All amendments count, not just the second one.

Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg was invited to be on FOX News this morning to discuss the infrastructure projects associated with Joe Biden's Infrastructure bill that was passed in 2021 on a bi-partisan basis, but when the FOX News host tried to move the conversation to people who are protesting peacefully against Supreme Court justices, Buttigieg took control of the interview and made it clear that all the Amendments of the Constitution are important, not just the second one. 

You are welcome to view the entire interview, but if you are looking to skip to the first amendment issue it can be found seven minutes into the interview. I recommend listening to the entire interview, as Buttigieg discusses how the infrastructure bill rollout is proceeding.   

Buttigieg could not be more accurate in his assessment that the American public has the right to protest PEACEFULLY public officials when they do something in their role as a public figure that upsets the public (the majority or minority of the public). 

Americans protest public figures all the time in this country, why should Supreme Court justices be any different, especially justices who perjured themselves, after being nominated by an authoritarian, to get themselves appointed to the court, and then overturned 50 years of settled precedent.

Make no mistake, people should not be violent in any way because the constitution allows for people to protest peacefully, but once they become violent and violate the law, they are now criminals like the domestic terrorists who stormed the Capitol looking to kill the Vice President and the Speaker of the House, among others.

These are the interviews that FOX News viewers need to hear on a regular basis, but in most cases, the opposing viewpoint is not welcomed on FOX News, and when it is, they are talked over and shouted down. Good for Buttigieg, not only for accepting the interview, but for not allowing the FOX host to interrupt him or silence him, even though he tried multiple times.

Let this be a lesson to the more progressive members of the Democratic caucus, who refuse to even go on FOX News. More than half the country watches this, for lack of a better word, "news" channel, and if all they hear is the constant BS provided by the extreme right, then that will eventually become their viewpoint as well. Thus, it's imperative that more Democrats do these interviews if nothing else to put an end to the one-sided propaganda that permeates this so-called "news" network.

They are all insane, and man can they lie.

Here is a brief video from Republican House of Representatives member Debbie Lesko (8th District-Arizona) about how outraged she is that almost meaningless gun legislation was passed last week that will do very little to curb the massive amounts of gun violence in this country.

Forget for a minute that this loon, I believe accidently, said she would she her own grandchildren to protect them in a speech on the floor of the House. But more importantly she corrected her statement to make it clear that she is not a homicidal maniac, but instead is a gargantuan liar. 

Let's watch the video, and below I will blow up each and every one of her lies.

It took her only 14 seconds to tell us that Grandmothers shoot people to defend their grandchildren. While it is true that most Grandmothers would do almost anything to protect their grandchildren, I can't remember any of the grandmothers I have ever known or met, packing AR-15's. BUT I DIGRESS. 

1. She blatantly lies that Democrats took away her rights, and other law-abiding citizens rights to defend themselves and the people that they love. I must have missed something. Which weapons did the recent legislation ban? None. LIAR! 

2. She then meanders on about a Democrat bill that violates due process. LYING LESKO. In her example, someone would accuse you of being crazy, kind like I am doing now with rep. Lesko, and this claim would be made to a judge. And she said, if you do not know about the hearing, then your due process is being violated. LIE. If there is a hearing, then by definition you're being afforded a due-process hearing. If you are too stupid to know when the hearing is, that's no ones fault but yours.

3. Instead of working with Republicans to get bi-partisan legislation, Democrats do not talk to us. LIE. This recent legislation had to be bipartisan, which is why it sucked by the way, because it needed at least 10 Republicans to vote for it in the Senate.

4. (1:33) The most outlandish lies of all. When Republicans were in the majority, we actually passed legislation that helped prevent mass shootings. REALLY? TWO MONUMENTAL LIES. 4a. What laws did you pass? NONE. 4b. What mass shootings did you prevent? NONE. And I have news for you LYING LESKO. Even this bill that Democrats went along with will do little to prevent mass shootings because the 2 biggest problems were not addressed. (Standardized federal background checks for every gun sale and the banning of war weapons from being civilian owned)!

5. (1:43) "We worked with Democrats." When and on what? LIAR. 

In conclusion, Lesko spoke for two minutes and told 6 lies in two minutes. She learned from the master. Lie as much as possible and tell the lie enough so the low-information voter begins to believe it as fact. 

I have no idea what the 8th district of Arizona is like, but if this half-wit can end up in Congress as its representative for about 700,000 soles, it might not be a destination location for the sane.

The only way to break this fever is by continuing to hand these theocratic fascists who want to arm teachers, repeated defeats at the ballot box for years to come. It is the only way. VOTE BLUE in 2022.  

I TOLD YOU SO!

GOP extremist Senator Marco Rubio has proposed a bill that seems like a good idea that Democrats have been proposing for a while, paid family leave. However, once you move past the title, it all falls apart. 

Rubio, one of Donald Trump's true sycophants, says we are going to support this new prolife mandate by the Supreme Court by giving these new struggling families paid family leave. LIE. The bill would provide paid family leave, but this family must forego part of their social security money to do so. 

I HATE TO SAY I TOLD YOU SO, BUT I TOLD YOU SO.

This is not the first time Rubio has floated this idea. In 2018, he laid out the same plan which would provide the leave money now but at a cost to the same family at retirement. It's ok. They are hoping you will be dead before you can claim any social security benefits. That is, after all, why they keep increasing the age to earn full social security payments.  

These theocratic extremists are not going to spend a single tax dollar to help the women they just turned into incubators or their husbands but will instead draw on these poor family's future pensions to pay for the kids that they are forcing them to have now regardless of that family's economic viability.

What next? Are Republicans going to offer you some food stamps, but they will have to tax that family at a higher rate? Hey Little Marco, if they could afford to be taxed more or forego their social security, they would not need food stamps from you. 

I've been screaming this since this new iteration of the theocratic fascist Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade a week and a half ago, and I will say it again now. They do not care about the wellbeing of these children. They just want to force women to comply by giving birth, but you will never see them spend a nickel on any social programs. 

But how do you know this for sure, you may ask? Because they have fought Democrats on all these bills for the last 50+ years. It was the Republican Party that allowed the extended child tax credit to expire just last year. All that did was help bring CHILDREN, the one's already living, out of poverty and keep them from going hungry. Not one single Republican voted to extend that child tax credit. NOT ONE.

And let's not forget that we are the only industrialized country in the world that does not provide health care for all its citizens, including CHILDREN, and we are one of only a handful of industrialized nations that does not provide paid-family leave. We know that Rpublicans are full of crap, but yet people continue to vote for the two-faced extremist liars who would rather ensure a murder can get a gun at the drop of a hat than make sure that all kids have free school lunches, health care or food stamps. 

They always have been, and continue to be, a disgrace to the nation and it is time to vote the liars out of office. This could be our last chance, since this might be the last free election held in United States history - and guess who we have to thank for that? You guessed it! 

Happy 4th of July to the United States of gun ownership

At least another six people were killed, and 24 people were seriously injured in a shooting during a 4th of July parade in an Illinois suburb today. 

NO PLACE IS SAFE!

We will now add parades to the list of places Americans can't go without the threat of being murdered by crazed gunmen, who because of United States gun laws, are armed to the teeth with the deadliest weapons available to civilians.  

The list continues to grow. You now need to avoid schools (elementary, middle, high schools and even colleges), malls, shopping centers (grocery stores and retailers), movie theatres, workplaces, bars, night clubs, churches, synagogues and mosques, concerts, among others. 

As was explained in an earlier post, this will continue to happen as long as one party (Republicans) continue to grovel at the feet of the NRA (National Rifle Association) and its lunatic base. 

The gun reform bill that was passed last month had one or two decent provisions in it, but never stood a chance of substantially limiting gun violence in this country as long as assault-style weapons (automatic and semi-automatic long guns) are not banned, and as long as standardized, nation-wide background checks are not adopted for the sale of all weapons. 

As long as these two issues are not address, crazed gunmen and criminals will have no problem getting their hands on guns in certain states (red states) where the gun laws are lax, and then taking those guns anywhere they want. 

The proof is in the numbers. Gun violence is highest in red states. The top 15 states with the highest per capita gun deaths are states controlled by Republicans. The states with the lowest gun deaths per capita are New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Hawaii! Enough said.

If you are sick and tired of taking your life into your hands every time you leave the house, and tired of Congressional Republicans putting band aids on a severed limb, then you have only one choice and that's to elect more democrats nationally, but more importantly, at every level of government (state and local).

VOTE BLUE in 2022. The life you save might be your own.      

Per Capita gun-related death rates

A real Patriot speaks to us from the grave

Ulysses S. Grant, the commander of the Union forces during the Civil War, describes perfectly the circumstances that could lead to a second Civil War in an 1875 speech.

"If we are to have another (Civil War), I predict the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's, but between Patriotism and intelligence on one side and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other."

Grant could not have described the sides more perfect. On one side, intelligent Patriots fighting to save the world's greatest democracy and on the other side ignorant people who believe in superstitions or conspiracy theories following craven power-hungry and ambitious leaders lusting for power!

VOTE BLUE in 2022, U.S. Grant, a real Lincoln Republican, knew it in 1875, and we better well know it today because the entire experiment hangs in the balance.  

Death threats are still illegal right?

Is this where we are? Is this how far the United States has fallen? Death threats and inciting violence are still illegal right?

If you or I threatened to kill potential colleagues or co-workers, it would be a wrap for us at work, and by the time you got home, you would probably have some law enforcement agency at your doorstep wanting to chat about your threats.  

The rules, once again, only seem to apply to average American citizens and not the crazed lunatics running this country or the ones seeking elected office - like Republican Eric Greitens.

The ad you just witnessed was an internet ad by disgraced former Missouri governor Eric Greitens who is now running to be a member of the United States Senate.

Greitens' ad, which was put on the internet deliberately because that is where the bulk of the MAGA crazies can be found searching for Qanon predictions, suggests that MAGA members should get a RINO hunting license, meaning a license to shoot and kill Republicans in Name Only (RINO).

There are some good people who voted for Trump and this MAGA movement right? They have to see the crazy here, right?

Greitens was the governor of Missouri until he was forced to resign after sexual assault allegations and violating campaign finance law.

Greitens said in the ad that RINO's feed on corruption. Surely, he must be joking right? He is the epitome of corruption. He lasted a little over a year as governor before the pressure of multiple scandals forced the Republican-led Missouri legislature to threaten him with impeachment if he did not resign. 

The list of scandals includes:

1. Violation of campaign finance reform

2. Sexual assault and using photos to keep the victim quite about her knowledge of the crime'

3. Physical abuse of his children

4. Sexually assaulting his hairstylist

The real question is why this man has not been arrested for inciting violence? I'm sure it has something to do with law enforcement sympathizing with this MAGA death cult.

This is the most important election in our history, VOTE BLUE in 2022.

State's rights = federal abortion ban???

I was forced to do something today that I do not even wish on my worst enemies, I had to watch hours of FOX "News" to see how they were indoctrinating the clones. 

Predictably, Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson were framing this ruling by the Supreme Court today ending 49-years of abortion precedent by overturning Roe v. Wade 6-3 (strictly party lines), as no big deal. All this is going to do, they said, is throw this issue back to the states and the voters will get to decide. Hey Hannity, do not piss on my head and telling me it's raining.

Carlson went on to say that if you have abortion in your state that will not be threatened if that's how you want to live. I call BS on that as well. 

Here is the reality, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, the fascists at the head of the Republican/ American Fascist Party, have both indicated that a national abortion ban is possible. Believe them when they say it. It is what they are planning for the start of 2023 if they retake power. 

In March, after the draft opinion of the Supreme Court was leaked, Mitch McConnell told USA Today, that "if the leaked opinion became the final opinion, legislative bodies - not only at the state level but at the federal level - certainly could legislate in that area ... and if this were the final decision, that is the point ... so yeah, (a federal ban) is possible." 

This part should not be lost, "at the FEDERAL level."

Today McCarthy, flanked by his brownshirts in Congress, held a press conference about this ruling, and how he was already looking into two bills, either banning or limiting severely, abortion with no restrictions at the Federal level. He took a total of three questions, and when the questions started getting tough, he ended the presser by praying for all Americans. Let's hope he didn't forget the 40,000+ who will die as a result of his GOP's lax gun policies. Prolife?

The one resounding theme I heard all night long on the Republican/Fascist news network was Laura Inghram chiming in that all this does it kick it back to the states until it is decided by an election. 

So we need to conclude by explaining the history of state's rights in this country. State's rights has always been a vehicle for the wealthy minority to rule the poorer and less-connected majority. 

State's rights were used to defend slavery. When abolitionists called for the end of slavery, southern states used state's rights arguments to say they had the right to own slaves. 

State's rights were used again as a defense/justification for segregation. Southern states who came up with Jim Crow laws and Segregation policies, said the 10th Amendment made it possible for each state to write its own laws about busing, water fountains, schools, restaurants and other public accommodations because none of that was specified in the Constitution.

Beyond being a way to keep black folks in check, it has also been used to keep women in their appropriate station in society. State's rights were used as a defense when it came to disenfranchise women at the ballot box. The first state to give women the vote was Wyoming in 1890, but it would be 30 years before women would be given full enfranchisement in 1920.

As long as voting rights for women was a state's rights issue, they would be given voting rights, but not in Presidential elections because that was a federal election. So as other states after Wyoming gave women the vote, it was limited to only certain elections.

State's rights were used as the reason for Southern states to secede from the Union in 1861, starting the bloodiest conflict in American history. 

State's rights have always been, and will always be, like the filibuster and the Senate at large, a means for giving the wealthy minority the power over the majority of the country.

Facts: 

93 percent of the country believes abortion should be legal when the life of the mother is at risk

70 percent of the country believes Roe v. Wade should not have been overturned

67 percent of the country believes abortion should be legal in cases of rape or incest     

Again, state's rights is being used as a means for 1/3 of the country to tell the other 2/3 what bans they have to live by. Where is the democracy in that? 

These theocratic fascists will keep imposing their will on you until you remove them from every office in the land. Make no mistake, if they regain power in 2022, abortion will be banned nationally and the other rights will fall like dominos 

A. Contraception

B. Gay Marriage

C. Interracial Marriage

Mark my words, no precedent is safe as long as these fascists remain in control!