Russia Invading Ukraine Is A Dumb Move

For all the news banging around about Russia targetting Ukraine, no one should be all that surprised about an invasion. This happening was long in the making since 2014.

For Russia itself, this was a dumb move strategically as it's going encourage the growth of something it sought to cease: the further expansion of NATO. It'll kick into overdrive for 2 additional Scandanavian nations' push to join the alliance: Sweden and Finland. At the moment, these are neutral nations, but with actions going as they are, it'd be a non-surprise to see them clamoring to join.

Russia will come out of this in a worse position than when it in. America will use whatever leverage it has with Israel and China, which can cut the former out of the global trade and arms markets. Not only that, the war in Ukraine is exceedingly unpopular among the Russian people. The younger generations are getting information through social media sites like TikTok and Vkontakte rather than consuming the propoganda that's broadcasted on Russian state media.

Ordinary Russians are seeing the body bags that are coming back from Ukraine, and they're pissed off about it. They're beginning to protest against the war, which is scaring the living crap out of Vladimir Putin. As an autocrat, there's nothing more threatening than peaceful protests.

Donald Trump's Increasingly Violent Rhetoric Will Undermine Republicans In 2022

As the 2022 midterm election draws closer, the Republicans are looking less likely to retake Congress. The reason is simple, Donald Trump's increasingly violent rhetoric, which is leaving them dangerously exposed. One example is the recent pledge to pardon all participants in the attack on the Capitol on 01/06/2021. The message that sends is: Be as violent as possible for me and I'll ensure your lack of any accountability.

It's this rhetoric that is  worsening just about everyone's fury of our current system of both government and governance, albeit in the most misguided way possible. By continuing to sow doubt and chaos, Trump is still consistently sending (conscientiously/subconscientiously or not — a very interesting debate at that) overtures to some of the most violent White Supremacy and White Power extremists. He's signaling them that they should be ready to act upon his cue to snuff out any opposition by Americans at-large.

What this means for the Republicans is that their chances of victory on 11/08/2022 are slipping away from them due to the electorate being turned off by Trump's rhetoric. He's doing this by inserting himself as the sole focus of the party's campaign instead of President Joe Biden. Using this as a platform for lying about how 2020 was stolen from him, he's alienating the very swing voters who the party's desparately trying to court for the general election.

Trump is attempting to use the midterm campaign to exact revenge against those who voted to impeach him early last year, and continue to call for him to face any kind of accountability. That drive for exacting revenge in Republican primaries means that the party will field his handpicked extremists as their general election candidates, which will hurt the party itself in the end. This is a final result of the John Birch Society's newest reincarnation, the MAGA movement, taking over the Republican Party.

I'm Writing A Book

I know this is a stark departure from the overall theme of the blog. First off, I should probably apologize about my having gone so AWOL. The truth is I've been job hunting since the beginning of the year, and it's been eating up a lot of my time. I'm going to make it a priority to post more regularly for you all to have decent content.

Secondly, there's some news in terms of book writing. Okay, I'll first start this by answering the question of what the heck happened to the self-help book. That's on indefinite hiatus as I got writer's block with it. I'm currently stuck on page 10 with that one. The actual book writing news is of a new one I started writing in August. That one is currently on page 115. I'm almost at the half-way point with that one.

Kyrsten Sinema Is Seeking Joe Biden's Job

Kyrsten Sinema's gumming up the works on Joe Biden's agenda, while frustrating and/or infuriating, is not all that surprising by any stretch. The reason for her obstruction is glaringly obvious: she's aiming for Biden's job. That's right, Sinema wants to be president.

The fact is that Sinema is the last real dying breath of the corporatist New Democrats. Think about how much time she's been spending with big-dollar donors instead of working to pass legislation. These big-dollar donors include big business, trade groups, etc., and they want Biden's agenda killed as it's too closely aligned with that of congressional progressives.

Sinema is much easier to control by comparison as she's been a "Team Player" by moving the Democratic Party further to the right. Under her leadership, the Democratic Party becomes the oppositionary far-right party to Donald Trump and his lackeys in the Republican Party. When that happens all bets are off.

Donald Trump Will Be Elected President In 2024

A lot of people need to avoid falling into a false sense of confedence that Joe Biden, or whomever runs in his place on the Democratic national ticket, will be (re)elected in 2024. NO HE/THEY WON'T! Donald Trump will be "elected" (more like implanted) in 2024 instead.

Trump is going to become president through a combination of cheating from vote suppression and legislative undermining of popular will. We can fight this to the n^th degree, but it's not going to change the reality that Trump is going to win and by a bigger margin in the electoral college than he did in 2016; although with a smaller percentage of the popular vote. This is not so much minority rule as it is White Supremacist reign returning. Returning after a nearly 60-year hiatus.

Why It's Important For The Private Sector To Start Cracking Down To Get More People Vaccinated Against COVID-19

It's fairly easy to understand that no one wants any kind of government mandate for the public to get vaccinated here in America, as it would be decried as tyranny. That being said, there's nothing to say why the private sector can't be doing more to step up and bring this into play. In some cases it has, such as in San Francisco, where private businesses were pressing the city to require proof of vaccination in order to access their premises.

Other big companies, such as some airlines and big box stores are starting to mandate that their employees be vaccinated if they want to keep their jobs. This is good, as it will mean that the virus will have fewer bodies to spread to. The other main reason they're doing it is for the financial benefit it brings. The cost for treating unvaccinated employees is enormous. According to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average cost for treating the unvaccinated is $20,000.00 per individual. Since the private sector has no interest in paying that much for treating its workforce, it's in its interest to crack down on its workers. The more it does this, the more money it'll save we the taxpayers.

Here's the thing, employers are allowed to do this under federal law. No, it actually does not violate HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) for them to do so, either; contrary to what some may think. Provided that their mandates don't discriminate on the basis of religious beliefs or underlying disabilities, it's 100% legal.

For customers, it's the same dynamic. It's also 100% legal for businesses to require their customers to show proof of vaccination in order to receive services. And as stated before, while the government can't directly make people get the vaccine or show proof of vaccination, the private sector can.

Joe Manchin Should Quit Wasting Time Negotiating With Republicans

I'll be fair to Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) by highlighting his attempts at brokering some kind of bipartisan alternatives of the For The People Act & John Lewis Voting Rights Act with the Senate Republicans, but there comes a point where it becomes an exercise in futility. Mitch McConnell has signaled more than once that his conference won't negotiate at all. Their whole attention is set towards recapturing their lost trifacta in 2024, and the only way to do that is to set up the conditions for Donald Trump's comeback.

The Republicans are lining themselves up to shoot down Manchin's proposal despite its more modest approach than what was passed by the House of Representatives earlier this month. They're keenly aware of the effect the proposal will have on them in federal elections in 2022 and beyond.

Tell Your Republican Senator To Pass The Bill Creating A Commission For 1/6 Insurrection

 January 6 was the worst attack on our system of government since the Civil War, and we need to look into how it was allowed to happen. The Republicans' refusal to create a commission to look into the matter is a dereliction of duty on their end. The insurrection of that day had allowed a violent movement to become a bigger threat than it should have been. If you're living in a state that is represented by 1 or 2 Republicans in the Senate, contact them asap and threaten to forcibly retire them if they don't vote to pass the bill to create the commission charged with figuring out what the heck went wrong on 01/06/2021 with regards to Capitol security.

We Need To Pass The For The People Act

 The For the People Act is the best means of combating the Republicans' vote suppression schemes prior to the 2022 midterm and 2024 presidential elections, and it needs to pass as soon as possible. Besides putting the Republicans in their place, the act is also what America needs to maintain its democratic system of governance. Think about having a 232-year-old democratic system collapse and become a new normal of violence by a faction that's so hell-bent on suppressing your voices just to keep power. The thought of that is too terrifying to think of. If you live in a state/district represented by a Republican, call/email them, or hit them up on social media, and tell them to get behind the bill and pass it asap.

Donald Trump's Continued Hold On The Republican Party

It shouldn't be lost on anyone that Donald Trump us still pulling the strings behind the Republican Party's descent into fascism. This is why Republicans in Congress are fighting tooth and nail to ensure that no commission is set up for investigating the 01/06/2021 attack on the Capitol. Having the commission up and running means that some of them are likely going to be implicated in the attack's prior planning. It'll also illustrate that some figures in the Republicans' congressional leadership had also been in communication with then outgoing Trump about effectively executing the uprising.

Seeing both Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell squirm at the bill's passage in the House of Representatives indicates that they likely know something in how the attempted coup was allowed to happen in the first place. So be sure to watch this pair and their seconds-in-command in the coming days as these 2 are clearly trying to cover up any potential involvement of both themselves and anyone else in their respective conferences. They're also the gateway to Trump himself (who's doing everything he can think of to keep himself out of prison), who's leading the base to force those Republicans in power to be part of his cover up effort.

Don't think that Trump isn't aware of his deteriorating legal situation, or the fact that he's likely going to be in prison, because he definitely is. If a commission is set up by Congress to investigate the uprising of 01/06, it might illustrate his level of involvement in addition to the congressional Republicans' leadership's knowledge of the event's commencement and when they knew about it.