Louisiana Voice

“All I’m asking for is the right to the same weapons that I paid for the Taliban to own.”

– White Nationalist Michael Malice

Seriously? This guy really wants his hands on Stinger missles given the Afghan rebels (the Taliban would ultimately take possession of the Stingers and use them against us) by Reagan? Isn’t it enough that the AR-15 assault weapons used in all these mass shootings in the US were meant only as weapons of war and not for hunting or stalking school children? But now this clown apparently wants stingers, too?

Full disclosure: This was a “Quote of the Day” from today’s Hayride (wonder where they got the idea?)

Please send this ad to as many people as you know out there in cyber-space. Put it on tik-tok, facebook, twitter, whatever, just get it out there.

Better yet, some of you fat cats reading this could actually help fund a massive TV ad campaign in every TV market in the state. We have a so-called senator running for reelection. He calls himself John N. Kennedy. We call him Foghorn Leghorn, Kornpone…or worse. He’s an embarrassment to the state and himself. This ad is tailor-made for him and his Repugnantcan brethren.

Brethren like Steve Scalise, Clay Higgins, and Mike Johnson. At least Garret Graves gives the appearance of trying to get some things done, though he still casts some pretty questionable votes. Julia Letlow doesn’t appear to be doing any real harm other than voting in lock-step with whatever the Republican Party tells her. I can give her the benefit of the doubt.

But no matter, run this ad until we are begging for lawyer ads or prescription drug ads for a needed change of pace.

It’s quick, it’s short, it’s graphic, and it’s effective. Here it is:

REPUBLICAN SCHOOL DAYS

Will it ever stop?

No, I’m not referring to the mass shootings which now seem to be a daily occurrence, though my rhetorical question might well apply to those senseless acts.

But rather, I am asking (again, rhetorically) if the bought and paid-for Republicans will ever reach down into their hearts and finally say enough is enough and something must be done to stem the proliferation of assault weapons in this country.

Columbine (13 killed), Sandy Hook (26 dead), Margaret Stoneman Douglas (17 murdered), Aurora, Colo. (12), Aurora, Illinois (6), Orlando (50), Las Vegas (60), Pittsburgh (11), Buffalo (10), Uvalde, Texas (21), Tulsa (4), and just yesterday, Ames, Iowa (3 dead).

Will it ever stop?

The question truly is rhetorical because the Republicans just don’t have the resolve to turn their collective backs on the NRA money and to say that guns are the problem.

Instead, we have blame for the spate of killings and the carnage that seems to have become almost routine being leveled at marijuana, single parents, rock music, video games, mental illness, the Internet and, believe it or not, ABORTION.

And the justification for assault weapons pretty much runs the gamut, too.

Our very own US senators chimed in with John Neely Kennedy, that erstwhile Democrat-turned-Republican when the political winds shifted in Louisiana, declaring that the need for IDIOT CONTROL was more critical than gun control. How’s that for slapping a Band-Aid on a gaping AR-15 wound?

Question is, Mr. Kennedy, while you are advocating for better mental health for the masses, do you have a place people with such needs can go? It seems that most of the mental health centers in Louisiana have been boarded up, creating something of a Catch-22 for your solution to a growing crisis.

Perhaps this story from four years ago might provide more insight into Mr. Kennedy’s compassion for kids:

And how about Bill Cassidy and his FERAL HOGS?

Yes, feral hogs are a problem, a big problem, especially for farmers. They can destroy a crop virtually overnight but I don’t think the aforementioned assassins, armed with AR-15s, were out for feral hogs. They were intent on killing innocent people. Among the 233 victims listed above, at least 72 were children.

Yet the gun-rights advocates clink to the 2^nd Amendment as if it were the Holy Grail even as Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis seems hell-bent on abolishing the 1^st and 4^th, Amendments and the US Supreme Court just effectively SHATTERED the protection of the 6^th Amendment. (The highlighted link, by the way, comes from the conservative Washington Times.) To read the same story from another source, go HERE.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says he is open to negotiating a reasonable solution to the slaughter. But we’ve heard his B.S. before. Remember, when following the restoration of order after the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, HE SAID, “All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough.” In no time, he was back to his usual Trump sycophantic self.

It’s critical that we don’t treat these shootings as just another news cycle and then move on to the next story about a six-toed monkey that can play Chopin on the accordion. We cannot allow TV news to serve only as a buffer to keep prescription drug ads from bumping together. We need substance in our news reporting and stories like these dreadful shootings must not be allowed to fade into the background so Republicans can conveniently avoid having to face cold, hard facts.

But if past is truly prologue, as Shakespeare told us in The Tempest, then the Buffalo, Uvalde, Tulsa and Ames stories will produce breathless stories by network correspondents before they quickly become old news.

We cannot allow that to happen. We must continue beating the drum of reform until, like Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart, the Republicans in Congress hear enough from their constituents to know that the time for change has come.

Persistence is the only hope for meaningful reform and we cannot afford to shrink from that duty. We must emulate Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter was killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. Guttenberg has been a constant thorn in the side of Republicans who would gladly walk away from their responsibility. He has never quit fighting the good fight and recently took US Rep. “Gym” JORDAN to task for his accusation of Democrats for “political theater” in their “PROTECTING OUR KIDS ACT.”

Why do you think Ted “Cancun” Cruz not only attended the NRA convention in Houston just days after the Uvalde shooting, but had the gall to POST A VIDEO of him participating in a charity poker tournament even as victims of the shooting were being buried. It was probably (and I emphasize the word probably) the most insensitive thing Cruz has done since he split for Cancun with his family during the 2021 freeze that left millions of Texans without heat or electricity.

It was bad enough that he could see nothing wrong with participating in the tournament even as funeral services were being held for victims, but to post the damn video on the Internet was especially crass, even for Ted Cruz.

Others, such as Rep. Greg Steube (R-Florida) take the offensive in DEFENDING their blue steel babies.

Whenever I see some macho dude in Walmart or Chili’s with a gun stuck in his belt, I want to advise him to at least get a holster because if it goes off where it is, he could well blow his brains out.

So, what are some of the solutions, other than thoughts and prayers, being offered up by these concerned Republicans? Well, Cruz says schools need fewer doors. John Kennedy advocates fewer idiots while Bill Cassidy just wants to shoot feral hogs. Missouri Rep. Bill Long is convinced that abolishing abortions will do the trick.

In Louisiana, as well as in other states, legislators are advocating that teachers be armed so that they can confront the bad guys. But if the cops in Orlando, or Parkland, Florida, or Uvalde aren’t willing to risk confronting a gunman with an AR-15, why should we expect teachers to do so?

Last time I checked, that wasn’t part of the education curriculum at any university in Louisiana. Isn’t it enough that teachers are already vastly underpaid and must still dig into their private funds to purchase classroom resource material? Isn’t it enough that politicians are looking over teachers’ shoulders to be sure they aren’t teaching something called CRT? Isn’t it enough that political hacks are telling teachers which textbooks are appropriate and which are not? Isn’t it enough that elementary school teachers find themselves changing students’ soiled clothing and middle- and high-school teachers are risking injury breaking up fights? Now we expect them to wear body armor and arm themselves against a shooter armed with an assault weapon?

I don’t freakin’ think so. Where the hell does Rep. Danny McCormick think he comes off as some sort of problem solver with that scatter-brained idea? Well, he has plenty of company. His bill, HB 37, passed the House by a 65-26 vote. Want to know who voted how? Click HERE.

Remember this, you knee-jerk a—holes, if that bill becomes law and some well-meaning teachers accidentally shoots and kills a kid, it’s on you. You can take the grim satisfaction in the knowledge that you helped kill a kid. The flip side is a teacher taking down a would-be killer, but the odds are far more in favor of the former scenario than the latter. You know it, and I know it.

Here is the reaction of one teacher to the suggestion that she be armed, locked and loaded:

Will it ever stop?

No, I’m not referring to the mass shootings which now seem to be a daily occurrence, though my rhetorical question might well apply to those senseless acts.

But rather, I am asking (again, rhetorically) if the bought and paid-for Republicans will ever reach down into their hearts and finally say enough is enough and something must be done to stem the proliferation of assault weapons in this country.

Columbine (13 killed), Sandy Hook (26 dead), Margaret Stoneman Douglas (17 murdered), Aurora, Colo. (12), Aurora, Illinois (6), Orlando (50), Las Vegas (60), Pittsburgh (11), Buffalo (10), Uvalde, Texas (21), Tulsa (4), and just yesterday, Ames, Iowa (3 dead).

Will it ever stop?

The question truly is rhetorical because the Republicans just don’t have the resolve to turn their collective backs on the NRA money and to say that guns are the problem.

Instead, we have blame for the spate of killings and the carnage that seems to have become almost routine being leveled at marijuana, single parents, rock music, video games, mental illness, the Internet and, believe it or not, ABORTION.

And the justification for assault weapons pretty much runs the gamut, too.

Our very own US senators chimed in with John Neely Kennedy, that erstwhile Democrat-turned-Republican when the political winds shifted in Louisiana, declaring that the need for IDIOT CONTROL was more critical than gun control. How’s that for slapping a Band-Aid on a gaping AR-15 wound?

Question is, Mr. Kennedy, while you are advocating for better mental health for the masses, do you have a place people with such needs can go? It seems that most of the mental health centers in Louisiana have been boarded up, creating something of a Catch-22 for your solution to a growing crisis.

And how about Bill Cassidy and his FERAL HOGS?

Yes, feral hogs are a problem, a big problem, especially for farmers. They can destroy a crop virtually overnight but I don’t think the aforementioned assassins, armed with AR-15s, were out for feral hogs. They were intent on killing innocent people. Among the 233 victims listed above, at least 72 were children.

Yet the gun-rights advocates clink to the 2^nd Amendment as if it were the Holy Grail even as Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis seems hell-bent on abolishing the 1^st and 4^th, Amendments and the US Supreme Court just effectively SHATTERED the protection of the 6^th Amendment. (The highlighted link, by the way, comes from the conservative Washington Times.) To read the same story from another source, go HERE.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says he is open to negotiating a reasonable solution to the slaughter. But we’ve heard his B.S. before. Remember, when following the restoration of order after the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, HE SAID, “All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough.” In no time, he was back to his usual Trump sycophantic self.

It’s critical that we don’t treat these shootings as just another news cycle and then move on to the next story about a six-toed monkey that can play Chopin on the accordion. We cannot allow TV news to serve only as a buffer to keep prescription drug ads from bumping together. We need substance in our news reporting and stories like these dreadful shootings must not be allowed to fade into the background so Republicans can conveniently avoid having to face cold, hard facts.

But if past is truly prologue, as Shakespeare told us in The Tempest, then the Buffalo, Uvalde, Tulsa and Ames stories will produce breathless stories by network correspondents before they quickly become old news.

We cannot allow that to happen. We must continue beating the drum of reform until, like Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart, the Republicans in Congress hear enough from their constituents to know that the time for change has come.

Persistence is the only hope for meaningful reform and we cannot afford to shrink from that duty. We must emulate Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter was killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. Guttenberg has been a constant thorn in the side of Republicans who would gladly walk away from their responsibility. He has never quit fighting the good fight and recently took US Rep. “Gym” JORDAN to task for his accusation of Democrats for “political theater” in their “PROTECTING OUR KIDS ACT.”

Why do you think Ted “Cancun” Cruz not only attended the NRA convention in Houston just days after the Uvalde shooting, but had the gall to POST A VIDEO of him participating in a charity poker tournament even as victims of the shooting were being buried. It was probably (and I emphasize the word probably) the most insensitive thing Cruz has done since he split for Cancun with his family during the 2021 freeze that left millions of Texans without heat or electricity.

It was bad enough that he could see nothing wrong with participating in the tournament even as funeral services were being held for victims, but to post the damn video on the Internet was especially crass, even for Ted Cruz.

Others, such as Rep. Greg Steube (R-Florida) take the offensive in DEFENDING their blue steel babies.

Whenever I see some macho dude in Walmart or Chili’s with a gun stuck in his belt, I want to advise him to at least get a holster because if it goes off where it is, he could well blow his brains out.

So, what are some of the solutions, other than thoughts and prayers, being offered up by these concerned Republicans? Well, Cruz says schools need fewer doors. John Kennedy advocates fewer idiots while Bill Cassidy just wants to shoot feral hogs. Missouri Rep. Bill Long is convinced that abolishing abortions will do the trick.

In Louisiana, as well as in other states, legislators are advocating that teachers be armed so that they can confront the bad guys. But if the cops in Orlando, or Parkland, Florida, or Uvalde aren’t willing to risk confronting a gunman with an AR-15, why should we expect teachers to do so?

Last time I checked, that wasn’t part of the education curriculum at any university in Louisiana. Isn’t it enough that teachers are already vastly underpaid and must still dig into their private funds to purchase classroom resource material? Isn’t it enough that politicians are looking over teachers’ shoulders to be sure they aren’t teaching something called CRT? Isn’t it enough that political hacks are telling teachers which textbooks are appropriate and which are not? Isn’t it enough that elementary school teachers find themselves changing students’ soiled clothing and middle- and high-school teachers are risking injury breaking up fights? Now we expect them to wear body armor and arm themselves against a shooter armed with an assault weapon?

I don’t freakin’ think so. Where the hell does Rep. Danny McCormick think he comes off as some sort of problem solver with that scatter-brained idea? Well, he has plenty of company. His bill, HB 37, passed the House by a 65-26 vote. Want to know who voted how? Click HERE.

Remember this, you knee-jerk a—holes, if that bill becomes law and some well-meaning teachers accidentally shoots and kills a kid, it’s on you. You can take the grim satisfaction in the knowledge that you helped kill a kid. The flip side is a teacher taking down a would-be killer, but the odds are far more in favor of the former scenario than the latter. You know it, and I know it.

Here is the reaction of one teacher to the suggestion that she be armed, locked and loaded:

I invite you to listen to a couple of reactions to the Uvalde shooting. The first is by NBA Golden State Warrior head basketball coach Steve Kerr. To hear his reaction, click HERE.

The second is by Jimmy Kimmell. He has trouble getting through his comments, but you can hear it all by clicking HERE.

Finally, here are a couple of 2021 Christmas cards from members of the US Congress:

While the rest of the nation paused last week to mourn the deaths of 21 innocent victims of yet another mass shooting, this one in Uvalde, Texas, there is one person who never blinked and who kept right on with his grifting, his shameless pleas for money from his supporters.

Donald John Trump.

Hell, he barely slowed down with his deluge of solicitation emails to even acknowledge the shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde. Real class.

I somehow ended up on his email list and I’m inundated daily with various come-ons, sham offers to become a member of his “gold card” club (not his golden shower club), my very own covfeee mug (discounted from $30 to $35), a founding membership (whatever the hell that is), or my very own Trump T-shirt.

There are two very important things he doesn’t tell you in these emails that are apparently sent to just about everyone with a pulse:

• First, if you sign up to donate to him, you do so on a recurring basis. He doesn’t tell you this, but your intended one-time “gift” will keep on giving – every month, even to the point of having drained the bank accounts of some supporters.

• Second, you will notice he is very careful NOT to say he is running for President in 2024. To do so, would make him a declared candidate and subject to Federal Elections Commission rules – rules like reporting the source of contributions and strict limits on the way the money can be spent. By not declaring as a candidate he (a) doesn’t have to report the source and (b) he can spend the money any damned way he pleases – even for hookers if he so chooses and certainly on salaries to his deadbeat children, Ivanka, Donnie, Jr., and Eric. Poor Tiffany is still pretty much ignored by the Trump royal family.

I didn’t bother to count the emails the day or the shooting (May 24), nor did I keep score the next four days. But take my word, they never slowed in appearing in my inbox. I deleted them as quickly as they came in but on Sunday, I decided to keep count.

Nine.

And on Monday, a day when the nation was supposed to be remembering its war dead, another seven, a slow day for Herr Trump.

But on Tuesday, he more than made up for Monday. The 19^th solicitation came in at 8:33 p.m, thankfully, the last one of the day. Sometimes, they are from Donnie, Jr. and now and then, Sarah Palin will send one, but they’re all on behalf of the Trump organization.

From Donald Jr.Sunday, 6:33 pm:

Only YOU can stop the madness, Friend. We have our MAJOR FUNDRAISING DEADLINE coming up and President Trump needs every Patriot to do their part.
 

**My father wants to see an updated donor list first thing tomorrow morning. I want him to know that he has your support 100%.

Sunday, 5:35 pm:

We need you to activate your 2022 Trump Founding Membership before it’s TOO LATE.

You have 1 HOUR. Hurry.

Please contribute ANY AMOUNT in the NEXT HOUR to RENEW your Official Trump Founding Member for 2022. >>

Sunday, 4:34 pm:

Our MAJOR FUNDRAISING DEADLINE is almost here, and we cannot stress enough how important it is that we ABSOLUTELY CRUSH our goal. 

Sunday, 2:33 pm:

President Trump activated a 700%-IMPACT FOR YOU.

Time is running OUT to claim. 

Sunday, 1:05 pm from Donnie Jr.:

Our MAJOR FUNDRAISING DEADLINE is coming up, and I need you to know how IMPORTANT it is that we reach our $2 MILLION goal. If we fall short, we risk losing our country further to the radical Left.

Sunday, 11:33 am:

Our critical End-of-Month fundraising deadline is approaching. Once this deadline passes, it’ll be too late to step up. In a time when Joe Biden is FAILING, we cannot come up short.
Sunday, 10:03 am:

Our BEST SELLING COVFEFE MUG is ALMOST SOLD OUT, but President Trump REALLY wants YOU to have one, so he’s giving YOU an EXCLUSIVE MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND DISCOUNT.

FOR A LIMITED TIME, YOU CAN GET YOUR OWN TRUMP COVFEFE MUG FOR ONLY $30 $25. 

Sunday, 8:18 am:

Sunday, 8:03 am:

For the FIRST TIME EVER, President Trump is giving YOU the opportunity to get your very own PERSONALIZED Trump Gold Card for only $45 $35.

We have NEVER done this before, and we may never do it again. Your offer to take $10 OFF your Trump Gold Card membership is only valid for Memorial Day Weekend.

Monday, 6:33 pm

Our BEST SELLING COVFEFE MUG is ALMOST SOLD OUT, but President Trump REALLY wants YOU to have one, so he’s giving YOU an EXCLUSIVE MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND DISCOUNT.

FOR A LIMITED TIME, YOU CAN GET YOUR OWN TRUMP COVFEFE MUG FOR ONLY $30 $25. 

Monday, 4:03 pm

LAST CHANCE

Friend,

This is it. We won’t email you again.

We need you to activate your 2022 Trump Founding Membership before it’s TOO LATE.

You have 1 HOUR. Hurry.

Please contribute ANY AMOUNT in the NEXT HOUR to RENEW your Official Trump Founding Member for 2022. >>

Monday 2:02 pm

TRUMP MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND SALE

ORIGINAL PRICE = $45 >>>

MEMORIAL DAY SALE: $40 >>>

FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY: you can get our ICONIC TRUMP ULTRA MAGA T-SHIRT FOR JUST $45 $40.

This sale is valid for TODAY, and we can only hold your ULTRA MAGA t-shirt for you for the NEXT HOUR.

Please contribute $45 $40 IMMEDIATELY and we’ll send you one of President Trump’s ULTRA MAGA t-shirts. >>

Monday, 1:03 pm

While my father put AMERICA FIRST, Joe Biden is putting America LAST. It’s shameful really.

Only YOU can stop the madness, Friend. We have our MAJOR FUNDRAISING DEADLINE coming up and President Trump needs every Patriot to do their part.
 

Your support is SO CRITICAL that we’ve even activated a 700%-IMPACT on ALL GIFTS until 11:59 PM TONIGHT.

**My father wants to see an updated donor list first thing tomorrow morning. I want him to know that he has your support 100%.

Monday, 12:04 pm

Friend,

Your membership bill is ready to view, and your Trump Membership payment is scheduled for TODAY.

Confirm your payment HERE >>

Monday, 11:34 am

Our Fundraising Deadline is in 1 DAY. If we don’t CRUSH it, we will lose everything to the Left.
 

700%-IMPACT to fight for President Trump.

Please contribute $2 IMMEDIATELY to CRUSH our fundraising goal and your gift will be INCREASED by 700%. >>

Monday 8:19 am

Friend,

My father was a better President than Joe Biden will ever be. Do you agree?
 

YES >>
 NO >>

Kind of like those middle school notes: Do you like me? Yes__ or No__, (only not nearly as mature.)

America was WINNING like never before under President Trump, and now we’re FAILING under Joe Biden’s dismal leadership (just take a look at our economy, the border, the chaos on our streets, the Ukraine crisis, and a more divided Nation than ever before).

Our MAJOR FUNDRAISING DEADLINE is coming up, and I need you to know how IMPORTANT it is that we reach our $2 MILLION goal. If we fall short, we risk losing our country further to the radical Left.

Monday, 8:04 am

Friend,
 

Our BEST SELLING COVFEFE MUG is ALMOST SOLD OUT, but President Trump REALLY wants YOU to have one, so he’s giving YOU an EXCLUSIVE MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND DISCOUNT.

FOR A LIMITED TIME, YOU CAN GET YOUR OWN TRUMP COVFEFE MUG FOR ONLY $30 $25. 

President Trump wants EVERY Patriot to have one of our Trump Covfefe mugs, and we are reserving (1) for YOU. Your discount offer is available for TODAY only, so hurry.

Please contribute $30 $25 or more BEFORE 11:59 PM TONIGHT to claim your very own Trump “Covfefe” mug. >>

I could go on listing each email, but I won’t burden you with further redundancy – except to point out that I must be special because Donnie, Jr. just today offered me the unique opportunity to sign daddy’s birthday ecard “before ANYONE ELSE.” Nice to know that he didn’t send that to another individual anywhere on the planet before giving me, one of his most loyal supporters (he said so in other emails), the opportunity to be the very first to sign. To make it even more enticing, he noted that it was the former guy’s “ONLY Official Birthday Card.” (note the capitalization, driving home the point that it was an “official” birthday card.) And as icing on the cake, Trump his own self asked me to vote on my favorite of three photographs of his own self so that he could send it to me (he can’t decide because “they’re all so spectacular.” Really, that’s what he said. No false modesty there).

I think it’s fair to say that the former guy would rival any televangelist in wanton greed and avaricious willingness to bilk the very ones who hold him in such fawning reverence.

Some good news for Louisiana for a change.

Or at least good non-news.

Wall Street 24/7, that online service that provides up-to-date statistics on everything from poverty and obesity to which cars to buy and which to avoid, has released a list of the 15 states with the biggest spikes in UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS over the past three years.

It’s one of those bad lists and for once, Louisiana is not on it. Neither, for that matter is our neighbors to the east, Mississippi or Alabama, or Arkansas to the north.

But hey, it’s a different story for Texas, led by those Republican Sens. Ted “Cancun” Cruz and John Cornyn and Gov. Greg “we’re gonna eliminate rape” Abbott. The Lone Star State shows up with the 12^th-highest gain in unemployment claims with an increase of 7.4 percent.

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Texas also has the nation’s 10^th highest overall unemployment rate (4.3 percent) and the country’s 12^th highest poverty rate (14.2 percent).

You’d think that Abbott, instead of attempting to abolish women’s rights, limiting voting for people of color, setting school curricula, and blaming mental health for mass shootings (even as his state continues to cut back on the availability of mental health treatment facilities) all while focusing on a possible White House run, would be attempting to improve the economic condition of his constituents.

Other Republican-dominated states who made the list were Oklahoma (8^th biggest increase in claims at 15.1 percent and 8^th– highest poverty rate at 15.3 percent), and Missouri (it’s three-year increase in unemployment claims ranking 7^th with a gain of 27.8 percent and the nation’s 19^th highest poverty rate at 13.0 percent). Missouri’s senators are John Hawley and Roy Blount.

And which state do you think is number 5 with an increase in unemployment claims of 38.4 percent? Why, none other than Kentucky, home of Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul. You’d think they’d be trying to do something about the state’s 5^th highest poverty rate (16.6 percent).

And yes, there were some notably Democrat-led states on that list and some other red states that were not on it which, I suppose, really means nothing in the overall scheme of things because no one senator or governor can control the economy just as no one president can control the price of gasoline (though you’d never know it by listening to those who would blame Biden for fuel prices. And the Keystone XL pipeline wasn’t closed because it had never opened and it was never going to be used for domestic production in the first place). And of course, the price of everything else is tied directly to fuel costs because of the costs of transporting goods. But when oil companies reported record profits last quarter, something doesn’t add up.

I guess the point I’m trying to make here is to illustrate how we’ve lost the ability to work together to solve our problems. When someone like McConnell openly admits that his number one objective is to block every proposal put forward by a Democratic president, something is terribly wrong.

And no matter how you may try to spin it, the federal deficit is directly to blame for the rate of inflation in this country. It took a few years to catch up, but you just cannot increase the federal debt by $4 trillion and not expect it to have an effect down the road. And that was done by a Republican Congress and a Republican president. Finally, you cannot continue to ship jobs overseas and not expect it to impact unemployment rates. And you cannot expect the easy accessibility of assault weapons not to have an impact on the murder rate in this country.

Eisenhower was right in warning Americans against the increasing power and influence of the military-industrial complex. And now, with Congress and most state legislatures bought by the special interests, it appears that it’s too late.

What do we have to offset the influence of evangelicals, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), future US Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell’s 1971 MANIFESTO (written for the US Chamber of Commerce), the Goldwater/Nixon SOUTHERN STRATEGY, or the NRA? Neither the ACLU nor The Southern Poverty Law Center, can approach the financial resources of those extreme right-wing organizations. The Democrats cannot hope to match the support the Republicans get from corporate America.

Neither party is immune from the trappings of power and money, but overall, I’d say the Republicans pretty much have a monopoly on the big bucks.

For comparative strengths, look no further than the manner in which a Supreme Court nominee was blocked by the Republicans in the last months of the Obama administration but rushed through literally in the final days of Trump’s term of office. Though patently unfair, the Democrats were powerless to stop McConnell and company from having their way.

While much attention has been given, rightfully so, to the leak of the pending Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade, a decision that has flown under the radar but which has the potential of being far more sinister may have doomed innocent prisoners to execution.

In Shinn v. Ramirez and Jones, the 6^th Amendment is literally STRUCK DOWN.

Justice Sonia Sotomayer, in writing her dissent to the opinion, said, “The court’s decision will leave many people who were convicted in violation of the Sixth Amendment to face incarceration or even execution without any meaningful chance to vindicate their right to counsel.” She said the court negates the federal courts’ authority to safeguard that right and “reduces to rubble” many 6^th Amendment constitutional rights.

Indigent defendants in particular will be hurt the most by the ruling because they are generally defended by court-appointed public attorneys who are underpaid, understaffed, and in many cases, unmotivated. But the argument of ineffective counsel has now been taken away by an out-of-touch Supreme Court.

Don’t be at all surprised if, barely two years after being declared unconstitutional, the court revisits and ultimately reinstates SPLIT JURY VERDICTS, even in capital cases.