Your 3/1/24 issue was wonderful covering Donald Trump at his worst. Authors covering the likes of an asshole: James Cullen, illustrator Dolores Cullen (a wonderful DT image), Jake Johnson, Dick Polman, Thom Hartmann.
Prior to 2016, Trump had already made a fool of himself. He acquired four bankruptcies, two divorces (cheating on his wives, including his current third wife), cheating his contractors, causing Atlantic City casinoes to collapse, leaving bonds to fail and economically hurt bond holders, cheat on his income tax (probably more).
He made a habit of disparaging Hillary Clinton, who served our country to our benefit. In reality, she won the 2016 presidential election by over two million votes (the Electoral College saddled us with a disaster).
Trump cast aspersions at veterans, as he was a draft dodger. He even abused John McCain, who was tortured for over three years by North Vietnamese. Even after his death, McCain’s family detested Trump.
His four years as president went on an attack to destroy our democracy, we want not to be repeated. He is a Hitler enthusiast and seeks alliance with Putin, the Russian who has spent two years destroying his neighbor. Trump put three crooked Supreme Court justices in place to deny American women safe abortions. He is not an American, rather a Hitlerite, and a buddy with Putin. If elected, he has promised to eliminate NATO, not in our best interests.
Trump has ignored our Constitution, the 14th Amendment, which denies a “president” who fomented an insurrection that resulted in deaths (defending our country). It also forbids a “president” from taking foreign capital, which he did.
Trump supports guns, which are responsible for killing thousands of innocent victims.
Every day of his term, chaos, hiring Cabinet members and agency heads who were totally unqualified, many just resigned and testified against him. Some wrote books.
He ignored the Constitution when he stole the money from a Pentagon account to build a worthless Mexican wall.
Trump was impeached twice. Joe Biden was elected to clean up the mess.
Whatever happened to an American electorate that knew how to read?
Also, how come Trump’s over 90 indicted felonies have not been adjudicated? (Something to do with the corrupt judges Trump appointed?)
Trump kept his “integrity” with more than 30,000 lies counted in his four lying years.
RICHARD B. HYMAN, Stillwater, N.J.
Another mass shooting, “We’re All in the Next Building” by Barry Friedman (2/1/24 TPP). Of course, our hearts go out to the victims and their friends and families, but I can’t help but feel sorrow for the shooters as well. They must be filled with a black despair to produce such hopeless rage.
Reports of shootings tell us in some detail about the victims and survivors, be they doctors, shoppers, children, etc., but very little is revealed about the shooters, except where they got the guns. Sketchy reports I’ve seen include words, such as broken home; loner; struggled in school; health issues.
Surely much more is known about these tragic individuals than we are being told. Somewhere along the line they got lost, in our broken school system and bureaucratic mazes.
I believe these are the primary factors that need to be addressed and rectified. In a sense, the shooters are victims, too. The fact that there are so many of them is worrisome.
BETTY CROWDER, Honeydew, Calif.
How is it that a fair number of people on the right consider themselves "real Americans"? Why is it that, in their unhappy little minds, all of us can't be real Americans, only them? Why so selfish?
I feel that a large part of their rationale is based on their strong desire for a system of rank order, especially if that rank order has their own kind as Number One. A person is either Number One, or a Loser, so it is helpful to be able to simply assign themselves to the top spot.
Challenging their assumptions, however, are the uncomfortable existence of non-White, non-Anglo, non-straight, and even non-Christian persons in frightening proximity, pursuing their fair share of happiness. Rules now have to be changed, and boundaries reinforced, if Number One is to stay number one.
This state of mind is a poison, not just to our nation, but to our species. We are not, and cannot, be pure of breed. In fact, we would be weaker for it. And it is fundamentally un-American to regard any of us as better or worse than others, because equality under the law is our brand. That's what we supposedly live by and die for.
So whether we were born here or came here, we are all here; therefore, we are all real Americans. It is our ethics, not our borders, that truly define us.
JEFFREY HOBBS, Springfield, Ill.
People on the Left accuse Joe Biden of engaging in genocide because he has allowed Israel to continue to receive arms as they fight Hamas extremists, who broke the cease-fire when they crossed an unguarded border between Gaza and Israel Oct. 7 and killed more than 1,000 people, most of them civilians, including many who reportedly were sexually assaulted, and bringing more than 240 hostages back across the border to Gaza. Israel's Security Cabinet voted to act to bring about the "destruction of the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad,” and the Israel Electric Corporation, which supplies up to 80% of Gaza's electricity, cut off power to the area, Al Jazeera reported, and Israel cut off shipments of food and other supplies to Gaza
As Hamas continued to fire rockets into Israel, Israel fired back with rockets and bombing runs reportedly intending to destroy Hamas hideouts, resulting in thousands of casualties in what the Left calls “genocide” but might otherwise be termed “collateral damage.”
With due respect, if Israel wanted to commit genocide, they could have killed a lot more Palestinians than the 30,000 that reportedly have perished so far in the crowded Gaza Strip. And Biden advised Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu not to make the same mistakes the US did in overreacting after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by Islamic terrorists in the US. Biden also has repeatedly supported ceasefires to enable the return of hostages, but Hamas, which explicitly calls for the genocide of Jews, does not appear to be interested in returning hostages, which they are using as human shields in their tunnels under Palestinian buildings, and they are willing to sacrifice Palestinians to turn worldwide opinion against Israel. Netanyahu may be resisting ceasefires as well, but Biden at least has been trying to get the Israelis to ease off.
DAVID CLANCY, Denver, Colo.
Throughout the annals of recorded human history from its evolutional state of enhanced cognition and reasoning, there has always been a segment of communal populations who were always a bit slower, gullible, easily conned, duped, B.S.’d and just outright defiers of facts and truth because it wasn’t “to their benefit.” The realms throughout history with the most lies, propaganda and conning to control human behaviors and thinking have “typically been religion and politics,” and it continues on today wiht that ancient proposition and Romanesque strategy coupled with that Machiavellian proposition that “the end justifies the means.”
Our nation’s purported demise (AI) and our substantiated roughly 43,000 homicides (predominantly males) including the 630 mass killings (predominantly males) in their reversionary state of “more mammalian beingness” just here in our own nation; but replicated in growing numbers worldwide. We’ve become a nation awash with the lack of accountability, shame, guilt or humility. Misinformation via algorithms and technological facilitation interconnected with religious and political philosophical and mythological B.S. continues to “stupidify” in today’s world he same “flat earthers” our colonial hawkers/medicine men, pet rock procurers, QAnon and now MAGA extremists, Pied Pipers of cult leaders, like Jim Jones’ followers drank the “Kool Aid” and a thousand lives perished via cultisized” and “stupidified” mindsets.
The question society must address in order to save democracy and civilization itself for its entire citizenry throughout one’s life are the accounted actions and behaviors that are threatening to the aforementioned and deserved (all or some) to thwart or penalize detrimental acts/actions and threats to individual freedoms and democracy. If AI’s creators’ predicted demise are not expeditiously adhered to, its realities shall assuredly occur.
FRANK C. ROHRIG, Milford, Conn.
Sam Uretsky’s column, “Pets Keep Us Young,” in the 3/1/24 edition of The Progressive Populist, was excellent! Bravo, Sam, bravo!
XAVIER SMALL, Sweet Home, Ore.
From The Progressive Populist, April 1, 2024
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