be done.
WOW!
November 2020 saw the emergence
of the first President of color put himself back into our national discourse. Yep it was the same President, that the
systemic racist WHITE folks in our country, voted to loan our white house
too. The same President who spent eight
years in the White House setting the table for the election of President Donald
J. Trump. “Is there anyone in our population who doesn’t recall who said
“You can keep your doctor”? Who said, “Ours will be the most transparent
administration”? Who was it that said “Hope and Change” would be a good
thing. In some states, if a car salesman made such statements and gave a
similar grade of product in place of the car advertised, he might well face
hefty fines and in egregious cases jailed for fraud.”*
To listen to Mr. Obama call
Donald Trump unqualified and unfit to be President is almost laughable were it
not such a giant lapse of recall. Mr. Obamas credentials and
qualifications did not even exist at the time we elected him President.
Thanks to the standard bash
Trump media, Past POTUS Obama once again stepped up to the camera’s eye, facing
bravely, tough questions that would allow him opportunity, once again, to further
bash the Trump presidency and Trump personally. Mr. Obama, with sincere pompocity, said “he (President
Trump), should “PUT COUNTRY FIRST”
Hearing Mr. Obama infer that
President Trump is harming the office of President of the United States of
America made even me doubt my memories abilities of recall. Here are a few things, of many, that the
Obama administration orchestrated: The international mea culpa tour**; Obamacare;
one and one-half billion dollars to Iran; outsourcing of businesses to China;
disruption of our relationship with Israel; re-establishing diplomatic
relationship with Cuba; and the list goes on, and on, and on.
To hear Mr. Obama, chide our
current President, touting the non-acceptance of the past election as being
harmful to our system and to our country, was vomit inducing. Mr. Obama kept his silence during the last
four years of his Democrat Donkey Congress, the mass Media, the intelligentsia
claiming the Trump presidency as illegitimate.
Where was his sage advise as he aided and ignored the fake Russia hoax
in an attempt to disrupt the Trump administration? Where was he as he listened to the media spew
propagandic falsehood and innuendo backing up the false narrative?
The past President, as a constitutional
lawyer, must be ashamed of himself as he tries to make us believe that Trumps
efforts, to complete the election under the constitution, are not legitimate
and called for by it. I would hate to
think that Mr. Obama is a liar.***
Mr. Obama “did not concentrate
on improving race relationships in our country, improving the problems of his
race within their own communities, showing young people the advantage of
education,, exemplifying the opportunities provide for people of all color and
creed within the boundaries of our great country. He did not use the strength
and power of our country to make the world a better and safer place. He
did not provide a better standard of living for any section of our society.
He did not unify our country. The list could go on ad infinitum.
Just ask yourself what would you have done?”****
For Mr. Obama to fly the “false
flag” of patriotism, is a really rich way of calling all “WE THE PEOPLE” ignorant
and to uneducated to recognize his attempts, to make his prejudice against our
nation and its history cause a fundamental change for what it really was.
* http://arbeeresponds2.blogspot.com/2016/08/bait-n-switch-politics.html
**
http://arbeeresponds2.blogspot.com/2016/08/unfit-and-unqualified.html
*** http://arbeeresponds2.blogspot.com/2020/11/its-oath.html
**** http://arbeeresponds2.blogspot.com/2016/09/opportunity-squandered.html
PRAY
UNCEASINGLY ON ALL THINGS AND LISTEN FOR GODS RESPONSE, HIS VOICE MAY COME AS A
WHISPER
Oath
of Office for Members of Congress. “I do solemnly swear (or affirm)
that I will support and defend the Constitution
of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I
will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation
freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will
well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to
enter.
support and defend the Constitution
of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic
IS THIS WHAT WE ARE GETTING?
The 12th Amendment to the
Constitution,1 which
supersedes Article II, § 1, clause 3, was adopted so as to make impossible the
situation that occurred after the election of 1800 in which Jefferson and Burr
received tie votes in the electoral college, thus throwing the selection of a
President into the House of Representatives, despite the fact that the electors
had intended Jefferson to be President and Burr to be Vice President.2 The
difference between the procedure that the Amendment defines and the original is
in its providing for a separate designation by the electors of their choices
for President and Vice President, respectively. As a consequence of the
disputed election of 1870, Congress enacted a statute providing that if the
vote of a state is not certified by the governor under seal, it shall not be
counted unless both Houses of Congress concur.3
A number of provisions of the Amendment have been superseded by the Twentieth Amendment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twentieth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-12
*https://www.votefortheconstitution.com/voting---what-does-the-constitution-say.html
While the oath of office does not
mention the process of election or the measure of elections results on a
national basis it does give that function to the states. The thing it does mandate are the dates of
performance. It is my thought that when
allegiance is promised, through oath, to the United States of America.
ALLEGIANCE
TO A POLITICAL PARTY SHOULD BE SUBSERVIENT TO THE NATIONAL NEEDS.
In order for our republic to
survive there are certain things that we as “the people” should be able to trust,
and in fact we should demand. We, as “The
People”, should demand a system that strives for the “every vote should
count” requirement. In order for
that to occur we must use every possible method to ensure that accuracy in the
count, adherence to the law, and collection methods are performed in an honest
and factual way. We know that mistakes
can be made, unfortunately we also know that, over the last couple of centuries,
irregularities and outright fraudulent practices can and have occurred. It is imperative that we ferret out wrong
doing in order to preserve our faith in the election process. This is particularly true in the situation where
we “The People” are so emotionally invested and divided in belief and practice. Over the past few years, we have been under
the attack of divisive and partisan political and media rhetoric which has led
to actual violence in our streets. That
has resulted in the full-fledged doubt of our having a fair and honest election
process. Regardless of which President
is actually elected as our Commander in Chief our faith in the process has been
damaged.
Should we continue along the same
path in our governmental deterioration, by the clapping and cheering for the team play of political parties, lifelong
political office holders, and adherence to ideology, our republic is in danger
of obliteration.
How many of We The People are in
favor of those who shout and scream:
We will change the United States;
Defund the Police; Open our borders; Outsource our products; allow for the
theft of our intellectual output; Remove our independence on energy production
Not I
PRAY UNCEASINGLY ON ALL THINGS
AND LISTEN FOR GODS RESPONSE, HIS VOICE MAY COME AS A WHISPER
I WILL... part one of many to come
BE A UNITER: Interesting Mr. Biden, you have shown nothing more than lip-service in this regard. By allowing the discourse trying to deny President Trump his constitutional duty, of ensuring the validity of our election process and results, does not give a feeling of unity to the 70 million citizens who voted for the current President.
MOVE OUR COUNTRY TOWARD A CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE: So far it seems that Mr. Bidens' process will result in the loss of millions of jobs; increase the cost of food transportation which will be transferred to our population; increase the cost of electricity affecting millions of businesses and households nationwide.
SAFELY REOPEN SCHOOLS: This is a time-sensitive situation but Mr.Biden's proposals include a complete revamping of the structure of the buildings that house the students and teachers. In the time required our children will be educationally, psychologically, and physically deprived. Parents who have jobs and younger children will find it difficult if not impossible to be available to both.
I WILL REJOIN THE W.H.O.: This is the same organization that failed to report the danger and the source of the Covid-19 virus. That failure internationally is responsible for the spread of the virus.
I WILL RE-COMMIT AND RE-JOIN THE PARIS CLIMATE ACCORD: This will put the responsibility of paying for the disparity in reduction directly on our nation while allowing the major contributors to the excess contamination of our planet.
I WILL TAKE CARE OF DACA: My question about this Mr. Biden is that you had multiple years to help correct this problem and yet you accomplished nothing. What makes you think you can make we the people think you will do any better should you get elected.
I WILL CEASE BUILDING THE WALL BETWEEN MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES: Good thinking Mr. Biden... return to the ability of innumerable unknown entities, enemies of our country, illicit drug cartel members, drugs and weapons to freely enter our country. We have seen the effects of that before.
PRIORITIZE THE "EQUALITY ACT": This sounds like a really good thing until you realize its actual effect. The impact of this prioritization allows for those who have had sex-change operations to use restrooms and shower areas of a sex they were not born with; it promotes the sex-education of children as young as the age of six; it would dis-allow the denial of abortions by those medical institutions with religious objections.
BEAT THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: We all want to see this pandemic come to an end, but at what expense. The proposed actions of another shut-down will affect every aspect of American life experience. The cost of shut down is found in not only the economic disaster but also is detrimental in the emotional, psychological, educational stability of our citizenry.
GIVE EVERY AMERICAN AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE: We have been here before. This is another move toward socialized medicine which, will in fact, cost thousands of jobs; take very good to excellent insurance coverage away from approximately 70-80 million people in our working force.
RECOVER JOBS AND ECONOMIC GAINS FOR THE WORKING CLASS: This probably means cow-towing to the unions again. While the Trump administration saw gains in earnings rise faster in the lower and middle classes than in the management layers. The previous administration of Obama/Biden actually hurt middle class earning levels
RESTORE AMERICAN LEADERSHIP INTERNATIONALLY:
ENSURE THE MADE IN AMERICA STANDARD
SECURE OUR VALUES AS A NATION OF IMMIGRANTS
SUPPORT OUR VETERANS
IMPROVE RACIAL ECONOMIC EQUITY
STRENGTHEN THE CAREGIVING AND EDUCATION WORKFORCE
EMPOWER AND PROTECT WOMEN
SUPPORT ESSENTIAL WORKERS
SCALE-UP EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
FIX OUR BANKRUPTCY SYSTEM
ASSIST BLACK AMERICA
STRENGTHEN TIES WITH CENTRAL AMERICA
SERVE OUR MILITARY FAMILIES
EMPOWER UNIONS AND WORKERS
FIX CAMPAIGN FINANCE AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
SUPPORT STUDENTS BEYOND HIGH SCHOOL
END OUR GUN VIOLENCE EPIDEMIC
END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
STRENGTHEN AMERICAS COMMITMENT TO JUSTICE
STRENGTHEN RURAL AMERICA
HONOR OLDER AMERICANS AND RETIREMENT
INVEST IN HOUSING
ADVANCE LGBTQ+ EQUALITY
To look into all of his advertised "will do's" have a look at his policy web-site, and then ask yourself what those policies will contribute or cost you personally, or our nation.
https://joebiden.com/americanleadership/#
Move along now... Nothing to see, hear, or speak about. Hold on for just a minute. Just coming in a report from Nevada... Registered Republicans, Ron and Catherine Burres did not receive any of the millions of mail-in ballots, (not even one). This translates to how many others with no transportation were able to vote. More now... newly registered Democrat younger member of the family received 3 (three) of the impartial mail-in ballots. hmmmmmmm... I wonder if that was just an innocent error.
Well, it has finally come to pass. To the chagrin of our progressive, woke, a citizenry that there are actually winners and losers and not everybody gets a medal of participation. With all the subdued response of the liberal faction, over the eventual transfer of our Presidency from one party to the other. This seems at this point to be inevitable although not yet legally substantiated. The press continues with its successful use of false narrative to misinform the citizens of our country. The press does not tell us, nor is there any legal avenue for them to tell us emphatically that there is a winner or loser of any election. It may be that they can't wait for the legal decision is in the books. They do appear to have been successful in their four-year attacks on our President, to prevent a second term.
For the sake of conversation, let’s
assume that the unproven election results hold.
Let’s assume that the more intelligent, more highly educated, the
kinder, gentler portion of our populace will now be in charge of our
country.
That is, however, a bitter pill
for the wild angry, bible thumping, gun wielding, ugly, racist conservatives to
deal with. It is a given that
conservative anger will bring about a rampage of destruction across the face of
our nation, abolishing all hopes of defunding the police, of abolishing late
term abortion, and income distribution with-out a united population. Thanks be to whatzname for letting us board
up all the businesses.
https://arbeeresponds2.blogspot.com/2020/11/to-be-expected.html
https://arbeeresponds2.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-anew-direction.html
President Trump may lose the
office of President of the United States of America, which at the moment does not
appear to be very united, BUT he may not be the only loser in this race. In most races there is one winner and a bunch
of folks that came in behind the winner.
They are losers. In the case of
our country the losers may be the policies and the positive results achieved by
bad boy Trumps administration. https://arbeeresponds2.blogspot.com/2020/08/irony-unexpected-results.html
Prior to our receiving the gift of Covid, some of the Trump administrations
activities actually helped, the minorities with-in our borders, the growth of
manufacturing, energy independence, lower fuel costs, bringing jobs back into
our country, lowest unemployment in our history, highest increase of income for
the middle-class in our history, and the list goes on and on and on.
https://arbeeresponds2.blogspot.com/2019/09/what-are-we-allowing-to-happen.html
https://arbeeresponds2.blogspot.com/2017/09/we-were-warned.html
Our society has discarded pragmatism in favor of idealism, unfortunately, while
thinking we can run and leap, we are still just crawling and stumbling not yet
able to personify our goal of perfection. Mankind in its climb
toward becoming more god-like, more merciful, kinder and gentler than the rest
of those in various food chains has some of us denying the nature of our world.
So America, as you ask who the loser is…
go to your mirror.
PRAY FOR OUR
COUNTRY, GET ON YOUR KNEES, FOLD YOUR HANDS AND PRAY LIKE YOU’VE NEVER PRAYED
BEFORE!
The adage, usually attributed to
our indigenous brothers, was actually written by Mary Lathrop in the 1870’s
because of her contact with various tribes during her ministry
“Walk a mile in his moccasins”
is meant to instill temperance in our understanding of those we may disagree
with or whom we simply don’t understand.
Often putting ourselves in the circumstance of others, will result in a
position of trust rather than one of fear.
In today’s climate, of separation and divisiveness, we have allowed our
society to be on the verge of social cannibalization. Rather than seek commonality we tend to
magnify that which we reject and fear.
Long before Ms. Lathrops poem reached its final stanza, some 1800 years
had passed since Christ first instructed us, through his parables: “Let he,
who is without sin cast the first stone cast the first stone” and Judge not
lest ye be judged.”
Seems to elicit the boundaries of
common sense, you would think, but not so fast Pilgrim (in keeping with the moccasin
suggestion). We apparently feel more
normal when we have opponents.
We would do better, as individuals
and as a herd, if we understood each other better. To accomplish understanding we need to listen
rather than speak. You might even ask
yourself to recall how many times you experienced and felt the dismissive rejection
of being ignored. As adults it’s to easy
to recall the feelings of being told, as a child, to be quiet because you were
unable to contribute anything in reality.
Fortunately, some of us escape that syndrome and actually attempt to
bring us together into a unified effort to move toward a common good. Christ again supports the moccasin adage with
his commandment to “love your neighbor as you love yourself”. That also
creates a problem because many of us use other people’s perceptions to measure
our own self-worth. It really doesn’t
take too many sour opinions, of how your moccasins have made you appear to others,
for the seeds of doubt about yourself to grow.
(This is not all bad because it has allowed many, in the profession of psychiatry
and counseling, to feed themselves and their family.) So all of the above can
be capsulated into, I don’t really like or trust me so much so I probably don’t
like and trust you so much. I can
justify that because you, don’t act, or look, or think, or dress, like anyone I
am familiar with. Mix that with all the
outside influence, of what other folks have said about you, our relationship
will be adversarial.
The fact of the matter is that judging
by hearsay leads to what may be false beliefs fueled by gossip rather than
truth. That fact holds true for
relationships with others and with ourselves.
There is a lot to be said in favor
of pragmatic thought going into the decisions that influence our lives. It’s kind of like the difference between
walking on solid ice or on the water that made the ice possible.
Once we understand that our
moccasins have taken us, (me), on a path filled with a multitude of different experiences
and that path has led me to now, we are closer to understanding the other moccasins
resident.
Understanding the path, we
ourselves followed doesn’t imply that we will like ourselves any better but it
gives us the opportunity to accept ourselves where we are in the now and remain
the same or allows us to understand and change those things that will enhance
that acceptance.
So what advantage is there in walking
a mile in the other guys moccasins? It
gives us a closer to fact basis about him, (or her), for our basic fight,
flight, or freeze form of action. We as
individuals need to be prudent and use intelligence when choosing our course of
agreement with others. There are times
when things are not as they seem no matter how much we would like them to
be. It is our own individual
responsibility to practice discernment in our search for agreement.
PRAY
UNCEASINGLY ON ALL THINGS AND LISTEN FOR GODS RESPONSE, HIS VOICE MAY COME AS A
WHISPER
TO BE EXPECTED
At a time in history when we are so separated
emotionally, physically, and politically, why were we in such a hurry to
condone lax voting requirements?
During the existence of our republic, our citizens have always been able to swallow the bitter taste of losing our
political arguments. We have always been
able to out-number the outlying corner of dissent and to coalesce as a united
force in the world. I would expect we
will be able to do so at this time, perhaps not to the degree of acceptance of the result that we have ever reached in the past.
Our divisions, due to the myriad
of causes, have given us reason to doubt, to fear, and to dismiss every situation
that we are on the different side of the coin.
Our governing politic looms large
in this formula as does our watchdog the “Press” which we gave the “freedom of
the press”. We no longer have the yardstick of honesty in fact to base our decisions of national direction
on. The factor of truth, formerly base
on fact, has been replaced with the unending barrage of personal opinions
coming from the mouths of those susceptible to the propaganda and partial
truths they have been in contact with over the course of time.
In the jungle of politics, this
weakness has allowed the predatory lure of political power and societal control,
to attack our freedom of choice of whom we elect as leaders. Using the basic and fundamental underlying
foundation of the majority of our country’s people, “fairness” and “equality”, we
have attempted to give our citizens easier means of voting. This factor has put ourselves in a situation
of potential national disaster as a society.
Our politicians, in an effort to win,
have not always had our country’s best interests at heart. There are actually times in that “game” they
have attempted to change the rules, the number of players, and the position of
the goalposts. The oath of office taken by those we have elected, hired and are paying for, should require those folks to put the country first, in front of self and party.
Using the “China Pandemic” fear-factor,
as a cause for change, changes to our voting process have increased the
opportunity and probability that vote manipulation will or can occur. Instead of creating rules that would give us
all a degree of trust in the process our leaders have managed to increase doubt. Regardless of which side, red or blue shirts,
ends up with the most points… doubt in the process has been established.
Our
democratic republic has received a systematic blow from our own hands.
Without
our individual effort to seek fact, over innuendo, propaganda, and self-serving
rhetoric,
We are
in danger of losing that which is inherent in nature.
FREEDOM
Well, well well America, at least the USA part, looks like we have finally learned how to act like a third world country. Our government has finally learned the art of how to hold an election, how to sway and steer a vote through establishing a fear factor, how to engage a news media in the art of propaganda with the support of some in the field of higher education. The stifling of Conservative speech on social media and in the universities has reached a level equal to that of the nations they aspire to emulate. Our 235 year history of being a democratic federalist republic is at the threshold of becoming, what we have fought against since WWI, a socialist (eventually communistic) politic governing the herd of humans with-in its borders. Some in our country have put the fear of a pandemic to use, as a means of control and persuasion, to modify the rules of our Presidential election. Using that fear factor to excuse the centuries old standards and time tables in favor of a system more easily manipulated. https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/presidential-elections-1 It would help for us to read the history of presidential elections to give us the background of the evolution of the procedures involved. Like every other thing, since the beginning of time, the only constant is that everything is affected by change. A quote from the article shows that some factors return every so often, without awareness of history we fail to learn. “The 1828 election campaign was one of the dirtiest in America’s history. Both parties spread false and exaggerated rumors about the opposition. Jackson men charged that Adams obtained the presidency in 1824 through a “corrupt bargain” with Clay. And they painted the incumbent president as a decadent aristocrat who had procured prostitutes for the czar while serving as U.S. minister to Russia. and spent taxpayer money on “gambling” equipment for the White House (actually a chess set and a billiard table).”
Does that remind you of anything America?
I’m not going to write about the propaganda strewn about by a
failing news media used to disrupt the current administrations’ policies and legitimacy
this goes further than that.
We have watched and listened to the divisive speech and
actions of a politic more divided than any time in my lifetime, and that
includes some really rough stretches.
The year 2020 will be a giant black mark in our history. The “China Pandemic” shut our country down
during an election year, bringing an end to one of our country’s best and
strongest economic upturns since the birth of our nation. The pandemic opened the door to the spread of
fear and government control over our nation's businesses, our educational
system, our right to congregate as religions and other group functions, and
yes, as a means of further division.
This fear gave the local governing bodies and the federals the
opportunity to change and manipulate our country’s voting procedures, in such a
way, that would erode our faith and trust in the system. My guess at this time is that the loss of
faith and trust is justified. The
pandemic allowed for the mass mailings of ballots in some states and the false
narrative of those mass mailing being equal or the same as the absentee ballots
used for those out of area voters. It
allowed for the extension of time, in some jurisdictions for up to a week, for
a ballot to be received. It also
allowed, in some states and counties, to process ballots without any proof of
identity and without any Republican oversight of the process.
At this point in time… I FEEL DEPRIVED OF MY VOTE
PRAY FOR OUR COUNTRY, OUR CHILDREN,
OUR PRESIDENT.
President Trump has sparked a new fire in our political approach to help lift our minority population out of the mire of past administrations failed and non-existent or factual responses to their economic and educational conditions. Words matter for sure, but actions do speak louder than words. Leftists believe that good intentions are more important than results. If you meant well and your heart is in the right place, that's what really matters, according to this creed. As Bill Clinton put it so famously: "I feel your pain." And that was enough. Quoting the Chicago Tribune No one cared more about the plight of black Americans than Barack Obama — our first African-American president — who won well more than 90 percent of the black vote. But the sad paradox of Obama's presidency is that a president who was going to lift up black America economically didn't deliver. From 2009 to 2015, the incomes of black Americans fell by more than $900 per family adjusted for inflation.
The black unemployment rate has
fallen by a full percentage point in the last year, black labor force
participation is up and the number of black Americans with a job has risen by
600,000 from last year. Preliminary data show black wages and incomes are up
since the election.
Another issue that is critically
important to black and Hispanic economic progress is good schools. Trump is
advancing the idea of school choice so that every child can attend a quality
school, public or private. In cities such as Washington, D.C., and Milwaukee,
the children who benefit from voucher and scholarship programs are
predominantly black. Trump wants to increase by tenfold the number of black
children who benefit from these vouchers and scholarships.
Trump also wants more
infrastructure spending, more energy jobs and more apprenticeship programs so
our youth have access to better jobs and better training. Disproportionately,
blacks and other minorities will benefit from these programs, because fewer
have the financial capability to go to a four-year college.
Trump is creating more jobs and higher incomes for blacks and other minorities and is trying to give a better education to every disadvantaged black child in America. That is a pretty impressive civil rights record.
http://arbeeresponds2.blogspot.com/2016/09/opportunity-squandered.html
Timeline and list
of government responses to coronavirus https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/health/timeline-and-list-government-responses-coronavirus
THIS WAS THE SOURCE OF THIS POST!
In
January, President Trump reacted quickly to implement travel restrictions on
travel from China, buying U.S. valuable time to respond to the virus.
Increasing coronavirus
testing accessibility:
Support
for affected by the pandemic:
Various fact check comments regarding the claims of social securities demise.
Fact check: Biden suggests Trump could deplete Social
Security by 2023. Needs context.
Biden suggested Thursday that Trump's policies could
bankrupt Social Security.
The president is "the guy that the actuary of Medicare
said, of Social Security, that if in fact he continues to withhold, his plan to
withhold the tax on Social Security, Social Security will be bankrupt in 2023,
with no way to make up for it," Biden said.
The Biden campaign has cited a letter by the Social Security Administration’s chief actuary that said that permanently eliminating all payroll taxes without a replacement would deplete the Social Security trust fund by 2023. But this is not Trump’s current position and the same letter noted that if Congress mandated the cost of the tax cuts come out of the general fund, as Trump has suggested, then benefits would be “essentially unaffected.”
But the White House quickly clarified that Trump doesn’t actually want to eliminate payroll taxes entirely, only to permanently forgive a four-month payroll tax holiday he issued via executive order during the coronavirus crisis. On Aug. 13, for example, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters: “What he was meaning yesterday is that he wants permanent forgiveness of the deferral.”
Another important thing to keep in mind: There’s no scenario
in which Trump could make any permanent changes to the tax system without the
OK of Congress.
In a 1995 speech, Biden
said: "When I argued that we should freeze federal spending, I meant
Social Security as well. I meant Medicare and Medicaid. I meant veterans
benefits. I meant every single solitary thing in the government. And I not only
tried it once. I tried it twice. I tried it a third time, and I tried it a
fourth time."
FactCheck.org® A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center
https://www.factcheck.org/2020/09/bidens-false-attacks-on-trumps-social-security-plan/
A Biden campaign TV ad falsely claims that a government
analysis of President Donald Trump’s “planned cuts to Social Security” shows
that “if Trump gets his way, Social Security benefits will run out in just
three years from now.”
White House and Trump campaign officials have said the
president actually wants to forgive a four-month payroll tax holiday he
authorized via executive action last month. Trump himself has
said: “[W]hen I win the election, I’m going to completely and totally
forgive all deferred payroll taxes without in any way, shape or form hurting
Social Security. That money is going to come from the general fund.”
any permanent changes to Social Security would have to
go through Congress, and the temporary payroll tax forgiveness — which Trump’s
administration and campaign staff claim he really wants — would not “gut” or
“wipe out” the program that pays retirement and disability benefits.
In 2019, nearly 90% of the funding
for Social Security ($944.5 billion) came from a 12.4% payroll tax on
income up to a certain threshold ($137,700 in 2020). That tax is split equally
between employers and employees, while self-employed individuals pay the full
tax.
In early August, Trump issued
a memo allowing the deferral of the employee portion of the payroll
tax for workers who earn less than $4,000 in taxable wages biweekly. The break
from the tax goes from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31, and so individuals don’t have to pay
back that deferred amount next year, the memo instructed Treasury Secretary
Steven Mnuchin to “explore avenues, including legislation, to eliminate the
obligation to pay the taxes deferred pursuant to the implementation of this
memorandum.”
In a press briefing on Aug.
8, Trump said: “If I’m victorious on November 3rd, I plan to forgive these
taxes and make permanent cuts to the payroll tax. So I’m going to make them all
permanent.”
In another news conference on Aug.
10, he stated: “I signed directives to give a payroll tax holiday, with the
understanding that after the election — on the assumption that it would be
victorious for an administration that’s done a great job — we will be ending
that tax. We’ll be terminating that tax.”
And on Aug.
12 he declared: “After I hopefully get elected, we’ll be terminating
the payroll tax. So that will mean anywhere from 5,000 [dollars] to even more
per family and also great for businesses and great for jobs.” He later added:
“We’ll be paying into Social Security through the general fund. And it works
out very nicely.”
In the Aug.
12 press conference McEnany referenced, Trump even said at one point:
“When I win the election, I’m going to go completely and totally forgive all
deferred payroll taxes without in any way, shape or form hurting Social
Security. That money is going to come from the general fund. We’re not going to
touch Social Security. I said from day one that we’re going to protect Social
Security and we’re going to protect our people.”
“The President has called on Congress to make this deferral
permanent,” a White House spokesperson said in an email. “If they do not, this
action still effectively allows working Americans to get a sizable advance on
their pay starting in a month, which is just when working Americans need it
most as we are fighting to end the COVID-19 pandemic.”
President Trump and Administration officials have repeatedly
said he wants to make the payroll tax cut deferral permanent to help America’s
workers. The President has been clear: his payroll tax cut will have ‘zero
impact’ on Social Security or the seniors that rely on the program. He
supports transferring money from the government’s general coffers, protecting
the program’s Trust Fund.”
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that,
depending on how many employers opt to withhold payroll taxes for their
eligible employees, up to $100 billion in tax payments could be delayed. (The
deferral is reportedly mandatory
for federal workers and members of the military who qualify.)
If Congress doesn’t agree to forgive the withheld taxes, as
Trump wants, employees will
be required to pay the money back in early 2021, between January and
April. “Because most of these taxes would be repaid later, we estimate a deficit
impact of roughly $5 billion,” CRFB said in its analysis of Trump’s executive
actions.
If lawmakers do forgive the deferred payments, the money needed to make up for the lost tax revenue could either come from Social Security’s trust funds or from general revenues. The first option would speed up the insolvency of Social Security’s trust funds a bit.
Fact check: President Trump has not said he will
terminate Social Security
USA TODAY
One of the Aug. 8 executive orders instructed the Treasury Department to allow employers to defer payment of payroll taxes for employees who make less than $100,000 each year.
The deferrals, which may start Sept. 1 and extend
through 2020, are intended to allow Americans to use the totality of their
income amid the pandemic's hardships.
The order also instructed Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin to "explore avenues, including legislation, to eliminate the
obligation to pay the taxes deferred" —
“If I’m victorious on November 3rd, I plan to forgive these
taxes and make permanent cuts to the payroll tax," Trump said, per the Washington Post. “I’m going to make them all
permanent.”
"In other words, I'll extend it beyond the end of the
year, and terminate the tax," he added. He reiterated his
plan at a press conference on Monday.
An official from the White House told USA TODAY on
Tuesday that the Social Security Trust Fund is not at risk, since payment
deferral is only temporary, and at present, must be paid back early in 2021.
The official confirmed, though, that the
president called on Congress to make the deferral permanent, thereby
eliminating the tax.
Strictly speaking, Social Security could be funded using
general fund revenue or alternative revenue source, so terminating a tax and
terminating a program are distinct things," he wrote in an email.
Notably, it's not within a president's power to unilaterally change tax law or re-appropriate government funds, experts told the New York Times.
If reelected, Trump could continue to defer the payroll tax
with executive orders, but he could not eliminate the payroll tax entirely or
provide a new source of funding for Social Security without support from
Congress.
Nancy Altman, the president of Social Security Works, told
USA TODAY that the Social Security trust fund has a surplus of $2.9
trillion – only enough to last three years without new tax revenue. **THAT
IS if the eliminatation of that tax were permanent. That can only be done with action of
Congress.
But Altman admitted that the administration's actions to date "aren't going to end Social Security."
Did Trump Vow to ‘Terminate’ Social Security?
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-terminate-social-security/
The president articulated several different plans for
payroll taxes during a press conference at his golf club in August 2020.
On Aug. 8, Trump announced his executive actions at a press
conference held at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. During the course
of his remarks, Trump referred to the payroll tax deferral, saying, “In a few
moments, I will sign a directive instructing the Treasury Department to allow
employers to defer payment of the employee portion of certain payroll taxes
from September 1.”
However, the president made additional remarks that were not
contained in the memorandum itself, indicating that he intended to extend that deferral
beyond Dec. 31, 2020; to waive any later obligation on employees to pay the
deferred contributions; and even that he planned to eliminate payroll taxes
entirely. The following is an edited transcript of the relevant section of his
remarks. (A full transcript of his press conference is available here, and his remarks can be viewed
in full below.)
“If I’m victorious on November 3rd, I plan to forgive these
taxes and make permanent cuts to the payroll tax. So I’m going to make them all
permanent … If I win, I may extend and terminate. In other words, I’ll extend
it beyond the end of the year and terminate the tax. And so, we’ll see what
happens.”
An important difference exists between extending the deferral
of payroll tax obligations and forgiving deferred obligations — just as a very
significant difference exists between cutting payroll taxes and terminating
them entirely.
However, it should not be ignored that, in the same Aug. 8 speech, Trump also articulated several other plans in relation to payroll taxes, and that at least one of those plans was mutually incompatible with “terminating the tax,” since Trump could not initiate “permanent cuts” to payroll taxes if those taxes no longer existed. As a result, we are issuing a rating of “Mixture” for this claim.
The statement has an element of truth but leaves out
critical information that would give a different impression. We rate this
statement Mostly False.
"Donald Trump says he will ‘terminate’
Social Security if re-elected."
Trump did use the word "terminate" when speaking about the payroll tax that funds Social Security, but his actual memo only pauses the tax for some employees for a few months. Trump hasn’t said he would end Social Security payments, but he has made comments that many have interpreted as him wanting to eliminate the payroll tax entirely.
defer the withholding of the payroll tax on wages paid
between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31. Each paycheck, employees see 6.2% of their wages
go to Washington to help fund Social Security, while employers pay the same
amount.
By one
estimate, the tax holiday would initially save taxpayers, or alternatively
cost the Social Security Trust Fund, $100 billion. **THAT WOULD EFFECTIVLY GET PUMPED INTO THE
ECONOMY AND JOB GROWTH
Employees could be asked to pay the money back, though Trump
has said he hopes to forgive the payments all together.
If the money isn’t paid back, Congress will need to find
different funding to support Social Security, as it did during the Obama years.
Or the Social Security trust funds end up running dry sooner than expected.